Our November Game Day West was combined with our Autumn Feature Event Command Con Lite. Held at Miniature Market Rock Hill we had a variety of offerings to test our players mettle throughout the day. The first session Gregg Dieckhaus presenting the Battle of Hampton Roads.
Jay was kind enough to send some photos of the event and one of his great reports and we will turn the tale over to him…..
“As part of the Game Day West/Command Con-Lite, Gregg ran his Hampton Roads 2.0 scenario for some ironclad naval action during the American Civil War with Jay assisting. In this “what if” scenario, the Confederates still hold Norfolk and are trying to keep control of the Hampton Roads area. The Union sends in a naval squadron to try to clear the Confederates out. The Confederates send out the Norfolk squadron and also have the James River squadron appear as well. The US forces consist of the USS Monitor, USS Galena, USS Queen of the East (a sister ship to the Queen of the West), USS Pittsburg (a city casemate ironclad that was built in the east), USS Lehigh (Passaic monitor) and the USS General (wooden screw sloop). The CSA has the Virgina, Patrick Henry and Jamestown from the Norfolk area while CSS Richmond, 2 torpedo launches, and CSS Drury enter from the James river area. Steve L and Eric (from Alabama) ran the Union side while Ray and Bob took care of the CSA. “
“The rules used are a “home brew” set of rules Gregg has put together in an attempt to balance realism with speed of play. Basically guns generally fire every other turn and each ship will move and fire when their card is pulled. On with the game. “
“The first couple of turns see the fleets move towards each other and the James river combatants come in on turns two and three. Steve greets one of the torpedo launches with a lucky long range shot that destroys the small smooth bore cannon it has on the front. There is some other shooting, but most of it misses with the exception of the other torpedo launch scoring a hit on the Queen of the East at extreme range with its small smoothbore cannon.”
“Turn 4 is when the action starts getting serious with the Galena sinking one of the torpedo launches and the Drury scores a waterline crit hit on the Queen of the East. The Galena is the target of Confederate scorn since she was picking on a little torpedo launch and takes some damage.”
“Turn 5 sees the fighting dialed way up as most ships are now in range of at least something and a naval brawl breaks out. Richmond takes some punishment as she comes in, but she manages to ram the Galena and scores some significant damage. The Galena replies with a broadside that does pretty good damage in return. The Patrick Henry then broadsides the Galena for more damage. The Virginia reminds everyone she is here as well although she is lagging behind. She scores a hit on the USS General that does some damage.”
“Turn 6 sees the Richmond finish off the Galena, but damages two of her guns from doing quick-firing. (Normal firing is every other turn, but players can fire two turns in a row with the second turn taking aiming penalties and the potential to cause damage to your own gun, which Ray managed to do by rolling 1 twice). Pittsburg comes in with guns blazing and does damage to the Patrick Henry. Lehigh adds to Patrick Henry’s misery as she fires at point blank and causes severe damage along with starting a fire. Patrick Henry responds with a waterline crit on the Lehigh that starts a flood event. Virginia unleashes a broadside that results in the USS General suffering a boiler explosion that manages to wreck the ship and kill almost everyone on board. (Bob whipped out some molten hot dice for damage). The end of the turn arrives and the Union has some good news and some bad news from the end of turn activities. The bad had what was left of the General sinking from the fire. The good is the crew of the Lehigh promptly stopped the flooding before any real damage could be done. The CSA didn’t escape the headlines as the Patrick Henry exploded from the fire finding a magazine.”
“With the board cleared of several ships, the remaining ships get their guns reloaded and attempt to maneuver around to find new targets over the course of the next couple of turns. On turn 9, Ray manages to sneak the remaining torpedo boat in on the Monitor and gets the spar torpedo to work. This causes a fair amount of damage to the monitor along with a flooding event. Monitor responds by sinking the torpedo launch. (Grumbling could be heard that it would have been better to sink the torpedo launch BEFORE it hit the ship,but bad dice rolling prevented that)”.
“The ships continue to maneuver with the occasional shot taking place. Monitor manages to stop the flooding on T11. On T12 as the two fleets close with each other again, Richmond manages to get a ram attack off on the Lehigh, but it doesn’t do much damage due to Richmond being damaged and Lehigh having particularly heavy armor. Poor dice didn’t help either. By the end of T12, several ships are lined up on each other and we have a situation of “card roullette” where the order of who goes when is going to make a huge difference on who gets hit when.”
“Turn 13 proves to be decisive as the Confederates get the better of the card draw and the Jamestown rams the Monitor and while the Jamestown does decent damage, she takes a lot of damage (Bobs hot dice continue even against his own ship) and goes down from the ram, but she manages to drop the Monitor’s speed to 0. The Virginia manages to ram the Lehigh even with a bow to bow ram. Despite Lehigh’s heavy armor, the Virginia is relatively fresh and hit the Lehigh going full speed. The result is the Lehigh sinks.”
“At this point, the scenario is called in favor of a CSA victory. Gregg did a quick debrief from the players for feedback and suggestions on how things could be improved.”
Thanks to Jay for helping to presen this interesting and challenging scenario and sending along the photos and write up. A Thank You Greg and to all the players who came out to enjoy a fun afternoon of gaming. As always we extend our ongoing appreciation to Miniature Market Rock Hill for their continued support.
Remember to shop local!
Big Muddy Historical Game Alliance of Greater St. Louis
Our public educational demonstrations including rules and game evaluation sessions use historical miniature and historical board gaming to explore military history, historical decision-making, and the people, places, and events of the past.
Historical Gaming in Action is a public educational program presented by the Big Muddy Historical Game Alliance of Greater St. Louis.
Using miniature figures, terrain, maps, historical research, and guided play, our games explore military history through the decisions faced by commanders, soldiers, and communities. Visitors can examine the table, ask questions, learn about the historical setting, and—when space and time permit—join the game.
Our scenarios are based on historical sources. While game rules simplify some details for practical play, each event is designed to encourage discussion of historical events, geography, leadership, logistics, strategy, and the human experience of conflict.
Historical gaming can be both enjoyable and educational. Big Muddy provides public educational demonstrations, seminars, and convention programming that promote historical miniature gaming and military history.
