The Manchurian War

Last month’s RJW naval battle was very enjoyable. It reminded me that I started my wargaming career as a naval wargamer, so I felt a strong call to go back to my roots. I had some of the ships that I purchased back in the 70’s (a mixture of 1:2400 GHQ and CinC), but I only had the Allied ships. On a trip to visit my family in Denver, my brother pulled out some boxes and there were the Japanese ships. 

A plan began to form. Much had changed in the decades since, so I purchased a set of General Quarters 3.3 (GQ3.3, I had the original GQ rules) and a copy of Snorkers! (Good Oh!) to try each to see how they would work for me.

As I was more familiar with GQ, I decided to give that set a go. I liked the sea table cloth that Michael had used in the RJW battle so I order a similar sea cloth for myself. Shell splashes, smoke screens, squalls, and shell shells were also on my radar (no need to find some white golf tees). Some of these items arrived in time, others would arrived a day or two after the battle. Oh well. 

As I prepped the ships (some were still unpainted, some were unmounted), I ran some playtests on my new sea table cloth. I played on an 8’ x 5’ table as the days of my playing on the floor were long past. I liked the look provided by the cloth but also realized that the table wasn’t large enough for a good game. The rules state a 8’ x 6’ table was adequate, but I felt a 10’ x 8’ table was better. I could assemble a 10.5’ x 7.5’ table, so that was the plan. That would require another sea table cloth which was duly ordered, but it would arrive on the Monday following the game. So the battle was played on a mix of the one new sea cloth and standard blue felt from my earlier naval gaming days. 

I had planned this for our monthly Day of Battle game in March and I had no set scenario planned. As this would be new to most of the gamers that I knew, I saw this battle as more of training game. Depending on the number of players, we could use the number of ships to give everyone a feel for the game. Several of the regular players had already informed me in the weeks before the 28th that they wouldn’t be able to attend, so I rather expected that this would be a non-game day. Anticipating this possibility, I had prepared another playtest of the rules to see how well the larger table would work and continued to experiment with some house rules. 

Battle of 28 March
The playtest pitted the Japanese Nachi and Haguro, supported by Naka and four destroyers (two Shiratsuyus  and two Asashios) against an Allied squadron of Houston, Exeter, Perth and Marblehead, supported by four UK destroyers (a J Class and three E Class). The Japanese had the edge in 8” guns, while the Allies had the same in 6” guns. Torpedoes were heavily in favor of the Japanese. 

The two squadrons started from opposite corners with the cruisers in line and the destroyers on each beam. The Allies were to the northwest and the Japanese were to the southeast.

1000. The Japanese continued on a course of 270º, then turned to starboard to 0º to open all their arcs. The Naka and the destroyers formed up on the disengaged side (starboard) of the cruisers. The Allies were initially on 135º but turned to port to roughly 80º to close the range. The British destroyers formed up on the starboard beam of the cruisers. The range was 18000m so both sides chose to hold fire. 

1006. The Japanese squadron continued on a base course of 0º while the Allied cruisers turned to starboard, paralleling the Japanese but going in the opposite direction (roughly 160º). Range was now 15000m so both sides opened fire (I used the Initial Salvos optional rule, so fire was degraded as the gunnery officers sought the range). Nachi fired at Exeter and Haguro at Houston, the two allied cruisers firing at them in return. No hits were scored. 

1012. Both sides maintained their course while the heavy cruisers continued to fire at each other. Range had dropped to slightly under 13000m. The Japanese drew first blood with Harguro hitting Houston with an 8” round, taking out a 5” secondary. No hits were scored on the Japanese ships. My hit markers hadn’t arrived. It wasn’t until the next turn that I remember I could just use the cotton markers.

1018. The Japanese maintained course while the Allied cruisers did a two-point turn to port to close the range. The Allied destroyers turned 16 points (a 180º) to move around the rear of the Allied cruisers. Range was now 12000m. Nachi shot well, hitting Exeter with three rounds. An 8” round destroyed Exeter’s B Turret and another her portside torpedo mount. The third round went through the side plating in the bow and out the other side. Haguro missed the Houston. Exeter scored a hit on Nachi and Houston scored a hit on Haguro. The two Japanese heavies each took a hull hit. The Allied light cruisers opened fire as well, but were still attempting to find the range.  

1024. The Allied cruisers maintained course as did the Japanese cruisers. The British destroyers were now gaining a favorable position for a torpedo attack, so Naka and her destroyers began to move ahead of the Nachi to position themselves to counter attack. Houston maintained fire against Haguro and was joined by Exeter which shifted fire. Perth and Marblehead maintained their fire against Nachi. With the range down to 9500m, the light cruisers were beginning to get into range to do some damage. With two ships firing at each Japanese cruisers, spotting became a bit more challenging. Still Houston was able to hit Haguro three times, taking out a main gun turret, a hull hit and a dud.  Exeter missed. The two light cruisers each hit Nachi once causing one hull hit (1/2 each as the 6″ didn’t penetrate the armor). Haguro missed Houston but Nachi did hit Exeter with another hull hit.

1030. Seeing the British destroyers setting up for an attack, the Japanese cruisers turn to starboard to a course 0º while Naka and the destroyers moved against them. This closed the A arcs of Haguro against Houston, so she shifted fire to Exeter. Nachi A arcs were now closed against Exeter, so shifted her fire to Marblehead. Both ships will need to find the range to the new targets. Houston was no longer a target, so could enjoy some uninterrupted gunnery against Haguro, while Perth could do the same against Nachi. Range had opened a bit, but was still under 12000m. Houston and Exeter hit Haguro four times, two hull hits, a secondary, and another dud. The two light cruisers also hit against Nachi, taking out a main gun turret, flooding another hull box and more seriously hitting a 24” torpedo mount starting a fire. Both Japanese cruisers missed. The Naka and the British destroyers exchanged fire, with Jupiter hit three times and the Naka once. Jupiter lost B Mount, her torpedo mount, and a hull hit. Naka took a hull hit. 

At this point I called the battle. Because of the position gained by the Allies, the Japanese force would need to turn away from the British destroyers. The Allied cruisers would continue to close, forcing the Japanese to shift fires again. Gun firepower was slowly shifting to the Allies. The Japanese destroyers were out of position to affect the Allied Cruisers for at least another 20-30 minutes. It was best for the Japanese cruisers to open the range and turn east (course 90º) to try to get ahead of the Allied line. It was an interesting position and if I was playing against an opponent, well worth continuing. I rolled for Nachi’s fire and the crew did get it under control.

I was able to play six turns in less than two hours which included setting-up the scenario, plan and move both sides, looked up rules, resolve all the actions, all with generous breaks to make notes. I can see that the game will move much quicker with multiple players involved. I did have a lot fun and look forward to getting another scenario on the table. The larger table worked well and will be my standard in the future. Several of my house rules work as intended, but I still don’t have a good solution to the critical hit issue. I feel the rules are too generous but my solutions are too restrictive. I have yet to find a good balance. 

I am looking forward to fighting another playtest later this week.