After two years I managed a second game with my son. Now that I don't have to give a damn about what a certain female thinks about my hobby I'm free to practice the dark arts of war, sorrow and lovelessness in my gloomy loser's dungeon**.
PROLOGUE, British admiralty, 1941.
-You asked to see me, sir.
-Oh yes indeed... well, old chap, I must say the battle of River Plate was most disappointing. How did you manage to lose one heavy cruiser and two light cruisers to one hun ship? Everybody knows foreigners are no match for us!
-Well, sir, the hun captain was most unsportsmanlike. He actually had the nerve to shoot back!
-I see. A good enemy is so hard to find these days, eh?
-Indeed, sir.
-And then there's the small matter of what happened in the lifeboats...
-You know the men, sir. They were just upholding the traditions of the Royal Navy. Rum, lash and...
-<cough!> that will be enough.
-Sorry, sir.
-Now since you are of noble birth there is only one thing I can do. Give you a promotion. Intel has it your nemesis has been promoted as well and has been given command of Awful Adolf's newest battleship. They plan to slip it past our forces to attack our merchant convoys in the Atlantic.
-Can't have that now can we, sir?
-Indeed not. You are to take command of the Prince of Wales and Hood and patrol the Denmark Straits. Don't let the hun escape this time. And, if at all possible, don't lose your ships this time either.
-I don't intend to, sir. I have only now managed to replace all the whisky I lost when my ship went down...
We played the scenario straight from the book and did not use any advanced rules. As in the previous battle I played the gallant defenders of the free world (RN) while my son played the Godless nazi oppressors bent on world domination. I thought it would be a nice idea to have a rematch between the (now) old enemies.
TURN I. INITIATIVE: RN
Kriegsmarine ships sailed ahead at full speed. Royal Navy turned to port and Hood accelerated ahead of the battleship to get a clear broadside.
Prince of Wales opened fire and scored 4 hits on Bismarck at extreme range. However the damage was slight (3 points) as the heavy armor of the German battleship deflected most damage.
Bismarck returned fire and in addition to scoring 4 points of damage managed to damage the props of the British battleship reducing its speed by 2.
Hood fired at Bismarck and found out the turn to port had been a mistake: she was just out of range.
Prinz Eugen then fired at Prince of Wales and even with her smaller guns managed to inflict 1 point of damage to the battleship.
In the end phase damage control teams fought hard to repair the damaged props of Prince of Wales but the damage was more extensive than thought.
TURN 2. INITIATIVE: RN.
Both sides closed with each other and made some small turns, Hood trying desperately to correct the earlier mistake and get into range.
Prince of Wales fired on Bismarck and found out one of her new guns had malfunctioned. Those that fired scored 6 hits and 5 points of damage. Still no criticals!!!
(
Bismarck then fired back. With a terrible sense of deja vu the British admiral listened to the damage report: 15 points of damage with props damaged again and 6 fires started. Worst of all, fire control was shot to pieces. From now on I would have to roll 4+ for each main turret to fire. Next time remind me to get SAS to kill that gunnery officer.
(
Hood fired at Bismarck and scored one critical hit. With the result of blowing up one secondary weapon turret. Hooray.
Prinz Eugen fired at Prince of Wales but her shells failed to penetrate the thick armor of the battleship.
In the end phase damage control teams again failed to repair the damaged props of the Prince of Wales but managed to put out all fires.
TURN 3. INITIATIVE: RN
With heavily damaged props the Prince of Wales could move a whopping 1". Hood turned to port while Kriegsmarine ships turned to starboard.
Prince of Wales tried to fire at Bismarck but the damaged fire control did not respond. Only B turret managed to fire (surprise, it's the only one with 2 guns instead of 4...) and failed to damage the German ship.
Again Bismarck returned fire and promptly crippled the Prince of Wales destroying her A and B turrets. The British admiral started to feel his stiff upper lip loosening up a bit. Where does the boy get his luck with dice if it's not from me and her mother hates wargemes???
Hood then fired at Bismarck and scored ONE hit which fortunately was a critical hit. Multiple explosions wracked the German battleship inflicting 6 points of damage, 12 crew hits and starting 4 fires. Maybe things were finally looking up?
Prinz Eugen failed to cause any damage.
In the end phase Bismarck managed to extinguish 3 fires while (surprise) the props of Prince of Wales remained damaged...
TURN 4. INITIATIVE: RN
Both sides moved just to make small adjustments to course. With Prince of Wales unable to move any more, of course.
Hood fired at Bismarck and almost managed to cripple her (1 point short...) damaging her props.
The 15" turrets of Bismarck then turned from Prince of Wales to point menacingly at Hood. With a deafening roar Bismarck let fly a devastating broadside, triggering a catastrophic explosion that tore the old battlecruiser apart sinking it instantly.
Prince of Wales managed to bring her fire control on line long enough to fire her sole remaning operational turret. No damage.
Prinz Eugen fired at Prince of Wales and blew up some secondary weapons.
Prince of Wales FINALLY managed to repair some of the damage to her props bringing her speed up to 3"
TURN 5. INITIATIVE: RN
Realising the battle was all but lost the British admiral bravely started to pack his whisky stash to floating, watertight container while giving the order to fight to the last in the hope of at least crippling the German ship. Sadly, this was not to be as the fire control went off line again preventing the one remaining turret from firing. Bismarck turned her guns back on their original target and finished off the British battleship, not even giving the poor admiral enough time to save his whisky.
EPILOGUE
Right. Two games, two defeats. Either I just don't get naval battles at all or the kid is a genius. Of course, by the end of the game Bismarck was teetering on the edge of being crippled and would have to head back to Germany for some extensive repairs. Still, it was opertational and capable of full speed while Prinz Eugen was undamaged so the result is a sound defeat no matter how I look at it. It seems it's promotions all around once again.
**In case someone is curious about this, the female I had the misfortune of marrying told me my terrible, violent hobbies (wargames and FPS games) don't sit well with her ideology of peace, happiness and love. So I concluded my hobbies must be war, sorrow and lovelessness, right? Furthermore I was told what a complete loser I am for (among other things) having so childish hobbies.
