Re: By Stealth and Sea: FINAL TURN - MISSION 1 COMPLETE

[bbmike]

I don't think Bob lives quite far enough north for that name.

[bob48]

This is indeed correct.

[Sir Slash]

Too bad. There's a proper Italian Navy officer's name right there. I'd ride to my death on a chariot with Haggis Mc Bloodpie anytime. 

[BanzaiCat]

A good, short video giving you a bit of an overview, as well as about the raid on Alexandria Harbor in December 1941:

This one has more interesting info, though it utilizes some of the footage from the video above. It also goes into a bit of interesting detail on the raids on Gibraltar Harbor.

[bob48]

Where would we be without Mark Felton? 

[Staggerwing]

Where would we be without Mark Felton? 

He's an odd sort of duck but a permanent part of my youtube subscriber list.

[BanzaiCat]

I've written up the intro and first turn so far, but want to get a few more written up before I start posting anything. This is a relatively quick game, which is made longer by the whole AAR process of course, so please bear with me.

[BanzaiCat]

Part 1

By Stealth and Sea is a solitaire game where the player controls forces of the Decima Flottiglia MAS, or the 10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla, a commando frogmen unit of the Italian Regia Marina during World War 2. Our goal is to raid Allied shipping by infiltrating heavily-guarded harbors using manned torpedoes that are more like miniature submersibles, which carry heavy warheads at the front. After infiltrating a harbor and hopefully finding a good target, the two-man crew then detaches the warhead from the SLC (siluri a lenta corsa, or “slow-running torpedoes,” but also nicknamed Maiale, or “pig” by their crews) and attaches it to the bottom of the targeted vessel’s hull. They then set a timer, scuttle their Maiale, and try to make good their escape.

The game features nine total missions that can be played separately, or over either a historical or custom campaign. I’m choosing the custom campaign route where I’m using forum-dwellers to act as one of the two-man crew, with the other being their historical counterpart. Over the course of the campaign, successful crew can upgrade skills and I can also upgrade technology. The more successful we are, the better our skills and equipment will become, but also the stronger the Royal Navy will be as they will become more familiar with our shenanigans and make things much more difficult.

Based on my experience thus far in playing, I can say wholeheartedly that more than likely, we are all going to figuratively die in this game.

Note that this is the text from the Mission Overview book, though changed a bit to reflect the actual players.

Mission 1 (BG2): Gibraltar

The Italian submarine Scire, commanded by Junio Valerio Borghese, left La Spezia on 21 October 1940, with three SLCs in their pressure-resistant canisters and four crews. The primary crews were BC with Lazciari in SLC1, Barthi with Bianchi in SLC2, and Bayoni with Pedretti in SLC3. The fourth reserve crew, Sirslashi with Paccagnini, stood ready just in case.

SLC1:


SLC2:


SLC3:


Reserve Crew:


The Scire arrived in Algeciras Bay (the bay between Gibraltar and the Spanish city of Algeciras to the west) on 29 October. Borghese positioned it a few hundred meters from the mouth of the river Guadarranque, well within Algeciras Bay and directly opposite The Rock. The crews eyed the pre-mission briefing to check out the layout of the harbor.

(Our three SLCs are circled in green, below.)





We will approach from the west (Gibraltar’s harbor is on its west side). The distance is not great, but as we begin at 0030 hours, we don’t have a lot of time before daylight hits.



Just outside the north side of the harbor, there are three cargo ships at anchor. Certainly easy targets as they are outside of the main harbor itself, but they’re small potatoes (only worth one VP each). There are much more lucrative targets worth risking a go within the harbor itself.



Inside the harbor, on the north side, are three Royal Navy warships – the HMS Hotspur, HMS Vidette, and HMS Wrestler, all destroyers, each worth 3 VPs. More lucrative than a cargo ship, but not the most valuable targets in the harbor.



On the detached mole, which is on the west side of the harbor, are the HMS Faulknor and HMS Encounter, both 3 VP destroyers, as well as the HMS Sheffield, a 5 VP cruiser. The Sheffield will be one of the targets we will hopefully take out.



I say ‘hopefully’ because just to the east of the detached mole is the Coaling Island, where the HMS Renown is docked. That’s a 10 VP battlecruiser, though her spot in the Coaling Island would be very difficult to get to as it would require a lot of Piloting rolls.



On and around the south mole are a plethora of Her Majesty’s targets – err, I mean, warships. This includes the HMS Fury, HMS Wishart, and HMS Inglefield, all destroyers, as well as the HMS Furious, a 7 VP aircraft carrier, and the HMS Barham, a 10 VP battleship. Those last two are certainly tempting targets as well.

Here’s hoping we actually make it TO these targets in the first place…

I should also mention that at game start, I can orient the counters to point in any direction. I’m choosing to rotate our SLCs thusly:



TURN SEQUENCE
Each turn is 30 minutes of real time, and is made up of the:

(1) Fault Check Phase
(2) SLC Phase
(3) Harbor Defense Phase
(4) Clean-Up Phase

However, before we begin the normal turn sequence, we have to check the Forward Positioning card for details. This is the base from which we operate, and La Spezia is a good distance away, which means breakdown of equipment is highly likely.



So  likely, in fact, that we have to make TWO Fault Checks for EACH SLC before starting the first game turn.

For SLC1, I draw the following:



A Warhead Fault and Wetsuit Fault. I need to roll a 5 or higher on a normal d6 to mitigate the Wetsuit Fault, and a 6 on a normal d6 to mitigate the Warhead Fault.

Fortunately, I rolled a 5 for the Wetsuit and a 6 for the Warhead, which is unheard of. I rarely pass one of these things on this mission, let alone both! But, SLC1 is clear to start the game.

Next, I draw two Fault cards for SLC2, and get the following:



My die rolling for SLC2 is great – a 6 and a 5 – but not good enough to cancel out both faults this time. The 6 I rolled manages to mitigate the Transmission Fault, which is good as that would mean the SLC would not be able to move at all. The 5 I rolled for the Breathing Gear Fault means that token is removed from SLC2, and any Stamina checks made from this point forward are done at a -1. (Good thing their Stamina is 2, which would mean I’d roll 2d6 instead of 1d6 when making a Stamina check.)



SLC2 is in otherwise good shape to move forward.

Finally, SLC3. This is what I drew:



Bad cards and bad rolls – I’m surprised our luck held out as well as it has to this point. Both Faults require a 6 or more and I rolled a 3 and 2. The Ballast Tank Fault means SLC3 cannot dive, and the Transmission Fault means it cannot move. A double whammy, though they are repairable, fortunately.



Now that THAT fun is over with, we get to start turn 1. Which means, we get to run a Fault Check phase.

Yes, even though we just had two Fault Checks to start off this mission (thanks to the Positioning Card we start with), we still need to perform a check. This means rolling the special 1d6 to find out which SLC gets impacted, and I roll a 3, so it’s SLC3. You know, because they haven’t had enough go wrong so far. I draw a Breathing Gear Fault card.



Fortunately, and surprisingly, I roll a 6. Italian engineering for the win. At least, for the breathing win.

Now we enter the SLC Phase, where each SLC spends its two Actions to do things. Unfortunately, SLC3 is plagued with mechanical problems and will have to spend time Repairing. Hopefully a British Patrol Boat or searchlight won’t catch them on the surface. SLC 1 and 2 are in much better shape, though 2 is having breathing apparatus problems.

As I said before, there’s a variety of Actions we can take for each SLC. We can spend both Actions to assure success for most of them, or spend only 1 Action for a 50/50 shot of getting it right. My luck so far is decent, so I decide to take a chance on SLC1 – first, I’ll have him perform a Full Move, which is three hexes when on the surface (it’s only two hexes when submerged), then Dive. Both will require a 4+ on a d6. Fortunately, I roll a 4 for the Full Move, and a 6 for the Dive, so SLC1 is well on its way.

I want to do the same thing for both SLC2 and 3, but can’t with 3 because it’s a broken down pile of crap.

With SLC2, I attempt a Full Move, but fail, so I choose to go with a Dive action, as that will make them much safer than being on the surface for the coming Harbor Defense Phase. Fortunately, their Dive roll succeeds, and SLC2 is now submerged.

SLC3 needs to attempt a Repair. I want them to Dive as well, so I’ll have to take my chances, and fortunately we succeed at Repairing the Ballast Tanks, allowing them to Dive, which I try with my second action, which succeeds also.



Now we’re faced with the Harbor Defense Phase. Searchlights are randomly stabbing out into the pitch darkness of the bay, and Royal Navy Patrol Boats are out there looking as well. How will our team do? Find out in the next episode of Uh Oh, Torpee-D’ohs!

[bob48]

Well, it certainly looks different.

[Barthheart]

Man, these guys were totally nuts and very large brass ones. 

[Sir Slash]

Sirslashi volunteers his partner Paccagnini for a suicide mission. It's the Regina Marina way. Loving it so far. 

[BanzaiCat]

Part 2

When we last left off, SLC1 was in great shape, SLC2 could be better but not awful, and SLC3 was dealing with a lot of mechanical problems. They still need to Repair their transmission before they can move anywhere, but at least they’re under water. All SLCs are under water, actually, which is the best we can hope for moving into the Harbor Defense Phase for the first turn.

First, the searchlights have a go. I will draw an Alert card for each SLC that does not have a Detection marker (a yellow disc) on it, and since that’s all three of them, we’ll be drawing three Alert cards.



The Harbor Defenses for the current map are listed on the right side of the board, starting at the top with Searchlights. Submerged SLCs are detected on an Alert card draw of 11 or higher.



I like to ramp up tension a bit by laying each card next to each impacted SLC to see what happens next.



Fortunately, none of these Alert cards are 11 or higher, so the searchlights lancing out into the darkness do not find our intrepid commandos.

Which, you may have noticed, is a pool of finite successes. Consider that, since we are drawing numbers from a deck, there are only a certain number of cards that are low, and a certain number that are high. There is no randomness of rolling, here. The Alert cards are their own force of nature and WILL negatively impact the game at some point. It’s just a matter of time, which is actually an enjoyable part of this system.

Normally, the next part of the Harbor Defense Phase is for Underwater Dive Teams to do their thing, but the British at this point in time are clueless of such things and this part doesn’t happen. However, the next part, Patrol Craft Response, does.



Here, submerged DLCs that are not within the harbor area, nor Detected, get spotted by a Patrol Craft on an Alert card draw of 10 or higher.



So once again, we are drawing Alert cards, one for each SLC, to see if any Patrol Craft happen upon our heroes.



Once again, we dodge some bullets.

And this pretty much brings turn 1 to a close, because as there are no Patrol Craft on the board, they do not move and do not attack. There’s also no Shore Mortar present, as this is something the British may or may not come up with in the future, depending on how successful our commandos are.

The only thing left to do now is the Clean-Up Phase, and the only thing here that we need to do is advance the Time Token to 0100 hours.

Turn 2

For this turn, our SLCs need to plow ahead and get to the harbor. We’ve been lucky so far; hopefully you can imagine the carnage (said in my best JD voice) had Patrol Craft popped up in the last turn. Things could be a lot worse.

For the Fault Check Phase, this is what I draw and roll:



I roll a 3 once again, indicating SLC3 (of course…poor Brant), then draw a Warhead Fault card. I roll a 4, which means it malfunctions, so SLC3 has that going for it, also.



Next is the SLC Phase. I first want to activate SLC1, to turn them towards the southern harbor entrance. If surfaced, this costs one Action and is successful, but underwater, it requires a Piloting roll. I get a 3, which fails, so I spend the second Action, getting a 4, which succeeds. After fumbling a bit, they’re pointed the right way.

For SLC2, I choose a Full Move, spending one Action; I rolled a 4, which is a success. I then spend a second Action to turn them to port, which is another Piloting roll. I roll a 5, another success. So far, so good.



SLC3 is a bit special, and admittedly I messed up in the last post. When an SLC has a Transmission Fault, it can move, but it cannot do a Full Move. A normal Move action costs 1 Action and allows you to move 1 space; a Full Move lets you move up to 4 spaces on the surface, and up to three while submerged. You can see where a faulty transmission will make it take a very long time to get where an affected SLC needs to go. Because the chances of rolling high are nil for me, I’m not taking a chance and am going to spend both of SLC3’s Actions on a Repair, which will automatically succeed in fixing that Transmission Fault. Now, it only has a bum warhead to repair, though that’s not as important right now; it can wait for later. SLC3 needs to get moving!

Here’s the situation at the end of turn 2’s SLC Phase – SLC1 and SLC2 are doing well, and SLC3 is not suffering from any breakdowns (for the moment):



In the next part, we’ll start the Harbor Defense Phase for Turn 3.

[Sir Slash]

 

[BanzaiCat]

Likely, I will not have an update until after this weekend...even though it's a holiday here, there's too much to do around my house. 

[Sir Slash]

Get that stuff done Man. The war can wait.