Their Cohorts all Gleaming

[Tonbo Karasu]

And the Beagle, in a show of agility, twists and banks over one Cruiser, to level its broadside at the rear of another.

Since BB gave me his fire orders, and there's no choice of target for any of LoO, here's the fire results as well.

Destrier and Charger concentrate their short-range firepower at Beagle's Starboard side, where the judge orders the silencing of a third of its broadside, pumping of more electoloid to the reserves, and takes notes, hmming thoughtfully [Slots 1, 3, 4 and 5 on Starboard count as destroyed].

On the Courser, the target of Beagle's careful maneouvering, things are more restrained, with the admiralty officer, after conferring with his counterpart, noting that there would be no significant damage.

"You are lucky," comments the Lieutenant on the Charger, "that I do not order this vessel's colours struck.  The Evesham's turrets are misaligned, and all her heaviest guns would miss.  Nevertheless, Mafeking is lined up fine and both of their broadsides have some shots in range.  All engines halt, and trim to the bow." [Slots 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on the Stern are all destroyed.  HML Charger is immobilised.]

[Tonbo Karasu]

The heavy cruisers continue their wide starboard turn, keeping their broadsides and turrets pointing at the sterns of their lighter opponents.

[Tonbo Karasu]

The light cruisers that are able turn hard to port, sacrificing their speed at this time to stay within the official boundaries of engagement.

[Tonbo Karasu]

The Beagle makes a sharp turn, trying to get itself out from under the guns of the three Light Cruisers.

Across the battlefield (battlesky?) crews shout their readiness for the next salvo.

Firing orders, please.

[Tonbo Karasu]

On board the Charger the adjudicating Lieutenant from the admiralty checks his notes, compares headings and sightings then speaks.  "Hmm, the Beagle can barely stay level, let alone hold a shot on even a stationary target, and those broadsides from the Defender class have always been a bit weak at this range...  Carry on, Captain." [Charger, through a combination of Misses and low rolls, takes no further damage.]

Elsewhere, things are somewhat less sanguine.  "Even at this range, the main guns of a pair of CAs would be enough to silence your fire.  All officers and ratings on the Port broadside, stand down."  [Destrier, on the other hand, has slots 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 destroyed]

"Admirably done, Commander, but I think that being the centre of attention for 3 cruisers for this long is enough for any one destroyer.  Strike your colours, and return trim tanks to normal.  Ascend out of the way of the cruisers, if you will."  [After a number of nailbiting rolls, the Beagle takes even more damage to its port side, passes one catastrophic damage check but then rolls a 24 on the next one]

Heavy Cruiser orders, please.

[Tonbo Karasu]

"Slow engines, let the Mafeking come into line abreast."

Light Cruiser movement, please.

[Tonbo Karasu]

The Light Cruisers move ahead, but vary their speed to allow a better turning circle.

Fire orders, please.

[Tonbo Karasu]

Guns once again fire, streams of smoke drifting behind lightweight wooden slugs, criss-crossing the yards between the two groups of ships.

On board the Destrier a resounding clang and small dent on the port side of the bridge startles the officers.  "I think," says the admiralty judge, "that your vessel would be hors de combat.  Strike your colours and climb to observer altitude."

The Charger is likewise powering up its engines again and rising out of the combat, the projected weight of fire from the broadsides of the CA being to much for its already 'damaged' state.

[Both these vessels had to take multiple catastrophic damage checks, and Destrier failed by 7 after taking a hit rolling over 20 against an armour of 11]

The Heavy Cruiser Mafeking is the object of the return fire and some ablative damage is noted.  [The armour slot at 1 in the bow is destroyed].

Now, I would like to point out that currently two virtually untouched CAs are facing off against a CL with its big gun front turret disabled.  All the Courser can bring to bear is broadsides of 3"ers.

So, CA movement?

[Worktroll]

Interesting ... would you the participants say that the CAs are considerably more robust than their point value scores (using the current system) would suggest?

W.

[blackbrunswicker]

I wouldn't say that. The CAs didn't really take much in the way of fire this game. I'd look at the destroyer's ability to take a pounding for a couple turns as indicative of their survivability, though it seems Beagle didn't score too many hits in return.

[Leaderoforcs]

Interesting ... would you the participants say that the CAs are considerably more robust than their point value scores (using the current system) would suggest?

W.

I would.  A full broadside and change from a CL and some help from another took one slot off of it at short-medium range?  Tough guys.

[Tonbo Karasu]

I have everything recorded on a spreadsheet at home.  I'll do an analysis of it when I have some time.

[Tonbo Karasu]

Okay,

Here's the breakdown of how things went in the game:

Leviathan	Courser	Destrier	Charger	Evesham	Mafeking	Beagle
Fired	8	14	8	16	16	13
Breach	5	6	2	9	13	2
Miss	0	0	0	2	2	4
N/E	3	8	6	5	1	7
Targetted	18	10	17	0	5	25
Breach	6	9	9	0	1	12
Miss	4	0	4	0	0	0
N/E	8	1	4	0	4	13
Catastrophic	2	3	2	0	0	3

As can be seen, the biggest difference appears to be in how many shots each side put out.  It's also worth noting that all of the breaching hits on each CL were on the same facing, while the Beagle's were spread out over two.  Being able to spread the fire acts as a great multiplier, and I think that if the Beagle had been showing it's same broadside on turn 2 it would have been dead right then.

Positional play will be much more important in this than BT I think.

Karasu

[Tonbo Karasu]

Quick questions for the participants.

Any comments on how the game was run?

Do you want to do the reverse matchup?

Karasu

[blackbrunswicker]

Quick questions for the participants.

Any comments on how the game was run?

Do you want to do the reverse matchup?

Karasu

The game was well, and I really enjoyed it. I do wonder if Leaderoforcs was aware of the victory conditions for his side. He spent a lot of time shooting at my destroyer even though it wasn't part of his objectives. Also, I'd be very interested in playing the other side.