War at Sea

Waitangi Day saw Steve and I play another short naval engagement. This time we decided to play Axis and Allies: War at Sea, just to see how it went. A&A WaS is designed to be a quick and dirty system, but it does have a points system. We decided to go with 100 points each, with Steve playing the Japanese, and me playing the US Navy again.

IJN Battleship Yamato, Heavy Cruiser Haguro, and two flights of  G4M Betty  medium bombers.  A powerful  surface action group under Steve's command.

I first purchased my WaS ships back in 2008, during a trip to the United States. I had discovered their existence whilst searching for naval miniatures suitable for use in CD3 games, and found that they were modeled at 1:1800 - the scale ground scale used in CD. The idea was that I could use them to represent naval forces in amphibious games a mile or two off shore (36 to 72 inches), and have a target that was the right size to be caught in artillery templates.

USS Wasp, USS New Jersey, and a flight of  TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. 

By mutual agreement, the seas were flat and clam, although I don't believe WaS has rules for bad weather! The first turn started with both fleets closing for action, and both sides launching air attacks on each other.

Stat cards for the US fleet. 100pts well spent!

Opening moves. The IJN attempt a torpedo strike on the USS New Jersey.

Steve opted to have one of his bombers attack the mighty USS New Jersey, which resulted in it being destroyed by the New Jersey's AA fire. I had my Avengers attack the Yamato, causing minor damage to the huge battleship.

The second turn saw the fleets move even closer, Steve used his remaining bomber to attack the USS Wasp, which also used its AA to destroy the attacking bomber. My Avengers return to attack the Yamato, only to be driven off by the big ship's AA fire.

Meanwhile the USS New Jersey, and the Yamato exchange gun fire causing minor damage to both ships.

The Avengers sink the Haguro

The third turn saw me change targets for my next airstrike. I decided to attack the Haguro, and that decision paid off, with the Haguro being sunk by the Avengers torpedo attack.  The two battleships continued to exchange fire, with both ships firing broadsides at each other. New Jersey rolls well, causing more damage to the Yamoto, and being only one hit away from causing a critical hit and sinking her outright. The Yamato is more fortunate with its dice and gets the hits needed to cause a critical - sinking the New Jersey!

The  Yamato sinks the USS New Jersey

Turn four sees me attempt to sink the Yamato with another airstrike, before it can get the Wasp in range of its guns. I make a horrible mistake and use bombs rather than torpedoes, causing no damage to the Yamato.

Turn five sees the Wasp in the range of the Yamato's guns. My only chance is a successful torpedo strike with my Avengers...

The Avengers finally sink the Yamato.

and yet again my Avengers sink a IJN ship! So Waitangi Day 2013 had me chalk up two victories, in two very pleasant games using beer and pretzel rules. Not a bad way to start the years gaming, nor a bad way to spend a public holiday.