INWarD 2020 - Der Tag:1916

While I already posted an early International Naval Wargaming Day (INWarD) report, I thought I would also play a quick solitaire game on the official day. 

 

I selected the new Der Tag, 1916 game from Minden Games.You can get this directly from the Minden Games website, or as part of Panzerschreck #17 from Minden Games or at Wargame Vault. Panzerschreck #17 also includes two other games; Battle Over Dunkirk and Napoleon in Italy.

Der Tag cover

Der Tag, 1916 is a solitaire strategic game covering naval action in the North Sea during 1916. It puts the player in charge of the British fleet. There is an optional rule that allows you to switch sides and command the Germans, but for this game I stuck with the British. 

 

The game has 4 turns, with each turn composed 10 steps. That seems like a lot, but each step moves pretty quickly and some steps can be skipped depending on the situation.

 

At the beginning of the turn, you redeploy your ships to the four Royal Navy bases (Scapa Flow, Cromarty, Rosyth, and Dover). The only restrictions on the deployments are that each base has a maximum and minimum number of ships. In keeping with your high-level position, ships are deployed by type; BB+ (second-generation Dreadnoughts), BB (Dreadnoughts), BC (Battlecruisers), B (pre-Dreadnought battleships), and AC (Armored Cruisers). The game does come with named counters for the ships, but only types matter for deployment and combat. 

 

Next an action card is drawn. The action cards set what the German fleet does for the turn and where it happens. Most cards are raids or other missions where a portion of the German fleet comes out for a limited action. A couple cards are No Action, which means you skip all the remaining steps and go to the turn. One card is Der Tag, which represents a sortie by the full German fleet for a Jutland style battle.

 

After drawing the action, you use die rolls to determine the weather, the German ships in action, and location of the action. Then the Royal Navy player makes interception rolls to get ships to the action. 

 

Once you know which ships intercept, you set up combat. Combat can last up to 3 rounds. The German ships can participate in all 3 rounds, but Royal Navy ships may be limited to 1 or 2 rounds depending on their home base. Additionally, combat rounds may be cut short due to weather or other circumstances.

 

Combat is easy. You roll one die for each ship and consult the appropriate ship type table. The rolls result in automatic hits, hits, and saves. Each save negates an enemy hit, but not automatic hits. For each remaining hit, you roll to determine the ship type affected and then roll to see if the ship is sunk or just damaged. Damaged ships don't participate in the remaining combat rounds. 

 

When combat is complete, you score victory points based on the German action and any ships sunk during the turn.

North Sea Strategic Map

I started my game with the standard Royal Navy setup, with the fleet concentrated at Scapa Flow and Cromarty. Rosyth had most of the BCs and a handful of BB+ ships. Dover force had one BB, 7 old Bs, and 3 ACs. The German action was a BC raid on Hull. I tried for interceptions from all bases, but only the Rosyth and Dover forces were successful. The combat rounds resulted in some damaged ships on each side, but no ships were sunk and the Germans earned a victory point for the raid. 

 

On turn 2 I redeployed all my BCs and a couple more BB+s to Rosyth, but kept the main fleet in the north. The German action was a Tip & Run battle on Scarborough with all their BCs, 3 BB+, and 3 BB. This time the interception rolls went in my favor with Scapa Flow and Rosyth getting success rolls. However, the Scapa Flow force would not arrive until combat round 3. The first 2 combat rounds saw damaged ships on both sides and a German BC sunk. The third combat round was more decisive, with 17 battleships (8 BB+ and 9 BB) engaging the much smaller German force. When the smoke cleared, another German BC and 2 battleships had been sunk with no losses for the Royal Navy. The Germans did earn a victory point for the action, but this was more than offset by the victory points earned for the sunk ships. 

 

I didn't make any deployment changes for turn 3. The German action was another Tip and Run battle off Norway. This time the Germans sent all their remaining BCs, BB+s, and BBs. Luck was on my side again as I rolled successful interceptions for Scapa Flow, Cromarty, and Rosyth. This gave me a definite superiority in ships with 7 BC, 22 BB+, 9 BB, and 8 AC against 3 BC, 9 BB+, and 6 BB. But this is where my dice failed me. While I got lots of hits during combat, I couldn't translate those into sunk ships. The German dice were a little better, as they sank a BB+ and an AC, but they didn't earn any extra victory points for the action.

 

Going into turn 4, I still had a 18 to 8 lead in victory points. But bad rolling could change that. I shifted a couple more BB+s from Scapa Flow to Rosyth,but kept the other forces as is. The German action turned out to be No Action, which ended the turn and the game with a win for the Royal Navy. A fitting end for INWarD 2020.

 

The game played quick and was fun. There is a lot of variables in the actions, so I can see myself pulling it out again. The game also doesn't need much table space, so it would make a good travel game. 

 

I generally like the little games that Minden Games produces and would recommend taking a look at their website, but I know they aren't for everyone.