Enfilade Recap Part 2: My Games

For Enfilade 2011, I ran my games on Saturday morning and afternoon. The morning game was Operation Morvarid, covering a missile boat action during the Iran – Iraq War, and the afternoon game was South Pacific Nights, covering a hypothetical World War II engagement between American and Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands.

Operation Morvarid was a little different for me in that the order of battle and mission was set for each side. I usually like to mix things up by having players select their forces and/or missions for a game, but this time I just went with some limitations for each side.

The scenario was that the Iranians had just completed a raid on some Iraqi oil terminals, the Iranians are trying to withdraw from the area while the Iraqis are trying to intercept them. The Iranians started out with the LST, a patrol boat, two Kaman class missile boats, and an AB-212 helicopter. The problem for the Iranians was the missile boats each only had two Harpoon missiles and they were pretty sure there would be more than four Iraqi boats. The Iraqis had four missile boats (two Osa Is and two Osa IIs) and two P-6 torpedo boats. While they had plenty of missiles (16 total), I added a special rule that said because of their poor training, any missile shot outside of visual range would be treated as a snapshot (this incurs a hefty negative modifier for shooting).

The Iranian LST and patrol boat had to start about in the middle of the board, while the missile boats could set up anywhere and all the ships were trying to exit off the south end of the board. The Iraqis entered on the north board edge, but could delay entry and come on the east side (moving one foot south for each turn of delay). Each side also had a fishing trawler that could act as dummies, adding to the ‘Fog of War’. The only terrain on the board was a small rain squall that blocked visual line of sight. The Iranians placed all of their ships near each other in the center of the board and the Iraqis had one pair of missile boats enter on turn one, while the other boats raced down the east side of the board.

As soon as they saw the blips on the north, the Iranians sent their helicopter (armed with a couple rocket pods and a machine gun) to investigate. The helicopter spotted the two Osa I missile boats and fired off a rocket pod at the nearest one damaging it. The Iraqis returned fire with some shoulder launched SAMs. Unfortunately for the Iraqis, both missiles missed.

SAMs fired at the helicopter.

The helicopter fired off its other rocket pod, sinking the damaged Osa and headed off to investigate some other radar blips. The Iranian missile boats turned north to engage the remaining Osa, each firing a Harpoon missile. The Osa captain saw the incoming missiles and decided it would be better to fire blind than to (probably) sink with missiles still onboard and launched his missiles at different targets. Two went toward the Iranian Kamans (whcih had revealed themselves) and the other two went at the blips he thought were most likely the LST and patrol boat.

A bad day for this Osa.

The Osa captain guessed correctly and his boat was plastered by the Harpoons, but he had hope to do some damage to the enemy. Two of his rolls were misses, but then his dice got hot and he hit one of the Kaman missile boats causing heavy damage and caused light damage to the patrol boat. The patrol boat also suffered a "confusion at the helm" critical hit, forcing it to make a starboard turn and almost collide with the LST.

The near collision between the Iranian patrol boat and LST.

Meanwhile, on the eastern board edge, the torpedo boats and remaining Osas were entering. The helicopter spotted the two P-6 torpedo boats and decided to strafe them. His shot did light damage to one torpedo boat, but the 23mm guns on the boats took out the helicopters engine, sending it into the drink.

At this point the game became a real chase with the Iraqi boats trying to chase down the LST and the remaining Iranian missile boat trying to stop them. The Kaman fired off its last missile at an Osa, which returned the favor by firing missiles back. The Harpoon missed its mark, but the Styx didn't, damaging the Kaman. The Osa captain then decided to finish off both damaged Kamans with its remaining missiles. With time running out (the LST was poised to exit the board), the remaining Osa launched all four missiles at the Large Slow Target.

LST under attack.

Unfortunately for the Iraqi player, all his missiles missed. The torpedo boat commander also attacked, but couldn't get any torpedo hits either. In the end, the Iranians escaped with their LST intact and a damaged patrol boat, giving them a minor victory.

Everybody seemed to have a good time and I distributed prize packs of missile markers from Fight's On to the players (thanks to Rob at Fight's On for sending me the prizes). I really like how the missile markers look with games (as you can see from the photos) and the players were happy to get their own.

Unlike the morning game, the South Pacific scenario had lots of choices for both sides. The Japanese were on a resupply mission that had to exit off the southeast board edge and could choose their forces from a group of large ships or smaller ships and barges. The Japanese selected a destroyer (instead of two sub chasers), a minesweeper loaded with supplies (instead of a group of barges), and a group of four barges with air cover from a Pete floatplane (instead of an LST). The American mission was to pick up a Marine recon team that had been observing the Japanese forces on the island in preparation for an invasion and they could choose from groups of sub chasers (with working radar), PT boats, and LCM gunboats. They chose to go with the PT boats (foregoing the radar-equipped sub chasers) and the LCM gunboats (instead of lightly armed, but fast converted PT boats). Interestingly, the LCM gunboats had the heaviest guns on the American side, each with a 3-inch gun and a pair of 37mm cannon. In addition to the island at terrain, the small rain squall made an appearance in this game too.

The game started with the Americans entering on the east board edge and the Japanese on the west. Like the Operation Morvarid game, I used the blip markers to help hide which ships were going where and included a couple dummy markers for each side.

The Japanese destroyer and minesweeper initially stayed in the middle of the board to help cover the barges and so they didn’t have to worry about running aground. The barges hugged the shoreline, while the Pete scouted ahead. The American PT boats also stuck to the middle of the board, while the LCMs moved close to shore.

The PT boats sighted the destroyer at about the same time that the Pete picked out their wakes. The PT boats made a dash for the rain squall to hide and set up an attack on the destroyer, discovering the minesweeper as they moved into the squall. Searchlights turned on and gunfire erupted as the two sides closed with each other. One PT boat was hit pretty hard as the others lined up for torpedo shots on the Japanese ships. The LCM gunboats spotted the Japanese minesweeper and started attacking with their 3-inch guns, which surprised the Japanese players. The 3-inch guns started a fire on the minesweeper as it was trying to avoid a torpedo spread, but the torpedoes caught the stern of the ship, sending to to the bottom.

Minesweeper in trouble.

As the LCM gunboats continued on their mission to get the Marines, they spotted the Japanese barges. The gunboats, which had originally been heavily-armed to combat Japanese barges, opened fire on the Japanese. They showed how effective the up-gunning was by quickly sinking one barge and setting two more on fire. Eventually they would sink all the barges.

Japanese barges burning.

The LCM gunboats then turned to their primary mission, driving up to the shore and picking up the Marines.

LCM gunboats pick up the Marines.

Meanwhile the Japanese destroyer was blasting away at the PT boats. It even took a couple (ineffective) shots at the LCM gunboats, but it took a couple hits from the PT boats and gunboats that started fires on the destroyer. Unfortunately for the destroyer, it couldn’t quite turn fast enough to avoid checking for grounding and it found itself going from full speed to all stop as it hit a sand bar near the island. The destroyer captain was able to get the ship off the bar on the next turn, but this allowed the only PT boat with torpedoes remaining to line up and launch a torpedo spread.

Japanese destroyer trying to avoid torpedoes.

The destroyer was able to turn into the spread and the American player rolled poorly as the torpedoes sped by the destroyer. At this point we decided to call the game, but continued to roll to see what would happen to the fires on the destroyer. The fires were eventually extinguished, but between them and the grounding, the destroyer had lost half its hull points.

The Japanese lost their minesweeper and all the barges, while the destroyer escaped with heavy damage. The Americans lost two PT boats and had another heavily damaged, but they were able to pick up the Marines and stop the Japanese, so they were awarded the victory.

Completed LST and More

I've finally finished up the Iranian LST, which, with a couple borrowed Kaman class missile boats, completes the needed forces for the Operation Morvarid scenario.

As I've mentioned before, the LST is based on the Iranian Hengam class, which looks like this...

Iranian Hengam class LST

And here is my completed version from a similar angle...

My completed LST

It isn't a perfect match. As you can see, the bow on my version is a little pointier and overall my ship is blockier than the real thing, but it should work fine for gaming purposes. Here is an overhead view so you can see the helicopter deck. I'm not going to zoom in on the deck too much, since I hand-painted the lines on the deck and they aren't perfectly straight. 

Overhead view of the LST

Here is a group shot of the Iranian ships for Operation Morvarid.

Iranian forces for Operation Morvarid

In the front are two Kaman class missile boats (borrowed from Kevin) made by PT Dockyard. In the back is my semi-Hengam class LST and a stand-in for the Cape class patrol boat (in this case it is an American 110' Subchaser from PT Dockyard), with a UH-1 helicopter gunship overhead.

Here is a group shot of the Iraqis for the scenario.

Iraqi Forces for Operation Morvarid

The Iraqis have, from left to right, two Osa II missile boats, two Osa I missile boats (all from Skytrex) and two P-6 torpedo boats (from PT Dockyard).

With the set up and some other restrictions for both sides, it should be an interesting scenario.

Missile Boats and LST updates

I finally finished painting the two Osa II and converted Matka missile boats. They still need to be mounted on bases. But since I'm trying to put up a new post each week, I thought I'd show off the painted ships.

Project 206MR Matka (top) and two Project 205 Osa II (bottom) missile boats

The deck color should probably be a little lighter and redish, but I think it will pass. It also give a little variation from some other ships I've done.

Overall, I think the Matka conversion turned out pretty well. When I base it I'll need to figure out a way to show the extra spray when it is foil-borne. I'm not exactly sure what I will do, since I would like to show when it is going slower too.

Project 206 MR Matka profile

A little higher view of the ship

I went for a pretty standard Soviet era paint scheme for the Osa II boats. The boats paint up well, although there really aren't too many details to pick out on the Skytrex models. That said, the boats are pretty sturdy and I expect they will see a lot of service in various games.

I finally finished up the basic work on the LST. I spent about a half-hour with an electric hand-sander getting the hull down to the right size and then began working on the superstructure. I used the styrene strips to create the superstructure, bridge (including the wings), exhaust stacks, and mast. I then added some light guns, a crane, and a ships boat to add some character to the LST.

Profile view of completed LST

3/4 view with a better look at the superstructure

The right side of the LST got scuffed when I was sanding, but a little putty will fill it right in. I think it will give the ship a used look.

Completed LST showing a little scuffing

Here is a low-level profile picture so you can see how big the LST is compared to an Osa II.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the scratch-building job I did. It would have been nice to make it a little bigger, but the size should work with most of the games I'll be playing.

I'll post more photos when I'm done painting the ship.

Thinking about Enfilade

Registration for Enfilade, the NHMGS gaming convention has opened up and it looks like it is time to figure out what games I want to run at the convention. There are six gaming periods at Enfilade (two on Friday, three on Saturday, and one on Sunday) and because I want to get some gaming in, I only thinking about two games this year. Although I have offered to help out with Keivn's Sluys Project, which I think will happen on Friday night.

Right now I'm thinking about a couple games, one game will be a missile boat action loosely based on Operation Morvarid from the Iran-Iraq War (more boat action and fewer aircraft) and the other game will be a WWII Pacific PT Boat action. I think I have, or can borrow, most of the ships needed for both of these games, which will allow me to direct my limited gaming funds for this year into the on-going Age of Sail project. Even though I keep hearing PT Dockyard's LCS-2 model calling for me to buy it (maybe later this year).

To start off with, I'll talk about the ships I'll need for the Operation Morvarid scenario. For the Iranians I'm thinking of the following: 2 Kaman class missile boats (I'm going to borrow these), 1 Cape class patrol boat (I'm using a stand-in for this one), and a Hengam class LST (I'm going to try scratch-building this one). I will also have some helicopters for the Iranians.


Iranian Hengam class LST

On the Iraqi side I'm looking at the following: 2 P-6 torpedo boats (from PT Dockyard and already built), 2 Osa I missile boats (from Skytrex already built) and 2 Osa II missile boats (from Skytrex, which are not built).

I've put together other kits from the Skytrex Seastrike line (I used these ships in the 2007 DANG Arab-Israeli War game). The Skytrex Osa boats, both the type I and II, are both pretty basic. There isn't a lot of detail on hulls or other parts. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, since there isn't any flash, as you can see in the picture below, and the parts all fit together easily.

A pair of Skytrex Osa II ships

I'll post more pictures as I assemble and paint the boats.

As I prepare to scratch-build the Hengam LST, I've pulled out another modification project to hone my skills a little. I'm starting out with a PT Dockyard Soviet Turya Project 206M torpedo hydrofoil and converting it to a Matka Project 206MR missile hydrofoil. I've been thinking about doing this for a while, basically since the Russian-Georgian Conflict when there were rumors about a naval engagement between missile boats in the Black Sea. So, I'm really trying to turn the Turya kit into the Georgian missile boat Tbilsi. 

Project 206MR Matka missile boat

The PT Dockyard Turya is pretty nice, but there are a lot of armament difference between the Turya and Matka. 

PT Dockyard Turya with torpedo tubes removed

The Turya comes with 4 torpedo tubes a forward 23mm gun and an aft 57mm gun. The Matka has 2 SSN-2 missile tubes, a forward 76mm gun and an after 30mm gun. So about the only thing that will be used from the kit is the hull, mast, and Bass Tilt radar director. The missile tubes and 30mm gun will come from some leftover parts from a Dragon Soviet Missile boats kit, but I have to scratch-build the 76mm gun.

I'll start the conversion process by cutting the torpedo tubes off the hull, filling and flattening out the area above the bridge, and lengthening the superstructure. Then I'll scratch-build the 76mm gun and mount all the weapons on the hull. Hopefully this will be as easy as it sounds.