Coastal Forces - The Swept channel

Through a break in the mist Johnny Quilp spots the
Kriegsmarine, and readies his shiny torpedo.

A simple scenario linker is my idea for grouping coastal forces games.   I set up a chart of Patrol areas linked to mission briefings.  Keeping it simple seems like a good idea.

To generate scenarios I use mission cards.  These set out a patrol area using the chart above.  

The Royal Navy have standing orders, that in most instances will just say "attack."
The Kriegsmarine, as the programmed force have more varied standing orders, but generally they are on their own mission and will follow a general order to evade.

Cards include 1-3 encounter locations. A mission objective on a blind is located at the centre of the table and another blind at a far table edge.  The blinds will obey German General orders. 
__________________________________________

Mission Card One
Good morning Lieutenant Commander
Today's Mission is to protect the mine sweeping operation in the swept channel.
Pass Cork Sand (1) and the Inner Gabbard.  Pass between the Gabbards (2) as far as the south western edge of Brown Ridge (3).
If you encounter any enemy follow your standing orders, attack.  

2 blinds at each location.  Dice within contact area

1.  To encounter
2.  The marker buoy
3.  The straggling Minesweeper
4.  Sweeping trawler dead in the water
5.  Sea Mine explodes
6.  R-Boat on mine laying mission.
__________________________________________

Mission Card Two: Enemy Convoy
Good morning Lieutenant Commander
Today's Mission is to attack an enemy Convoy Coastal Command has reported sneaking along the enemy coast.
Pass the Inner Gabbard and swept channel (1).  Head for Ostend, rounding Thornton Bank (2).  
Pass the Middle bank (3) to the Hook (4)  Return via the Outer Gabbard (5)
If you encounter any enemy follow your standing orders and attack.  2 blinds at each location.  Dice within contact area

1.  To encounter
2.  Only a marker buoy
3.  A downed pilot in the water
4.  Mine
5.  A Pair of S-Boats
6.  Kriegsmarine trawler carrying a cargo of Mines. _____________________________________________

Other Missions
Protect lone straggler
Sweep for Enemy E-boats
Land SOE agent on enemy coast
Commando attack on
Patrol enemy coast
Protect Merchant ship
Patrol the Swept Channel
Interdict the enemy supply lines
Pick up agent from enemy coast
Depth charge attack on an enemy harbour
Intercept enemy patrols
Intercept an enemy Submarine landing enemy agent
Daylight pickup of downed pilots

I prepared the first three cards and randomly drew one.  For the First game I have drawn: 

My back of a postcard rules, so far... Work in Progress.
1 inch = 5 knots Weapons roll multiple d6 spotting within 12".  Vessels moving half speed heard, and bearing detected at 36" Vessels firing or planing at full speed with a plume are visible.	Two sixes are a critical hit, roll 2d6 2.  Life belts,  3.  Raft 3.  Command,  4.  Waterline hull,  5.   A weapons point 6.   Rudder,  7.   Props,  8.   Engines 9.   Wireless Transmitter 10. Aldis lamp 11. Command 12. Fuel fire
To Hit dice      5 or 6. Machine gun  1d6 damage HMG              2d6 damage 20mm             3d6 damage 4cm/2pdr        4d6 damage Over 12"        6 needed for hit. Within 3"       4,5,6 hits
Damage dice 1  Through the woodwork 2  Into the upper hull 3-4  Sheer off 5-6 Hit Command 1. Lookout  2. Damage P. 3. "Shoot"   4. Coxswain 5. Tor/Dpth 6. Cmd Wildcard	Captain`'s Character 6  Inspirational Hero 6 Crew points 5  Bold Brass Balls 5 Crew points 4  Solid and Dependable 3  Sound Chap. 3 Crew Points 2  Wobbly and Losing it 2 crew points. 1  Pretty Piss Poor.  1 Crew Point.

Mini dice.

Command dice for the flotilla commander.
Damage to hull/buoyancy, engines and weapons ammunition use.
Still working on this... Its sort of "Tanker" Meets MTB.

Roll 5 x d6- and allocate dice.
1.  Lookouts
2.  Damage parties 
3.  Guns fire "shoot!" 
4.  Coxswain course / speed change
5.  Stand by torpedoes / depth charges
6.  Command (wildcard allocation dice)

Mission Card One 
Good morning Lieutenant Commander
Today's Mission is to protect the mine clearing operation in the swept channel.
Pass Cork Sand (1) and the Inner Gabbard.  Pass between the Gabbards (2) as far as the south western edge of Brown Ridge (3).
If you encounter any enemy follow your standing orders, attack.  
2 blinds at each location.  Dice within contact area.

1.  To encounter
2.  The marker buoy
3.  The straggling Minesweeper
4.  Sweeping trawler dead in the water
5.  Sea Mine explodes
6.  R-Boat on mine laying mission.

The Game

1. Cork Sand

The patrol, 2 MTB

A kriegsmarine armed trawler

Johnny puts his shiny torpedo into the water

The MTB goes full revs as the torpedo blows the side out of the trawler.

Circling back.  6 survivors taken aboard.

Another trawler, but it would appear that its one of ours, sweeping.

Aldis lamp check and its identity confirmed.  Not one of my better scratch builds.

An "R" Boat minelaying off the Outer Gabbards.  Intent on his job he doesnt spot the MTBs

Nice models these!

But the Hun twigs on, and increases to his 42kt max speed.  We cant get near that!

A final gift from the "R" boat as it sends a stream of 20mm aft to discourage the pursuit.  Well we wouldn`t have caught him anyway.

The S-Boat and my rules design notes.

With its usual efficiency the Kriegsmarine designed the Schnell-boot or S-boat for their principal areas of operations, the North Sea.  As a class they were tough, seaworthy and very fast.  Much larger than the equivalent British MTB of 1940 they were designated "E-boats," the "e" meaning simply enemy.  They were better armed, and so superior that later Allied designs mimicked them.
My wargames MTBs are going to have their work cut out.

Beginning with the hull shape, cut from balsa and sanded into submission at 1mm to 1 ft,  I used the plans for a S-100 boat.  That meant that the bow had to be raised with a second piece of balsa, and the grooves for the torpedo launchers cut, almost to the waterline.

The rounded wheelhouse, in its aluminium cover was difficult to shape, and needed balsa, sanding and milliput to get the shape. 

The S-boat is a detailed model, requiring railings and canvas screens, as well as recessed weapons turrets and a mine laying rail. 

Once again I added a micro dice frame (even though it covers the mine laying rail over the stern.)

The S-boat is the only German WW2 Coastal forces model I have completed so far.  Even so this S 100 type (the hull is numbered S103) probably over matches my Vospers.  

This set me to considering my rules, and the design notes that will underpin them...

• The rules should be quick to play and easy, to learn, but give a simulation of Coastal Forces warfare.

• Personalities and leadership should be a factor in the game.

• Avoid book keeping and excessive detail. 

• Make the game mission driven. 

• I want my games to be playable as solo games, in a similar vein to Dan Mersey's Babbage rules.

•  My rules will have to work equally well on  a tiny table...  difficult one this.

• D6 is the only dice type I will allow.

Further notes...Instead of scenarios I will have Mission briefings, these are cards that include 1-3 encounter locations. A mission objective is located at the centre of the table, or else a nominated vessel at the centre.
Blinds
Aircraft strafes and bombing runs will cross the table in two turns.
Weather
Clock face vessel, aircraft appearance or event occurrence.
Combat should be swift and deadly, and e boats can take more damage than an MTB.
Damage inflicted on: engines, crew, command, hull, weapons, misc...rudder, props, raft, lifebelts, Jerry-can (fire) Aldis lamp.
Each hit causes some damage.

A pair of Vosper 73ft Motor Torpedo Boats

The 73 ft Vosper Motor Torpedo Boat was a pre-war design that was soon discovered to be woefully outclassed by the German S-boats.  With Torpedoes are the main armament they were not really intended to mix it with the heavier and faster diesel powered German craft, yet in reality they performed well.  This was mainly due to the different operational emphasis between the two forces.  The Royal Navy, as always, emphasised aggressive tactics, whilst for the Germans success was in the mission, and they were not in the business of fighting for fighting's sake.   

My Vosper 73ft MTBs with
the hull of an S-boat lurking
in the background.

My Vospers were built separately, and it shows.  I am very much still learning my craft in terms of scratch building these Coastal forces vessels.  For all that however they closely resemble each other and have the look I was going for.

I began with the hull in 1:300 (or more accurately at 1mm to 1 ft) cut from balsa strip, shaped and sanded.  The hull was scorched to give it a smoother look, and the cutaways for the torpedo recesses moulded.  I then began the bow section, with a second layer added.  The bow of the Vosper is higher than the stern, and the extra layer gives it the correct appearance.  Not that there are any weapons on the bow section.  The Vosper has an issue with forward firing!

The Superstructure was then added, in pieces, with a clear plastic window section that is painted silver behind it.  It just looks right.  The open bridge goes above this.   

Boat 27, with the tiny life raft on the fore-deck. 

The torpedo tubes are plastic cylinders cut with a sharp angle at the torpedoes business end.  I will fess up and admit that these are the plastic rod that holds an earbud together.  Thin slivers of these, cut crosswise form the lifebelts hung on the outside of the bridge superstructure.  In addition to this I used the same plastic rod to form the depth charge throwers, cut lengthwise, with a bamboo "barrel" shape painted in gunmetal to form the depth charge itself.

British Coastal Forces specialised in depth charge attacks.  Thrown accurately under the bows of the enemy they represented a devastating weapon.  Peter Scott's account of using this attack is one of the most exciting pieces of non fiction I`ve ever read.  It reads like a boys-own story of derring-do.#

The Vospers were given a pale cream deck colouring and a darker grey hull, representing an earlier war paint scheme.   The metallic fittings were finished in gun metal and the whole vessel varnished in satin.  

These models are for wargaming.  I added the dice frame to the transom intending that this should show the remaining flotation points for the vessel.  It does occur to me however that this may be better as a speed indicator.    

I have yet to add the Ensigns and some rigging, but essentially that's it.  The Vosper's are done.   
I`m quite proud of them.  

1:300 Coastal Forces Project

Since reading Robert Hitchins "We fought them in gunboats" as a library book back in the 1970s I have had a fascination for Coastal Forces wargaming.  When Skytrex first introduced their 1:600 range I collected quite a few different models, building up a force of 8 S - boat s,  8 MTBs, flak lighters, merchant ships, and even some larger destroyers.  They gave a great game.  My rules of choice were "Attack with Torpedoes" just the right mixture of playability and detail.

With the move to Cyprus I ruthlessly cut out any period which I had represented in two different scales.  I sold the 1:600 and the rules, as well as a few 1:1200, and retained the tiny 1:6000 models which I thought would allow me to game on a smaller table.

The 1:6000 are great at representing the larger ships, the Battle of the River Plate,  the Hunt for the Bismark, all look great... but the coastal forces in this scale are tiny and as such work well on one of my Admiralty charts, but pretty poorly on the tabletop.

After scratch building a 15/20mm scale Nile gunboat for Men Who Would be Kings, and reading "building waterline ship models" I decided to have a go at scratch building some WW2 Coastal forces, just to see if it could be done.   If the first model failed I would abandon the project... I told myself.

The first boat would be an RAF rescue launch, an early war 60 ft version, and since this would be my first model I wnated to make it unarmed.  The next issue was scale.  Turns out that 15mm to 1 ft is more or less 1:300 (or 1:285) scale.  Useful since this would allow me to crew the models with wargaming figures.

At 6cm long the rescue launch would be large enough to not be fiddly to maneuver,  but small enough to allow a reasonable size of table to be used.   Even at this stage I was thinking about writing my own rules to go with the project.

.

The plans for vessels like the launch are available online.  Very useful too, and I quickly aquired a thick 1 cm by 3cm by 100 ccm strip of balsa.  This would give me around ten vessels of varying size.  I reduced the plan view of the launch to 6cm on my laptop screen and traced the details I needed.  I could have simply printed this out of course!  The traced image gave me the shape of the deck.  I cut and sanded the resulting shape using the full plans as a guide.

Once I was happy with the shape of the hull I began on the superstructure.  Card and balsa formed and shaped gave me the look of the superstructure,  not perfect but passable.  I used filler to cover the joins, and ran a lighter over the result to get rid of any "hairy balsa" left behind.

The mast was fitted, using shaped bamboo, from a pack of kebab skewers.  The result is, if I dare say so, strong and stable.

The hull of boats like this seems to have been a dark blue.  I gave the upper works a slightly dark grey witj that yellow stripe around the top of the cabin. Edging the white painted numbers and letters in black fibre tip pen, I added more detail, and rigged the mast into place.

The life belts and milliput rescue raft were next, painted orange-red they give the model a colourful look.  Following that all I had to do was give the model a satin varnish coat, and fix on some hand drawn RAF pennants.

What's that?  Quiggles is down in the drink?  It's off to the rescue old boy!