Jose the Pig

Still tweaking Beat to Quarters for sailing ships and Sharp Practice for boarding actions while I continue the career of Lt Ron Ronald in "For King and Country".   After Lt Ronald's last mission delivering messages and event occured; Capt Lemmon of the HMS Bulldog, who is friendly to Lt Ronald, requested a favor.   What to do? Thought of a neat sceanario; it couldn't be too easy as that would be "grant a favor" but had to be cool.   See what you think.

Lt Ronald hurried through the door of the building to meet Capt Lemmon.  The Capt had an urgent matter to discuss.  Ron didn't know what it was about but counted the Captain as a supporter.  Capt Lemmon had but in a good word for him in describing the action they had both taken against the Spanish ships.  The Admiral had been pleased with the result and Lt Ronald.

Mr Ronald, I have tracked the notorious pirate, Jose the pig, to a cove nearby and mean to capture him tomorrow.  The cove is too shallow for my frigate but not for your sloop.  I would like you to accompany me to the cove and if Jose doesn't come out you will go in and get him.  I will place 20 marines and a Sergeant under your command.  I don't care if he is dead or alive but I want his ship as a prize.  Will you accompany me and rid the sea of this scoundrel?

Lt Ron Ronald   Scholarly/  skirt chaser      Gr I       Str 5     Avg swordsman
Jeff Fishback     Pessimistic/ glutton            Gr II     Str 5     Avg  swordsman   Bo'sun
HMS seawitch     10 gun  sloop    Avg crew

Capt Lemmon  Scholarly/ family                   Gr III     military family
HMS Bulldog    32 gun frigate    Elite crew

Sgt  Kilmer     Gr III     marine Sgt

Jose the Pig     Cheap/  Glutton            Gr II           Str 6  Avg swordsman
Trusted sidekick                                   Gr II           Str 5  Avg swordsman
Taco Time     10 gun sloop   poor crew for firering   Elite for fisticuffs

Miguel the Fox                                  Gr II
Prize ship     4 gun sloop     poor for firering    Elite for fisticuffs

Jose in the cove.      Which ship was the Taco Time would be determined randomly. 

Capt Lemmon approached the cove upwind and sailed as close as he dare where he turned to starboard and let loose with successive broadsides.  Lt Ronald hung back to see what Jose would do. 
The pirates upanchored and returned fire.   Then a mast came crashing down on the nearest pirate ship.  ( The Bulldog gunners were good!).  Ronald set out after this ship!

HMS Seawitch approaching the damaged pirate vessel. 

On board the Taco Time Jose the Pig swears at his crew to cut away the rigging that is obscuring his guns!

The Seawitch move up on the pirate vessel, firering as she goes; inflicting significant damage. 
Jose tries to tack and ends up "in chains" as the wind deserts him and his evil soul. 

HMS Seawitch moves up to grapple, firering grapeshot and inflicting horrible casualties on the evil men inside. 

Meanwhile, the prize ship makes a run for it and loses it's steering to a ball from the Bulldog.  Clearly God's will is to be done today!

Miguel the Fox surrender's only at the last moment as his ship is sinking.  There will be no prize here. 

Meanwhile, back at the Taco...
Lt Ronald will have the marines board at the stern and he and Fishback will board at the waist.  He can already see many pirate dead on the deck. 

Mr Fishback leads the Tars onboard!!!

Our hero enters the fray!!


The battle is one sided given the Brits advantage in numbers that the pirates clearly see.

Finally...

Jose (center) has had enough and surrenders.


Great game that played fast.    Each part took about 40 minutes.  Clearly a resounding success for Lt Ronald.  He gets a +1 from Capt Lemmon and a " Good Show" from the Admiral.   The Admiral now has an interest in him as well.  With his two events he seeks female companionship and invites both the Capt and Admiral to dine with him aboard the Seawitch.  The dinner turns into a disaster however when he picks the wrong cabernet to serve!  He looses the +1 from Lemmon and a glory point from the Admiral. ( He hangs onto his interest though.)   Such is life for King and Country!

Enjoy

Joe   









 

Villiage Sweep 1939

Sorry for the long break--  real life got in the way.  
The good news is that with this final playtest of Villiage Sweep my asymetrical suplement for Platoon Forward, Middle of NoWhere is done.  It contains a new Table A and B as well as a new table for meeting NPCs (you have a higher chance of meeting interesting folks now.  While a symetric line unit has a chance of meeting a black marketeer or a man from the ministry, a unit involved in "peacekeeping operations" is going to have a better chance of meeting someone like that.  ) as well as 5 new scenarios.  The scenarios are :   Villiage Sweep, One of are planes is missing, Hammer Dawn, Ambuscale, and Ft Apache. 

The whole project has been held up because I could get the right feel of a villiage sweep.  It always either ended up a villiage fight or a delaying action.  I think I have it now where the player has to move through the villiage fast to search it while brushing aside light resistance.  However there is always a threat that the enemy might be stronger than anticipated and it could devolve into a villiage fight.   My latest playtest...

Sgt Bustamanti listened as Lt Chianti went over the plan.  Intelegence had pinpointed this villiage as a storage area for weapons for the rebels in Ethiopia.  The mosque was actually the local headquarters and three other sites identified as probable caches.   The Lt would lead one squad to attack two buildings and support Busamanti's attack on the mosque from the oppostie side of the villiage.   After that they would quickly search the rest of the villiage.    Speed was critical as the locals would rapidly move supplies out once the Italians entered. 

Lt Chianti         Romantic/  the arts                     Gr II
Sgt Bustamanti  Confident/  family                     Gr III    1st sq
Pvt Pinchela                                                         Gr I      acting ASL
Sgt Polti   obnoxious/  skirts                                Gr I      2nd sq
Cpl Petracela    cultured/ wealth                          Gr II     ASL

A tip off (pre battle event) told the platoon that a squad of rebels were in the mosque.  The attack commence according to plan.   [  Sorry no pre battle picutures as I lost my camera!]  

Sgt Bustamanti attacking the mosque from the top of the picture.   Lt Chianti takes the mobile element of the squad and attacks buildings south of the river while the LMGs and "autocar" support the attack on the mosque.

5 rebels fighters keep the Italians at bay.  [ the green marker means it is a location that has to be searched.]

Finally the Italians gain the courtyard!  Lt Chianti looks on. 

Pvt Pinchela closes in on the Mosque.

Close quarter fighting leaves dead on both sides but the rebels flee. 
After a 5 minute search an arms cache is found in the trees behind the mosque!

Lt Chianti's men find food as others race across the bridge harried by a lone sniper. 

The Italians move north of the river looking for an eluisive sniper.   5 additional rebels arrive along a field (left) but disappear rapidly once all the additional equipment in the villiage has been relocated. 

Lt Chianti arrives to rally his men.  They then enter the building to flush the sniper and search it.   But the rebels have done their job.  Both the sniper and any items have vanished into the desert.  


Great game.   Technically the Italians lost as you have to search 3 locations to win but both of the locations the Italians searched revealed good stuff so I called it a minor win.  Pvt Pinchella has been acting ASL since Cpl Fan was invalided home so both Bustamanti and Lt Chianti ask Capt Butro to promote him.   Suprisingly the Captain refuses.  Cpl Stanza is brought in instead.  The squad is not happy but Stanza is a gr II leader and is a likable guy so things will probably work out.  Also Sgt Bustamanti meets and befriends a local priest, Fr Franco.   Could set up some interesting stories there!  Finally Lt Stinna of the armor pledges his support in the next mission. 

So I am happy with Villiage sweep and I am happy with Middle of NoWhere.  Don't think there is enough to publish it as a stand alone supplement  (6-7 pages) so it will probably be a magazine article.   Will start to work on that.  

Cheers

Joe

Flaklighters up North!

Finally took a break from WW II ground operations and went back to Release the Hounds.   Painted up my last two MO-4 boats ( okay they are Japanese minesweepers) so figured I would give them a go.   This is a new unit for my Flotilla Forward as I am shaping this ruleset.  They intercepted a convoy (posted 26 August).   Here is only their second battle. 

Capt Lt Marinesko left the COs office.   Sounded like a suicide mission to him but the commisar talked about doing  everything we can for the ultimate victory for the Party.  All they had to do was go into a river and take out 2 flaklighters with their MO-4 boats.  He pointed out that the Flaklighters outgunned his ships with their 88s.  Capt Lt Poleshchuk pointed out those very 88s were killing brave russian soldiers and needed to be destroyed.  Marinesko knew orders were orders.   He thougth he would give this assignment to Starschi Lt  ( O-2) Bodanov his deputy.   He was a zealot though he drank too  much.   He would love this kind of thing!

St Lt   Bodanov   Fanatic/ alcohol      repair       Bold   Boat 1   BMO-4
Lt Rall  Fanatic/  Govt        mustang                              Boat 3   MO-4

Lt Giehorovcev    Generous/ position                            Boat  2  BMO-4
Lt Semyon            Evil/ wealth                                      Boat 4  MO-4

Bodanov was thrilled with the assignment.   Marinesko made sure he got one of the new armored boats for the mission and he picked his officers.  His wingman would be Lt Rall.   He was up through the ranks, good sailor and loyal comunist.  Lt Giehorvcev would lead the second element.  He was a popular officer and steady under fire.  Lt Semyon would be in the fourth boat.  He was realatively new to the group but seemed fine though  unpopular with his crew.

The plan would be for Bodanov to deal with any escorts in the mouth of the river while Giehorovcev went up to the Flaklighters and pounded them.  If any boat was heavily damaged they were to withdraw; this was not a suicide mission.   A damaged flaklighter would be forced to withdraw for repairs.

Mouth of the river.   German Raum boat on patrol.  2 Flaklighters docked upper right.

Bodanov moves his forces into "V" formation.  Visability just under 2 miles. 

Raum boat sighted.  Cool random event results in Semyon missing a turn.  (rookie! )

Bodanov opens up on the Raum boat while all 4 boats move into the river looking for the flak boats.  The Raumboat is outgunned and takes some damage.  All eyes scan the shore looking for their prey knowing that the german crews are moving to man their guns.  At a mile the target is sighted to starboard.   The valiant russians move in as the flakboats open up!

 "The heros of the Soviet Union make their attack run on the evil empire!"   Boat number three ( Lt G) takes several 88mm shells that damages steering and the boat heavily and he drops out.  ( Each hex is 200 yrds)

"Perfectly aimed shells hit the german vessels but no telling damage is done."  They leave their moorings.

" The brave sons of Mother Russia, led by SLt Bodanov, pound the german craft until one bursts into flames!" 

Bodanov's craft dodging fire

The russian boats complete their attack run causing leaving one lighter burning and the other one damaged.   The raum boat is also burning.   Unfortunatly, Lt Rall's boat recieved multiple hits and he signals May Day.   Both Bodanov's and Semyon's ships are damaged; Bodano's own ship can only make 15 knots.  While fanatic to the worker's paradise, Bodanov would like to live to see it.  He decides against another attack run.  He orders smoke and the russians retire.

A quick getaway!


Great game!   Exciting as I thought the russians would get pounded.   The 1 flaklighter was actually heavily damaged and on fire.  Post game it was quickly repaired but I gave the victory to the russians.  Lt Rall and his crew was captured.  Post game events included the commisar offering a favor to SLt Bodanov.  So I decided he made a heroic story of the whole attack that really took off!  The quotes above are from the story.  :)    This of course did not make Capt Lt Marinesko look good or make him happy.  Should be interesting times around the flotilla...

Enjoy

Joe

Screaming Eagles at the villiage Church

Well, played another  land game over the weekend.  This one was Lazy TW&T not CoC.  (For those of you that want to play Platoon Forward using CoC go to the comments under my last post.)   Nothing fancy, typical Normandy outing.  Thought I would pull out my airborne platoon.  These guys are mildly interesting as they lost a squad leader so there was some internal shuffling among the NCOs that Lt Ramsey had to do.  In addition the Company CO was so happy with their last roadblock mission that he offered an armored car for their next mission!  
I rolled up a "Patrol" scenario and used the urban table for the board because I wanted to use my Rathaus that I never get to use.  Thought I would use the 2 main squads to this one and have SSgt Taylor (Gr III leader) run it.     Rather than take an armored car into a town I took a jeep.   (I decided that the jeep would not count as a vehicle when rolling for my "Cs". ) 
D Day + 4    Outskirts of a large french town.  (They all look the same!)

Lt Ramsey came back from Company.   "Sergant Taylor!   The CO needs to know if the Germans are in the town.   Take two squads and proceed to the center of town and find out.   Capt Newsome has provided a jeep from recon for some additional firepower.   Billy, don't take chances; center of town- find out what we are up against and come home.  Got it?" 

SSgt Ramsey   Scholarly/tech  Gr III        1st sq     morale  +1
Sgt Goldberg   Shy/ wealth     Gr II           2nd sq
1 jeep            30 cal  MG

The center of "Whateverthehellitscalled".    US enters from the bottom.    Cool Rathaus at the top. 
Bill's plan is to enter from the left and make a clockwise circle of the town.   You can see the advanced scouts at the graveyard and Bill next to the red roofed house. 

Two scouts run into germans across the graveyard!  

[ I love patrol scenarios because you never know what is going to happen. I hate patrol scnearios because I always set up this great board and 80% of the time only use a small corner of it! No rathaus!   However, I rolled up some new sections of the board so both sides could flank the graveyard if they needed to.  Compare this picture with the original board. ]

SSgt Ramsey acted quickly and moved into the graveyard scatering the german squad.   He ordered Sgt Goldberg around the left flank towards the Church.

The jeep moved up and started dueling a german halftrack and surprisingly did well!

After some supressing fire the paratroopers were going to close with the enemy in the church but as they entered...

The germans withdrew out the side.   (with a jammed LMG)

and set up in a ruined bank where the NCO rallied his men.   (and fixed the LMG)

The second german squad was in the house at the bottom of the picture.   The paratroopers were in the church.   At this point the germans had 2 casualties, the americans none.    There was 40 yards of open terrain between the two positions.  After a minute of trading shots the germans looked determined so SSgt Taylor decided he had fulfilled his mission and withdrew in good order.  

Great game that played fast.   I called it a draw.  I give the paratroopers a card I call "tactical iniative".  This can be played on any section (not squad) to allow them to shoot/move/ or rally without leader bonuses.   This models their espirit.   In a CoC game I would give them an extra die.  This card came up at the right time in the graveyard.  Post game SSgt Taylor gets the chance to brief the battalion CO (LtCol Strayer) and impresses him.  Also an armor leader (Sgt Lujens) that the platoon had met after D- Day was wounded and sent home.

For those of you that would like to try this scenario the germans had
2 regular german squads  and 2 Gr II leaders  (junior)
1 halftrack


Enjoy

Joe

Outskirts of Lenningrad

I was a playtester for TFLs Chain of Command.   Rich was kind enough to send me a final copy.  While I worked to make it a great product and I believe it is one of the best rule sets out there I always felt it basically was "Lazy TW&T" with dice instead of cards.  { If you double the dice for Lazy TW&T you get Chain of Command numbers. }
Armed with the final copy I thought I would give it a go!  I played out the pre game phase for the attacking germans to determine their starting points but placed the defensive markers for the russians as per normal Platoon forward.  The platoon chosen was my SS platoon on the northern part of the russian front in 1941.  This is their 7th battle.  They are seasoned troopers though 1st squad has a new squad leader.  They did lose their last battle.

Oberscharfurher Kehl was pleased.   They were nearing the prize; Lennigrad.   Once that and Moscow were captured the german folk would have the living room they needed and his platoon could all go home.  He smiled then brought himself back to reality when Untersturmfurher Christianson said, " I am glad you are happy with the assignment! Your platoon will hook left through the pillbox around the town while the rest of the company pins them in the town."

The town on the right.   Pillbox in the middle.

Germans entering from the bottom.

 

 

Oberscharfurher Kehl  Generous/wealth  Gr III (senior leader)

UnterScharfurher Weiss   Egotistical/wealth   Gr II (junior leader)  1st squad

Scharfurher Kurtzon   Zealot/wealth  Gr II  2nd squad

Scharfurher  Vaughn   cautious/ wealth  Gr II   3rd squad

1 flamethrower with 4 man team

1 80mm mtr  off board

1 Stug

 

 

 Kehl's plan was to have smoke cover the pillbox then send 2 squad up with the flamethrower team to take it out.   1 squad (with the new SL) would deploy with himself in the railway station to provide cover.  3rd squad would deploy to the left behind the tracks to provide cover and then advance into the woods. 

2nd squad advances!

 

 

 

 

 

Russians in the woods!!

 

 

2nd squad got into position and when the smoke cleared destroyed the 45mm ATG in the pillbox. 

 

 

         Then after a vicous firefight managed to drive the russians off the hill and 4 germans made it into the trenchworks.  (with 2 shock)
       The russians threw every available gun at those four men.   Schar Kurtzon was back at the train station trying to rally the rest of the squad.  Kehl sent 1st squad through the withering fire toward the hill.  His original plan abandoned with this new opportunity.  

                                              1st squad having a rough go of it!  
At this point a random event brings reinforcements to the platoon.  With the russian SPG destroyed I bring in the platoons halftracks with a visitor...

Untersturmfurher Christensen shows up to see what is taking so long!   Kehl points to the criscrossing MG fire. 

Just as 1st and 2nd squads make it to the hill, a rallied russian squad also makes it to the hill!

Ferocious hand to hand fighting occurs around the entrenchments with the germans giving better than they get but they are badly outnumbered.   Kehl starts to run towards the melee but the german officer holds him back.  "At this point there is nothing you can do; we will wait. "  The germans fight tenaciously but the russians fight like men possessed.  It is no use, there are too few SS standing.  Kurtzon orders the retreat as 3rd squad covers. 
There will be no breakthrough today.

Great game!!    Down to the wire.   I rolled two random events at the end that favored the russians.  One was a morale increase to the russian squad and then they generated a hero.  Very cinimatic in a bad way-- 2nd squad didn't stand a chance at that point.  

Post game  3rd squad was actually chewed up by the russians in the woods with 50% casualties and their morale goes down.   The CO is not happy and a half squad will be pulled next battle for other duties.  

CoC played well.  I still like the cards of TW&T better than the dice of CoC. They do the same thing but the cards give you more scenario design flexibility and I think it is harder to move your squad.    Funny that when people roll dice they call it luck but when people draw cards somehow it is preordained.   

That said I think CoC is a great game system that give the player the challenges of commanding a platoon in WW II.  It still allows you to play the period not the rules and meshes well with Platoon Forward.

For those of you that want to try this scenario I rolled the following for the russians:
1 senior Ldr
3 squads each with a junior leader
1 MMG,  1 Lt Mtr
1 SPG

Enjoy

Joe

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting engagement at the river Wy

Now I know what some of you are thinking; Joe that is great that you are doing all this cool naval stuff.  I am sure at some point it will turn into great stuff that we can get our hands on but for now we have Bolt Action or Chain of Command.  Come on!   Where is the Platoon Forward stuff?!  Rest assured it was back to my roots this weekend using the platoon that started it all on my blog; yup.  Go back to the first two posts and you will see my british platoon near Singapore.  They haven't got much use since those first several battles.  One of the great things about Platoon Forward is they have been waiting for me and now the time was right!   I rolled up a recon mission and changed it to scenario R (found in one of the Lardie specials) which is a meeting engagement. 

Timbo Rodgers was flushed with success after saving the Reverand.  The problem was the front, if you could call it that, was crumbling.  The Japanese were not sticking to the roads and were constantly outflanking the British.   Maj Ralls got right to the point, "We need to secure the bridge over this small river.  Hopefully the Japs aren't there yet.  Timbo, get up there and hold it until the rest of the company can get there.   I have secured an armored car to help.   Good luck!"

Lt Rodgers   Condesending/govt    Gr III    Briliant leader
1st section  Sgt Slim Jim  Hall    Cocky/ wealth   Gr II      1st section    -1 morale
2nd section  Cpl Jake Driftmore  Cheery/wealth  Gr III 
3rd section   Cpl "Nails" Longshore   Mecurical/ arts  Gr II

As the british approached the bridge it was quiet.    Timbo led with Dritmore, his best leader, followed by Nails.   He kept 1st section in reserve as they had been shakey as of late.  He planned to keep them on this side of the river to lay down covering fire.

                                                           The British approach

So far so good!   Cpl Driftmore leads his section over the river Wy. 

 

Driftmore broke right when a light Japanese tank was seen coming up the road.  He moved towards some jungle where he encountered enemy infantry.   A lound clang heralded where the tank had found the range to the British AC.   While not defeated, it beat a hasty retreat.  Timbo quickly

Moved 3rd section across the bridge and to the left into some high grass.

 

 

2nd section takes on the Japanese

 

 

3rd section in the high grass

 

 

3rd section held its ground.   2nd section retreated after a ferocious fight that saw Cpl Driftmore

and the Japanese LT go down. 

 

 

2nd section retreats back up the hill

 

 

This was the critical moment in the battle.  2nd section could be cut off from the

river.  Timbo left 1st section's bren but took the rest of the men across the bridge towards

the jungle.  (picture blurred sorry)   Timbo placed them in some rocks and sprinted up the

hill to rally 2nd section.  He couldn't understand why they retreated so far until he came upon the

wounded Cpl Driftmore in a makeshift stretcher.  "Sorry Sir." was all he could say.

 

Meanwhile...the Japanese also knew it was the critical moment in the battle.  So while Timbo was on the hill...

 









Remnants from the jungle battle see their chance to finish off the Tommys

 

 

The British fight heroically with Pvt Billings dispaching 3 personally  (hero card) including

the Japanese Cpl.   This leaves 2 Japanes privates who choose to fight to the death.  2nd section, newly rallied under Lt Timbo Rodgers, gives them their wish. 

 

With that the Japanese on the opposite flank retreat and all becomes quiet along the Wy once more.

 

 

Great game!   Meeting engagements, while rare, always make for exciting games.   Post game Cpl Driftmore lives but will miss two battles.  Pvt Billings will lead 2nd section.    The platoon was going to have trouble replacing their losses but Maj Rall diverted some from other platoons to keep this platoon full strength.  Of course this means we will probably continue to pull the toughest missions!

For those of you that want to try this at home the following forces where generated:

1 squad,  1 LMG team    1 Gr III Lt     2 Gr I NCOs

1 Lt tank,    1 37mm  ATG 

 

I also played a SAGA game that I didn't write up.   My vikings raided a welsh farm.   I rolled up the scenario and it played well.  (Warriors Forward)   I did take one picture.

 

 

Dawn breaks over the country side as sinister forces are afoot!

Enjoy

Joe


Off the Finnish Coast

Have been working on my Russian and Finnish navys.  My tactical rules are done.   So work can progress on Flotilla Forward.   Tonight is a report with my MO4 squadron. 
Capt Lt Marinesko scanned the horizon ahead.  His eyesight was legendary in the russian coastal forces since he had been a petty officer before Stalin's purges.  Dmitri had benifited from the sudden openings for trusted patriots to become officers in the People's Navy.  Tonight he and Lt G were to disrupt traffic to the Finnish held islands.   They had a Tral minesweeper as backup.  He hated going out with big ships as they slowed him down but if they ran into Finnish gunboats they would welcome the extra firepower. 

Characters

Capt Lt   Marinesko    glum/wealth      mustang    Eagle eye
Lt Giehorovcev       Generous/position 

                                               A MO4  patrol boat at speed 
                                               (Actually a Clyside Japanese MS)

                                              Unsuspecting Finnish convoy transporting cannon to several islands.


There!   He sees a Finish VMV ship!

                                                       The russians close on a Finnish vessel.

The two russians manage to wreck the Finnish boat through shear weight of shell; (4 45mms vrs 1 20mm). 

                                              Meanwhile the Cheka  arrives on the scene


The Russians dash ahead and notice a Finnish PG moving in from port.  The Cheka opens fire from a mile. 

                                            The Finnish gunboat Uusimaa.   ( Too thick with
                                              an extra stack)  I actually found a Japanese MS
                                              that plays this part better. 



 
 

The finns deploy a smokescreen between the MO4s and

the 2 merchant ships

 

 

As he plunges through the smoke  Lt Giehorovcev barely

avoids a collision with the Finnish gunboat.  The Finnish

Bofors knock out his aft 45 mm gun and cause heavy damage

to the ship. 

 

 

 

A "long range" gun duel devolps

between the Cheka and the Uusimaa

Range 1 mile

 

 

At this point the two MO-4s sink one of the VMVs. 

 

Cpat Lt Marinesko finally sees the merchant ships but then they are quickly obscurred by smoke.  Lt G signals his boat is too bacly damaged to go on.   (failed a morale check.)  The Cheka looses the gun duel when her 4 inch gun is destroyed.   Capt Lt Marinesko, his own ship heavy damaged with a gunmount destroyed, conceeds defeat and heads for home.

Great mission.   Played well and I got my Finns and Russian coastal forces on the table.   My VMV boats are just VAS boats  (Figurehead) with the torpedo tubes shaved off.  

Post mission one of the two MO-4 boats will be fixed for the next mission.  Lt Giehorovcev meet Capt Lt Ivantsov and buys him several drinks.    The Capt Lt is a mission planner so it can't hurt right?! 

For those of you that want to try this the Finnish forces are:
3 VMV boats
1 Uusimaa
2 unarmed 100ton trawlers.
the convoy has to traverse the board.  Once they do they will be under the protection of coastal artillery. 
Special rule:  If the Cheka sustains heavy damge (50%) it must break off the engagement.

Enjoy

Joe