AAR: Naval Thunder - Imperial Japanese clash with Royal Netherland Navy 1942
My first solo try of the ruleset Naval Thunder Battleship Row. It is a not to complex set of rules intended for WWII with a focus on gun battles. Air and submarine warfare is abstracted.
Trying this set of rules was a nice excuse to finish the first few WWII ships. Japanese ships are plastic models from Fujimi, Dutch ships are metal models from Navwar or Davco.
Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN)
Furutaka - Furutake class heavy cruiser
The model is a pre-1937 variant with five 8" guns each in a separate turret. I used the rules for the later version sporting three turrets housing two 8" guns. Also quadruple torpedo launchers
Shirahimo - Fubuki class destroyer
Armed with three turrets each with two 5" guns and torpedo launchers. This ship seems to translate also into Shirakumo
Usugumo - Fubuki class destroyer
Armed with three turrets each with two 5" guns and torpedo launchers.
Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN)
De Ruyter - De Ruyter class light cruiser
Armed with seven 5.9" guns in 4 turrets.
Piet Hein - Admiralen class destroyer
Armed with four 4.7" guns in 2 turrets and torpedo launchers.
Van Nes - Admiralen class destroyer
Armed with four 4.7" guns in 2 turrets and torpedo launchers.
Figuring out the technical details of the ships can be frustrating, but my friend Harry (Harry's naval wargaming blog) has pointed me in the direction of a series of Navipedia books. I ordered a few for the navies I am interested in, and they are a great help.
To play Naval Thunder you need plenty of things: a few D10, a ruler, a tape measure, splash markers and plenty of sea room. Camera faces north.
To give the Dutch a fighting chance I devised a situation where the two Japanese Fubuki's encounter the Dutch and have to keep the Dutch ships engaged until the Furutaka enters the field on turn 3 from the southern board edge (tipping the scales in favour of the Japanese).
I added a few house rules:
Secondary weapons cause splash markers, normally splash markers are placed on a ship when another ship fires her main battery on this ship. The effect of splash markers is to add a negative modifier if another ship fires at a ship that already has splash marker(s). Because most weapons are rated as ''secondary'' I chose to augment the standard rule a little bit. I also chose to keep the splash markers for an entire game turn, instead of just the shooting phase of the specific ship type.
Turn 1
Movement Phase
Naval Thunder splits the turn in phases for Battleships, Cruisers and Destroyers. The bigger ships move first, so smaller ships can react to this. Simulating the manoeuvrability of small ships compared to big ships.
The Dutch ships manoeuvred to the east and the Japanese destroyers did the same and took evasive action.
Shooting Phase
Shooting is also organized into phases where bigger ships fire their guns before smaller ships, this can mean that smaller ships are unable to fire as a result of shooting damage from bigger ships. All firing in a phase specific phase however is considered simultaneous.
De Ruyter tried her luck firing at the Usugumo, but missed. (according to the rules De Ruyter needed a 15 to hit, on a d10. The maximum you can achieve is 13 by rolling a 10 followed by another 10)
Piet Hein and Van Nes are out of range.
Usugumo fires at De Ruyter from extreme range but misses with her four guns.
Turn 2Movement Phase
The Dutch ships tried to close the range quickly, to try and overwhelm the Japanese destroyers quickly. Before any Japanese ships could provide aid.
The Japanese destroyers kept up evasive manoeuvres, luring the Dutch closer. Perhaps knowing the Furutaka would arrive in just a short while.
Shooting Phase
The Dutch ships miss the Japanese destroyers. The Usugumo however hits the Van Nes with 2 shells, one penetrating a forward turret taking it out of action.
Turn 3
Movement Phase
The Dutch ships manoeuvred closer, both destroyers taking evasive action. The Japanese destroyers took up better positions and evasive action.
Shooting Phase
Dutch ships missed with all their guns, the Japanese however managed to hit the Van Nes with both shells penetrating the engine room and taking another turret out. The cumulative damage was enough to take Van Nes out of the fight.
Turn 4
Movement Phase
The Furutake enters the board from the corner edge closes to the Japanese destroyers (lucky! Because I randomised the entry point)
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter fires at Usugumo at medium range with all seven guns, but misses. Furutaka fires with four 8" guns at De Ruyter at extreme range, but misses.
Piet Hein fires at long range at Usugumo and misses.
Usugumo fires at Piet Hein at long range and misses.
Shurakumo fires at De Ruyter at extreme range and misses.
Turn 5
Movement Phase
De Ruyter races towards the sinking Van Nes and maybe picks up a few survivors, but mainly brings herself into a good shooting position. Meanwhile Piet Hein moves further east, bravely showing herself to the whole Japanese fleet.
Furutake closes in, Japanese destroyers take evasive action and move a little east.
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter fires her seven 5.9" guns at Usugumo at medium range scoring two hits. Both penetrate the Usugumo, one shell landing in the fire control centre and the other going through a forward turret. This damage is enough to wreck the ship, taking her out of the fight.
Furutaka fires at long range on De Ruyter hitting her with one shell, but luckily for the Dutch this shell does only minor damage, hitting a heavily armoured part of the ship.
Piet Hein fires at the remaining destroyer Shirakumo with four 4.7" guns at medium range, but misses.
Shirakumo fires with her 5" guns at Piet Hein, also medium range, but misses.
Turn 6
Movement Phase
De Ruyter steams east while Piet Hein madly does evasive manoeuvres.
Furutake steams closer while the lone Japanese destroyer does evasive manoeuvres and moves a little towards the east.
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter fires her seven 5.9" guns at the Shurakumo, the distance is only medium range. A single shell hits, penetrates and causes critical damage. (The damage roll said ''Main Battery Turret destroyed" and if a ship doesn't have any of these turrets add 5 points of damage, the Shurakumo has only guns rated as a secondary battery)
Furutaka fires both 8" guns and 4.7" guns at De Ruyter but fails to score a single hit. Clearly the two burning Japanese destroyers have distracted the crew.
Piet Hein fires her 4.7" guns at Furutaka, the range is extreme and all shells miss.
Turn 7
Movement Phase
De Ruyter moves east and performs evasive actions.
Furutake approaches the Japanese destroyer Shirakumo and tries to pick up survivors.
Piet Hein races towards Furutake in a death or glory dash, no doubt hoping to use her torpedoes on the big Japanese cruiser. A David vs Goliath moment.
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter fires five of her 5.9" guns at the Furutaka scoring three hits! Both front turrets are taken out of action and a port side secondary turret is wrecked.
Furutaka in the mean time however split her fire, targeting the puny Piet Hein with A and B turret. Four immense 8" guns rake the plucky Dutch destroyer and she suffers two direct hits. Damage is immense and the Piet Hein comes to an abrupt halt as she starts to take on a lot of water. Her remaining crew abandon ship, torpedoes still in their launchers while she sinks to the bottom.
Furutaka aims her remaining guns at De Ruyter, two 4.7" guns and two 8" guns but does not manage to score any hits.
It is interesting that destroyers can be taken out of action before they have had a chance to perform offensive action in a turn. The reason is because of that the game has distinct phases where different classes of ships can act (as described at the start of this battle report)
Turn 8
Movement Phase
De Ruyter turns to port and races north, still showing most of her remaining guns towards the Furutaka.
Furutaka zig-zags after her, with the intention of firing at De Ruyter when her aft guns bear.
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter fires her rear facing turrets and the four 5.9" guns pump out as many shells as they can. At medium range the Furutaka is evidently not hard to hit as two shells hit the big Japanese cruiser. Both shells penetrate, taking out another main battery turret and causing damage in the engine room. Furutaka loses more of her teeth and is now less manoeuvrable!
In return Furutaka fires her remaining two 8" guns and a single 4.7" gun, all at medium range, at De Ruyter but fails to land a hit.
Turn 9
Movement Phase
Both ships turn south, but as De Ruyter is now able to make more speed it will soon be able to dictate the terms of the engagement.
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter can fire five of her 5.9" guns just in short range but doesn't hit the Furutaka!
Furutaka can fire with two 4.7" guns, but this is considered long range and she doesn't manage to hit De Ruyter.
A small spectator (my daughter) took a look at the proceedings.
Turn 10
Movement Phase
De Ruyter and Furutaka move further south, Furutaka gaining a little distance but De Ruyter getting into a good firing position.
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter fires her five 5.9" guns again at short range and manages to hit Furutaka. The shell hits one of the wrecked main battery turrets causing massive structural damage.
Furutaka tries to answer with her, by comparison, puny 4.7" guns but misses. In a desperate act she fires a full spread of torpedoes at long range but miss De Ruyter.
Turn 11 & 12
I was running out of time as we had plans to go out and didn't manage to get pictures of the last two turns.
Movement Phase
Both ships kept moving west, De Ruyter gaining distance, not willing to risk a second torpedo attack.
Shooting Phase
De Ruyter managed to score 3 hits in turn 11 causing minor flooding and rudder damage. Furutaka was not able to respond.
The following turn De Ruyter caused a single penetrating hit causing major flooding. All damage effects combined caused the Furutaka to sink.
Final thoughts
The rules are very clearly written and are easy to play. The game plays fast, even though I used an entire evening and the early part of the next morning for this battle. My feeling is that having two players who know the rules will speed things up!
A few things I noticed is that Naval Thunder has maybe a narrow focus, and that is gaming battles between big surface combatants. Cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships. And while that sound like fun, my interest is also in playing smaller engagements. The destroyers felt a bit lacklustre in this game, not really a threat on their own as they were so easily blown out of the water. Next game I might try getting a few more of them on the table and using them in a bigger group. Or perhaps I will try General Quarters 3.
And I really should update my blog more often.. there is plenty of painting progress to show.
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