From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Ironbottom Sound II replay: Battle of Cape Esperance We played our second game of Ironbottom Sound II yesterday. The scenario we chose was the Battle of Cape Esperance, where US forces for the first time surprised the Japanese in a night battle off Guadalcanal (see quotation in my signature, below). Since IBS II does not attempt to deal with the limited intelligence aspect of the night battles, the scenario begins with both sides deployed, at the moment that the US task force, in a somewhat disordered formation after its last turn, opened fire on the unsuspecting Japanese. Japanese surprise is simulated by not allowing the Japanese to return fire on the first turn, and preventing them from firing torpedoes until turn 4. On the other hand, we used all the optional rules dealing with US friendly fire (only appropriate, since the loss of USS Duncan in the real battle was at least partially due to friendly fire). The scenario lasts seven turns (about 21 minutes), which corresponds pretty much to the 'hot' phase of the actual historical battle, from the opening of fire at 2350 to the near-lethal hit on Boise which effectively ended the pursuit of the Japanese at 0012. The first turn only consists of US gunfire. San Francisco and Boise fired on Aoba at the head of the Japanese formation, with San Francisco scoring immediate hits. Farenholt fired her bow guns at Fubuki, scoring an engineering hit which would have rendered her permanently immobile within a few minutes. On the other hand, Helena's opening salvo was partially intercepted by nearby USS Laffey, which suffered enough damage to make her immediate retirement the most sensible proposition. On turn 2, the Japanese cruisers attempted to avoid the US crossing of their T by changing to a converging course and accepting the exchange of gunfire at extremely short range. Fubuki, on its last turn of reasonably quick movement, forged ahead as a blocking ship right into the path of my battleline. I had not expected this and my battleline basically moved straight ahead, with San Francisco (somewhat ahead of the other ships) colliding with Fubuki. Both ships suffered grievous damage and San Francisco also attracted fire from the Japanese cruisers. Thankfully, much of their fire was horribly aimed (miserable dierolling on the part of my opponent) and this did not hold in reverse. San Francisco scored four hits on Aoba, knocking out her fire director, starting a fire and achieving a bridge hit that would let Aoba circle for the next three turns. Boise hit Furutaka, while far away from the center of the fighting, Duncan managed some hits on Hatsuyuki. A fire started on Salt Lake City, but was extinguished before it could do much damage. On turn 3, San Francisco, slowly getting underway again, plowed through the midst of the Japanese formation, narrowly avoiding potential collisions with Aoba and Furutaka, and hitting Aoba again (actually, both sides found it hard to miss by now - most of the fires happened at ranges from 1 to 4 hexes!). The Japanese cruisers were hit again from different sides. The three other US cruisers, still in formation together with the two rear DDs, had swerved to pass behind the first two Japanese CAs, and Kinugase had left formation to pass the US battleline on the other side, damaging Helena. Farenholt narrowly avoided a collision with Aoba by a sharp turn. I had plotted her to move closer to the battleline again, but in the process managed to run her into the drifting wreck of Fubuki. Farenholt suffered minor damage, staggered on to turn into a parallel course to the battleline, only to be blown out of the water by a full broadside from Boise that had been intended for Furutaka. Away to the northwest, Hatsuyuki had managed to sink Duncan with a well-aimed salvo and started retiring from the battle behind a smokescreen. My two rear destroyers now also scored many hits on Furutaka and Kinugase at range 1 or 2 - at these ranges even their 5" guns were enough to penetrate the flimsy armor of the old Japanese cruisers. As this turn ended, almost all the 8" turrets in the Japanese force were out of action, as well as almost all the torpedo mounts (which I didn't know of course). As a result, turn 4 saw the beginning of disengagement. The US cruisers countermarched to keep the enemy in their broadside. San Francisco slowly moved out of the battle area behind a smokescreen, and the Japanese cruisers also made smoke to cover their retreat. This did not save Aoba, still circling helplessly, who was finally sunk by a drastically effective radar-controlled broadside from Boise, and both Furutaka (shot at by Salt Lake City) and Kinugase (target of Helena) suffered multiple hits, without having their speed impaired though. The Japanese moved away behind a smokescreen at full speed and managed to break contact. The outcome of the scenario was a 19:14 US victory. Ultimately, the Japanese attempt to close in after being surprised was not successful because eventually the US forces could bring their numerical superiority to bear at point blank range, where even the DD guns penetrated everything available in this battle, and the initial exposure of San Francisco to concentrated fire at close range was spoiled by awful dierolling. However, the outcome was close enough. A single additional good gunnery dieroll on turns two or three could have spelled doom for San Francisco (who limped out of the battle with speed reduced to 3 and 2/3 of her flotation boxes marked off), which would have produced a Japanese victory instead. Interestingly, during the game, while we were rolling for the damage caused by hits scored at a frenetic pace, I again wondered whether the game was not somewhat compressed in its results. When looking at the outcome though, we found that despite our reckless tactics, the results were not excessive, but remarkably close to the historical outcome: Japanese, one CA, one DD sunk, 2 CA damaged (exactly the historical result). US, 2 DD sunk, 1 CA heavily damaged with one main turret out of action (historically, 1 DD was lost, and 1 CL, Boise, was crippled when a forward magazine was detonated by a Japanese shell hitting below the waterline). In other words, the way in which the results stayed true to life in the midst of a very intense and action-oriented game is quite impressive. There were no torpedo hits - you really have to work hard to get any in this game. But then, this is not the scenario where they're likely, and most japanese torpedo mounts were scrap by the time they could have been used. Next Stop: Savo Island. Markus Last 3 games played: Krieg!, History of the World, Ironbottom Sound II ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Bakayaro! Bakayaro!" ("Stupid Bastards! Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942