Imperial skies game aar.

Jon's Carrier was not used,
BUT looks so good I had to phonograph it!

Sundy at the club we had an Imperial skies (aeronef) game. Jon a friend of mine from years ago agreed to tear us the rues as he was a playtester before they were published.

Before we started I suggested 2000 points, Jon cut that to 1600 points. When he saw the play area it was cut again to 1000 points. I am glad he did, it made a better  game.

He also introduced us to a pair of house rules. Again these made sense and did improve the game. Rule1: Small ships could activate in a flotilla of three and a single command pip would allow all sips in the flotilla to gain that benefit. Again this made sense as one ship would have seniority and would signal  the other ships.

Rule 2: When firing if you rolled 3 ones in a row then another d6 was rolled. This roll would on an even score be a magazine hit and on an odd score it would represent the gun overheating and cooking of a round in the breach!

We agreed to both of those house rules and play started.

Here is what happened::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jon's US fleet at 1600 points!

Matt's 1000 point fleet

Jon's 1000 point fleet

Jon's first turn

End of turn 1.
Matt British fleeton the left
and Jon's US fleet on the right

Veiw from the other end. Turn 2 about to start.

The Us Fleet unleashes 2 flotillas of torpedo boats.
They were very successful and
destroyed one of the British Cruisers
in a single turn.
Matt was not happy!

Most of te US fleet has still to get into action.
The Torpedo boats still have "Steel fish" yet to fire.

Devastated Matt continues to push on. But his Big ships are slow.

Disaster trikes the US fleet and a gun overheats
and his aeronef is destroyed by it's own firing>
Remember house rule 2!

The Us Torpedo boats continue to
launch torpedoes claiming a British destroyer next.

Despite Matt losses He does manage to down
some of the torpedo boats and by the end of the turn
is managing to fight back

Turn 2 ends. The Torpedo boats seem to be doing all the work.

From the other end things do not look any better

Slowly very slowly the bigger ships start to get involved.
Jon moves his battleship forward,
but it is still (at this stage) out of 30" range.
(30" is the maximum range of the biggest guns)

It now starts a war of attrition. As both fleets get in range
with their biggest guns.

Turn 3 ends.
The two fleets now start battering each other.

Some ships are now in short or medium range and they
all start to take damage.
Each ship faces several others and each ship
has several targets

it is a case of who will break first.
then the US torpedoes claim another victim.

It becomes a close in ruction and while the US fleet
continues to do well. glimmers of hope are seen from the British.
The salvation comes in two forms.
Firstly the |Torpedo boats have just about run out of Torpedoes
Secondly the British Carrier  is launching wave after wave of fighters

Turn 4 get underway.
The big ships have lots of guns.
Also they are not shy of using them.
The smaller crsers and destroyers fare the worse.

The US big battleship is matched by an equally big british ship.
Worse yet Matt has 2 of them.

I recall being surprised at how many dice
 the US battleship was able to roll.
But Then the British fleet had just as many in return.

Turn 4 ended and turn 5 started.

The British Fleet digs deep
and several of te US larger cruisers are destroyed.
And then Tragedy struck
Fuel was spilt on the deck of the British carrier
and in a single turn it was
consigned to the burning scrap heap.

The game ended.

 Conclusion: It was a fair fight and either side could have one. The US fleet got some early kills due to torpedoes but in the end the British gunnery was up to the task. While the small ships started the game. the big ships ended it. While I was just observing and not playing boh sides played both with élan and fairness. Both admirals can be proud. So who won? Basically it was a draw! Theer was no clear winner. But importantly I got to learn the rules. Which from my point of view was the reason for the game.

Jon has been looking online fore the cheapest and most effective points cost of vessels to counter torpedoes. Matt has been looking online at tenders and planes that are able to carry torpedoes. While I have started to paint "Brunhilde!" but more of that another time.

The game was a success. all players enjoyed it and all players have spoken to me at least about a rematch. (Different fleets though). So all three of us learned something. And while I was going to do the "Taking of Borkum (123)" a straight even match up was better o the day. perhaps next time it will be Borkum. I have a map and have visited the place (twice as much work if you do not speak German!)

So that was Sundays game.