War at Sea - Tabletop report

I got the opportunity to play test my rules with Phil on Sunday, and hence a few tweaks have been added to the tabletop rules below.

Phil selected a force of 150 points (about the most my fleets would muster on a realistic footing); his navy was:

Task Force Turnbull:

HMS Rodney
HMS Ajax
Gloire
Javelin
Samuel B Roberts
Le Terrible
Motor Torpedo Boat (PT) squadron

HMS Truculent submarine operating as an interceptor

Devastator dive bombers based in Malta
Two squadrons of Hurricanes based in Malta

To Counter this I fielded an Italian Led fleet:

Grouppo Alfa:

Vittoro Veneto
Duca D'Aosta
Z20 Destroyer
Motor Torpedo Boat squadron

Grouppo Beta:

Bolzano
Three Soldatini class destroyers (Luca Tarigo's)

Two light submarines operating as interceptors (Ambra's)

Two squadrons of Stukas based in Sicily

At first it went well for the Axis, the Stuka's proving quite effective. However the Axis then suffered a terrible setback, when the Rodney, although damaged in the exchange, sunk the Vittoro Veneto with it's opening barrage!

The Axis forces were able to control some sea lanes by merit of having two operational groups, and concentrating submarines and aircraft on denying the allies objectives. But really it was only a matter of time or out manoeuvring the lumbering Rodney. Her inability to turn gave the Axis a glimmer of hope.

Alas the Ajax proved too much for a group of crippled Italian destroyers to handle, and the Bolzano proved luckless in its own firing.

The game ended as a solid Allied victory. More over, Phil and I both felt that as a 'Game' the rules worked well, and managed to transfer the concepts of the original game to a tabletop effectively, without over complicating matters.

Can't be bad.