In celebration and remembrance of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cape Esperance, Seth and I got together for another couple of games of War At Sea. In keeping with the theme of the battle, we set a year limit of 1942. We also used the night battle rules (no ER4, and ships without radar hit on 5+ instead of 4+ with guns), and declared there could be no planes or subs in order to limit the game to a true surface duel. The resulting engagement was so large, I’m breaking it into two reports!

Fleets

For game 1, I was playing the IJN while Seth took the USN. Here were our fleets:

Me (IJN)

• Nagato
• Atago
• Naka
• 2x Murasame

Seth (USN)

• West Virginia
• San Francisco
• Boise
• Salt Lake City
• Taylor

Deployment

We wound up rolling for map 1, which is open ocean. Here is how we deployed (since air attack was a non-issue, I decided to be a little looser with my formation):

Turn 1

I managed to win the initiative, forcing Seth to move first. The WeeVee promptly failed her slow roll, forcing her to move only one sector. Otherwise, we both moved up two sectors each. There was no shooting this turn, as we were still too far apart.

Turn 2

This turn, I managed to win initiative again. We both advanced towards the objectives, with me sending my two destroyers and the Naka forward to try and get Long Lance shots at Seth’s cruisers, which were heading towards the wing objectives. Unfortunately, that didn’t end well for my DDs, as one was sunk and the other crippled.

Turn 3

I lost initiative this time, but it didn’t really matter as there was little mystery where we were heading. I sent the Naka to my left-hand objectve, while the Atago and the crippled destroyer went towards the right-hand one. In the middle, the Nagato squared off with the WeeVee, San Fran, and Boise.

The shooting phase was fairly eventful; Seth crippled the Naka, sank my last destroyer, and put a point of damage on the Nagato and Atago. In return, I managed to put a point of damage on the San Fran. Unfortunately, once again all of my Long Lances missed their targets.

Turn 4

I managed to win the initiative again, but it was clear that the battle was going to be focused on the middle objective. During the movement phase, the San Fran and the Atago faced off over the middle objective, while nearby the WeeVee and the Nagato slugged it out at close range. Meanwhile, the Boise went for the right-hand objective, while the SLC and the Naka remained locked in a struggle for the left-hand objective.

The shooting phase was again a bloody affair; both the San Fran and the Atago went down, while the Nagato managed to put a point of damage on the WeeVee without suffering one in return. On the left-hand objective, the Naka was sunk, but not before putting a point of damage on the SLC. Unfortunately, I once again was unable to score any hits with my Long Lances!

Turn 5

This time, Seth managed to win the initiative. He sent the Boise to claim the right-hand objective, while the SLC headed towards the center to support the WeeVee, which was now sitting on the middle objective. I followed the WeeVee into the center with the Nagato. The shooting phase went very well for me; I managed to vital the WeeVee, while the Nagato only took one point of damage in return! However, at the end of the turn Seth had captured the right-hand objective. So, despite the loss of his battleship, between the two objectives and the ships he had sunk, Seth managed to top 150 points and take the victory! Here is the map at the end of the game:

After-Action

That was a tough battle! I think the game was fairly close-fought; it wouldn’t have taken much to swing the game in my favor. In fact, just a single Long Lance hit might have been enough to do it. Unforutnately, I was quite unlucky with my torpedo dice; I took a total of 11 torpedo shots, and didn’t get a single hit! Still, I think our fleet builds worked pretty well. My build allowed me to take better advantage of the Naka’s Flotilla Leader, but Seth’s decision to take more cruisers gave him better firepower and more survivability (against gun fire, anyway).

Stay tuned for Game 2!