A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to play a game of Naval War against the developer, Hendrik Jan Seijmonsbergen at a Ducosim convention.
We would also be using the most recent test version of the rules, a draft of version 1.3.
After going a bit back and forth about points values, we ended up going for 200 points per side with a Java Sea theme.
This meant I would be be commanding a multinational mix of mediocre to bad ships vs a proper IJN cruiser-led force. A pretty interesting contrast of force buildups.
When we got started, I promptly messed up and accidentally put down the 250-point list I'd been considering earlier when we were still talking about that points value. That got rectified a bit onto the game, resulting in me removing three US and one British destroyer to even things up.
The proper army lists:
ABDA Cruiser Squadron:
Officer: Karel Doorman (most expensive and elite option, gives his flag squadron a free pregame move)
HNLMS De Ruyter light cruiser
HNLMS Java light cruiser
USS Houston heavy cruiser
HMAS Perth light cruiser
N-class destroyer
E-class destroyer
2 Admiralen-class destroyers
Eastern/Center Invasion Force (Imperial Japanese Navy):
Officer: Chu-sa (default choice, cheapest)
2 Myoko-class heavy cruisers
1 Shiratsuyu-class destroyer
3 Mutsuki-class destroyers (in distant cover)
We went for a simple encounter battle with a few islands on one end of the board and a pair of squalls on the other side that would slowly drift towards the far corner of the table.
Both of us ended up taking pictures whenever we could remember to do so. The brighter, higher-quality images are from Hendrik-Jan, the others from me.
Because we got distracted a few times, there are some moments that lack a few pictures.
Deployment looked like this:
Note the small size of the IJN force; this was kind of disheartening for my opponent to look at.
To be fair, this force here still contained one E-class destroyer too many and the Clemson-class destroyers still off-table would be retconned away as well.
We have Houston and Perth on the left, ready to either travel around the squalls or cut in to engage the IJN heavies. De Ruyter and Java are in the middle, ready to move up aggressively. The destroyer squadron would flank aggressively around the island.
On the other end, the outnumbered but technically superior IJN force would just steam steadily towards the ABDA force, where they could hopefully exploit their superior gunnery before letting loose some long lances.
Turn 1
All forces advance, the Dutch light cruisers in the center a bit further than the others because of their pre-game movement granted by Doorman.
Of course, the low points values of some of these ships, especially the Dutch cruisers (which are cheaper than a decent destroyer) have a very good reason; they're rather unimpressive.
Turn 2
The rest of the turn is mostly uneventful maneuvering.
Turn 3
Turn three starts off with the IJN destroyer squadron arriving as support.
The ABDA destroyers also sped along the IJN side of the table, threatening a potentially devastating torpedo assault against the Japanese cruisers in the future.
A view of this situation from the Japanese side.
That's a lot of targets. But some of them, in particular USS Houston, have started to return fire. No heavy damage will be dealt this turn, though.
After all, one of them was designed prior to WW1 and built during that conflict, while the other is even less capable in a fight because of budget cuts during construction.
On the far right, we can also see the trio of Clemson-class destroyers that was not supposed to be there. They will be disappearing shortly.
This trio of IJN destroyers are the threat of the hour, though. They'll be in a excellent position to threaten the fleeing Dutch cruisers with only the ABDA destroyers to sort-of stop them.
Turn 4
This turn was a big one, which is why we forgot to take many pictures.
To start things off, the IJN destroyers charge forward and basically empty their torpedo launchers at the ABDA forces in range. The Dutch cruisers are threatened by them in particular, but the Japanese hope to also catch some destroyers in there.
The cruisers also try to get away, but still end up in the path of a pair of spreads.
But these shots will only be resolved at the end of the turn.
Seeing his chance, the Shiratsuyu-class destroyer accompanying the IJN cruisers leaves that squadron to turn towards the ABDA force, hoping to set up a torpedo run next turn.
Meanwhile, the cruisers start ranging in on Houston, hoping to take the biggest threat to them out of the equation.
In the meantime, USS Houston, now ranged in on the lead IJN cruiser, lets loose a full broadside that proves brutally effective, dealing significant damage and also unnerving the Japanese captain, causing him to have his ship break off and flee from the battlefield. A shameful display.
Turn 5
In fact, HMAS Perth in the other ABDA cruiser squadron has also suffered a long lance hit that caused some flooding; she underestimated the effective range of the IJN torpedoes and sailed right into the danger zone last turn.
In return, the IJN lost the flagship of their destroyer squadron and took some damage on the other destroyers as well.
The situation on the other part of the board: two torpedoless destroyers versus two old and battered light cruisers. Nothing really ends up happening here.
The remaining IJN cruiser continues her fire against Houston to decent effect.
After this, she will turn towards her and hide in the nearby squall.
Here, Houston is still here, ready to fight off the opposition.
Just afterwards, the IJN destroyer will swoop in and launch her torpedoes before frenzied Allied fire can take her out; Houston will go down from the hits while Perth also take some more damage, effectively deciding the game in favour of the IJN side. It does finally result in the destroyer sinking from a torpedo from the ABDA destroyers, but that would generally be considered a valid trade for a Northampton-class heavy cruiser.
Turn 6 (end of game)
This is how things stand in the end. the IJN heavy cruiser Nachi is still going strong and even has a full torpedo load remaining just in case. The force would flee if they took any more losses, but the enemy broke just a little bit earlier.
The ABDA destroyer squadron did make it through mostly intact, though with all their torpedoes spent. While it would be unclear if HMAS Perth could escape this situation, they almost certainly could, probably along with HNLMS De Ruyter, making this at least not a total loss for the Allies.
After all they did sink several modern destroyers and an excellent Myoko-class heavy cruiser, which most would consider a serious blow to the IJN.
Final thoughts
Well, this was a pretty interesting battle, even with the army list mishap and us getting distracted regularly be con visitors asking questions and talking to us about the game and naval warfare in general.
I could have fought it quite a bit more effectively, though, especially since I didn't really grasp how to employ them properly. The best option would likely be to cautiously use them as destroyer hunters.
I did quite like the changes made to the rules for the 1.3 version, which will hopefully be released in the near future with some more tweaks based on things that happened in this battle, like some less-ambiguous wordings in a few places.
About Naval War
Naval War is a WW2 naval wargame developed by Hendrik Jan Seijmonsbergen. It is available as a download for free if you register at the official forums: http://navalwar.boards.net/ and will continue to be updated as a living ruleset.
I recommend you give it a try, even if it's just using some printed top views of warships instead of models. If one of us players lives near you, we might also be able to give a demo game.
If you end up playing the game, we would appreciate it if you post battle reports and/or general feedback about it over there, so we can use the information to make the game even better.
