Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts - Playtest

Z and I got together Saturday to give Age of Dreadnoughts a go, mostly to familiarize ourselves with the rules. We played the Battle of Cape Sarych which was a 1914 engagement between Russian and Ottoman ships in the Black Sea.

I didn't document the proceedings heavily but I did take a few pictures. Zig took the Ottomans and I took the wheel of the Russian flotilla.

My five rear ships. They are not fast and they are not modern. They do have half-decent guns though, so they are quite necessary.

My three forward ships facing the two Ottoman vessels. The Ottomans (re-flagged Germans) are quite good. The Battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim is a match for my whole fleet. 

The Battlecruiser allocates fire (in the form of a bucket-o-dice) to the Protected Cruiser Pamiat Merkuria. The P.M. would take seven damage from the volley. Ugh. In return, the Kagul and P.M. hit the Midilli (the small Ottoman ship) for a total of four damage.

The Kagul lobs its starboard torpedo at the big German Battlecruiser. Nothing ventured nothing gained, right? The Midilli launches a torpedo at the Kagul in turn. Incredibly (since torpedoes are rather inaccurate) both of us get good solid hits with single torps!

The Kagul can't stand the pressure and sinks quickly. The Yavuz Sultan Selim on the other hand is well-built and takes a good deal of damage from the hit but nothing it can't manage.

A turn or two on. I try my best to evacuate my forward group. The P.M. has taken a prop hit and is crippled, meaning it is as slow as the dickens and can barely turn. The Almaz on the other hand is keeping up a good pace. My rear-echelon battleships are steaming as fast as they can go just to get into range of the Ottomans. The lead ship, Evstafi manages to land a solid volley on the Midilli and cripples it! Hurrah!

A turn later, the Ioann Zlatoust's rear guns open up on the Midilli and crush it! The fore guns hit the Battlecruiser for a couple more points of damage.

Done screwing around, the German battlecruiser unloads on the Pamiat Merkuria and finishes it off easily. 

By the crummy victory conditions, Ziggy and the Ottoman fleet was victorious since two Russian cruisers were now sunk. Oh well, it went better than expected I think - I did manage a kill!

Being a novice, there was a lot I could have done to keep the relatively weak front ships alive until the battleships arrived - evasive maneuvers and smoke for starters! I rushed forward foolishly and got eaten up for my efforts. Either way, it was quite enjoyable and I won't be making those same mistakes again! I'll make all new mistakes!