Shipwreck(ed)

James and I hopped in the wayback machine Sunday afternoon and had a nice little game of Shipwreck. It was a Vietnam War-era scenario, the Battle of Dong Hoi. I randomly selected the Vietnamese force which I'm sure was a surprise for James who usually ends up with the 3rd-tier force.

Here's the setup. The Yanks are running amok, entering from the southeast corner. I've got a load of surface contacts in the water, only three of which were actual torpedo boats. I also had two shore batteries with 130mm howitzers. Along the highway are scattered numerous targets for the Americans. 

James gets detections on a couple of my boats. Both are soon spotted by a Sea Sprite. No surprises here, both are torpedo boats!

The attack craft are nothing, if not fast! A 7-inch move and 5-inch torpedo range gives them a pretty strong 12-inch "pounce" which the Americans don't have a good answer for. My TBs plot an intercept course towards the southernmost pair of Yank ships.

It's drama on the high seas! The People's Navy looses two 20+ year old torpedoes towards the USS Higbee. 

Both fish miss their target and my boat is ruined by return gunfire. The boat would stay afloat for quite a while, stripped of weapons.

The other boat makes its attack run very shortly afterwards! Glory!

Similar results. This time my boat was sunk outright. The torps missed terribly.

As this was going on, my third torpedo boat got in position to make a run at the other group of American ships...

In keeping with the theme of exploding torpedo boats... the ol' 5-inch gun is my nemesis.

But.. heh heh heh... this time one of the torpedoes hit the US ship! The USS Lloyd Thomas loses its hangar facilities. CURSES! What a crap damage roll...

The brave American sailors start shelling the coastal highway.

My MiGs show up about an hour late. One is shot down by a Terrier from the USS Sterett. The other two planes scattered bombs all around the Higbee but none make contact. The planes safely returned to base.

Two of the American ships pull up to one of my gun emplacements and commence shelling. I actually got a second hit on the Thomas, wrecking its rear gun, but the Oklahoma City's big guns silenced my battery shortly thereafter.

We called the game there. I had no more offense to throw at the Americans so it was just a matter of James shelling the rest of the traffic on the road. I got a minor victory for damaging an American ship and James was easily able to disrupt the southbound flow of materiel.

It was one of those fun games that you have no chance at all of winning a real military victory. A few rowboats versus the US Navy never is going to end well for the rowboat-user. Any damage scored is a major bonus! I probably could have had my stuff huddle around the bunkers and perhaps try to "sucker in" the American ships, but it didn't seem terribly realistic and definitely neither bold nor honorable. Entertaining as always!