1942.08.06 - Battle of Savo Island

Blackeagle · 1942.08.06 - Battle of Savo Island

Battle of Savo Island August 8-9, 1942
The day after American forces landed on the island of Guadalcanal, a hastily assembled team of seven cruisers and one destroyer set sail down the Slot from Rabaul. The battle that followed was a disaster for Allied forces, and sent four cruisers to their grave in the body of water soon to be known as Ironbottom sound.

Order of Battle

Allies
Southern Force
HMS Canberra
USS Chicago
USS Patterson
USS Bagley

Northern Force
USS Vincennes
USS Astoria
USS Quincy
USS Helm
USS Wilson

Eastern Force
USS San Juan
HMAS Hobart
USS Monssen
USS Buchanan

Transport Force
HMS Australia
4x Transports

Picket Destoryers (reinforcements)
USS Blue
USS Ralph Talbot

Imperial Japanese Navy
Chokai
Furutaka
Kako
Aoba
Kinugasa
Tenryu
Yubari
Yunagi

Cards for these Japanese, American, and Australian ships can be found in the linked threads from the custom cards forum.

Setup
Use battle map #6. With the text right-side up, north is at the top of the map.
The Allied player sets up first. Place the Northern, Southern, and Eastern forces in their respective areas. Place HMAS Australia in the sector labeled "Australia". Place the four transports in the sectors labeled transport. The Japanese player sets up his forces in the area marked IJN.

Reinforcements
The picket destroyers Blue and Ralph Talbot enter in the sectors labeled with their names on turn 4.

Special Rules
Darkness: This scenario takes place at night. Use Blackeagle's Modified Darkness rules from the house rules forum. All ships in the setup hexes for the transports and Australia are illuminated by air-dropped flares from Japanese aircraft for the entire game.
Surprise: No Allied forces can move or fire on turn 1.
Flag Officers Conference: Admiral Crutchley has been called away for a conference with Admiral Turner and General Vandegrift aboard one of the transports. Australia cannot move, fire, or utilize it's flag bonus until turn 3.
Eastern Force: The ships of the Eastern Force cannot move or fire until a Japanese ship enters row F or fires on one of the transports. Once the Japanese player has done so, the Eastern Force can move and attack starting the next turn.
Unloading Transports: The transports cannot move during the scenario. Aside from their immobility, transports use the same stats as the transports in the convoy scenario.
Exiting the Map: Japanese ships can exit the west side of the map. Allied ships can exit the east side of the map. Ships that exit the map cannot return.
End of the Scenario: The battle ends when all the ships on one side have either been sunk or exited the map.

Victory Conditions
Victory points are gained by sinking warships according to the normal rules. Each transport is worth ten victory points. The Japanese player wins if he accumulates 100 or more victory points and has at least 50 victory points more than the Allied player. If he fails to achieve either of these objectives, the Allied player wins.

Designer's Notes
I've always known that the Battle of Savo Island was one of the worst defeats in U.S. Naval History. What I didn't realize until I started putting this scenario together was that the Japanese force was hardly the best the IJN had to offer. The Furutaka and Aoba classes were the oldest and smallest classes of heavy cruiser in the Japanese inventory, and were markedly inferior in size and gun power to the American and Australian "treaty cruisers" that were their opponents in this battle. Chokai was one of the formidable Japanese 10-gun cruisers, but even she was among the least capable of her type, as she had not been modernized before the war. The light cruisers Yubari and Tenryu were the smallest in the Japanese fleet, barely bigger than some of the late-war American destroyer classes. The lone destroyer, Yunagi, was from one of the oldest classes of Japanese destroyers still in service. You'll note that in WaS terms, the Japanese are outnumbered 171 points to 126. Yet an almost naive level of surprise and faulty dispositions allowing defeat in detail (modeled by the setup areas and movement restrictions given above) give the Japanese the overall advantage.

Even so, it's actually quite difficult to pull off the same performance as Admiral Mikawa and destroy most of the Northern and Southern forces while only receiving a few hits in return. The Japanese player has to decide whether to concentrate on one of these forces in turn 1 and fight the other on more even terms on turn 2, or split his turn 1 attention between both, and risk ending up in an outnumbered fight on both fronts. Mikawa kept his ships in a single column. He originally intended to pass south of Savo Island (meaning he would have encountered the Southern force first). However, he sighted the picket destroyer Blue and briefly changed to a course that would take him north of Savo to avoid her. A report of another enemy ship to the north (probably not Ralph Talbot, who was far too distant at the time for a visual sighting) led him to change course back to the south and encounter the southern force first.

The second major decision for the Japanese player is whether or not to go for the transports. In real life Mikawa did not, which allowed the Allies to establish themselves on Guadalcanal and hold Henderson Field, meaning in the long run his magnificent tactical victory was a strategic defeat. In the game, if you manage to annihilate the eastern force without loosing more than two ships, it will give you over 100 points and a 50 point lead. Going after the transports (and thus involving the Eastern Force in the fight) can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with a couple of lucky Allied torpedo or gunfire rolls. If you can meet the victory conditions, it may be more prudent to withdraw.

The main decision for the Allied player is what to do with Australia when she becomes available. If the Japanese player has managed to completely or mostly annihilate the Northern and Southern forces in the first two turns, throwing Australia alone against a strong Japanese force may be like handing your opponent free VPs. Keeping it back to engage with the Eastern Force if the enemy attacks the transports may be a better choice. On the other hand, if elements of the Northern and Southern forces are still battling it out with the Japanese on turn 3, Australia can turn the tide. Don't forget about Ralph Talbot and Blue (I have, and I designed the scenario). When they enter north and south of Savo on turn 4 they are in an excellent position to pick off any crippled Japanese ships attempting to exit the board. I've managed to win the game by sinking the last element of a withdrawing Japanese fleet with Ralph Talbot, cutting the victory point margin to less than 50 points.

NeuralDream

Fantastic! That's the next scenario we'll play with my friends.

Blackeagle

Thanks! Let me know how it goes.

HeavyJedi · Savo Island

Brilliant Black Eagle!

Will try it out this weekend and give you a brief summary.

drittal

so, how did it go?

cealigh the MadScot

what I would like to know is how did you get the pic of the WAS map?