Arctic Convoy Solitaire Scenario v.1

herky80 · Arctic Convoy Solitaire Scenario v.1

There are two versions, the normal scenario and the campaign version.
Use a standard map set up without any islands. I cut out ice floes using white styrofoam that actually don't look too bad.

Arctic Convoy Scenario v1.0
You will be escorting three Liberty ships from Great Britain to Russia through U-Boat infested waters.

Ice Floes
1.Place an ice floe in the exact middle of row five (5d) and seven (7d). These ice floes will move around the map one square per turn. If one reaches an edge and goes off the map, take it out of the game. Roll 1d6 each turn for each ice floe drift:
a. 1 = north
b. 2=northeast
c. 3=southeast
d. 4=south
e. 5=southwest
f. 6=northwest
3.Any ship that comes into contact with an ice floe loses one hull point. U-boats are immune.

Allied Fleet Composition
1.Line up the following: Hoel, Laffey, Fletcher, Roberts, Butler, Javelin, Arunta, Van Galen and Haida.
2.Choose one destroyer and take it out of the game.
3.Choose two destroyers to include in your escort fleet.
4.Assign the remaining six destroyers numbers one through six.
5.Roll two d6 and include both numbered destroyers in your fleet. Re-roll if you get doubles.
6.Your fleet should now include two selected and two random destroyers.
7.Place fleet of 4 destroyers and 3 Liberty ships (Jeremiah O’Briens) in row one.

German U-Boat Fleet: U-510 x2 and U-66 x5
1.U-Boats enter at turn 2 in row assignments below.
2.U-510: rows 3 and 4. U-66: rows 6, 8 and 10. Enter each U-boat at top of map for odd movement roll and bottom of map for even movement roll. U-boats stay in their assigned rows moving north and south.
3.Roll for U-boat movement each turn:
1= South one square
2= North one square
3= South two squares
4= North two squares
5= South three squares
6= North three squares
Basically, odd rolls go south and even rolls go north.
4.When each U-boat reaches the end of the map, it reverses direction. If a U-boat starts at the very north of the map and rolls a 2, it does not move. If it rolls a 4, it goes south one square. Even though the roll was even, it went off the map and reversed direction. Sounds confusing but really isn't.
5.At turn 10, enter a U-66 in row five at the top of the map for odd movement roll and bottom for even roll.
6. At turn 12, enter a U-66 in row seven at top of map for odd movement roll and bottom for even roll.
7.At turn 14 enter a U-66 in row nine at top of map for odd movement roll and bottom for even roll.

Action Sequence
1.Move ice floes per rules described above. Assess any damage to ships immediately.
2.Roll for initiative. The Axis fleet receives +2 initiative bonus at start of game. You receive +1 initiative bonus for each U-boat sunk with a maximum of +2 bonus.
3.Movement Phase: If a U-boat enters a square containing an enemy ship it must stop.
4.Attack phase. U-boats will attack the closest Liberty ship. If none are in range, they will attack the closest destroyer. Destroyers can attack damaged (and thus surfaced) U-boats with main guns or torpedoes but not both.
5.The goal is to get all Liberty ships off the east wide of the map.
6.Scoring: A=3ships. B=2ships C=1ship D=0ships
7. Turn Limit = 18

Arctic Convoy Scenario
Campaign Variation v1.0

Use the Arctic Convoy Scenario rules with the following adjustments:

1.Create and shuffle a deck of cards that includes one of each of the following Allied destroyers:
Hoel
Laffey
Fletcher
Roberts
Butler
Javelin
Arunta
Van Galen
Haida.

2.Create your fleet by randomly selecting six destroyers from the deck.

3.You can use only four destroyers and three Liberty ships per mission.

4.If a destroyer…

a.Is sunk on a mission, you cannot use it in a later mission.
b.Is damaged on a mission, it will remain damaged throughout the entire campaign (unless repaired).
c.Does not make it off the map by the end of the mission it is considered missing in action and sunk.

5.Your goal is to escort 12 Liberty ships in four convoys. Your final score is based on the amount of Liberty ships that were successfully escorted across the map in the four convoy missions.

6.Each convoy mission has a 18 turn limit.

7.Choose one of the following bonus options (each bonus is applied at the start of the next mission):
ASW Veteran: When a destroyer sinks a U-boat it receives a +1 ASW bonus.
Expert Repair: For each U-boat sunk, you can repair a damaged destroyer at the end of the mission. Limit two per mission.

herky80

You can find the map to use here:

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/about1001.html

Aquarius

This is really cool!

herky80

I finally got a chance to playtest this scenario last night and have made some changes above.
The first game I played took about 10 minutes and I lost in round 3. I sunk one U-boat, lost all three transports but no destroyers.
The second game I also lost, but it took 30 minutes and I lasted until round 10. I sunk three U-boats, one of which was vitaled by Sammy B. I lost all three transports and all but one destroyer.

Changes included:
- both ice floes will move randomly around the board.
- U-boat movement is simplified

Other thoughts:
It was tough moving the transports at speed one while the U-boats could potentially move three. The random movement of the U-boats was good though, because the Allies don't know if they are moving north, south or how far. Destroyers need to be aggressive to protect the convoy.
I played the scenario without the 'ASW Threat' rule update. If my destroyers could have limited the torpedo rolls to 1 or 2, then I surely could have won the scenario. The torpedo rolls were almost flawless, rolling a 6 almost every time. Once they rolled three ones, but ships went down easily other than that. Playing without the ASW Threat rule, I found it too easy for subs to kill destroyers. Destroyers have to be in the same square as a sub, giving subs an excellent torpedo roll. So even if they do hit the sub, the sub will probably roll one 6, sinking the destroyer. The ASW threat rule update is perfect to solve this problem.

cealigh the MadScot

I would have used the ASW threat rule anyway with this scenario.
A buddy of mine and I are going to get together new years day to play WaS.
Me thinks we will try out your scenario. It's just the ticket we've been lookin for.

jfkziegler

Very well written scenario!