So, after the last game, the ladz elected for another wee ships game and Russ volunteered to prepare a Carrier Scenario.

Scenario is:

Early April 1942 IJN Carrier Division 2 under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo consisting of fleet carriers Akagi (Flag) (17 flights), Kaga (18 flights) and Shōkaku (18 flights), two heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and seven destroyers execute the right hook of Plan C to sweep the Indian Ocean and in particular sink Admiral Sir James Sommerville’s Force A Fast Carrier division.

Force A consisted initially of HMS Illustrious (8 flights), two heavy cruisers and four destroyers. This uneven fight has been assisted by New Zealand Signals Intelligence gathering and American decryption of the Japanese Navy code to have a good sense of what Yamamoto has in the wind. The timing and general shape of the Japanese Plan C.
As a result, on 27 March Sommerville bought the newly repaired carrier Ark Royal (15 flights) and a British light cruiser from Alexandria, through the Suez Canal, to join Force A.
Sensing an opportunity to cut out a detached part of the Kidō Butai (Mobile Force – Japanese carrier battle groups), Admiral Nimitz dispatches the also freshly repaired USS Saratoga (20 flights) under Captain DeWitt Ramsey and three destroyers to join Force A.

Players for the game are Terry, Goldie and Keith as the IJN and Stephen, Graeme and Rob as the Allies with Russ running the scenario and consulting the rules book.

We had comprehensive instructions for Combat Air Patrols(CAPs), Scouting and pregame decisions which I will move on from. The IJN however rolled best for the scouting and we sighted the Allied Fleet first. The IJN fleet is below with our CAPs of 2 flights of fighters per carrier airborne awaiting any incoming flights!(the 2 finished carriers are Russ’s. I have just found someone who makes decals so mine will be getting an upgrade!)

Close up of the Akagi and its CAP.

Allied Force steaming along with the Saratoga and its CAP in the rear. They had a large CAP!

As I was Nagumo I decided at the start to scout with 6 of the Strike Bombers, which left 31 Strike aircraft and 11 Zero’s in the Strike Force and 6 Zero’s on CAP. Below is my Strike Force arriving on Allied table and being met by 3 fighter bases.

Keith arrived on my right flank and was also met by a CAP of 3 fighters.

Close up of my Strike Force… my Kate’s are not touching the Zero bases so don’t get to support the fighter combat. New rule for me…..won’t happen again.

View from the Illustrious of the incoming swarm!

Goldie arrived to the front of the Allies….below is what’s left of his Strike Force after AA fire from the ships and fighter combat.

Here we have lots of Japanese goodness attacking the Illustrious.

The love was also shared with the Ark Royal.

Fighter combat was still going on with mine and Keith’s fighters and some bombers. Fighter combat is rather brutal.

After all the AA fire….these planes get to drop bombs and launch torpedoes. They did…it didn’t do diddly squat…it slowed down a bit.

So all that remained from the attack on the carriers…….is below.

Now the Allied Strike force made it to the Japanese Carrier group…the photos I took didn’t come out well…so this is only one have. But, it didn’t go well for them either…they got through to 2 carriers….did no damage (or minimal) and lost most of their planes.

Hmmmmm…..so lots of questions after this game. Both sides lost most of their large air groups and did minimal damage to 2 carriers contacted in each engagement. So we will reread the rules….look at some videos on games with planes and see what we assume we are getting wrong. In 2 weeks, we will play a Cruiser engagement with just a couple of ships each…..should be fun.

Now, yesterday was a lovely clear winters day and was pleasantly warm in the sun. So the neighbour and I sat in the sun, in our shared driveway and sampled a couple of whisky’s. John had a new one in a Clynelish 14.

Tasting notes: One of the most distinct whiskies from the Highland’s, Clynelish is renowned for it’s notes of light brown sugar, cooking toffee and a delicate perfumed and waxy characteristic. The initial sweetness is complimented by a mouth coating oily/waxyness and just a touch of tangy sea-air salt.

Now this wee beastie is 46%, and was really quite pleasant with no smokiness or sherry tastes overpowering the taste buds. Recommended.

Til next time… Terry out.