Great War at Sea: Mediterranean Battle Scenario (6) AAR

This is the final write up in my series of after action reports for Great War at Sea’s tactical Battle Scenarios.

Battle Scenario 6: More Spilling of Ink Fall 1915

Man, if you thought Battle Scenario 5 was a slugfest, this one tops it! It is basically Scenario 5 on steroids adding additional battleships (BB) to both the Italian and Austrian fleets. BBs mean big guns, thick armor, and lot ‘o dice rolling.

Turn 1: While initially about positioning, there was some significant damage dealt out this turn. Kaiser Franz Josef took a few critical hits and was knocked dead in the water after 23 hits in the turn. Don Juan d’Austria was first rendered weaponless midway through the turn, only to be sunk later in the turn. The Italians were hit hard as well with Francesco Carracciolo  and Cristoforo Colombo both sunk taking 21 and 17 hits respectively via some critical hits and nice rolling. Notably, the Austrian’s secondary weapons are generally underpowered and not much help throughout the battle.

Moving into position in Turn 1

Turn 2:  This turn saw a lot of hits and a few ships knocked dead in the water.  Kaiser Franz Joesf sunk along with Hunyadi. So just a few kills this turn, but man were some ships beat up. Giulio Cesare notably survived a fourteen hit barrage in one segment which was on top of the pounding it took in Turn 1.

The action gets close

Turn 3: A bloody turn for both sides. It seemed up until  this turn that the Austrians were slowly falling behind and needed to get some kills to even things out. Things looked bleak however, as the Italians sank Laudon and Radetzky. The Austrians struck back sinking the Dante Aligheri with back to back 10 hit phases and then the Conte di Cavour  with a rare 12/12 critical hit. The Austrians were suddenly in the thick of things. Ships were sinking all over the place in the last segment of the turn with the already severely damaged Giulio Cesare, Andrea Doria, Zrinyi, and Franz Ferdinand all heading to the bottom of the sea at turn’s end.

Austrians close in for the kill

At this point, right before the beginning of Turn 4, all severely ships had been sunk. All that remained were four Austrian BBs and four Italian BBs. The Italians were a bit more powerful but were also a bit more damaged at this stage. Thinking an decisive outcome was unlikely by the end of the next turn, I called the game a draw with a score of Austrians (441) to Italians (429). Very close indeed.

I’ve decided this will be my last write up solely on the tactical Battle Scenarios. My intent was to use it to get into the game and with that I think I succeed. To be honest though, the last two scenarios have been a bit of an empty experience and I am a bit worn out the tactical battles (I mean come on, six scenarios in about four days!). I chalk that up to a bit of the fact that I have been playing solo but also to some issues with the game I address elsewhere.

The end is near

Now, I’m looking forward to trying out the strategic scenarios. I hope you’ve enjoyed the write-ups!