That Sinking Feeling - Cruel Seas AAR

The second game from the January South Jersey Gamers Association was Warlord Games' newest offering, Cruel Seas. I hadn't paid much attention to the release, for several reasons. The scale of the miniatures and actual conflict (basically patrol boat skirmishes) and the period didn't grab me. Also, since this is another of Warlord's offshoot games, they rules weren't likely to be all that good.  

Ted set up a five player game using one of the scenarios in the book. Three German E-Boats needed to rescue the crew from a stricken compatriot in the center of the table. Four British Vosper Motor Torpedo Boats would oppose the German flotilla, aiming to capture the E-Boat's crew.

The German's game plan was to fight against the odds and send two of the three E-Boats to peel off and attack the Vospers, while the third E-Boats moved to rescue the waterlogged crew.

Unfortunately, that plan didn't pan out. The smaller Vospers proved annoying difficult to hit, and when the E-Boats slowed to try and get a better shot, the Vospers lit them up. One E-Boat took a hit to one of its stowed torpedoes, which detonated and caused massive damage.

The stricken E-Boat decided to open fire as a Vosper approached (it wasn't a legal target to the British until it chose to fire), but instead sank below the choppy surface of the English Channel.

My E-Boat managed to secure the German sailors, but since I had to slow down to do so, three of the four Vospers trained their guns on me and opened up. In a single turn I went from having 55 Hull Points to 4!

In the next couple turns I managed to slip away thanks to some bad dice rolling, and moved up to full speed. The British players paled, realizing that their chance of victory was slipping away.

Sam, of course, wasn't going to have any of that, and made up for his dismal luck in the To The Strongest! game by dealing enough damage to my E-Boat to sink it.

Ted did run a fun game, and while my overall impression of Cruel Seas hasn't changed, it won't be a game that I actively choose to avoid for group events like SJGA meetups.