Adriatic Cruel Seas

With a bit of time pre-Christmas, I have played a couple more scenarios in Warlord's new game of coastal warfare, Cruel Seas.

In the latest game, I used a version of the convoy scenario. Two German S-Boats are escorting a merchant ship along the Adriatic coast when they are attacked by three British MTBs. This was an opportunity to try out the torpedo rules, which work very well. Sadly, my skills at firing them are as bad as my sailing skills! I missed twice, but at least this time I avoided colliding with my own boats!

As I gushed about these rules in my review, I remain a fan. Several guys at the club have bought them, so my sailing skills should get an opportunity to improve in the new year. I found the Warlord Games video of a convoy game very helpful. I was playing the one-thirds rule wrongly - it's one-third of the maximum speed before turning, not the current speed of the boat.

Somewhat less impressive is the substantial errata sheet that I had to download. In fairness, the errors are not huge, but it is pretty sloppy work from a commercial operation the size of Warlord.

I have also been busy researching coastal warfare in the Adriatic. I found a range of sources in my library and I have put my findings into a feature article on Balkan Military History. The Adriatic is ideal for this game and I have been ordering landing craft and other items from suppliers. I also fancy modeling a typical harbour.

Vis Town

A number of the actions I have described in the article involve raiding islands. So, there is an option to play the landing using Cruel Seas, and then the land battle using Bolt Action. I already have the British Commandos, US Rangers and Partisans for this.

Seasons greetings by the way. I hope Santa brings you some great toys tonight!