Coral Sea

After a few tries Tim and I finally got around to playing Coral Sea by Avalanche Press. It was an interesting game with some issues.

The first issue was the weather. From the opening of the game to when the Japanese were approaching Port Moresby the weather was rainy or worse. Air searches were ineffective until the invasion was underway a little to late for the Allies.

Once the weather cleared, at least cloudy, the Allies attacked concentrated on attacking the transports. After two strikes one transport was sunk and three were damaged. We had some issues with those rules but we were still learning.

The Japanese used land based and seaplanes for effective searches finding the carrier Yorktown. Two waves came in one finishing off the USS Yorktown and the other heavily damaging two cruisers.

Submarines came in handy for both sides in tracking targets and the Allies put a torpedo into the Shōhō. Damaged she limped back towards Rabaul.

So the out come was a Japanese victory with the Japanese holding  Port Moresby and Tulagi and inking the USS Yorktown. The Japanese loses when we called the game was a transport.

This will effect the Battle of Midway in that the USS Lexington will be there in all of her glory, but the Japanese will also have the IJN Zuikaku and Shōkaku with their full aircraft complement.


Now for the issues with the game...

Submarines can spot but it does not appear they can spot for airstrikes. Which they historically did. A rule change and a modifier on the chart would be helpful for the the players and historically accurate.

Clear examples of play and stand alone charts for air attacks and torpedo shoots would be helpful. I was using the charts from their WWI rule set, OK for now but improvements would be welcome by the publisher.

I have seen reviews of these rules showing mixed results. One of the chief complaints was that they were rules for The Great War with aircraft  rules superimposed on them. And not very cleanly. This I have to agree with.

Will I play them again, yes but with some serious house rules. Keep an eye on this blog for the changes.

Do you have any thought on these rules?

Gulf of Riga - End Notes

The Germans have left the Gulf of Riga and they caused a great deal of damage to the Russians.

Both of the coastal hexes were bombarded for an additional 10VP each. British submarines tried to intercept the Germans bombardment fleets and sweepers but only the Roon was damaged. This added 12VPs to the Germans and only 3VP to the Russians.

It will take several months to rebuild the British submarine squadron in the Baltic. The ore trade with Sweden will not be interfered with for at least three months. A side benefit and not part of the game but important.

Game ends with:

• Russians 9VP 
• Germans 69VP

Battle of Reval

The Russian 1st Cruiser Brigade came under fire today west of Reval suffering heavy losses.  The five armored and protective cruisers engaged elements of the German High Seas Fleet.

The Russians were trying to cover the northern approaches to the Gulf of Riga when they engaged a squadron of pre-dreadnoughts. Fire on both sides was poor, but it was only a matter of time before the German numbers over came the Russians.

In the middle of the battle both sides’ torpedo boats engaged the opposing fleets. Here again the forces did poorly as none of the torpedoes hit for the loss of 2 destroyers each.

The Russians lost the Flagship Rurik, Bayan and Oleg. Minor damage was done to the German battleship with the SMS Zahringen being escorted back to port for repairs.

The points currently are 6 for the Russian and 47 for the Germans.

The Russians will have to get lucky with their minefields and submarines to even up the game.