Cruel Seas Weekend

This weekend was all about Warlord Games Cruel Seas rule set. On Saturday I hosted friends Michael and Mike in my garage for an 'outdoor' gaming venue. Mike and Michael played two games of Cruel Seas while I watched, learned the rules and kibitzed. They swapped sides and each won one game. I had a great time hosting. The weather was nice and breezy and cool, the open door and windows in the garage made for excellent airflow, allowing us to feel safe without masks as long as we kept a reasonable distance for 'personal space'. 

 

 

On Sunday, my friend Mark D from Mark D's Gaming Site blog invited me up to his place for some airbrushing and a game of Cruel Seas between the two of us. Mark wanted some tips on cleaning and using his airbrush which I was happy to help him with. In return I got a few figures zenethil primed by Mark as he practiced cleaning the brush between colors.

After the airbrushing Mark and I played a game of Cruel Seas that he had set up. The scenario pit a German force escorting a freighter against an intercepting force of British ships with a rogue American Elco PT boat added in for educational purposes.

 

This game was pretty crazy. Mark's gunnery was good all game with a particularly devastating strike on one of my bigger boats exploding a torpedo on deck and sending my ship to the bottom. I returned the favor a couple of turns later with a ridiculous string of gunnery dice myself. This helped as early on all of my torpedoes either missed or were duds.

Later in the game I got a torpedo to hit and finally finished off his largest ship with gunnery. Mark sunk my largest ship with gunnery, and I got one of his S-boats with a torpedo. The cargo ship was finished off with a torpedo and gunnery. During the final turn four ships went to the bottom. At the end, Mark's fleet was hanging on by a thread, but mine was gutted. Victory for this one goes to the ocean, claiming nearly all the ships.

This game was good old fashioned fist-o-dice fun. Thanks for hosting Mark!