Hoche It!

 I played a game of 4 P Press' Contested Seas yesterday, so I thought I would write up an after action report. Contested Seas uses many of he same mechanics as her sister rules, Naval Mania, but it has been streamlined to speed play. The game moves along nicely and has enough detail to make it interesting.

The Italian Fleet - arrived on the board with the armored cruiser Garibaldi, followed by the battleships Ammiraglio Di St Bon and Italia. For those unfamiliar with Italian battleships, Italia has the largest gun ever floated at the time (17 inch caliber), but absolutely no armor. Ammiraglio Di St Bon is a second class battleship, with armor, but only 10 inch caliber guns.

The French Fleet - contained Hoche, Dupuy De Lome, and six Balny class torpedo boats. Hoche is a battleship so ugly that it was included in 4P's Halloween Bundle last year (2025). She has two 13 inch guns and two 10.8 inch guns, along with some rather serious stability problems. Dupuy De Lome (one of my personal favorites) is an armored cruiser that should have been equipped with a Groucho mustache and glasses. All kidding aside, she is a good armored cruiser (and considered by many to be the first "modern" armored cruiser). The Balnys were supposed to be ocean-going torpedo boats, but that didn't work out and they were relegated to coastal waters. So we will assume this action took place near the French coast around Toulon.

The action began with he French entering from the upper left and the Italians on from the upper right.

Dupuy De Lome's initial shot went wide of Garibaldi. On the horizon, you can see that he three Italian ships also missed the mark.

The French turned to close the range. Notice that they are using their capital ships to shield their torpedo boats.

The Italians turned to head in the opposite direction. Both the Italian and French cruisers missed with their second salvos, but Hoche (Hoche fired on Garibaldi, as did De Lome) and St. Bon connected. Unfortunately, nothing important was hit.

The Italians lost all semblance of order as Garibaldi and S. Bon continued north while Italia turned south in an attempt to get out from behind her two compatriots. Meanwhile, the French capital ships continue in an easterly direction, while the  TB's see their chance and turn around to engage  the Garibaldi and St. Bon.

Garibaldi scored another hit on De Lome, but again it missed everything vital. All the French shots were off target.

Dupuy De Lome turns due east to cross the "T" on Italia while Hoche lumbers along behind. The TBs swarm Garibaldi and St. Bon.

Hoche is hit by both Garibaldi and Italia, taking some unspecified damage to her upperworks. St. Bon also scores a hit on one of the TBs completely destroying its upperworks. Two of the Balnys fire their torpedoes, but both miss.

Garibaldi turns to link up with Italia while Hoche and De Lome close in. Four of the Balnys make some creative maneuvers to line up shots on St. Bon, who is left to fend for herself.

 St, Bon's ATB guns completely miss, but two of the four torpedoes strike home, with one of those sinking her outright.

And here is Dixie's reaction. She was playing the Italians.

In other action, Hoche scores a waterline hit on Italia, causing a palpable hit which took out her pumps. Italia also hit Dupuy De Lome, but again causing no appreciable damage.

The TBs regroup and head toward Garibaldi while De Lome turns to cross Italia's "T" once again.

Italia hits a TB, sending it to the bottom. Garibaldi scores a hit on Hoche, but with minimal effect. Italia is peppered by Dupuy De Lome, whose rapid fire guns do double damage to Italia's unarmored hull. This damage was doubled again due to Italia's lost pumps, Ouch!

Italia turns on the jets and heads for home with several large holes in her side. Garibaldi is, unfortunately, boxed in by Hoche and the TBs.

De Lome and Italia trade punches with little effect  as do Hoche and Garibaldi. But Garibaldi also misses with her close range ATB shot. The TBs fire off their last 5 torpedoes scoring one hit which took out ten of Garibaldi's eight hull boxes and she settled beneath the waves.

So, the French scored a major victory giving a big boost to the Jeune École guys at the Marine Nationale.

The game was great fun and showed the importance of keeping one's station in battle. Also the French tactic of covering their TBs until they could make a dashing attack proved very effective. But how would that work against something more modern?

Maybe we'll find out in the next game.

Until then, thank you for dropping by and happy gaming!