Hello /k/, QotS/RtW anon here, wanted to mix things up for a bit with another tabletop. Rest assured we will return to our Italian RtW campaign! >what the fuck is thisBeneath the Med is a single player solitaire wargame focused around the Italian submarine service in WWII, with /k/ commanding a boat into the perilous waters of the Mediterranean/Atlantic/abroad to raid Allied shipping. While nowhere near as famous as the German or American submarine fleets, Italy possessed a significant sub fleet that, while hampered by flawed designs and doctrine, still managed some degree of success. Nevertheless, the mortality rate amongst the Italian submarine service was barely any better than the Germans. For us and our crew, the stakes will be high and disaster can come with a single toss of the dice. With any luck, we can join the ranks of the greatest Italian sub commanders and maybe even bag ourselves a British capital ship! Or, more likely than not, we'll die ignoble depths and feed the fish.With that, let's get to our first (and probably most important) decision of the campaign - sub selection!
Now, for you Italian sub autists out there (all 4 of you, including the games creator), you'll no doubt appreciate the selection of boats we can choose from. For the rest of you out there, the biggest difference will probably come down to a few key details>the Foca, Adua and Perla subs are smaller and will exclusively be assigned to the Med>the Foca is exclusively assigned minelaying missions>the Adua and Perla may carry manned torpedoes for harbor infiltration>the Calvi are the only subs to equip 120mm deck guns, opposed to 100mmHowever, in reality most new sub commanders wouldn't have the luxury of choosing their sub, so I'll offer an alternative choice, we can roll for our first sub assignment.Would you all like to choose a sub, or let chance assign us to our boat?
>>62581933Rollan for perla
Chance, but I expect it to be called Gabagool.also did you ever play By Stealth and Sea?
>>62581928nice to sea you back annon>>62581933can we get the frogmen suicide sub thingy?
>>62581968>frogmen suicide sub thingyYes, exclusive to the Adua and Perlas though>>62581963>also did you ever play By Stealth and Sea?I have not, it's on my list but I had all of the resources for this one on hand.>>62581959A 'vote', so to speak, for the Perla or Marcello, I suppose.
>>62581933Didn't most Italian subs use 533 mm torps like the other navies?
>>62581933Gotta go with Marconi
>>62582013Yes. With some closer inspection I believe this tabletop module I'm running just assigns the same torpedo tokens to all subs and they default to 45cm, but they can be 'flipped' to 53cm to be accurate. >>62582043Noted
While we finish up selecting our sub (read: while waiting for people to filter in), and this being a somewhat unnecessary step, it wouldn't be a /k/ Plays without having some named characters to get attached to. Who exactly is our brave Comandante, and who makes up his crew? For those of you lacking in Italian language skills>Secondo = XO, second in command>Uffciali all Armi = weapons officer>Dir di Macchina = chief engineer>Medico = take a guess
>>62581933Rollin'
>>62582096Our Secondo is gonna have to be called Luigi
>>62582096Leonardo, Dir di Macchina
At this point the two people who've called to roll both landed on the Marcello, with some others advocating for other subs.>>62582171Secondo Luigi reporting for duty>>62582230Leonardo, hopefully he's as good as his namesake
>>62581933According to wiki, the Calvi class were eventually converted to transports, so they didn't have notably long careers. >>62582070Apparently, the reason for smaller torpedoes on the Cagni class was due their role as dedicated commerce raiders (it was considered that 450 mm torps were sufficient to sink merchant ships).
Still waiting on a few names, but I can go ahead and give a general overview of our patrol process.>roll for patrol/mission assignment>move through each zone to our assigned patrol>on each zone, roll for encounters>resolve combat encounters>eventually return to base>sub goes in for refit depending on damage taken and some other rolls such as conning tower rebuild>assign promotions and so forth>go back on patrolSo quite similar to the B-17 experience, for all of those who were here for that. >>62581963>GabagoolAny objections to Gabagool for our sub?
>>62582295Shouldn't it be "Capocollo" in the original Italian? "Gabagool" is American Italian.
>>62582096Medico gotta be called Mario since Luigi was already taken. Oughta be switched around.
>>62582096I vote Domino for Uffciali all Armi, named after the (failed) meme cruiser from the RTW campaign.
Glad I didn't miss this. B-17 was very fun, lets hope we'll see some underwater shenanigans.We should name one of the crew in Ade's honor.
>>62582355Mario is best for Medico because Dr. Mario exists.
Starting things off here, let's see how it goes.10 June 1940, the hand that held the dagger struck it into the back of its neighbor. Italy was at war, and so too was the Regia Marina. The crew of the Gabagool/Capocollo, a Marcello-class makes ready to put to sea, eager to prove their worth to the Fatherland in the tonnage war.Thus, it came as a bit of a bitter surprise to find that orders came down to have all spare torpedoes in Gabagool removed, as truckloads of supplies arrived in crates to be loaded aboard. Italian Libya needed support, and our submarine was selected to rush important goods to the forces located there. Certainly not the mission we were hoping for, but a chance to prove out worth in ways other than just combat!>1940 June-Dec roll: [6,6] - Central Med - Supply Run>>62582440>>62582355Noted and recorded.
>>62582530I don't think the Comandante has a name yet. I propose Dante
Our transit voyage goes entirely uneventfully. While these segments are most commonly without encounters, from time to time we'll end up getting jumped by a French or British aircraft or running across a too-cocky ship near Italian waters.>>62582623Dante the Comandante, got a nice ring to it doesn't it?
As our vessel passes enters the Central Med, passing just off of the British island fortress of Malta, our crew keeps a keep eye on the horizon. In the mid-day light and clear visibility of the Med, one spots a pair of shapes on the horizon. Our ships closes the distance, enough to identify them as a small merchant and a small military escort vessel.We have a few choices we could make>Engage!Submerge, close the distance and take a shot at the pair. The closer we get the better the odds we hit, but also the better chance the escort will be able to find us.>ShadowAttempt to follow the pair of ships, waiting for the fall of night. Attacking at night offers us additional options, such as a surfaced attack and better odds of evading detection>NothingLet the pair pass. A small merchant and an escort are nothing special, and we have precious few torpedoes to spare.What do we do?
>>62582689(ignore the torpedo reloads, forgot to take them off the board)
>>62582689This is a supply mission and our ammo is limited. Might be smarter to let em pass and focus on getting those sauce rations to Libya.
>>62582708Seconded. Our boys need their pasta.
>>62582689Nothing, gotta get those supplies to Libya. We can hunt for glory when we have enough torpedoes.
>>62582689Our brave boys need their supply of replacement water makers or else they can’t cook the pasta.
Choosing to let the vessels go by may have proven a smart choice, identification of the merchant reveals it to be the SS Roula, one of the smallest possible merchants in the game deck.Good save of the torpedoes gents
>>62582747They have pasta sauce, anon.
We continue onto our objective, entering the shallow waters that will offer little to protect us from prying eyes. Nevertheless, unless we get very unlucky we should be able to drop these supplies off with little diffic->Special Mission zone roll: [3] - Aircraftah
The large bulky conning tower of our boat nearly screws us, but we manage a modified roll of 7, putting us just barely into the successful crash dive category. The aircraft fails to make an attack on us and we're safe for now.
>>62582826ALLLAAAAAAARMM!
Our shipment of pristine pasta water and olive oil is successfully dropped out and we set out for the remainder of our patrol Throughout the Central Med. Some time passes with no encounters, however after a week or so of nothing, at dusk our lookouts spot another pair of ships heading towards us.>Encounter chart: [6,2] - Ship + Escort>Time of day: [4] - Night>Ship size: [6] - TankerOrders? Attack or let pass?
ATTACK!!!
>>62582929Sinking a tanker sounds wise. Hit that lad and then head home
>>62582929The pasta is delivered, now we must bring the fight to the perfidious anglo.
>>62582929>nightlet's-a go
I expected nothing else. Now, how to attack?>surfaced/submerged?>range?>target just the tanker or also the escort?>how many torps fired?>fire just the fore tubes, or the rear ones as well (at a penalty)?
>>62582929Close and engage
Surfaced, close range, 2 at the escort and 2 at the tanker.
>>62582988submergedstandard rangetarget only the tanker then evade and back to port2 torpedoesfore tubes only
>>62582988Surface attack. Its night so lets get in close. 1 at each ship, we lack reloads.
>>62582929Hit it
>>62582070>using a Whitehead >in the 1940s dafuq
>>62583055Seconded. No need to risk a surface attack with that escort present
>four votes for attack method>they're nearly all incompatible with one anotherFuck it, guess I'm hybridizing them. Standby
>>62583131Nvm, OP is a retard and somehow misread >>62583123STANDBY, AGAIN
>>62583118Superior AH engineering, came highly recommended from our pal Horthy
No need to be overly risky in early in the war, is there? Our ship moves into the standard attack range, hidden beneath the waves except for our periscope. The escorting destroyer passes well away from us, failing to detect us as we line up our shot on the valuable tanker.>escort pre-attack detection roll: [5] - UndetectedTubes 1 and 2 fire, sending a pair of 53cm torpedoes towards the tanker. We watch eagerly for an eruption of water alongside the ship, or even the resounding clunk of a dud. But as our calculated impact point comes and goes, it's realized we've missed. One torpedo has gone far wide, the other just narrowly missed. Sad!>torpedo attack roll: [7] - Miss!>torpedo attack roll: [11] - Miss!Alerted to our presence, the escort begins searching for us, but his luck is no better than our own. Nevertheless, his pinging is enough to force us to keep our heads down while the tanker motors away into the distance.
>>62583237LUIGI, I TOLDA YOUA WE SHOULDA ATTEMPT SURFACEA ATTACKA
Despite our failure to achieve a hit, we can still attempt to follow the pair and set up for another attack. On the other hand, we could write these ships off as a bad job and move on with our patrol.>Follow attempt Y/N?
>>62583294I say we follow them.
>>62583237>if we were close range or surfaced we would have hit>escort rolled shit and wouldn't have found us either waycowardice is why italy lost
We manage to find the ships again that night and are set up for a second attack. How are we doing it? Same choices as >>62582988
>>62583345Is them already being alerted a factor?If so, same as last time, if not, surfaced and standard range.
>>62583368No penalty for it being a followup attack as we never got detected
Surfaced, 1 at each, close range
/k/ plays The Campaign for North Africa when?
For anyone interested, you can get the rules here:https://gmtwebsiteassets.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/BeneathTheMed/BTMRulesFINAL.pdf
>>62583421>>62583368Flipped a coin on which range to use - close won out. We close in on the surface, pressing our position to get the best possible shot. Suddenly, a retort sounds across the seas and we're bathed in light as a star shell illuminates us.>escort pre-attack detection roll: [10] - Detected!Fugg
>>62583493https://youtu.be/Qj1VEu6GPsY?si=kuRGfWBLJiJW5sYl
>Escort Attack roll: [8]+1 - 3 hitsOne final choice to make for this turn. We can roll on the evasion table, to potentially dodge a hit. But if we're very unlucky, we might take three extra hits.>Evade Y/N?
>>62583548Y
Our attempt to dodge goes well, and we dodge a single hit from the escort. It's status as having a green crew also subtracts a hit, leaving us only taking a single hit.>Submarine damage chart: [4,5] - Hull x2The hull of the Gabagool gets rocked, but none of our systems have been damaged by the attack. The escort comes around for another pass, searching for us, but it's unskill crew fails to find us.>Detection roll: [7]+1: UndetectedA few hours later the Gabagool comes to the surface, but by this time the escort and tanker are long long, and we can no longer pursue them. Casualties for this encounter were two torpedoes and some hull damage for no gain. An unfortunate first series of combats but oh well, there's always the future.>speaking of the future, should the Gabagool always attempt to evade in the future to speed up combat?
Nearing the end of our patrol area and encountered an escorted British cruiser. She'll be a harder target than a merchant vessel, but there's certainly some glory to sinking an enemy warship.Close in for an attack, let them pass or wait until night to try an attack?
>>62583748Better to live to fight another die than die a watery death trying to sink an Anglo merchant carrying teabags to Alexandria.
>>62583793Can we fire a torpedo and run like fuck?
>>62583867Combat cycle is as follows:>choose range and surfaced/submerged>if close or standard, roll for escort detection>if detected, you don't get to fire torpedoes, go to escort attack immediately>in undetected, fire torpedoes>escort gets detection roll>if detected, go to escort attack/damage>repeat detection/attacks until either you evade detection or are sunkThat being said, we can fire then dive below test depth to gain a bonus against detection, but risk imploding as hull damage increases as well
>>62583793Wait for night, 2 at the cruiser at standard range, surfaced
Closing to our normal attack range, the escort fails to notice us. Standard range attack, surfaced attack needs a six or lower to hit (surfaced attack modifier and warship modifier essentially cancel one another out). We fire our remaining two fore torpedoes at the British cruiser, hoping for at least a single good hit>attack roll: [3,5] - Miss!>attack roll: [6,5] - Miss!>Italian sub experience: Authentic
>>62584002Back to port, we are going to tell everyone we routed 2 british flotillas
>>62584002lol. I wonder how many torpedoes are sitting at the bottom of the atlantic and med these days.
A roll of a six keeps the escort from detecting us, although the Brits fuck off into the distance beyond our ability to give chase, leaving us again left with nothing to show for our efforts. The remaining weeks at sea result in no encounters, not even a passing patrol aircraft to send us into a frantic dive. Our fuel reserves begin to run low, so we set back for La Spezia, still finding nothing along the way.Pulling into port, the Gabagool is taken into dockyard hands for two months for refit and repair. We are denied the conning tower refit some other subs are getting, as command believes they need every sub available to be at sea as soon as possible.In the end, a rather disappointing patrol, but we did actually achieve our mission to deliver the supplies to the troops in Libya so it technically counts as a successful patrol.
>>62583294Lets follow
It's not all bad news, however. As we successfully did complete our mission, we are awarded the Submarine badge, which frankly is a participation trophy. More interestingly, is the fact that a German representative, perhaps acting to strengthen the bonds between our two nations, arrives and presents us with an Iron Cross, 2nd class.>To receive the Iron Cross 2nd Class (from Germany) a player must have successfully completed a Special Mission.No, I don't really know why they'd give us that for supplying Italian troops but lets just go with it.
With the Gabagool out of refit, our next patrol is sending us to the Eastern Med for a standard patrol. Perhaps we'll have more luck there.>alternativelyIf people aren't feeling as engaged by this game, we can always ditch it and go back to the RtW campaign. OP is fine either way, but would prefer do what people are interested in.
>>62584125>Beneath the Med featuring Donte, L'uccisore degli Inglesi, from the Devil May Cry seriesI'm literally ROFLing right now.
>>62584240I'm interested in another patrol. You're a scholar and a gentleman for running these games for us and I do love RTW but this seems cool too. Let's see if we survive this one or we all get radioed.
Transit to the Eastern Med is uneventful with no encounters. However once we arrive things kick off with another Warship + Escort roll encounter in the daytime. This is another cruiser, along with a corvette escorting, likely a Flower or something similar.The usual question>engage>shadow until night>ignore>>62584296Will keep it going, see how things go.
I liked the long term gameplay of the previous game, with it's research and international politics and such. this is fine but it's a lot of rolling dice instead of real 'gameplay'. while I am NOT requesting a stop to this game, I do think we should keep it short
>>62584373Hit it. Close range, submerged.
>detected on a 10+>roll: [10]GOD DAMMIT
>>62584508oh shi- I mean, mamma mia
>Escort attack hits: 2>Gabagool successfully evades 1 hit>remaining hit effect: 1 flooding>flooding stop check: success>escort re-detection roll: failedOur ignoble service continues onto the next zones, having once again missed our chance.
Patrol of the Eastern Med continues, and with a stroke of luck we intercept a convoy in the daylight. From our approach angle we may have a shot on two small freighters, a tanker and the escorting destroyer.The usual questions, do we attack, how do we do so and how many torpedoes are we firing if so?
>>62584560Same plan as last time. 2 shots at the tanker. If we have more (idk), send one at the dst, because fuck it.
>>62584578We have 16 torpedoes on board, although the max that can be fired from a submerged attack is 4.
Submerged beneath the waves, the Gabagool closes in on the convoy, lining up for a simultaneous shot on both the tanker and escort. Our Uffciali all Armi, Domino, waits for the moment to fire, and three fish swim out of their tubes towards the convoy, two searching for the tanker while a third rushes at the escorting DD. Through our periscope we watch, awaiting some form of success after our numerous failures so far.Suddenly, a pair of rumbling explosions ripples through the sea. Two columns of seawater erupt alongside the tanker ship, as a similar eruption of cheers rises amongst our crew. We keep watching the tanker, waiting eagerly to see it capsize or go under.But it doesn't. Instead it motors onwards, chugging along despite it's injuries. And now the escort comes around to search for us>2 min damage rolls, tough luck there Gabagool
>>62584797Surface. I, Lorenzo Fettuccine Alfonso Aldorfo Alfredo Pizza, the boat's cook; angrily yell profanities in Italian at the opposing ships whilst moving my arms around wildly.
Our luck is not improving. The destroyer homes in on us, and Gabagool throws an evasive maneuver in to try and avoid damage. Tragically, this has the exact opposite effect>rolling 5 hits now
Well, that's not good>both diesels damaged>electric engine damaged>crew injured>torpedo doors jammed>2nd attack incomingfun
>>62584880Oh no...
>>62584909More flooding and hull damage, forward doors jammed now too.
>escort gets 3rd attack>escort rolls 5 hits>Gabagool attempts to evade, partial failure, 6 hits now>hull further damaged>fuel tanks leaking>periscope damaged>hydrophones damaged>AA gun damaged>radio alive somehow>escort rolls fourth attackAAAA
>2x hull damage>more flooding>escort keeps rolling redetections since we have so much broken shitwhelp
>>62584952>radio alive somehowWe're doomed
And with the next depth charge attack, the Gabagool suffers two more hull hits and implodes. Game fucking over.
>>62585066Well shit. We should have gone 4x after the dst
Well that was a fucking flop.OP has to mention his practice game of this went perfectly fine, so I think you guys just had shit luck.
>>62585066Welp, that's gonna be a few dozen awkward letters to write. Lets' make like it's 1st edition D&D and roll a new character. I mean ship. I mean, sub.
Shit, I can't believe I didn't get to roll for the Brin class.
Anon I enjoy the RtW series but it's dragging on a bit; this seems like a good distraction for bit.
OP here, probably won't start a new sub tonight, given the comparatively slow pace of this game. I figure we can either stick with this if the thread still exists, go back to the RtW campaign or I could try and get Target For Today working and we could start a whole new 25-mission journey to rival Ade's Odyssey.
>>62585205I'm all for more RtW, since it's significantly less likely to end in a critical failure like this did.
>>62585205>more bomber kino Oh hell yeah
>>62585205Back to RtW, let's go!
>>62585205Also suggesting RtW but we could use Target For Today as another "one shot" break inbetween long RtW sessions.
Given the sentiment I'll probably head on back to RtW, with either TFT or QotS as an intermission from time to time. I'll be honest though, Target for Today has some pretty concentrated autism to it, so I'll need some time to brush up on it coming from QotS.Favorite rule:>if a specific engine on a specific sub-model of bomber is damaged, the nose gun gets -1 to it's hit roles
>>62581928Thanks for this detour, it was enjoyable.There's more solitaire submarine boardgames out there than I expected. Wolfpack looks interesting.
>>62585066Rip40000 italians ate the frutti di mare, only 10000 returned>>62585205Some more RtW, then a TFT thread.
Well that ended poorly. Such is life in the zone. Thanks OP, we wound up getting radioed after all.
Fuck I missed this entire thread! A shame, pasta subs are such an overlooked part of their military. Hoping to catch the next one. Thanks for the read anyway, you're a good lad OP.
lol what an inglorious career>>62585205Personally I'm more of a plane man than a ship man but as always its up to you what/if you run. I did pick up RtW3 on sale thanks to your threads though. Shame I can't design a ship for shit, they all keep catching fire.
>>62585205Whatever you want to do anon, it's always fun reading your writeups. I'd be happy to see another mission of this.
OP, wanted to day that I really appreciate your efforts here and in the RTW threads (I wasn't here for the bomber thread).Real shame this one didn't turn out. One suggestion to speed it up a bit is to have the thread agree on standing orders for a patrol like how to attack priority tagets and standard attack methodology.Kind of like the thread, acting as the admiralty of sorts (forgive the angloism), hands orders to the OP acting as the skipper of the boat. Doing this could make it much faster to run a patrol. This would still allow OP to "radio in" discretionary decisions to the thread (admiralty) if the OP thinks a decison is worth considering a risk.
Thanks for the sub fun OP, even if our pasta got cooked quickly
>>62587686>One suggestion to speed it up a bit is to have the thread agree on standing orders for a patrol like how to attack priority tagets and standard attack methodology.True, I could consider that. I think the B17 threads worked as well as they did for a combination of reasons, one being the individual characters people could root for, the more personal nature and the fact that while most of it was just simulating the combat, big choices did need to be made from time to time. Finding the balance between keeping the pace up and turning the thread into a blogpost is a bit tricky.
RIP us. We lived as we died, mildly incompetent.
>>62583748I would say only ask for a vote of evasion if it's a jucie target, I'll die to take a BB with me.
Thanks for the thread OP, shame I missed it.It all went wrong from the moment they missed the radio.
Rip. Missed the thread because I searched the catalogue for "Rule the Waves" instead of "RTW".
OP here, sorry to everyone who hoped to panticipate but missed out. At the moment running RtW might be a bit too much to work with, so I'd be happy to run another run of this.If people would like to request a particular sub we can do that or roll again on >>62581933Given the suggestions above, I'd also ask for each member of the Admiralty to suggest a general attack doctrine, such as whether we should be conservative with our torpedo stocks or unleash full salvos at anything we come across.Expect updates to a similar manner as the B-17 threads, which choices being more in regards to key scenarios than the day to day operation of the sub.
>>62592674Lets roll for the sub.For attack doctrine I would like to propose a simple approach:1. If a single soft target (tanker, large merchant) and one escort then unleash all forward torpedoes on the single escort, standard range at night. If the escort goes down from this then surface and use the gun to attack the soft target.2. If a valuable hard target (cruiser or greater) and a single escort then, standard range at night, fire all forward tubes at the valuable hard target and aft tubes at the escort.3. If there is more than one escort, do not attack.(I am the anon who suggested the attack doctrine idea.)
>>62584397>I liked the long term gameplay of the previous game, with it's research and international politics and such. this is fine but it's a lot of rolling dice instead of real 'gameplay'. while I am NOT requesting a stop to this game, I do think we should keep it shortIt appears to be a digitized board game and a not a "real" computer game because it does nothing that a board game cannot do.
>>62592674For this one I'd like to go guns blazing, so I'd take the Calvi.As for doctrine: loner targets can then be taken out with the 120 at standard distance in the day and at closer range at night, which should have been the standard practice, while torps can be kept only for escorted targets, but just go for the target.Torp mag dump should be kept for either really high value targets, or higher level warships.Personally I deem the penalty of evasion just too high, unless you're in such a bad shape that you'd die anyway that the penalty makes no to little difference.Meme names:>Comandante: SchettinoThe one in charge of the sunk cruise ship near a Italian island's coast. >ship name: TitanoLike the OceanGate thing.Serious names:>Comandante: Carlo Fecia di CossatoMoH and overall italian sub ace.>ship name: Enrico TazzoliLast of the Calvi class that was commanded by Cossato
>>62593459seconding Schettino
>>62592674If you're still time poor next week without an end in sight, and with your blessing, I might do some jank evil twin RTW thread to maintain the rage while you're gone. Probably with similar initial rules but a different nation, maybe a modded one, and aim to go down a very, very different tech and foreign policy path, both trendinf towards maximun absurdity.
>>62593459>Schettino Didn't he start teaching navigational theory after getting out of prison? Last I heard, he was pretty good. Which I guess figures, having been on the receiving end.
