Underachievers and Overachievers

[RedSpike]

I've been surprised by the performance of a number of ships that looked great or awful on paper.

The Luca Tarigo's smoke ability is a great compliment to the axis' heavies. Meanwhile with the unofficial rules updates the Luca Tarigo can use its Sub Hunter ability to suppress subs even though its ASW is incredibly weak. It's worse than the Javelin, but it isn't the waste of points that I thought it would be.

The Samuel B Roberts, on the other hand, has never really done much for me. Its weak guns and paltry armor allow any other destroyer in the game to brutally mangle it, and it can also be taken out by virtually anything else afloat or in the air. I'm sure it is good against subs, but in my experience it rarely survives long enough to make an ASW attack. The Fletcher is an immensely better buy for only one more point.

What are some other units you have found better or worse than expected?

[AKI]

The Ark Royal has proved a turkey in every game I've used it in so far. Maybe it has just been unlucky, but it has proved a 22 point liability for the Royal Navy; to the point that I prefer to fly land based operations instead.

[Vice Admiral Hornet]

HMS Hood lovely model but 4 x 6 instance kill is a real problem.

As for destroyers were looking at some way to make them less vunerable to fighters. Maybe only hitting on 5 and 6's or just 6;s may be good idea

I like to fight battles were large ships have escorts so I like them to last longer.

[Conjurer]

If you use the newer ruleset ( see Mr. Baker's stickied thread at the top of the boards ), strafing fighters receive -2 to both armor and vital armor, making them easier to abort. It isn't a perfect solution as they are still able to damage or sink cruisers ( which never happened in WWII ), but it may cause your opponent to think a bit before sending his fighters against your smaller units.

The real value in destroyers is that you can field a lot of them even in a relatively low-point match. On Thursday night my friend at I played one of the fleet actions for the on-line A&A campaign. The scenario ( British convoy vs. the IJN ) had a limit of one hundred points, of which six had to be transports for the Allies.

My build, totaling 99 points:

USS Jeremiah O'Brien x2
HMS Truculent x2
HMS Javelin x4
Le Terrible x2
Sea Hurricane x3 on the airbase.

His build, totaling 99 points:

I-19 ( required as I recall )
Yamato
Type 13 Subchaser
A6M2 Zeke x2 on the airbase.

On the face of it, this might not seem a very well-matched encounter. In fact, it was probably the best match we've ever had.

We went eleven turns, gaining one objective each. I was holding Yamato at bay ( by then she had four points of damage ) with my subs and should have won. But I didn't notice that he had a move to put him in range of my last Javelin; he made the move, sank my last destroyer and claimed the victory. ( We were playing under the original rules, determined by a roll of dice before we started the evening's festivities. )

I had tested various builds against the probable opposing build, and this was in fact the only fleet I could come up with that stood a chance of winning; even Iowa couldn't quite get the job done within the constraints of this scenario.

Don't get me wrong - I have no great love for destroyers ( unless I'm commanding the German fleet... go go Z-20! :D ) - but in certain situations a destroyer swarm is going to give you your best chance at winning.

[RedSpike]

Javelins are not really representative of destroyers in general, though. They have range 2 torpedoes, good ASW and can make smoke. Compare the Javelin to the Luca Tarigo. For one more point, you get +1 AA, +2 ASW, and +0/+1/+1 torpedoes. That's just not fair.

[The_Lucky_Y]

The remaining 100 Point cap at official tournaments for Fleet building.

[doganpc]

The Ark Royal has proved a turkey in every game I've used it in so far. Maybe it has just been unlucky, but it has proved a 22 point liability for the Royal Navy; to the point that I prefer to fly land based operations instead.

I've had this same problem. Seems like everytime I have played it, it has been vital'd in the first or second turn. Oh and I think we should move to make the Hood's Fatal Flaw only apply to ER shots. After all, wasn't it the lack of top deck armor that was the actual flaw?

Bolzano hasn't done much for me, but then again it hasn't done much to disappoint me either(aside from limit of one). Karl Galster has definetly proved it's points, 3 AA shots helps keep the Axis competitive.

I could go on but my fleet is limited to European theatre and thats a different set of stats.

Doganpc
Scharnhorst has been a beast despite lack of Torpedo Defense.

[Muenchausen]

I've had this same problem. Seems like everytime I have played it, it has been vital'd in the first or second turn. Oh and I think we should move to make the Hood's Fatal Flaw only apply to ER shots. After all, wasn't it the lack of top deck armor that was the actual flaw?

Bolzano hasn't done much for me, but then again it hasn't done much to disappoint me either(aside from limit of one). Karl Galster has definetly proved it's points, 3 AA shots helps keep the Axis competitive.

I could go on but my fleet is limited to European theatre and thats a different set of stats.

Doganpc
Scharnhorst has been a beast despite lack of Torpedo Defense.

If you want to talk turkey, everytime I play the hood, here comes the sixes.

[Conjurer]

I avoid using the Hood if I expect to see BBs against me; better to spend the points on subs. I've seen four 6's too many times to put her on a map against another battleship. :p

[LoneWolf]

I avoid using the Hood if I expect to see BBs against me; better to spend the points on subs. I've seen four 6's too many times to put her on a map against another battleship. :p

I use the hood if i am using other BB's.

Use as much smoke as possible to drive the other BB's forward and the hood is always the last to the battle so to speak.

When I have used the Hood she has done allot better then expected, sunk a few BB's with her at ER4.

I like using the Hood, just hate fatal flaw. :(

[LoneWolf]

Javelins are not really representative of destroyers in general, though. They have range 2 torpedoes, good ASW and can make smoke. Compare the Javelin to the Luca Tarigo. For one more point, you get +1 AA, +2 ASW, and +0/+1/+1 torpedoes. That's just not fair.

If all you want is smoke screan Luca Tarigo is ok.

Not the best, but yeh.

[Torps]

For me the pleasant surprises are 'Javelin' - all around respectable stats with smoke laying and sub hunting SAs makes for a very versatile ship which I find is best used in divisions of at least three ships.

Next nice surprise is the much maligned Swordfish. Fly them from St Lo or Ark Royal and have a Catalina guide them in.

HMS Tuculent is my favourite gazunda boat(for non Commonswealth types that is a boat that 'gazunda' the water). Maybe its because its SA agrees with the doctrine used by subs in the navy I served in, but the 'Run Silent' SA has been just enough to keep one of these subs alive and in the fight.

Maybe you you disagree with my choices. Fair enough, but these units all seem to work for me.;)