The Hunters: Kriegstagebuch das Unterseeboot U-35

Before dawn broke over Wilhelmshafen on September 30, Kapitän Leutnant Hagen took his VIIA to Sea, ordered to hunt for shipping in waters around the British Isles. 
War had arrived. The assigned hunting grounds were remote and should allow time to drill the crew. Spotting only a lone freighter U-35 surfaced and the 88’s gun crew rushed to ready their gun. Hagen fired 2 torpedoes with no success. The 88 fired a few rounds as the SS Solo turned away. Both shells fell short. A shameful first mission.

November proved only modestly better. U-35’s first score. SS Berganger at 6800t.
As 1940 dawned, U-35 was back in British waters. An unlucky sortie. A RAF Hudson forced an emergency dive. A severe storm in the channel limited opportunities. Heading home, SS Santa Rita at 8400t filled the periscope, and was quickly dispatched.

In March, the crew began mumbling about being a jinxed boat. We spotted nothing. But were forced to dodge RAF Arvo aircraft twice.

Mai was U-35’s first taste of the Happy Times. Scoring four times. SS Tiberton 5200t; Tanker Capulet 8200t; SS Embassage 5000t; SS Empire Crossbill 5500t.

Summer was quiet, with only SS West Notus 5500t falling prey to U-35

As Autumn chilled, spirits buoyed. The Ship’s Dr was promoted. As was Hagen, now Korvetten Kapitän. But more joyous were the orders for hunting in the Atlantic!

Dodging escorts, 4 victories were scored. 2 tankers, a large freighter and a small one, totaling 31300t. Cassequel; Santore; AF Corwin; and Oilfield were stricken from the logs. But the jinx had not been idle. Returning home, a Tommie A/C dropped out of the sun, shattering the 88 and it’s crew and damaging the engines. A solemn crew slipped back into the pen.

Again, punished and sent back to hunt British waters. But glory awaited! U-35 caught HMS Avenger in open waters. Braving her escorts U-35 sunk the CVE.

Januar ‘41 brought orders for the Atlantic. But only the SS Gregalia 5900t was torpedoed.

So back the British waters again. RAF patrols are improving. As U-35 sorties it is Wasser bombed, causing minor hull damage and flooding. But there is no turning back. Two lone merchants are sent to the bottom. 10500t. SS Ballader and SS William Bryant.

Success brings orders for the Atlantic, but U-35 finds no victims to hunt.

The boat does a fast refit and in Juli heads back to the Atlantic. Verdammt! Again the RAF is waiting. Collaborators must be signaling them. A fuel tank is damaged beyond repair so an immediate return to port is needed. But the RAF catches on again and scores more hits.

While finishing the year in dockyards, Hagen is again promoted. Now a Fregatten Kapitän.

As 41 closes, U-35 is order into the Mediterranean. Hunting should be good. Shortly after clearing Fortress Gibraltar a Convoy is spotted. Jinx! The escort causes unrepairable damage to the fuel tanks and several crewmen die in the bombing. Again  the RAF catches U-35 close to base. Bombs cause more crew casualties and damages the hull. 

March 42 is spent in the Atlantic. As SS Santore 7100t is sent to the bottom, it’s Escort depth bombs U-35, severely wounding the ship’s doctor and both torpedo rooms. The doctor passes before port is reached. 

The bloodied crew is now viewed as Veterans by all in the Fleet. And Hagen is awarded the Knights Cross.

Finally in July ‘42 U-35 heads back into the Atlantic. A second Happy Time is this.
3 large freighters and a smaller are sunk totaling 19700t. SS Torny, Royston Gorge, Kennebac, and Treverbyn are stricken. 

In late ‘42 U-35 heads back to the now familiar Atlantic Ocean. Again, the veteran crew scores well. 3 small freighters and a larger one. 16200t. SS Kinross, Aviemore, Merisaar, and R.E.Lee are stricken from the rolls. 

As February ‘43 opens, U-35 heads back into the Atlantic. The crew is confident and joyous to be back at sea. As the boat clears the Bay of Biscay, the RAF pounces. Expert in the anti submarine role, the aircrew lands a 500lb’er directly in the conning tower of U-35. Rolling “box cars” sends U-35 and all its crew to a watery grave.

Code Name Jupiter SOG-X.4

Brass calls last mission a failed success. The rescue has been kept from the press, except for reporting that a certain CEO was “lost while on safari “. Vivisecting CEOs isn’t ready for 6PM coverage yet. The plus was uncovering that Dr Frankenstein has some how survived and flourished since WW2.

Here’s the brief for your next one. You’ve seen the news of monoliths popping up around the world. We’ve traced these back to the Commies. They’re using these as a distraction while he “real” monolith is brought online. Once operable, it will provide a comm link to one of their black Ops satellites. Ultimate purpose unknown.

Grab the site, collect intel, then blow the station. Wheels up in 30.

The SOG team dropped into the deep jungles of the Amazon, where the Commies had been working, under the guise construction engineers, with locals to erect several hi-tech power stations.

The group pushed into the High Grasses bordering a plateau. A Hired Muscle goon stepped out of the jungle behind the team and shouted an alarm. The team found themselves in the mist of a drug lords hidden crop field, defended by an army ruffians.

The team had faced tougher and quickly began sweeping the enemy from the field. Sgt Burton, Cpl Beck and Cpl Abadi, as the bounding element, leapt forward. 

Cpl Beck kept charging deeper into the jungle, pitching a grenade at a group of smugglers. Deep jungle protected most from the blast.

The others pressed forward in the confusion.

AMBUSH! 
The drug runners had practice defending their realm from Federales! The SOF team was caught in an ambush. Vega caught a burst of fire and went down in a heap. Cpl Duchetta also caught a slug but kept moving.

Cpl Beck, showing why baseball is not big in Europe, pitched his last grenade ineffectively at a Toyota packed with Hostiles.

Sgt Burton took half the squad forward and established a Kill Zone of his own. Time for some playback.

After a ferocious firefight the team turned the tide and consolidated. Sgt Larson caught minor wound stopping a flanking move. 

Close to the Objective, the team prepared to entire the ravine leading to the monolith.
Where are all these Hostiles coming from? They are sporting serious firepower.

Larson and Burton heaved grenades at the larger concentrations. Shattering Squad and Truck before it’s cargo of Hostiles could off load. Time to descend the ravine and secure the monolith.

 

WTF! What the hell were the Commies working on? An army of apes launched a shock and awe attack.

Fortunately, having already dealt with many sorts of weirdness, the SOG force recovered quickly and began emptying their mags into the new threat. Grenades seemed ineffective against these strange foes. 

Time and ammo were running short. Time to focus and make every shot count.

Bad luck, an ape leaps out of the bush....

Cpl Beck suffers a severe clawing before the ape is dispatched. The team scatters the remaining Hostiles and secures the site long enough to call in a chopper. Time for some R&R....

Aftermath 
Another fun game. We won on the last clock turn! The current news stories gave us a tailor made plot line. Our only miss was not working in some “planet of the apes” type Hostiles. Also, Pretty sure it’s time to recruit a PS with the Medic skill! The 203 is a sweet weapon. And one of “us” need new dice for those grenade rolls. Saturday’s dice were HORRIBLE!

WarFighter has proved a great game for us to play over Zoom during the pandemic of 2020. The Three of us each work 2 soldiers. We have one camera on the PS “hands”, and another one on the player mat. Play goes smoothly and has provided us with tons of fun. 

Let us know if you have comments or thoughts on the SOG-X theme. 

Special thanks to David for his support and quick responses to questions that have come up.

Looking Back - Consim Dallas 2020

For us 2020 held two distinct parts and yeah you guessed it. The separation falls pre March 15 and Post March 15. 2020 started off like most years. After the holidays we gathered every few weeks to play a few games and share some laughs. A few standout were the usual Zombicide, Warfighter, and a new fun game called Horrified. 

Consim Dallas March 5-8 

We attended the first ever Consim Dallas and even though it was local to us we stayed at the con hotel which allowed us to enjoy tons of gaming, laughs, and tasty food. Only rarely did chatter move to the virus that was taking hold of the world. 

Played a Flying Circus tournament where we flew one battle for each year of the war using only planes from that year. 

We really enjoyed Battle Ravens. The national cards added cool flavor. 

Old school Zombies!!! 

Borg’s Tricorne Battle of Bunker Hill. This has become our favorite Command and Colors game. 

WWE Dice Masters. We played this for several hours and let’s just say Rick Flair is a beast!

Rise of the Zombies. The birth of the Warfighter engine. 

Savage Wilderness was great. We played several battles. Each battle had its own map and the game is fast and easy but has enough flavor to satisfy. 

Platoon Commander. We played a USA and Germans versus the Soviets expansion which came in the Deluxe Kursk. 

We played a single elimination tournament of Maneuver. 

Amazingly tasty Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños! 

Watched a few monster games being played. 

We also played Panzer General Korea, Golf Dice, and joined a friend in a great three player game of Quartermaster General Cold War in which all three faction finished within 3 points. 

Conclusion 

The gaming we did at Consim Dallas was truly epic. We would definitely go again if it happens in the future. The flea market and small dealers room was gravy. 

Return of an old Nemesis

Never mind what you saw in North Korea. They’ve dropped a complete cone of silence over that country.

We have a bigger concern. A congressional delegation, along with some corporate types were Meeting in Southwestern Poland. As they loaded into their limos, a hit squad took out security and then drove off into the Eastern Europe countryside.

Satellite intel traced the convoy to an enclave, which for some unknown reason the soviets never brought under their control. The surrounding area has always shown above average military activity.

Make a low level drop, reacquire that delegation, then find a way to get everyone home. Take off in thirty.
The squad

They reviewed the mission brief while inbound. The jump into an area without first hand knowledge made for a dicey jump. Result - what can at best be called a Poor Landing (to hit the zone each PS had to dump 2RP of gear (knives, pistols, grenades, who needs ‘em?))

The brief had one thing right, the enclave had a cordon of baddies guarding it.

Once again, the surprise of an airborne assault paid off. Heavy fire from our assault weapons cleared the Checkpoint. (Wow - entry cost of 3 plus 2 for each hostile). This allowed Sgt Burton and Cpl Tate to push up and secure the area.

The firefight alerted other forces in the area, who then blocked our road in. Cpl Sharp pitched a M67 into the middle of the enemy as Tate pinned down the rest.

The entire countryside was lousy with Baddies. As soon as the roadblock was overcome, the squad was hit by another patrol. The squad was burning thru ammo and luck. Sgt Burton signaled Pvt Reeves to trigger the call sign for a supply drop. The team was too stretched and needed to all press forward at the same time. (Entry costs were running high and required lots of cards and draw actions, concurrent with clearing out hostiles).

Luck ran out for Pvt Reeves, his attention to the signal burst distracted him from staying low, and bursts from many hostiles ended his career as an airborne ranger.
Adding to the bad news, the damn drop landed behind the squad (blue markers of a 6RP drop).

The team reorganized and Sgt Larson agreed to scramble back and recover the supply drop.

WTF! As the squad prepared to breach the isolated factory where the captives were being held, a mass of antique warriors assaulted the squad! Time warp!

It was like a 75 year stockpile of WW2 dropped on the team. Though these hostiles were even more strange. Fearless. Many looking like death warmed over. Romero would say zombies!

And in the back, an old geezer looked up from vivisecting one of the now “former” CEO types from the delegation. The team had seen this guy before. Division history contained rumors of combating a Dr Frankenstein back in ‘44. Could this be him?

Cpl Tate caught a burst from Hitler’s buzz saw and went down in a heap. Sarge spotted a Commie Hind outback. He’d flown one before, and an extraction plan formed.

The team nailed every enemy with the range to bring the Hind under fire. Two members took potshots at the Doktor but failed (high cover and -2 to hit, one tough cookie).

Sgt Beck, on loan from the FDR, yelled to the delegation “every one, get to der Chopper!”.
Followed by Larson’s cry of “if you want to live, come with me!”

Aftermath 
The team made it to the objective with one turn to spare. Plenty of time to load a bunch of suits into the helicopter.

We tried a homebrew this week. It was time to see Dr Frankenstein again. And I sort of enjoy the original zombie pack and wanted to see those guys again. Dr Frankenstein and zombie encounters in WW2 are part of the lore and history that caused the creation on SOG X.
It worked out well, as many/most are range 0, allowing our troopers to juke them in many cases. 

Also, I preplanned the locations, still had to play a location card in order to flip it. And the other two players did not know what the locations were until they were flipped. Thematically I figured in several checkpoints and roadblocks, to hem in the Doktor’s forces. After the abandoned factory I had the MI-24 as the objective card, setting up the escape route.

Fudged, and gave Beck a pistol. Hope to figure out a way to (like in PMC) take a trooper from lower entry cost level to PS status. Ultimately we want a multinational Phoenix Force type squad. 

Airborne is still a fun setting. Wishing there was another batch of landing zone and behind enemy lines cards. Mainly to keep the missions fresh.