MTB?

In played a reduced size solo game of MTB today to see if it was as much fun as I remember it being back in the day. In short the answer is no. It really is showing its age and is definitely of its time with a fair amount of book keeping, a shed load of tables to consult and numerous modifiers to apply, before you even get to the end of a single turn. It was published in 1977 so no surprise there really?

The basic game is fine, its just swamped by the level of cross-referencing and calculating you need to do in order to sink anything. You need to consult at least five tables to work out if you've caused any damage, for example, let alone work out what the damage is that you've inflicted. Its clear that things have moved on a bit, especially when compared to equivalent modern games like TAC.

Anyway, it was fun to re-play the game which I set up with three British MTB's intercepting a coastal patrol of two German R-Boats and a VP-Boat or armed trawler. This was a fairly even match on paper but, as things turned out, it was a walkover for the Kriegsmarine. The R Boats and the trawler were too tough to damage, even by a lucky torpedo hit, and too well armed to be a pushover.

In contrast, the MTB's were fast but flimsy and took far more damage than the opposition, causing one MTB to catch fire and another to sink. The latter loss was, however, self inflicted due to a navigational error by the flotilla leader, who succeeded in ramming his number two at high speed. This left both MTB's locked together, unable to fire and sandwiched between the Germans.

I think I'll stick with other, more up to date rules for coastal warfare in the future, but it was a good game in the end and I did enjoy it. The clunky mechanics and time spent number crunching really detracted from the game itself, which was a shame. I'll definately continue my lead free naval gaming using card counters but I think MTB will be put back on the nostalgia shelf.

Cardboard Coastal Warfare

I mentioned to Tony at Tiny Tin Troops that I'd be really interested in some 1/600 scale WW2 coastal warfare counter sets, if he was looking for another line to explore in addition to his ancient naval galleys. I was, therefore, really surprised to find that he'd already had a go at creating some MTB counters as an experiment for a friend, one of which he attached to an email to show me what they looked like.

The MTB counter example took a long time to design due to the amount of detail that Tony added, which is to a high level of accuracy. I think it looks great. These counters would be excellent as a replacement for the rather dull ones used in MTB, for example, as well as substitutes for miniatures with other conventional rules. I really hope he decides to pick up this idea and take it further including S boats, R boats, VP boats, MGB's, MTB's and so on.

MTB

I decided to have a go at the old Tabletop Games MTB, which was originally published way back in 1977 and which I played to destruction back in the day. This is now out of print but I managed to get hold of a copy a few years ago when it was re-published, then stashed it away and forgot about it. The rights to this series of paper and card wargames are owned by Hurlbat Games but they have yet to re-publish this one and my other favourite, the Micro Fleet: Napoleonic Naval set.

So, I have now cut out all of the ships, damage counters, turning templates and movement rulers, ready for a game tomorrow at some point. This is a very straightforward 'beer and pretzels' style game, with everything included apart from a couple of D6, a tape measure, some pencils and a table to play on. The ship counters feature generic MTB's, MGB's, E Boats, R Boats and Trawlers, together with a convoy of Merchant Ships, 'F-Lighters' and a Tanker.

The introductory blurb from the rule book says:

SITUATION

The time 1942/43, the place is the English Channel. The scene set is that of the almost continual battle for supremacy between the small boat navies of Germany and Great Britain. The prize for both sides is two-fold: first, the elimination of the other's coastal convoys, and second, the control of this narrow and dangerous stretch of water.

The majority of ships involved were, for the Germans, R and E boats and, for the British, MGBs and MTBs. Both sides also pressed into service, as convoy escorts and minesweepers, trawlers from their fishing fleets.

The game MTB re-creates the main aspect of this battle: that of the attack and defence of coastal convoys. You control a small but powerful force of these craft and your orders are, as the  attacker, to destroy as many enemy ships as you are able in one attack and, as the defender, to beat off the attack and get your convoy through.

It will be interesting to see if they stand up to the test of time?

MTB

I found my old copy of Tabletop Games MTB yesterday, so have squeezed it into the pile of stuff I'm taking on holiday, even though it's a bit long in the tooth. This is a great little coastal warfare game using cardboard counters for the MTB's, MGB's, E Boats and Coasters that fought up and down the East Coast in WW2. The rules are simple but require quite a lot of book keeping and order writing, which was fairly typical of wargame rules in the 1970's when it was written. I played this game over and over again when I was a kid and got hours of fun out of the experience, so it will be interesting to see if it has lasted the test of time.