Benchy Battle

This summer I visited the Norwegian Naval Museum in Horten, and got inspired to do more maritime modelling or wargaming. As with most wargames I play I wanted the rules to be free and easy however. I am a member in a Fb-group called 'Super Cheap Wargaming', which is right up my alley regarding my interest for wargaming on a budget. Earlier this year another member uploaded his home brewed naval rules called 'Benchy Battle'. I've never tried naval wargames before, but this seemed so easy that I decided to give them a go. Besides the rules was based on 'Benchies', which you're going possess some of if you're into 3D-printing (which I am).

What is a Benchy?

A 'Benchy' is a 'tugboat' and is likely to be the most 3D-printed object in the world as it is a model to test accuracy, calibration and print-quality of 3D-printers. 'Benchy' is described as "the jolly 3D-printing torture-test" by it's creator (Creative Tools). The 'Benchy' is actually 10 years old these days.

Preparing the game

I needed a ocean battlefield. -On a budget off course. I could have used ordinary blue cloth or fabric for this, but I found a dead cheap plastic tablecloth with printed ocean pattern and wanted to try that for this wargame:

It looks like the 'Battle mat' is approved by Linus

Even if I do have some Benchies after calibrating my own 3d-printer, I decided to go fancy here and 3D-print some naval-versions of them as this is originally a naval wargame. These are certainly not 'scale models' and I wanted to print them quickly, so these are 3D-printed with a lower resolution (0.18mm layer height) than I usually use for my print-settings (<0.10mm). I think they turned out just fine:

With these results of a 'Benchy calibration test' I'll guess some of my readers will tell me that the settings on my 3D-printer are all wrong... 

I think there is a new company owning the licence to the original Benchy now, and a lot of Benchy re-mixes, like those I printed, are removed from some sites for free 3D models and files. So get them while you can.

I wanted to add some 'islands' that one of the sides has to defend and the other navy tries to take control over. Here I just used some rocks I 3D-printed back in 2021, but I wanted to add a little 'scenery' and visual interests to them so I 3D-printed a couple of buildings to place on one of them. Printed in white PLA  and simply just 'blackwashed':

Now I was ready  for my very first naval wargame.

The Rules

The rules seems to be 'home brewed' and a 'father/son collaborative' by John Christopher Sr. and Jr:

The Scenario

The rules suggest that each player can activate up to 3 Benchies each turn, so to keep it simple I decided to do it easy and play this wargame with 3 Benchies each side. Navy B are protecting the water of the coast of 'Benchy Islands', while Navy A will try to defeat them and gain control of 'Benchy Islands'.

Forces:

• Navy A

From left to right; Gunboat, Corvette and Battleship 

• Navy B

From left to right; Battleship Corvette and Gunboat 

Mission:

For both navies; To eliminate the opponent to gain control of the coast of 'Benchy Islands'. Navy B in top of the photo and Navy A below:

The Game

Time:    36 minutes

Turns:   7

Result:  Navy A by achieving both it's mission and by points (7 pts. vs. 0 pts.)

As Navy A was keeping a steady course towards 'Benchy Islands'...

...Navy B was hesitating and slowly maneuvering into defensive positions to meet the potential threat:

When coming into firing range, Navy A immediately opened fire... 

...and scored a (unsaved) hit:

Excited by the success, Navy A became more offensive:

Navy B was still hesitatingly moving into engaging positions:

- When Navy A suddenly opened fire again...

...and scored another (unsaved) hit:

The entire Navy A flotilla was now changing course for the last remaining Navy B ship:

Aroused by earlier success both ships from Navy A opened fire at the same time against the last Navy B ship. One shot missed and the other was 'saved':

When trying to move into a even more favorable position, a ship from Navy A accidentally rammed the last Navy B ship bow to bow...

...Successfully (!)

This was a superior victory for Navy A which without any losses now controlled the waters of Benchy Islands:

Pros

• The rules are free.
• The rules are very fast to learn and easy to play.
• Despite the name of the game, you don't actually need Benchies to play it as you can substitute with other ship models.
• Fewer miniatures and terrain items takes less time to set up.

Cons

• Limited maneuverability. Activated Benchies can only move in a straight line, and must move the full number of inches you rolled on your D6. Therefore it can not stop before an obstacle ahead as an island, reef, mine-field, a sinking ship or the edge of the tabletop, but will run straight right into or over it. I belive a ship commander would adjust speed and course to get into a favorable position for his mission,  and at the same time try to avoid other problems instead of steering straight into them. For instance getting close to an obstacle (because it can provide some cover), stop, and maneuver around it the next turn.
• No different stats for different ships  regarding weaponry, firepower or armor (health)

The Race

These wargame rules also opens to play this game as a 'Race' between ships, so I'd thought I should try those parts of the rules as well in this review. Here it is an advantage to move the 'Fully D6" move' since all vessels are going in the same direction as fast as possible. I'll let my 2 navies race each other, and at the same time be able to ram and shoot at each other during the race:

Time:    19 minutes

Turns:   7

Result:  Navy A by achieving both it's mission and by points (7 pts. vs. 0 pts.)

Ready, Set, Go!!

Navy B gets the initiative by sailing it's Battleship at full speed and letting the 2 other ships protecting it's stern. Navy A accidentally and successfully rams into Navy B's rear guard and sinking one of the ships:

While the second rearguard ship from Navy B is hit by fire from Navy A:

Now there was only one way to win this, or break even by points, for Navy B; And that was to go full ahead:

But Navy A was closing in, and soon the last ship of Navy B was in shooting range. Navy A opened fire...

... and scored another unsaved hit:

The Race was now become an internal race within Navy A to see which ship would be first. So no more shooting at each other as they were all on the same side:

The Battleship already had the most favorable position: 

But after a short while the smaller Corvette was closing in:

Really close on the end...

...But the Battship finally won at last!

Conclusion

Making larger 'Battleship Benchies' for the initial wargame was a tactical blunder as all ranges are short and probably fits the original small Benchy better. The larger ships simply became bigger targets and easier to ram. 

The limitation in the maneuverability which can force you to run into objects you normally would have avoided is such a big 'Con' for me, that I'm less likely to play these rules again. But even if I made Naval Benchies for this wargame I might use them again for trying out other easy to play (and not too serious) naval wargame rules. Time will show, so please follow this blog to find out.