Wednesday 12 December 2012

Cruising for a bruising

More nautical naughtiness now.  This time Steve R ran his WW1 game in the shape of a clash between British and German scouting screens.  All the ships present were cruisers and destroyers, although the British ships did seem to be a bit heavier than ours. 
Yes that's right - I was once again typecast as the pointy-helmeted baddie.  Which reminds me -  don't wear a picklehaube on board a warship - it scratches the deckheads*....
All the toys used were from Steve's 1/3000 collection, and their textured bases blended very well with the green terrain boards.
My command consisted of a cruiser squadron (top) and the destroyer (well, torpedo boat) flotilla above.  We Germans had three players and the beastly Brits four.
My squadron stuck to the right wing while on the left (above) confusion reigned!
Here my cruisers turn to port (for you landlubbers that's left) to engage an enemy squadron.  The TBs are squaring up to a load of RN DDs.
The RN DDs were clearly thrown into disarray!  That's my story anyway.
Sadly mt TB attack wasn't a great success (these new-fangled torpedoes will never catch on).  And by now the vast weight of RN gunnery ensured that two of my cruisers were secured in Davy Jones's Locker.  Donner und blitzen!
Having succeeded in my mission to lure the Brits onto the guns of the main German battle fleet I decided it was time to head for home.  My TBs were making smoke - not all of it voluntary!
And so ends the story of a great German naval victory.  I just hope none of the other players read this....

* - or, for us landlubbers - 'ceiling'.

6 comments:

David Crook said...

Hi Tim,

Torpedoes? You are right, they will never catch on - a damned un-English weapon in my opinion!

All the best,

DC

Tim Gow said...

David Crook
Lucky I was German then...

Unknown said...

Tim which rules were you using?
Jeff

Tim Gow said...

Chasseur
Steve's own (unpublished) rules. I'm not even sure what they're called!

Archduke Piccolo said...

Torpedoes...? Let me tell you about torpedoes! About 25 years ago, I was commanding the 2nd TB flotilla in a WW1 Campaign set in the North Sea, beginning August 1914. After a month of small actions against British small craft, 2TBF had delivered so much more hurt than it had received, it had earned the sobriquet 'Totenkopf' (Death's Head) Flotilla.

Early September brought the flotilla out once more, in action against a task force led by Admiral Jellicoe himself, flying his flag in the Dreadnaught-class Benbow. Du close enough to let fly several torp2TBF got close enough to let fly several torpedos at 'Benbow'. Two struck and sent the big battleship to the bottom, together with its Admiral.

But not before several 15-inch shells tore out the bowels of the 2TBF Destroyer leader, and blew Commandant Johann von der Mann to Kingdom Come.

Hey, ho: them's the breaks...
Cheers,
Ion

Tim Gow said...

Archduke Piccolo
Great story Ion! If the current campaign is a success DC and I may be on the lookout for more prospective admirals in future.....