Bold Breakout? part 2 - A Fletcher Pratt naval wargame

The action opened with the appearance of the German destroyer flotilla which - quite correctly - was sent to find the enemy prior to the arrival of the main force.  The RN on the other hand, floated on in line abreast.

Lutzow (right) and Eugen run into an early salvo from the RN.  The red hand carved bespoke shell splash markers denote hits, white are misses.

Having located the enemy the German DDs fled under cover of smoke.

One of the RN destroyers was soon having a bad day.

Lutzow drew most of the RN fire.  Although opened at extreme range it was pleasing to see fire being concentrated on a single target.

Another RN DD gets a pasting...

...and heads off making smoke.  Some of it voluntarily.

As Lutzow and Eugen closed with the enemy cruisers they drew a lot of fire.  Most of it aimed at Lutzow , but the close proximity of Eugen meant that she copped several overshots.  A lesson there methinks!

When it was sighted Bismarck attracted quite a bit of fire.  Most of it long range from cruisers and completely ineffective!

A pair of RN DDs got close enough to L and E to loose off a load of torpedoes.  Sensing impending doom, the German captains launched their own.

A hazy RAF recce photo of Bismarck under fire.

Hit by 2 torps, Lutzow sinks beneath the waves.

The final scores were as follows (only ships which suffered damage are mentioned):

Bismarck 5% damage

Prinz Eugen c20% damage

Lutzow sunk

Blucher 2% damage

Hipper 10% damage

Duke of York 10% damage

Cornwall 20% damage

Eskimo 5% 

Cossack 18%

Ashanti 75%

Afridi 60%

Based on their briefings, both sides claimed a victory but given that the RN could better afford the losses we decided it was a narrow British victory.

Bold Breakout? part1 - A Fletcher Pratt naval wargame

For the post-Christmas games day at Sheffield Wargames Society I put together a Fletcher Pratt scenario. This was neccessarily vague as I didn't know how many players to expect, so I made sure I could cope with anything between 6 and 20.  In the event I had twelve, divided into two player teams of four and an umpire team also of four.
RN: Rear Admiral Paul B, Captain Frank, Commander Paul L, Commander Dave S

The RN team in action - photo by Wg Cdr Luddite

KM: Konteadmiral Steve T, Kapitan zur See Pete, Kommodore Dave R, Kapitan zur See Tony C

The Konteadmiral looks for answers in the bottom of a glass

Dave R (left) and Pete enjoying themselves.

Umpire Team: John A, Lloyd, Wg Cdr Luddite and your humble correspondent.

Royal Navy Briefing

Situation

It has been reported that a German force comprising the Bismarck and at least two heavy cruisers is making a break for the open waters of the North Atlantic.  A blocking force had been assembled and designated as ‘Force E’.

Orders

Sink the Bismarck, and sink or force the return to port of the cruisers.

Force E

HMS Duke of York 14” BB

HMS Suffolk 8” Cruiser

HMS Kent 8” Cruiser

HMS Cornwall 8” Cruiser

HMS Devonshire 8” Cruiser

HMS Swiftsure 6” CL

HMS Superb 6” CL

HMS Gurkha

HMS Bedouin

HMS Eskimo

HMS Cossack

HMS Aridi

HMS Ashanti

Kriegsmarine Briefing

Situation

A major force – ‘Kampfgruppe 19’ - will put to sea in order to lure out substantial but probably weaker British forces.  It is expected that the enemy will commit at least one battleship and four cruisers.

Orders

Destroy the enemy force while preserving the Bismarck.

Kampfgrupe 19

Bismarck  15” BB

Prinz Eugen  8” Cruiser

Hipper  8” Cruiser

Lutzow  8” Cruiser

Blucher  8” Cruiser

Z47  DD

Z48  DD

Z49  DD

Z50  DD

Shipwrecks

I've been meaning to make some more wreck markers for at least the last two years.  In a shock development I finally got round to it last week.  Most of these were actually made by chopping up a pair of ships I built - quickly and badly - from balsa a number of years ago.  A quick bit of sawing, chopping and painting later and we have the array of floating wreckage in the photos!

Mare Nostrum? Part 2

I refer you to my previous post for the player briefings.  As usual both fleets sailed in dangerous clumps until my repeated warnings about collisions and torpedoes eased the ships apart a bit.  Above is the French fleet.  Scary eh?

The pride of the Regia Marina being moved by Dave (left) and Mark.  The French were led by Lloyd and Tony.  John and myself made up the umpire team.

The Italian ships.  Any scarier than the Frenchies?

All of the ships in the game were balsa scratchbuilds as first mentioned here.

As the rival fleets closed the French cruisers broke away - hoping to draw fire perhaps?

The Eyetie battleships looked pretty intimidating!

The Italians opened fire first - and some early hits were scored.

As usual my firing arrows were these conveniently shaped post-it notes.

In the hectic exchange of fire which ensued, Vittorio Veneto suffered a minor hit (seen above) amounting to 1.5% of her total points.  The other Italian ships were untouched.

The French turned for home and made smoke (most of it voluntary...).  Strasbourg lost 14% and a complete turret (half of her main battery), Dunkerque 11% and La Galissonnier (seen below) 5%.

The Italians declined to pursue and the game ended with both sides claiming victory.  Strasbourg returned to port with her 'B' turret shrouded in tarpaulins - there, so the press were told to hide 'secret equipment'.....

So - a game which occupied six players for a little over an hour using only seven toys!

Mare Nostrum? Part 1

I had promised the masses a Fletcher Pratt naval game so I needed to come up with a scenario.  During a flick through my copy of Conway's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, I noticed that the Italian Littorio class battleships were commissioned as a response to the French Dunkerque class.  What fun might there be if they were actually to meet?  The player briefings are reproduced below.  A future post will cover the action as it unfolded.

The Vittorio Veneto - a big Italian boat.

French Briefing

While the nation’s attention is focused on the French Army’s gallant fight gallantly against the German invaders, it would clearly be unwise to ignore Germany’s ally, Italy.  Accordingly, a task force consisting of the two new battleships, Dunkerque and Strasbourg, accompanied by the cruisers Montcalm and La Galissionere will stage a demonstration during the final trials of the new Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto.  You must approach to within 4 feet of the Vittorio Veneto but must not initiate hostilities against what is still a neutral power.

Once you have shown the Italians just who the Mediterranean belongs to you may return to port.

Vive La France!

_____________________________________________

Italian Briefing

Il Duce has decreed that the nation will soon engage in a glorious struggle against the decadent French.

While the French are focused on the losing battle against our glorious German allies, our Navy will stage a demonstration to show the French that the Mediterranean really is ‘Mare Nostrum’.  Accordingly, a task force consisting of the two new battleships, Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, accompanied by the cruiser Guissano will stage a demonstration during the final trials of the recently refitted French battleship Strasbourg.  You must approach to within 6 feet of the Strasbourg and unless she withdraws you may then open fire and sink her.

Once you have shown the French just who the Mediterranean belongs to you may return to port.

Avanti!

Fletcher Pratt on Grass - part 2

As we join the action again gunnery has broken out - and the 3 V/W class DDs from Gibraltar have joined in by opening up at really rather long range.  This is a ploy best avoided as it annoys the umpire team by making them adjudicate ineffective shooting!

 The outdoor firing arrows are plastic plant markers - £3 for a big bag them- with ranges written on using an OHP pen.

Several hits were scored on the French cruisers - but mostly from small calibre DD guns.

As usual my collection of bespoke hand carved hit markers was in use.  Reds were hits, yellow misses and white torpedo hits.  And yes, to the untrained eye they can look a bit like plastic golf tees...

Before long there were a number of torpedoes in the water.  I marked these using 12in lengths of dowell - 

one for each salvo rather then one for each torp due to dowell shortages!

Even the mighty HMS Renown lumbered out of port to join in the fun.

Some of the ships were so bunched that a decent salvo of shells was likely to hit something!

A scrappy melee soon ensued!

There were a lot of torps in the water at this point....

...and some found targets.  One French cruiser went down while the rest decided to press on.  We decided that probably 1-2 CLs and 2 DDs were likely to have made it through, and Renown wouldn't want to mix it with all those big DDs!
So a pretty successful game and a further vindication of the F-P system.

Fletcher Pratt on Grass - part 1

One of the games I ran at COW - together with John A and Martin R - was an outdoor Fletcher Pratt naval game.  I had been inspired to do this by Peter Douglas and chums but unlike him we sensibly waited for warm weather....
Once again ships from my extensive 1/1200 fleets were in action and I used a slightly modified of the Gibraltar Strait action as previously reported on here.  A surprisingly large number of players gathered, so I was able to appoint 4 as British and 5 as French.  As can be seen in the above photo, the ships were mounted on wooden bases for a number of reasons:
1. Visibility - without bases the modes would have been virtually invisible.
2. Appearance - the height of the base and 'pile' of the grass were similar.
3. Heft - I was worried about the models (especially the balsa ones) blowing away.

Our 100% accurate model of Gibraltar was crafted from a combination of Martin's hills and my Triang harbour bits.

At the other side of the Strait our representation of Africa was slightly less convincing...

The elite umpire team (Martin R and John A) on the left and the RN - Jim R, Russell K, Ian D and Phil S.

The French were led by John Curry - author of the Fletcher Pratt book.

French ships under way

The pride of the RN - Renown and a trio of destroyers - in port.

The 'H' class destroyers of 13th Destroyer Flotilla patrolling the strait.

Gunnery began at long range!  The firing arrows are plastic plant markers with the ranges written in non-permanent pen.

Vice Admiral Drury firing the coastal batteries

The destroyer patrol was soon in the thick of the action

The French gave every appearance of seasoned professionals in full control of the situation.  

At least that's what their admiral said...