Edinburgh Wargames
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The Edinburgh Wargames Journal
Issue 64 - November 2011
Periods featured in this issue: Second World War Naval (1/2400), Seven Years War and Russian Civil War (both 28mm)
plus a brief report from Crisis 2011 (Antwerp) and Targe 2011 (Kirriemuir)
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Second World War Naval: The Battle of the Denmark Strait, 1941 (General Quarters 3) 1/2400
This Thursday at the South-East Scotland Wargames Club we held our AGM - a mercifully brief affair that didn't get in the way of the evening's gaming too much. Just in case though (as some of them have been fairly heated and gone on for ages - don't ask - we decided to play a fairly simple game. A small naval one fitted the bill - one where we didn't need too many toys or scenery. We settled on a refight of the Battle of the Denmark Strait (24th MAy 1941), when the modern German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen were met by a British battleship and a battlecruiser - the brand new Prince of Wales, and the venerable Hood. While the battlecruiser Hood was outmoded, she still exuded a certain degree of sleek style. In the real battle of course, the Hood was hit by one of Bismarck's 15-inch shells, and she blew up, taking all but three of her 1,300 crew with her. The Prince of Wales was badly damaged, and forced to pull out of the fight, leaving the Germans free to break out into the North Atlantic.
So much for the real battle. The thing was, would history repeat itself? As the British commander, flying his flag in the Hood, I took solace from the fact that things couldn't go so bad as they did historically - or could they? I could always lose both British ships...
The two sides sighted each other at a range of around 30,000 yards (15 nautical miles). Both sides opened fire almost immediately. For the British the tactics were simple. If their guns were going to have any impression on the well-armoured German battleship then they needed to close the range as quickly as possible. This also reduced the chances of the Germans scoring a plunging hit, where the shell would fall on the lightly protected deck armour of the Hood. That was her Achilles heel in 1941, and the chances of it happening again were high until the Hood moved inside her "zone of invulnerability". The British called for full speed ahead, and headed towards the enemy. That wasn't strictly accurate - they kept jinking - firing all their guns, then jinking back to close a little further.
The Germans scored the first hit, a shell hitting the Hood amidships, and knocking out one of her secondary guns. She fired back, scoring hull hits on the Bismarck. The Prince of Wales was firing too, but to reflect her turrets whose training mechanisms still had teething troubles we introduced another die roll. Every time she fired a salvo we rolled a D6. On a "6" one of her turrets malfunctioned (we diced to see which one), and we rolled again to see how long it would take to fix the problem (1-3 turns, representing 6-18 minutes). Sure enough, when the range got down to just 15,000 yards, and the Prince of Wales could start causing real damage, then her turrets went on the Fritz. Every turn for five turns I rolled a "6", meaning that one turret after another stopped working.
However, the Bismarck was starting to suffer - badly. She knocked out Hood's "B" turret, but Dougie (playing the Germans) had just started to celebrate when Bismarck's "Anton and "Dora" turrets were put out of commission - one by the Hood, the other by the Prince of Wales. The Prinz Eugen tried to make a difference, but all she achieved was to draw the fire of the Hood, which caused several flotation hits on her. The German player wasn't quite so cocky by now, and the Hood was well within the danger zone of plunging fire. In fact, the range was now down to a mere 12,000 yards (6 nautical miles). This would now be a fight to the death.
What really saved the British was the consistently bad shooting of the Bismarck. While I was defying the laws of averages with my turret malfunctions, Dougie was throwing amazingly poor dice, and was now being pummelled by two capital ships at very close range. The Prinz Eugen tried to even the odds by firing a torpedo salvo, and one of the "fish" struck the Prince of Wales, causing extensive flotation damage, and reducing her speed down to just 19 knots. The Bismarck then knocked out her after turret, but she still kept fighting. The Prinz Eugen pulled away, as she was in no position to do anything useful. No doubt the two shadowing British heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk (above right) would take care of her, who had been shadowing the Germans from a distance. Now though, it was the Bismarck that was getting a serious pounding. Soon both of her remaining turrets were put out of action, and with her speed reduced to 17 knots there was no escape. Bowing to the inevitable, and unable to fight back, Dougie gave the order to abandon ship, and to scuttle her. So, last week's turkey shoot of Rosshaydn was avenged, the Nazis were defeated, and the battered but victorious Hood and Prince of Wales were packed away, as the British commander toasted his victory in large pink gins. Hurrah for the Senior Service!
Second World War naval page
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Seven Years War: The (fictitious) Battle of Rosshaydn, 1757 (Warfare in the Age of Reason) 28mm
Warning bells should have been ringing when Dougie (commanding the Prussians) said he was concocting an "interesting scenario". He didn't use "fair", or "balanced" - just "interesting". I was told to bring two brigades of French foot, and one brigade of cavalry, and I'd be marching onto the table in a flank movement to fall on a Prussian flank. Dougie was very specific about my axis of advance, along a road leading to a hill where a Prussian brigade was milling about - looking as hapless as he could make them. In true 18th century style I formed from march column into two lines, and began the advance. Meanwhile my cavalry were trying to form up on my exposed flank, but as they were far down the column they were still somewhere in the rear when Dougie sprang the trap.
These pictures pretty well storyboard the whole sorry tale. In the ones above, you see the hapless Prussians, and my troops forming into line, with the cavalry coming up behind them. So far so good. Then came the bombshell - this was based on Rossbach, and that Seydlitz's cavalry - a brigade of veteran cuirassiers and another mixed one of dragoons and hussars - had just appeared on my left flank. Not only that, they suddenly appeared on the crest of a hill, and well within charge range! What followed had a sort of grim relentless inevitability about it. The two regiments of Prussian cuirassiers charged home into the flank of my two left-hand units - a battalion of the Touraine Regiment and another German one - La Mark. One was routed in short order, while the French unit retired rather precipitately, crashing through the troops behind them. Then came the Prussian exploitation move.
It seems the cuirassiers were only just getting in their stride. The next battalion of the Touraine Regiment didn't stand a chance, and was simply ridden down. However, the second battalion of La Mark Regiment had managed to turn to face, and loosed off a close-range volley that emptied three Prussian saddles. Hurrah! Was this the great turn-around? It seemed not. While the cavalry hesitated, and my turn came the Prussians charged again. This time though the French cavalry had wheeled into position and counter-charged. The result of the three-way clash between the Prussian cuirassiers, the French horse and the Germans of La Mark was a stand-off. Apparently that was the best result I could have hoped for in the circumstances - even though I was still praying for miracles.
The left-hand cuirassier regiment then smacked into a third French battalion - one from the Condé Regiment, which didn't even try to stand, but fled the field, largely as other survivors were streaming past them. The army was fast becoming a disorganised rabble, and apart from that one battalion of the La Mark Regiment, nobody on the battlefield had yet fired a shot! Meanwhile the Prussian foot was advancing for the kill, the first brigade having been reinforced by a second, which consisted mainly of grenadiers. It was time to call it a day, and in the true spirit of the age I capitulated, and was granted the opportunity to take my remaining toys with me. Next time Dougie dreams up a scenario I'll be ready for this sort of trickery, and meanwhile I'll be practicing forming emergency squares, and guarding flanks.
Seven Years War page
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Targe 2011 (Kirriemuir, Scotland)
I always enjoy going to Targe, the wee show in Kirriemuir, laid on by the "Kirrie" wargames club. Their head honcho Dale Smith has worked wonders in turning Targe into one of the must-see shows of the Scottish circuit, despite the fact that "Kirrie" is a two hour drive to the north of Edinburgh, and 15 miles past the grim sprawl of Dundee. I particularly like crossing the county line, when the sign ready "Welcome to Angus". Yes, I know its the name of the county, but rather childishly I can rarely resist saying "Thank you very much" as I drive by! These pictures are a selection from the games on display there - the best of which (in my view) was this street fight, set in Dublin during the Irish Civil War. It was quite an ambitious project, and I like the look of the wide Dublin boulevard, turned into a battlefield.
Other games included a novel participation game involving a Hollywood-style breakout from a German prisoner of war camp. a nice little English Civil War battle, which won top prize, and a colourful re-hash of the Boyne game we've seen over the past few years. Another unusual game was the refight of the Battle of Harlaw (1411), a battle between highland clans, fought out in Aberdeenshire. The Aberdeen club specialise in restaging battles from their corner of Scotland, and what appealed here - despite the lacklustre terrain - was the troops - a well-researched collection of troops representing late medieval lowland forces, highlanders, cavalry and Scottish nobles. The only drawback to Targe is the speech-making. This interminable bru-ha-ha goes on for the best part of an hour, which gets in the way of the fun, and prevents you getting on with the serious business of buying lead. Still, despite this, its a great little show, and well worth the trip.
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Crisis 2011 (Antwerp, Belgium)
I'm not going to say much about this show except that it was terrific. The guys at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp Club were fantastic, and not only laid on a great show, but were extremely hospitable too. The only downside was that the venue was pretty cramped (the show has outgrown the space), and it was stiflingly hot. That's in hand though, and next year Crisis will be held in a brand new and much larger venue, right in the centre of Antwerp.
What was particularly enjoyable was that as the largest show on the European mainland, it attracted wargamers from all over the continent.
I've included a few pictures of some of the many display and participation games, the top prize going (very deservedly) to the Nottingham guys' Italians in Abyssinia game. There was also a terrific game featuring part of the Battle of Leipzig (1813), a Force on Force game set in Helmand Province, and a lively Nine Years War game. In fact, there were dozens of games to look at, all of a very high standard. The one though that seemed to draw the biggest crowd wasn't that fancy to look at - just a small 15mm Eastern Front game - but the Two Fat Lardies drew people in with their lively game and banter - a real example of how a participation game should be run!
Tin Soldiers of Antwerp website (off-site link) - including details of Crisis 2012. Don't miss it!
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Russian Civil War: Encounter on the Kaluga Railway, 1919 (Contemptible Little Armies - Back of Beyond) 28mm
This lively little encounter came about for no other reason than we hadn't played a Back of Beyond game for almost a year. It used to be one of our main wargaming staples, but for some reason it dropped by the wayside. I've no idea why - these games are always colourful, and with Chris Peers' rules they're also fast-moving and deadly! The General premise was that White partisans had cut the Kaluga to Voronezh railway, and the suspicious Red Army commander in the area sent engineers out, backed up by a powerful mixed force of troops. He was right to be wary - the sabotage was the prelude to an advance by the Whites, commanded by General Denikin. Our little clash was part of this general advance, as Deniken was met by elements of General Tukhachevsky's 5th Red Army.
Essentially, this was a line-up and advance game, with the hapless Partisan unit and the engineer party caught in the middle. On their right the Bolsheviks made short shrift of the White partisans, while both sides' cavalry manoeuvred their way into the centre of the table, ready for an almighty clash. On the White right flank a determined advance by the officer battalions backed by field guns and an armoured car were met by sailors of the Red Banner Fleet, Cheka, Siberian marksmen and a smaller Red armoured jalopy. The two armoured cars sparred ineffectually like a pair of American Civil War ironclads, but the Red infantry met the advancing "yellow caps" of the White Samursky regiment with a hail of fire. While the Cheka were whittled down a fair bit (particularly when the White armoured car joined in), the "yellow caps" were virtually annihilated. Next came a charge by the main officer battalion, who piled into the Siberians. A furious melee followed, but once again the Reds held their ground, and when the sailors joined in the officers were slaughtered to a man.
The same Red success was repeated in the centre, where the White Cossacks met the Red Army cavalry in another big scrap, where the Reds eventually got the better of the fight. Any further success there was prevented by a hastily assembled line of White infantrymen, who kept the Red horsemen at bay until the end of the game. On the far right nothing much happened after the clash with the partisans, as both sides didn't want to advance into the open to be slaughtered by the enemy.
This scrappy little game therefore ended with a clear Red victory, but one that left us too weak to press the attack and drive off the White reserves. As a result Denikin's army lived to fight another day, and we all vowed not to leave it so long before we played another Back of Beyond game. After all, while they mightn't please the purists, these rules produce highly enjoyable games, and ones that fairly zip along.
The Back of Beyond page
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