Norwegian Sea ~ Game set-up

I clean forgot to post the weather and general conditions for the Norwegian Sea encounter, so here's the bumf now.

Participants.

Royal Navy:

Light Cruisers Highflyer, Hyacinth, Hermes.

Armoured Cruisers Aboukir (Flag), Euryalus.

German Navy: Armoured Cruisers Friedrich Karl, Prinz Adalbert (Flag), Prinz Heinrich.

Light Cruisers Berlin, Hamburg.

Weather: Overcast, rain/sleet squalls, heavy 3m swell. Wind: South Easterly, Force 6 (strong breeze).

0800 hrs. The respective squadrons sight each other at 13,000 yards moving away to the Southwest not long after daybreak as the light increases to dispel some of the gloom.

Both sides’ destroyers are reduced to half speed as sea conditions become too rough for the smaller ships to handle. Signals from the respective flags order the flotillas to stand off and await further orders. Due to the swell the light cruisers’ main armament and the secondary armament of the armoured cruisers are also affected by sea conditions, the latter because the low-sited casemates of the secondary weapons are frequently washed by the high seas.

(In game terms the light cruisers' main armament and the armoured cruisers' secondary armament suffer a -1 to their gunnery dice roll)

On sighting the enemy, Kommodore Shaffer orders an increase in speed to place his squadron well ahead of the enemy. The light cruisers Berlin and Hamburg are ordered to go to full speed commensurate with sea conditions. There’s every chance they will be able to avoid combat altogether and break out into the North Atlantic.

On HMS Hermes’ sighting report, Rear Admiral Sir James Bryce orders the squadron to turn 180⁰ to starboard and increase speed in an attempt to intercept the German squadron. The light cruisers Hermes and Highflyer are in the best position to manoeuvre independently and bring their enemy counterparts into action, and are so ordered. Hyacinth is to remain with the armoured cruisers and provide support as needed.

With luck and a following wind I'll play out more of the tabletop encounter over the next few days.