Queen Elizabeth II, RIP.

Whatever your feelings on the monarchy - and I have a few, pro and con - the passing of the Queen marked the end of an era. She ruled for all my life to date, and the traditions that go with a constitutional monarchy weigh on all British people. It's something people of other countries don't get and never will.

I'm going to avoid the social media outlets of FaceAche and Twitter for a few days. The amount of viciousness unleashed over her passing is positively sickening. 

Hopefully, with luck and a following wind, I'll fight out the fictional attack on Heligoland this weekend. The weather's turned a bit cooler which makes my gaming room more comfortable.

Gun sites and Splash markers

A little prep work is in order before I play out the Heligoland action.

I decided I didn't have anywhere near enough splash markers, so these are now under weigh. They're fabricated from off cuts of clear plastic stuck in place and made more water-like with copious blobs of hot glue. Markers for the Heligoland artillery emplacements are centre-right. Since this is likely to be a one-off game I'm not bothering with a lot of detail for these.

Along with this I had to buy a new blue sheet for use with naval gaming. I clean forgot to remove the last one before our cat decided to use it to sharpen his claws...

And now for a gamer's dilemma - nothing to do with naval gaming. I've sold a large batch of unwanted miniatures so now I'm contemplating what to buy with this windfall. I should get enough figures to more-or-less finish off my 10mm ECW collection (if a collection can ever be said to be finished...). 

But! As wargamers know, there's always a new period flaunting its gaudy temptations to draw our eye. Peter over at Grid Based Wargaming is running a neat episodic 1917 Middle East campaign. A tough modern Ottoman force, ANZAC troops, Imperial infantry in pith helmets, Lawrence of Arabia, tanks, aircraft, armoured cars. A set of brigade-size rules in the shape of If the Lord Spares Us from Too Fat Lardies. What's not to like? I'm sorely tempted to splash some cash on Pendraken's starter packs for this period and theatre.

Decisions, decisions...

“A ship’s a fool to fight a fort.”

So said Admiral Lord Nelson. With the centenary of Trafalgar so fresh in the collective minds of the Royal Navy, the Admiralty is pondering the Hero’s words anew as they contemplate an attack on Heligoland.

After the island was transferred to Germany in 1890, the new owners immediately began work on fortifications centred around a quartet of 21cm/8.2 inch guns and eight 28cm/11 inch howitzers. These were supplemented by a number of 4.1 inch/105mm guns positioned around the island for close-in defence. Since the main artillery is located two hundred feet above sea level it also has the attribute of increased range and plunging fire.

Twelve heavy artillery pieces on a rock-steady firing platform and plunging fire capability… Quite.

The only bright spot is that this heavy armament won’t be augmented any time soon, as there’s a tug of war between the German navy and the army when it comes to the allocation of artillery. Troops are massing along the Franco-German border, and the French army artillery is superior to that of the German army. There's at least one company of troops in garrison on the island. It's believed their complement of machine guns has been increased.

So it is that the Admiralty ordered up the four Royal Sovereign class battleships Royal Sovereign, Empress of India, Resolution and Repulse. Their 13.5 inch main armament offers a ‘bigger bang for the buck’ when it comes to shore bombardment.

The class has the unfortunate reputation of being unstable in high seas, hence their nickname of the ‘Rolling Ressies.’ Stormy weather in the North Sea precluded any immediate move against Heligoland after the Battle of the Humber for this very reason. Now April has turned into May the weather has settled and the operation is on once more.

The plan is for the Royal Sovereigns to close with the island in the afternoon so the sun will be in the eyes of the defenders. The bombardment group will commence targeting the shore defences while the five London class and four Majestic class battleships stand off as cover in case the German fleet sallies forth from Jade Bay. Under no circumstances are the village or the lighthouse to be targeted. The civilian area is marked by the steeple of St. Nicholas’ church. (The kazern/barracks for the island’s garrison is located too close to the village to be targeted safely and so is, unfortunately, also out of bounds).

The fleet has the usual complement of cruisers and destroyers, among which is HMS Charybdis. This elderly Second-class Protected Cruiser was used for troop transport from 1905 onwards, and performs the role for this mission.

Game Mechanics.

All heavy artillery on Heligoland will range up to 20,000 yards (10 nautical miles). Add one to the firing dice for a totally stable firing platform and there are no penalties for bad weather. Each weapon counts as one calibre larger on the progressive fire table to reflect the effects of plunging fire, so 11 inch guns will count as 12 inch, 8.2 inch as 9.2 inch.

Shore bombardment takes a different approach. All ordinary hits are ignored. Critical hits count, but only Turret, Gunnery Director Centre, Fire and Magazine hits have any effect. A Magazine hit will only destroy the turret it serves. A result of Fire indicates that undergrowth or buildings have been ignited by a shell burst. Depending on the wind direction this will decrease the defending fire factor by one due to smoke obscuring the range finders.

Victory Conditions.

The Royal Navy has to destroy all twelve main artillery positions for victory. Once this has been achieved it’s assumed the smaller vessels will close with the shore to suppress the 105mm guns and provide fire support as Charybdis lands her troops.

The German defenders will achieve victory if two ships of the Bombardment Group are sunk or crippled, at which point the group will withdraw.

With luck and a following wind - and cooler weather - I'll fight out the engagement in the next few days. 

Battle of the Norwegian Sea ~ Conclusion

0805 hrs: Action became brisk with an increasing exchange of salvos. HMS Hermes suffered the attentions of all three German armoured cruisers as well as SMS Berlin, and succumbed under the weight of gunfire.

0810 hrs: Minutes later Berlin followed her enemy to the bottom as the combined weight of Aboukir's and Euryalus' secondary armament salvos ripped into her hull. The Royal Navy's gunnery from their main armament was poor, with several rounds missing their targets by a wide margin. The light cruisers fared better in spite of the rolling seas, their gun crews managing to compensate and score several telling hits on their opposite numbers.

0815 hrs: The range closes. Highflyer sees an opening and launches two torpedoes on a track timed to hit SMS Prinz Heinrich. German gunnery is good. Euryalus takes heavy cumulative damage and begins to slow.

0820 hrs: Prinz Heinrich fails to spot the torpedo tracks in the turbulent seas and takes a fatal hit astern. The Royal Navy's gunnery improves somewhat and they make better practice on the other two German armoured cruisers.

0825 hrs: It's not all one-way traffic. The surviving German armoured cruisers turn their 15cm secondary armament on Highflyer and she succumbs to heavy cumulative gunfire. Her demise allows Hamburg a chance to forge ahead, making best speed in the rolling waters. Emboldened by her late sister ship's success HMS Hyacinth tries her luck and fires two torpedoes.

0830 hrs: This time the torpedo tracks are sighted. The two German armoured cruisers try a partial turn to starboard in an effort to avoid the attack, keeping in mind they can't deviate too much or they'll be forced into neutral Norwegian waters. One torpedo reaches the end of its run and sinks. The other almost runs out of steam but smashes into Friedrich Karl, inflicting telling damage.

0835 hrs: Random event. A timely squall arrives in just the right place. Kommodore Schafer is mindful of the damage inflicted upon his ships and the fact Hamburg is heading for the North Atlantic with little chance of the enemy stopping her. With the Kaiser's known tenderness toward his fleet's survival Schafer decides to call it a day and head for home. Turning into the squall he manages to break contact with the enemy. The rain front will pass over Hamburg, further obscuring her from pursuit. 

0840 hrs: Rear Admiral Sir James Bryce RN is both frustrated and secretly relieved by the enemy's breaking contact. He has lost two of the Royal Navy's more modern cruisers, the surviving third isn't in a position or condition to pursue the Hamburg, and HMS Euryalus is in a bad way. Should the weather in these high northern latitudes worsen she could be in serious danger of foundering. Sending a complete action report to the Admiralty he too decides to turn for home and orders a course set for Scarpa Flow.

* * * *

And so the Battle of the Norwegian Sea ends in a tactical German defeat but a minor strategic victory. Schafer succeeded in getting at least one light cruiser into the North Atlantic. SMS Hamburg will commence a guerre de course against British and French merchant shipping as soon as she's refueled and repaired battle damage off Iceland.

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.

Battle of the Norwegian Sea ~ Part 1

Having a permanent wargames table is a blessing, until the Cat Decides It Makes a Good Napping Post...

The range closes to a little over 12,000 yards (six nautical miles)

SMS Hamburg and Prinz Heinrich score hits on HMS Hermes. Royal Navy return fire is ineffective.

I can haz Hamburg? The Household's Hairiest Member is unimpressed when he's prevented from snacking on the models and decides to snooze to show his indifference instead.

Play will resume when the pitch is cleared...

Squalls ahead! ~ A modelling side project

A while back I came across a tutorial on making rain squalls for naval gaming. The idea struck me as a good one so I save the instructions and finally put them into practice. 

Begin with an off cut of expanded polystyrene packing material. Hack it into an irregular shape.

Tease out cotton wool and apply all over the top and sides using a hot glue gun. Yes, it melts the polystyrene a little, but it won't show.

The covered result.

Spray a basic grey...

Cut out long rectangles of clear plastic. I use packaging material. Use a chunk of foam rubber to apply streaks of grey craft paint mixed with Quick Shine/Future/Klear floor polish to one side, working from one edge and lifting the rubber near the other side to get a falling rain effect. Use hot glue to stick it to the underside of the cloud. I used two lengths of plastic to get an overlap to simulate a heavier burst of rainfall.

The finished result...

Royal Navy armoured cruisers Euryalus and Aboukir push on across the North Sea in the teeth of oncoming squalls.

These should work fine for most common naval gaming scales.

A Cluster of Calamity ~ 1/2400 shipwrecks

Covid really did a number on me. I find I get tired quickly and easily, which is no fun under any circumstances. Work and gardening claim most of what energy I have, but I did manage to add a few more items to my 1/2400 pre-Dreadnought collection in the shape of these wrecked ships and a fire marker. Apologies for the dim photo, I have to use my tablet camera for the time being.

I made a total capsize model, showing the red anti-barnacle paint on the hull used by most navies of this period. Turbulent water surrounds the capsize where air is being forced out of the vessel. Another is a standard bows-up posed wreck. The last is similar, but features a gush of soot and smoke issuing from the remaining funnel as the ship begins its final slide. This is something which appears on wartime footage of torpedoed ships.

I hope to play out the Battle of the Norwegian Sea as the next installment of the Moroccan Crisis campaign soon.

Being in All Respects Ready for Sea...

The new ships for the next scenario in the Moroccan Crisis campaign are finished and based. You'll have to take my word for it since camera failure means I can't take any photos for a while. 

Narrative:

At 20:00 on the same day as the Battle of the Humber, the German Particular Service squadron gets under way from its anchorage off Heligoland. Commanded by Kommodore Ernst Shaffer, it comprises three armoured cruisers, the sister ships SMS Prinz Adalbert (Flag) and Friedrich Karl, and light cruisers SMS Berlin and Hamburg. Shaffer's orders are to sail to the Denmark Straight and break out into the North Atlantic. After rendezvousing with a collier waiting off a deserted part of the Icelandic coast, his squadron will refuel then commence commerce raiding against British and French shipping.  

Accompanying them are the armoured cruiser SMS Prinz Heinrich and five torpedo boat destroyers. Their brief is to assist the squadron in breaking through any British naval force that may be encountered before returning to Heligoland and further assignment with the fleet.

The Operation.

Using the encounter table I rolled to see what shipping the squadron would come across during its traverse of the North Sea. 

The first rolls yielded a flotilla of Danish and German fishing boats then, in the early hours, a German merchant ship en-route at best speed for Bremen. The hours of daylight passed uneventfully, with no shipping sighted. Shortly after nightfall British fishing boats were sighted off the Norwegian coast in the South Utsire fishing grounds. The Kommodore decided to ignore them. They were of little value, wouldn't carry wireless with which to warn the Royal Navy, and besides, firing on them might alert any enemy warships in the area.

A Danish passenger ferry bound for Reykjavik was sighted before dawn, the squadron easily overhauling the slower civilian vessel. As daylight filled the sky a great deal of smoke was sighted to the west. Closing the distance it became apparent the source was a number of ships sailing in formation. 

Shaffer ascended to the fire control centre and scanned the scene through his binoculars. He was certain that patrolling warships of the Royal Navy lay ahead. Since his orders were securely transmitted by telegraph and courier vessel and not wireless, Shaffer was almost as certain the enemy were unaware of his crossing the North Sea. With the sun rising behind his squadron and dazzling the enemy gunners, he was in an ideal position to force the passage. Descending to the bridge Shaffer ordered increased speed. The hour was upon him, and he would do his duty to Kaiser and Fatherland...   

With luck and a following wind I'll play out the encounter sometime in the next few days.

Off the Slipway

Since I wasn't feeling well enough to do much else, I cracked on with the new ships for the Moroccan Crisis narrative campaign. These were made using the sandwich method. I gave them a matte black undercoat followed by a mid-grey base coat. For everything else paint-wise I used standard craft paints.

L-R HMS Charybdis, Highflyer, Hyacinth & Hermes.  SMS Berlin, Hamburg, Prinz Adalbert, Friedrich Karl

Next up for these will be a coat of matte varnish to reduce the shine before setting them on transparent bases.