With the Jutland bicentenary real close it was time for another refight. For those that know not it was the major naval engagement of WWI when the germans finally ventured out of their minefield and the british sailed to recieve them, forewarned as they were by intercepted communications.
In the first turn only the two exploration groups can be played and the rest comes in from the second turn (the british Great Fleet as a whole and the german Hochsee fleet turn by turn in a long line).
The english got first turn and steamed ahead beginning the exchange of fire
Taking the worst of it as the Malaya dramatically explodes
The lion also goes down under the downpour, as do some british destroyers
Thankfully the Great Fleet comes in
The Von der Tann is the first german ship to be wrecked
The battered german cruisers still have fight in them, sinking the New Zealand with torpedoes
The german high seas fleet has also joined the fray by this point, and their guns take a heavy toll on the british ships, wiping out the "Queen Elizabeth" battleship squadron: the Bahram goes down with admiral Evan Thomas
As do the Valiant
The warspite
And the Tiger
The hochsee fleet showing the superiority of german training
The lone Moltke, unable to escape due to engine damage, recieves the retaliation of the Great Fleet and is sunk
Admiral Scheer soon orders his ships to form a double line ahead of the main british fleet
The last ships of the british scouting group are hunted one by one, caught in a crossfire between the advancing german reinforcements and the remains of their scouts. Princess royal...
...Indefatigable...
...and Invincible (not today!) are destroyed, while the Great Fleet is still too far to give any help. Those lobsters ans their fancy names...
Only one british destroyer remains, surrounded by the hulks of its comrades
The british cruiser screen forms a gun line
Hood's squadron sails around his burning flagship
The lone destroyer HMS Defender still has teeth tough, and sinks a german cruiser with a well placed torpedo
The germans artfully manoeuver their ships to cross the briritsh T
With all its towers disabled, Köning and admiral Behncke move to the rear to deny the brits their victory points
The german destroyers race through no man's sea (?) for torpedo delivery
A hit on Queen Mary...
Helps the guns bring her down
The british light cruisers suffer their first loss also
Answering to the german line, admiral Jellicoe forms in two arms that reach towards the germans
Massed battleships! Albeit only half of them within range
This new formation opens up on the germans: a destroyer
And their flagship goes down, the germans hope that Scheer's plan brings them a posthumous victory
Since most battleships are out of range the new german arrivals decide to close the distance
The german destroyers make a run for it
But only sink one light cruiser: the Duke of Edinburg
The guns have better luck: sinking the Inflexible
And the Orion
At this point we run out of time so we left it there. General view at the end (german precision vs british...pudding?)
British
and german survivors
Final score: Germans 63, British 19. A sound german victory helped by the early sinking of the "Queen Elizabeths"
Finally a pic of the HMS Lion & crew that always die in this game, the life of both scouting groups can be measured in minutes exposed as they are between both main fleets. Besides, admiral ships always have a big ¡shoot me! target flag flying over their heads.
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