This Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a Starship Troopers game. Special Forces troops, Mobile Infantry and Chicken-hawks escort a scientist and a psyker into underground tunnels to capture a Brain Bug. Opposition was initially light but the psyker warned of a trap. Undeterred, the force pressed on. Sudden mass attacks of bugs forced the dropships to leave the atmosphere. The infantry fought their way to the Brain Bug, but were surrounded by bugs. Part II will be played out as a future game.
The landing zone. The wall at the top represents the underground area.
The flat tops of the walls are the tunnel ceilings. The Chicken-hawk is actually in the low passageway blocking the troops behind.
Explosive weaponry can bring down portions of the tunnel overhead.
Troops proceeding cautiously.
The bugs emerge from a lower level via several holes at once.
The Brain Bug is threatened and the warrior bugs back off.
In June 1914, units of the British fleet were in the Baltic Sea. A division of the 2nd Battle Squadron (four King George V class dreadnoughts) commanded by Vice Admiral Sir George Warrender and three light cruisers were in Kiel, Germany between June 23rd and June 30th. The 1st Battlecruiser Squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Sir David Beatty visited Riga, Revel and Kronstadt, and was in Kronstadt on the 28th when the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand occurred.
This hypothetical engagement assumes (1) that the Austrian government promptly responded to the assassination with a declaration of war on Serbia, (2) that a state of war existed between Britain and Germany on July 1st, and (3) that the Germans sortied their available ships to intercept the British squadrons before they could exit the Baltic.
The composition of the German force is extrapolated from the ships mentioned in von Hase’s description of the Kiel visit. British light cruisers are assumed to have also accompanied the 1st BCS.
After leaving Kiel, Warrender cruises in the Fehmarn Belt waiting for Beatty to arrive from the east. The 1st BCS leaves Kronstadt on the 29th in order to reach the Fehmarn Belt on July 1st. Beatty is still a Rear Admiral at this point and Warrender will be in overall command when the two forces join.
References:
George M. Nekrasov, “Expendable Glory: Russian Battleship in the Baltic, 1915-1917” [for the presence of the 1st BCS at Kronstadt on July 28th]
Commander Georg von Hase, “Kiel & Jutland” [for details of the Kiel visit and the ships present]
The two British forces have not yet joined when the first German ships are spotted.
The German fleet revealed. Only one dreadnought.
Vice Admiral Warrender reverses course to the east to aid the battlecruisers.
Lion and several German pre-dreadnoughts take damage.
Two British light cruisers are lost and the Lion limps away covered by the British dreadnoughts.
Just as it seems British will get away without major loss, the Audacious is blown up. A German pre-dreadnought sinks, having survived more than her ‘fünf minuten’. A German torpedo boat half-flotilla is destroyed before it can launch torpedoes.
The British head for the Langeland Belt.
The Germans are damaged enough that they are glad to see the British go.
The view looking SE. Light cruiser screens have just spotted each other at 20,000 yards.
View looking N. The British have deployed to the south and then turned east. The Germans have sailed north and then west.
The dreadnought divisions spiral closer. British light forces are staying out of range of the deadly 15cm guns on the German dreadnoughts.
The British light cruisers stage a suicidal attack to cover the torpedo attack of the destroyers. The destroyers have turned away after they launched.
The game was ended at this point due to time. A few additional turns were played on the computer. The German dreadnoughts avoided the torpedo attack, although two light cruisers were hit.
ncc1717.com 
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