This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a fictitious naval battle set in the Adriatic in WW1. On June 15, 1915, a few weeks after the Italian declaration of war on Austria-Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian fleet sails to attack Brindisi and to lure out the Italian fleet. The Italians are alerted and hope to avenge Lissa.
Visibility 14,000 yards. Wind WSW at 10 knots. Seastate 2.
The rear divisions of each fleet are not yet in sight and not on the table.
Both sides manage torpedo launches at the opposite battle lines.
Markers indicate visible torpedo launches.
After four hours of play we ended the game with the Austro-Hungarians having lost 2 battleships and all their destroyers and the Italians having lost most of their destroyers. Several cruisers on both sides were badly shot up.
These are Amarillo Design Bureau Starline 2500 series ‘Klingon E4 Light Frigates‘ cast in metal several years ago. At 36 mm in length, they are much larger than my old escorts. They will be used for a class intermediate in size between my F5s and D7s. The E4s and F5s will thus be reversed by size, but that avoids re-labeling all the old models.
This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Bolt Action game. The scenario was based on the second night of the Battle of Edson’s Ridge, which occurred on the night of 13-14 September 1942. The ridge was part of the defenses of Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. This game involved the position of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, attacked by Kokusho’s and Tamura’s battalions of the Japanese 124th Infantry Regiment.
Lunga Ridge, afterwards known as Edson’s Ridge.
The right end of the Marine position.
The left end of the Marine position.
Will it be a ridge to far?
The Japanese have broken into the left end of the Marine line and destroyed a MG unit.
The Japanese attack on the right is ‘supported’ by miss-directed Marine artillery fire.
A second wave of Japanese infantry appears.
The Japanese attack on the right goes in and is wiped out.
The left of the Marine position has been cleared of defenders.
These are Star Trek HeroClix I.K.S. Amar models (from the Tactics IV set), after painting and rebasing. Compared to the normal HeroClix Klingon battlecruisers, they have extra bits sticking out from the front of the wings and from the neck, as well as other differences in detail. In most Star Trek lore the Amar is the quintessential K’t’inga class. The card that came with these models mentions the Kelvin Timeline, so that may explain the differences.
The third photo shows the unpainted Amar on the original HeroClix base.
This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval game using the Seekrieg 5 rules.
May 15 1916, 07:30 Western Gulf of Finland
The Russians launch a heavy raid against the German patrols/ blockade of St Petersburg. The Russians sail from St Petersburg just before dusk on the 14th. At dawn both sides are sighted. Clear good weather. Visability starts ar 18,000 yards, increases to 24,000 yards by turn 5 as the morning haze lifts.
Russian:
BB Petropavlovsk
BB Gangut
CA Bayan (II)
CA Rurik
CL Jemtchug
Speed 14 knots. Course 270.
Germans:
BB Helgoland
PBB Deutschland
PBB Schlesien
PBB Hannover
CL Berlin
CA Roon
Speed 8 knots. Course 090. Initial direction to the Russians determined randomly.
Victory is based mostly on damage inflected. The Russians need to avoid a lot of damage. They cannot replace their ships, and badly damaged ships will find no safe harbor for repair. The Russians would like to “run” the Blockade to get into the German merchant shipping, but have to be only lightly damaged for that.
Mines: The Gulf of Finland has been mined by the Russians, but the Germans have prevented the Russians from maintaining the minefields. Some mines have broken loose and wandered. The mines have a low chance of contact (<5% / column of ships / turn). Slower ships can better avoid them. Only the lead ship of a column is at risk. The Russians have out of date maps, giving them some knowledge of where the mines are. Mines should influence tactics but not dominate the game. If ships stay in column there is about a 48% chance of one mine explosion in an 8 turn game.
Fire opens between the lead ships at the then maximum visibility of 18,000 yards.
The German force.
Both sides led with light cruiser to take any mine hits. None occurred. Both sides turned to the north to bring their batteries to bear. With the rear ships out of range, the early turns pitted the two Russian dreadnoughts against the dreadnought Helgoland, while the armored cruiser Roon targeted the light cruiser Jemtchug. After 8 turns the Helgoland was a wreck (8 tiers of damage, two fires and only one remaining damage control team). No other ships had been significantly damaged. We called the game as a Russian victory.
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