Miniature Wargames

WWI Naval Battle – Strait of Messina 1914

In this hypothetical battle, The German Mediterranean squadron (significantly enlarged from the historical one) is cornered by the British in August 1914.

Scale: 1/6000 miniatures, 500 yards/in ground scale.

Rules: Computer code in development.

Visibility 20,000 yards. Wind westerly at 10 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: Messina Status

Damage output file: Messina-output

Plot of ship movements: Messina-plot

The German squadron heads east out of the Strait of Messina after coaling. Two British battlecruisers pass through the straits and approach from the northwest. Milne, in his flagship Inflexible, approaches from the southeast. The armoured cruisers of the 1st Cruiser Squadron approach from the northeast. The Goeben and the British battlecruisers are limited to 24 knots due to maintenance issues.

The first photo is well into the game. Two German CLs have been sunk and the British CLs have taken a lot of damage.

The two British BCs coming from the west steam at their maximum speed to catch up.

Under fire from four British ACs and two BCs (out of the photo to the west), the German ACs take heavy damage.

The Inflexible is sunk by the Goeben, allowing her to escape to the south with little damage. The German cruisers are all sunk and the British also lose one armoured cruiser.

Milne is posthumously hailed as a hero, and the Goeben reaches Turkey to play her historical role there.

Hail Caesar – Gilgenburg 1410

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a medieval battle at the Dogs of War shop using the Hail Caesar rules.

Gilgenburg Prussia, July 13th, 1410.

On July 13th, two days before the battle of Grunwald/Tannenberg, the Polish-Lithuanian army captured and sacked the town of Gilgenburg (Dabrowno in Poland today). In this hypothetical scenario, the Teutonic Order army arrives to defend Gilgenburg.

Approaching from the north (right in the photo), the Order forces are divided by the lakes. Order infantry deploys to keep Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry out of Gilgenburg.

Poor command rolls for the Order cavalry allow most of the Polish army to move east of the stream. Most of the rear Polish infantry division is driven off the table.

When the game ended both sides had lost 4 units (20%) and each side was threatened on the left flank. The Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry division had cleared the way to Gilgenburg.

HURRICON 2014 Photos

Link to Flickr album of Hurricon 2014 photos.

WWI Naval Battle – Pola

In this hypothetical battle, The French attack the Austro-Hungarian naval base of Pola (Pula in Croatia today) in September 1914.

Scale: 1/6000 miniatures, 500 yards/in ground scale.

Rules: Computer code in development.

Visibility 22,000 yards. Wind southeasterly at 10 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: Pola-status

Damage output file: Pola-output

Plot of ship movements: Pola plot

The A-H fleet leaves Pola as the French approach.

A-H DDs make smoke to cover the deployment of the fleet.

The A-H divisions turn south to get more maneuver room. The French turn north to keep the leeward position. A French AC blows up and another turns out of line with steering damage.

The French take advantage of the good visibility to fight beyond the range of half of the A-H ships.

This scenario was not balanced well due to the French advantage in gun range and the slow speed of the oldest A-H ships.

WWI Naval Battle – Interception of the HSF

As a counterpart to a recent hypothetical battle where the German battlecruisers were sent into the channel to intercept the BEF transports, this scenario assumes the High Seas Fleet demonstrates in the North Sea to draw the Grand Fleet away from the channel. The GF intercepts the HSF as it moves south along the Danish coast toward the Jade.

Scale: 1/6000 miniatures, 500 yards/in ground scale.

Rules: Computer code in development.

Visibility 14,000 yards. Wind northwesterly at 12 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: BEF2-status

Damage output file: BEF2-output

Plots of ship movements:

first 40 minutes BEF2-plot-1to40

last 50 minutes BEF2-plot-40to90

total BEF2-plot

North is to the the left and the Danish coast is off the table to the rear. When sighted, the GF was across the path of the HSF. This photo is several turns later.

The British dreadnoughts have turned south to avoid German torpedoes. The German dreadnoughts have all taken damage and turned to the west to clear the Danish coast.

A British AC has blown up. British dreadnoughts continue south, chased by German torpedo boats.

The battle lines attempt to reform, but slower damaged ships start to fall behind.

At the point where we stopped, both battle fleets had taken significant damage and it was expected that a lot more ships would soon be sunk.