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.
This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Rapid Fire scenario based on Soviet efforts to retake the Baltic States in the Fall of 1944.
Before deploying the Russian forces, the players plan their attack. The main objective is the fortified artillery position at the end of the table. Cutting the road to the right is a secondary objective.
The Russians advance across the rail line.
An AT gun hides next to a building.
The main objective in the far distance.
Russian troops attack through the woods.
The gully provides temporary cover in the advance.
The first defense line (StuGs and infantry) is taken.
A lone Sherman reaches the main defense position.
The main objective is never threatened by the Russian attack.
The Russian attacks got near the secondary objective, but German reinforcements were positioned to stop them when we ended the game. A difficult but fun scenario, with lots of tactical choices for the players.
In this hypothetical engagement, the Germans send a portion of the High Seas Fleet into the Gulf of Finland in an attempt to engage and destroy the Russian Baltic Fleet.
The Germans have limited knowledge of the Russian dispositions. Only cruisers and torpedo boats are spotted so far.
Russian torpedo boats attempt to close to torpedo range, which for their torpedoes is only about 4,000 yards.
German light cruisers screen the battle line and shoot up the Russian torpedo boats.
The few surviving Russian torpedo boats launch, but the German dreadnoughts turn away and are not hit.
Russian destroyers attack and the German dreadnoughts turn away again. These destroyers have a slightly better torpedo with a range of about 6,500 yards.
German armored cruisers also turn away from the torpedo threat, but don’t comb the tracks quite long enough. Two ACs are torpedoed, one of which sinks. This error was caused by the week-long delay between the first half of the game (when the torpedoes were launched) and the second half (when they arrived).
Both sides try to reform their lines in the confined waters of the gulf.
The Russians Turn back to the NE. If they continued to skirt the southern shore of the gulf, the southerly wind would inhibit their shooting. Pre-dreadnoughts and armored cruisers comb torpedo tracks.
The German dreadnoughts start to take damage.
The Russian fleet has suffered much worse.
With one pre-dreadnought sunk and several large ships heavily damaged, the Russians give up the game.
ncc1717.com 
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