Sunday, June 9th was the third installment of the HMGS game day at the Tin Soldier hobby shop in Centerville Ohio. This month's game was a WWI naval battle using the General Quarters rules, run by me.

The battle was fought in the North Sea between a German fleet comprised of a battleship division, a battlecruiser division and a light cruiser/destroyer division. The British fleet likewise consisted of a battleship division, battlecruiser division, and a light cruiser/destroyer division. This was a hypothetical battle, but used ships that paticipated at Jutland. The German objective was to sortie out of port, steam past a imaginary line from New Castle England to Norway and then return south past the line again and back to port. The British mission was to intercept the German fleet and inflict more damage than they recieved. The game went on for some 98 hours (game time not real time), before the fleets sighted each other.

The whole manuever resembled a giant hurricane, with the fleets turning in opposite directions. The Germans having crossed the line safely decided to do battle with the British, so they turned north again. The British tipped their location by bombarding Emden, which was received by the German fleet by wireless. A few hours later (game time) battle was joined. The German light cruiser/destroyer division being badly mauled while keeping the British Battleship and Battlecruiser divisions busy while the German Battleship and Battlecruiser divisions closed in. The initial battle lines between opposing "heavies" was paired up as follows. British battleships vs German battlecruisers and German battleships vs British battlecruisers. The British light cruiser/destroyer division closed up as well but saw no action as they made smoke while waiting to finish off a damaged ship of opportunity.

The battle raged until the store closed 6:00pm, at which time we called the battle and counted victory points. By the narrowest of margins (2.5 points) the Germans were declared the victors. The game was well attended and well fought by both sides. The July game is to be decided, and the August game will be age of sail using Wooden Ships and Iron Men rules. All are welcome to attend.

The order of battle: (DD Flots represent 4 actual DDs) British fleet:

Battleship division:
HMS Agincourt (f)
HMS Barham
HMS Malaya
HMS Iron Duke
HMS New Zealand

Battlecruiser division:
HMS Lion
HMS Princess Royale
HMS Queen Mary
HMS Tiger

Light cruiser/destroyer division:
HMS Nottingham 1 
Flotilla 1A
Flotilla 4B

German fleet:

Battleship division:
SMS Ostfriesland
SMS Helgoland
SMS Grosser Kurfurst
SMS Konig

Battlecruiser division:
SMS Derflinger
SMS Moltke
SMS Seydlitz
SMS Von Der Tamm
SMS Bayern

Light cruiser/destroyer division:
SMS Scharnhorst
Flotilla I
Flotilla IV