Following their overwhelming success at Coronel during the Autumn of 1914, the German squadron under Admiral Grav von Spee headed for home. They steamed round the tip of South America and von Spee determined to attack the British telegraph station at Port Stanley, possibly to stop any chance of their movements being reported.
However, following the reports of the defeat at Coronel, the Admiralty had sent the two battlecruisers HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible under the command of Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee to join the ships (HMS Bristol, HMS Carnavon, HMS Glasgow, HMS Cornwall and HMS Kent and the armed merchant cruiser Macedonia), which were already in the South Atlantic. Their orders were to find and sink the German ships.
The British ships were coaling in Port Stanley along with the pre-Dreadnought HMS Canopus when the Germans approached at about 8 am. Some reports say that Admiral von Spee saw the distinctive masts of the battlecruisers but, thinking that there were no British battlecruisers in the area, he assumed that they were Japanese and would pose no problems to his escape. In any event, he ordered his squadron to turn away. Just as he did so, HMS Canopus (who was out of sight of the German ships over the headland) opened fire on them, causing no hits.
The British ships quickly got up steam and issued from Port Stanley. When it became clear that the Germans had turned away, Admiral Sturdee signalled 'General Chase' and the Germans scattered, pursued by the British ships.
Admiral von Spee turned his two battlecruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, to try to hold the British off and give the faster cruisers the chance to get away. However, this was not to be. The battle became one of separate engagements, with Invincible and Inflexible engaging Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The Cornwall and Glasgow engaged the Leipzig, leaving Kent to go after Nürnberg. Only the fastest German ship, Dresden, escaped but she was sunk in March 1915 off the coast of South America.
In each case, the British ships proved faster and more able and all the German ships, except Dresden, were slowed by shellfire and then sunk. The Germans also lost two colliers, which they had abandoned off the Falkland Islands when it became clear that the British were there in greater force than Admiral von Spee had expected.
Casualties on the British side were light, but there was concern for a time as HMS Kent had suffered a hit to her radio room and was unable to report her success against the Nürnberg until she returned to the Falklands the following day.
The Battle of the Falklands makes for an easy solo battle, or even separate battles between the individual ships. If Admiral von Spee had not turned away, he could have had a classic gunnery duel against the British ships as they broke out of Stanley harbour. Admiral Sturdee would have no choice but to issue forth as quickly as the confined waters would allow him and form a hasty battle line as soon as he could. It would then be down to the skill of the gunners on each side.
If, on the other hand, you begin after the Germans had turned away, then Admiral Sturdee still only has one option: to issue the 'General Chase' order.
In either case, the battle hinges on the orders given by Admiral von Spee and this allows you to experiment with a wide variety of tactics. Von Spee turned at bay and tried to hold off the British, but what might have happened if he had turned Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and attacked the British ships, giving his cruisers a better chance. Alternatively he could have kept one of the cruisers with him and tried to engage the British ships.
Another interesting variation can be explored if you have the German squadron turn back and fight the British in the confined waters around the Southern edge of the Falkland Islands.
Indeed, given all the possible variations, you could play this scenario many times.
So you see, the naval side of World War One was more than just Jutland and the Fisher mentality. For a fuller write-up of the Battle of the Falklands 1914 with pictures, along with many other forgotten naval battles of WW1, those of you with web access might find http://www.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/naval/n0000000.htm useful.
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