"Best WWII Naval Battle for Gamers?" Topic

Which of the great naval battles of WWII works best on the tabletop?

Presumably a surface action is wanted, since carrier battles and anti-submarine battles are difficult to do on the table top. Daylight battles usually work better than night battles.

With those caveats, it's still hard to pick one, since most of the historical battles were lopsided. I mean, who wants to fight Jervis Bay v. Scheer? Probably the most "even" battle would be River Plate.

River Platte.

Cape Matapan or possibly 2nd Guadalcanal.

Have done the River Platte a few times, fun battle to game

Guadalcanal in interesting but they were night battles

Cape Mataplan as well – but tough to do well for the Italians absent air cover

Midway. I've seen it done on the table top with opposing sides not being able to see the other side. Looked like great fun!

There is some potential for the Java Sea, part of which took place in daylight, to be a good game, if the Allies had some ships which missed the battle, but could well have been present.

There were also a couple daylight encounters between the British and Italian fleets that proved desultory in reality, but could make good games if the Italian commander was more aggressive.

River Platte is a fun one to do.

Fighting around Guadalcanal except there were some night actions.

Denmark Strait, but this time hang on to Prinz Eugen and get a full tank of gas before heading to the prom.

Surigao Strait

Naval battles in the Ofotfjord during the Norwegian Campaign.

First naval Battle of Narvik.

Second naval Battle of Narvik.

Java Sea

Cape Esperance

Casablanca

Empress Augusta Bay

Cape Matapan

Calabria

Cape St. George

Vella Lavella

Dakar

Sirte

Blackett Strait

Makassar Strait

Komandorski Islands

You can always try some of the "nearly happened" or "kudda happened"

Force Z vs Kongo & Haruna et el.

Oldendorf vs Kurita

Deyo intercepts operation Ten Go

Mers el Kebir at sea

Sch. & Gn vs Malaya

Sch. & Gn vs Rodney

Tirpitz vs London, Norfolk, Tuscaloosa and Wichita

Berwick vs Hipper

Tirpitz, Hipper, Scheer and Lutzow vs Washington and Duke of York

DuBose vs Ise & Hyuga and maybe Oyodo

Another 'coulda' would be FNS Richelieu, a trio of
Fantasques and a couple of Duquesnes supported by
a sortie from the harbor in Casablanca (FNS Primaguet
and assorted smaller craft).

Make a good match for USS Massachusetts and her supports
(USS Tuscaloosa, USS Wichita and various DD's).

I've run such a game several times and the US usually
prevails, but it is close, barring dice luck breaking
for one side or the other.

River Plate isn't very interesting – almost impossible for the Germans to win.

First Narvik is good.
Barents Sea is excellent.
Matapan is good if the Italians show a bit of spirit

Calabria can be fun, especially if you add the possibility that the Italians will bomb their own fleet.

I've played Java Sea several times and it's pretty much a slam-dunk for the Japanese; the first time was a demonstration game at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the only Japanese casualty was a cruiser (torpedoed by an 11 year old girl!) and the last was at Bayou Wars a couple of years ago. That last game was the only one the Allies ever won.

LT

Atlantic convoy vs U-boats using Mal Wright's rules.

Mers-el-Kiber but allow the French to sortie.
Casablanca but add in the Richelieu and her escorts.

Several rulesets and games have good scenarios. One I can think of is CA, S&T magazine, had a number of scenarios of good surface battles in it. A number of later gaming magazines had additional scenarios for it, Midway and other games.
The gang of Seekrieg, run great scenarios at Recon and Hurricon in Florida. Their fan website may have some of these listed.

Anything with MTBs, MGBs and S Boats :)

Barents Sea, definitely.

In the Med, Cape Spada is a highly enjoyable action; 2 Italian CLs v 4 RN DDs with an Aussie CL and further DD as reinforcements.

Nick

Lots of good suggestions, but mine is simpler: try them all, and then some that almost happened, some that could have happened, and some that should have happened. That's a lifetime of WWII naval gaming right there.

- Ix

Nearly happened: PT/MTBs vs E-Boats on the outer picket line on D-Day.