"What's your 'go to' naval scenario?" Topic

I expect we've all got that favourite scenario and ruleset that we turn to when we've got a few spare hours and want a bit of naval gaming goodness.

For me its the Battle off Ulsan – an enjoyable, quick scenario when I have a hankering for some pre-dreadnought biffo! And when playing solo – as I almost always do – I find Coaling Stations provides an interesting game.

That's me … so, my question is, what's your 'go to' naval gaming scenario – the gaming equivalent of comfort food?

As always, the IJN pummeled Vice Admiral Jessen's armoured cruisers. But, it's not the destination, its the fun you have getting there. Right?

If you fancy a look, there's a report here: link

Battle of the River Platte.

Denmark Strait or Savo Island.

Java sea or Midway

Chelsea Creek, May 27, 1775.

A one-ship battle, and the first American Naval victory of the war. General Putnam sank the HMS Diana, and we didn't even have a ship in the fight!

I´ve fought Yalu more times than anything else, so I reckon it would be that.
However, I find it enjoyable to take battles through history and put them in another time. For example pre-dread Jutland is big fun.

Depends on the period:

Sail: Trafalgar, Nile or Chesapeake Bay
ACW/Steam: Battle of Memphis
WW1: Falklands
WW2: Narvik or Savo Island

When I used to play and wore our SPI's CA, I loved Savo Island.

Lissa 1811. I've found it harder for the British to win in a game than they did historically.

any of the 1812 great lake battles

The only battle I keep refighting is the one I'm about to refight again in two weekends at Enfilade – the Escape from Mers el Kebir "what if" using GQ3. But the only reason I keep revisiting it is because it's an even (if asymmetrical) fight that's all painted, prepped and ready to go. Even with all that, I change a little something each time – as a night fight, as a day fight, with an aerial attack by Swordfish, etc. This time I'm running a CY6 game the day before, and any Swordfish which escape the air battle game enter the naval battle (played the next day) to make a torpedo attack. That should be a fun twist.

Later this year I'll finish up my Iron Bottom Sound fleets and then those will become my usual "go to" scenario generators. But again, not the same battle over and over, just variations on a theme.

- Ix

The River Plate or the Java Sea for me too!

Leyte Gulf where Halsey does send Lee to intercept Kurita.

Savo Island or Denmark Strait

I see Savo Island listed. How is it gamable? Do you just ignore the complete shambles of the American command and control?

Barents Sea – an interesting battle with fairly balanced forces.
Cape Matapan – a great opportunity for 'what if' scenarios if the Italians are bolder with their ships.

River Platt. Generally you can tell the cut of the jib of a rule set on how this goes.

I don't tend to have any "go to" scenarios, more "go to" theatres of operation. So the Med for WW2 (coastal and larger), RJW in general for pre-dreads. I guess Dogger Bank is something of a favourite if I'm looking for something set in the Great War though

Usually just an open sea engagement for me. IJN Long Lances don't like islands in the way!

Thanks for you replies and apologies for the tardy reply – study, work…yeech!

An interesting list of scenarios/theaters of operation suggested. I've followed many of your exploits over the years so great to get your thoughts.

Here's the summary – not a bad list to keep at hand for inspiration. I've taken the liberty of adding Coronel and hunting the SMS Emden which are two other staples of mine.

Sail:
- Chelsea Creek, May 27, 1775.
- Trafalgar
- Nile
- Chesapeake Bay

Early 19th century:
- Lissa 1811
- Great Lake battles 1812

ACW/Steam:
- Battle of Memphis

RJW:
- RJW in general
- Yalu
- Battle off Ulsan

WW1:
- Falklands
- Dogger Bank
- Hunting the SMS Emden
- Coronel

WW2:
- Battle of the River Platte (x2)
- Midway
- Narvik
- Mers el Kebir (3 July 1940) British vs. Vichy France
- Various Mediterranean scenarios (coastal and larger)
- Iron Bottom Sound (various engagements) (9 August 1942 to 16 April 1943)
- Java Sea (x2)
- Leyte Gulf
- Savo Island (8–9 August 1942), USA/Australia vs. Japan (x 3)
- Denmark Strait (24 May 1941), Britain vs. German (x2)
- Barents Sea (31 December 1942), Britain vs. Germany
- Cape Matapan (27–29 March 1941) Britain/Australia vs. Germany/Italy

Alternative:
Pre-dread Jutland. [like the sound of that – pictures?]

Cheers
Alan

For WW2 I have 3 'go to' scenarios which I use whenever I want to get a feel for a new set of rules. As I've played them in GQ, Battlestations Battlestations, Victory at Sea and Homebrew I have a good feeling for what 'feels' right and they're useful for testing mechanisms.

They are:

River Plate 1939
Lofoton Islands 1940
Denmark Straits 1941

nick

Savo island--it'd be hard to do worse than the Allies already had.
The Battle off Samar, aka, "The Death Ride of Taffy 3"

Thanks Nick and Capncar,

Battle off Lofton I'd never heard of – do you find the destroyers have much impact on the scenario? Sea state looks like it would play a significant role too. Battle of Samar looks like it'd give a set of rules a good work out.
Cheers
Alan

When I trying out a new set of rules for WW1 I use a hypothetical scenario taken from Barry Carter's Naval Wargames book.

It has a Central Powers force consisting of Radetzky, Augsburg, Regensburg and 4 V class Destroyers defending a convoy against an Entente force of Roma, Libia, Dartmouth and Arethusa along with 4 M class Destroyers.

I find that the mixture of ship types, weapons and armour layouts gives any rule set a good work out (sadly I think I've tried 17 different ones so far)

Anthony

Hi Alan

The destroyers are pretty useless in most rules as in real life due to the conditions, but they can be used quite well to 'hem' the Germans in and restrict their movement a little.

The main reason I use this scenario is to test command and control or morale effects – in any set of rules 18 heavy guns against 6 is not going to go well for the British, but I use 'resolve' in my rules which balances the action (like morale but when it fails the player must seek to disengage, though they can still fight as they do so).

Nick