Project Jutland - Live at Derby

A couple of weeks ago the Behemoth that is Project Jutland made only it's third public display and its first outside Gods Own County of Yarkshire, with a trip down to the Derby Worlds Show, which those who went to know was actually no where near Derby.

HMS Lion looking rather nice.

Work and shifts and general life have meant that I have been unable to "tour" the Jutland game as much as I would like. It really needs two days to get a decent go at and their just aren't that many two day shows around within striking distance of home. The sad demise (or slow death) of Triples robbed us of our local two day show.

The calm before the full set up.

Players have also turned out to be an issue, finding 6 or 7 people for a full weekend or even a day has proved very difficult. At Derby we had 6 players (thanks Stuart for turning up from my Facebook recruitment !) on the Saturday. Stuart hadn't played the rules before but I thought the game moved really well and we all seemed to enjoy the day.

Sunday Morning

Sunday however we were down to 4 players and it was just too much, we effectively ground to a halt only managing half the number of turns we did on the Saturday. I think 7 players (3 German, 4 British) would be an ideal number with any additional players joining the British. Without the distractions of a show 7 players, two days would get a good conclusion.

German Light Forces, 1st, 5th and 6th Half Flottilas

We had decided a while back that for shows we would start our battle after the initial Battlecruiser action and start just as the main Fleet Action began, the map below was our set up guide.

We start the action at 18.17 at HMS Marlborough opens up at 13,000 yards at Kaiser and I set that range as initial visibility (130 cms), so some ships are visible others are not. Many of the British ships are blocked by their own Battlecruisers and smoke beltching Armoured Cruisers at the beginning of the Battle. Visibility varies each turn with a roll of 2 d 10, 1 plus, one minus, each point equalling a centimetre. So a +5 roll would increase visibility to 135 cms. Just by luck alone the range extended to around 145 on the Saturday before is decreased back towards 120 on the Sunday.

British Destroyers of 4th DF

The ships starting location was determined by history but from that point the Admirals were free to make their choice of action and determine the course of the action.

The visibility at this point of the battle was strongly in favour of the British ships however having given the Germans a handicap whilst shooting at the British in previous games I decided to allow both sides to share the same visibility levels (mostly to give the Germans a half fighting chance) after all, a couple of shots and a Battle Turn away at 11am on Saturday morning wouldn't have been very interesting.

HMS Nomad (by request)

I also restricted the British Light Forces (Destroyers and Light Cruisers) as Jellicoe did to protecting the Fleet, they had to remain within 25 cms of the ships they were escorting unless the Germans declared one of their Flottilas were performing an attack at which point the British could dice to release their light forces to counter act that action.

The emphasis was very much on the larger ships so we only allow smoke generation to cover the withdraw of a damaged ship. I considered many other aspects, random events, moving squalls etc but a line has to be draw somewhere in the reality / playability sand.

British Armoured and Light Cruisers under fire.

We also took into account the poor standard of British ammunition, especially 15" shell's which had a nasty habit of breaking up on impact, so each hit had a chance of failure. Warspite began the game with a broken rudder and was circling at the back of 5th Battle Squadron, the British player had our rules usual chance of fixing the problem. To be honest there are hundreds of things you could include but at some point you want to start the game !

Part of the British Line under fire.

We used a 18ft x 8ft playing area with 248 1/2400 scale ships. The rules were written by me with a number of adaptations specifically for Jutland. Ships were treated as individual items for damage, firing etc, although movement was by Divisions. Destroyers work in groups of 3 to 6 usually a half Flottila. I keep saying it, but one day I will get time to put the rules on the blog. They certainly work for our group and Stuart who had never played them before seemed to pick them up really quickly and seemed to have a good time.

German Battlecruisers screened by Destroyers

The rules have two methods of firing large calibre guns, ranging and salvo fire. At the start of the game the British and German Battlecruisers from the "Run to" actions are considered ranged in against each other, whilst all the other ships are starting their ranging process. The Battlecruiser Sqns should have started the game with some damage but I let them begin with a clean slate.

The heat of Battle with multiple gaming aids on show !

I commanded the German Battlecruisers and Scouting Force, Steve had the front of the German Battle line and escorts, Stuart the rear (he had a relative serving on SMS Pommern at the battle). The British had Ian with the Battlecruisers, Rob with the front of the British Battle line and Lon at the rear.

The moment the sun shone through the window making the ships "glow"

Plan and game wise, with 12 ft long battle lines it is quite hard to be subtle  !

As the Germans we decided to try and flatten the line out sooner rather than later and get as many of the Dreadnoughts into action, it was not in our advantage to close the range at all, it was a case of hang on and hope our better armour works. Both Steve and Stuart decided to leave their light forces on the un engaged side of their ships.

No doubt about it, it's a big old battle.

As the Battlecruiser commander I decided to concentrate on the weaker earlier British Battlecruisers trying to draw them away from the majn fleet establish control of that side of the table with the ultimate aim of using my speed to get around the front of the British Battle line and cause a spot of trouble. I decided to use my Light Forces as a screen, taking advantage of the extra save roll it gives in our rules.

The head of the German Line (top left) under heavy fire.

The British decided on the first day to do the same as Jellicoe, line out and use the superior numbers, which lets face it with all those ships is not a bad idea ! Later on day 2 they had the chance to break the line up and close the range in certain areas, taking the chance of receiving more damage but on the flip side the chance of causing more.

The Battlecruisers took plenty of damage but were rather fortunate in that I failed to hit anything vaguely explosive, Invincible eventually sank through sheer number of hits and Inflexible withdrew after very heavy damage and a bridge hit, the majority of the remaining BCs withdrew behind the main British Line under cover of some Armoured Cruisers (who paid heavily for it).

It certainly is a big game, concentrating on my bit of the action, I had no idea what was happening at the back of the German Line, the shell splashes and markers gave me an idea of where the action was but you got the feeling of being part of a much larger battle getting the odd over heard bit of information as a turret got hit or a 15" shell failed to explode.

The head of the German Line turns away

The front eight ships of the German Line took a hell of a beating and about lunch on the Sunday Konig and Markgraff were forced out of line by both damage and speed loss and the German Light Forces advanced to cover the withdraw of the High Sea Fleet.

Torps away !

I managed a final bit of glory with a successful torpedo attack on the British Armoured Cruisers, the results however were not so successful, one hit on HMS Shannon for minor damage the other hit Cochraine but turned out to be a damned dud !

So results wise we weren't far off the real battle, the British had lost more ships, however as the main Battle Lines had been engaged for quite some time both sides had taken quite a bit of damage with a question mark over one or two getting home (full damage break down below). I can certainly see why Scheer turned away and it was definitely the right thing to do. I think the rules gave a realistic estimate of what would have happened had Scheer stayed engaged for a longer period of time.

There really isn't a lot of hope for the Germans in this battle, they would definitely need a good run of luck, hitting the right locations and causing the right damage, repeatedly to get the chance to get the upper hand. A good torpedo attack would turn the tide on the British, however they would most likely turn away as in the real battle, it would take a brave or foolish man to take their chances with torps in the water.

Is that a Pre Dreadnought on the table ?

Even though you really don't stand a chance as the Germans it was a fantastic experience to take part in a Naval Battle of that size.

So what now for Project Jutland ? Well there are no more shows planned, I would love to take it to the Naval Wargames weekend at Gosport but it's a hell of a way and I would struggle to get 7 players that far South. I know that the ships themselves will be used on a regular basis as we are quite big on our Naval here at YG but will the whole collection see the light of day in another full on re-fight ?

I certainly hope so, maybe the Leeds Club will get together over a weekend at a Church hall or similar. If you run a show and would like me and who ever I can get to bring the game down, please contact me and I will try and sort it out. Likewise I would be open to the thought of putting the game on at a club or group somewhere over a couple of days, if they had a suitable location  and an endless supply of good pies were supplied.

The Losses

British
HMS Invincible sunk by weight of fire from Derfflinger.
HMS Hampshire sunk by Lützow.
HMS Defence sunk as a result of numerous large calibre hits.
HMS Minotaur sunk by Lützow.
HMS Yarmouth sunk by secondary guns of Lützow causing a Magazine Explosion.

Germans
Destroyers G41, V44, G86 and G87 sunk by Armoured Cruisers during Torpedo attack

Damage Records

NOTE ANY SHIP NOT MENTIONED WAS UNDAMAGED or SUNK (see above).

German

König - 65% Damage - 5 kts, 4 turrets and 5 Secondary Guns (SG)
Grosser Kurfürst - 45% Damage - 2 kts, 1 turret and 1 SG
Kronprinz - 40% Damage  - 1 turret and 3 SG
Markgraf - 85% Damage  - 6 kts, 1 turret, 4 SG, Director and Bridge
Kaiser - 35% Damage  - 2 kts and 2 SG
Luitpold - 10% Damage - 4 kts and 1 SG
Fredrick der Grosse - 20% Damage  - 3SG
Ostfriesland - 35% Damage  - 2kts, 1 turret and 1 SG
Thuringen - 10% Damage  - 1kt
Helgoland - 10% Damage  - 1 kt and 1 turret
Oldenburg - 15% Damage  - 2 kts and 1 turret
Posen - 25% Damage  - 1 turret and 2 SG
Rhienland  - 25% Damage  - 1 turret and Rudder

The shell splash shows who is firing at you

Derfflinger  - 25% Damage  - 1kt and 2 SG
Lützow  - 15% Damage - 1kt and 3 SG
Seydlitz - 10% Damage  - 1SG
Moltke  - 50% Damage  - 2SG
Von der Tann - 20 % Damage - 2SG

No damage was caused to any of the German Pre Dreadnoughts, Light Cruisers or Destroyers (other than those sunk)

British Damage (1 hit = large calibre hits causing damage)

KGV - 1 hit, Ajax - 1 hit
Orion - 35% Damage  - 2kts, 1 turret and 1SG
Monarch - 25% Damage  - 1kt, 1 turret and 1SG
Thunderer - 10% Damage  - 1kt
Iron Duke - 20% Damage
Royal Oak - 25% Damage  - 1SG
Superb - 1 hit
Canada - 15% Damage and 2kts
Benbow - 1 hit
Vanguard - 15% Damage and 1SG
Colossus - 33% Damage - 2kts and 1 turret
Neptune - 1 hit
Collingwood  - 15% Damage, 2kts, 1 turret and 1SG
Marlborough - 1 hit
Agincourt - 10% Damage and 2kts

Barham - 20% Damage and 2SG
Valiant - 1 hit
Warspite - 30% Damage and 5SG
Malaya - 10% Damage and 2SG
Lion - 25% Damage, 1kt and 1SG
Tiger - 25% Damage, 2kts and 1SG
New Zealand - 33% Damage, 4kts and 1SG
Inflexible  - 80% Damage, 1 Turret and Bridge

Armoured Cruisers
Shannon - 15% Damage and 1 turret
Cochraine - 5% and 1SG

Light Cruisers
Gloucester  - 50% Damage and 1 turret
Birkenhead - 50% Damage and 3 kts
Falmouth - 5% Damage

No destroyers damaged.