While plans for fighting the entirely unhistoric battle between the Goeben and assorted British ships sent out to hunt her down, I'm also blowing huge chunks of my birthday money on building up elements of a British naval force to fight a few historic battles during the period and - much more fun - some 'what if's' or indeed some 'why the hell not's
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So to start I decided to focus on the two battles that (aside from Jutland) constitute the best known naval battles of WW1 - namely Coronel and Falkland Islands.
So to do so I need the ships. The German fleet I already have so all the German ships in both battles I have already.
For the British I've had to go to a couple of sources but now have for the Falkland Islands the two battlecruisers (Inflexible and Invincible). the armoured cruisers Carnarvon, Kent and Cornwall and light cruisers Bristol and Glasgow. I'm missing the Macedonia so may have to substitute it with another merchant ship of similar size (although it did not participate much in the actual battle). I do have Canopus as well (she looks weeny but packs 12" guns....).
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Tumbling Dice do a nifty 1/2400 Age of Battleships range covering late Victorian to early 1900's - I needed to get the Otranto from them as my other source (Navy Models and Books) do the Davco range but I couldn't find the Otranto anywhere in it. I also sprang for the collier Mercedes to represent von Spee's coal supplies.
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In addition, Good Hope (Cradock's flagship) is also on order so all necessary ships are present.
The only issue with WW1 naval conflict is that actual battles are few and far between. Jutland was a major battle but in its aftermath the bulk of the German fleet stayed at home and were penned in for the rest of the war. In addition, the epic tale of the Emden would make a good map based wargame (with the allies trying to pin her down and the German player attempting to cause as much havoc and damage as possible before inevitable defeat) but as a naval wargame would last about 20 minutes.
In addition, the battles of Coronel and Falklands were hugely one-sided affairs (one for the Germans, one for the British) which don't make for much fun for the players.
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So this leads more into the realms of what-if scenarios which allow for balancing as well as greatly expanding the scope of wargaming potential.
For example
Coronel 1. Cradock's force falls back onto the Canopus, whose limited movement but 12" guns would help balance the battle.
Coronel 2. HMS Defence is attached as planned to Cradock's force to make it a much more potent force.
Falklands 1. The German force catches the British in harbour while coaling...meaning the big ships are at a distinct disadvantage before they can get underway. But must run the gauntlet of the 12" guns of the Canopus.
Goeben / Breslau 1 - the ships attempt to attack troop movements from North Africa to France as originally planned
Adriatic Bedlam - with the stalemate on land, the Austro-Hungarian empire plans for opening up a second front by attacking the Italian Adriatic coast - but must eliminate the Italian Navy first. The Goeben and Breslau are 'borrowed' back from the Turks to aid their allies.
Tsingtao - The German's send out a significant force from home waters to defend their colonies - including the key port of Tsingtao - and have to fight the Japanese naval force sent to capture it.
The latter concept (i.e. a naval strategy to strangle Britain and France by threatening shipping routes, merchant ships and ports through surface vessles) would allow for the development of any number of scenarios - such as the larger ships in the Kaiser's fleet showing up around the globe. Consider the Derflinger or Von der Tann popping up in the South Atlantic or along the trade routes from South America and SE Asia.
Similarly the Japanese could use the opportunity of weakness in their allies and start the expansion of empire 20 years early by grabbing the key territories of the allies while they are stretched by the fight in Europe.
So if you can ignore history, there is a plethora of ideas that could be utilised to get more from the period.
So to start I decided to focus on the two battles that (aside from Jutland) constitute the best known naval battles of WW1 - namely Coronel and Falkland Islands.
So to do so I need the ships. The German fleet I already have so all the German ships in both battles I have already.
For the British I've had to go to a couple of sources but now have for the Falkland Islands the two battlecruisers (Inflexible and Invincible). the armoured cruisers Carnarvon, Kent and Cornwall and light cruisers Bristol and Glasgow. I'm missing the Macedonia so may have to substitute it with another merchant ship of similar size (although it did not participate much in the actual battle). I do have Canopus as well (she looks weeny but packs 12" guns....).
Tumbling Dice do a nifty 1/2400 Age of Battleships range covering late Victorian to early 1900's - I needed to get the Otranto from them as my other source (Navy Models and Books) do the Davco range but I couldn't find the Otranto anywhere in it. I also sprang for the collier Mercedes to represent von Spee's coal supplies.
In addition, Good Hope (Cradock's flagship) is also on order so all necessary ships are present.
The only issue with WW1 naval conflict is that actual battles are few and far between. Jutland was a major battle but in its aftermath the bulk of the German fleet stayed at home and were penned in for the rest of the war. In addition, the epic tale of the Emden would make a good map based wargame (with the allies trying to pin her down and the German player attempting to cause as much havoc and damage as possible before inevitable defeat) but as a naval wargame would last about 20 minutes.
In addition, the battles of Coronel and Falklands were hugely one-sided affairs (one for the Germans, one for the British) which don't make for much fun for the players.
So this leads more into the realms of what-if scenarios which allow for balancing as well as greatly expanding the scope of wargaming potential.
For example
Coronel 1. Cradock's force falls back onto the Canopus, whose limited movement but 12" guns would help balance the battle.
Coronel 2. HMS Defence is attached as planned to Cradock's force to make it a much more potent force.
Falklands 1. The German force catches the British in harbour while coaling...meaning the big ships are at a distinct disadvantage before they can get underway. But must run the gauntlet of the 12" guns of the Canopus.
Goeben / Breslau 1 - the ships attempt to attack troop movements from North Africa to France as originally planned
Adriatic Bedlam - with the stalemate on land, the Austro-Hungarian empire plans for opening up a second front by attacking the Italian Adriatic coast - but must eliminate the Italian Navy first. The Goeben and Breslau are 'borrowed' back from the Turks to aid their allies.
Tsingtao - The German's send out a significant force from home waters to defend their colonies - including the key port of Tsingtao - and have to fight the Japanese naval force sent to capture it.
The latter concept (i.e. a naval strategy to strangle Britain and France by threatening shipping routes, merchant ships and ports through surface vessles) would allow for the development of any number of scenarios - such as the larger ships in the Kaiser's fleet showing up around the globe. Consider the Derflinger or Von der Tann popping up in the South Atlantic or along the trade routes from South America and SE Asia.
Similarly the Japanese could use the opportunity of weakness in their allies and start the expansion of empire 20 years early by grabbing the key territories of the allies while they are stretched by the fight in Europe.
So if you can ignore history, there is a plethora of ideas that could be utilised to get more from the period.