In a normal vote without the battle starter constraints he next likely town class after Sheffield would prob have been Glasgow in terms war activity but if it is going to be a town from this battle, Southampton could have the added attraction of having a flag/cruiser leader.
Manchester/Southampton both had similar war records and were lost by mid war. They generally operated together in the early part. With not much difference to split them, I'm nominating Southampton the named class leader and having the flag/cruiser leader option.
As an aside I think Manchester at least already has a card of sorts in seas ablaze? which might be of consideration for those wanting as many cards/units as possible.
"That's right son, join the navy. Get behind a bloody big gun and knock the hell out of somebody"
"We went out, got our arses kicked, then came back again"
I don't see much spectacular being done on either of them, that's why the flag/leader option looks more attractive. Not sure how many UK cruisers have a flag but I've liked the trend in recent decks of putting more flags on cruisers down instead of just capital ships.
Historically as well a lot of fanfare was put on Southampton in particular at Pre/start war as class leader and a flagship whilst what happened to Manchester in the end left a lot to be desired!
"That's right son, join the navy. Get behind a bloody big gun and knock the hell out of somebody"
"We went out, got our arses kicked, then came back again"
I don't have cards or online versions readily to hand to check but would a flag1? and cruiser leader +1 SA be viable/clash? or something along those lines. After the flag/initiative is sorted, obviously would depend how cheap you wanted to keep it regarding other SA's. Without looking at the cards I'm not sure where we're at regarding SAs on UK cruisers and what would be best.
"That's right son, join the navy. Get behind a bloody big gun and knock the hell out of somebody"
"We went out, got our arses kicked, then came back again"
I was thinking about the flag number. What exactly specifies the difference between it being a 1 or a 2? Just thinking about a hypothetical Scylla for example, that was a surface flagship (arctic convoys etc.) and then used as a HQ ship at Normandy, so i'm thinking that would be a 2? If Southampton was to have a cruiser leader SA that would obviously need and encourage a second cruiser to to get plus 2 initiative. That would be reflective of it as leader of a cruiser squadron, with a flag 1 as fallback default if you don't have a second cruiser.
"That's right son, join the navy. Get behind a bloody big gun and knock the hell out of somebody"
"We went out, got our arses kicked, then came back again"
I was thinking about the flag number. What exactly specifies the difference between it being a 1 or a 2? Just thinking about a hypothetical Scylla for example, that was a surface flagship (arctic convoys etc.) and then used as a HQ ship at Normandy, so i'm thinking that would be a 2? If Southampton was to have a cruiser leader SA that would obviously need and encourage a second cruiser to to get plus 2 initiative. That would be reflective of it as leader of a cruiser squadron, with a flag 1 as fallback default if you don't have a second cruiser.
Its really subjective.
I kicked it out there by looking at what the uk cruiser lineup already has. Its important to be adding individuality to units.