I have all my models printed in WSF (White Strong & Flexible). I like the price and sturdiness and put up with the grainy surfaces. Even with that, once painted, the models look better than WotC's.
I'm unshure what scenario objectives in WaS actually represent, apart from being an incentive to move your ships and to prevent turtling. Are they some heavily abstracted general goals, like dominate the seas or check shipping lanes etc?
If so, wouldn't it ne nice to name the three objectives, if only for reference or fluff?
You're quite right. Maybe I should have listed the Battle of Kijkduin (August 1673), where Michiel de Ruyter denied the combined British and French fleet from landing an invasion army on the Dutch coast, and helped to convince the British to make peace in the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
55 BC Near Kessel, Caesar slaughtered some 100.000-400.000 men, women and children of migrating German/Teuton tribes. The battle is mentioned in Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, but is only recently proven to have actually happened.
1600 - The Battle of Nieuwpoort. Halfway in the Eighty Years’ War, the Dutch army under Maurice of Nassau defeated the Spanish army under Albert of Austria, although the Dutch strategic aims were not achieved.
1667 - The Raid on the Medway (also called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham) The Dutch Navy, under Michiel the Ruyter, performed a daring upriver raid on English fleet anchorages, resulting in one of the worst defeats in the Royal Navy's history and effectively ending the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
18 juni 1815 - The Battle of Waterloo. In present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition: a British-led Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstatt.
May 1940 - The Battle of the Grebbeberg A major engagement during the Battle of the Netherlands, which was a part of the World War II Operation Fall Gelb, resulting in 5 years of German occupation of the Netherlands.
1944 - The Battle of Arnhem Part of Operation Market garden, British and Polish Airborne troops were dropped in the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the lower Rhine. The battle ended in a major Allied defeat.
By December 1943, the tide had turned against Germany. The Battle of the Atlantic had been lost, and the Allies had Arctic convoys ferrying substantial war supplies round the North Cape – Norway’s most northern point – to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel.
Battleship Scharnhorst was the Kriegsmarine's only operational heavy ship present in the northern Atlantic. Home Fleet commander-in-chief Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser wanted to neutralize the Scharnhorst, which had attacked British convoys on numerous occassions. He decided to increase the escort to the convoys and prepare a confrontation with the German battleship.
On 22 December 1943, a Luftwaffe aircraft sighted the British Russia-bound convoy JW 55B and commenced shadowing. Three days later, Scharnhorst, with Rear Admiral Erich Bey and accompanied by several Narvik-class destroyers, sailed to intercept the convoy, believing it to be sparsely protected. In reality, JW 55B, consisting of 19 cargo vessels and 8 destroyers, was sailing as bait, hoping to lure out Scharnhorst into Fraser's trap.
Meanwhile, Fraser was notified that the convoy had been sighted by enemy aircraft. Commanding from the powerful battleship Duke of York and accompanied by the cruiser Jamaica with four destroyers (Force 2), Fraser steamed to cut off Scharnhorst from her base. At the same time, Admiral Sir Robert Burnett departed Murmansk in flagship HMS Belfast, with the cruisers Norfolk and Sheffield (Force 1), in order to protect the convoy.
On 26 December, in poor weather and heavy seas and with only minimal Luftwaffe reconnaissance to aid him, Rear Admiral Bey was unable to locate the convoy. Thinking he had overshot the enemy, he detached his destroyers and sent them southward to increase the search area. The now unescorted Scharnhorst encountered Burnett's Force 1 shortly after 09:00. At a distance of nearly 13,000 yd (12,000 m), the British cruisers opened fire and Scharnhorst responded with her own salvoes.
Battle Report
For the replay of this dramatic battle, I once again met Pendragon68. He had prepared a 200 points force for the German side of the battle:
while I came up with these units to represent the Royal Navy's units:
We played a standard W@S scenario with three objectives.
(setup)
After some maneuvering in turn 1; during 2nd turn, the combined Allied flotilla placed several hits on Scharnhorst, Z29 and Z38. Although screened by a squall, all German concealment rolls failed. In return, Scharnhorst alpha-striked all guns she had, vitalling Sheffield, Savage AND killing Samaurez in one big BOOM. In a single salvo, the British flotilla was as good as halved! In the next turn, a tormented Duke of York landed no less than 10 hits on Scharnhorst, which – can you believe it – still counted as 1 measly point of damage. This time, Scharnhorst missed her return fire on the DoY, but three cooperating Z-numbers sank the unfortunate Belfast, which took the Z38 with her.
(benched Belfast)
So, at the end of turn 4, the British were down to 1 single ship, while Germany scored its first objective. In turn 4, Scharnhorst and Duke of York exchanged fire, but both missed their mark; Duke of York even managed to jam her mount. Z34 floated into one of her own mines, but scored the second objective for Germany all the same. All torpedoes missed.
(in the back, Germany scores 2nd objective)
The next turn, apparently ignoring her jammed mount, DoY rolled a '6' on six of her dice, vitalling Scharnhorst. With her secs, DoY sank Z29, while her torpedo defense absorbed 2 torp hits from U-314. It almost looked as if the tide was turning. There was still a small possibility at victory for the Royal Navy: sink all Germans!
(poker!)
In turn 6, Z30 was fatally hit. Even though Duke of York received another duo of torpedo hits and went into crippled shape, now only one German destroyer was left (and the U-314 of course). By sinking this last ship, the Royal Navy would be emerging victorious! Then, Deus ex Machina, the supernateral intervened. A squall slowly moved in between the Duke and the Z34; the crippled Duke was too slow to run clear of the shower, so she couldn't target the Z34. For the sneaky U-314 though, she wasn't hindered by the squall at all and put 2 torps in the Duke of York's side, finishing the scenario.
(screened Z34 in the back, rascal U-314 with 2 torp hits in front)
An Axis victory!
Epilogue
While no hits were scored on the British cruisers, the German battleship was struck twice, with one shell destroying the radar controls and leaving Scharnhorst virtually blind in a mounting snowstorm. Without radar, gunners aboard the German battleship were forced to aim at the enemy's muzzle flashes. Bey, believing he had engaged a battleship, turned south in an attempt to distance himself from the pursuers and perhaps draw them away from the convoy.
Once he had shaken off his pursuers, Bey turned northeast in an attempt to circle round them. Burnett, instead of giving chase in sea conditions that were limiting his cruisers' speed, positioned Force 1 so as to protect the convoy. Shortly after noon Scharnhorst approached the cruisers once more. As fire was again exchanged, Scharnhorst scored hits on Norfolk, disabling a turret and her radar. Following this exchange, Bey decided to return to port, while he ordered the destroyers to attack the convoy at a position reported by a U-boat. The reported position was out of date and the destroyers missed the convoy.
Scharnhorst ran south for several hours. Burnett pursued, but both Sheffield and Norfolk suffered engine problems and dropped back, leaving Belfast dangerously exposed for a while. The lack of working radar aboard Scharnhorst prevented the Germans from taking advantage of the situation, allowing Belfast to reacquire the German ship on her radar set.
Meanwhile, the battleship Duke of York, with her four escorting destroyers already pressing ahead to try to get into torpedo launching positions, had been informed of Belfast's contact and they themselves soon picked up Scharnhorst on radar, followed by Duke of York which opened fire and scored a hit on the first salvo. Bey was able to put some more distance between Scharnhorst and the British ships to increase his prospects of success. His ship's fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse when a shell fired by Duke of York at extreme range pierced her armour belt and destroyed the No. 1 boiler room. Scharnhorst's speed dropped and the battleship was now vulnerable to torpedo attacks by the destroyers.
From now on, Scharnhorst suffered several torpedo hits, even while Scharnhorst's secondary armament scored some hits on the destroyers in return. Due to the torpedo hits, Scharnhorst's speed again fell, allowing Duke of York to rapidly close the range. With Scharnhorst illuminated by starshells, Duke of York and Jamaica resumed fire, later to be joined by Belfast. The British vessels subjected the German ship to a deluge of shells, and the cruisers Jamaica and Belfast fired their remaining torpedoes at the slowing target. Scharnhorst's end came when the British destroyers Opportune, Virago, Musketeer and Matchless fired a further 19 torpedoes at her. Wracked with hits and unable to flee, Scharnhorst finally capsized and sank at 19:45 on 26 December, her propellers still turning. Of her total complement of 1,968, only 36 were pulled from the frigid waters. Neither Rear Admiral Bey nor Scharhorst's Captain Hintze were among those rescued. Fraser ordered the force to proceed to Murmansk, making a signal to the Admiralty: "Scharnhorst sunk", to which the reply came: "Grand, well done".
The battle was the last between big-gun capital ships in the war between Britain and Germany. The British victory confirmed the massive strategic advantage held by the Royal Navy, at least in surface units.
still fruitlessly looking for Fletchers, WdW's ( for Admiralty V and W classes), and various other miniatures to fill class limits
Recently we discussed the various camo schemes used throughout WW2 for all ships. After completing Class Limits, you might consider getting even more miniatures to fill out class&camo limits
After having successfully transported the AARs from the old Forumini site - manually - , now we're in the Photobucket Debacle. I don't think that I'm ready to upload every pic from harddrive to another webhosting site, copy the links and paste them in the 90 AARs. And maybe discover that this new site does Photobucket me again.
For the time being I'll leave things as they are. Maybe Photobucket makes a smart move, maybe there's an easy solution, we'll see.
Anyhow, new AARs will keep appearing, including pictures, but not through PB.