Der Tag (Minden Games) : The Holy Grail of WWI North Sea HSF v GF Wargaming is found!

For the better part of thirty years I have been searching and experimenting with various rule systems that allow me to play WWI naval games, specifically North Sea actions between the Royal Navy (RN) Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet (HSF). This encompassed and included a vast fleet of 1/3000 Navwar ships (the Jutland Battle Pack and much. much more [ahem]) for use with General Quarters (I and II). I have acquired a shelf load of books and various boards games (Avalanche Press - The Great War at Sea Vol II - The North Sea and the Baltic and SPI Dreadnought to name two). There is the History of Wargames project's reprint of Fletcher Pratt's rules, a copy of "Si Vis Pakem" (Prof David Manley's WWI rules), an old copy of A&A's Sea Wars [1894-1945] and teh Jutland scenario booklet, XTR's Command Magazine Jutland zip-lock game and many other things I bet I have forgotten about, but all of which make me think "Jutland". The wilderness years are now over as Minden Games "Der Tag" officially does it for me (see below, a simple and brilliant game, designed originally as a solitaire game, but it was cleverly expanded by a ingenious friend to a multi-player system which we played over Zoom for myself (as Admiral Scheer) and some friends as the various RN "fleets" [most of the Grand Fleet at Scapa, some Grand Fleet elements at Cromarty Firth, at Rosyth the BCF and the "Wobbly Eight" of the Dover Patrol]):   

It is a high level operational game, German action cards initiating missions but there is a huge emotional buy-in during combat, from a simple but effective combat system that "gets it right". It is set in the 1916 Jutland year and plays for four turns of nerve racking play. We ran the game twice on consecutive days, each game lasting just over an hour of playing time. It was also a great conversational piece and highly entertaining to play as everyone got into teh mood. I can only say "I highly recommend it to you" if you are of a similar disposition as myself to WWI naval warfare. I just wish I had found it sooner! Please also see Board Game Geek's review (and if you get it, enjoy the solitaire version, but do think about translating it to a multi player version to spread the joy): 

• https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/316075/der-tag-1916-solitaire-ww1-naval-game

Footnote: My WWI naval addiction. I must also give a shout out to Paul Hague's two books of naval wargame rules. The first I discovered as a teenager in the Public Library and I ended up making 1:3000(ish) WWI ships out of bits of balsa wood (looking back I am amazed at the fortitude and ambition of that young man, I think I got the BCF, 5th BS and 1st SG of the HSF). The second book was purchased some twenty years later and was a welcome reunion to somebody returning to his hobby's "second life" in his late twenties. 

Board Game Geek Comments: 

• https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3168818/der-tag-is-der-game
• https://boardgamegeek.com/video/542479/der-tag-1916-solitaire-ww1-naval-game/coffee-with-kilroy-panzerschreck-issue-17-fall-202

The Battle of Dogger Bank YouTube Video: Bayesian Analysis

Dug up from some old saved emails to myself, I think they came from a Simulating War Group thread.

Video Link: 
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgxmTnXMdfNLVrtLjxfKRFBbsWbKl?projector=1

Slides:
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~nm15/MacKayUSNWC.pdf

Full article and another related article:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01615440.2015.1072071
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0146491

Jutland Re-Fight done earlier this year (by the USN)

Now this is what I call a Jutland re-fight (even if they did use cards instead of models, Fletcher Pratt will be turning in his grave):

https://wargamingcommunity.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/battle-of-jutland-centennial-2/

But even the US Naval War College did not finish it! Respect for even hosting it though ;)

Notes to self: Musings on WWI Naval rules (North Sea) Part #2

WWI North Sea Battle Cruiser-Actions, Beatty versus Hipper: Round One 1914.

"Now you see them now you don't, Battle Cruisers in the mist!"

Hipper's First Scouting Group of December 1914 comprising of: SMS Seydlitz, SMS Molke, SMS Von der Tann, SMS Derfflinger and SMS Blucher (see below):

Beatty's depleted Battle Cruiser Fleet (BCF) of December 1914 comprising of: HMS Lion, HMS Queen Mary, HMS Tiger and HMS New Zealand (see below):

Note: Unbeknownst to the Germans, in terms of Capitol Ships, they actually possessed a numerical superiority of ONE. Despite this they were always thinking in effect they were numerically inferior. This was due to RN Battle Cruiser commitment to other theatres, namely fighting the Goeban and Von Spee. However this superiority is somewhat artificial as the SMS Blucher is technically an Armoured Cruiser rather than a true blood modern Battle Cruiser.

The goal is to develop a solitaire card and dice driven naval combat system (because it is so hard to find an opponent and it is good to replay scenarios over and over again).

The assumption is that the active player is the RN Commander (aka Beatty), for WWI 'contact' naval actions in the North Sea. The RN's goal, with the aid of secret intelligence (courtesy of Admiralty Room 40), is to ambush a German raiding force (aka Hipper) with superior forces and bring about it's destruction. The logic being that Command and Control problems for RN player is far greater, whereas the High Seas Fleet (HSF) is more concentrated, easier to control and is intent more on escape.

This type of scenario was played out several times during the course of the war (particularly 1914 to 1916) and seems an ideal test-vehicle for solo play.

Raw Game Ingredients:

• Formations
• Orders 
• Command Dice

"This is a  new idea since last posting. As I have been playing a lot of Chain of Command, it's Command Dice mechanic seems much more sophisticated and appropriate that my initial musings using PiP points (aka DBA)"

• Simultaneous Movement and Combat
• Morale Status

Next: A historical scenario "The Scarborough Raid December 1914"

Notes to self: Musings on WWI Naval rules (North Sea) Part #1

Recent sources of Inspiration: Dreadnought Gunnery Book
Michael Brooks

Though please note, my version was the good old fashioned paper edition.

And a long standing favorite:

What I want from a set of naval rules?

• Fast Play
• Historical Accuracy
• No "fiddle and widdle, billimeter twaddle"

Rules that come the closest?

• GQ I and GQ II Rules (over thirty five years old now)
• (Best bit) Gunnery abstraction is excellent
• (Worst) Movement and Command & Control

Thoughts of my own, time to devise "Battle Cruiser Fleet" (BCF) Battles, my Great War Naval Rules for "Battle-cruiser clashes in the North Sea"

BCF Actions in the North Sea (Version 1)

Context of Rules

Mainstay of the naval actions in the North Sea was between the Battle Cruiser Fleet (BCF) and the High Seas Fleet (HSF) Scouting Groups (SG), as running engagements rarely got to the point of battle squadrons of the Grand Fleet (GF) engaging the battle squadrons of the High Seas Fleet (HSF).

Miniatures/Counters: 
Each ship will be represented 1-to-1 on the ‘table-top’, therefore there is a high element count to the game.
(Note: This could mean quite a lot of counters)

Formations:
However the counters are not moved individually (bar ‘exceptional  circumstances’ – i.e. ships being damages and sunk) but moved in squadrons relative to one another. Counters/Ships are held in a fixed position within the formation.

Movement:
Absolute movement is not measured, rather relative movements (sea areas) between squadrons.  The umpire may have to have a form of master map (to be confirmed).

Movement ‘orders’ are maintained as: Close (decrease distance), Maintain and Open (increase distance) and issued to squadrons. The success of the intention is based on simultaneous order declarations.  

Gunnery:
Gunnery is handled as per General Quarters (GQI and GQII) is abstracted into fire-power factors and ‘quartered’ reductions (I like the way the traditional GQ does it) rather than counting turrets and shells.

Command:
Command and Control is based on the relative position to the Flagship. Command “PiPs” are used/spent by the Admiral to control his formations (signalling), messaging (intelligence to GF and HSF admirals and ‘over the horizon’ scouting formations) and gunnery (target priority).  

Individual battle squadrons or formations have their own initiative and morale levels.

Design Goal:
German and British doctrines are different and will be reflected in the orders allowed to be played by the admirals. Note: This is a form of constraint propagation to make the rules specific to North Sea actions (1914-1918 WWI period). The personal and national characteristics of the commanders (Beatty, Jellicoe, Hipper and Scheer) also will effect the 'freedom of movement' to perform certain actions.

I hope the "festive period" turns out to be a fertile period of naval wargaming experimentation. Note I an trying to keep the context of the game scope quite tight to re-fight historical scenarios and the "what-if" permutations.   

Notes to self on: WWI Naval Technical Reference Resources

This is a random 'pull together' of my current WWI (and slightly earlier Pre-Dreadnought) Naval Resources:  
Primary Data Sources (Books):
Conway's Pre (blue) and Dreadnought (green), as both types fought in WWI (see below):

Jane's, although it could be argued that it is a mixture of fact and fiction it certainly gives the flavour of the era (see below):

Brown who describes in great detail the RN's ship building programme (see below):

Source of "Ship counters/models and maps" to cover all nations and theatres in WWI:

Avalanche Press, Great War at Sea Series: 

Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 (see above), I also have these ships in 1/3000 courtesy of Navwar Tsushima Pack and extending out to cover the pre-Tsushima "Yellow Sea" and the like battles around Port Arthur
 

Board Game Vol. I - The Mediterranean (see above), I had been after this one for a while (seeing it for £60 at Salute in London years ago when I was in London I didn't mind buying it for £25 and waiting while it came from America). Likewise, I have the combatant nations ships (down to and including a representative few destroyers) in Navwar's 1/3000. 

Board Game Vol. II - The North Sea, where the big boys play. Jutland and everything else that went on in the North Sea including the American Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet. Yes I have the Navwar 1/3000 models (gaining a flying start with the Jutland Battle Pack and expanding afterwards) for this (down to the representative destroyer level), including the Americans, Baltic Russians and Swedish Fleets.

The remaining Avalanche Press WWI naval game of interest is the Cruiser Warfare (more "commerce raider" global strategy than "Fleet Action"). This would cover Von Spee's East Asiatic Squadron (which did have small squadron actions at Coronel and The Falklands), SMS Emden, SMS Karlschruhe and the SMS Konigsberg.

The Navwar lists have now by and large have been 'plundered' regarding WWI 'standard fair' and I seem to be now extracting the more and more exotic or "ships that never made it off the drawing board"

What Next?:
What is needed is to put all the above to some good use in a "Naval Wargame Campaign"