Saturday, May 15, 2010

Battle of the Denmark Strait

Two Fires Burning on Bismark

HMS Prince of Wales on Fire. HMS Hood Cuts Across her Bow with Bismark and Prinz Eugen on the Horizon.

This weekend I had a Victory at Sea game with Godfrey. We played the historical events of the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Hood and Prince of Wales v Bismark and Prinz Eugen. I was commanding the Royal Navy, Godfrey was in charge of the Kriegsmarine.
History changed a bit. Bismark opened up on the Prince of Wales. Prince of Wales caught fire and became a wounded elephant. The Bismark took a magazine hit from the Hood early on in the battle. At one stage Godfrey had to fight seven fires which took a serious toll on Bismarks crew. I pounded Bismark with everything I had. Once the Bismark lost propulsion she was easy prey and sunk soon after.
Meanwhile the agile Prinz Eugen was ignored and came alongside Prinz of Wales with torpedo's that penetrated the ships torpedo belt. Prince of Wales became crippled, and two turrets exploded. Hood hunted Prinz Eugen, sending her to the bottom.
A really good game. I like Victory at Sea. A four ship game took 2 hours to play.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do behave Paul, you can't sink the Bismark! besides which Prinz Eugen is my favourite ship.

Oh, I can see the British officers now in the ward room with their gin boasting their complete victory!

Sounds like a fun game you had.

Thanks for the photos and report.

Ciao,

Helen

Beccas said...

Thanks Helen. Godfrey thought he would give me a chance and use his unluckly Flames of War dice which generally roll ones. And they did. But being a man of honour he kept using them until the end.
Cheers
Paul

Stig of the Dump said...

looks really good, weve had the rules for a few years now, and painted fleets...never got round to a proper game though.

Your ships look great.

steve.