tom szekeres - 03:49pm Jun 25, 1997 PST (#13 of 13)

I refereed a double-blind version of Bismarck a few months ago. I had three guys
playing the german side sitting in one room of my house, three other guys playing
the british in a second room and I had my "Referee's area" set up in my living
room. I designed my own orders sheets and used the basic and intermediate rules.
The german team was given the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. They had the option to
pick some other ships if they wished. The british team was only told what the
total point value of the ships the other team selected. They, in turn, were
allowed to 1. pick some extra ships. or 2. Use some points for intelligence
gathering. The germans decided to select the Tirpitz and Hipper. The british
team selected some crusiers and spent some points on intelligence. They were told
that four ships (Two battleships and two heavy crusiers) had been spotted near
Bergen. Thus began the scenario. The british team consisted of players who had
never played Bismarck before. Two of the german players had knowledge of the game,
but had not played it for several years. The british team quickly learned that
setting up pickets between the various North Atlantic islands was the best
plan. They sent out a recon plane to check on the sighting in Bergen.

Unfortunately, the weather was too bad for observation. Meanwhile, the german
team was taking advantage of the bad weather, sending out their ships in two
task forces. (Bismarck/Prinz Eugen and Tirpitz/Hipper) The Hipper had a
mechanical breakdown a few hours out of Bergen. Task force one headed for the
Greenland/Iceland gap, the Tirpitz headed for the south coast of Iceland and
the Hipper was sent back to Bergen. The british team's aerial search spotted the
first task force heading northwest out of Bergen. This allowed them to move the
fleet out of Scapa Flow. Unfortunately, they broke up their picket line to pursue
the task force. This allowed the Tirpitz to skirt the south coast of Iceland and
breakout into the Atlantic. The german task force was now being shadowed as it
entered the Greenland/Iceland strait. The brits moved the bulk of their big ships
south of this strait to meet them. Meanwhile, the Hipper had made repairs, sailed
out of Bergen and broke out into the Atlantic by using their aircraft to search
ahead of its course. The germans knew they were being followed and figured a
nasty surprise was probably waiting for them somewhere south. As a fog rolled in,
they made a 180 degree turn and proceeded north back the way they came. After the
fog lifted, the shadowing british crusiers couldn't find them. The majority of
their big ships were too far away to stop the Tirpitz and Hipper from linking up,
even though a returning aircraft spotted them. At this point we had to stop the
game. There had been several moments when british subs had nearly spotted the
Hipper, only to change course at the last second. The Tirpitz was nearly run over
by a large british task force going east as it was going south from Iceland.
German U-Boats had sunk a few merchant ships and two of them had been lost. Over
all, the german team had won a solid victory by getting two of their four ships
into the Atlantic without a scratch. Of course, the german team really enjoyed
the game. The british side, having learned from their mistakes, want a rematch. 

Tom Szekeres