From: Scott Holmgren Subject: Bismarck AAR With a tinge of childhood giddiness, I suggested to my friend Andrew that we try AH's BISMARCK for our next gaming session. He agreed, and for the first time in more than fifteen years I cracked open the box to actually play it. Still nestled at the bottom of the box, securely held in place by the empty counter frame (for some reason I had saved it), was a small pile of ship record sheets saved from those days in junior high and high school when my friends and I would play out advanced combat situations at a neighbor's house. (I can still smell the cigarette odor in the carpet.) But we were so engrossed with the details of armor thickness and gun range that we never actually played out the search board part of the game. So with copies of the rules in hand, Andrew and I sat down to hunt the Bismarck. We decided to just use the basic rules. Being somewhat remotely familiar with the game, I took the British (having more ships and planes to handle) and gave Andrew the Germans. I decided to start the game by using the RN conservatively (maintaining the picket line of cruisers from Iceland to Scapa Flow) but by blanketing the area around Bergen immediately with every plane I could muster. However, as the overcast skies darkened into the night of May 22-23, 1941, my searches had come up empty. The Germans could not be found. Andrew had used the breakout bonus movement to sail the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen nearly due north along the coast of Norway before swinging back to the southwest. Dawn on May 23 was barely perceivable as his visibility die rolls kept the skies dark and the fog thick. I managed to make one search attempt before visibility went to unsearchable and turned up nothing. Believing that Andrew would attempt a run down the Denmark Strait under cover of the fog, I swung my picket line in that general direction south of the fog sea zones. The Norfolk and Suffolk guarded the Strait, the Manchester and Birmingham waited south of Iceland, the Arethusa was further east with Task Force 1 (the Hood and Prince of Wales) just east of her position. I cycled my RAF patrols throughout the day of the 23rd hoping to catch a break in the weather. Fortunately, my blunder in not sending any planes to search Bergen to verify that the Germans had actually left, did not come back to haunt me since the fog prevented any searches there to begin with. But the ships in Scapa had to sit tight. At 1600, I caught a break amidst the cloud cover: I rolled snake eyes on the Chance Table and British Huff-Duff intercepted Andrew's radio transmission detailing the status of his operation. The Bismarck was located near... the Faeroes! The Germans were going the other way. Leaving the Suffolk in the Straits (in case the Prinz Eugen was running that way) the other three cruisers ran back east. The ships at Scapa formed two Task Forces, and Force H at Gibralter put to sea. Finally at 2000 on the 23rd, a high pressure system blew the heavens clear. As the sun dipped toward the Atlantic, two long-range recon air units from Scapa and Eire spotted both German ships -- together! The Germans were already to the convoy lane west of Scapa. With the planes' fuel running low, I quickly launched more aircraft from Scapa and Plymouth. Would I have enough units to surround him? Andrew formed his ships into a Task Force and turned west away from Britain, but toward my pursuing cruisers and Task Force 1. An early morning shadow attempt by air at 0400 on May 24 was successful and allowed the Arethusa to intercept the German boats. We shifted to the battle board. I immediately ordered the British cruiser to withdraw, but Andrew managed one round of combat against my fleeing ship. Eveything above deck was virtually blown away, but the Arethusa escaped without a single midship hit! Andrew then turned southeast. But May 24th remained clear, and the British remained in contact. At 0800, the RN closed in. The Hood and Prince of Wales bore down on the Germans as did the CAs Manchester and Birmingham, and BB Rodney (having broken off from its convoy escort). I needed to attack the Germans with the big guns, but having the Rodney independent of the Task Force, I had to draw at random a battleship that would engage the Germans. Fortune again favored the Brits, and Task Force 1 moved into attack position on the battle board. The Prince of Wales steamed ahead toward the Prinz Eugen as the Hood drew up broadsides to the Bismarck. The first German salvoes went way wide only scratching my ships. The Hood tickled the Bismarck's foreward guns as the PoW prepared to fire. CLICK! Her forward guns jammed and was only able to loose one shot. But what a shot it was... A direct hit on the Prinz Eugen penetrated her midships for three boxes of damage as well as speed loss. The German cruiser slowed to 22 knots. As Andrew turned the Bismarck toward the Hood to close range, the Prince of Wales fired her rear guns point blank at the smoking Prinz Eugen. In a flash of fire, the German cruiser began to slip beneath the waves. The Hood and Bismarck traded salvoes. My battlecruiser took the worst of it, barely remaining afloat. But the PoW swung around to port of the Bismarck. If I could survive one more round, perhaps the Rodney and cruisers would enter the fray. The guns roared again, and the Hood was riddled with accurate fire. The Bismarck's final shot finished her off, and the pride of the Royal Navy began to go under. But the Prince of Wales was closing fast, and her guns didn't jam. Five salvoes blew the Bismarck's foreward turrets into the icy Atlantic, but Andrew remained afloat. The PoW took two more midship hits and began to slow. Now, I rolled for reinforcements. But the Rodney didn't show. Nor did the Birmingham. But the Manchester did! The cruiser steamed onto the battleboard right into combat. As the PoW and Bismarck pulled alongside each other to slug it out, the Manchester opened fire, scoring two direct hits on the Bismarck's midships! Andrew fired back at the PoW; six direct hits on the British battleship ensured that she was a goner. But the PoW would get its last licks in. But her guns jammed AGAIN! Oh no! Would the Bismarck be able to limp away? I only had four shots, but wound up only needing two! The shells struck home, the Bismarck began to list, and the waves of the Atlantic began to part, receiving the burnt offerings of the Kreigsmarine and Royal Navy. The Manchester cautiously moved in to rescue survivors. I benefitted greatly from fortuitous die rolls (despite the PoW's fire problems). Without the Huff-Duff roll, I might not have found the Germans until I had already lost a convoy. Andrew said that he had a hard time knowing exactly how to use his air units best. Also, his aggressiveness on the battle board cost him victory points. But he was more interested in slugging it out than running away. Satisfied with the flow of the game, we decided that we'll give it a try again sometime, adding some of the intermediate rules. And of course throwing in more ships! ------------------------------------------------------------------- sholmgren@solagroup.org Scott Holmgren P.O. Box 513 Grand Haven, MI 49417-0513 Designer of Blue Guidon Games http://blueguidon.tripod.com Current Gaming: Bismarck Last Played: Third Reich, Axis & Allies, The Russian Campaign -------------------------------------------------------------------