Nimitz (Dewey): Battle of Busan 1905.

The Russo-Japanese War of 1905: a hypothetical scenario in which part of the Russian fleet attempts to break through the Japanese blockade, using the Nimitz rules with the Dewey supplement for the pre-dreadnought era.

SCENARIO: Tim Chant
UMPIRING: Tim Chant

SCENERY: SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Tim Chant

1. Forces.

IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY

1st Squadron (Bartek)

OSLYABLA

ADMIRAL SENIAVIN

SISSOIL VIELIKY

2nd Squadron (Пётр)

VLADIMIR MONOMAKH

ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV

AVRORA

3rd Squadron (David)

OLEG

IZUMRUD

4th Squadron (David)

GROZNY

BYEDOVY

IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY

1st Squadron (Mike)

SHIKISHIMA 

ASAHI

MIKASA

IZUMO

2nd Squadron (Tim)

TSUSHIMA

NISSHIN

KASAGI

 3rd Squadron (Tim)

MURASAME

SHIRANUI

SAZANAMI

2. The Game.

In our scenario, the Russians were tasked with crossing the table from the shortest edge to the opposite side, while the Japanese sought to stop them. I divided our fleet as follows: I commanded the battleships, Pyotr took charge of the armoured cruisers, and David led the lighter cruisers and destroyers. On the opposing side, Mike commanded a battleship squadron, while Tim led the cruisers and destroyers.

I decided to use my Y-shaped tactic again. It involved splitting my main forces—in this case, Pyotr's cruisers and my battleships—and allowing the enemy's main forces into the gap, anticipating that they would try to form a T-shaped formation. This assumption proved correct. David, meanwhile, was ordered first to destroy the Japanese destroyers and then attempt to break through the remaining enemy ships toward our objective. He slightly modified these orders, a change that proved decisive in our game and ultimately secured our victory.

As I expected, the first battle broke out between our destroyers, David's cruisers, and the Japanese destroyers, but once my battleships joined the fight, the fate of the Japanese destroyers was sealed: they were all sunk.

Soon, the heavy guns opened fire, and Mike Squadron found itself caught in the crossfire between all our forces. Tim's cruisers were still too far away and were only slowly entering the fight. Even so, we managed to sink the first of the Japanese battleships, Shikishima. David then launched a successful torpedo attack on Asahi with his destroyers, scoring a hit. She remained afloat for the moment, but the damage to the ship did not bode well. Although both of our destroyers were sunk, their sacrifice and achievements exceeded our wildest expectations.

Tim's cruisers finally entered the fray, engaging Pyotr's ships. Both sides suffered heavy damage, and the Avrora was struck by a torpedo from one of the Japanese cruisers. At that moment, 10 p.m. struck, and it was time to end the game. The Japanese lost two battleships, the Asahi finally sank, and three destroyers went down. The Russians, on the other hand, lost only two destroyers, although the fate of the Avrora still hung in the balance. It was a very successful game.

3. Links.

SESWC:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/631841809210352

FLICKR:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720334747936

SONG ABOUT THE BATTLE:

https://suno.com/s/1jTY8z1uinZWaBRr

Nimitz: 1905 Russo-Japanese War.

The Russo-Japanese War of 1905 at sea was the focus of our recent game. Tim brought his collection of ships from that war, and this time we decided to use the Nimitz rules. These rules are much simpler than the Tsushima we used before, and they are also more enjoyable to play. We had six players, with three on each side, representing a Russian fleet attempting to break through the Japanese blockade. It truly is a classic of the genre.

SCENARIO: Tim Chant
UMPIRING: Tim Chant

SCENERY: SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Tim Chant

1. Forces.

IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY

1st Squadron (Bartek)

Oslyabya

Sissoi Veliky

Navarin

Admiral Nakhimov

Izumrud

2nd Squadron (Peter)

Oleg

Aurora

Dmitrii Donskoi

Vladimir Monomakh

3rd Squadron (Alasdair)

Admiral Seniavin

General Admiral Graf Apraksin

Imperator Nikolai I 

Admiral Ushakov

IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY

1st Squadron (David)

Shikishima

Fuji

Mikasa

Asahi

Azuma

 

2nd Squadron (Jimmy)

Kasuga

Chitose

Iwate

Niitaka

Izumi

 3rd Squadron (Ben)

Kasagi

Tokiwa

Nisshin

Otowa

Asawa

Yakumo

 

 

2. The Game.

Our scenario resembled the actual Battle of Tsushima. The Russians needed to break through the Japanese blockade. Our plan involved our two strongest squadrons—mine and Alasdair's—sailing at full speed along the long edges of the table. Peter was designated to act as a decoy for the Japanese fleet. We assumed that the Japanese would focus their efforts on one squadron—in our plan, that was Peter's —while the other two squadrons would attempt to breach the Japanese defences.

I had almost predicted the behaviour of the Japanese fleet. Ben and David led their two squadrons against mine, while Jimmy positioned himself in the centre of the battlefield to face Peter. Alasdair remained at a safe distance. The Russians fired first, and my ships caused significant damage to the Kasagi. However, the Japanese soon opened fire, concentrating their efforts on Oslabya, which was the lead ship of my team.

Jimmy had divided his squadron into three teams and primarily engaged in combat against Peter, while occasionally targeting my squadron and Alasdair's. His efforts finally paid off when he successfully launched a torpedo attack, sinking the Dimitri Donskoi. As the game entered its decisive phase, we were unable to complete it due to running out of time. The Russians still had most of their forces afloat, although the Japanese retained the initiative. Despite the Russians having already lost two ships by that point, we concluded that the game ended in a draw.

3. Links.

SESWC:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/631841809210352

FLICKR:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720327654720

Battle of Yellow Sea. Bitwa na Morzu Żółtym.

This time in SESWC was something different. We've tryed a naval battle. Colin have a large collection of ships in 1/3000 scale of Russo-Japanese War (probably have all ships, which took an action during the war), so he prepared scenario happend on that war. We refight the Battle on Yellow Sea, which had place 10th of August 1904. The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Artur to break out and form up with counterparts from Vladivostok. Bill and I played Russian, whilst Colin, Campbell and Ray played Japanese. We used the Perfidious Albion rules for this game.

Tym razem w SESWC coś innego. Spróbowaliśmy bitwy morskiej. Colin posiada kolekcję okrętów w skali 1/3000 z wojny rosyjsko-japońskiej (prawdopodobnie posiada wszystkie okręty, które wzięły w niej udział), tak więc przygotował scenariusz rozgrywający się podczas tej wojny. Odtworzyliśmy bitwę na Morzu Żółtym, która miała miejsce 10 sierpnia 1904. Bitwa ta była nieudana próbą przedarcia się zablokowanej floty rosyjskiej z Port Artur i połączenie się jej z eskadrą z Władywostoku. Bill i ja graliśmy Rosjanami, a Colin, Campbell i Ray Japończykami. Użyliśmy zasad Perfidious Albion do gry.

Russian Fleet. Flota rosyjska.

Japanese fleet. Flota japońska.

As the preparation for the game, we used a different setup for Russians. We decided to create two sqadrons of battleships, and one squadron of cruisers. I took command on 1st squadron (battleships), and Bill on 2nd (battleships) and 3rd (cruisers). Japanese started the game with two squadrons (each had 2 batleships and a cruiser): the 1st (Campbell) and 2nd (Ray). The game started with Russian initiative (and hold it for almost whole game). 1st Russian fired on the 1st Japanese, and the 2nd Russian on 2nd Japanese. Quickly we realised, that we fight on to large distance, and we had to get a little closer to our opponet. For the whole time both sides tryed to get as much damages on the enemies as they possible could, but the distance was still to large. Then the first Japanese cruiser squadron appear, and soon after the second (both under Colin command). Our cruiser squadron managed to did the letter T twice, but then happend the terible thing. Russian guns ware to weak to make any serious damages on Japanese cruisers. Our cruisers get in trap, and Japanese started to fired from both sides to them. In result of this we lost two cruisers: Diana (sunk due to flooding) and Askold (sunk due to explosion of the ammunition magazine). Our battleships finally get close enought to the Japanese, but then we realised, that their ships are very well protected and we are not able to destroy them. The game finished with Japanese victory. They sunk two ships, another and with two more seriously damaged (big fire on Pobieda and damaged rudder on Sevastopol). They also 51 times hit Russians, whilst Japanese ships ware only hit 32 times (thats the score of the original battle, whilst Japanese in 1904 ware a little better and hit 130 times). The worst ship of the game was Retvizan. She never get any hit during whole game... shame, especially that in the original battle, in charge on that ship was a Pole Edward Szczęsnowicz... 

I was really enjoed the game and have to come back to naval battles again.

Jako przygotowanie do walki ustawiliśmy naszych Rosjan trochę inaczej w stosunku do oryginalnej bitwy. Zdecydowaliśmy się utworzyć dwie eskadry pancerników i jedna krążowników. Ja dowodziłem 1szą eskadrą (pancerniki), z kolei Bill dowodził 2gą (pancerniki) i 3cią (krążowniki) eskadrą. Japończycy zaczęli z dwoma eskadrami (każda składała się z dwóch pancerników i krążownika): pierwsza (Campbell) i druga (Ray). Gra rozpoczęła się od rosyjskiej inicjatywy (i utrzymywała ja przez prawie całą grę). Pierwsza rosyjska otworzyła ogień do pierwszej japońskiej i druga rosyjska do drugiej japońskiej. Szybko zdaliśmy sobie sprawę, że dystans dzielący nas jest zbyt duży i trzeba się będzie zbliżyć do przeciwnika. Nasze eskadry wzajemnie próbowały zadać sobie jak największe straty, ale dystans był cały czas za duży. Wtedy pojawiła się pierwsza eskadra japońskich krążowników, a zaraz potem następna (obie pod dowództwem Colin'a). Nasza eskadra krążowników dwa razy postawiła kreskę nad literą "T", ale wtedy stała się straszna rzecz. Okazało się, że działa rosyjskich krążowników są za słabe przeciwko Japończykom. Nasze krążowniki wpadły w pułapkę i Japończycy zaczęli bezlitosny ostrzał z dwóch stron. W rezultacie tego straciliśmy dwa krążowniki: Dianę (zatopiona ze względu na zbyt liczne przecieki) i Askolda (eksplozja magazynów z amunicją).
Nasze pancerniki w końcu zbliżyły się na odpowiednią odległość, ale wtedy okazało się, że japońskie pancerniki są zbyt mocno opancerzone i nasze okręty nie są w stanie ich zniszczyć. Gra zakończyła się japońskim zwycięstwem. Zatopili dwa okręty i dwa dalsze poważnie uszkodzili (silny ogień na Pabiedzie i uszkodzony ster na Sewastopolu). Japończycy 51 razy trafili Rosjan, ci z kolei odpowiedzieli 32 trafieniami (wynik identyczny do tego z prawdziwej bitwy, wynik Japończyków w 1904 roku był znacznie lepszy i wyniósł 130 trafień). Najgorszym okrętem w całej bitwie był Retwizan, w całej bitwie nie zaliczył ani jednego trafienia... wstyd, szczególnie gdy się wspomni fakt, że okrętem tym w bitwie dowodził Polak Edward Szczęsnowicz...

 Bardzo podobała mi się gra i muszę jeszcze kiedyś wrócić do  bitew morskich.

View of the Russian fleet. Widok na flotę rosyjską.

Part of the Japanese fleet. Battleships on front nad cruisers on back. Część floty japońskiej. Pancerniki z przodu i krażowniki z tyłu.

OdB of the game with the list of hits and damages:

OdB gry wraz z listą trafień i uszkodzeń:

JAPAN/JAPONIA

1^st Squadron

1. Eskadra

 (Campell)

Mikasa (B) – 8 hits/trafień

Fuji (B)– 12 hits/trafień

Kasuga (CA)

2^nd Squadron

2. Eskadra

 (Ray)

Shikishima (B)– 5 hits (fire on the ship); 5 trafień (pożar na okręcie)

Asahi (B)

Nisshin (B)

3^rd Sqadron

3. Eskadra

 (Colin)

Tokiwa (CA)

Iwate (CA) – 4 hits/trafienia

Yakumo (CA)

Chitose (CP)

4^th Squadron

4. Eskadra

 (Colin)

Adzuma (CA) – 3 hits (fire on the ship); 3 trafienia (pożar na okręcie)

Asama (CA)

Idzumo (CA)

Kasagi (CP)

RUSSIA/ROSJA

1^st Squadron

1. Eskadra

 (me, ja)

Sevastopol (B) – 13 hits (damaged rudder); 13 trafień (zniszczony ster)

Poltava (B)

Retvizan (B)

2^nd Squadron

2. Eskadra

(Bill)

Pobieda (B) – 15 hits (killed capitan; large fire on the ship); 15 trafień (zabity kapitan, poważny pożar na okręcie)

Peresviet (B)

Tsarevitch (B)

3^rd Squadron

3. Eskadra

(Bill)

Diana (CP) – 11 hits (fire on the ship) – sunk due to flooding; 11 trafień (pożar na okręcie) -  zatopiona ze względu na przecieki

Askold (CP) – 12 hits (fire on the ship) – sunk due to explosion; 12 trafień (pożar na okręcie) - zatopiony ze względu na eksplozję

Pallada (CP)

Novik (CP)

B – Battleship/Pancernik

CA – Armoured Cruiser/Krążownik pancerny

CP – Protected Cruiser/Krążownik pancernopokładowy

Gallery from the game/Galeria z gry:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/sets/72157631468888176/

Battle on Bill's blog/Bitwa na blogu Bill'a:
http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/battle-of-yellow-sea-1904.html