Friday, 1 May 2020

The Armada, Trafalgar or Jutland?


While I've been trying to decide which unfinished naval wargaming project to revive this month, I thought I'd seek inspiration in a little bit of background reading. This is a very brief but well written comparison of three of the iconic battles in British naval history, with a final concluding chapter to evaluate the relative significance of each one. It's an easy read but well worth it, as it takes a slightly different tack in comparing three battles rather than just dealing with one in isolation. It hasn't helped me to make up my mind though, so I'm still trying to decide which wargaming project to crack on with from my list of things to do?

4 comments:

  1. Can I voice a contrary opinion and say that Quintero’s Bay was its greatest naval battle. The invasion risk was far greater than 1805 and Hawke undertook terrific risk to achieve a brilliant victory.

    Jutland was too much of a stalemate to count, but there is a case for the armada once one gets past the mythology.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Armada, the last real risk of invasion

    ReplyDelete
  3. If it's a choice between those three, I think I'd go with the Armada as the other two should be forgone conclusions if the rules are realistic - all you can do is score yourself as doing slightly better or worse than the historical outcome. Also the Armada is more of a campaign than a battle so has more scope for decision making.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The author reckons it's Jutland based on his own criteria. Interesting choice as I would have gone for the Armada too.

    ReplyDelete

Labels

Bag The Hun (857) Books (503) AK47 (499) Ironclads (492) Wings at War (417) Pre-Dreadnoughts (244) Back of Beyond (242) Coastal Warfare (225) Napoleonic Naval (201) Britain's Small Wars (199) Bolt Action (175) Victory at Sea (172) What a Tanker (171) Knights of the Sky (166) Target Locked On (163) MiG Alley (160) Chain of Command (149) Old West (147) Find Fix and Strike (138) Bag The MiG (126) Naval Thunder (120) Sandbox Skirmish (119) Naval Command (118) Air War Over Khalkhin Gol (117) Pirates (117) Indo China / Vietnam (114) Fistful of Lead (109) 15mm Sci-Fi / Near Future (95) Darkest Africa (91) VBCW (89) Strength and Honour (87) Continuation War (84) Ancients (81) Shows (79) ACW (77) The Football War (76) Corsairs and Cavaliers (71) Boardgames (67) France's Small Wars (67) Shipwreck! (66) BKC (65) Rapid Fire (63) Saurian Safari (62) Air War C21 (60) Cruel Seas (60) Journals (60) Saga (60) The Men Who Would Be Kings (58) Nimitz (55) Flashpoint Alto Cenepa (53) IABSM (53) International Naval Wargaming Day (53) Gladiators (51) Flashpoint Taiwan (50) Finest Hour (49) Fortifications (47) Red Actions! (47) One Hour Wargames (46) Scramble for Britain (45) Flashpoint Baltic (42) Duel of Aces (41) Flames above the Falklands (40) War of the Pacific (40) Cold War (39) 2mm English Civil War (38) Thud Ridge (37) SCW (36) Desert Spitfires (35) Death in the Dark Continent (34) RCW (34) Algernon Pulls It Off (32) Atlantic Wall (31) English Civil War / Anglo Dutch War Naval (31) Lion Rampant (31) Post Apocalypse (31) Iron Cow (30) Bag the Springbok (29) Mexican Revolution (28) Normandy Firefight (28) Dreadnoughts (27) Full Thrust (27) It Rolls For Ivan (26) Bulldogs Away! (24) Samurai (24) Jet Knights of the Sky (23) 28mm English Civil War (22) Arctic Eagles (22) Imaginations (22) Achtung Kommando! (21) Flashpoint PVO (21) Ancient Naval (20) PITS (20) Galactic Heroes (19) Steamer Wars (19) Strontium Dog (19) Iron Cross (18) Winter War (18) Aeronef (15) Aircraft (15) Imperial Commander (15) Rate of Fire (15) Zulus! (15) Aliens (14) Dragon Rampant (14) Black Ops (13) CY6 Jet Age (13) Congo (13) Mad for War (13) Impetus (12) Wars of Insurgency (12) Flashpoint Fleet Air Arm (11) Gaslands (11) Sharp Practice (11) 633 Squadron (10) Franco Thai Air War (10) Get the Goeben! (10) Jungle Green (10) 28mm Future Wars (9) Bohica (9) Dux Britanniarum (9) Fire in the Sky (9) HYW (9) Merry Xmas Mr Sankara (9) Portable Pike and Shot (9) Adventures in Jimland (8) Bombers over Germany (8) Cry Havoc (8) French Indian Wars (8) Renaissance Naval (8) Star Wars Legion (8) Sword and Spear (8) Through The Mud and Blood (8) Air War Angola (7) Frostgrave (7) Lacquered Coffins (7) Target for Tonight (7) A Mighty Fortress (6) AirWar:1918 (6) Five Parsecs From Home (6) French Resistance (6) Check Your Six! (5) Five Men at Kursk (5) Fivecore Skirmish (5) Maurice (5) Seven Days to the River Rhine (5) Three Musketeers (5) What a Cowboy (5) Wings Over Suez (5) Arab Revolt (4) Corvette Command (4) In Her Majesty's Name (4) Infamy Infamy (4) Medieval Naval (4) Never Mind The Billhooks (4) Battletech (3) Blood Red Skies (3) Gangsters (3) HOTT (3) Hind Commander (3) Lord of the Sea (3) Luft 46 (3) Mourir Pour l'Indochine (3) Sturmovik Commander (3) Whispering Death (3) Chincha Islands War (2) Crom (2) Disposable Heroes (2) Fire and Steel (2) Fivecore Company Command (2) Iron Stars (2) Judge Dredd (2) Lethal Skies (2) NUTS! (2) No Go Zone (2) Pulp! (2) Starfighters! (2) War in El Dorado (2) A Billion Suns (1) Air War 1940 (1) Battlegroup (1) Black Powder (1) Convoy (1) Dropzone Commander (1) Falklands War (1) Harpoon (1) If The Lord Spares Us (1) Indo-Pakistan War (1) Load and Return (1) MiG Hunters (1) Missile Threat (1) Missiles at Sea (1) Naval Wargames Society (1) Norway 1940 (1) Oi Navarcoi! (1) Sea Wars Fleet Actions (1) Si Vis Pacem (1) Spanish American War (1) Sunray is Down (1) Ultracombat Normandy (1) Wars of the Roses (1) Xenos Rampant (1)