Jasmund 1864 - A Broadside and Ram Report

The Prussians doing it in right angles as usual

I finally got round to playing the Battle of Jasmund scenario that I wrote for Broadside and Ram a couple of days ago but which I've been meaning to re-enact for at least a decade. I was originally inspired to explore the naval side of the Second Schleswig War by a fellow club member, who had Danish ancestry and a fascination with obscure Danish conflicts, not to mention naval wargaming. I played a set of 'back of a postcard' rules he devised for the Battle of Lissa with him and the idea to wargame Jasmund in 1/2400th scale stemmed from that, really enjoyable game. Fast forward to 2016 and David Manley published his Broadside and Ram rules and the supplement for the Second Schleswig War no less, so it was obviously meant to be. 

Something Danish just went 'kaboom'

It's too late and far too flipping hot to post a detailed after action report of the game but a brief overview will set the scene for a full report tomorrow, when it's possibly a little less akin to the inside of an engine room on a Victorian ironclad, somewhere in a far flung tropical corner of the erstwhile Empire. I set up the game using my trusty sea cloth and the 1/1200th scale print and play counters that I brought with me on holiday. These are lovely and very inexpensive but overscale for Broadside and Ram, which is designed for 1/2400th scale models, but I decided to ignore the difference and crack on regardless. I did screw up the initial table layout, however, with a five by three foot area instead of the four by three feet I specified in my own scenario, but I fixed that by sliding the counters and cloth into the correct proportions later on.

The Danes even the score.

I also realised by Turn Five that the sluggish movement rates of the Danish and Prussian screw steamers meant that they'd never have a chance of achieving their objectives by the end of the scenario, so I did a quick revision and gave every turn a twenty minute timeframe, with twelve turns rather than nine for the scenario length. This did actually work out in the end, although it was a very tight margin for the Prussians to achieve and they didn't all make it in time. I won't reveal more about what actually happened but there were one or two unpleasant surprises for the Danes and the Prussians did better than expected, given their wonky command rating and relatively lightly armed warships. The Danes, by contrast, suffered from a bit of overconfidence, as well as a lesser number of warships, although that was the historical situation.

Too hot for the beach!!!

I'll post a full report tomorrow morning when it will be a little less hot, although I suspect we'll be in for another scorcher? I really enjoyed this game but had to pack up in Turn Ten as it was time for dinner and you can't let the French wait for that. The scenario stood up well but I do need to think about the chance for the Prussians to achieve their escape plan, perhaps by moving the finishing line from the edge of the table to a position 12'' in, which is what I originally intended, with a similar 12'' box for the gunboats in the SW corner. I'll give it some more thought and, hopefully, will get in a replay at some point with the actual models rather than just paper counters.