Runs for the Fijords

You may recall that in October Frank and I played a game were a German force tried to break out and get at a British Convoy. Defense of convoy pq 187 We took the end result as my starting force for the game the Scharnorst and Gneisenau are starting at 100% the Tripitsz has lost one hull box and two main turrets. We have a relief force coming up to help us from the south. Once again our battle field is chocked with fog and ice

as a major British force intercepting us

Frank wanted to try out the air rules but after a turn we realized it was slowing the game down far to much for what it was adding to the game.  So we pulled the aircraft and aircraft carrier.

This time the British are having some manuvering issues as Frank deployed too close and two ships slam into each other...

German Destroyers knife in from the south as the relieve force arrives and the two formation open fire.  Franks shooting is exceptionally good...

My shooting is... not bad but no where near as good as his... still one British destroyers blows up when a shell penetrates the magazine .

Franks gunnery unerringly hit my engine rooms three of 4 destroyers are adrift before turn 2 has ended!

Still they are able to loose torpedoes and the Cruiser Dido is blasted from the water

My one mobile destroyer launches torpedoes as well we land multiple hits Queen Elizabeth loses two hull boxes and take some engineering damage (which she will repair)

Renowned suffers multiple torpedo hits and sinks swiftly below the waves.  The Rodney take a torpedo hit an anti-climatic "critical" that does a single hull box of damage and knocks out one fire control tower (she has two so it hardly matters).

Frank's torpedoes aren't as effective but his gun fire continues to be good the Admiral Scheer is smashed her guns are out and her bridge is hit.  She fails moral and must run but can only move straight ahead for a turn.  Her torpedoes will eventual get Belfast and Scheer will end the fight a battered wreck with one hull box left.

The big ships are in range and start battering each other.  Scharnorst and Gneisenau both take damage to their rudders and hulls.  My hits on the British Battle ships are not nearly so effective. 

Shooting form my secondaries all but annihilates the remaining British destroyers. At this point it was getting late and we regretted the time spent messing with air craft as one more turn would have told the tale.   Frank was down to Rodney and Queen Elizabeth and single battered destroyer.  One of my destroyers managed to limp off the table the others were a complete loss.  Hipper was unhurt and could probably have made do and die torpedo attack on the BBs the next turn  and Blucher was heavily damaged and might have added its torpedoes (they didn't get in any pictures some how!)  Assuming Both British ship survived that the Germans would have been in very bad shape as they were both out of control and Gneisenaue was also taking on water due to a bulkhead hit.  We ruled both Battle Cruisers as probable losses but the Tirpitz probably escaped.  I would have liked about another 30 minutes of gaming time to get a solid decision.  This close action was deadly I think we may have recorded more torpedo hits in this one action then the surface forces of both navies managed in the whole war.