Once More into the Yellow Sea

Last month (on March 2, to be precise) I ran a pre-dreadnought game that pitted my Russian and Japanese fleets against each other.  The scenario was a Russian breakout from Port Arthur which the Japanese were trying to prevent.

The ships are all 1:2400 scale from Panzerschiffe and were acquired as a single lot many years ago.

The rules we used were David Manley's "Broadside and Salvo" which is included in his "White Bear/Red Sun" campaign rules, available from the Wargame Vault.

The Russian fleet steams forth in three parallel squadron lines.  The closest and center squadrons are all battleships while the far squadron is cruisers.

The Japanese commanders plan their encounter.  They also had two squadrons of battleships and one of armored cruisers.

One of the Japanese battleship squadrons alters course to bring more guns to bear.

Damage is taken by one of the Japanese armored cruisers.

Russian cruisers (center) get into knife range of Japanese battleships and cruisers -- not a good place to be.

And the lead Russian cruiser pays the ultimate price, exploding in a tall plume of smoke and fire (courtesy of Litko).

A second Russian cruiser joins his mate in Davy Jones' locker.

The Russians begin to break off the action, returning to Port Arthur with their tails between their legs.

Although the Russians lost, both sides had a good battle.