This period came about thanks to a book deal. Once I signed the contract for Jutland I thought I might as well game the battle, as well as write about it. I must have forgotten just how many ships were involved – and how much of my book advance would land up in the coffers of GHQ, who make the most superlative 1/2400 scale dreadnoughts. Then of course, it isn’t just dreadnoughts and battlecruisers – you need cruisers and destroyers as well – by the score. The result though, is an eminently satisfying pair of fleets – The Grand Fleet and The High Seas Fleet, ready to do battle at my bidding.
I’m willing to be proved long, but I imagine the Battle of Jutland is nigh-on unplayable. After all, with 250 ships involved, it was arguably the largest set-piece naval battle in history, and you’d need a spare week, teams of players and a basketball court to game the twelve-hour action. However, we’ve played a bunch of very satisfying games now, each taking a little piece of the action and turning it into a scenario, or pitting the battlecruiser fleets against each other earlier in the war, in 1914 or 1915. there’s also no end of “what if” scenarios to play out – enough gaming material to last us for years.

For rules we use Fleet Action Imminent, the Great War version of the tried and tested General Quarters rules. These are easy to pick up, as most of the information is in the playsheets or ship cards, and so the tabletop admirals can concentrate on the action itself. We’ve had ships blow up, others pummelled into floating wrecks, and gallant attacks by destroyers or cruisers against overwhelming odds. The Great War at sea might have only have involved one big battle, but there’s no shortage of scope there for evenly matched and exciting games.