Ironclads, Dahlgren & Columbiad, 1/600 scale

This small game was an attempt to re-acquaint myself with these simple but effective rules. During the Prusso-Danish War of 1864, the Danes blockaded the Prussian naval base of Stralsund on the Baltic. In this fictitious game, Capt. Jachmann commanding the blockaded Prussian squadron is attempting to launch a surprise attack the unsuspecting Danish inshore squadron, the steam ship-of-the-line Skold and the steam corvette Thor (pictured below). In this game, played on a 6×4 foot table, David played the Prussians,and AngustheDanes. The Prussian aim was to launch a surprise dawn attack by thee small steam gunboats armed with spar torpedoes, the Hay, Pfiel and Skorpion.  They would bide their time, and just before dawn they would emerge from behind the small island of Ruden,while the Danes were distracted by Jachmann.The distraction would come from Jachmann’s own pair of more conventional warships, which would appear at dawn, heading straight down the main channel towards the blockaders. He commanded his own steam corvette Arcona, accompanied by the paddlewheel gunboat Lorelei (pictured below).The pincer move depended on the two Danish being distracted by the appearance of Arcona and Lorelei,  allowing the three gunboats to sneak up on the Danes from astern. Their objective was to damage or destroy the battleship Skold, the most powerful warship in the Danish blockading fleet.Of course, this wasn’t going to be easy. As the two Prussian warships approached, the Danes were patrolling off Ruden, and lookouts on Thor soon spotted Jachmann’s approaching ships. So, Capt. Wulff of Skold ordered the two Danish ships to turn across the path of the enemy, and open fire. For the first few turns, nobody scored any hits. It was just as well for the Prussians, as Skold packed a big punch. We had a house rule about lookouts spotting the gunboats, and so for the same few turns, the gunboats approached stealthily and unseen from the south, from around the back of the island.Then, two things happened. First, lookouts the Skold spotted the threat coming up behind them. Then, Skold’s guns found their mark, and hit the Lorelei. Capt. Wulff ordered the Thor to turn away from the fight against Jachmann, and instead to head off the approaching Prussian gunboats. The three Prussian gunboats opened fire on the two Danish ships, but their little popguns didn’t achieve much. Their spar torpedoes though, mounted on poles in front of their bows, were altogether much more deadly. The gunboats kept coming on, but at 9 knots, this was going to take a few turns.Meanwhile, Skold’s gunners kept knocking about the Arcona and the Lorelei. When Lorelei was hit by a close-range broadside, she suffered “Heavy” damage, and cut steamlines led to a halving of her speed. This was an uneven fight, and Jachmann wasn’t going to press his luck against a battleship.Meanwhile, Thor was heading off the three gunboats, who started taking light damage as they fired into the corvette, and the stern of the Skold. Still, it was all to play for. Just another two turns and those torpedo-armed gunboats would reach the lumbering Danish wooden-hulled battleship. That’s when two things happened that changed the course of the game. First, Jachmann’s  corvette Arcona took a hit, causing heavy damage and her steering was hit. She turned away, and sensibly the badly-damaged Lorelei followed her. Giving in to the inevitable, Jachmann ordered a withdrawal.Then, Thor having come up, caused a ‘heavy damage’ hit on the gunboat Skorpion, which cut her speed in half. She’s no chance of making it through to the Skold now, without risking being sunk. So, she turned away, running back behind Ruden island. The two other gunboats still came on though.The Thor was in her element, and Cdr. Helmann’s Danish corvette pounded the two remaining gunboats. First, Hey took heavy damage, and her spar torpedo was sheared off from her bow. She turned back as well. Skorpion was still in the fight, but she took some light damage herself. Then, she was hit in the engine, and forced to limp away at half speed. the Prussian attack was over – stopped by a lucky sighting by as Danish lookout in the half light of dawn, and some excellent shooting. It could have gone the other way just as easily. So, the game was deemed a clear Danish victory. I’m sure though, the Prussians will try again, and next time – with a bit of Teutonic ingenuity – they might return with an ironclad…

Tags: Dahlgren & Columbiad