Renaissance or the opposite

Apologizes, the Renaissance game fell through, a bit, sort of, as I forgot the camera,  plus I was still feeling kind of shitty from a cold and I heard lots of mates tell me I look really shitty and I forgot half of the stuff I wanted to implement as a scenario ... that kind of evening, when you feel light years away from any sort of Renascentia ... but still me, Angus, Bill, Bart and Campbell and Donald enjoyed a bit French-Italian War – Pike & Shotte, a bit chaotic in the end, but I think I remember we had fun ...

some pics I stole from Angus and Campbell:

The Ottonians

Its complicated ... the beginning of the holy roman empire ... a lot is only known by descriptive of "holy" ceremonies where the duke/king/emperor had to confirm his reign via christian ceremonial festivities with the other dukes/leaders. The king and his reign was just the opposite of saecular and was expected to behave like that and to forgive regretful enemies, apart from that, the dukes, just like in any other part of the decomposing Carolingian empire, were constantly plotting against each other. A little less than in France, here the King was also thriving to be Emperor and bound to "disappear" for a couple of years over the alps for Italy – plenty of time to prepare rebellions. And not to forget the Danes, and the Magyars ...

 ....  hmm.

Skagerrak 31st of March 1916

Well, we thought the battle was over, but as the fog lifted in the distance we could see  ... enemy ships. So we left the Admiral floating on the boat in the middle of the North Sea and gave the engines all they could handle – full speed ahead!

Angus invited us to a little Apres-Jutland encounter with his wonderfully painted models with funny black smoke coming out of the tops, what we all hope is wadding, but looks more like his nose hair though.
Campbell and me played the baby-killers, while Bill and Bart were to be leading British ships into the ground (the Baby-starvers). The big fleets were just behind us when we encountered the Tommies floating out of the fog - the fog would hinder our ability to aim at the enemy and pester us along the whole encounter with various density. I presume, Angus gave me the severely beaten Derfflinger, Seydlitz, Moltke and some other "Schrott", probably because the last time I just sunk his pretty Grand fleet in no time. ( http://meneken.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/1916-pre-skaggerak.html )

Campbell had the pleasure to lead 6 pre-dreadnaughts against the Royal Navy from the other side of the table, so we could actually catch the fishies with a highly sophisticated pincer movement.

As for the combat: each party was firing "was das Zeug hält", but the German side was, even while limping home and most of the time out of range/visibility, softening up the British steel quite nicely. Higher fire power got out-manoeuvered by what I here and now officially baptise as the "Seltsam-manoeuvre."

But the Grand finale came when Admiral Campbell decided to go in for the kill – he rammed two ships out of their list and then survived to hit one in the turret just to explode phenomenally! I bow my head in awe, he achieved what I could not (even including the Renaissance galley games, ramming enemy ships, the look of the opponents is priceless!)

German Schrott limping home

Nose hair flying in wind 

Performing a part of the Seltsam Manoeuvre

Pretty ship cards

The enemy closes in

Under British fire

The final pincer manoeuvre

Flat ships steaming ahead

Yes, Admiral Campbell is really going to do this! 

The Grand Fleet is too near even for her comfort 

Fortuna smiles with the fortibus! The hero of the day!

Incomprehensibility on the British Admiral side

The second H.M.S. goes down

Sandwiched between our two fleets

The British can only follow me under constant fire ...

... and the Grand finale – fireworks!