The Royal Navy had been one of the first of the Great Powers to make use of the Air Screw. Instantly, all other Navies became obsolete. The Great Aerial Arms Race had begun. The British had been at the forefront of this race thanks to their great shipyards and the access to the resources of their empire. In addition, the Admiralty was always trying to stay ahead of the technology curve.
The First Lord Sir Jackie Fischer had re-upped the game with the launch of several all "Big-Gun" battleships. They were heavily armed and armored and were a revolution in the Arms Race. In addition, the British also experimented with a new class of vessel, the Battle Cruiser. The Battle Cruiser was intended to act as a faster, lighter ship, but still armed with the "Big Guns".
One of the first of these was the HMS Invincible. She was launched in 1907. The Admiralty had her deploy for a maiden voyage around the Mediterranean with one of the armored cruisers she was to replace, the HMS Shannon. The Shannon herself was a relatively new ship as well, being deployed in late 1906.
Their were some scattered eye witness reports that the maiden voyage of the HMS Invincible did not go without incident. There were unconfirmed and scattered reports by local North African fisherman that the HMS Invincible and her escort had a run in with French forces off the Algerian coast.
The London Telegraph was unable to confirm these reports independently. Both the French and British Admiralty and other relevant cabinets have been tight lipped on the subject. *************************************************************************
This will be a bit of a maiden voyage for the V4 rules for Castles in the Sky. They went through pretty complete testing previously as v3.2 and V2. However, the games revealed some items that I wanted to update. This naturally led to a V4 with some significant changes.
I look forward to giving these a maiden run while the HMS Invincible takes a maiden voyage of her own!
Forces:Royal NavyHMS Invincible- Command 2
-Invincible Class Battle Cruiser
HMS Shannon- Command 4
- Minotaur Class Armored Cruiser
L'Aire NationaleSaint Louis- Command 2
-Charlemagne Class Heavy Cruiser
Algiere - Command 4
- D'iberville Class Cruiser
Fantassin- Command 1
- Chasseur Class Destroyer
Mission: This will be a Patrol mission. The French have come out to meet the British. L'Aire Nationale has claimed that the British have infringed on their national airspace off the coast of Algeria. They demand that the British land and prepare to be inspected. Of course, the Royal Navy refuses and a conflict is inevitable.
Set-up:The Patrol will be played on a 48 x 48 MU board with 1 MU equaling 1 inch.
The battle is mostly taking place over the ocean, with a bit of coast on the south side of the board the French are coming from. That leaves two board sections without terrain on the British side. We randomly roll the following for these sectors and get a land based feature that does not impact play, so we add a sand bar. The next we roll a mountain but that does not make sense over the ocean, so we ditch it. There is no terrain that will impact play.
We also roll for complications and get none.
The French are coming from the Algerian coast to the South. They are led by the Saint Louis at mid-altitude and full speed. She is flanked by the Algiere who is also at mid-altitude and matching speed. Meanwhile, the Fantassin is on the far left at high altitude and matching speed.
The British are on the opposite side, they are "crossing the T" of the French, and moving across the battlespace to start. The HMS Invincible is leading the way at mid-altitude and speed, with the HMS Shannon trailing and closer to the coast. They are matching speeds.
You can read the full run through and report at the link to the blog below:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2020/12/battle-report-castles-in-sky-maiden.html
