ORIGINAL: hellfirejet
In regard to never were Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers etc,it is not difficult to add them to the game,it's just that personally I prefered a ship to have been actually built,and not just planned before I include them!
I will have to check but I'm sure I have done the art work for the German Mackensen and Ersatz Yorck,If gamers want never were ships included I will include them?
I take your point about "paper" dreadnoughts; after all, a sheet of A4 won't stop a 15" shell [:D]
More on grounds of playability. I would have fancied the High Seas Fleet in an action against the USN in 1917 or 1918. The niggle I have here is that the High Seas Fleet of 1917 (when Hindenburg, Bayern & Baden joined) is facing the USN of 1922/3 (Tennessee, California, Colorado, New Mexico, etc.) and the RN of the late 1920s (Hood but later Nelson & Rodney). As it stands, I would not risk the High Seas Fleet against the USN Pacific Battleship Squadrons but may have to (see later).
Sachsen, Wurttemberg, Mackensen & Graf Spee were launched in 1917 but not completed by the Armistice, whilst the Ersatz Yorck class had two completed hulls scrapped after the war. Assuming the arms race continued into the 1920s it would not be unreasonable for these to have been completed.
Although I cannot start the scenario yet (see my earlier post), my initial thoughts are that it looks exciting. Some thoughts on possible tactics: -
1) The High Seas Fleet's dreadnoughts are based at Truk. This appears to be a perfect position to threaten the USN as it implements WPO. Numerically, if not qualitatively, Scheer & Hipper (or is it Von Pohl & Ingenohl?) should be able to wear down the Americans to allow the IJN a good shot.
2) Cruiser warfare. With weak Allied squadrons in Australia & New Zealand, some armoured cruisers or Hipper's First Scouting Group's battlecruisers might have fun, perhaps even swinging into the Indian Ocean to stretch the RN's assets.
3) Von Spee's squadron - it will be fun to send Scharnhorst & Gneisenau on another Pacific voyage, perhaps preying on American supply lines from the West Coast to Pearl Harbour, Wake & Midway.
4) The IJN is not IMHO particularly strengthened by an assortment of German pre-dreadnoughts, especially as these are offset by the RN's Majestic's, King Edward VII's, etc. I suspect a lot of these hulls will litter the floor of the South China Sea!
5) The Grand Fleet is present in full strength at Singapore. Numerically they should be able to smother the IJN's dreadnoughts, as Jellicoe's fleet is even more superior than that in the Pacific Jutland scenario.
6) Beatty may lose some of his weaker battlecruisers (yes, Invincible & Indefatigable classes, I'm talking about you!) to fulfill their original planned role of hunting down & destroying the enemy engaged in cruiser warfare. The Falklands may be re-fought off some distant Pacific isle...
7) I suspect the French & Italian navies will cancel each other out. I can't check at present but the Italians should have the edge in quality.
8) The Kaiser's coast defence "battleships" may have to find a foe they can fight on equal terms. Hmm... how about the Swiss? [:D]
Looking forward to the fun!
