Thoughts on the fleets

SMS Konig - very tough but with only 12" guns at the time the Royal Navy was using 13.5" and 15"

It is my intention to raise fleets in 1/2400th for the Royal Navy and Germany as well as those for Fezia and Rusland. My plans for the Fezia and Rusland are pretty much settled and I am now happy to report that I have finally decided on just how I am going to tackle the Royal Navy and High Seas Fleet. I have made the assumption that the fleets of both Fezia and Rusland are behind the technological curve compared to the RN and High Seas Fleet. Given that in the alternative environment in which my games are set both Fezia and Rusland are relying on the technology of their more advanced allies this is not an unreasonable assumption to make. Essentially Fezia and Rusland will be using first generation dreadnought technology whilst the Rn and High Seas Fleet will be more, to use a modern expression, 'state of the art'.

With the models available from Stonewall being used for the main bulk of the fleets this means that Fezia will be using the Westfalen and Helogoland class dreadnoughts and the 11" armed battle cruisers - Seydlitz, Moltke and Von Der Tann whilst Rusland will be using the early Bellerophons type dreadnoughts - perhaps with a couple of the other 12" armed dreadnoughts although these will have to be sourced from elsewhere. Rusand will also have the dubious distinction of using the I class battlecruisers - doubtless much to the delight of the Fezian gunnery officers....;-) In terms of numbers the two fleets will probably be of a similar size which in reality will mean that the Rusland force will have the advantage as Fezia will be forced to cycle units via the Easten Middle Sea.

The Royal Navy will be quite a formidable force as I am planning on using the King George, Iron Duke and Queen Elizabeth classes for the battleships with the Lion class plus Tiger for the battlecruisers. Germany meanwhils will have the Kaiser and Konig class with the Derflinger type battlecruisers. Numbers wise this will translate in a 4 to 3 ratio in favour of the Royal Navy which will be much closer than it actually was by the time these ships were in service. Light cruisers and destroyers will follow the same ratio.

Students of Royal navy history will no doubt have noticed the fact that I have been slightly vague in respect of what ship types I shall be suing for the fleet. This is in intentional as I have yet to decide the fate of such vessels as HMS Agincourt, HMS Erin, HMS Canada and the entire Orion class. The latter will probably not appear in any shape or form simply because I really do not like the casting!

The upshot of all this naval planning is that I will need to acquire some models from alternative sources which will probably mean C in C or Viking Forge (GHQ possibly?) although I am very tempted to try Panzerschiffe in the US of A. These models, although resin, are stylistically more in keeping with the rather basic nature of the Stonewall models. It also means that in terms of completeness the Royal Navy and High Seas Fleet are more likely to be finished first overall - simply because I have far more of the models for these two than for Fezia and Rusland!