Land Ironclad Campaign

Lately I have been running a Land Ironclads campaign simulating a German invasion of British soil in the mid 1890's. In the previous few battles things have gone very poorly for the Germans. After initially establishing a beachhead and capturing a small port town the Teutonic hordes were stopped by stout British defense at every turn.

A close German defeat at the crossroads
village of South Newburgshiresvilleton.

Bob... mercilessly destroying all of my Class 1 Ironclads. 

As a response to the most recent German loss the British General Staff laid plans for a wide sweeping maneuver around the German flank designed to cut off a significant portion of the invading army from its supply depots along the channel coast.

Part of this plan involved a feint aimed at a cross roads village where the British forces barely held against a brigade of German armor support by mechanized infantry.

Since the battle ended in a strategic stalemate the General Staff concluded this would be an excellent area to focus their feint on and then swing their right hook at a weakened flank.

All was going well with the initial phases of the British plan and German reserves began to concentrate at the site of the previous battle in order to stem the tide of the British offensive.

Unfortunately for the Tommys they launched their right hook too soon at the German flank. Instead of catching a skeleton force protecting an important east-west road they ran straight into the German reinforcements on their way to their new positions defending against the British feint.

Initial German and British Positions.

The important road junction linking the German extreme left flank with their center was being guarded by an infantry battalion supported by a squadron of Class 5 ironclads. The initial positions of the force gave it a commanding view of the northern approaches to the town.

The British commander in charge of the leading edge of the right hook ordered a mechanized infantry battalion, and supporting  patrol boat aeronef, to make initial contact with the Germans and attempt to force them from the vital town.

RMS Phantom causes havoc on the hilltop. While a German
contraption battalion moves into a flanking position.

Signs of trouble for the British infantry as the
German contraption battalion scores several hits.

The German force had no AA capability and was at the mercy RMS Phantom's bombing and strafing. The British commander on the scene attempted to send for reinforcements to capitalize on the weak German position. But the messenger stop for a pint at a local inn and the request never made it.

Enter the German Luftmarine

 The German commander was much luckier however. With the reinforcements already moving through his area he was able to send a dispatch requesting assistance. Unfortunately no major land forces were in a position to move in to help in a timely manner. What he did get was a patrol squadron of aeronefs, a light cruiser and two patrol boats.

The British finally got a message through and were reinforced with two squadrons of Class 5 and 4 ironclads. The class 4 immediately set to raking the northern hill in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to dislodge the two German ironclads positioned there.

Not a good day to be a foot slogger.

After some back and forth firing from both sides, with little effect, the German patrol boats set to bombing and strafing the British mech infantry with devastating results.

Both sides desperately tried calling for more units to join the fray but sniper fire and confusion ruined any chances of getting a message through to friendly forces.


By this point the British and German had both suffered 15% casualty rates and morale was beginning to slip. The lightning advance the Brits thought they were going to execute was now bogging down in a stand up fire fight. The Germans on the other side were equally concerned about the large enemy force appearing where none was thought to be. The breaking point would come soon for one of these forces.

Oh the humanity! SMS Dortmund fires a devastating
volley at the Phantom, knocking her out of the sky.

It was within the next few minutes that the answer would come when the German light cruiser engaged the British patrol boat and fired a devastating volley from her starboard guns. Realing, the RMS Phantom struggled to fire back but suffered a catastrophic engine failure and fell from the sky taking all 126 crewmen with her.

The British commander on the scene attempted to rally his forces and make one final strike at the hills over looking the objective town. Before his advance could even begin to take shape the German flotilla succeeded in destroying a vital bridge. At this, the British commander judged it to be more prudent to make a tactical withdrawal and come back with a larger force, than to suffer under the blows of a superior naval force.