Duel 2 : HMS Indefatigable was victorious! A combination of winning the initiative each time and stellar marksmanship (except for missing with a torpedo at 3k yds) had the SMS Von Der Tann down to 3 hull boxes in addition to an engine and bridge critical...and then a magazine critical, BOOM!

Wilf,

Did you give the German ship's veteran crews?  Just wondering.

Wilf,

I was just curious.  I would leave  out crew rating in a learning game too.  Coronel on paper looks like a fairly even match, but factor in superior crew and the historic victory of the Germans is easily explained.

I'm keen on using Over-concentration - but not so keen on over-penetration.  Depends on the battle I guess.  If I did use it I'd probably change it to -1 for 3 levels of difference or possibly even 4.  I don't think you would have had any ships that would have been affected by Over-concentration anyways - it only affects 12" or larger guns at long range.

From K&K I am definitely going to use the new damage rules.  I think they are simpler and quicker, and I probably won't even introduce the ones in the rulebook.  I really like the range-based AP mods - although I would probably leave them out of the first game or two.  But I think range-based AP is key to emulating WW1 naval battles.

-Tim

Also, while it's likely the historical result at Coronel was not a fluke, I would caution against using "reality" as a guide to what should happen on the wargaming table. When observing history, we have the benefit of hindsight as well as the limitation of seeing only the one possible outcome that actually happened.

Besides, if a scenario is designed so that the only possible (or even most likely) outcome is preordained, that doesn't make for a particularly fun game.