As we are doing something a little different for CANCON on Day Three, I’d thought I’d share some list ideas for our Pre-Dreadnoughts only tournament.
Firstly, here are the rules:
- 400 point lists only.
- No ships after 1914. (You can include ships from 1914).
–The only ships you can have in your battle squadron are Pre-Dreadnoughts. (No Battle cruisers or dreadnoughts)
-No Lord Nelson Class ships. (Not cricket. This class isn’t really a Pre-Dread).
I use Lord Nelsons when ever I can. I am a really big fan of the class. Sadly, she is just too advanced for this format and would dominate list building.

If you have a bit of a click through list building following the above rules you will see it still leaves a lot of options open. The 1914 date helps many nations field a good mix of gear. In truth, the RN could be limited to earlier but we will see what our players deliver.
The bad news is the Ottomans are out. The format doesn’t allow BC. Sorry Ottoman players!
What this format does do is let other ships rise to the top of the pile. I will highlight this in some lists below. Without a dreadnought on table to ruin your second line battleships’ day, its fun to see just how many great ships there are to choose from.
All this being said, Pre-Dread combat is a completely different game. For a start, your older destroyers are way faster than the average Pre-Dread. So DD’s you normally skip past are good again, especially considering the thin 400 point total. Pre-Dreads have just 6 hull. Any torpedo hit will cripple them. Given that some nations can put a DD on table for less than 20, the DD spam can be even spammier!
Pre-Dreads have a low directed gun count so ranging in isn’t the end of your enemy battleship. It takes time and patience to grind your way though your opponents hull count. This opens up room for evasive action to really work keeping your cap ships alive if you are on the pointy end of a round one double 6.
At around 85 points each your 400 point lists can go as high as three Pre-Dreads! This makes the table look a lot more like Tsushima era combat. It also build a formidable hull point wall your opponent has to push through to get the big points from your fleet.
Don’t forget to add aircraft. 15 points to get you the jump on your opponents ranging in attempt can be game changing.
Okay, without more text, lets get to list ideas…

BATTLE SQUADRON
Flagship
SMS Preussen (1905) [94]
Battleships
SMS Braunschweiger (1904) [94]
SMS Lothringen (1906) [94]
SCREENING SHIPS
Light Cruisers
SMS Mainz (1909) [26]
SMS Magdeburg (1912) [30]
SMS Kolberg (1908) [26]
SMS Augsburg (1910) [26]
Points: 390/400

So here we have a list that has the all important ‘Protection 1’. It is a big ‘point wall’ (hiding your fleets points behind big hull counts and strong armour). The cruisers are there just to keep DD from getting to your ‘point ships’. They all have torpedo rooms though so if you have the chance launch, do it every activation! These BB’s have a high directed gun count so getting points, from AC and protection 0 BB will be easier than most. If your opponent has a used all of their 400 points, you might be able to use ‘advanced gunnery’ upgrades to pick on a single ship with two of yours.

BATTLE SQUADRON
Flagship
Danton (1911) [91]
Battleships
Voltaire (1911)
SCREENING SHIPS
Armoured Cruiser
Victor Hugo (1905)
Leon Gambetta (1905)
Light Cruisers
Friant (1895)
Chasseloup-Laubat (1895)
Bugeaud (1895)
Points: 399/400
Unlike the RN, the French Navy budget was strangled by the necessaries of the land war; otherwise we would have these beauties! It might surprise you to see that France is an apex predator in this list format. Check out Danton Class:

She has the same number of directed guns as the Braunschweiger (Der Shwagger) but because of her points reduction from her gun keyword, they are all better. Add protection 1 to the mix and you have a BB killer. She can’t defend herself so the Friants must always be between the enemy DD’s and your point box. Space them out so when your Danton slides forward she has a clear line of sight to the enemy BB’s. You don’t want to give your opponent free obstruction save bonuses.
Speaking of bonuses, the French has one of, if not THE best, AC in the game.

Leon Gambetta (Le’ Bettah) has speed 6 and size M, making her fast and hard to hit, she has the best AC protection of -1 and to top it off she has the best DD killing guns in the game! Seven of them. Give her a more speed order to get her 12″ torpedo room in range of something big & slow and you have expendable mid field power.
I will leave this format with you to try with your favorite nation. I am sure you will find it a refreshing change from the normal shopping list BB’s you default to when building a 600 point fleet.
I’ll be back a little later with two more lists for this format.
-Ben