Another surprise benefactor of the ‘no dreadnought’ list building format is the A/H Kriegsmarine. This is because of the Radetzky class pre-dread.

Yes she is far more expensive than the cap ships we have discussed so far but she is a perfect match for the torpedo spam list. She has protection 1, M size and eight first class directed guns. She is faster than most pre-dreads so she takes longer to chase down with torpedo boats. This gives your light cruisers more time to spend shooting at them. As a result you can run a list with one less light cruiser to protect your BB’s.

BATTLE SQUADRON

Flagship

SMS Radetzky (1911) [105]

Battleships

SMS Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand (1910) [105]

SCREENING SHIPS

Light Cruisers

SMS Saida (1914) [23]
SMS Zenta (1899) [23]
SMS Szigetvár (1901) [23]

SUPPORT SHIPS
Destroyer

SMS Balaton (1913) [33]

SMS Tátra (1913) [33]

SMS Huszár (1911) [18]

Destroyer leader

SMS Helgoland (1914) [23]

Points: 386/400

The Novara class in this list are a part of your torpedo attack. Leaving your BB’s with only the two Zenta class LC to keep them safe. Lead your attack on your enemy BB’s and AC’s with the cheap and nasty Huszar then follow up with twelve torpedoes from the rest of the boats.

There are lots of points left for the two fire control upgrade cards to really make those 12″ range band guns hit home.

Let’s talk about all out attack.

BATTLE SQUADRON

Flagship

HMS King Edward VII (1905)

Battleships

HMS Africa (1905)

HMS Hibernia (1905)

SCREENING SHIPS

Light Cruisers

HMS Challenger (1904), HMS Encounter (1905)

HMS Topaze (1904), HMS Sapphire (1905)

‘Eddie’ is the RN’s poster boy. All guns no protection. Yes 1 really makes a difference. Having three of these ‘six gun supermen’ is all about beating your opponents ability to take evasive action. Your opponent shakes one set of ranging in and you just start with another from your next King Edward. This list will punish your opponent for taking an armoured cruiser as well. Don’t forget two sets of directed guns means two different directed gun targets! Send the 4+ FP guns at an armoured cruiser while hitting a BB with the 3+ guns.

Range is the asset you are looking for here. Put these three at the very back of your deployment zone and let the 12″ range band on their guns make all the difference.

This list has a two tiered defense. Put your two Challengers out into the middle of the table to utilize their nasty long range gear and the Topaz will finish off what gets through them. Feel free to lose all your cruisers as long as the 267 points worth of Eddies are left. If you do have a DD break through all that, check out the aggressive self defense these pre-dreads have. Seven 12/18 guns.

I hope you give this format a go. It really is a completely different experience from the ‘Open’ format. Next time we discuss the ‘Chase the HMS Dreadnought’ format.

If you are interested in this style of play don’t forget day three of CANCON 25′ still has spots available.

Cheers and a happy 2025 to you!

-Ben

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

I don’t know what to type! These pictures speak for themselves!

The accuracy in this work is so good! Even the wash is tamed! If you zoom in you can clearly see Matt has used high lights on the grey.

10/10 Matt! Thanks for sharing your First Scouting Group with us!

Not quite the Iron Duke but a steam powered ship none the less. If you are in Queenstown New Zealand it is well worth taking a cruise. I visited because it has all the character, noise and movement of the Dreadnought era.

Originally built to move livestock to remote farms by water Ernslaw has been renovated for passengers with two legs and fat wallets. You can learn more of her history here: wiki link.

The heat the funnel gives out inside the ship is surprising. The sound of the screws pushing the ship along at speed reminds me of Das Boot audio. Best of all, the engine room is open for passengers to watch the five man crew work the engines. Nothing beats the smell of oil, steam and coal.

The view from the ship is ok too.

For the ship painters out there this deck is not holystoned. I get questions about deck wood colour a lot.

I chose to capture much of this experience for you in video because it is the movement and sound of steam power that makes it so different to any other boat ride.

Moving the coal in the bunker towards the engine room.

The above is the view you get from the passenger deck. You can however get into the engine room and stand above it even while the ship is in motion.

Hope you enjoyed seeing just a little piece of the fun. Even in summer it was very cold on the deck. I recommend a good jacket and jeans. Even if the locals are in ‘Jandals” cheers all, Ben.

Please enjoy these new missions. They are at the moment ‘provisional’ until we hear back from you. If you like them or find a problem with one of them add a comment to this post. All going well these will be added to the combat mission book late Feb’ 25.

We hope you like:

…and:

The ‘heavy guns’ keyword rules have sparked much debate. With the rule as written in the August 24’ rule book, ships with ‘heavy guns’ become unrealistically deadly. That’s our bad. The keyword isn’t meant to ALWAYS do double hull damage. So here is a clarification that will hopefully clear this up.

Here is the directed gunnery rule 5 as written:

‘5) Roll to see how much damage the target has received.

Roll the remaining shot dice. Use the ‘Damage Table’ to determine what number is required to cause damage with each ‘shot dice’. The target ship will have a ‘Protection’ stat. Compare this number to the ‘firepower’ of the directed battery on the firing ship. The target’s controller draws a Damage Card from the top of their Damage Deck for each hit that equals the required number. The target’s controller reduces the target’s hull integrity by one for each dice that rolls higher than the required number. If the number required to cause damage was 2+ or better, it is possible to inflict even more damage with this attack. Reduce the target’s hull integrity by one for each dice that rolled a 6.

SMS König’s guns have a firepower of 3+ if her shots hit HMS Warspite with a protection factor of 2 they become 5+. On the roll of a 5 the shots cause Warspite to draw a damage card, on a 6 they cause a hull damage, on any other number they bounce harmlessly off.’

Here is where the ‘heavy guns’ rule comes in:

‘If the number required to cause damage was 2+ or better, it is possible to inflict even more damage with this attack. Reduce the target’s hull integrity by one for each dice that rolled a 6.’

Ships that have guns with the ‘heavy guns’ keyword do double hull damage with the roll of a 6, even if the firepower required was greater than 2+.

That is what the rule on page 24 is referring to. Please be assured that the next print run will include a clearer definition.

Examples of this keyword in practice:

Mitch has activated his HMS Revenge. He nominates Cornelius’s HMS Warspite as the target of his Revenge’s primary gun battery. He ranges the guns in and Cornelius fails to evade any of the shots.

The firepower of the Revenge class primary battery is 2+ and the protection of the Queen Elizebeth class is 2. Mitch will need to roll a 4 to cause a damage card and a 5 to do 1 hull damage. Because the Revenge class have primary guns with the ‘Heavy guns’ keyword, if he rolls a 6 Warspite will take 2 hull points of damage instead of 1.

Mitch rolls eight dice and these are the results: 1, 5, 5, 4, 2, 2, 6, 3.

Cornelius reduces his Warspite’s hull by 4 and draws one damage card. The 5’s did 1 point of hull damage each and the 6 did 2 for a total of four hull points of damage.

Example 2:

Mitch has activated his HMS Revenge. He nominates Cornelius’s HMS Orion as the target of his Revenge’s primary gun battery. He ranges the guns in and Cornelius fails to evade any of the shots.

The firepower of the Revenge class primary battery is 2+ and the protection of the Orion class is 1. Mitch will need to roll a 3 to cause a damage card and a 4 or a 5 to do 1 hull damage. Because the Revenge class have primary guns with the ‘Heavy guns’ keyword, if he rolls a 6 Orion will take 2 hull points of damage instead of 1.

Mitch rolls eight dice and these are the results: 1, 5, 3, 4, 2, 6, 6, 3.

Cornelius reduces his Orion’s hull by 6 and draws two damage cards. The 4’s & 5’s did 1 point of hull damage each and the 6’s did 4 for a total of six hull points of damage.

Example 3:

Mitch has activated his HMS Revenge. He nominates Cornelius’s HMS Lion as the target of his Revenge’s primary gun battery. He ranges the guns in and Cornelius fails to evade any of the shots.

The firepower of the Revenge class primary battery is 2+ and the protection of the Lion class is 0. Mitch will need to roll a 2 to cause a damage card and a 3, 4 or a 5 to do 1 hull damage. Because the Revenge class have primary guns with the ‘Heavy guns’ keyword, if he rolls a 6 Orion will take 2 hull points of damage.

Mitch rolls eight dice and these are the results: 6, 5, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 4.

Cornelius reduces his Lion’s hull by 6 and draws one damage card. The 3’s, 4’s & 5’s did 1 point of hull damage each and the 6 did 2 for a total of six hull points of damage.

*Note that the six did not cause 3 hull damage. The ‘Heavy guns’ rule overwrites the standard section 5 rule where 6’s cause an additional hull damage.*

When you play in the two day tournament at CANCON 25 next year you will be happy to learn that this will be given to you just for attending!

Introducing the River Class.

This is the first new ship for Empires of Steel since our very successful kickstarter Der Tag. If you would like to know more about this ship you can go here: https://seapower.navy.gov.au/hmas-parramatta-i

If you want to see a bit of the real thing and you are near Sydney, head to the Parramatta rivercat dock. Here are some photos Andrew and I took there at the memorial when we were researching her model.

Want to know more about CANCON? Go here: https://cgs.asn.au/cancon/

Want to get the Empires of Steel players pack for the two and one day events? Go here: https://broadsideempiresofsteel.com/2024/10/04/cancon-25-player-packs/

The lines in the bases are already cut by our laser. Just use red for the fire arc lines and green for the center line. Wait for the paint to dry, then peal off the plastic cover (image 1).

You will see that any excess paint comes off with the plastic leaving nice fine straight lines. Stick down the ships name sticker on the same side as the lines are cut (image 2).

Now peal of the plastic from the back of the base, leaving you with a perfectly transparent clean base (image 4 & 5).

Glue down the ship to the base. Make sure the ships center is aligned with the bases green line (image 6).

Dab on white paint to the bottom of the base. No need to be careful or fancy, just make sure it goes on around the outside of the ship. A big brush makes this process very quick and much easier.

Dab on a trail of paint from the aft of the ship to the sticker for the ships wake.

A very successful Broadside campaign is over! We had a lot of fun, met a lot of Broadsiders, shook at lot of hands and had a lot of very fun conversations.

Congratulations goes to Mitch for winning MOAB24!

It was great to meet so many players and share a yarn or two. Many new fleets & launch packs went home with newly piped captains! Three cheers for all our new Broadsiders!

Cancon will be even bigger and better with a bigger shop and three days of Dreadnought combat!

Places are filling up at CANCON already. Here are your player packs for the biggest gig in town.