Wednesday War Stories ~ The Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916 – or – When “something wrong with our bloody ships today” makes for a bloody good game

RockyMountainNavy, 28 May 2025

To the naval wargaming community, the Battle of Jutland, the majority of which was fought on 31 May 1916, is one of the most wargamed sea battles, ranking right up there with the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) for the Age of Sail, the Battle of Lissa (1866) for the Ironclad Age, or the Battle of Midway (1942) for World War II. Part of the reason the Battle of Jutland is often portrayed in wargames is not because it was a great victory, but a battle features the greatest kit of the day (battleships!) and so many what-if situations. Why if the weather was different? What if the German main fleet arrived earlier? What if the night action had gone different? Wargames let one play through those alternative outcomes.

The Battle of Jutland was grand in scale. The British Grand Fleet, led by Jellicoe in the battleship Iron Duke, sailed forth with 28(!) battleships, nine battlecruisers, eight armored cruisers, plus 12 light cruisers, 50 destroyers, and one minelayer. The seaplane carrier Engadine was also present, sending up a reconnaissance aircraft in the first instance of one being involved in a naval battle. Opposing was the German High Seas Fleet led by Scheer in the battleship Fredrich der Grosse bringing 16 battleships, five battlecruisers, six pre-dreadnoughts, plus 11 light cruisers and 61 destroyers. That was 1,250,000 tons of British fleet with 60,000 sailors against 660,000 tons and 45,000 German sailors. (Pemsel, pp. 107-108)

The Battle of Jutland is nominally thought to have started at 1am on 31 May when the German Scouting Force of battlecruisers left harbor. The last attack of the battle took place at 4:10am on 1 June when the British 12th Destroyer Flotilla carried out an attack that sank the German pre-dreadnought Pommern. By midday 1 June the fleets had returned home and losses counted—which was in many ways staggering. The British lost 14 ships (3x battlecruisers and 3x armored cruisers, and 8x destroyers for 155,000 tons) and 6,090 sailors while the Germans had lost 11 ships (1x battlecruiser, 1x predreadnought, 4x light cruisers, 5x destroyers for 61,000 tons) with 2,550 dead. (Halpern, p. 326; Pemsel, p. 108)

The results of the Battle of Jutland has always been a contentious issue. Helmut Pemsel relates a common viewpoint:

The German fleet has proved itself to be not only equal to the Royal Navy in many points, but even superior (steadiness, gunnery, night fighting). In material terms the battle is a German victory, but it has no effect on the overall state of the war: a complete victory by the German Navy lies outside the realm of the possible. (Pemsel, p. 108)

That “tactical victory” but “strategic defeat” story makes the Battle of Jutland a favorite topic for a wargame; not only for amateur commercial wargame hobbyist but also for naval professionals. The reason the game was so studied and played are, again, the dichotomy of the tactical and strategic. As Professor Paul G. Halpern wrote in A Naval History of World War I:

The Battle of Jutland was fought and refought in the war games of navies throughout the world in the period between the two world wars. One can become lost in the fascinating tactical and technical details. But what of strategy? One can state unequivocally that Jutland was a strategic defeat for the German fleet. It changed nothing, and the pithy comment attributed to a journalist that the German fleet had assaulted its jailer and was back in jail are essentially true. Scheer had been lucky to escape, and the British superiority in capital ships—with the exception of battle cruisers—was larger than ever. Certainly a great British tactical victory involving the destruction of a substantial portion of the High Sea Fleet would have freed many British resources, particularly the large number of destroyers that had to remain tied to the Grand Fleet and might have received alternate employment in the protection of trade and the antisubmarine campaign. But as to the strategic picture, the route to the open seas remained a closed to the Germans as ever. The blockade was still in force. (Halpern, p. 328)

Cardboard (and minis) Jutland

When I search my personal wargame collection of BoardGameGeek it tells me I have eleven wargames covering the Battle of Jutland in some manner. Those eleven games are:

Jutland Second Edition (Jim Dunngian, Avalon Hill Game Co., 1974) From BGG – “Dunnigan’s first game for Avalon Hill, this is a “play on the floor” game with measured movement and range finding, enabling you to re-fight the great WWI battle with up to 72 individual ships.”

Dreadnought: Surface Combat in the Battleship Era, 1906-45 (Irad B. Hardy, John Young, Simulations Publications, Inc., 1975) From BGG – “…a two-player simulation of surface naval warfare in the period 1906 to 1944 with the primary emphasis on the role of the all big-gun battleship (Dreadnought) in fleet actions.”

General Quarters (L.L. Gill, NavWar Productions, 1975) From BGG – “Although first published in the 1970s, their realistic and elegant game mechanics are still usable today.”

Battlewagon (Stephen G. Wilcox, Task Force Games, 1981) From BGG – “Each player controls one or more ships, each of which have a “Ship Systems Display” (a la Star Fleet Battles or Car Wars).”

Seekreig Fourth Edition (Jack L. Joyner, R. A. Nadeau, Richard Sartore, Richard R. Sartore & Associates, 1981) From BGG – “…SEEKRIEG 4 quickly became one of the most popular naval wargame rules and was nominated for the H. G. Wells Award for best miniatures rules in 1982.”

The Royal Navy (Jack Greene, Quarterdeck Games, 1984) From BGG – “Surface ship only. Hex and counter, but lots of tables and status sheets so it has a miniatures feel.”

Shipbase III (David Ferris, ArmourSoft, 1993) From BGG – “More than just a set of rules, Shipbase III is a computer program that handles all the record-keeping and serves as an interface between you, the gamer, and thousands of lines of code representing years of technical research, allowing the players to concentrate on tactics…and fun!”

Fear God and Dread Nought (Chris Carlson, Michael Harris, Ed Kettler, Clash of Arms/Admiralty Trilogy Group, 2001+) From BGG – “…completes the Admirality Trilogy (Harpoon 4, Command at Sea, Fear God & Dread Nought) Utilizing the same framework, those familiar with either of the other games will have no difficulty stepping into the First World War.”

Great War at Sea: Jutland ( Michael Bennighof, Doug McNair, Avalanche Press, 2006) From BGG – “Players plot their task forces moves on the strategic map and when contact is made combat is fought on the tactical map.”

Line of Battle Second Edition (Stephen Newberg, Omega Games, 2006) From BGG – “A unique combat system simulates shell strengths, immune zones, armor placement, gun ranges and the angle of incoming shot without resorting to complex calculations.”

Battleship Captain (Gary Graber, Minden Games, 2007) From BGG – “…a “miniatures” game system with scenarios played on the tabletop or floor, using the rules and ship counters provided.”

As you look at my eleven Battle of Jutland wargames you see a definite bias towards tactical battles that are the subject of ten games. Only one title, Great War at Sea: Jutland covers the battle at something approaching an operational or campaign level. Several games do have “search modules” that take the game a bit up from tactical but they remain—at heart—tactical treatments of the battle. In many ways the bias towards tactical wargames—certainly present in my collection of wargames—in turn reflects the fascination that Halpern alluded to: Jutland is interesting for the “tactical and technical details” and those are found in tactical naval wargames.

Inevitably, somebody is going to ask which of the above wargames is my favorite for wargaming the Battle of Jutland. As always, the answer is, “It depends.” Though every wargame covers the Battle of Jutland in some manner the design approach of each is truly unique:

• • Jutland Second Edition. A classic floor (gymnasium?) battler with cardboard instead of minis. Simple combat rules but given the size of the battle very welcome. This was the wargame that taught me the basic German tactic “Battle Turn Away.”
  • Dreadnought: Surface Combat in the Battleship Era, 1906-45. Focuses on big ships with big guns at the expense of other details.
  • General Quarters. Good balance between playability and some realism with playability dominating.
  • Battlewagon. SSDs for tracking damage and a fairly simple combat system. Ponderous at higher ship counts but few things are more enjoyable than watching an opponent strike out that last box on their SSD.
  • Seekreig Fourth Edition. For the longest time I thought the combat system was too complex but these days I recognize there is a certain elegance to it.
  • The Royal Navy. Another “big ships, big guns” focused game with perhaps a few too many tables.
  • Shipbase III. My first-ever “computer-assisted wargame.” A favorite as it let you play miniatures but offloaded so many of the calculations. The underlying combat model? Don’t ask just enjoy!
  • Fear God and Dread Nought. Perhaps the “Gold Standard” for tactical naval wargaming. Many complain that the game is too technical and too complex but I contend that, once you learn the system, you likely will discover good playability with technical “crunch” that adds, not distracts, from the game experience. That said, it divided the Battle of Jutland into three phases as all-at-once is recognized as extremely daunting.
  • Great War at Sea: Jutland. I am of mixed opinion; the tactical game out of box is horrible (Dreadnoughts supplement tried to fix it but the core model just does not work for me) and the operational game is, frankly, boring. Pre-plot maybe 96 turns(!) for your fleets and then “hope” they find each other and are able to battle. I have literally played hours and hours only to have both fleets miss finding one another.
  • Line of Battle Second Edition. This is the wargame that really taught me the concept of immunity zones. Don’t know what that is? Play this game to find out.
  • Battleship Captain. With 1,000 print your own ships this is a toolkit for great gaming. Gifted this to RockyMountainNavy Jr. many years ago as the core game is easy to learn and teach.

What is your favorite Battle of Jutland wargame? Tell us in the comments!

Sources Referenced:

Halpern, Paul G. (1994) A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.

Pemsel, Helmut (1975) A History of War at Sea: An atlas and chronology of conflict at sea from earliest times to the present. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.

Feature Image:  ‘Windy Corner’ at the Battle of Jutland 1916 courtesy bishopmarineart.com.

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