Postcard Scharnhorst: Nordkapp Dec43 2026

Although the North Cape/Nordkapp scenario is possible to set up both in my point-to-point Murmansk Run and fast-play areal Postcard Murmansk games, there was a lot of groping around in the utter winter solstice and new/no moon blackness of 26Dec43, and the hexagonal approach seems the best for the battle. All warships independent of the convoys and directly involved are individually present - HNoMS Stord flying its Viking-like naval ensign and getting a history-attested aggressiveness bonus for torpedo-attacking. 12 2-hour turns. 3 hexes from the North Cape up to Bear Island. Airpower missing greatly simplifies and speeds play. The caliber vs. armor differential factors I first used in my 1997 Naval Action naval miniatures rules, and Postcard Scharnhorst can instead be used to set up naval miniatures battles. Convoys Murmansk-bound JW55B and empty, returning Britain-bound RA55A are abstracted, but sunken merchant ships equal victory points - double value for JW55B's east-bound loaded merchants. Independent British warships/units which share a hex with a convoy are subject to U-boat attack. It's a violent little thing - not for the faint of heart: detection can be chaotic and for Scharnhorst target-rich but also peril-rich. Duke of York is dogged by possible quadruple 14"-gun turret breakdowns which plagued its class, while some of Scharnhorst's less devastating 11" shells may possibly prove to be sabotaged duds anyway. With randomly deployed decoy markers, solitaire play is fascinating. If the destroyer squadrons are disengaged from the big ships, there can be as many as 4 players ... plus convoy commanders?

—description from the designer