Great War at Sea Jutland: Dogger Bank

The 1916 Battle of Jutland was not the only action on the North Sea during the Great War. The battle cruisers of Britain’s Grand Fleet and Germany’s High Seas Fleet met in the January 1915 Battle of Dogger Bank, and both fleets continually sortied into the waters dividing them.

Jutland: Dogger Bank continues the story we began with Jutland: Battle Analysis 1914. It’s a book of history, scenarios and game/historical analysis, all woven together to use our Great War at Sea: Jutland game as the basis to tell the campaign’s story in a unique manner.

Dogger Bank picks up the story with the Cuxhaven Raid of December 1914, and continues it into the operations of early 1915 - a rarely-if-ever-discussed part of the North Sea naval campaign. There are 28 new scenarios (11 operational and 17 battle scenarios), plus historical articles and analyses all relating the game play to the actual events. We look at how the game simulates the operations, and then we flesh them out with still more scenarios: fast-playing battle scenarios using just the Tactical Map, and additional operational scenarios using the operational map as well to pick up the action at key decision points and discuss why the admirals involved made the decisions that determined the battle’s outcome.

Jutland is already a very fine game (our most popular ever, even more than Third Reich) and a good instrument through which to re-play history. Dogger Bank and the Battle Analysis make it even more so, while adding more quick fun by fleshing out the battle scenario aspect of the game.