A Touching Comment

The book….

….and the dedication.

Several posts ago I wrote about my recent acquisition of what was very much a ‘grail’ book for me. North of Gallipoli by the late George Nekrasov (Cmdr, RAN Retd) has the distinction of being probably the only easily available account of the operations of the Russian Black Sea fleet during WW1. The copy I acquired was from an estate sale in Australia and was not signed by the author but was also dedicated to another sadly departed naval historian - Gary Staff, an author of whom I have a couple of titles in my own collection. the book was embossed with the stamp “Library of Gary Staff”.

One of the titles in my collection by Gary Staff. It is a cracking read with plenty of ideas for scenarios

As previously mentioned I was delighted to have acquired North of Gallipoli - and at a very reasonable price - and was even more pleased to receive the following comment to my previous post.

“Hi David. I'm very happy to hear that this copy of Dad's book is in good hands and appreciated. Gary Staff was a close friend to him. All the best.

Alex Nekrasov.”

Call me a sentimental old fool, but I was touched by that post and am now even more determined to do something that would honour both the memory of George Nekrasov and of Gary Staff. 

Now, where did I put my copy of the Navwar catalogue?….

A Lightbulb Moment and the Importance of a Well Placed Comma….

Rough and ready looking I know but this is the final version of the firing arcs. There are port and starboard shown in the left hand diagram whilst forward and aft wide are centre and right respectively. Forward and aft wide overlap with port and starboard and they can be further divided into forward and aft - straight off the bow or stern - and with the option for forward or aft wide solely on the port or starboard beam.

I am often guilty of over-thinking a given situation. This is especially true when it comes to writing wargame rules! A case in point has been the eternal soul-searching, hand-wringing and quite frankly torturous evolution of the firing arcs for the new book. I think I finally have it dialled in though, and, thanks to a valuable brainstorming session at the club last night with Messrs. Fox and Huband, I am even more certain!

I have been looking at this all wrong. I should have learned from the Portable Ironclads Wargame (more accurately Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame) but unfortunately I repeated the same mistake. I will not bore you with the tedious details but suffice it to say, there are four main firing arcs - port, starboard, forward wide and aft wide. The latter overlap the port and starboard arcs and both can, if required, be further subdivided into forward or aft - the row of hexes directly off the bow or stern respectively - or with port or starboard option. This equates to ten arcs if all were used. Where a gun or guns can bear in multiple arcs this is noted on the ship record chart and guess what? This is where the comma comes in. For example, a forward turret that can cover the forward wide arc (which includes the forward and the port and starboard parts) could also cover the port and starboard arcs. Previously this would have had its own diagram and would use the notation FWPS. No longer, as this is now described as FW, P, S. It is the same as FWPS but it better reflects the simpler arc convention and more importantly, can be seen in one of three diagrams rather than twenty! The eagle eyed will also note that I have made the overall Forward or Aft Wide arcs rather more generous in their coverage than previously - this was the mistake I made previously with the Portable Ironclads Wargame. Again, this can be seen in the series of diagrams above.

The plan is to test this at the club in a couple of weeks but in the meantime I will need to tweak the ship specs and change a fair amount of text to reflect the new system. Mea Culpa and all that.

Aside from the brainstorm session there was the small matter of presenting both Messrs Fox and Huband with some Axis and Allies goodies, acquisitions due to some eBay stalking and a bespoke solution now in the collection of Mr Huband. I have added to my own collection by virtue of some boardgame disposals so the Imperial coffers have not taken a hit - just as well as the car has cost a total of just under £600 for a variety of reasons - a new battery, a full service and a replacement pressure sensor!

An interesting set for use with a hypothetical war involving Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I will take a look at the rules and have a look at the ships - maybe a scratchbuilding project?

1:900th scale counters for use until the models are available, along with the turning circle.

Mr Fox presented me with a copy of the rules you see above. I had never seen these although the name Phil Dunn is well known to naval gamers. The rules look to be very much of their time - not that that is a bad thing - but by jingo there is a whole heap of potential! This is something I will take a good look at and then add it to the project list. Probably….

Another set of rules for WW2 naval. Heard good things about this set so will have a look and see what all the fuss is about!

The final piece of naval related news is that I was able to score a copy of Nimitz, the WW2 naval rules by Sam Mustafa from Mr Roche at the club. I have had my eye on these for a while but had not gotten around to getting a copy. More naval related reading material is never a bad thing in my experience!

Pimping an Age of Sail Warship

One of the ships deployed on the game board from Fighters of the Pacific. I have a cloth with slightly larger hexes (50mm across the flat sides) that would better suit them in due course.

Actually there are 9 colours available - missing from the above is the blue version

Painted examples (sadly not by me) I found on the net but for the life of me I cannot remember where from. Apologies to whomever these belong to for not asking permission but they were too lovely to remain hidden from view!

Sometime Ago I acquired a selection of hard plastic generic and stylised looking age of sail two decked warships. The first batch came courtesy of Mr Cordone (with eternal thanks!) and the second were sourced directly from the designer. For the record I have over an under of these and in seven colours! 

I was able to file the hull down to make a single decker and had some plans in raising the hull slightly for the odd three decker but the one thing that was a bit of a niggles was the lack of a ‘spanker’ off the mizzen mast. Well, after an exchange of messages with the indefatigable Mr Manley, writer of rules, 3D printer of things and all round good chap, I now have a large quantity of the said ‘spankers’ with which I can improve the basic casting with. 

The top left is the base model with an added ‘spanker’ whilst the bottom left is the single deck version I converted. On the right you can see the sail, fresh from the printer in its un trimmed state.

I met up in (London) town with him on Monday evening just gone for beers, a bite to eat and a chat and to handover some bits and pieces. He duly presented me with a container full of ‘spankers’ that are very easily attached to the base models and they improve the look immeasurably. Great chap that he is he also gave me some quick and easy painting tips so that getting these to the table should not be an overly labour intensive experience - once I can get the time that is!

Many thanks to Mr Manley once again - now I have to think about what to do with them!

At Long Last - A ‘Grail’ Book with a Bonus!

WW1 in the Black Sea, Russian against the Turks - what’s not to like?

Many years ago, when I owned a rather nice 1:3000th WW1 Black Sea collection of both Russian and Turkish ships, the indefatigable Mr Manley mentioned a book that would be of interest called North of Gallipoli and written by George Nekrasov. This is account of the First World War as fought in the Black Sea between the Russian and Turks. Try as I might I was never able to get a copy and even when I saw it for sale it was usually eye-wateringly expensive. The 1:3000th collection has long gone - another decision that with the benefit of hindsight was a huge mistake - but I still wanted to get a copy of this modest but elusive title. 

The contents.

Lo and behold, I finally secured a copy from Australia for the princely sum of AU$10 plus another AU$20 for shipping or in GBP around £16 in all. I am really pleased to get a copy of this book and an additional suprise can be seen in the picture below.

Signed by the author and dedicated to another author - Gary Staff d.2017 - of whom I own a couple of their titles - what are the odds of that?

The book itself has an embossed stamp (bottom right of the picture) that says ‘Library of Gary Staff’. I since discovered that this book was from an estate sale, presumably that of Mr Staff although it seems to be rather a long time since his death. Normally I am not keen on books with signatures or dedications therein but I will happily make an exception in this case!

Really delighted to have scored this at last!

Putting the Arc in Firing Arc

OK, I know it looks hellishly complicated but this is the draft version - the final copy will be a model of clarity….

After a pretty hectic couple of weeks and with little time to do anything meaningful gaming wise, I was able to spend a big chunk of today grappling with the ever thorny subject of firing arcs for my new naval rules. Well, after much deliberation I think that I may have finally gotten on the right track. To be more accurate, I am probably now at least at the right station so the right track would be a welcome bonus! 

I seem to have managed to have both over and under thought the whole subject of firing arcs - a legacy from The Portable Ironclads Wargame perhaps - but am now cautiously optimistic that they are where they should be.

I mentioned previously that there are six core arcs with an additional fourteen added for extra detail if required. Well, that has now changed a little in that I now have eight core arcs and am hoping to dispense with the extras! 

In the short term this will require testing so I will need to (re)spec some ships to the above template. I want this to work and so decisions will need to be made as to what guns can shoot where on all of the ship charts I have prepared thus far. Not to mention all the appropriate chapters that reference the older version.

Frustrating but needed so there is little point in dwelling on the subject - onwards and upwards and all that….

Vietnam: Squad Leader Style?

That really is the box art - taking minimalism to the extreme methinks - and yes, that is a M18 Claymore command detonated mine. 

During this minor bout of  ‘L'angoisse de la page blanche’ - writer’s block or ‘the anxiety of the blank page’ sounds far more impressive in French - I have been poking and prodding the project pile of shame from various directions and, it has to be said, with varying levels of enthusiasm. It has given me much to think about going forwards though and has served to reinforce ideas about what I will be doing when I can get to do it!

Anyways, as part of my meanderings I made a point of tidying up my board game collection and was pleasantly reminded of a recent acquisition that has been, unsurprisingly, languishing on the shelf of shame.

Front Toward Enemy is a tactical level game of combat during the Vietnam War published by MMP Games. Units are fire teams or specialists - commanders, snipers, medics and such like - with support weapons ‘crewed’ within the counter. There are a of course, helicopters a-plenty - Medevac, Hogs, Slicks, Observation and Cobra attack types. The NV gain the arms and the inevitable black pyjama types along with civilians and plenty of dummy counters. It has two map sheets printed with a suitable Vietnamese landscape complete with rice paddies and jungle which are very nice but printed on paper so their longevity will not be great methinks - off to be laminated I suspect at some point. I have yet to play Front Toward Enemy due to it only being partially punched. This however, will not be a problem as I have discovered a new type of board game therapy - the gentle art of clipping, more of which later.

I had a hankering to tackle Vietnam using a Memoir ‘44 based system and 20mm plastic figures some years ago. Then came a brief flirtation with the game Nam ‘65 which very good but it never really did it for me. I had often thought that the period would work with a Squad Leader style approach which is why I think that this latest acquisition may tick that particular box for me. Time will tell.

The counter clippers I own. More expensive versions include the facility to be able to control the size of the cut. These do not but as they did not cost me anything I can hardly complain!

I mentioned ‘clipping’ earlier and for the uninitiated this is rounding off the corners of cardboard counters to make them more aesthetically pleasing as well as making them less likely to ‘lift’ with excessive use. Essentially you use a tool something like a large pair of nail clippers and carefully trim each corner. It is mind numbingly simple to do and soothingly therapeutic. Of course if you had to tackle such a game as ‘Drach Nach Osten or even Flat Top it may get a little tedious. I have clipped around two thirds of the counters from Front Toward Enemy and I have to say that the effort is certainly worth it. It saves all that careful cutting with a scalpel, thereby reducing the risk to one’s fingers.  

Before and after (actually that should after and before but you know what I mean!). Counters that have a lot of information on them run the risk of having some of the detail removed but luckily in this case all was well. They definitely look tidier in my opinion.

Will I clip the counters from all my boardgames? To be honest probably not, simply because a typical half inch square counter may lose too much when clipped - those above are 5/8th of an inch - but I shall worry about that when I need to. There are some games I own that I would certainly clip the corners of but again, it will be when I need to. Or if I need to do something that will take my mind off things for an hour or so!

Hitting a Speedbump

Speed bump, writer’s block, call it what you will but whatever it is it has slowed me down quite a bit as well as giving me pause for thought. Taking stock is the order of the day at present, that and looking at other things in the hope that I will be sufficiently guilt-tripped back into the right direction!

I had planned to be slightly further along with the new book than I am currently. There, I said it. In truth I am just over 50K words to the good but I have really hit a brick wall. It is not that I have run out of ideas or things to write - more like I am second and third thoughts about what I have written thus far. I am happy with the rules but feel as though I am missing a trick with something. 

The rules as written cope very nicely with around half a dozen or so ships a side. For the ACW this works well enough but I am fast coming to the conclusion that for larger actions the rules will seem a little ponderous - especially when looking at the thorny topic of firing arcs. 

At the time of writing there are six main arcs and then some fourteen others making twenty in all. Bear in mind though, that the additional fourteen are in fact seven arcs mirrored so, for example, a forward turret with an arc of FWPS (forward wide, port or starboard) is reflected as AWPS (aft wide, port or starboard). I am quite happy with using all the arcs and play testing with them has thrown up only a singe issue that was quickly addressed. My feeling is though, that for larger actions this may be a little clumsy. 

Now this point may seem like a modest one but for me it has been seismic in its implications. I wanted to write a set of rules that would appeal to both the naval novice and the seasoned tabletop admiral and indeed, I believe I have but with the focus slightly off target. I am leaning towards using the six arc default for most battles of a dozen or so models a side at least with the additional fourteen as an option for smaller engagements. That in itself is simple enough but it has generated a lot of extra work as the emphasis of the book has been very much towards using the full suite of firing arcs.

It is extra work as changing the emphasis means redrafting a table, changing the text in a few chapters - none of this is hugely challenging to be honest - and then revisiting the ship specifications. That in itself is a big undertaking and to be honest, I think that is why I have been allowing myself to be distracted by other projects! It is not difficult to do but it will be time consuming. Still, it is the job that isn’t started that takes the longest to do - as a wise hobbit once said.