A Wargaming Odyssey
This is a long running and continuing journey around a collection of ideas, projects, games, models and a variety of wargaming related themes from my own imagination and from others. As I have been described as having the attention span of a forgetful goldfish you can rest assured the resulting subject matter will be diverse and (usually) entertaining! "He lived in a frenzy of enthusiasm — but nothing lasted for long with him".
Thursday 25 July 2024
The French Connection - Part One and Two
Monday 22 July 2024
In the Air and on the Sea
The aircraft counters - there are quite a few less than Flat Top!
The great counter punch out continues! After having completed Bismarck and Submarine I turned my attention to the pair of Avalon Hill Smithsonian series games - Guadalcanal and Midway, both designed by S. Craig Taylor Jr and released in the early 1990s.
Guadalcanal was originally covered via Flat Top whilst Midway was originally CV which of course used the same system as Flat Top (although it was an updated version of the original Flat Top).
I never thought I would say this but at first glance I reckon that the two Smithsonian offerings may well be an evolved and better option for my gaming in this period than using Flat Top or CV, in the much the same way as Mustangs (the WW2 aerial game from the series) proved to be a similar step up from the earlier Air Force/Dauntless/Expansion Set series. Much as the earlier games will always feature in my inventory one has to move with the times and besides, these are more solo friendly or rather they have a much smaller table footprint!
In each case the counter count is a lot less compared to the 800 of the original Flat Top, 1,200 for the Avalon Hill version and even more for CV. Again, this is better as it means a quicker set and take down.
I have a whole pile of other games that will need counters punched, labels applied, cards sleeved and even miniatures to paint but for now ‘punching and bagging’ is the order of the day - and I must say that I am rather enjoying getting these ready for action and will look forward to getting them to the table.
Part of the French contingent of my WW1 collection - nothing major, 4 x SPAD 13 (only two here) and a pair of BR 14s.
I did not plan to build a French contingent for my WW1 aerial collection - in fact originally the French models I owned were offloaded - but almost by a process of osmosis (a pair of SPADs were included in a job lot I acquired) I now have a representative selection for 1918. This means that for the Allies I have sixteen single seat fighters - four each of SPAD 13, SE5, Camel and Snipe. The pair of BR 14s join pairs of RE8, DH4s and Bristol Fighters.
I would love to tackle the 1916/1917 period but sadly the models, when you can get them, are usually really expensive. One could make use of non ‘official’ models but these would of course not have the appropriate manoeuvre deck nor the specific base.
I must admit that I am enjoying all these ‘gaming administrative issues’ and am sure it will get me back to the tabletop sooner rather than later!
Sunday 21 July 2024
Grid Based (mostly) Naval Goodness
A boot sale bargain - not my usual area of interest but for 50p I could not really turn it down!
As part of my ‘front loading for retirement’ I managed to track down a number of board games from my, well, board game era - and these included the two you see above. Submarine is a detailed tactical level ‘submarine versus a convoy’ style game and was a great favourite of mine from ‘back in the day’. The RN and the Kriegsmarine feature, along with the US and Japan as well as Italy, France and Russia. the rules are very much of the time - the game was originally published by Battleline and was designed by Steve Peek (who worked alongside S. Craig Taylor Jr of Flat Top fame).
Bismarck needs little introduction from me and this version is the second edition published by Avalon Hill. The search system is very good and the game features most of the major vessels for the early war period with a tactical system that covers basic, intermediate and advanced options - the latter uses a tabletop rather than a grid. A couple of expansions were produced - one covering the operation against the Graf Spee and another which covered the ‘pre Bismarck’ period so Scharnhorst and Gneisenau took centre stage against assorted elements of the Home Fleet. All good fun and eminently gameable as relatively few models are needed.
The book you see was a cheeky boot sale bargain from this morning. Not my usual ‘bag’ but I will read it and would happily pass on to anyone with a deeper interest in the period.
On that note I will Finnish….. :-)
Saturday 20 July 2024
Either End of the Spectrum
Wednesday 10 July 2024
A Naval Wargaming Miscellany*
*With apologies to Bob Cordery for borrowing part of his blog title!
Shown for completeness - volume one and the newly acquired volume two of the German Capital Ships and Raiders series
It is a bit of mixed bag this post as there are a few periods being covered - it just seemed tidier to roll them all into one!
First of all is the book section. I am delighted to have been able to score volume two of the German Capital Ships and Raiders of WW2 series - highlights of this volume include the Channel Dash, operations against the Tirpitz, Barents Sea and the North Cape - and the Malta Convoys title was a 50p charity shop find! I have owned Six Frigates previously but this was one of the titles that vanished into the Bermuda Triangle a few years back - at least I think it must have asI do not remember selling it!
Monday 8 July 2024
Of Wind and Water - Revisiting the Age of Sail
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.
Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in every clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes,
You will find us always on the job
The United States Marines.
Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve.
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
Sunday 7 July 2024
Boot Sale Bargain - At Last!
Cue the Conan soundtrack album - or maybe not!
Despite the erratic nature of the weather recently - wind, rain and blue skies, usually in quick succession and in no particular order - Laurel, holly and I popped out for a short while to the local-ish boot sale for a few hours. As expected it was quite sparse in terms of sellers and none of us were expecting any great bargains.
Until I saw the above that is!
This is a tongue in cheek game of back stabbing, stealing treasure and (hopefully) killing assorted monsters and is described as being a dungeon crawl without the role playing stuff. I am all for fun games, if not down right silly even, as they are a nice change from the more serious games we routinely play.
The game is complete and to be honest looks barely used and cost me the princely sum of £4 which is a small price to play for the laughs this will generate.
One for the family at Christmas as well - it will make a change from Monopoly (and the ‘frank exchanges of opinion’ that usually ensue!) - as it is designed for three to six players.
Boot sale pickings have been very slim of late so this was a most welcome way to break the dry spell. I may even look out some of the other Munchkin titles. Just for a laugh naturally!