A Splendid Piece of News

My planned book of naval wargames for Pen and Sword is back on! 

In a nutshell, following the departure of the commissioning editor at the end of September (I was aware that this going to happen around the beginning of August) I put the manuscript into a holding pattern until I could speak to whoever was picking the title up. The reason for this is that I did not want to draft a whole chunk of manuscript that may not have been required. The half I had written was the main part of the text - the rules and associated explanatory chapters, along with two thirds of the ship specifications - whilst the second half was originally planned to contain the battle reports - the fun stuff.

Fast forward to earlier this week, I had a call with the Marketing Director at Pen and Sword who has taken up a portion of the former editor’s list of titles currently being prepared.

We had a long chat about the book and not only is he keen to publish it but also, he is quite happy for me to write it how I choose. This ‘creative freedom’ (all sounds very ‘art house’) is an absolute godsend as it means I can include exactly what I want and how I want to write it. 

In the short term it means that work on the definitive version of The Portable Ironclads Wargame will be pushed back until after the Pen and Sword title has been completed.

I need to revisit some of the existing text to incorporate some changes but this should not take long to do. I can then suggest a deadline to work towards for submitting the manuscript and start making the designs for the ships I shall be using.

I am really delighted with this news as the book will now have a renewed focus on the size of action the rules are intended for.

Best get cracking then! ;-)

An Unexpected Reunion

The soft-back, slip-cased edition of the old Salamander Publishing large format ACW trilogy

As is customary for a Sunday morning during the summer (and early Autumn) months, Laurel and I headed out to our usual boot sale for a bargain hunt. For the first time since I cannot remember when, Laurel did not buy a thing whereas yours truly picked up a number of items, the only one of interest you would have seen is in the picture above!

I have owned all three of the above in hardback but they left the collection years ago, probably during one of my periodic ‘downers’ on the period. They are essentially picture heavy ‘coffee table’ style books but are worth having all the same. In many ways they are a similar offering to the Time Life ACW series - which I also own, all 28 volumes thereof - but with more colour present. I am still undecided about the land aspects of the ACW as being something I want to pursue gaming-wise although Des Darkin’s recent set of rules has certainly given me something to think about.

The condition of the set is first class. They do not look like they have been read and the only very minor issue is some very light fading to the slipcase. When I say light I mean very light and barely noticeable.

The set was not something I was looking for but for £2 it was an easy decision to make and in truth, I am pleased to welcome these back into the collection.

If only they were the hardback editions….

 

Carrier Battles - In with the new

From the VUCA stable - carrier battles in the Pacific, a subject of great interest to me and has given me some of my best games over the years.

The back of the box.

One of the counter sheets - this is for the Royal Navy and also for the Royal Australian Navy so the Indian Ocean may well see some action!

For me, my love of aircraft carrier battles began with Flat Top, followed by CV, Midway (the 1964 version), Midway (the Smithsonian edition) and Guadalcanal. These are the games that are currently in my collection although I also have tried a few others. All of the above named games have given me many enjoyable and tense games over the years, Flat Top and CV especially.

The WW2 naval shelf - my four additional copies of Flat Top are stored elsewhere.

One of the key elements of a carrier based game is the whole ‘Find, Fix and Strike’ process (with a nod to Mr Manley for using the name of his excellent WW2 rules, available as ever, from the Wargames Vault under his Long Face Game label) and both Flat Top and CV use a plot map. This is a lot of fun and places a premium on accurate record keeping as well as a good knowledge of the rules. All of this takes time and, to be honest, dedication. Games such as Flat Top, excellent though it is, are not particularly fashionable these days, in my opinion that is, so I am not expecting a horde of people getting in touch to have a game!

Task Force - Carrier Battles in the Pacific, published by VUCA Simulations, is the latest addition to my collection of carrier games and for a variety of reasons, may well be, for me at least, the most effective way I can indulge my passion for air strikes and naval surface actions!

The game is quite simply beautiful to look at and as with The Far Seas, the overall production quality is off the charts. The rule book is surprisingly modest - 19 pages in all - and there are 11 scenarios of increasing complexity. I like the idea of this as it effectively layers the rules so that one is not overwhelmed from the outset. The scenarios are as follows:

1. Attack on Pearl Harbour

2. Sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse

3. Battle of Java Sea

4. Carrier vs Carrier (fictional)

5. Battle of the Coral Sea

6. Battle of Midway

7. Battle of the Eastern Solomons

8. Combined Fleet vs Pacific Fleet (fictional)

9. Indian Ocean Raid (fictional)

10. The Battles of Santa Cruz Islands and Second Naval battle of Guadalcanal

11. Solomon Islands (custom scenario)

Certainly I did not expect to see Force Z featuring, nor the Java sea action but they are most welcome additions! Naturally there is the facility to design one’s own scenarios which will be very useful and I have already thought about adapting some of the Flat Top versions. 

In many ways the acquisition of Task Force represents a bit of a change of direction in respect of gaming carrier operations. It will be far easier to persuade someone to have a go rather than inflicting the air and sea majesty that is Flat Top on an unsuspecting gamer!

Well, maybe later, once they have cut their teeth on Task Force!

Getting Your Kicks When Aged 66….

From the top, a bottle of Gordon’s Gin acquired from the duty free shop at Malaga airport this year (so I knew about this!), two very appreciated books along with some Spanish lager from my son (no pictures of the latter as it was consumed yesterday!) and a very useful set of Vallejo paints for RAF day fighters 1941 to 45. Really pleased with the latter as I have a number of Axis and Allies aircraft to repaint for the period.

Well another revolution of the sun has occurred and so today I celebrated my 66th birthday. It has been a quiet, family affair and as I write this the roast beef for dinner is fast approaching readiness! As is customary I wanted to share the details of the prezzie haul and so the picture above shows the key elements of interest, unless of course you wanted to see me modelling my new dressing gown….

Laurel and I spent a pleasant couple of hours this afternoon at a nearby nature reserve, feeding the wildlife and taking in the air. How very rock and roll….

It has been a quite lovely day.

 

WW2 Reader’s Digest Style

A large format, 480 page overview of the Second World War. Plenty of photographs, a few maps and  lots of ‘sidebar’ snippets of information. 

Another Sunday another boot sale! Whilst the pickings were somewhat slimmer than previously, I did manage to score a copy of The World at Arms, published by The Reader’s Digest way back in 1989. 

Bi no stretch of the imagination is this a comprehensive history of the war but as a primer and a ‘dip into’ type of book it certainly fills a gap in my library. I have a copy of Mark Arnold-Forster’s The World at War and umpteen campaign specific titles but it is nice to have a one volume history, even if it is rather more high level than usual. For the cost of £1 it was a worthwhile addition to the library and will grace the shelf alongside The World at War and my copy of The Times Atlas of WW2.

Expanding the World of Madasahatta

Bob Cordery’s excellent compilation of the Madasahatta archives.

The new map of the island, again prepared by Bob Cordery.

Sometime ago I gave serious thought to expanding the scope of Madasahatta to include the Arabian peninsula, the Red Sea and East Africa. I even went as far as raising the required naval forces in 1:2400th via the excellent models produced by Tumbling Dice. It was a sound idea but I could not get over the feeling that I was undertaking the project because I could rather than because I should. It would have been a challenge, nay heresy to essentially rewrite the history of Madasahatta and so, out of due reverence for the events of early 1914 on the island, I decided to leave well alone. I also flirted with an idea to involve the French in the history of the island but aside from a blog post never really pursued the idea.

The French also never featured in Eric’s WW1 South East Asian naval campaign which was a shame as they had some wonderfully bonkers looking ships for the period. I never knew why he left them out but am sure that it was for reasons of practicality around the availability of models rather than anything else.

Anyways, all of this has gotten me thinking once again about the island and how I could add to its history in a plausible fashion. The answer actually came to me whilst I was busy building the Royal Navy ironclads for the Portable Ironclads Wargame: Definitive Edition, to be followed by the Turks.

The Anglo-Turkish War of 1883 will feature Madasahatta as both a casus belli as well as a casus foederis but I need to fine tune the details of exactly how the island became involved in the affairs of the British Empire and that of the Ottoman Turks. Oh, and with a nod to the Germans.

I am unable to furnish any further details about this at present, mainly due to the need to weave an alternate history into the alternate history of the actual history of the period. It may be fictional but there is no excuse for sloppiness with the timeline. In a sense I am hoping that my undertaking will serve as a kind of prequel to the events, people and places outlined in The Madasahatta Campaign, the book compiled and written by Bob Cordery based on Eric’s notes etc.

There is more to follow with this idea and I hope to report back with more details in due course but for now it is back to the ironclad building.

 

Angels 20/Bandits High Reinforcements

After what seems like an age my Angels 20/Bandits High reinforcements have finally arrived from the US of A. The collection is coming along nicely and so the next tranche should finish it off - at least as far as the official models are concerned. Without further ado, here are the all-important pictures.

A pair of FW190Ds and a solitary Wildcat.

A Typhoon and a pair of Spitfire Mk 9s

A Sturmovik along with pairs of Yak1s and Polikarpov I16s.

Needless to say I am delighted to add these to my collection and the selection will really increase the scenario options. I shall look to apply some suitable decals and where needed I will add to the paint jobs. There are a few total repaints - Wildcats into Martlets, 109 Fs and Gs and some lend lease Hurricanes - but for much of the collection just some decals is all that will needed.

As mentioned I will look to complete the collection in due course with the final batch of additions but for now I have plenty to be cracking on with.