Today I Have Been…..

 An old favourite from back in the day - 1980 to be exact - that I spent many hours grappling with at the club. The grey matter still winces at the memory of the abuse it suffered!

…..Mostly sorting through the ship data cards from the old Yaquinto board game of Ironclads and the expansion set. 

I played Ironclads an awful lot ‘back in the day’ but it became a real struggle when you started fielding a large number of ships. It works really well with around half a dozen or ships a side and I have been tempted to use the rules along with my models for old times sake. I would definitely need to revisit the rules though!

A sample ship data cards from Ironclads, in this case the famous Union gunboat U.S.S. Carondelet

The main reason I have been going through the ship data cards is because they are quite useful in respect of what guns are mounted where on a given ship. This in turn is helpful as I am currently drawing up the ship specifications for the American Civil War - the start of the ‘Ironclads’ sub period - for my new rules. These will be appearing in the new book, along with a couple of surprises.

You will recall from my last post that I am currently preparing ship cards that show individual gun positions. This is quite old school in many ways but I am a firm believer in using this type of system for naval games as it gives some extra flavour to the action.

The rules from the Expansion Kit - more ACW ships along with those for the War of the Pacific and Lissa.

Once I have completed the Ironclads ship specs I will go on and produce the ship damage cards. The final part will of course be the Great War, or at least the 1914/15 part of it.

Ship Damage Record Charts

First draft of a ship damage record chart. I fully intend tidying this up in due course but for now it will suffice.

The planned test game did not take place this week and so has been rescheduled for November 5th. There will be doubtless be fireworks….

What I have completed this week though, along with the rules, is the complete ship specification design chapter for the book as well as the ship damage record charts for all the combatants included in the WoFun Tsushima fleet pack. The picture you see above is the chart for two of the Russian Borodino class battleships that took part in the battle where the Borodino was sunk and the Orel was captured by the Japanese. 

I intentionally made these quite large - two ships on a side of A4 although you can get four destroyers - so they are clear and that it is obvious what is what. They are probably not the final version but you can see where my thinking is currently at.

The top half looks at the ship itself whilst the bottom covers the weaponry. Each box in the latter portion refers to a single gun or torpedo mount. The letters refer to firing arcs whilst the numbers refer to the type of gun and the range table it uses. There are six types of gun, six range tables and six levels of protection. 

The rules themselves are heavily influenced, in part, by The Portable Ironclads Wargame but this is not simply a rehash - there is a lot of new material here!

Once the test game has been fought there will be an after action report and pictures to follow. It will see the first use of the WoFun Tsushima collection - at least a part of it - so I am very much looking forward to it!

A Week of Varying Fortunes

A welcome addition to the 1815 section of the man cave library - £2 compared to the published price of £45!

 It has been a miserable week. On Tuesday I managed to stumble whilst exiting the man cave and whilst I did not fall down the whole length of the ladder I did manage to ‘pinball’ between both sides of the hatch opening. The result of this was a badly bruised left elbow and a rather battered right wrist - the latter was not broken but I managed to, to quote the doctor at A and E, “Push some bones in the wrong way.” My planned meeting with Mr Manley was duly postponed and so I spent some time working on the rules for the new book.

That was a bit of a mixed blessing.

It was uncomfortable typing to start with, and to make matters worse, I decided that a chink of it needed changing. The change was relatively minor - mainly the gunnery range tables - but of course there is the inevitable knock on effect, changing the sections that reference back to the tables in question. This in turn meant that the ship specification tables needed changing (again!) so all in all, it meant a week of reinventing the wheel, so to speak, with a large degree of rather clumsy typing!

It is all taken care of now though, and I am far happier with the direction the rules are taking so I should be able to run the first test next week.

Boot Sale Bargains

Laurel and I visited our local boot sale on Sunday - the drive was not too taxing on the arms as the route consists largely of straight roads - and quite surprisingly I was able to pick up a few bits and pieces that certainly lifted my spirits somewhat. Aside from the book above - I am a sucker for anything that has Waterloo on the cover and whilst this is not the most detailed account I have read it is certainly worth having, I also scored the following:

A pair of very slightly used A4 cutting mats and a couple of unused A4 display folders - £1 for the four items

One for Christmas methinks - I am a sucker for old games and this one dates back centuries! 50p and worth it for the 30 D6 alone!

So after a miserable start to the week and a few days of considerable pain and discomfort, the heavens decided that I needed something to cheer me up and guess what? These modest acquisitions did just that!

 

 

Memoir ‘44 Refresh….Kind of….

A newish version of an old favourite - so what is different then? Read on….

I have played many enjoyable games of Memoir ‘44 over the years but for a variety of long forgotten reasons I offloaded my collection several years ago. Was this a mistake? Probably, but like many of my similar disposal decisions it seemed like a good idea at the time. I have often mentioned that I like the all important historical ‘feel’ when playing a wargame and whilst Memoir ‘44 has this it is very much at the easier end of the complexity spectrum. Looking back I think this was the main reason for the disposal.

I only found out that a refreshed edition of Memoir ‘44 was being launched whilst reading about Star Wars: Battle of Hoth. My curiosity was piqued at this news and so, with the usual lack of meaningful forethought for which I am renowned, I picked up a copy.

So What’s New?

The new miniatures. These are now in a hard plastic and are a vast improvement on the original versions

In truth, not very much! The box artwork has been cleaned up and the scenario count has been increased - there are 22 in all with one ‘Overlord’ two board version. The miniatures have been remodelled in a harder plastic and look a whole lot better than the original versions. There are some optional activation tokens that can be used to mark ordered units and the rulebook seems to be easier to read - not that it was difficult in the first place!

The Activation Tokens - movement on the left and firing on the right. The idea is that you place one by each unit you are ordering and flip it from the moving side to the firing side when you engage in combat. 

I did read somewhere that the various expansion sets that feature miniatures will have these remodelled to the new standard but the rules etc will still be the same. So far the only rule change I can see is concerns terrain height and this change should also be applied to the existing expansions.

So what’s next then?

Well, I certainly have no plans at present to go down the rabbit hole and start hoovering up expansions etc - especially as all of the models will be remodelled at some point. I can see myself getting another copy of the base game and the Operation Overlord expansion, along with the double sided desert/snow map board. Most of the scenarios in the expansions can be downloaded from various sources and by making use of the Axis and Allies collection that recently returned home I should be able to fight pretty much anything that takes my fancy.

I think for now the main thing is that I have the base game again and as long as I use it for what it is - a simple but cracking WW2 tactical wargame - rather than what I think it should be all should be well!

WoFun Tsushima Collection

The full Tsushima collection is now ready for action with the bases edged in black (I used a permanent  marker rather than painting them - it was a whole lot easier!) and I have also sorted the ships into their historic formations. There are few gremlins. There are a couple of names spelled incorrectly, one Japanese destroyer was duplicated (Shinonome), another (the Akatsuki, ex Russian Reshitel Nyi) used the wrong image and a further Japanese destroyer - the Arare - is missing. One of the Japanese torpedo boats had the incorrect number - 42 rather than 39 - and a number of their formations were missing entirely - four torpedo divisions in all and an old cruiser squadron.

The Russians had a couple of names spelled incorrectly and the eight ships of the transport squadron used the wrong image - a point of which I am currently in discussions with WoFun.

Despite the above minor niggles I am hugely pleased with the collection and am trying to persuade them to expand the range to include the pre Tsushima ships (and losses) for completeness. 

Anyways, without further ado, here are the two fleets, ready to do battle (and they will be very shortly!).

Japan

1st Squadron, 1st Division - Mikasa, Shikishima, Asahi and Fuji (all PB). Kasuga, Nisshin (all AC) and Tatsuta (UPC)

1st Squadron, 3rd Division - Kasigi, Chitose, Niitaka and Otowa (PC)

1st Destroyer Division - Harusame, Fubuki, Ariake and Akatsuki. 2nd Destroyer Division - Oboro, Inazuma, Ikazuchi and Akebono. 3rd Destroyer Division - Shinonome, Usugumo, Kasumi and Sazanami. All three units are (DD)

2nd Squadron, 2nd Division - Izumo, Iwate, Asama, Tokiwa, Azuma, Yakumo (all AC) and Chihaya (UPC)

2nd Squadron, 4th Division - Naniwa, Takachiho, Akashi and Tsushima (all PC)

4th Destroyer Division - Asagiri, Murasame, Shirakumo and Asashio. 5th Destroyer Division - Shiranui, Murakumo, Yugiri and Kagero. Both units are (DD)

3rd Squadron, 5th Division - Itsukushima, Hashidate, Matsushima, (all PC), Chin Yen (obs PB) and Yaeyama (UPC)

3rd Squadron, 6th Division - Suma, Chiyoda, Akitsushima and Izumi (all PC)

9th Torpedo Boat Division - Aotaka, Kari, Tsubame and Hato. 15th Torpedo Boat Division - Hibari, Sagi, Hashitaka and Uzuru. Both units are (TB)

10th Torpedo Boat Division - Numbers 43, 40, 41 and 42 (42 should be 39). 11th Torpedo Boat Division - Numbers 72, 73, 74 and 75. Both units are (TB)

Russian

1st Division - Alexander III, Orel, Borodino and Suvorov (all PB), Zenchug (PC).

2nd Division - Oslyabya (2nd class PB) Navarin, Sissoi Veliky (PB), Admital Nakhimov (AC) and Izumrud (PC)

3rd Division - Imperator Nikolai I (PB), Admiral Seniavin, Admiral Apraksin and Admiral Ushakov (all CDB)

1st Cruiser Division - Oleg, Aurora (both PC), Donskoi and Monomakh (both AC). 2nd Scouting Division - Svetlana (PC) and Ural (AMC)

1st Destroyer Division - Byedovy, Bystry, Buiny and Bravy. 2nd Destroyer Division - Blestyashchy, Gronky, Grozny, Bezuprechny and Bodry (both are DD)

Transport Squadron - Almaz (a yacht but used as an unprotected cruiser)

So there you have it. Despite a couple of minor niggles I am more than satisfied with this collection. The models (is that the best way to describe them?) look fine and I am sure that I will get some entertaining games with them. I only hope that my discussions with WoFun will yield fruit in respect of the additional ships.

Now, to battle!

Avalon Hill’s Original Midway

An oldie but a goodie. The box is relying heavily on sellotape for its structural integrity but the contents are all present and correct.

I must admit to never having owned or played this version of the climatic battle in the Pacific in 1942. I have gamed the battle using CV - the S. Craig Taylor designed game produced by Yaquinto using his Flat Top system - and it is always a lot of fun. The US needs to keep hidden whilst the Japanese need to attack Midway island. 

Anyway, to cit a long story short I had the opportunity to acquire a copy of the base game at a price that was frankly too good to turn down - so I didn't!

As befits a game released in 1964 the rules are pretty straightforward but do not let that fool you because this offering has oodles of period feel and flavour. It is certainly simpler than Flat Top - which I am a huge fan of - and I would have no hesitation in trying this at the club. All the key elements of carrier operations are there - endless searches, assembling and delivering strikes and protecting the all important carriers. I knew that a number of fan based additional scenarios had been drafted and a chap on eBay produces them. These cover the familiar Coral Sea and Eastern Solomons campaigns (back in the day I played these to death using Flat Top) and also one that I have never looked at - Leyte Gulf in 1944. Both of these are now in the same box as the base game - acquired for completeness naturally!

The contents snuggly stored n the original box

The Midway search boards

The battle board - combat is odds based, how very old school!

The search boards for Coral Sea/Eastern Solomons and Leyte Gulf along with the scenario details and log sheets etc. There are two copies of each map, one for each side.

I must admit that for carrier games this collection is probably more likely to be used than either Flat Top of CV, simply because much as I love both of those games they do need a lot of time and dedication to play successfully. Maybe one day I will be able to persuade someone to give either of them a spin.

In the meantime though, the Avalon Hill game is a welcome addition to the collection and, as I recall, there is a Mediterranean WW2 version available featuring the RN and the Italian Navy using the same system. I will keep an eye open for that for sure!

Hoth, Lissa and Lake Ontario

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Oh yes indeedy! This is a whole lot of thematic fun with plenty of replay value

I had my first game of Star Wars: Battle of Hoth at the club last night - it was enormous fun! It has been described as ‘Memoir ‘44 lite’ in terms of how it plays and that is a pretty fair assessment. It uses the familiar card based activation system with the usual section and tactic cards with the added chrome of leader card. These are optional but certainly add to the Star Wars ‘feel’ of the game.

Scenario 1. The Empire had five infantry units and two of probe droids whilst the Rebels had seven infantry units. 

Paul, my opponent, took command of the Imperial forces whilst yours truly was the Rebel Alliance. Paul has never played a Command and Colours game so it was a good opportunity for him to try it out. We opted to fight scenario number one of the eighteen included in the game and also to take a leader each - these are represented by three cards that are shuffled into each player’s deck - so Paul took General Veers whilst I opted for Han Solo. The winner was the first player to collect four medals with the probe droids being worth two a unit (normally these are not worth any medals).

The Rebels began well enough on their left flank and quickly despatched two Imperial infantry units. The probe droids lurked in the rear of the Imperial position - only one of these was fired on in the entire game -  whilst the Imperial left flank advanced and dealt with the rebels accordingly. They also managed to take a left flank Rebel unit out as well and so reached four medals and victory.

It was only when I got home that I realised we had been playing with wrong number of command cards for the Empire - they should have had three and not the four they used - it was my fault for sure but I am not convinced t would have a difference to the outcome. 

Paul really enjoyed the game, as did I, and we have decided to work through the scenarios including the final epic scale assault on Hoth requiring two copies of the game - which I have.

The next release in the series is rumoured to be the Battle for Endor so expect to see Ewoks, speeder bikes and perhaps AT STs.

Lissa

I have certain degree of history with the Battle of Lissa in that I actually owned both fleets in 1:2400th many years ago. I cannot remember the manufacturer of the models but for some reason or another I parted with the whole lot during one of my periodic project churning exercises. As I recall it was a rules based decision as why they were disposed of - basically there was not a set around at the time that I wanted to use.

Anyway, I digress. 

As well as Lissa it also includes the actions on the Italian Lakes. Needless to say the indefatigable David Manley has covered this period - Broadside and Ram for the Lissa campaign and Krieg Am Gardasee for the lakes (a supplement for Steamer Wars). Both of these are available on Wargames Vault under his Long Face Games label

When I first heard that this book was going to be published I knew that it would inevitably find its way into my collection - and it has! I had considered using Lissa as the battle in Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame (before the ACW part was added to the title) but making the models in the time available would not have been achievable. I may yet get around to it though and this book will be invaluable when I do! 

Lake Ontario

Looking forward to reading this - nice small scale actions, easily manageable and with me looking at the smaller end of the Tumbling Dice age of sail range!

A welcome change of pace has been revisiting the age of sail. Again, I have a long history with this period although have not really done very much with it. I have a few things to look at - more at the lower level rather than fleet sized - with the war in 1812 featuring and possibly the war against the Barbary Pirates. Part of the naval activity in this war took place on the Great Lakes with Lake Ontario seeing some eminently gameable actions. The book above covers not only the naval side but also some of the land actions - again, these are of a size that easily translates onto the table top. 

As ever, plenty of things to keep me ticking over - along with new book, and my next post will provide a bit of an update on progress with this.

Turtle Ships and Samurai

 From the pen of the indefatigable Mr Manley (the rules anyway) and the equally erudite Mr Turnbull

I have not forgotten about this little side project - well maybe a little - but it is something I would like to get to the table at some point. I have ships for both sides from MT Miniatures and the rules from David Manley (who else?) so all that I need is time but of course, as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell once observed: “Time is your greatest adversary!”.

Turtle ships and Samurai - what’s not to like?

WoFun Russo Japanese Ships - A Few Anyway….

 

The contents of Japanese sprue number 2. The ships are 1:1400th and not 1:1200th as I reported previously. The bases have been edged in black using a Sharpie - quicker than painting them! 

All of the WoFun Tsushima set are now on bases so the next task will be to edge them. I will be using a black Sharpie for this as it is quick and easier to do than using a paintbrush. The sprue above was included in the box of replacement bases and as it is a duplicate I thought I would see how the black edging looked. I took the squadron to the club last night and Messrs Fox and Huband agreed that it looked pretty good so I will need to edge them whole collection. It should not take long to do and I have also thought about storage for the two fleets. I am thinking about using A4 sized box files - the type that is half as deep as the normal size. The foam used in the WoFun boxes and be cut to size and shape so that the ships can be stored lying on their side. Despite a couple of minor issues (currently being resolved) I am really pleased with this collection and am looking forward to getting it into action soon.

Research, research and more research.

As part of my research into the ‘Battleships’ era (this is what I have christened the pre dreadnought sub period in the book), I have been adding to the library in a modest way. The latest acquisition is the two titles you see below.

Really pleased to have got these two - the information on the ships involved is really comprehensive and comes with plenty of pictures, many of which are new to me.

For the most part I think I have more than enough in the way of printed material to use for my research into the naval dimension of the Russo Japanese war although there is still plenty more out there!

So aside from the edging the bases of the WoFun models all I then need to think about is the basing for the Tumbling Dice models for the Great War. I shall get that particular task organised over the next couple of days. Then it will typing up the first draft of the rules.

Plenty to do then, but it is all manageable!

Shades of Blue and Basing

Original bases on the right with the newer on the left. I am much happier with the new colour!

Those Wonderful WoFun people have done it again! You may recall that when my Tsushima fleet pack arrived - with the bases - that I had an issue with some of them being way too small for the ship. A fair number of destroyer bases and a few cruisers were short by as much as a centimetre. I duly contacted WoFun who were happy to replace them with the suggested size I wanted which was extremely good of them to do so. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the bases arrived yesterday morning and not only had they replaced the incorrectly sized version but also the entire fleet set and the shell splash, fire and explosion markers. 

I was very pleased with this, thinking at the time what would I do with the excess bases, when I realised why they had done this. The sea colour had changed from tropical to more of a blue water colour.

I spent an hour or so swapping the bases over and fixing the ships in place with a touch of glue and merely have the nine Russian destroyers left to finish the job. I am going to stick with the bases supplied but I will certainly look to edge them as the brown of the laser cut MDF looks plain wrong as sea. In the interests of speed I may just go over the edges with a suitably coloured permanent marker although I have yet to decide what colour would look best.

I have also made a list of the ships included on a sprue by sprue basis. The list will also include the ship type, what formation they were in for the actual battle itself and any other pertinent notes. 

The full review will take place once I have sorted the models into their respective formations and yes, there will be plenty of pictures.

The Great War

I also went through the selection of Tumbling Dice 1:2400th scale models I have for the projected Madasahatta/East African/Arabian Peninsula naval campaign - there are a few models I will need to add for this but surprisingly not that many - with a view to getting the bases ordered from Warbases. Once I have these I can organise the models needed for Coronel/Falklands although the temptation to do something with the Goeben and Breslau in the Black Sea is gnawing away at my conscience!

Another Game and The New Rules

Mr Huband's wonderful 'pimped' Minifigs ships - in this case the Russians emerging from Port Arthur with the two minesweeping destroyers in the van.

Lots of domestic stuff going on at present hence the paucity of postings BUT, I was able to take part in a thoroughly enjoyable Russo Japanese naval game using Mr Huband's variant of Bob Cordery's Gridded Naval Wargames pre dreadnought seton Wednesday evening.

The Battle

There are pictures of the action but sadly my own are rather poor so I will look to get some from Mr Fox at some point. The scenario had a Russian squadron attempting to breakout from Port Arthur with a Japanese force attempting to stop them. A sneaky minefield had been laid more or less on the Russian doorstep by the Japanese destroyers and this was intended to be an integral part of the Japanese plan. 

I should mention that Mr Fox was in command of the Russians whilst yours truly commanded the Emperor's finest.

The Russian force consisted of the following:

Sevastopol PB (Flag)

Poltava PB

Potemkin PB

Petropavlovsk PB

Dvenadsat Apostolov Old PB

Tri Sviatitelia Old PB

Rossiya AC

Rurik AC (Flag)

Gromky DD

Grozny DD

The Japanese force consisted of the following:

Shikishima PB (Flag)

Kaga PB

Akagi PB

Asahi PB

Chitose AC

Yoshino AC

Idzumo AC (Flag)

Ikazuchi DD

Inazuma DD

Oboro DD

Akebono DD

The Japanese orders were to prevent the Russians breaking out whilst maintaining the integrity of the fleet - basically avoiding losses where possible. With this in mind the Japanese plan was simple. The cruisers and destroyers were to ambush the rear the of the Russian line whilst it negotiated the minefield - hopefully with some damage inflicted during the transit. The Japanese battle line held back with the intention engaging the van of the approaching Russians.

The Russians emerged with their two destroyers on minesweeping duty whilst the Japanese flanking force raced to get behind them, counting on the minefield to delay and hopefully break up the Russian formation. 

Aside from scraping the paint from a couple of Russian ships as they raced by the minefield might as well have not been there for all the good it did! This meant that they managed to get much further forward than anticipated, almost up to the Japanese battle line. 

The action that followed was intense to say the least! 

The Japanese destroyers flung themselves at the centre of the Russian line and two - the Ikazuchi and the Inazuma - were duly sunk for their trouble. They died honourably. The rear of the Russian line gleefully engaged the flanking Japanese armoured cruisers, sinking the flagship, the Idzumo. Whilst this was happening the Japanese cruisers fought back hard, battering the Potemkin, the Sevastopol and the Dvenadsat Apostolov. They also managed to sink one of the two Russian destroyers, the Gromky. 

In the van of the Russian squadron the two Russian armoured cruisers had the misfortune of running into the Shikishima, the Kaga and the Akagi at point blank range who then collectively reduced both ships to a sinking condition in fairly short order - to paraphrase Mr Fox as he drily observed, I most certainly did enjoy destroying both cruisers at point blank range!

Sadly we had to call a halt at this point but it was a cracking action. As Mr  Huband observed, the tracks that two fleets took had the feel of an actual battle - which is after all, how it should be. It certainly felt like it!

New Rules

The 'New Rules' alluded to are of course, those that will be appearing in the new book. I am happy to say that I am now at the first draft stage and I will be looking to start play testing in a week or so. There are a few elements borrowed from the Portable Ironclads Wargame as well as Bob Cordery's Gridded Naval Wargames so they will not be too unfamiliar. 

Given that the rules will be extensively tested before publication having them ready now is really handy. As an aside it also means that I will need to get cracking on some painting for the Great War portion of the rules, as well as drawing up some ship charts.

Once again my thanks to Messrs Fox and Huband for a most excellent evenings entertainment

 

Star Wars Assimilated by the Borg…..

The Empire Strikes Back - Command and Colours style….

….and the back of the box

By way of a change of direction this post is firmly rooted in Science Fiction (or should that be Science Fantasy?), a gaming genre that I have enjoyed in many forms over the years.

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth is the latest offering from Mr Command and Colours himself, Richard Borg. When this was first announced some months ago I knew that resistance would be futile and so two copies of the game duly arrived earlier in the week. 

The game rules would be familiar to anyone that has played any of the Command and Colours series of games. Command cards dictate movement and combat and each side - Empire and Rebel - has their own set of 16 order cards. There are also nine leader cards for each side - there are three leaders, each with their own special abilities - and a deck of support cards to use with the two campaigns included. The leaders are Han, Luke and Leia for the Rebels and General Veers, Admiral Piett and Darth Vader for the Empire.

The rules and scenario book - 12 pages for the former and 20 for the latter

The biggest change from most C and C games with this edition is that the playing area is a modest 7 by 10 hexes so the action kicks off quickly. The map board is double sided with the reverse being able to join another board for epic style battles. There are eighteen scenarios, seventeen of these use a single map whilst the last one - Assault on Hoth - is the epic version requiring two copies of the game as it uses two maps for a playing area 15 by 10.

Countersheet front….

….and back

Map board deployed for scenarios 1 to 17

….and the flip side 

The two campaigns included - note each side has their own instructions. Also shown are the dice and assorted game aids.

Most of the key elements from the battle are present - AT-ATs, Snowspeeders, Probe Droids, Rebel Artillery, the Ion Cannon, Sheild Generators and of course, the infantry. In common with some of the Memoir ‘44 expansions, elite units or special weapon equipped squads have a counter to indicate their status. Imperial snow troopers are in 4s whilst the Rebels are in 3s. AT-ATs are singles, as is the Rebel Artillery. Probe Droids operate in 2s whilst the Snowspeeders are in 3s.

Rebels - artillery, a unit of Snowspeeders and infantry

An Imperial AT-AT, a pair of probe droids and a unit of snow troopers.

The AT-AT - All Terrain Armoured Transport. 

Due to the smaller sized board the action stats almost immediately and has that all important ‘feel’ - I defy anyone playing this to not have the soundtrack running through their head, if not actually playing it!

Originally I was a little undecided about this latest offering as I thought it might be a little restrictive but there is still plenty of tactical meat to get into, along with the Star Wars feel. I would have liked to have seen some other material available - AT-STs, leader figures, maybe some Rebels mounted on Tauntauns.

For all that, I am still going to enjoy this first instalment in the ‘Galactic Battles’ series - rumour has it that other battles will feature on a standalone basis but be prepared for a wait though! There are already a lot of fan made ideas for scenarios etc doing the rounds and the 3D printing fraternity have been having a field day. I am looking forward to taking my first steps into a galaxy far, far away….

“Lock S-Foils in attack mode!”

Hard on the heels of the Star Wars bundle came the latest offering from Osprey - Voidfighter: A Science Fiction Dogfighting Wargame. As soon as I saw this I was all over it like a cheap suit - gotta love some Sci Fi dogfights - as this is a gaming subject that has given me some cracking games over the years and long overdue for a revisit. Best of all, you really do not need a lot of material to get some games in.

Plenty of Sci Fi goodness to look forward to then- and I most certainly will!