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.

Boot Sales and Counters

Following on from previous post below are the close up pictures of the counter from The Far Seas.

These are the counters that are used when playing solo. In this version you play the British whilst the bot controls the Germans.

The Royal Navy and yes, there is rather a lot of them but there is a fair amount of scrap metal in evidence!

The Germans along with the French, Japanese and a pair of Russian cruisers to add to the fun!

Three more for the library with the SAS book being really handy as a resource for the board game SAS Rogue Regiment. Damian Lewis has written a number of titles about the SAS during WW2 and this volume covers the operations in France and then in Germany towards the end of the Second World War. The other two titles are something of a departure from the norm in that I have never really looked at the Baltic in WW1, or submarines from the period. Something to rectify methinks and at 50p each they do not break the bank!

Although we missed last week at our usual boot sale, Laurel and I managed to get to it today and once again, I was able to score a few bargains. Three books again, the SAS title costing £1 and the other two 50p each.

Of immediate use is the SAS title as it will provide some useful inspiration for SAS Rogue Regiment, the board game covering the period of the book and not the more usual desert. The other two title cover subjects I am not overly familiar with so are welcome additions to the Great War naval part of my library.

All in all then, it was a worthwhile trip out today and best of all, the coffers are relatively unscathed for The Other Partizan on October the 11th!

The Far Seas

The box art….

….and the rear showing some of the counters and a section of the map

I have probably mentioned on more than occasion that I am hugely fond of ‘hunt the raider’ style naval games. With this in mind I recently acquired the card based game The Kaiser’s Pirates but what I really wanted was a good board game covering the subject. I owned a copy of Cruiser Warfare by Avalanche Games but for a variety of reasons, as with most of the same series, it never really ‘did it’ for me. There was magazine produced game called The Far Seas many years ago that was highly regarded but I do not recall ever getting around to getting a copy.

Anyways, fast forward to 2026 and VUCA Simulations have released a game called The Far Seas that covers German cruiser operations at the outset of WW1. I have had my eye on this for sometime and so finally pulled the trigger and acquired a copy.

What can I say? Well, to begin with the production quality is of the highest standard. All the components, counters, the mounted map board, tokens, charts and tables and the rule book are quite frankly, outstanding! 

The game is designed for two players but does come with a full solo system and a dedicated counter sheet for this version. I will let the pictures do the talking.

The rulebook, record pad and charts etc. Note the solo version of the game charts.

The three counter sheets. Number three is for the solo game.

The mounted map board. The rectangular section along the bottom edge is used for resolving tactical battles.

The rest of the components, a D6, wooden cubes etc and three drawstring bags.

I am really delighted to have a copy of this and am looking forward to getting it to the table. The rulebook is fairly daunting but mercifully is not written in bible print and features many diagrams and examples of play etc. The learning scenario is a straightforward tactical battle - Coronel to be exact, with the Falklands featuring as well - to ease you into the system and already I have plans featuring models….

For a variety of reasons, specifically a very trying couple of weeks, this arrival has given my weary spirit a much needed boost!

Ironclad Hulls - Phase 1 Complete!

The twelve ships of the Royal Navy sans their main decks and any kind of sailing rig. For reference the hexes you see are 4” between the flat sides. The top two ships are a pair from the Minotaur class and will both feature five masts!

All twelve of the Royal Navy lower hulls have been completed - and quite splendid they look! The next step will be to tackle the main decks - hatches and similar odds and ends - and then to finish off will be the masts and spars. Of the twelve ships under construction eight of them are quite straightforward in that they have a main deck that will need a few hatches and a funnel or two. Four of them however, will need rather more care and attention. These are H.M.S. Monarch, H.M.S. Devastation and the two Belleisle class ironclad rams. For all that though, I should be able to get their main decks completed en masse so that is the next task.

A side view of the hull of (either) H.M.S. Belleisle or H.M.S. Orion.

A rather lovely model of H.M.S. Devastation. My version will be considerably simpler looking!

Really pleased with how these are shaping up and I am looking forward to getting the Turks completed next, along with a few Germans.

There is a cunning plan afoot….

Boot Topping Using 1mm MDF

Step 1. Draw an outline of the required shape - in this case a spare 3mm hull template.

Step 2. Cut a rectangle around the shape and where possible line this up along one side of the hull.

Step 3. Trim the layer to the rough outline of the template. 

Step 4. File the layer to match the template being sure to make sure that it fits the template. It is not a good idea using am already painted hull section as a template as you only end up having to to paint over it again!

I have just completed the preparation stage of the Royal Navy ironclads ‘boot topping’ - the white line along the side of hull between the main hull colour and the red anti-fouling paint - using a single sheet of 1mm thick MDF. This means that the twelve Royal Navy ironclads can finally have their lower hulls assembled which in turn translates into ‘I can get all the hulls fully completed over the course of the next week.’ Tomorrow I shall complete the assembly of the lower part of the hulls with the main deck next. For the most part these have white edging so I shall tackle the paint job first and then add them to the rest of the hulls before painting the decks.

That is the end result. The above has nit been assembled as such but I wanted to show the finished effect. The above model is one of four similar vessels that require a top deck edged white. A mention in despatches if anyone can work out what ship this is meant to be!

In truth the boot topping was straightforward enough to implement but it would have been a lot simpler if I could have gotten the hull layers laser cut. The material is easy enough to work with but it did involve rather a lot of cutting and filing. At one point I was thinking that maybe using masking tape was not such a bad idea after all! Seriously though, I am very pleased with the results - I will post pictures when the hulls are fully completed, just before I start on the deck fittings, masts and spars.

Originally I had ten hulls to prepare and it was only when I had started them that I realised I had forgotten the two armoured rams - H.M.S. Belleisle and H.M.S. Orion. Originally I was going to leave them fully black sided but decided that a uniform scheme with the rest of the Royal Navy would look better from an aesthetic point of view.

Whilst the paint was drying I took the opportunity to spend sometime on the models of H.M.S. Devastation and H.M.S. Monarch. The first thing that I realised is that my planned turret size of 1/2” is actually correct and not the new 15mm versions I ordered. The smaller size did look too small but of course, the layout of both ships means that they really need to be that size as there is a degree of deck fixtures and fittings to be taken into account. Plus the fact I based the measurements of the aforementioned fixtures and fittings on the smaller size of turret! 

All in all then, a fair amount of progress has been made and, for a variety of reasons too tedious to recount, a welcome distraction from the trials of this week!

Blog Woes

For some reason my blog reading list has barely updated for some three days now. I understand this has affected a number of bloggers and it is really frustrating. If anyone has any solutions to this please let me know - I am getting further and further out of date!

The Spanish Civil War Afloat

Designed with the author’s Find, Fix and Strike WW2 naval rules in mind but would be readily usable with any rules set. From the pen of the renowned naval wargamer and all round good chap, Mr David Manley. Available as usual from Wargames Vault under his Long Face Games label.

The naval section of my Spanish Civil War library. I also have a copy of the 1922 to 1946 edition of Conway’s Fighting Ships. More than enough to be getting on with methinks!

Following on from my acquisition of a painted 1:3000th Spanish Civil War naval collection awhile ago, I have been occasionally dipping in to my modest selection of books on the subject with a view to getting some games in. I was in no particular hurry to do so, simply because I needed to rebase the models and also add a few more models to the collection. Two things then happened to push this idea a little further up the ‘to do’ list - the release of the latest offering from the indefatigable David Manley and the appearance of a new book on the subject.

A more detailed description of A Fleet Torn Asunder and much more besides can be found on Bob Cordery’s blog - Wargaming Miscellany.  I can add little to what he has written other than to say it really is a cracking piece of work. 

The Fleet that Fought Itself by Laurence R. Heinz (published by Seaforth, ISBN 978 1 0361 1398 8) tells the story of the naval dimension of the Spanish Civil War from what I would describe as ‘the big picture’ level. There are plenty of maps and descriptions of various battles, blockades and bombardments, along with technical details so all in all it is a pretty good one volume history from what I would have read thus far. A worthy addition to the library.

Meanwhile, back to the ironclads….

Further Adventures with 1mm MDF

All the hulls currently under construction for the Anglo Turkish War of 1883. The red-brown edged hulls at the bottom of the picture are for the Royal Navy and as you can see, one sheet of MDF is more than enough to provide the ‘boot-topping’ layer on the lower hull.

I never thought I could get so excited about sheets of 1mm thick MDF! Usually Tuesday is quite a busy day at Maison Crook but today we had an unexpected break from the usual routine meaning that I could get up into the man cave to try out my idea for my latest acquisition - the aforementioned sheets of 1mm thick MDF.

If you recall my plan was to use a layer of this material, edged in white prior to assembly, to represent the ‘boot-topping’ or the narrow line of paint between the black of the hull and the red anti-fouling paint that was a feature of many ironclad era warships. 

The first thing I did was to draw around one of the hull templates I am using - in this case for H.M.S. Agincourt - and then cut it out. I used a scalpel for the straight lengths of the hull but to be honest, a good pair of scissors works just as well, as I later discovered. Some careful filing was then needed so that the newly cut template lined up with the hull. Given the thickness it is very easy to file and more importantly, does not seem to shed much in the way of fibres. Obviously the closer the cut the less filing would be needed. 

The picture above shows the two Minotaur class lower hull layers alongside the first 1mm MDF ‘boot-topping’ layer. Although they look different sizes that is an optical illusion caused by the fact that the two lower hulls are currently resting on a couple of Jenga blocks as I took the opportunity to give then another coat of paint.

In a matter of minutes the completed template was ready to paint except for the fact I had forgotten that my MDF primer had been used up and has yet to be replaced! It matters little as in any event I can get the remaining nine hull templates cut out and tackle the sealing, undercoating and painting in one fell swoop.

I am absolutely delighted to have sourced this material and fully expect to buying more in due course. The fact that it can be cut with scissors is a real bonus and this has given me plenty of ideas for other scratch-building projects. 

First order of business though, it to replace the MDF sealer!

Boot Sale Bargain Bonanza!

The book of the BBC TV series 

Not seen this one before, a great doorstop of a tome that I will review in more detail in a later post.

Again, not seen this one before so will report back later.

An Ian Allan title containing everything you wanted to know about the V1 flying bomb. There are 15mm models available of this so setting up a ‘down the V1’ style of game should be easy enough. It should be a blast!…. Best take another look at Operation Crossbow methinks.

Yesterday morning saw Laurel and I heading out to our local boot sale for our usual Sunday morning bargain hunt. Laurel had a list of around five things she was looking - and surprisingly managed to get every one! I was largely resigned to the fact that the pickings for me were going to be decidedly slim as we approached the last couple of less than proposing looking stalls. Would there be anything that I would be interested in?

Winding back from this slightly, I had managed to capture a copy of the BBC book about the Special Operations Executive during WW2 for 50p so in fairness was not entirely displeased with the mornings activities. It was when we visiting the penultimate stall that all this changed though.

Not one, not two but three books of interest, in good condition and for 50p each! It made for a very happy blogger indeed! 

A Solution to a Naval Problem

H.M.S. Superb - note the white ‘boot topping’.

One of the challenges when scratchbuilding warships is how to tackle ‘boot topping’. Traditional boot topping is the line along a ship’s hull between the main colour and the red anti-fouling paint. For the Royal Navy during the ironclad era this was white, as seen in the model of H.M.S. Superb above, now in the collection of Bob Cordery.

In the past I would laboriously apply masking tape and paint the line but, to be honest, it is a little on the fiddly side as straight lines and I have what can best be described as a tenuous relationship…. The red anti-fouling lower hull is simplicity itself as the whole layer of 3mm thick MDF is edged in the appropriate shade prior to be fitted to the upper hull. It is for that reason the line for this is absolutely dead straight! I also employ a similar technique for broadside mounted gundecks where a white line is required. 

The Hampton Roads trio that need no introduction! Note the gun deck on the Union frigate - the layer was painted before assembly which makes the whole process very straightforward to execute.

It occurred to me sometime ago that the same technique that I use for the red anti-fouling layer - painting it first and then adding it to the hull - could also work for the white boot topping. The only problem was that I was unable to source any material that could be usable. Most suppliers of laser cut MDF usually work in two or three millimetres and I really wanted something one millimetre at most. I discarded the notion of using plastic card or even ordinary cardboard - the former requires rather more work than MDF and the latter is too fibrous when filed to size. 

I have no idea what prompted it but I was having a meander across the internet when I found a supplier of 1mm thick MDF sheets that are A4 sized. Straightaway I ordered ten sheets that will not only be used for the aforementioned boot topping or other lining effects but also for things like flying decks or other superstructure bits and bobs.

The immediate effect of this is that the work on the Royal Navy and the Turkish hulls can continue - in truth I was puzzling about best to tackle this as I have around two dozen ships to complete.

Like most simple ideas I can’t believe I did not think of this sooner….

Summer, 1940….Angels 20/Bandits High Style

The following are a selection of pictures from the game. The one above shows the Me110s at the start of the action.

Battle had been joined at this point - aircraft screaming around all over the place.

A Hurricane overshoots a 110

The general consensus of opinion is that going nose to nose with a 110 is usually never a wise move….in this case though, honours were even!

A wider view of the previous picture

An earlier shot, showing the fast approaching Hurricanes.

Well the action was fought and despite running out of time (due to a late start) the adaptations to the core game rules are progressing very nicely indeed. In fact, the general consensus is that the next write up will be it - at least until anymore aerial anomalies occur!

Angels 20 and Bandits High were the two collectible miniatures WW2 aerial games produced by Wizards of the Coast. Along with the two starter sets, additional aircraft could be purchased in booster packs. There were two sets, each of 31 aircraft but the actual number of models produced was far smaller as many of the aircraft were represented by more than one data card. For example, there were two Typhoon cards, three FW 190A cards, three Wildcats and so on. Models are available on eBay and similar but prices are starting to get higher and higher for the official models although with the increasing use of 3D printers, it is possible to source suitably scaled aircraft from there. The scale of the models is 1:100th or 15mm if you prefer.

The rules are very straightforward and it is fair to say quite gamey. That is not a criticism but any dyed in the wool aerial wargamer would probably want something with a little more meat. Luckily there is a whole raft of fan made add-ons that can be used which not only add to the core rules but that also increase the range of aircraft that could be used.

I took the decision sometime ago to put my own spin on the rules but all the while remaining as true as I could to the spirit and complexity of the original. Luckily my two trusty wingmen - Messrs Huband and Fox - managed to rein in some of my more extreme ideas for which I am thankful!

This system we have been using has changed the game in the following ways.

1. Aircraft, pilot and tactical abilities (found on the aircraft data cards) have been dispensed with. This takes out the gimmicky effects that some of the cards had and also eliminates the points value driven system in use to raise ones forces.

2. For some reason climbing and diving were treated as being difficult manoeuvres. The feeling is that gravity may well have something to say about this! Seriously though, climbing and diving are natural parts of an aircraft’s job so I have scrapped the designation of a difficult manoeuvre but have retained the required dice roll (difficult manoeuvres require a successful dice roll to execute that depends on the type of aircraft being used and the quality of the pilot flying it). The dice roll is now used to see if a climbing aircraft manages to control the climb, thereby not losing any speed or, in the case of diving, if they manage to gain extra speed. Aeronautical experts may take a dim view of this apparent simplicity but within the context of the rules it works very nicely.

3. Gun ranges are set at three which seemed to be very close so they have been extended to four hexes with the aircraft attack value from the data cards being used for range one and two. Also, the ‘beaten zone’ area effect has been removed - fire is now straight down the row of hexes off the aircraft’s nose rather than the six hex circle.

4. Counting a roll of 6 as two successes has been reserved for fire solely at a range of one hex. 

5. Pilot quality is now decided by referring to the modified table based on that from the Air Force Expansion kit. Pilots roll a D6 based on their nationality and on the year and which half of the year the action is set in.

6. Aircraft manoeuvre scores are based on the quality of the pilot with Veteran and Ace pilots using the same score. For example a tight turn score of 3/4/5 means that a Poor pilot adds 3, an Average 4 whilst the Veteran and Ace add a 5.

Rather than relying on points driven games, the aim now is to move towards something more scenario based. Both the rulebooks for Angels High and Bandits High contain some scenarios which are useful and can be readily ported under the new regime so to speak.

Mention of scenarios leads me quite nicely into the game of last night, set over Southern England during the late summer of 1940. A flight of Me110s were bounced by a flight of four Hurricanes. The combat very quickly descended into fur ball territory with planes turning, climbing and diving, all desperate to get on the tail of an opponent. There was one firing pass, with honours even - both planes taking a point of damage - and then the Germans were busily trying to form a defensive circle. Sadly at this point we had to call a halt due to time being our greatest adversary.

For all that it was a lot of fun and I am really pleased with how it played out - it felt, dare I say it? 

Believable.

Somewhere over Southern England, Late Summer, 1940

I shall let the picture do the talking….

Having fought off a late summer head cold I shall be taking to the skies again this evening at the club. Angels 20 is the game, 15mm is the scale and the scenario is a hypothetical skirmish between a patrol of four Hurricanes surprising a similar number of Me110s. In case you are thinking that may be a little one-sided both sides are able to call upon a pair of Spitfires or 109s should things go badly. As ever, we shall be using the cloth and models supplied by Mr Fox whilst yours truly is making up the numbers of 110s (he has three so one of mine is appearing to make up the numbers) as well as overseeing the rules variant we shall be using be using as well as running the scenario. Hopefully I can fly something but the game and test is the thing.

To save a little time on the night I have rolled up the pilot quality using an adapted version of the table found in the old Air Force and Dauntless Expansion Kit. The original table assigned a letter to each nation for every half year they were fighting. These ranged from A to N. The version we are using is a heavily scaled back one in that only a single D6 is rolled rather than 2D6. The Expansion Kit table used the two D6 numerically rather than being added together so for example a roll of 1 followed by a 6 would be read as 16 and not totalled to make 7. This better suited Air Force as the range of pilot quality covered around a dozen or so grades of aircrew rather than poor, average, veteran or ace. Once the identifying letter was determined - in this case, the second half of 1940 - a dice roll was made against the letter column with the result indicating the pilot quality. For the purposes of this scenario the RAF rolled on column H whilst the Luftwaffe used column L. As a rule the higher the letter used the better the aircrew.

The RAF rolled an ace, two veterans, two average and a poor pilot whilst the slightly better Luftwaffe ended up with an ace, three veterans and two average pilots. 

Historically the Hurricane could easily outmanoeuvre the Me110 but the German aircraft was slightly faster. It also had a powerful nose mounted armament - the C variant sported a pair of MG FF 20mm cannon along with no less than four MG 17 machine guns - along with a rear gunner. In game terms anyone getting caught in front of one of these aircraft is going to really question their life choices!

For all that though, the RAF learned how to exploit their manoeuvrability advantage over the Me110 until eventually the much vaunted ‘Zerstorer’ required single engined fighter escort. Later types enjoyed considerable success in the night fighting role and it was also used for ground attack and close air support on the Eastern Front.

As mentioned earlier, this game is another test of the version we have been experimenting with to make the game less gimmicky by not using any of the pilot or aircraft special abilities - these are the curse of the collectible game genre in my opinion! In a nutshell it is all about making a game less gamey and more wargamey.

I will get pictures and post an after action report tomorrow or more likely, Friday.

 

Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion

An invaluable resource for background etc. As the gun factors are largely based on Mr Manley’s Dahlgren and Colombiad rules expect to see these ‘hexed’ in due course!

Two more valuable resources. This will be used for planning the models that I shall be building in my usual simple style. I will not be many be many models for this, simply because the number of ships involved was quite modest.

Now that the temperature has dropped to a more civilised level, work can resume in earnest on The Portable Ironclads Wargame: Definitive Edition. This means models, and lots of them!

Aside from the ships of the Royal Navy and of the Ottoman Turks, I will also need to design the components for the ships from the War of the Pacific. This will be my next task as I will definitely need to order some bespoke pieces from Warbases for some of the ships. 

Whilst going through the rules I noticed that there are a couple things that I left out which I will need to include. Ships under sail is something I took the conscious decision to leave out on the basis that most ships in action would steam power whilst saving the sails for longer journeys. It was fine up to a point but the Union navy used pure sailing ships on blockade duty so, in the interest of completeness I will need to formulate a sailing system. The other thing I need to include are fire rafts and this leads me in a roundabout way to the effects of tide and current. 

During testing I used some rules for the effects of current and it certainly made for some entertaining effects. Given the low speeds of most ironclads used on the rivers, steaming against the current could really slow you down to the point that some of the more underpowered types could barely steam against it. Once again though, this would be easy enough to factor into the rules and so will be (re)included.

I think the point I am trying to emphasise here is that while the rules will remain the same, there will be a few extra bits and pieces included.

As for the battles themselves well, one of them will be a historical refight (probably from the War in the Pacific) whilst the other two will be fictional. What will be real treat for me will be fleshing out the back story for the Anglo Turkish War. For reasons that I will not divulge at present, there will be something special with this.

I will say no more....

A Different Kind of Naval Gaming

The box art….

….and the contents on the back.

I own a variety of naval boardgames, most of which of the ship to ship nature and take place on a gridded playing area - usually hexes but occasionally squares. I also own a couple of strategic level naval games where one is deploying squadrons and fleets etc but with a tactical option when things get up close and personal. These all work perfectly well and I am content to play them when the opportunity permits - which means that most have not seen the light of day for years! At least I still have them though, and that is the main thing, despite being sorely tempted to dispose of some of them on the odd occasion.

Anyways, things have moved along in recent years with the growth of games designed to be played solo and focussing on the decisions that an individual ship’s commander needs to make. And so I acquired a copy of the Compass Games Schnell Boots: Scourge of the English Channel. In this, one takes command of two to four S Boats and conducts a series of operations in the English Channel during 1943/44 in the hope of successfully sinking enemy ships and gaining promotion but in reality hoping to survive a full year. All the missions are at night and encounters can range from single vessels (pretty unlikely) up to convoys with varying levels of escort or even enemy torpedo and gun boats. Aircraft also feature to really add some additional fun, at least if you are the Allies that is. It looks a lot of fun and so I am hoping it will encourage me to finally get my coastal collection painted and on the table. Of particular interest though, was the choice of vessel you get to command. It is either an S100 type S boat or the rather impressively named Projekt B Tragflugelboot - a turbojet powered hydrofoil!

I had never seen nor heard of this piece of bonkers naval engineering so naturally I have asked Mr Manley if he could create a 1:600th 3D printed version!

Believe it or not, there was also a submersible version of this planned. The idea was that it submerged and sit on the surface until an approaching enemy convoy was detected. It would then surface, launch its attack and could then shoot off at speeds in excess of fifty knots! It was nothing if not inventive but this variant never made it off the drawing board.

The second naval game - the Kaiser’s Pirates - is based on commerce raiding during the Great War and uses no map. The game is card based and although designed for two or more players does have a full solo version. The great thing about this type of game is that the table footprint is very compact.

The basic premise of this game is all about sinking merchant ships and avoiding being sunk by enemy AMCs or warships. Fuel is always an issue and so the raiders have to be mindful of this as well attempting to stay as anonymous as possible. Action cards dictate the ebb and flow of the action and points are awarded for the ships sunk - either raiders or merchantmen. I am a huge fan of the subject matter and commerce raiding, in whatever form it takes, has given me many great games over the years. I shall look forward to this one with relish!

A Naval Wargaming Odyssey

From the two titles at the top of the picture to the two at the bottom - my indebtedness to both Bob Cordery and David Manley is immense!

Work on what will be the final iteration of The Portable Ironclads Wargame is well underway. As a reminder this volume will contain the tidied up rules, greatly expanded ship specifications, an updated bibliography, three new battle report and a few surprises. In truth it is probably the book I wanted to write initially but we are where we are.

Whilst sorting through the bits and pieces needed for the new book I was reminded of just how I got to where I got to. I readily admit to ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ in that much of the Portable Ironclads Wargame had its origins in the works of both Messrs Cordery and Manley. All I did was take the best parts of each and shoehorn the result into something resembling a set of ironclad era rules. Are they perfect? Of course not - no set of rules is - but I cannot help but be proud of the effort!

There are things I would do differently if I was embarking on a similar exercise and indeed, the paused book for Pen and Sword represents an evolution of sorts of the Portable Ironclads Wargame. It is half the fun though, embarking on a journey and seeing where it takes you.

The Portable Ironclads Wargame: Definitive Edition polishes the rules and rounds out the period of 1860 to 1880 or so. As mentioned previously, the ACW will feature, the War of the Pacific and a personal indulgence in the shape of the Anglo Turkish War of 1883. I am really looking forward to completing this book and I hope that Portable Ironclad Wargamers will enjoy as much as I will.

Silent Death And Voidfighter

One side of the sprue….

….and the other. All the models have holes to secure a flying base to although they do not come with them. I have a fair selection of flying bases in stock so may not need to acquire more. I shall take a look later and see what the state of my supply looks like!

Much of what I am about to write in this post is uncertain and so should any readers know otherwise then please let me know!

Back in the 1980s I used to play a boardgame called Silent Death, produced by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE). The game was a ship to ship star fighter combat game using game specific models. As I recall, the original edition came with twelve metal models of the fighters used in the game - one of each type - which were also available separately. An ‘unleaded’ version was produced, presumably to save costs, which included counters rather than the models. Eventually, a set of plastic versions of the original twelve fighters was produced and, to cut a long story short, these were eventually acquired by EM4 Miniatures, who continue to produce them to this day.

Silent Death spawned a plethora of expansions introducing new ships and alien races, along with campaign settings etc. I played the initial release quite a few times ‘back in the day’ but in my opinion, rather like the original Star Fleet Battles, it became too unwieldy for my taste and with a perceived need that one had to acquire everything produced to stay up to speed with it. Eventually I gave up on it which in retrospect was a shame as it was a cracking game and provided many exciting deep space tussles.

I was recently introduced to Voidfighter - the Osprey game of star fighter combat - and enjoyed this so much that decided that raising a couple of forces to use with it would be fun. I did not want to spend a fortune on models and sadly do not have the time to scratch build any - which I have done in the past - due to other commitments.

With what can only be described as a stunning example of synchronicity, I came across an EM4 advert in which they were having a bit of a sale. Sure enough, the plastic Silent Death models were still available and on offer - five sprues, each of twelve models for £22. A couple of clicks later and they were duly ordered! 

They arrived this morning and I am really pleased with them. Considering the age of the moulds they are still pretty crisp and sufficiently detailed for a nice paint job although a couple of the models have the odd ‘sink hole’ - nothing that a small spot of filler could not put right though. Having five of each type means that there is a degree of redundancy in the set as I routinely use flights of two or four. Perhaps some kitbashing may be in order to make some unique models.

In respect of representing larger ships - the rules allow for ships up to corvette size - I have a fair amount of starships from the Command and Colours game Red Alert that have been lurking in a box for sometime. These are of a larger scale - fleet level battles - but could telescope down readily enough. In the Red Alert range there is a nice logistics pack of transports that could serve as targets so there is plenty of potential.

As cheeky little side projects go, this one is definitely doable with minimal effort.

Even for me…. ;-)

“It Never Snows in September”

At long last! Been after this for an age and I expect it to be really handy when I revisit the campaign again - it will certainly help to correctly identify some of the units used in the Memoir 44 scenario pack for Operation Market Garden.

At long last I have managed to acquire a copy of Robert J. Kershaw’s outstanding book on Operation Market Garden from the German perspective: It Never Snows in September. I have owned a copy of this that was in pretty poor shape and so was keen to replace it with a decent hardback version. Needless to say, copies of this vintage seemed to be getting progressively more expensive so I was fortunate to land this for a little over a tenner.

There is a heap of really useful information in this book, particularly around orders of battle given the somewhat understandably chaotic nature of German organisation at the time. 

Years ago, clutching a copy of Victory Games ‘Hells Highway’ and Frank Chadwick’s Command Decision, the late Mick Vince, Steve Letch and myself fought through the early stages of the campaign and Kershaw’s book was invaluable for the German side. On that particular campaign the Allies were successful! 

It would be good to revisit it as the last time I fought it was in 2013!