The Great War At Sea Mediterranean 1912 - 1923

A very welcome arrival to the collection arrived yesterday - an unpunched copy of the Avalanche Press board game: The Great War At Sea Mediterranean 1912 - 1923. I had been after this for sometime and was not disappointed. The only damage was that the box was a little bashed but everything else was in pristine condition. The game is a strategic and tactical level study of naval combat during the period at a ship to ship level. It is one in a number of games by the company that covers naval warfare - the others include the Russo Japanese war, WW1 in the North and Baltic Seas and various of the US Navy war plans in place against a variety of opponents. There are also a number of WW2 games that use the same system. Basically, fleets are moved on the strategic map (scaled at one square equals 32 miles) until contact transfers the action to a tactical map. The tactical rules use ship charts and firing is resolved by rolling a number of dice and scoring hits on a 6 which are then rolled on a damage table. There are also provisions for torpedoes, mines, submarines and critical hits. The strategic map covers pretty much all the Mediterranean and Black Sea with all the naval bases located and national boundaries are as at 1914. It is also in offset squares. The tactical map is in hexes. I wanted this game for a number of reasons. These are as follows:

1. I wanted a simple strategic movement system

2. I needed a good map of the area - these are really nice and would copy down to A3 sized

3. The scenario book covers some 70 actions - some actual and some hypothetical.

4. There are ships from 11 nations which would help me in constructing other fleets in 1/3000th.

5. I really wanted to see what ideas I could 'borrow' from the tactical system for my own use.

I am really excited about this as it will give me the information and tools I need for any campaign ideas I have going forward.

The first half of the map covers the Western end of the Med whilst the second (see below) tackles the Eastern end and the Black Sea. They are of course, fully connectible.

I shall report more on this once I have read through in detail the rules and scenarios but the timely arrival of this should further the impetus on the 1/3000th paintfest I have planned over the next few months!

A Short Interlude

Well it has finally come around at long last - I am off for a short and much needed family holiday in Turkey. We have not been there before (although we did try to get there last year but ended up on the Greek island of Skiathos instead - which was outstanding nevertheless). I shall be back with the latest updates on all the various projects I am involved with on 2nd June and will no doubt come back from Turkey with a whole load of new ones!

The holiday reading material has been selected (The Naval Situation in the Mediterranean 1908 to 1914 by Paul Halpern and Lords of the Horizons by Jason Goodwin) and a couple of notepads and pens are also packed for good measure.

To say I am looking forward to this is probably an understatement.....................;-)

"Some Damned Affair in the Balkans....."

Last night I played a game of DBSA (non -gridded) at a friends abode as he was keen to try out the rules away from the usual cut and thrust of a club night. This I was happy to do as a more efficient playtest usually results as the distraction of other games in progress, somebodys newest acquisition or, in the case of my club (SEEMS - South East Essex Military Society), the bar and any televised Football matches!

The game was loosely based on the Battle of Lemnos in 1913 between the Turks and the Greeks and I will try to describe how the action developed and touch upon any points it raised. Sadly I did not think to take any photos so a degree of imagination will be required by the reader. The game served as a very useful testing ground for some ideas I have been messing around with; more of which later.

The Battle of Mythos, January 26th 1913

Somewhere in the Aegean..................

Greece - Georgios Averoff (1st class cruiser), Hydra, Psara and Spetsai (Battleships - obsolete), 3 x bases of TBD each of two models - Aetos + Ierax, Panther + Leon, Keravnos + Nea Genea)

These were deployed in three columns comprising the Averoff and the three battleships (in the order listed above) as the centre column heading south east with the Aetos and Panther (I will list multiple bases by the lead ship name only) on the Averoff's starboard side and the Keravnos on the port. The Averoff was designated the flagship under the command of the redoubtable rear Admiral Kountouriotis (aka Chris Hardman).

Turkey - Messudiye (Battleship - obsolete), Hayreddin Barbarossa and Torgud Reis (Battleships), Assar-i Tewfik (Battleship - obsolete) comprised the centre column in the order listed and heading north west. The Hayreddin Barbarossa was the flagship and deployed on her port beam were two bases of TBs (obsolete TBDS) of the Akhisar class and a base of the Samsun class TBDs. These were called as follows: Akhisar + Alpagot, Antalya + Urfa - Akhisar class and Samsun + Yarhisar of the Samsun class. The squadron was under the command of Cpt. Ramiz Bey (your humble scribe).

The first couple of moves saw the opposing battlelines heading hellf or leather towards each other at pretty much best speed. The sole exception to ths was the Averoff who maintained the speed of the rest of the squadron. Those French built old battleships were hard pressed to make 15 knots so the Averoff was fairly champing at the bit to get at the Turks. Both sides TBDs and TBs easily outdistanced their ponderous battlelines and the Greek ships swung due South to head off the enemy whilst their Turkish opposite numbers heading due North. In both cases the battlelines lumbered ponderously onwards after their faster companions. The biggest difference in the two manouvers was that the two starboard column Greek TBDs (Aetos and Panther) swung across the rear of their battleline to link up with the other TBD base (Keravnos). this had the effect of leaving them deployed as a screen on the port side of the battle squadron towards the rear of the column. The Turks meanwhile had a similar plan in mind and so the TBs (Akhisar and Antalya) swung across the front of the lead Turkish battleship (no doubt to much fist shaking and remonstrances at this reckless manouver) to link up with the Samsun to the starboard of the battleline.

Whilst the TBDs were thus engaged the Greek battleline turned due south whilst the Turks, in some apparent confusion turned first to the North and then swung back to the north west and then to the west. The sea room needed for this hesitation and indecision (rumours that Cpt.Ramiz Bey was compiling the opening chapter of his memoirs were later proven to be unfounded....) on the Turkish part enabled the Greeks to move in good order into a position whereby they could inflict considerable damage on the enemy.

As the two fleets closed to gun range the situation was that the Turkish battleline was heading due west whilst the Greeks were heading south. the Greeks had all their TBDs lined up facing in the same direction with the lead ship parallel with the third ship in the line, the Psara. By commencing the turn much sooner than the Turks the Greek admiral was in the enviable position to be able to imminently cross the enemy 'T'. The situation began to look bleak for the Sublime Porte.

The Greeks opened fire first with the three battleships engaging the Turkish TBs. After a lively exchange the TBs were both left damaged and crippled and only by dint of a last gasp effort did the Akhisar manage to torpedo one of the Greek escorting TBDs (Kervanos) and immediately send her to the bottom. Battered and smoking heavily, the two bases limped from the action heading north. The Samsun had also suffered some minor damage as the sea boiled under the rain of shells from the three elderly battleships. The Averoff then commenced firing on the lead Turkish Battleship, the Messudiye, and almost immediately scored a damaging hit.

The next move saw the disjointed Turkish line trying to regain some composure after its series of snake-like turns trying to get on the inside of the Greeks. At this point the Turks had the Messudiye facing south, the Hayreddin Barbarossa and Torgud Reis south west and the Assar-i Tewfik facing west. The sole remaining Turkish TBD was lurking off the rear of the Spetsai whilst maintaining a respectful distance (plus the fact it was facing in the opposite direction).

The two Greek TBD bases then charged at full speed across the head of the Turkish battleline to deliver a point blank torpedo attack. The tactical position was absolutely ideal and things looked bleak indeed for the Turks but the attack, when it came, was woefully ineffective with not a single hit being scored. The TBDs however, would pay for their temerity and were subjected to a withering fire from every gun that could bear from the Turkish battleships. Both bases were heavily damaged (crippled in fact) and could only limp away slowly from the scene of their magnificent, but futile gesture.

With the smaller ships effectively hors de combat the stage was now cleared for a clash of the battlelines. The two forces were converging on a line similar to a letter V tilted to the right so that the lefthand line was vertical. The shooting was fierce and in the confusion of the action it was difficult to report on a blow by blow basis. Suffice it to say, after Dame Fortune had proven once again to be a fickle mistress, the Averoff and one of the Greek battleships had been crippled (mention must be made of the superb shooting of the gallant Messudiye - despite the attentions of her much more modern and efficient opponent was more than able to hold her own) whilst the other two had varying degrees of damage. For the Turks the Messudiye was heavily damaged whilst the Assar-i Tewfik at the rear of the line was one hit away from sinking - such was the rough handling she received from not one but two of the Greek battleships. During this pounding the Turkish TBD had tried to alleviate her distress by launching a torpedo attack against the Spetsai but sadly to no avail. The Hayreddin Barbarossa was damaged but her sister ship the Torgud Reis had nary a scratch.

At this point both forces decided that discretion was the better part of valour and both disengaged their battered forces to return to their respective home ports; each doubtless claiming a dramatic victory.

Tactically the Greek commander admitted afterwards (doubtless at the court of enquiry after the true facts of the action became known) that he should have concentrated his efforts on the weaker Turkish ships rather than spreading the fire along the Turkish line. Obsolete battleships will always struggle against more modern versions and had the two Turkish ships -Messudiye and Assar-i Tewfik been overwhelmed early on then the remaining two Turkish ships would have been engaged by three battleships and the Averoff. The TBDs could also have been used more effectively (this applied to both sides) as charging in against undamaged opposition is tempting fate - especially when it is across the front on an entire line of battleships.

At this point the Turkish commander refrained from commenting as his handling of the fleet was hardly inspiring. The two best Turkish ships saw little of the action until late on and he also allowed his screening TBDs to go off on a potentially suicidal charge against the Greek battleline thereby exposing his own battleline to an unopposed similar attack. The subsequent sinking of a destroyer would have been deemed a poor return in exchange for a battleship or even two.

The action was enormous fun and served to confirm that from my own perspective that a gridded version of the rules for 1/3000th models would be preferable. As the models are so small (even allowing for the bases I use) measuring ranges and distances and turn angles is fiddly so a grid it will be. We also felt that some morale or training rules need to be introduced as towards the end of the game it felt very much like a pair of punch drunk fighters trading ineffective blows seeing who would collapse first. Much to ponder methinks, but that will be for another day.

Mythos by the way, is a very nice Greek Lager.........;-)

Victorian Science Fiction

As an aside from all this nautical mayhem, I am also really interested in Victorian Science Fiction. The basic premise is gaming using a late 19th century set up supported by inventions that may have been around or those that appeared later - for example anything that flies. Anyone that has read any of the classics by HG Wells or Jules Verne will get the idea. The two sets of rules of choice for this 'period' are Aeronef, covering air actions between fleets of flying ironclads and dirigibles and Land Ironclads - both available from Wessex Games. Both sets are usable with each other so a degree of crossover is easily attainable.

Both rules sets are supported by miniatures available from Brigade Models - Wessex themselves also have a small line for Aeronef. the air stuff is scaled at 1/1200th so anyone having access to some period warships would be able to tackle a huge Tsushima/Jutland/Midway/Leyte Gulf sized action with a novel twist.

I like dirigibles and so my air fleets tend to be based around these. They are 'second line' air assets as most major powers use Aeronef ironclads rather than the airships. A historical parallel would be the Dreadnought vs Pre Dreadnought composition of the worlds navies in 1914 - all the trendymajor powers had dreadnoughts as the first line weapon of choice whislt the smaller powers stil needed to rely on the older ships.

My own own air set up is still in gestation - it is Turkish (naturally) and is dirigible based. Another practical advantage of a dirigible fleet is that they are really easy to scratch build. All you need is a supply of 1/72nd, 1/48th or 1/35th scale plastic aircraft kit bombs, some plastic scrap bits and pieces, some flying bases and a little imagination and they are ready. I have another batch on the modelling tray and will go through the process on a stage by stage basis when I get around to it.

For Land Ironclads I will be using some of the marvelous models launched by Brigade together with some bits and pieces from Irregular. These are scaled at 2mm in order to fit in with the huge range of Aeronef models already available. Check out

http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/ and also http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/ for ideas and inspiration. You may also want to check out http://www.blease.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/WG.homepage.html

The great thing about VSF is that you could use an existing 19th century army and just add a couple of steam powered contraptions suitably painted in a traditional style and there you have it - instant VSF.

More to follow with this in due course and as the mood takes me - including VSF naval (where is Captian Nemo when you need him?) and VSF in space.........;-)

Artists Canvas Boards

After trying out a few combinations of the aforementioned canvas boards (or rather trying to visualise what it would look like - difficult when you only have one of them and that belongs to my daughter....!) I am definitely going to try this out on my return from Turkey. I tried out an area comprising 8 of the 16" by 20" boards deployed in two columns of 4 boards. this gives me a playing area of 40" by 48" which translates into 10 by 12 4" squares. That area covers my dining table with a little overhang so is ideal for my available space. To 'join' the boards I will use magnetic strip and steel paper and the only concern at the moment is that the boards are only framed around the perimeter which may be a problem when overhanging a table edge on a corner. I will paint these up in a sea blue and grid with a marker pen and will take pictures of the end result. Boards of this size will also fit very snugly in the storage area in my 'office' thereby avoiding the wrath of the domestic management!

Naval Rules Considerations

My ongoing Naval rules project (formerly tweaking DBSA into a gridded format and extending the result into the Great War) has hit a small but significant issue. Should firing be dealt with by a single die roll or on a barrel by barrel basis? Or even, should it be a combination of the two? From a fun perspective rolling great numbers is enormously satisfying but I cant help feeling that with lots of ships on the table this may be a little onerous. The single die roll is a little more clinical and is certainly tidier but that then means that more modifiers need to be applied to 'load' the result into something meaningful.

As I am trying to achieve a fast play set for large actions I think the single die approach will be preferable - perhaps with the possibility of multiple hits dependent on the dice roll. I am also moving away from the use of a d6 for this as the spread of results feels better using a d10.

I also need to consider the impact of damage and how best to simulate it and its effects. At the moment I have a number of options under investigation for this and the driver is the need to dispense with record keeping other than using damage markers on the models base. All of my ships have fairly generous bases so placing hit markers or counters is not a problem - the actual counters will be aesthetically designed (I am planning something along the lines of the Litko damage markers for smoke and fire etc) so will not ruin the look of the game. The problem with this is of course, the number of such markers that will need to be moved around on the table when a ship starts taking damage. Under DBSA the largest number of markers a ship could have on its base would be 3 - a black cripple marker and 2 x white damage markers. This is OK as far as it goes but when you start factoring in 32,000 ton Queen Elizabeth class battleships it stretches the system a little. I think that having up to 5 or 6 markers for such a ship is about as far as you could sensibly go with these - I am not keen on having markers with numbers on for multiple hits as they can be mistaken in the heat of battle. I realise that there could be a 'fog of war' issue here but that is not something I am going to pursue due to the scale of the action.

I also want to differentiate between damage types - at a simple level it will be either flood or fire damage. Each hit will be rolled for and the effect will be one of either of the two types mentioned. Each of these damage types will have a scale of progression in terms of effects and at a simple level, flooding impacts on speed whilst fire impacts on firing. If a enough water gets on board the ship sinks and enough fire rages then there is a very good chance of the ship exploding - either way it would game over. Red markers signify fire whilst white could be for shell splashes or flooding. A black marker would signify a cripple. This would also raise the issue of damage control but that is easy to factor in.

Despite the apparent uncertainty about the above I am fairly close to having a draft version ready and will use this with the Balkan Fleets in due course. I will need to get the 1914/1915 Russians for the Black Sea ready in order to give the Goeben some opposition but in the meantime I have a plan for using some old Minifigs ships for a hypothetical Balkan War set in 1912/13. Much to ponder methinks!

Artists Canvas Boards

Just an idea I had whilst out shopping over the weekend. Our local 99p shop sells stretched canvas mounted on a wooden frame for use by budding artists. These are in various sizes that have one thing in common - they are in multiples of 4". The largest size on offer is 16" by 20" but they do a larger version at 20" by 24". referring back to Barry Carters Naval wargaming book I note that his game boards are 20" by 25" - although he uses a square of 2 1/2" or 3". I am thinking that the acquisition of say, eight of these boards, suitably painted and gridded in 4" squares would give a geomorphic endless gaming surface just right for naval games. The canvas is stretched tightly so the weight of the models should cause too much in the way of sagging. For holding the boards in place I would use pieces of magnetic strip and steel paper. I shall give this a trial when I return from Turkey but for an outlay of £8 it will be hard to beat methinks.