Somewhere in the Black Sea....

This is very much in the nature of a double whammy of a post as not only will I be describing my first experience of using the Hexon terrain tiles but also the first play test of naval rules loosely based on the Memoir '44/Battle Cry! system.


The tiles are magnificent. They fit together really well using the ample supply of clips provided and can be assembled and dismantled very quickly and of course, the set fits in the box for easy storage and transport. The only criticism I have is that the blue is very much a sea blue colour so using them for aerial games may be a shade problematic but that is purely a personal thing. Interestingly enough, the first picture I took of the playtest using a flash made them look like they are sky blue in colour.


Somewhere in the Black Sea....


The Turkish Battle Cruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim (ex Goeben) is patrolling in the Black Sea in the hope of disrupting the Russian convoys reinforcing the Caucasus Front. At the same time the Russians have despatched to Dreadnought Imperatricia Marija to safeguard the same, mindful of the possibility that the Turks may be operating in the area.


I set this up on a 10 x 9 playing area with the Russians starting in the top left hex and the Turks at the bottom right. I rated the vessels as follows:


Yavuz Sultan Selim - BB (BC) - 9 hit points, 8 main dice, 4 secondary dice, 1 torpedo dice and a speed of 4.




Imperatricia Marija - BB - 8 hit points, 9 main dice, 4 secondary dice, 1 torpedo dice and a speed of 3.




The German ship is tougher and faster than the Russian but the Russian has better main guns (12 x 12" versus 10 x 11").



Turn 1. Initiative - Russian 6, Turks 11 so the Russians moved first. The Russian moved forward 1 hex, turned 1 hexside to starboard and then moved 1 hex forward. The Turks moved 4 hexes in a straight line. The ships were at a range of 7 hexes but the Russian was bow on to the Turks and so was unable to fire at the range with its forward guns - Range 7 with 9 combat dice equals 3 dice rolled BUT 1 dice is deducted for every two hexes (or part of) from range 3 upwards. 3 - 3 equals zero dice. The Turks meanwhile were under no such handicap and rolled 2 dice scoring 3 and 2 which were both misses.

The end of turn one with the Russian ship (the left of the picture) bow on to the Turk.

Turn 2. Initiative - Russian 2, Turks 9 so once again the Russians moved first. The Russian moved forward 1 hex, turned 1 hexside to port and then moved one hex forward. The Turks moved 3 hexes forward and turned 1 hexside to starboard. The ships were now at a range of 6 and both ships were able to fire with full broadsides. the Russian rolled 4 combat dice scoring 1, 3, 3 and 4 - all misses. The Turkish response with 3 combat dice was to score 1, 4 and a 5 - which is a hit at that range (Battleship type guns hit on a 5 or 6 at range of 5 or 6) so first blood to the Sublime Porte!

The end of turn 2 with the Russian having turned broadside on to the turning Turkish ship. The white counter by the Russian is a hit marker for identification purposes.

Turn 3. Initiative - Russian 9, Turks 11 so yet again the Russians moved first. The Russian moved forward 1 hex, turned 1 hexside to starboard and then moved 1 hex forward. The Turks moved forward 3 hexes and then turned 1 hexside to starboard. The range was now 5 hexes and the Russians rolled 5 combat dice scoring 1, 2, 2, 3 and 5 - a single hit on the Turk. The 4 combat dice rolled by the Turk were a 1, 2, 3 and 4 so all missed.

The end of turn 3 with the Russian continuing to turn inside his faster opponent
and inflicting his first damage of the game.

Turn 4. Initiative - Russian 4, Turks 8 as the fourth turn in succession the Russian were forced to move first. The Russian moved 2 hexes forward and then turned a hexside to starboard whilst the Turk went 4 hexes straightforward. the range increased slightly to 6 hexes and the Russians threw 5 dice scoring 1, 1, 1, 2 and 3 - all of which missed. The Turkish return fire with 4 dice scored a 1, 2, 4 and a 6! The 6 was rerolled and threw a 3 so no further damage aside from the single hit was recorded.


The end of turn 4 with the Russian sustaining a further hit with no reply as the Turk continues to literally run rings around his opponent.

Turn 5. Initiative - Russians 6, Turks 8 and so yet again the Turks made the Russians move first. The Russian moved 1 hex forward, turned 1 hexside to starboard and moved a further hex forward. The Turk moved 1 hex forward, turned 1 hexside to the starboard and moved 2 hexes forward. the range remained at 6 hexes and so the Russians fired with 4 dice and scored 3, 3, 6 and 6 for 2 hits. the additional rerolls however were a 3 and a 4 and so inflicted no further damage. That would give the Turks something to think about and no mistake! Their return fire with 3 dice came in at 2, 4 and a 6 for a single hit but without success with the reroll, scoring a 4.

The dramatic events of turn 5 as both sides sustain damage - with the Turk coming off worse in the exchange.

Turn 6. Initiative - Russians 4, Turks 7 so once again the Russians had to move first. The Russian moved 1 hex forward, turned 1 hex to starboard and moved a further hex forward. The Turk meanwhile moved 1 hex forward, turned 1 hex to starboard and moved a further 2 hexes forward. Once again the range remained at 6 hexes so the Russians rolled 4 dice whilst the Turk rolled 3. The Russian rolled 2, 2 , 3 and a 6 for a hit. The extra roll for the 6 scored another 6 for a second hit and so the Turk now had 2 points of damage from a single salvo. The second reroll came up with a 1 so no further damage was inflicted. The Turkish return fire, not withstanding the heavy damage sustained, scored a 1, 3 and a 5 for a single hit.

The Turkish ship had now sustained 5 hits out of 9 points and so, with discretion being the better part of valour the Captain ordered full speed ahead and turned away from the Russian and headed back to Constantinople. The Russian was unable to pursue her faster opponent and mindful of her own heavy damage, headed away from the scene having accomplished her mission.


Conclusion.


There was absolutely no problem with the rules other than a couple of minor typing errors and so I was very pleased at how it all worked out. Obviously this was first test and I will need to expand this to include other types but the omens at this stage are pretty good. Firing worked well and the levels of damage inflicted felt about right. I will need to tweak the effect of damage slightly - Bob Cordery had the excellent idea of a critical point at which the damage sustained by a ship determined that it would try and get away if possible - if only so that I can include some potential degrading of a ships capabilities in terms of speed and firepower. The ship capabilities I selected for the two combatants seemed to work well and so the concept appears to be sound so it will be a case of back to the naval reference books again!

In the meantime though I shall amend the draft (which is completely different to the version I sent out a little while ago - sorry about that chaps but this version is a whole lot better!) in preparation for the next play test.

"Two out of Three Ain't bad....!!!" (With apologies to Meatloaf)

After a long and wearying day at the office it was with much delight that I came home to two of the three items I am waiting for. First up (and bizarrely from Australia rather than the US!) was the CD of 14 Avalon Hill naval games and secondly was my box of Kallistra Hexon Blue tiles - hurrah!!!

I will report in full on these at the weekend as I want to experiment with some model combinations for the inevitable photo shoot.

As the (rather large) man once said..."Two out of three ain't bad...!!!"

Battle Cry! A tale that grew in the telling.........

Hurrah!! I have at last manged to acquire a copy of the Avalon Hill/Hasbro ACW game Battle Cry! from ebay. Since this has been out of production it has been very difficult to get and expensive with it. My copy has cost me just over £20 which is pretty good but the shipping from the US will be a little stiff - not to mention the inevitable surcharge when it reaches our shores!

I used to own a copy of this straight after it came out but passed it on as part of an exchange deal and have regretted it ever since - especially when it when out of print!

I am very pleased to have acquired this though as it fills a gaping hole in my collection. Next up will be the Worthington Games: Napoleon's War once a new supply reaches the UK.

Navwar and Heroics and Ros

Following on from my recent decision to offload my various collection of Axis and Allies: War at Sea models I have been busy checking out the various manufacturers of 1/3000th kit, namely Skytrex and Navwar. Imagine my surprise then, when I noticed on the Navwar website that they are now no longer producing Heroics and Ros 1/300th figures and vehicles. The link below has all the details and the figures are not disappearing off the face of the planet - merely moving to a new manufacturer.

The link is as follows: http://www.navwar.co.uk/nav/

Heroics and Ros were, I believe, the first company to produce 6mm figures and vehicles and their range was (and still is) truly enormous. I hope this means then that Navwar can concentrate on more naval stuff as I for one will need to spend some serious cash there!

Axis and Allies: War at Sea - The Finale

Now I know that this set of rules is probably deeply offensive to the naval purist but I can safely say that some of my most exciting naval games have been played using them. Accuracy may be lacking but they sure make up for this in entertainment value!

However, I have been faced with a conumdrum of how to make use of the models (1/1800th) at home. I have considered umpteen different ways of using them but without success as they are simply too large for the available space and playing area I have.

I have therefore taken the decision to offload the entire collection and to replace the same with 1/3000th scale kit funded from the proceeds.

My naval gaming for 1890 onwards needs to be with smaller scale models and so if I am going to make use of the Hexon terrain tiles then the larger models are unsuitable and can only really be enjoyed on a club night.

I can be quite ruthless when it comes to disposing of material (and yes, I know I will probably regret it in time!) but I honestly believe that this is the right decision for my own particular circumstances - besides, I enjoy painting 1/3000th ships - which is probably just as well given the acres of them I will be painting over the next few months or so!

Hexon Terrain by Kallistra

I have been and gone and done it. I have ordered a box of Kallistra Blue hex tiles for use with naval and aerial games. A box contains 21 x 6 hex tiles and I also ordered a pack of 10 single hexes to go with them. My plan is to have a playing area 13 x 9 hexes which is (I believe) the same size as a standard Memoir '44/Battle Cry playing board.

There are many sets of rules that are available either as freebies or commercially that utilise a hexagonal grid and so this set up will be a useful addition to my collection. The only problem this now presents me with concerns my Axis and Allies: World War 2 collection. As I have mentioned before, the models are too big for use at home and certainly would not fit on the Hexon terrain - at least the capital ships would not as they hexes measure 4" across the flat sides. For WW1 and 2 this would need 1/3000th or possibly 1/2400th. Certainly ironclads and 'wind and water' games; together with 16th century and possibly even ancients would fit nicely on the hexes.

I am looking seriously at the use of Hexon for my ground based games as well as this will be an easy effective solution for many of my gaming requirements.

Take a look at the website and you will see what I mean: http://www.kallistra.co.uk/

Avalon Hill Naval Games

New this is a find and no mistake! I was trawling through ebay this morning and under the search 'Avalon Hill Naval Games' I came across a couple of traders in the US that are selling a DVD with scanned copies of all the components - boards, rules, counters etc for every naval game that the now sadly defunct Avalon Hill game company produced. Also included are numerous variants as published the Avalon Hill General complete with counters etc - its in house gaming magazine. Given the prices that some of these command on a secondhand basis this is an absolute goldmine! All of the data has been scanned and 'photoshopped' for clarity and is stored in a PDF for each component. I have ordered one and will report when it arrives but for £7 this appears to represent excellent value for money.

Now where did I put those new printer cartridges?