A Load of Blocks

A selection of modern unit labels of the type for which a half sized block was made for.

Readers of the blog will no doubt be aware of my fondness for block based games and indeed, some of the most purple of my purple prose has been devoted to the after action reports arising from games using these. The blocks I use are sized at 63mm x 21mm x 12mm and with the MS Paint drawn labels look pretty good on the table top. I am also really looking forward to using these for the inaugural game on my Hexon terrain (once it arrives of course!) in due course.


However, they are not without their disadvantages. As deployed they look fine for anything linear and ordered but are a little clumsy when used for detachments or smaller units - I am thinking gun batteries or skirmishers here - and so having a smaller size would seem to the ideal. In fact, when I first mooted the idea of using blocks my pilot set made use of some blocks that had been cut in half. With my current version however, I have no such provision simply because I lack the correct tools to cut these accurately enough as they are produced in a hard wood. My joinery skills are modest and the tools of the trade are lacking so rather than try and have a go at cutting them in half I simply didn't bother.


With the certainty of night following day though this was never going to be a permanent solution and so the niggling itch has taken hold to the extent that something needs to be done about it. As a result I have made a few enquiries in my local area and I have managed to locate a joiner that is prepared to chop the blocks in half using the appropriate tools and above all accurately for the cost of 'a drink' aka cash in hand. I will have six sets (288 blocks so the 'drink' may have to be a fair size!) that will be treated thus and so it will mean a couple of relabeling sessions in due course but that is of no matter. The following half sized blocks will be produced - command, infantry, cavalry, crew served weapons (artillery, AT guns, MGs), skirmishers and vehicles. When used in conjunction with the full sized versions this will give me a whole lot flexibility on the tabletop and thus the overall look of the thing. The significance of this is immense as I will also be able to use blocks almost as stands which will place less reliance on the use of rosters - especially when using  the 'Memoir of' or 'Portable…' series of rules. A good example would be to use a full size block with a couple of half sized versions to represent a unit. The unit takes a casualty and so one of the blocks could be removed. It also paves the way for a better representation of unit formations.


I am really pleased about this development as it offers a lot of potential for the blocks going forward and it will give me a much greater degree of flexibility in their use in the short term.


The smaller size is also eminently suitable for naval usage….;-)

Action at Sea....Game Number 3, Part 2

The game was enormous fun to play albeit pretty quick. I was very pleased with the way the rules worked out and even more pleased with the fact that the inevitable revisions were fairly minimal. To be honest one change was fairly extensive but I was very pleased with the fact that change did not appear to upset the balance of the rules to any great degree.

The two biggest changes were that I have bowed to the inevitable and have increased the gun ranges by a hex. This does not sound much but using the larger models (the Minifigs ships) it looks better having them slightly further apart. I have taken this decision with one eye on including dreadnoughts at some point and I am looking at a maximum range of 8 hexes. With this in mind it means that Heavy guns now have a range of 6, medium 5 and light 4. I have added an additional gun category - quick-firers - to include anything smaller than a 3.4" and they have a maximum range of 3. The reason for this is because during the period under consideration many ships made use of untold numbers of 3, 6, 9 and 12 pounder weapons which should not really be included within the light guns category. I am sure that salvo firing 3 pdrs looked pretty effective but probably wasn't when used against anything with any form of protection. Light guns are now for weapons between 3.4" and 6" in calibre. The final touch with gunnery is that within each category there are now four increments of combat dice, reducing in effect in alphabetical order i.e. B is worse that A, C worse than B etc.

Movement is unchanged other than to turn a hex side now costs a movement point.

At the moment I have no lists of ships specifications completed although I will add some guidance notes for those that wish to customise their navies - as I will probably do for my own in due course.

In the meantime I will see about getting the rules on the blog for all to see - once I have grappled with a couple of formatting issues!

Action at Sea....Game Number 3

The write up for this game will be a little different from my usual approach for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the game was very much a play test of the latest version of Memoir of Battle at Sea 1890 to 1905 (with thanks to Bob Cordery for the loan of the title!) and also was fought using unpainted models. Apologies in advance then for the less than flattering pictures!

For inspiration I have used the River Plate action from WW2 but with a pre-dreadnought twist - the red fleet consisted of a Lord Nelson class battleship whilst the blue fleet had a pair of Highflyer class cruisers and a Drake. In terms of the game the ships were rated as follows:

Lord Nelson: speed 2, 10 hit points, Heavy Guns (A rated), Medium Guns (F rated) and Light Guns (K rated) and one torpedo attack.

Drake: speed 3, 7 hit points, Medium Guns (F rated), Light Guns (K rated) and one torpedo attack.

Highflyer: speed 3, 5 hit points, Light Guns (K rated) and one torpedo attack.

The gun ratings are based on the number of combat dice rolled at the range to the target ship and they decrease  in alphabetical sequence. Heavy guns are rated A to E, Medium guns from F to I and Light guns J to L. Heavy guns have a maximum range of 5, Medium 4 and Light 3 - which is also the range for torpedoes.

Firing is very simple. Heavy and Medium guns may only fire in the gunfire phase (which is the first phase of the turn) whilst Light guns may fire during the gunfire phase and in the Torpedo Attack phase. A 6 scores a hit with a 4 and 5 being an additional hit - provided at least one qualifying 6 has been scored from the current salvo. Light guns firing at Cruisers or Battleships or Medium guns firing at Battleships need to score hits in pairs. Battleships firing Heavy guns at Cruisers count 5 and 6 as qualifying hits. Any hits scored can be applied at the owning players discretion against the hit points, speed, or weapons. A hit applied to a gun type reduces the letter to the next one e.g. A to B, C to D etc. Torpedo hits  can only be applied to hit points or speed.

The action commenced with the battleship, having no doubt returned from a raiding foray, being intercepted by a cruising force of the enemy. In order to minimise the effect of the heavy guns being concentrated against a single target the cruiser commander split his force into two - the pair of protected cruisers to the north and the armoured cruiser to the south of the enemy battleship.

The opposing plans were very simple - the red fleet needed to inflict as much damage on the opposition as possible (at the very least slowing the enemy ships down sufficiently so that an effective pursuit would be impossible) in order to make good their escape whilst the blue fleet needed to sink or seriously damage the raider so that the heavier elements of the fleet could catch up with the action and finish off the battleship.

The end of turn 1 and with continued apologies for the unpainted models in use!

The opening turn saw the blue ships heading straight for the red and maintaining their course and heading in order to assail the red ship on either beam. The red ship responded by lining herself up to do battle with the largest of the blue ships - the armoured cruiser - whilst turning towards the pair of protected cruisers.

Turn 2 was virtually a continuation of the opening move but with the difference in that the battleship and the armoured cruiser were close enough to exchange long range shots with their Light guns (at range 3 either ship could roll but a single d6 and both missed).

Turn 3 saw the battleship and the armoured cruiser open fire with everything they had at a range of 3 and despite having the superior weight of guns the red ship missed entirely whilst the blue ship was able to score two hits - one with her medium artillery and one with her light. The battleship opted to take these hits from her hit point total of 10 reducing this to 8. The movement phase for the turn saw the armoured cruiser cross to the rear of the battleship whilst the two protected cruisers turned in to face the foe.

Turn 3 - whilst the armoured cruiser keeps a healthy distance after her bush with the battleship her two lighter compatriots take up the gauntlet (the shell splash markers are from the game Mastermind and serve merely to illustrate the action).

A swathe of Light guns opened fire during the Torpedo attacks phase with the battleship missing her nearest opponent whilst suffering a long range hit from the furthest of the two protected cruisers. Both the battleship and the nearest protected cruiser elected to use torpedoes  with disastrous results for the blue fleet as the protected cruiser was torpedoed and suffered four points of damage. Captain blue opted to take 3 hits from the hit point total of 5 leaving 2 and to reduce the ships speed from 3 to 2.

Turn 4 saw the battleship open fire with all her artillery against the battered protected cruiser but only managed to score but a single hit - much to the red Captain's disgust and the blue Captain's relief! The armoured cruiser fired speculatively at long range but failed to secure a hit.

Turn 5 saw the battleship again give her full attention to the damaged cruiser and this time her persistence paid off as she managed to score a further three hits which the blue Captain used to reduce his hit points by 1 (leaving but a single remaining point of damage) and his gun dice by two from J to L. The ship was riven with shell holes but was still able to make a speed of 2. The other cruiser kept a healthy distance and headed around the rear of the battleship whilst he armoured cruiser attempted to take up the fight once again.. Some long range Light gun salvoes were exchanged but with no damage inflicted by either side.

The damaged blue cruiser headed away at best speed from the action - her temerity in attacking her larger and more dangerous opponent being unsuccessful.

Turn 6 proved to be the climax of he action as the battleship proceeded to hammer the armoured cruiser at a range of 2 with all her guns and managed to score four hits for no return, the armoured cruiser being bow on to the battleship and thus firing with a reduced number of guns. The Armoured cruiser took the damage as 2 points from the hit point total of 7 leaving 5 and reduced both her Medium and Light guns by one each: from F to G and J to K respectively.

Endgame - The Red battleship about to hammer the blue armoured cruiser in company with the sole undamaged ship on the table.

At this point the blue fleet conceded the action as with two heavily damaged cruisers (one in imminent danger of sinking) she was unable to prevent the escape of the enemy warship.

More to follow....

(Funny) Little Wars - The Insanity Commences

Nothing a new coat of paint, a change of wheels and some plastic card detailing couldn't put right!

It was the first of this years Toy and Train Fairs at my daughter's school today and so I went along to take a look and to seek some inspiration. Nothing to report on the ship search but I was able to acquire a brace of firing artillery pieces for the long term Little Wars style project. Usually this show is awash with such items but today, despite being packed to the rafters with visitors and several new dealers, the artillery was minimal - or more accurately, either too expensive or in need of too much restoration to be worthwhile (sorry Tim, nothing useful to report!). My acquisition was a pair of 'Britains' (yeah right!) firing pieces which look suspiciously like 25 pdrs although are quite basic models which leads me to believe they may be copies. I am not hugely keen on the wheels as they look a little on the modern side but beggars can't be choosers. The  gun barrels are fixed with no means of elevation and the muzzle brakes are missing. The paint is a little chipped around the edges and so a repaint will be called for - probably in a shade of grey.

The firing mechanisms for both pieces are absolutely fine and the obligatory matchstick round fired from each reaches to a very respectable 9 or 10 feet. The pair of pieces cost £5 which is pretty good value and with a little work they will be added to the artillery park of my Little Wars collection. In fact, at the moment they are my Little Wars collection....;-)

At the moment....;-)

On the Hunt for some Old 'Toys'

At this point in time there are two things I am looking for. Firstly there is of course the Minifigs Canopus from their old warship range - this is in danger of becoming something of an obsession as I am desperate to get hold of one! I would also like to get of their 'Early Turret Ship number 14' which I have on good authority is an HMS Edgar class cruiser.

The second item(s) I am after may come as a little bit of a surprise but I am after some Peter Laing 18th century figures - specifically AWI infantry command figures; officers, drummers, ensigns, sergeant and perhaps mounted officers if possible. I have said Peter Laing simply because these figures need to be small and most current 15s are too large. Even Irregular Miniatures 15s are too big but the Laing version would be ideal.

Actually, a 12mm figure would be about right but to the best of my knowledge the only 12mm figures I can ever recall were those available from Hinchcliffe and they were only Napoleonics but I stand to be corrected. I know Minifigs has a 12mm range but I am unsure what is available - I know there are WW2 and ACW but I think that is about it at present.

Still no Hexon so the game tomorrow will be plan B and I apologise in advance for the fact that the models in use will be, shock horror, UNPAINTED!!!

Planning for an Inaugural Game....Part 2

"Meep, meep!" - Straight from the ACME Inc. School of Advanced Project Planning

At the time of writing my Hexon terrain has still not arrived so is probably still in transit. Despite this however, the planning has continued for my first action using it and is now pretty much complete. I have drawn up the roster sheets, ensured that all the gaming related material is to hand - dice, hit markers etc (not essential but useful for purposes of photography) and that the appropriate blocks are mobilised and ready for use.

As a matter of course I have also reread the single account of the battle in question that I own and shall be endeavouring to refight, purely for some additional inspiration. I will explain the rationale behind my choice of action after the game has been played but I suspect that given my fondness for certain periods of history, even those for which I have no intention of acquiring figures for, it will not come as a surprise!

I have even mapped out the terrain on hexed paper so that once the Hexon arrives the set up should be very straightforward. My intention, assuming all is well with the post, is to fight this action on Sunday and to have the after action report on the blog that same evening. I am looking forward to this as much as the game itself and the first part of this is already half written. As an aside I have settled on writing battle reports in three separate posts - the background (this will be my pseudo-historical setting - purple prose and all!), the battle itself and then the review and conclusions from the affair.

I hope that having done all of the above that the end result will be worth it - knowing the action as I do I have every confidence this will be the case! In fact, it would take a really concerted effort to get it wrong and mess the whole thing up! Just to be on the safe side though, I have a Plan B in the shape of another game that can be drafted in as a replacement if needed should the Hexon not arrive in time.

To be honest, I can't wait!

That Warm and Fuzzy Feeling....

1:1200th Warship heaven - "Gonna need a moment alone boys...!"

Yesterday evening was a shocker. I had an interview after work (my contract has just been extended for an additional month but such is the lot of the contractor that you are always on the lookout for your next contract) which meant that I was not back to Liverpool Street station until 6:30pm - earlier than anticipated and so a visit to the club was certainly on the cards.

Overhead power cable problems meant that everything was slow and crowded and as a result I eventually wandered into my house at a miserable 8:35pm. Why are the trains always messed up when I am late anyway?

My low spirits were very soon revived though by the arrival of two of the three parcels I am expecting this week - still no Hexon though.

Basset-Lowke Waterline Ship Models by Derek Head (ISBN 1 872727 72 7 and published in a limited edition of 1,000 copies by Golden Age Editions) is one of those books that can best be described as a piece of pure indulgence and it is absolutely gorgeous, albeit only 160 pages long. the book covers the history and the models produced by Basset-Lowke between 1908 and 1950 at a scale of 1:1200th or 100ft to the inch. Of particular interest to me though is the models that were subcontracted and made as cheaper version of the 1:1200th models (these were being handmade) at a scale of 150ft per inch as these are the models I have a selection of via the Minifigs versions and some die-cast copies of indeterminate origin. These cheaper versions were produced in more limited numbers and production ceased in the 1920s. Sadly the book describes these models as being out of the scope of the title but having said that it has for me answered a number of questions.

Of the 1:1200th models there is much of interest. Ships were produced for a whole range of navies for WW1 and 2 and one wonders if the cheaper and smaller versions were ever produced of these other navies from the earlier period.

I recently saw some Basset-Lowke 1:1200th models on ebay going for some staggering amounts of money as these are effectively antiques and priced as such.

If you like ship models you will love the 'eye candy' in this book and it is a fabulous title to dip into. It is also very expensive (check out amazon!) and I was very lucky to have acquired this copy via ebay for £12.50! I will be honest and say that I would probably not have purchased this book any other way but I am certainly happy that I was able to!

It certainly brightened up what was a depressing evening transport wise!