Mustang on a Typhoon

The design of the scenario for the Angels 20 game at the club last night was left to the tender mercies of yours truly as Mr Fox was recovering from brain overload as a result of his Battlefleet Gothic heroics at the weekend. As is usual with anything I design it invariably tends to be slightly over engineered in concept and this was exception in that it was a fight in two parts, or rather in two levels. The first was a typical low level ground attack mission by a pair of Typhoons with the added bonus of four P51s providing top cover. As it was 1944 the allied air superiority was making itself felt and so the Luftwaffe could oppose the attack albeit with much reduced numbers. The low level attack was to be contested by but a single FW190 whilst the top cover could muster up a pair of 109 Gs. The two targets are protected by a smattering of light flak and the pilots were going to be a varied bunch. The Allies had an ace, two veterans, two average and rookie pilot whilst the Luftwaffe had one each of ace, veteran and rookie. The Allies were at level 1 and 5 (for the Typhoons and the P51s respectively) whilst the attacking Germans came in at level 2 and 6 and from behind so it was in effect, a typical 'bounce' type scenario. The targets had to be hit in the same way as an aircraft and they were deemed to the equivalent of a MS 406 in respect of the damage capacity. Surprisingly there are no rules for light flak - only heavy flak 'fields' which are more accurately used against level bombers. A degree of improvisation was called in this respect and so I merely allowed the flak field rule to be dropped down a level so it could only engage targets at level 1 but with the same effect as a heavy flak field.

The dogfight during one of its more sedate phases....note the damage markers on the bases and the very nice paint job on the 109Gs - well done Mr Fox!

The action was fast and furious and the Typhoons came barrelling at low level and very quickly had the measure of both the objectives. the flak blazed away to no effect and in fact only succeeded in but a single chance to hit anything! Retribution was swift though as the FW190 tasked with the low level intercept made short work of one the Typhoons whilst the other escaped at high speed.


Meanwhile the 109s were mixing it with the Mustangs and it ended with the Rookie Gustav pilot going down under the guns of a P51 whilst the ongoing whirling dogfight ensured that all but one of the top cover aircraft had some damage. Numbers prevailed and this was hardly surprising at this stage of the war.


An allied victory for sure but great fun to play and for me, confirmation of why I prefer the FW 190 at this period of the war (actually at ANY period of the war!).


As ever many thanks to Mr Fox for the use of the toys and to Mr H for his valuable support and participation.


Next week we shall be revisiting Summer 1940, over the Kentish countryside....

Volleys, Bayonets, Life, the Universe and Everything in it....

The past couple of days have been very trying. I have been caught in a maelstrom of my own making - a veritable smorgasbord of choices and the indecision inherent in such a Bacchanalian debauch. Why, oh why? You may well ask, but it all comes down to a very simple thing. I want to convert Volley and Bayonet into a hex based game using my block armies. The idea of using these rules was one that I had not considered in any great detail until the arrival of Napoleon Returns (covering the 1815 campaign) and the consequent reignition of my old army level aspirations.

It is certainly something to think about - long and hard.

The only problem I can foresee is converting the ranges and move distances into hexes. They have been converted into squares (for the 18th century) and this will be an avenue I shall look at in further detail and so will report back via the blog in due course.

In the meantime, my search for a copy of the rules (the 1st edition) and the ACW supplement continues.

Volley and Bayonet - Another example of Synchronicity at play!

The set that launched thousands of my own dreams of tabletop glory

Way back in the mid 1990s I purchased a copy of Volley and Bayonet by Messrs. Chadwick and the late Greg Novak. I can remember being hugely excited at the sheer nerve of the game scale and how they were designed first and foremost as a 'big battle' set of rules. The basic unit was the brigade and many of the usual tactical considerations that gamers set such store by - formations and similar - simply did not exist. I had a few solo 'dabbles' with them but for one reason or another never got around to getting figure based armies to use with the set. I can remember acquiring the ACW expansion and also the one for 1815 to use in due course but as real life and a couple of house moves intervened I got shot of the same some years ago, forever pursued by dreams of 'if only'.

The ACW expansion - chock full of goodies including some very good campaign maps (as I recall designed to fight the entire war!) and some generic ACW organisations

Fast forward a number of years and the arrival of the second copy of the Napoleon Returns was most welcome for the brigade level orders of battle but I had forgotten about the fact that it contained much else besides in terms of basic army information, campaign maps and period specific tweaks to the core rules. It got me thinking.

It got me thinking along the lines of the scope of the original rules was was effectively the entire horse and musket period - just like my block armies.

The rules work off a roster system with strength points being typically 3 to 5 for an infantry brigade - just like my block armies (and Command and Colours).

The rules are designed for free table use but why couldn't they be turned into a Hex based set for use on my Hexon terrain set up?

This is a development of profound significance for me and one that I will need to give some careful thought to. Could these rules, in conjunction with my block armies and my Hexon collection be the answer to my army level gaming aspirations?

The hunt is now well and truly joined as I need to source a copy of the first edition rules and the ACW supplement if I can - as a matter of some urgency!

Broadside 2012

What a difference a year makes! The show this year seemed to be far better laid out (not that it was bad before) in terms of trade and games - not sure if it was but it just felt somehow, roomier. As is usual I only spent a couple of hours wandering about and seeing what was on offer - both in respect of games and trade. I took the opportunity so trade a pile of books for some other titles and aside from a small foray into the Bring and Buy/Flea market I actually spent very little! The show itself has a real 'old school' feel about it so you can cheerfully jaw with traders and gamers quite happily and I only wish I had spent some more time doing so. I enjoyed the fact that many of the games looked like the kind of thing you would see at your local club and not the usual static dioramas on offer at the larger events. That is not to say they were in anyway inferior - they just had that more achievable look about them!

Space, the final frontier....these are the voyages of the Starship Table Clutter (only kidding, they were still setting up!) - it looks suitably galactic and space opera-ish

The legendary Mr. Fox in his 'despoiler of worlds and flayer of men's souls' guise....

Mr Fox had organised a truly epic Battlefleet Gothic game that was awesomely awesome in its awesomeness (I think the fleets were about a gazillion points a side!) and Postie and the Rejects put on a splendid little refight of Amiens 1918 - complete with individually named tanks although I never did find out who Sylvia was....

Postie's Rejects Amiens 1918 game - the tanks are trundling forward and are 'fascine' all kinds of German related unpleasantness....

The Magnificent 7 (out of 10) Rejects striking a suitably stern and manly pose

All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning and my thanks to all that took the time out to chat whilst I was wandering around. I may not have 'splashed the cash' but I came away feeling pretty inspired in a number of different directions by what I had seen and rest assured, some of this will doubtless be bearing fruit via the blog in due course.

Especially if Postie manages to lay his hands on something I have been after for a long time that he may have lurking in the back of his collection somewhere....;-)

1815 and up in the air at last!

My order from Old Glory UK arrived this morning which will now mean I can press on with the Axis and Allies: Angels 20 repaint as the decals are here and also my copy of Napoleon Returns (the scenario book for the 1815 campaign to accompany Volley and Bayonet by Frank Chadwick) which will also mean that work can resume on the Waterloo campaign using the block armies. I used to own a copy of Volley and Bayonet but sadly this has long gone and the new version - Road to Glory - is a little too specific for my taste; focusing as it does purely on the Napoleonic Wars. The plan now then is to try and track down a copy of the original rules for a number of reasons - not least of which is the fact that I have had a rather clever idea around using them....

Napoleon Returns - so I will also be able to!

Old Glory UK decals in 1/100th and 1/144th - just what the RAF and the Luftwaffe ordered (or rather I did, on their behalf!)

Tomorrow is the Broadside 2012 war games show organised by the Milton Hundreds war games club at Sittingbourne in Kent. I am really looking forward to going to this as it is a real 'old school' type of show - not too large, a good selection of games and trade and with enough room to be able to wander about and peruse at leisure rather than the rugby scrums usually associated with bigger events. My own club, SEEMS are putting on a large scale Battlefleet Gothic action under the expert guidance of Mr Fox so if you are going to the show drop by and take a look - the models look very nice indeed and I know that Mr Fox has a particularly evil plot under wraps for the action!

Broadside 2012 - for further details check out the website at:

mhwc

I am really looking forward to tomorrow so should any readers be there and see me wandering by with a glazed expression on my face please feel free to stop me and say hi!

Russian About....

Russian Front BF110 with an I-16 trailing smoke - The FW190 needed two shots to down him (which is very unusual to say the least)!

Yesterday evening saw another game of Axis and Allies: Angels 20 at the club, this time set on the Russian Front. Mr Fox supplied the 'toys' and the scenario which was based on a historical incident in which a Bf110 was tasked as acting as an artillery spotter for some railway artillery escorted by yours truly's WW2 aerial mount of choice - the FW190, or rather, two of them, with young Brad (the newest recruit at SEEMS) providing sterling service as my wingman - in fact he rather upstaged me by taking out three of the five Russians that fell to our FW190s. The Russian defenders fielded a pair of Polikarpov I-16s, four Yak 1s and a lend lease P40.

 

The Bf110 had to fly over a pair of small villages and then head for home so the escorting FW190s could then stay behind and, ahem, have some fun. The first Russian Yak went down under a blizzard of fire from an FW190 whilst the Bf110 lumbered along imperiously over its alloted flight path. So far, so good, in fact, mission accomplished as the ponderous aircraft swung its nose homewards. No one will ever know what prompted the pilot to turn back and join the party as a veritable gaggle of Russian fighters swarmed all over his machine taking great chunks out of as they did. The two FW190s had not been idle in the meantime and first one, two, three and then finally four more fighters all disappeared under the guns of the avenging Germans. At the finish we had not decided the outcome but flying the FW190 was certainly a lot of fun and so surviving with a couple more kills under the metaphorical belt was definitely a good thing. Despite their losses the Russians made the German fighters work very hard for their kills - they seemed to be all over the place, all of the time and so the Germans had to operate from the outside of the thundering herd and at high speed in order to avoid being ganged up on.

 

Next week will see another fight in the skies, this time over Normandy in June 1944. A pair of low level Typhoons with some P51s as top cover will be mxing with the aforementioned FW190s and with the added bonus of some Me109Gs. This will be a very definitive kind of fight as anyone of those planes is more than capable of taking an opponent out with a single attack. Being parked in front of either a Typhoon or an FW190 at close range is a decidedly unhealthy place to loiter.

 

In the meantime I am still waiting for the decals I ordered from Old Glory which means I am reluctant to start the repainting process. As part of this I will also need to source some lettering for squadron markings for the RAF and some chevrons for the Luftwaffe. Mr Fox had some of his freshly painted aircraft on display last night and the results were most impressive - especially with the aforementioned decals added and even the hand painted numbers etc (far to tricky for my own modest talents with a paint brush!). I also still need to add a final starter set to my collection so will probably see if such a thing will be available at Broadside on Sunday. Should I be able to get one then my collection will consist of 8 Hurricanes, 8 Spitfires, 8 109E, 4 109F and 4 Bf110. As it stands at present I am at a loss to decide what to do with the second flight of four Spitfires. I only need 4 for the Battle of Britain set up so will have a look around to see what I can do with them. They could be used as Mk Va variants into 1941 for the so called 'Rhubarb' attacks over Northern France and this type still carried the eight machine guns. It was in one of these that Douglas Bader was shot down in during 1941. If I was feeling particularly brave I could possibly think about converting them into the cannon armed Mk V variant - the type that was outclassed by the FW 190 and required some drastic revision to be able to cope with the new German Fighter. 'Chopped and Cropped' Spitfires anybody?

Memoir of Battle at Sea 2 - Where its at

Following on from the recent 'Raiders of the Lost Ark(ansas)' game I fought (twice) over the weekend I thought it would be a good idea to follow this up with my current thinking as to how the rules work. the biggest single change is the fact that ships have strength points for various different hit locations as follows:

• Hull represented by the Infantry icon
• Engines represented by the Cavalry icon
• Guns represented by the Artillery icon
• Crew represented by the Flag icon

The Crossed Sabres icon is still used for additional hits although only under Close Range Combat.

Combat consists of the Command and Colours 'number of dice rolled at a given range' system with the range of guns being split into close, medium and long. At each range bracket only certain parts of the target can be hit i.e. at long range only the hull can be hit, at medium this adds artillery and at close range everything else is included.

Movement ranges from 2 to 5 grid areas per turn depending on the ship type.

Damage is scored against the target ship by rolling multiples of the required icon and this is determined by the protection level the ship is assigned which is heavy, medium or light. The former two require multiples of 3 and 2 specific icons whilst the latter needs any two eligible icons for the given range.

Damage effects are currently a little woolly in respect of engines and crew but artillery works on the same basis as C and C Napoleonics although this may need a little refinement.

Activation of individual ships is a new concept for me and appears to work reasonably well. I have allowed for the effect of crew quality on this so that better crews have an easier chance of successfully activating as opposed to poor ones. I should point out that successfully activating a ship is the only way that it can fire in the activation phase as I wanted to keep the pure artillery phase at the start of the turn. Essentially a ship can always fire in the artillery phase but if it wants to fire at close range in the activation phase (combined with movement) then it must be successfully activated to do so. Should it fail then it may move only and so has effectively lost the ability to fire for the whole turn. The basic idea for this was courtesy of Kaptain Kobold (many thanks old chap!) and all I have done is to add the crew quality element.

In a nutshell then, the rules seem to work pretty well at the moment although I am conscious of some clarifications and general tidying up being needed. I need to factor in ramming in some fashion but the most pressing need is to address the damage effects situation. Once this has been tackled then they (the rules) will be set fair for further testing.