WW2 At Sea in the Mediterranean

 

 

Helping to flesh out the naval section of my Mediterranean library. My 'new' copy was cheap but is ex library. I don't mind that but if I am honest I would not have bought it had it been described as such as I prefer normal copies rather than former library types. Picky I know but hey ho!



It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to fall into the old wargaming trap of project creep. You know the thing - first a new set of rules and a modest shopping list, then something related pops up and before you know it the whole thing has grown way beyond what was originally intended.

I like to think I am a leading authority on this curious phenomena as I am constantly suffering from it! Take my recent acquisitions at Cavalier. One cannot think about combat in the desert in WW2 without considering the naval dimension. No problem there as I had already factored this in with the Axis and Allies ships available from Historical Boardgaming (they produce some of the additional RN types - I am thinking HMS Warspite - as well as the Italians) but I wanted some more information on the war at sea. To be accurate I wanted to refresh my memory as I used to game the theatre using the Axis and Allies: War at Sea collectable miniatures with Mr Fox, whom it must be said is partial to the odd Italian.

I can only assume that my copy is hiding in the same place as the two Conways that have vanished into the ether because I could not lay hands on it anywhere. Luckily EBay came to the rescue for the princely sum of £3.50 so I now have it back in the collection although I will look to get a tidier version in due course.

The Italians in Axis and Allies only feature as a separate power in the 1940 Europe edition (and the special Global version I believe) and the models available are as follows:

Littorio (BB)
Aquila (CV)
Zara (CA)
Soldati (DD)
Marconi (SS)

P108 (Bomber)
SM79 (Bomber/Torpedo Bomber)
C202 (Fighter)

75/32 (Field Gun)
M15/42 (Tank)

Again, the list is by no means definitive but it covers the basics and so will suffice to begin with.

The Rational Grid

 

For a fuller description of the types of grid that can used for wargames you could no better than to read Bob Cordery's book.

Work on the WW2 naval rules continues apace and I am close to being able to run a play test. I have a grid I shall use but it is not a square grid as such – rather it is an offset square grid as supplied with the Axis and Allies collectable miniatures game. As supplied the grid was too small to use with the models from the game (which are scaled at 1:1800^th) and so back in the day I drew an offset square grid on a large sheet with 9” squares. It was ideal for use at the club and we fought many exciting actions on it with the larger models. Obviously this cloth would be too large for home use – at least for my home anyway - and so now it belongs to SEEMS. The maps that came with the original game I had laminated and still own. The squares are around 3 1/2” across and are perfect for use with the Axis and Allies ships I am currently working on.

 

 

Axis and Allies: War at Sea - the collectable miniatures game. The maps included are double sided but you get the idea of what I mean about the size of the map squares and the ships.

 



 

 

The usual 'brick wall' offset grid. From a perception thing it would appear to be well suited to the 'linear' age of warfare - primarily the horse and musket era.

 

 

Rotate the brick wall ninety degrees and the orientation of the grid changes. To me seems to more useful for the defence in depth approach of modern warfare.



 

 The offset square grid is an interesting beast for sure. There have been a number of blog posts about the advantages and disadvantages of various grids – Bob Cordery also covers their use in his Portable Wargame series of books – but I personally think the offset square grid has traditionally been the poor relation of the hexed and conventional square versions. I know that they have featured with some ancient naval rules and I seem to recall a set based on the Russian Civil War using the offset grid but that is about it (and I stand to be corrected). I believe that depending on you orientate the grid (horizontally or vertically) you can better represent the battlefield of your chosen period. I think that using such a grid horizontally (like a brick wall) suits the ‘linear’ or traditional horse and musket period very nicely whilst if you use the same thing vertically you appear to have a greater sense of depth and so would be better suited to the mechanised period. Another advantage of the offset square grid is the ease of making terrain based on the edges of the squares – it is easier to cut right angles than the sixty degree versions of the hexes! 

This is certainly something I will experiment with in due course but for now the WW2 naval must take priority.

Alternatives to Hexon and Heroscape

Apologies for the poor quality picture as it was downloaded from the net. I have a pack of the 3" transfers acquired around 30 years ago.... 

 

Back in the 1980s I recall being strangely attracted to the possibilities of using a grid based gaming set up for my wargames. I seem to remember a set of Napoleonic rules I was flirting with that used a figure scale of 125:1 so battalions came in at around 5 or 6 figures that were designed with hexes in mind. The rules have long gone and I cannot remember what they were called but I remember buying them from the old Games Centre in London's West End (Hanway Street IIRC). They were an American rule set of that I am certain.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I purchased a couple of packs of the above (again, from the Games Centre - back in the days when Dave Ryan, Jon Sutherland and the late Joe Dever worked there) with the plan to 'hex' a couple of felt cloths. the version I purchased was the 3" size and the 25mm figures I wanted to use for the rules mentioned fitted perfectly. I had not thought about terrain at all but I did get a cloth - a 7 x 5 ft green felt one - done. The trick with the iron on transfer was all in the preparation in that you needed to pin the sheets together VERY carefully before ironing them. You also had to make sure the hexes lined up properly so there were no gaps present. After the success of the green cloth I tried a blue version but that went horribly wrong and so I scrapped it.

The green cloth has long gone but I kept the remaining pack and a half of the transfers for posterity. Fast forward to today and, assuming that that the print has not perished, I am going to reuse it.

Back in the day the transfers were pretty successful and the one thing I was worried about was the print itself  'cracking' when the cloth was folded. Luckily it never did but I am mindful of the fact that as they are the age they are this might be an issue. At the time I used a 7 x 5ft cloth so that I could place hills underneath it so that the hexes forming the hills were obvious - it worked pretty well with the advantage that the cloth could also be used on its non hexed side.

The plan now is to use a smaller playing area - no bigger than 4 x 3ft - so I shall take a look at my cloth supplies to see what works best. At this stage I am looking at covering three small cloths - green, sand and blue - so there should be plenty left over to cover them with. I need to experiment first of all given the age of the transfers although they are still available (at least the 1" hex version is) from Noble Knight games in the US of A.




Cavalier - The Gift that keeps on giving....

Not a spur of the moment thing - at least the rules were not - and the two books complete complete a trilogy with a similar title that covers naval operations in the Mediterranean. There is a good deal of information to be gleaned from official reports from the commanders in the field so to speak which helps to gain a greater insight into what took place and why.

It is the last weekend in February which can only mean one thing - the Cavalier show in Tonbridge, Kent. I always enjoy this show for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is the first show of the season for me (well the first that I would go to!), secondly, it is not too huge so you have a reasonable chance of seeing everything and finally, it is actually not a bad hour or so drive to get there. It is also a chance to catch up with old friends and to ‘splash the cash’ if required.

I spent the early part of the show helping Dave Lanchester of Dave Lanchester Military Books and his wife Lynne setting up their stall - which seemed to be doing a roaring trade by mid morning. I parted with some cash whilst here in support of a cunning plan I am working - more of which later. I was able to meet up with a number of the ‘Blogeratti’ so to speak - mainly Postie’s Rejects in the shape of Postie, Big Lee and Ray, all of whom were on top form. I also caught up with Henry Hyde in order to thank him for something that will feature in his forthcoming 18th century ‘not quite India’ campaign. You will have to wait and see what it is in due course.

The games were many and varied and the one that really caught my eye was the 54mm Portable Wargame - it looked very stylised but was quite superb and it has certainly given me something else to think about. SEEMS put on a Tanks! Game with some very nice looking models. The redoubtable Mr Fox was busy keeping this in order. There was a nice WW2 aerial game with a table mat of the Grand Harbour in Malta using the Check Your 6! Rules - these are a set I would like to try at some point although I really enjoy Axis and Allies: Angels 20. Another game that caught my eye was a representation of the Zeebrugge Raid with a very nice model of HMS Vindictive around four feet long!

The Bring and Buy was very busy with the crowds three or four deep. There were some interesting bits and pieces up for grabs but nothing that I wanted to fight through the crowds for. 

The Battlegroup rules and series of campaign specific supplements are well known and very popular. They are designed for both 15 and 20mm models but could readily be adapted for other scales. I have always had a soft spot for the war in Africa and given the fact that I am also looking at WW1 in the desert as well there are some practical advantages in respect of terrain acquisition and such like. Besides, I am not entirely divorced from the idea of making some kits for the period. It would be fairly low level, perhaps a troop a side with a modest amount of support - even I could tackle that. It would certainly make a nice alternative to the larger and more operational scale of games I am planning.

The two books are a two part set covering the official reports and dispatches from the various commanders in the Mediterranean theatre. The reports cover everything from the war against the Italians through to the arrival of the Africa Korps  and the great battles of Rommel. They also cover Crete, Tunisia and Operation Torch. There is a lot of information contained in these books and they are a valuable resource to get a fuller understanding of what happened and why. Being official reports they are somewhat dry so next I will look to get something a little more narrative in nature.

I must apologise for the lack of show photos  - I took some on my phone but they did not come out very well so I did not bother uploading them. I expect that a good few will surface on various blogs in due course.

Firepower - Protection - Speed....Part 2

 

An oldie but a goodie and with a good use of a gridded playing surface.

 

Work on the WW2 naval rules continues apace. I have the theory mapped out so now it is merely a case of putting this into practice. In a nutshell the key elements I am working to can be described as follows.

Firepower – Protection – Speed.  

Firepower 

The Firepower category includes main guns, secondaries, torpedoes and AA. The normal rating for this is based on 4 with weapons deemed superior or inferior to the norm adding or subtracting 1 respectively. Ships will have a rating for each type of weapon they carry - this will be based on the nominal category of weapons carried so, for example, Bismarck would have capital guns 4 (that is the norm for her type) and cruiser guns 3 (not quite up to cruiser norm). I was tempted to lump everything together but some naval wargame habits die hard! The resultant number is the amount of d6 rolled when engaging the enemy so, for example, the Bismarck, rated as normal for her 8 x 15” guns would roll 4d6 when firing. The target type adjusts the number of d6 being rolled with the types being Capital ships, Cruisers and Destroyers. Note that carriers could be classed as either Capital or Cruiser types depending on the class being represented. Using the example above should the Bismarck be firing her main guns at a destroyer she would roll an additional 2d6. There will be situational modifiers that will also adjust the number of d6 rolled. A roll of a 6 is 2 potential successes (and a reroll) whilst 4 and 5 equal 1. Gun ranges have yet to be decided but my thinking at this stage is for Capital ship guns to have a range of 4, Cruiser level guns 3 and Destroyers 2 (bear in mind this is a grid based rule set). Again these can be adjusted to allow for superior or inferior weapons. I have been deliberately vague with these as superior or inferior types represent greater or lesser numbers of barrels or larger or smaller calibres or indeed any permutation thereof. 

Protection 

This is based on the ship type and represents a composite rating based on armour, tonnage and structural integrity or, as I like to put it, what feels right. For example using the Bismarck again (and why not, she was a famous ship) I would happily rate her as a 5 where the norm is 4. This is not so much for her armour but reflects her overall structural integrity – she was very strongly built after all. The number 5 is important in this example because in order to cause a potential change to the damage level of a ship the firing player must score 5 or more successes. Essentially for every 5 successes against the Bismarck she will take one potential level of damage. I say potential because I am including a mechanism for damage control whereby a hit could be nullified by the correct roll of the d6. Assuming the hit ‘sticks’ and is not negated then the damage level penalties start kicking in. Remember all ships have four overall damage levels before they are sunk. At the moment I am weighing up the GQ 1 and 2 Hull and Guns damage approach against the gradual ‘death of a thousand cuts’ route.

Speed 

I have frequently tied myself up in knots (no pun intended although with second thoughts….) over the thorny subject of ship speeds and do you know what? I cannot be bothered anymore as many quoted speeds were usually taken from the ship trials and so are artificially high. I realise this will offend the purist but I am not going to stress about it. The base number for speed will be 4 with the usual superior and inferior adjustments. Our friend Bismarck sits happily at 4 whilst HMS Nelson would be a 3. I have a number of ideas around how ships move on a square grid and I shall be using diagonals. I have this clear in my mind but translating it into the written word is proving a little challenging at the moment! 

These are the basic parameters I am working to and for sure there are a lot of gaps at present. Once I can get the core system down on paper and a few games under my belt it should make a lot more sense. Some of the numbers quoted  may need revising – I  am torn in respect of the speed norm – but only testing will determine if this is necessary. 

The rules are being designed to be used on a grid measuring 12 by 8 so I want to keep movement distances and ranges down so that there is a reasonable amount of sea room for manoeuvring outside combat distances. With the models I shall be using I am looking at a grid size of 3” so the fighting area will be 3ft by 2ft. This can of course be expanded to suit and in fact Barry Carter in his book on naval wargaming does exactly that with his geomorphic boards.

All in all then it is a fairly positive start to this project so I need to get a move on in terms of painting some models for some playtesting. Actually I can make use of some counters for this if needs be so that may well be the route I follow in the short term.

War at Sea and 1500 Not Out

As part of my WW2 naval project I thought it would be a good idea to revisit some old friends in the library for the all important inspiration. With this in mind I ascended into the man cave and pulled out three titles, the first of which you see below.

 

This is not my copy as I have the hardback version

 

 

Sea War: Great Naval Battles of World War 2 is one of those primer type books that are always good to refresh one's memory with. By no stretch of the imagination can this be described as a definitive account of the actions described but it does have much in the way of useful information - particularly log extracts and eye witness accounts. In short it provides the reader with plenty of flavour but for more fuller analysis of the actions contained therein one would need to research further. It is a good read to get 'back in the groove' though. The chapters are as follows:

 

The Loss of the Courageous

The Pocket Battleship Graf Spee

HMS Glowworm: The Supreme Sacrifice

The Defence of the Aircraft Carrier Glorious

The Taranto Raid

The Battle of Cape Matapan

The Battle for Crete

The Evacuation of Crete

The Mighty Bismarck

Singapore - The Loss of Repulse and the Prince of Wales

The Soviet Convoys

The Ship that Torpedoed Herself

The Story of HMS Edinburgh

Midway

Onslow's Valiant Defence

The Destruction of the Scharnhorst

The Allies take the Offensive

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

The Eclipse of Japan

 

All in all it is not a bad read and in conjunction with the other two volumes (which will appear in the next post) gives me a nice foundation to work from as far as inspiration is concerned - especially now that the appropriate volume of Conway's Fighting Ships (1922 to 1946) is back in the library.

 

1500 not out....

 

This is post number 1500 since I started the blog way back in 2009 whilst I was between jobs. I am pleased with much of the content (although there are some quite embarrassing wargames 'blind alleys and contradictions' in the post list!) and I certainly have enjoyed the resultant commentary from readers. I looked back over some of the material and from where I was then to where I am now has been an eventful journey - but it is one that I have enjoyed making and I hope to continue to do so.

 

Many thanks to all for helping me to get this far and I hope to have you onboard for the next 1500!

 





The Circle is Now Complete....

 

I know, I know - I need to get out more....

 

One of the things that seems to be happening with increasing frequency in my man cave is not only finding ‘stuff’ that has been hidden for an age but also of things mysteriously disappearing…. 

 

The third volume of Conway's epic warship reference series.

So it was that some time ago – summer of last year in fact - I realised that my copies of both the 1906 to 1921 and the 1922 to 1946 volumes of Conway’s Fighting Ships had disappeared. Vanished, Shuffled off this mortal coil – in fact were EX copies of Conway’s Fighting Ships. I searched high and low and in every nook and cranny of Chez Crook but to no avail. I had not lent these out at any point so can only assume that they have gone or are still waiting for me to rediscover them. Oddly enough though the 1860 version remained safe and sound. In fairness there has been a reasonable amount of moving around in the house and with the kitchen refurb much of the residence was in chaos for a while. Whether these two books were victims of this domestic upheaval will never be known but I cannot lay my hands on either of them. 

Anyway, to cut a long story short I resolved to reacquire both volumes (which will doubtless mean the missing pair will now turn up….) as they are extremely valuable reference works – if a little dry – and essential reading for the naval wargamer. The 1906 to 1921 volume arrived a few weeks back and the 1922 to 1946 edition turned up this morning. The timing could not be better as I grapple with my WW2 rules. 

As both of these are out of print it was a case of haunting eBay until suitably priced editions turned up – I have seen some eyewatering prices quoted for them, especially the 1860 volume – and even then they were not available at the same time. I am delighted to have all three volumes together once again though – they actually read better if you have them all as there is a lot of overlap between volumes.

 

Needless to say I will now be keeping these books very close by....