Avalon Hill Naval Games CD

Apologies for the delay in reporting about the above - my only excuse is that I have been somewhat distracted with the usual round of domesticity and other 'shiny things!'

The CD arrived and I am very impressed with both the quality and the contents. The games included are as follows:

Attack Sub
Submarine
Trireme
Bismarck
Carrier
Flat Top
Jutland
Midway
Peloponnesian War
Tokyo Express
Victory Games - Pacific War
War at Sea - Victory in the Pacific
Wooden Ships and Iron Men

For each of the above games the rules, countersheets, play sheets, maps, game boxes and any associated articles from the Avalon Hill General magazine - this often includes some of the variants e.g. Tsushima for Jutland and the South Atlantic mapboard for the Hunt for the Graf Spee using the game Bismarck.

All the components are scanned into PDFs and are easily opened. the games are scanned usually within several files and so each game has its own folder but be warned - due to the content the files are pretty hefty is size!

I plan to get some of the maps and counters printed (probably at a local print shop) and I am sure that anyone with the requisite knowledge could chop the files around if need be. I do not have access to a printer of larger than A4 so would need to do this but even colour printing would not be overly expensive in the quantities I envisage. I was quoted £3 to £4 for colour printing and laminating an A3 sized map using a matt film which is not too bad - Bismarck search boards in this case.

Overall then, a cracking product and more than sufficient to be able to construct the games from scratch if need be although printing, mounting and cutting the 2,000 odd counters for Flat Top may be an exercise in patience or needing a long and uninterrupted weekend!

Victory at Sea - Countering the lack of models

Following on from the disposal of my War at Sea collection and in advance of acquiring the 1/3000th replacements I was left with the small problem of representing ships for any projected solo games or even play tests. At a push I could have press ganged some of my completed Balkan Wars and WW1 models but that is hardly inspiring and even for my fertile imagination perhaps a step too far. I was pondering this dilemma when I rediscovered all the counters I had kept from the Victory at Sea WW2 naval rules published by Mongoose. The rules were largely unsuccessful in my opinion and I offloaded them some time ago but had kept all the counters. These are top down line drawings of many of the major ship classes from the US, UK, Italy, Germany, France and Japan – together with a lot of aircraft counters. The ships vary in scale but fit on a Hexon terrain tile easily enough. There is also a sheet of merchantmen and submarines should I be so inclined. Obviously these are no substitute for the models but they will suffice until I have some ready to use.

In fact, the aircraft counters will probably continue to serve even after I have the new 1/3000th collection – I have a cunning plan for this – as they cover many of the types I would have liked to have seen in the War at Sea range. I have a number of plastic flying bases used for such things as Aeronef and Battlefleet Gothic. These consist of a hexagonal base with a centre spindle upon which the model is placed. Some time ago I modified some of these by adding to the top of the spindle an inverted GW round flying base – this has a flat underside – with the intention being to use the flat surface as the base for whatever I wanted to put on it. I used some of these for the air groups from my scratch built Greek dirigible and they looked quite good. My plan now then is to put a square of magnetic strip on the top of the base and to stick the counters to some metal paper prior to cutting them out. This means I can use the same couple of dozen bases for any number and type of aircraft depending on the scenario and nationality. Simple but effective and all I will need to do is to paint up some flying bases and chop up the magnetic strip etc. It is quite likely then that I will have the air assets completed before I even take delivery of a single warship!

Memoir of Battle at Sea - A Question of Damage

I have been forced to have a little bit of a rethink in respect of hit points for recording damage. I think originally I had set these rather too low and so ships would disappear more quickly than I would have liked. As a result I have increased these very slightly - most noticeably at the lower end of the ship types - torpedo boats and destroyers. The lowest number of hit points a ship can have is now 2 - this being for early torpedo boats and destroyers of under 500 tons. The knock on effect of this is that everything above it has needed to be tweaked upwards as a result - and this also includes the first batch of ship specifications I had drafted.

Although this will mean some extra work in respect of the ship specification charts I feel much happier with the resultant scores I will use and so will not mind the added task. Tactically it will cause players to be more aware of the potential of a torpedo attack as the attacking ships in question will not be swatted away quite so easily.

Memoir of Battle at Sea - Still Afloat and Making Waves

My version of the Memoir 44 inspired naval rules is coming along very nicely following the recent playtest. I have incorporated a number of tweaks into the rules and am set fair for the next trial. This will involve the use of some other ship types and so will be more representational of the scenarios I envisage playing. I have also completed the ship specification charts for the Austrian, French, Italian, Greek, Russian (Black Sea) and Turkish navies. I will need to add to my fleets for this theatre in due course and so the proceeds of my recent disposals will be put to good use.

The rule changes are fairly minor but may well be significant in respect of their overall effects - as is usually the way with these things it is only obvious when the rule is actually tested!

One small problem I am having at the moment though is trying to find a shade of paint that matches the blue/green of the Hexon tiles - this will be for the card bases of my models when I complete them. I have a couple of colour charts available so will explore them over the next day or so and see what is suitable. As a rule I prefer to use colours straight out of the tin/pot rather than mixing shades - mainly because I can never seem to replicate it later!

The cat is about the same - no better but mercifully no worse either. He does look very sorry for himself though.

Battle Cry! by Avalon Hill/Hasbro

It has been an eventful week thus far for a number of reasons. Firstly, SWMBO and I have spent three anxious nights commuting to the local vets with one of our two cats, Misty the 10 year old Persian Blue (seen above, looking as aloof and disdainful as only one of his breed can!) who has been diagnosed as suffering from cat flu. He is very poorly but expected to recover in time and resume his customary regal bearing. He is cutting a particularly forlorn figures at the moment and looks little like the handsome chap in the picture at the moment. According the various cat books SWMBO owns Persians are supposed to have a 'soft, musical voice......' I can only assume then that Misty has yet to read this book as his voice when in full flow is neither soft nor musical!

Secondly I was at home with a dose of the screaming awfuls on Tuesday, feeling particularly achey and feverish with the obligatory sure throat thrown in for good measure. I feel a little better now but am looking forward to the weekend for a proper rest.

Thirdly, and despite all this medical doom and gloom, a huge box arrived from the US today - my copy of Battle Cry! by Avalon Hill/Hasbro - the ACW Command and Colours game. To say I was pleased to see this after what has thus far been a particularly bleak week (excepting of course Chelsea winning 4 - 1 against the Russians last night in the Champions League!) is perhaps an understatement.

Finally, The RN and the Kriegsmarine Axis and Allies: War at Sea fleets have both gone to new homes and I also have a ton of Lord of the Rings figures to sort as part of the result, as well as the funds for the new 1/3000th versions.

Anybody want to buy an Italian Navy?........;-)

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...!!!"