On the North West Frontier....Part 2

After the grandiose announcement of my latest piece of insanity I feel that I should perhaps expand upon the rationale and thought process behind the whole idea and where it sits in the grand scheme of things. I should begin by stating that this was emphatically no idle whim and I was certainly not joking when I say that such an undertaking - a 54mm set up - has in fact been on the cards, in one way or another, for a number of years. I have given very careful consideration to the potential for expansion of the idea in respect of additional forces etc and how this would be realised over time. There are a number of possibilities in mind behind what would appear to be a purely Colonial style set up and so I will touch on them so you can see where my thoughts will be leading me in due course.

Russia

Of course the North West Frontier and beyond was the setting for the 'Great Game' as Russian expansion in Asia pushed ever closer to British India. Russian troops fought the Afghans at the Battle of Murghab in 1885 and the subsequent diplomatic wrangling very nearly led to war between Russia and Great Britain. It would not be too far a stretch of the imagination to escalate this into a plausible war game scenario or campaign setting and I fully intend doing so in due course.

Turkey

I bet you didn't see that one coming! I was delighted when I discovered that as a result of Turkey going to war with Greece in 1897 the Sultan was so incensed with the attitude of the British government over their condemnation of the Ottoman position that he sent agents to stir up the tribes on the North West Frontier (as co-religionists) to give the British something to think about in return. At the time the frontier was like a powder keg anyway due to various 'Mad Mullahs' doing the rounds so Turkish encouragement was hardly necessary but was there all the same. One of the rumours in circulation was that Turkish troops had captured the Suez canal and were currently engaged in clearing the British from Aden and such like! Again, this would allow the appearance of Ottoman troops - not necessarily on the frontier itself but perhaps as an Aden invasion force.

Of course both Russia and Turkey could engage in their own private squabble quite independently of the British India and so I am quite sure you can see the potential. The Afghan tribesman could easily be used as friends or foes for each of the forces mentioned and both Russia and Turkey could easily morph into Rusland and Fezia as and when the need arises.

It also means that I will have a naval perspective as ultimately Russia, Turkey and Great Britain will need fleets - for use in the Black Sea in the case of Russia and Turkey or the Persian Gulf/Red Sea/Indian Ocean for Great Britain and Turkey.

I think it is safe to say that the above would easily provide more than enough entertainment value for several years worth of gaming and so this is very much a long haul project but, even a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and so far I have only just opened the front door!

On the North West Frontier....

The Frontier Ablaze (again!)

I blame the Carry On team, Winston Churchill, Flashman and Kenneth More. The idea of war gaming the constant and unending struggle on the North West frontier of India has long been a guilty pleasure of mine but, like so many things, I never really tackled the concept other than to amass a small section of the library devoted to it. Spreading the idea further the whole Indian sub-continent has exercised a seductive allure from a military history perspective - from the time Alexander the Great up to the 18th century with Clive and beyond. The 'Jewel in the Crown' was aptly named and the potential for games set in the later years of the 19th century is both many and varied - from small scale skirmishes up to and including full scale battles and campaigns.

One of my all time favourite films....

....And another....

....And one of my favourite books....

....And another.

So what does all this mean then?

I have gone and done something that is not 'rather rash' - rather it has been an idea being mulled for probably at least the past 5 years to my knowledge - probably even longer if truth be told - and has been touched upon in the blog on a couple of previous occasions.

My adventures with 15mm have come to an end. I am sorry for this but I just cannot get on with then no matter how hard I try they just do not hit the spot for me in any way, shape or form. Were I to tackle anything in a smaller scale it would have to be 20mm as I suppose I am a little bit of a traditionalist in that respect and I indulged in painted armies in that scale long before 15mm, 25mm or 28mm.

I have also painted and converted a number of plastic 54mm figures for use with Western Gunfights; albeit many years ago.

I have acquired a modest selection of Armies in Plastic 54mm North West Frontier figures with a view to raising two forces - one Afghan and one Imperial - for use with a number of hex based systems, skirmishes and also Funny Little Wars. The action will focus on events in the little known Roghan Valley where the Imperial garrison at Dovecot attempt to maintain control of the area from the depredations of the fearsome Jalfrezis under their renowned leader Shere Khanaj and his chief advisor the self-styled Prophet Abul.

More to follow - once I have opened the boxes....

So close, I can almost taste it!

Following on from my previous post and making use of some of the comments received (coupled with my own observations) I have added the following final details to the MoBaS naval rules in respect of torpedo attacks. The amendments have come about from ideas and examples from a variety of sources and each will serve to reduce the possibility of a successful torpedo hit although I have left the damage effects as they are. My feeling is very much along the lines of torpedoes being very effective WHEN THEY HIT rather than being able to hit too easily. Ships of the period had notoriously poor underwater protection so the damage effect of a torpedo hit should be serious. The trick is to score such a blow in the first place! With this in mind the changes are as follows:


Ships may only launch a single torpedo attack per turn - no salvo firing. In this period and as far as I have been able to deduce it was not standard practise to loose off every torpedo carried at once - 'volley firing' of torpedoes came much later.


The dice roll to hits stays the same at 4, 5 and 6 BUT if the target is firing on the attacker during the second attack phase then the chance to hit is reduced to a 6. This allows for the effect that the deluge of incoming fire will have on the accuracy of the attacking ship.


The target ship, if a Battleship or Cruiser, is allowed one single point 'turn away' from the direction of a single attack which is declared after the attacker announces their target. The torpedo is fired and crossed off but to no effect BUT the evading ship may not fire heavy or medium guns during the following first attack phase. The rationale behind this is that the gunnery aiming would be thrown off by the violent change of course needed in order to avoid the incoming torpedo.


Of the three points listed the last one - the 'turn away' - is a mechanic I have unashamedly borrowed from James Dunnigan's Jutland game produced by Avalon Hill many years ago.


The plan is to test this lot at the club on March 7th although I may run them solo over next weekend. Assuming all is well (and I have no reason to suppose otherwise) then this will be the definitive 'tweak' to the rules - in which I have now also included dreadnoughts.

On the Wine Dark Aegean Sea....Game Number 5

The two fleets deployed with the Greeks in the foreground (the coloured spots are for identification purposes as the models are currently unpainted).

Following on from the first 'live' test of the MoBaS rules at the club last Wednesday evening I decided to fight a similar action using the same forces but with the rules having incorporated a couple of minor revisions. One of the problems arising from Wednesday was the simple fact that combat was fairly inconclusive and I cannot recall ever taking part in a naval game that finished up with only a single ship having been sunk from the sixteen on the table! Oddly enough, whilst the results felt historically accurate it did make for a relatively 'muted' game.

A couple of changes later and finally tweaked rules were ready to go - and with some dramatic results!

Somewhere in the Aegean Sea....

The Greek navy, despite being smaller than the Turkish, has thus far managed to not only hold its own in the fight against the Ottomans but has in fact largely achieved a measure of superiority in the area of operations. The Turks have been active in the Black Sea but have all but surrendered the initiative to the Greeks in the Aegean Sea and have kept safely out of harms way and protected by the minefields and shore batteries at the entrance to the Dardanelles. However, stung into action by public outcry (and desperately attempting to relieve the pressure on the hard-pressed army)  the Turkish Navy is at last sallying forth with the intention of bringing the Greeks to battle.

The Greek navy had managed to achieve local superiority over the Turks by bold ship handling and resolution and whilst defeating the Ottoman navy in a straight fight would be the crowning glory of their war at sea it was not a set of circumstances that would be easy to engineer.

A routine sweep near the entrance of the Dardanelles may tempt the reluctant Turks out to battle but this was fraught with danger as the ships of the Greek navy were considerably outgunned by the enemy.

The Greek navy consisted of the armoured cruiser Georgios Averoff, three coastal defence battleships - Hydra, Psara and Spetsai and four destroyers - Niki, Doza, Aspis and Velos whilst the Turks that sallied forth to engage them consisted of the battleships Hayreddin Barbarossa, Torgud Reis and Mesudiye, the protected cruiser Hamidiye and four destroyers - Basra, Yarhisar, Samsun and Tasoz.

The two sides had adopted virtually identical sailing formations with the respective cruisers in the van and the four destroyers operating in line ahead on the starboard beam of their battle line for the Greeks and the port for the Turks.

Upon sighting the enemy formation (at around 20,000 yards) the two sides adopted broadly similar dispositions with each cruiser speeding ahead in order secure a tactical advantage. As the two cruisers swung into position to engage one another so the following battle lines followed suit. Initially the Greek navy was in a better position to open fire and so the Averoff and the Hydra, Spetsai and Psara all concentrated upon the only target in range - the cruiser Hamidiye - with telling effect. (The resulting fire inflicted some two points of damage - the hull was hit and the torpedo rack destroyed.) The Averoff was not so fortunate as whilst only two of the Turkish ships were in range they were the 11" gun armed Hayreddin Barbarossa and her sister ship, the Torgud Reis - and the luckless cruiser duly received three hits. Meanwhile, the two destroyer screens had sped ahead of their respective charges and were about to become involved in their own private battle.

The opening salvoes as both the Turkish Hamidiye and the Greek Averoff take hits. Note the destroyers heading off for their own private war.

The destroyer melee resulted in a number of hits being scored on both sides but the most significant feature was that whilst the Greek destroyers fell in with the Averoff - in order to protect the ship from the marauding  Turks; was that in doing so, the four ships were separated from the slower and more vulnerable battleships.

The start of the destroyer melee with the Greeks protected the Georgios Averoff - note the familiar hit markers

The manoeuvres by the Greek destroyers were carried out briskly and efficiently and meant that the flagship was completely protected from the Turks who suddenly found themselves in a position where they could no longer easily reach the Averoff but, were then virtually crossing the head of the Greek battle line. The results proved to be catastrophic.

The Turkish destroyers, after having disengaged from the Greeks, about to engage the battle line

The Turkish destroyers, although slightly knocked about by their opposite numbers, immediately disengaged from the attack on the Averoff and concentrated on the lead Greek Battleship with two of their number.  At point blank range torpedoes sped from their tubes and the result was sadly inevitable. (Of the 9 dice rolled for the attack only 4 hit home but two of these were 6s and so eight points of damage were scored. The luckless Greek battleship, the Hydra, had a flotation value of 6 and a speed of 2 and was sunk outright.) With one large explosion and a mass of smaller secondary blasts the Hydra slipped beneath the waves.

The end of the Hydra....

Too late the Greek admiral attempted to rectify the parlous position his battleships now found themselves in. Unfortunately, whilst the destroyer melee and the subsequent attack on the Greek line had been undertaken the Turkish battleships, with the damaged Hamidiye bringing up the rear, had moved up in order to engage the Greek ships and were in the process of completing the manoeuvre when the Greek destroyers attacked. It was too little, and too late.

The Mesudiye and the Hamidiye receiving the attention of the Greek destroyers....

The Greek attack fell on the Mesudiye and the Hamidiye as they were the nearest. Despite the fearsome amount of fire the Mesudiye was able to put down only a few hits were scored and the Hamidiye did not manage even a single hit. the Greek torpedoes left their tubes and the results were heavy damage on the Hamidiye and some on the Turkish battleship but both vessels were able to maintain their place in the line, albeit with their speeds reduced. Luck had favoured the Turks in this instant and was about to take a much more impressive hand in things as the remaining Turkish destroyers (those that still carried torpedoes) engaged the other two Greek battleships.

Again at point blank range (and thanks to a combination of winning the initiative for the turn and some deft manoeuvring) the Turks engaged the Greeks with the same results. The rear Greek battleship - the Spetsai - and the vessel - the Psara - were both torpedoed and sunk. (the Psara sustained no less than 14 points of damage due to a succession of 6s being rolled!).

....and the Psara and the Spetsai

At this point the Greeks cruiser the Averoff recalled her destroyers and the battered survivors disengaged. Mindful of the damage to both the Hamidiye and the Mesudiye the Turkish admiral remained on the scene and picked up the survivors from the Greek battleships. It had been a stunning victory.

Conclusions

The rules were far more decisive than the previous version and although the torpedo attacks were spectacular the effect was about right. I think that it is a little too easy to score a hit with them though - especially when under fire so I may give this some further thought - perhaps reducing the hit chance if under fire but leaving the damage effect as is.

Once again, it was great fun and a pleasant way to spend an evening.

Cruiser Warfare - WW1 German Style

"I love the smell of new books in the morning....they smell of....new books!"

For a variety of reasons it has been a fairly busy couple of weeks - mainly to do with my efforts to secure a new job for when my existing contract comes to an end on Friday of next week. So far I have had little success but there are a few possibilities on the horizon and so I am sure that something will turn up in due course. In the meantime though it has mean lots of phone calls, interviews with agencies and hundreds of emails!

I have not been entirely idle though on the shopping front and so a couple of choice items have crossed the threshold prior to my enforced economy drive. I will detail one of these in a later post but for the time being I was delighted to get home this evening to the book illustrated above - Battle on the Seven Seas: German Cruiser Battles 1914 - 1918 by Gary Staff (ISBN 978-1-84884-182-6) and published by Pen and Sword.

The major German cruiser actions of WW1 need little introduction but the beauty of this book is not only that they are all under one cover but also the author makes much use of German sources for the accounts. His descriptions of the various actions of the Goeben in the Black Sea gives some telling evidence of the state of the Turkish Navy and highlights in very clear detail the problems faced by the Germans. Aside from the usual Coronel, Falklands, Emden and Konigsberg stories there are also accounts of the action off Ostergarn in 1915.

I had planned to visit the Navwar shop last weekend with the view to acquiring a selection of 1/3000th scale cruisers in order to replicate the actions mentioned and to set up some mini campaigns based around the old naval standby of 'Hunting the Raider'. Sadly this may have to postponed for a while but I still have sufficient models to cover the Black Sea if nothing else - and I have just about added the rules for dreadnoughts to MoBaS!

MoBaS - The Public Debut

The Turkish battleship - Mesudiye, the scourge of the Greek Destroyers!

Yesterday evening saw the inaugural game of MoBaS 1890 to 1905 in the public domain - at my war games club; SEEMS (South East Essex Military Society). I was very fortunate to be able to enlist the help of Messrs. Fox and Fosker whom accepted the roles of the commanders of the Turkish and Greek navies respectively. The action was fought with the unpainted Minifigs ships (shock, horror!) on my Hexon tiles. The forces were identical in composition and consisted of a cruiser, three battleships and four destroyers a side. Sadly I forgot to take a camera so there are no pictures but I am planning to run the action again as a solo game over the weekend with the usual after action report so they will feature then.

Very briefly the action developed with a furious destroyer melee between the fleets during which the under-gunned Greek destroyers certainly gave better than they received - there were certainly some extremes of dice rolled by either side! The Turks were able to get their supporting battle line to close up on the destroyer melee and in doing so managed to inflict some severe punishment on the Greeks with salvos of light and quick-firing guns and this redressed the balance somewhat. The Greek cruiser Georgios Averoff received some heavy shell hits and stopped a torpedo and so whilst heavily damaged was able to disengage at the end of the action as the Greek fleet was deemed to have 'lost on points'. The Turkish cruiser, the Hamidiye was riven with shot and torpedoed but was still afloat, albeit only just when the fighting stopped. Incredibly, despite many hits being scored by both sides only a single ship was actually sunk during the game - one of the Greek destroyers that found itself parked more or less in front of best part of the Turkish battle line.

I apologise the 'highlights' nature of this post; the main point is mainly to record a few observations with the rules which came out of the test and so a detailed after action report will follow after my planned re-fight.

Movement and combat worked very nicely although I will need to clarify the rules for stacking a little more - especially for combinations of ship types or even sides occupying the same hex. Line of sight needs some attention and Mr Fox came up with the suggestion of reducing gunfire by a gun letter per ship in an intervening hex which makes a lot of sense and I may well introduce this - also for torpedo attacks.

I also want to simplify the actual hit numbers involved for gunfire as at present it is a little clunky and I am thinking that having qualifying hits, whilst making for, in my opinion, a more historically accurate depiction of gunfire effect over a period of time it does make for a less decisive outcome. The action felt right in respect of the damage from gunfire but it was a long process and my fear is that for a larger action it would lead to indecisive results. I need to give this thought but certainly the system for gunnery works a treat so that will stay as it is. Torpedo attacks felt right although I am thinking that they do not do enough damage at present and so may well revise this.

I suppose to sum this post up the rules can best be described as a 'work in progress' although I am extremely pleased with the results thus far. The concept has been proven and so it will only remain for me to take the final steps mentioned above and then 'job done'.

My grateful thanks to both Mr Fox and Mr Fosker for a very enjoyable and thought provoking evening and I promise faithfully that the next time we use the rules Mr Fox can use his own dice....(he didn't like mine very much!).

MoBaS 1890 to 1905 - The Rules

Memoir of Battle at Sea 1890 to 1905

The link above should enable you to download the latest version of the rules I have been experimenting with. Please feel free to do so and let me know how you get on with them.

I plan to upload some ship specific charts which can be used instead of the generic versions in the rules - starting with the Greek and Turkish fleets and then the Russians for the Black Sea.