Of Galleys and Hoplites

A later version of the classic Warfleets of Antiquity by Richard Nelson which also includes a copy of his Fleet Action Rules 1000 BC to 500 AD, elements of which featured in the book below.

One of my favourite wargames books - I really need to get a copy of the title that features Waterloo!

The Greek and Persian War that culminated in the naval battles of Salamis and the Greek victory at Plataea via Thermopylae and the 300 Spartans is something I have had a soft spot for many years. I even got as far as getting 15mm DBA armies organised for the two sides although like many good ideas it kind of withered on the vine. At the time I think I was going through a cavalry phase and so an army of Hoplites did not really appeal and with the Persians having plenty of mounted troops but much lighter infantry - I like my cavalry to have a solid core of something heavy to support them - it never really stood much of a chance of being turned into anything tangible. At that point I had never even thought about the naval side.

I remember playing the Avalon Hill game Trireme many years ago and enjoying but again, I never really progressed with the idea of actually gaming ancient galley battles using models.

Fast forward to the present day and now an almighty itch needs scratching - fighting the naval battles set during the Greek and Persian Wars. 

But how? I wanted to use models but to be honest did not really fancy anything commercially available despite there being some lovely ranges about. So what to do? A few years ago at a toy soldier show in Sidcup, Kent a club was putting an an ancient naval game using a version of Command and Colours and galleys built from bamboo barbecue skewers. It looked fantastic and so the seed was planted.

Fighting an ancient naval battle

Salamis has exercised a peculiar fascination for me for a variety of reasons and Richard Nelson’s book, despite being published some forty eight years ago, has really served to ‘stoke the obsession’. I would happily use the rules included in his book although they are incomplete - the missing parts can be found in his fleet action rules - but this has not proven to be a major issue to fix and yes, I have.

The rules are hex based - always a plus in my opinion - and are designed with one aim in mind - refighting the battle of Salamis with a notional scale of one model ship equalling around a dozen real ones. There is but a single ship type represented - the trireme - although there are variations as to type employed depending on the contingent being used. 

So I need a trireme, one that does not have a mast and that would be suitable for use by all the main combatants. It also needed to be able to fit in a single hex. Ideally I would like to use hexes that are two inches (50mm to all you metric types) across the flat sides which means that the model should be around 40mm long. After some assorted scribblings I finally managed to get the following design produced by Warbases and needless to say, I am hugely excited about this!

The six parts that make up the model - the central hull, the oar section, two outriggers and two screen sections which are optional.

A side view of the completed model - note the card screens on the outriggers designed to protect the oarsmen

The view from the business end

The view from the stern

A bird’s eye view - the square grid you see is a spare floor tile from our wet room! 

My plan with the models - I will need around sixty of them - is to leave the oar section in its natural colour  and to paint the rest of the model. The bow and stern sections will be painted in bright colours - usually based on the contingent - with the command ships having some extra bling as befits their status. You will notice that there are no masts. This was a deliberate choice as masts were typically removed prior to action but should the need arise it would be easy to add something.

I will need a hexed cloth with 2” hexes and some elements of terrain. A piece of whimsy would be to incorporate a Greek temple - scratch built naturally - just for the sheer hell of it but we shall see.

As far as the land side is concerned I am thinking about something 3mm related so watch this space!

Never Mind the Boathooks and the Mediterranean

Something else to inspire the imagination

That well known writer of rules, Andy Callan, has written a naval version of his hugely successful late Medieval rules Never Mind the Billhooks that were available as a freebie in the June edition of Wargames Illustrated. As a rule I seldom buy wargames magazines these days and so a swift shout out on the SEEMS WhatsApp group for anyone having a spare copy meant that I was able to secure a set from my old friend Mr Fox.

The rules appeal for a number of reasons. To begin with ANYTHING produced by Mr Callan is worthy of attention and the fact that they are grid based is even better! They are quite an ‘old school’ set - large model ships with individual figures - and whilst the war at sea during the Middle Ages is a little bit of a niche interest the rules are very much pitched at the ‘up close and personal’ level - boarding and close range combat.

The ships for the period - cogs, caravelles and the odd galley - are very straightforward to build and indeed, there are a number of them available commercially but I would look to build my own (no surprise there then!). Not sure about the figures although rather than 28mm I would probably look at 20mm - mainly because I have a whole pile of Risk: Europe medieval figures that could be used - so cobbling up some ships should not be too much trouble. 

Is this a new project? No, not exactly. I am not looking to paint up a whole pile of medieval figures anytime soon but I will look at the rules with a view to tackling them in one form or another. At some point. After the next twenty six projects are taken care of first….

The book you see came as something of a surprise - Mr Fox sprung this on me - and I am delighted to add this to the collection. Essentially it is a history of the British involvement in the Mediterranean since around 1800 up to the present day. It is not a military history per se, but it is a great overview of the theatre. Besides, what a great cover picture!

So my old friend Mr Fox came up trumps - he really is a wonderful chap!

Based on Bismarck ‘62

The 1962 edition of Bismarck published by Avalon Hill

Way back in 1962, Avalon hill released the board game Bismarck, the components of which you see in the picture above. I have neither owned nor played this version, only the late 1970s edition which was altogether far more detailed. It was a lot of fun although the rule book was rather confusing! Fast forward to the present and elements of the original 1962 edition of Bismarck have found themselves being used in the Panzerschiffe series of rules published by Minden Games and available, you’ve guessed it, from the Wargames Vault as a PDF which you see is currently packaged with an expansion or two.

Panzerschiff from Minden Games

I was rather taken with the idea behind this set of rules which the author freely admits are designed with the novice gamer in mind. Having said that there are some add ins that make for a meatier game that would be more likely to satisfy the veteran naval gamer.

The big attraction for me, aside from the whole raft of ship counters you get in the PDF, is the fact that the rules use an 8 by 8 square grid with a square equalling some 8,000 yards. The downside from the naval gamer perspective is that the system only goes down to cruiser level - no destroyers - and air attacks are limited to torpedo bombers. It would not take much to factor in destroyers and dive bombers methinks although carrier operations are not really the aim of the game - it is primarily gun action focused. 

As is my usual wont I have acquired these for the ideas value (along with Great War Salvo - I have not gotten the WW2 variant….yet!) as there is the making of something rather useful in there.

My naval boundaries seem to have no, well, boundaries!

The Last Voyage of the Emden

The gripping account of the last voyage of the German cruiser Emden

The German cruiser S.M.S Emden, for three brief months during the first year of the Great War, terrorised the Indian Ocean and took some sixteen British ships (usually by boarding) and sank two warships - one Russians and one French - before being finally brought to heel by the guns of H.M.A.S. Sydney. Her story captured the imagination of friend and foe alike and so whilst I am familiar with her story when the opportunity came along to pick up the book you see above for the princely sum of a couple of pounds the decision was an obvious one!

The book itself is full of pictures of the Emden and many of her victims but best of all the main bulk of the text was written by her second torpedo officer - Prinz Franz Joseph Von Hohenzollern (a relative of the Kaiser and distantly related to George V). The original version was published in 1925 and this updated edition includes a useful outline on the development of German cruisers and compiled by Prinz Franz Joseph’s naval officer son.

The story outlines the last voyage of the Emden and her destruction and the fate of the crew that were captured and sent to Malta but that is not the full story. The party that went ashore before her final battle subsequently escaped by sea in a leaky schooner and made their way back to Germany via the Arabian peninsula and Turkey - a story which I will need to research further for sure!

From a gaming perspective the story of the Emden falls squarely in the ‘hunt the raider’ category and is eminently suitable for a campaign. This is very much in keeping with the thought process behind my planned expansion of the Madasahatta campaign. The island itself is within easy reach of the key Indian Ocean shipping lanes leading up into the Red Sea and ultimately the Suez Canal. A powerful Axis naval force placed there could make life very difficult for the Allies in the area and so would present a challenge that must inevitably be faced by them.

Methinks that the whole Madasahatta idea has just gone up a notch in the project list….

Firing Salvoes in the Great War

Something that has been on my radar for sometime. I rather like the range band system in which ships relative positions are recorded and whether they are closing, withdrawing or maintaining their relative station. 

I really should stay away from the Wargames Vault!  It is a veritable treasure trove of gaming bits and pieces and all manner of stuff you never knew you needed. So it was that I was idly browsing their website when I came across the rules set you see above. I have a says on these since the first edition but for one reason or another I never managed to get around to ‘pulling the trigger’ so to speak. That has now been rectified and I am pleased that I did not leave it any longer!

The rules themselves are designed for solo play and on a ship to ship basis. Multiple ships can be used and whilst at first glance the system would struggle to fight something Jutland scaled for much smaller actions - cruisers etc or just the odd battleship - they seem ideal. There are counters included to print off and use (scaled at 1:6000th) for a substantial range of ship types from various nationalities. Ships do ‘move’ a such, they merely adjust their facing and range as required. Models can be readily used although the author suggests that you would need the ship specs handy as all the information required is contained on the counters. Perhaps a spreadsheet exists somewhere for this - I will have a look and see if that is the case.

Minden Games produce a whole range of bits and pieces in terms of rules etc so I dare say that I shall be dipping into their offerings again at some point.

I can’t believe it has taken me so long!

Taking the Plunge

S.M.S Scharnhorst in her colonial, pre war colour scheme.

I have previously waxed lyrical about the famous Madasahatta Campaign devised by the late Eric Knowles way back in the late 1970’s in which myself, a mere callow youth still in his teens, took part along with such luminaries as Bob Cordery, Messrs. Fox and Hardman and various others. The campaign on the fictional Indian Ocean island of Madasahatta at the outbreak of the Great War featured a degree of naval activity which at the time was fought using 1:1200th scale models from Eric’s collection (still with his son, Bill, I believe) and the rules of choice were those of Fletcher Pratt. It was all great fun - mainly as the number of models in use was fairly modest - unlike the fleet scale actions fought in the later South East Asia naval campaign. 

Anyways, fast forward to more recent times and I have previously mentioned about a rather roundabout idea I had to revisit the island but with an expanded theatre of operations. This would include the East coast of Africa and the Red Sea along with the Arabian Peninsula. The basic idea is that both the British and the Germans have a presence on the island and that the events in East Africa and the Arab Revolt have a bearing on the overall scheme of things. 

To make this work I have allowed the German Pacific Squadron to have sailed West rather than East and that the Goeben and Breslau were able to escape down the Suez Canal to join them, based on Madasahatta. Obviously the Konigsberg in East Africa and the Royal Navy Red Sea squadron would feature along with such assets as can be spared from the Mediterranean and North Sea. The Turks would be present in the shape of the two ex German pre-dreadnoughts and a handful of torpedo boats.

The focus will be very much on a kind of ‘fleet-in-being-whilst-commerce-raiding’ type of set up with the Royal Navy in their best ‘hunting-the raider-and-bringing-the-enemy-fleet-to-battle’ guise. In other words a kind of diluted North Sea scenario.

The forces deployed will be largely League One or Championship level rather than Premier League although alongside all the second and third line scrap metal there will be a smattering of more modern stuff available. There will be no dreadnought battleships although battlecruisers will feature. 

What I have not mentioned about this is the l-o-n-g drawn out decision making that needed to be made in respect of the models. My plan originally was to build them myself but after a lot of soul searching I have reluctantly abandoned the idea. The insurmountable obstacles presented - time taken as well as the design of the relevant parts - meant that it really would have been a project that would have taken a long time to come fruition. On the back of a few selected disposals I decided instead to buy the models in 1:2400th from Tumbling Dice from their Age of Battleships range. The rationale behind this decision is speed of execution as all that will be required is the painting and I have a speedy technique for this.

This is not the first time I have been down this path but the critical advantage now is that Tumbling Dice have added to their range to capture some of the early war vessels so the collection can be better rounded out. There is nothing worse than a range that has some key elements missing - be it model ships or figures!

To give you a taste of the forces for this the models I have acquired are as follows:

MSP 9 British China/Pacific

ABB1a Centurion (rebuilt)

ABB 5 Canopus

ABB 12 Monmouth

ABB 15 Drake

ABB 20 Arrogant

ABB 22 Pelorus

MSP 11 German Pacific

ABG 12 (x2) Scharnhorst

ABG 14 (x2) Bremen

ABG 16 (x2) Emden

ABM 2 Tramp Steamer

MSP 12 British Falkland Islands

ABB 42 (x2) Indefatigable

ABB 12 Monmouth

ABB 13 Devonshire

ABB 38 Bristol

ABM 10 Otranto

Aside from these battle packs I also ordered the following:

ABB 9 (x2) Swiftsure

ABB 14 Cressy

ABB 38 Bristol

ABG 2 (x2) Brandenburg

ABG 24 Moltke

ABG 30 Magdeburg

The nautically inclined amongst you will have noticed that there are no torpedo boats present. I shall be adding a smattering of these in due course but to be honest I have not decided on the types or the numbers involved - they will however be older and fewer than for, say main fleet formations. This is after all primarily a reinforced cruiser style conflict.

Overview

Initially the Admiralty were satisfied that the forces on station, old and arthritic though they were, would be more than sufficient for patrol and containment purposes. The arrival of the German Pacific squadron was in turn countered by the assigning the two Swiftsure class battleships to the region but the stakes were raised again when the Goeben and her escort arrived. A pair of Indefatigable class battlecruisers were then ordered on station. The pieces were in place.

Rules

I am spoilt for choice here as there are many commercially available sets I could call upon but my first thoughts are looking at the rules in Bob Cordery’s Gridded Naval Wargames and seeing where that takes me.

In any event it is a while away yet as firstly the models need assembling and painting.

The Late Arrival

Definitely an area of interest and something I have had an eye on for ages!

The final part of my Father’s Day haul from my son arrived yesterday and it is a cracker! I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get a copy of the above but I am glad that I have at long last. The book includes eight scenarios - hex grid based - as well as the rules and is of course designed to be fought solo. There are a large number of these solo game books doing the rounds at present and somewhat surprisingly, given that most of my gaming tends to be solo these days, I am rather late arriving at the party!

Naturally my plan would be to game these using my models - luckily I have a hexed cloth that would be just about large enough to deploy the models within a single hex rather than the two I am used to - and after having run through them using the rules from the book it would be interesting to replicate them using my own Portable Ironclads Wargame.

I am looking forward to seeing how this system works out and will report back in due course - with pictures as well!