Operation Kronstadt

I started reading Operation Kronstadt yesterday and have already been hooked by the first couple of chapters. The author, who was an MI6 agent himself, has a narrative style that really fires the imagination and get you involved in the turbulent events of 1919.

I've read a couple of excellent books about the Kronstadt Raid and naval operations in the Baltic before, including the autobiography of Gus Agar, but this book has sparked my interest again. It's an incredible story involving lots of cloak and dagger stuff, fast motor torpedo boats (CMB's) and the early stages of the Russian Civil War.

In wargames terms, it also has great potential for coastal warfare actions using Action Stations! or a similar set of rules. By coincidence, I picked up some of the excellent Langton Miniatures 1:200 scale WW1 coastal range very cheap via ebay a couple of years ago and have been looking around for something to do with them ever since.

I've added a couple more of the Langton CMB's to my collection since then and even have a plastic kit in 1:180th of a WW1 era Chinese gunboat that cost a fiver from a discount shop a few years ago. It would be an top target for a CMB attack, although not quite on the same scale as the Kronstadt Raid. It's actually quite a large model and could easily stand in for a Soviet or German light cruiser.

There's some pictures of a completed, superdetailed and very well finished version of the kit here (the kit itself is fairly crude and in hefty plastic so ideal for wargaming):

http://www.steelnavy.com/ZhengDeFuZhongShanCT.htm

I've also got one of Rod Langton's German coastal U boats so that could be incorporated somewhere in the project too, perhaps as a variation on the Kronstadt Raid but in reverse.

This may make it onto the list of things to do this year as a result.