Torpedoes and Tides - Making a Beginning

I'm putting together the things I need for a first Torpedoes and Tides game, based on the 'Making a Beginning' historical scenario from the rulebook. Unfortunately, I don't have the actual models required, at least for the British, so I'm using the scenario as a template and moving the actions forward to early 1942.

This game will feature two East Coast convoy escort M/L and an MGB sweeping the convoy lane perimeter for E-boats, two of which are attempting to penetrate the defences to attack the merchant ships. The Royal Navy forces will consist of two Fairmile B M/L and one Fairmile C MGB, with the Kriegsmarine deploying two S-29 class S-boote.

There are stats for the Fairmile B and C boats in the rules, but I've worked out the following for this game to reflect combat experience and training, with the MGB given a Swift trait as they were comparatively handy:

Fairmile B M/L

Q2 / C3

Traits: Small / Smoke (2) / Under-gunned

Fairmile C MGB

Q2 / C3

Traits: Small / Smoke (2) / Swift

I've uprated the Q rating due to the later timeframe and consequent experience of the RN crews. The German crews will also be uprated to C2 for the same reason, being veterans rather than inexperienced.

I'm hoping this will balance out but, if not, I can always replay the scenario with adjusted ratings for the crews and possibly tweak the traits for the Fairmile M/L if they are two weak.

New French WW1 Aircraft from Tumbling Dice

Some excellent news from Paul at Tumbling Dice today...

"..have just completed the design work on the French WW1 aircraft. The 8 designs will be moulded this week and should be in production next week.

They are

ISA 306 Morane-Saulnier N

ISA 307 Nieuport 17

ISA 308 Nieuport 28

ISA 309 Voisin Type 8

ISA 311 Spad VII/XIII

ISA 312 Breguet Br14

ISA 313 Caudron RII

ISA 315 Salmson 2

A French starter pack will also appear next week."

This opens up all sorts of potential scenarios and brings the French, Belgian, Italian and American air forces into the picture too. I'll definitely be ordering a lot of these, starting with the Starter Pack, no doubt adding some more aircraft to the basket to fill out complete late war squadrons of scouts and bombers.

Zut Alors!

Coastal Forces Classic

I used to have an original 1945 hard back edition of this but it literally fell apart, so I'm now reduced to reading a digital copy for my initial holiday project inspiration. I read this years ago but it's a bit of a classic and well worth the time spent re-reading it, especially for scenario ideas. A lot of the actions described in the book have already been turned into game outlines, Mighty Midgets being an obvious source of off the shelf scenarios, but it's always worth rethinking them in relation to specific rules such as Torpedoes and Tides.

Magasin de Presse

There are some excellent magazines published in France including these new series that have replaced the defunct magazines previously published by Caractere. They're very much in the same style as Los! or Aerojournal, with an interesting mix of contents, some excellent art work and fascinating text. I'm really looking forward to reading the Coastal Command article and P-47 article, both of which will be great as source material for Bag the Hun. 

Wargaming Campaigns

A long ferry crossing today so a cheeky download for 99p to pass the time on the journey over to France. I'm a big fan of campaigns and have run several at the local club over the years. I've never run a map based campaign, however, and really fancy having a go at a solo effort, perhaps for the One Hour Wargames Hundred Years War project or perhaps the dormant 2mm English Civil War project that I fiddled about with a couple of years ago?

Torpedoes and Tides Markers

I've quickly bashed together some Torpedoes and Tides measuring sticks and blinds for the holidays, using some spare bases, sticky labels and wooden dowel from the local craft shop. In the longer term I'll replace these with something more sophisticated but they'll be good for the first few games, while I get to learn the rules. I'm thinking of asking Warbases if they could make a set of markers, range rulers and turning templates in acrylic but will need to try out the rules first to see what is required, I'll also have to ask the author first, of course, but it would be nifty to have a set of markers ready to go!

Coastal Forces Kriegsmarine Reinforcements

Some mid to late war reinforcements for the Kriegsmarine over the last couple of days. These are all the old Skytrex castings, now available from Heroics and Ros, but perhaps a little long in the tooth. They're nice models nonetheless and paint up well once cleaned up and undercoated. I've run out of grey primer so these are in white primer, which I actually prefer as it shows up all the bits you miss when you assemble the buggers! As you can see, there are two Raumboote, four S-100 S-Boote with armoured 'kapotte' and two of the ubiquitous but very versatile M-class minesweeper escorts. Very handy!

Torpedoes and Tides Scenarios

I'm planning some Torpedoes and Tides games for the holidays but, as I have a limited range of models, I'm having to cut my cloth to size. I have a good selection of RN coastal forces craft for the early to mid war period but only S-Boote for the opposition, not counting my unpainted models. As a result, I'm limited to scenarios involving MTB and ML with the odd trawler thrown in for good measure, pitted against E-boats. To get a few scenarios lined up I've been looking back to some that I played ages ago with the fast play Schnell Rules for Schnellboote. One in particular was very enjoyable and can be converted over to Torpedoes and Tides with little effort. There's an after action report here:

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2017/01/schnellboote-after-action-report.html

...good fun!

2mm HYW English Men at Arms

A bit rushed today but here's the second base for the 2mm Anglo-Breton army, consisting of Men at Arms on foot. I went for a quick splash and dash approach with these but they still came out looking okay I think. Nothing flashy, but they'll do the job. I only have a few days left before I'm away on holiday but I'll aim to get another two or three if these bases finished if I can before we head off to France. 

Gunboat Command

I'm on holiday next week so will have some down time to spend on reading, amongst other things. This is one of the few books on coastal warfare that I haven't yet read so it will be top of the reading list for next week. I have a few more that I'm going to re-read in advance of starting the Torpedoes and Tides project for the summer. I'm also planning on a few basic solo games over the holidays, to try out the rules and get a hang of things like blinds, spotting, movement and firing, ready to upscale to some historical scenarios and a solo campaign in a few months time.

East Coast S-Boote Primary Sources

I was looking for information about Hunt class destroyer escorts this morning, when I bumped into this intelligence report from 1943, which was based on interrogation of the survivors of S-71 after she was rammed and sunk by HMS Garth. It's much more than an account of the action though, with copious detail of the 6th S-Boote flotilla and Kriegsmarine coastal warfare tactics in general. It's a gold mine for anyone interested in historical scenarios and also very useful for campaign background material. You can find scans and transcripts of the whole document here:

http://www.lowestofthistory.com/book/mod_report_garth_0.html

2mm HYW French for One Hour Wargames

With the Anglo-Breton army for the early Hundred Years War well underway, it's now time to think about basing up the opposition, which will be a Franco-Breton army for the Breton War of Succession. I already have a base of mounted men at arms and will add a second base to fill out the ranks of the French nobility, although they are more likely to be on foot after the disaster at Crecy.

This leaves me with the foot men at arms, which will be the bulk of the army and so will take up three or four bases, which I'll need for some of the early battles. As well as this, I'll put together a couple of bases of crossbowmen for missile support and two or three bases of spearmen to bulk out the army. I was also thinking of a base of 'skirmishers' representing bidowers, bidets or similar but I think I'll save those for later.

2mm HYW Anglo-Breton Army Base Painting Progress

The bases have now been completed on the 2mm Hundred Years War Anglo-Breton army, so that they match the test base of longbowmen that I painted last week. I now have to block in the figures with matt black before I can start painting them. The plan is to do them all in one go rather than one base at a time, which will be quite laborious but much more efficient. I'm quite looking forward to painting the men at arms, both mounted and on foot, as they'll add a splash of colour to the force.

5th S-Boote Flotilla for Torpedoes and Tides

Cruel Seas S-100 and S-38b 1/300th Scale

Ex-Skytrex CF304 S-38 1/600th Scale 

A few years ago, when Cruel Seas was all the rage, I built seven late war models for the 5th S-Boote flotilla, which operated from Cherbourg and the Channel Islands in late 1943 to mid-1944. These included the standard S-100 version with a few additions, primarily some 40mm Bofors mountings, as well as a couple of converted 'cut and shut' models to create the up armoured 38-b variant with retro-fitted 'kapotte' armour. 

I used these a few times in club games but, as I mentioned before, the rules left me a bit unenthused, so they've been sitting in a box since then. I have now gone back to 1/600th scale for the coastal warfare project, so I'm going to reproduce the same unit using the old Skytrex range of models. As my existing E-boats are all S-9 and S-38 versions, I'm going to have to start from scratch for the later war 5th flotilla boats, but the CF304 model is really nice, so it's well worth the effort.

1/600th H&R Vosper 72'6" MTB's

Vosper MTB flotilla c1942.

Some good news for the Torpedoes and Tides project today, after I asked if the old Skytrex Vosper 72'6" MTB CF02 model was available, not having been able to find it on the Heroics and Ros web shop. It turns out that it had been placed in the aircraft section rather than the naval bit by mistake, so is actually still in production and can be purchased. I was worried that it had been deleted, perhaps due to worn out molds or the master going missing, but I can order some to kit out the 23rd MTB flotilla for the Free French, rather than repainting and labelling the ones I already have. Excellent!

2mm HYW Anglo Breton Army Base Painting

It's been a busy start. to the week but I've made a start on the bases of the 2mm Anglo Breton army for my One Hour Wargame HYW project. These turned out better than the test base I painted last week, mainly due to a bit more PVA when I was adding the basing sand, as well as letting them dry out properly after the undercoat and basecoat were applied. Next up will be the grass shades, with  a bit of stippling, dry brushing and ink washing to complete the base painting. I might also start on basing up the Franco-Breton army now that the extra Antonine Miniatures bits have arrived from Warbases.

23rd Free French Flotilla for Torpedoes and Tides

A few years ago I was having a crack at Cruel Seas, with a focus on the 23rd MTB flotilla in and around the Channel Islands c1943-44. However, having played a few games of Cruel Seas I decided it wasn't for me, partly due to the scale (too big) but mainly down to the rules themselves (too silly in a 'gamey' way). I shelved the models I had started on and decided to drop the project, apart from completing my S-boote flotilla, at least until a decent alternative set of rules turned up.

Cruel Seas Flotilla

Now it's looking like a viable project again, this time in 1/600th scale using Torpedoes and Tides. The 23rd Flotilla was equipped eight Vosper 72'6" boats, which unfortunately are no longer available from Heroics and Ros, but I do have six already painted and ready to use, give or take a tart up, re-base and re-label. This means I can set up some historical scenarios and also, potentially, a solo campaign using the system in the rules and based on actions around the Channel Islands.

Skytrex 1/600th Vosper 72'6" MTB's

I'll need to sort out some Kriegsmarine coastal forces, as my stuff is mainly early war, but I have quite a lot already assembled and ready for painting which will speed things up a lot. The opposition was primarily the 5th S-Boote flotilla based in Cherbourg and small, heavily escorted convoys, with the focus on night actions in and around the treacherous waters of the Minquiers. I already have a good source of historical information for these ops, so can pull something together fairly easily.

https://www.polejeanmoulin.com/resources/-THE-FREE-FRENCH-IN-KINGSWEAR.pdf

Good stuff!

East Coast Convoy Extras

V & W class and Flower class

Colliers and Tramp Steamers

The Convoy

A busy afternoon gluing together and adding wire masts to four additional 1/600th scale merchant vessels in order to expand my coastal convoy to realistic proportions. Two of the new models have resin hulls rather than metal, making construction quicker but the wire masts and booms were still a pain in the arse to glue together, replacing the flimsy metal castings for durability. 

I also assembled a V and W class escort destroyer in WAIR configuration and tarted up a second hand model of a Flower Class corvette, which I acquired ready built from eBay but which needed some remedial work to correct some errors and replace a few broken parts. I've run out of grey primer so both of the escorts have a white primer coat, which I actually quite like the look of.

Torpedoes and Tides East Coast Convoy

East Coast convoy shipping already assembled 

A few years ago I assembled a selection of 1/600th scale Skytrex, now Heroics and Ros, merchant shipping for East Coast convoy duties c1939 - 1943. This was an eclectic mix of tramp steamers, colliers, coasters and barges, with a big tanker to round it off. It isn't really enough for a proper convoy game so I'm going to build four or five more models, mainly duplicates but with some individual variations in layout and deck features, so that I have a proper convoy of shipping. The plan will be to use these with Torpedoes and Tides as British merchants for the East Coast and English Channel routes, with some German shipping to follow on later. In the summer I'm also hoping to run a solo campaign set in the early war and featuring a fictional MGB or E Boat flotilla.

Pointy Sticks and Shifty Shields

In the One Hour Wargames medieval rules, archers get a +2 bonus for shooting but a -2 penalty in combat, reflecting their firepower but also their vulnerability. In order to factor in the use of defensive stakes and pavises in the Hundred Years War, I've decided to add a couple of rule tweaks.

Longbows

Longbow units may deploy defensive stakes but must be stationary and not shoot for one turn to do so. This will cancel out the -2 penalty in combat but only against mounted opponents. After they are deployed, the unit may not 'up sticks' and carry them off to redeploy somewhere else 

Crossbows

Crossbow units may deploy pavises but will also have to be stationary to do so and may not shoot in the process of deployment. This will count as cover, having any hits, but only against missile fire. Unlike longbow units, the pavises may be 'unstuck' and carried away but the unit will have to be stationary and not shoot for an entire turn to do so.

I think this will work without unbalancing the system but also accurately reflect how things were done in the Hundred Years War. I'm also going to modify the range of missile weapons, with longbows shooting out to 12 inches and crossbow range reduced to 9 inches, which seems a bit more realistic.

The Battle of Mauron in 2mm

I've been looking for a suitable historical scenario to try out the One Hour Wargame medieval rules using my 2mm Hundred Years War armies. This small battle was fought very near to my French in laws, who live ten minutes down the road, so it's an obvious choice. In fact, I've actually driven right through it, inbetween the lines of the French and English armies, without actually realising it was there!

The forces on both sides were limited to a few thousand, with dismounted men at arms and longbows for the Anglo-Breton defenders, while the Franco-Breton force consisted of men at arms on foot, backed up by mounted men at arms on the left flank. Its likely that the French also fielded spearmen to back up the men at arms, as the army outnumbered the defenders three to one. 

I'm considering a four unit army for the Anglo-Breton contingent, consisting of two men at arms and two longbow units, with a six unit army for the Franco-Bretons, probably consisting of three men at arms on foot, two spear units and one mounted men at arms. This may change but I think will reflect the disparity in numbers on the two sides and still give the Anglo-Bretons a fighting chance. 

The English are currently on the workbench and I have already glued together three units for the French, so I'm just waiting for a resupply of Antonine Miniatures to get that sorted. The terrain will be a quick fix using my Hexon tiles but I'll leave the town of Mauron itself off the set up to avoid having to model it, especially as it didn't actually play a role in the battle.

You can read about the background to this clash and the battle itself here:

https://www.britishbattles.com/one-hundred-years-war/battle-of-mauron/

2mm HYW Longbows Test Base Finished

It's not going to win any prizes but the test base of longbowmen is finished, taking less time than I thought and looking good enough for wargaming purposes. These are the core of the Anglo Breton army but fairly dull to look at, given their utilitarian clothing and equipment, with no colourful liveries or banners to brighten them up. I have three more bases of these to paint, as well as two men at arms on foot, so will get started as soon as I've textured the bases.

Trying Out Torpedoes and Tides

I'm looking forward to trying out the newly published Torpedoes and Tides coastal warfare rules soon, using my old 1/600th scale models that have been gathering dust for years. These are a mix of the Skytrex, now Heroics and Ros, and Tumbling Dice range, with some merchant shipping set aside for painting too. They need rebasing and a bit of tidying up, perhaps adding some masts from brass wire, but otherwise they're good to go. It's a bit of a diversion from my medieval focus but why not?

2mm HYW Test Base Painting

A bit of trial and error base painting this evening, using a range of paint shades and washes that I've used before on my 2mm ECW units. I'm not completely happy with the end result but it's not too bad and will do the trick, at least for this project. The next step is to block in the figures in matt black as a basecoat for painting at the weekend.