Load and Return

I've been doing some proof reading for a set of innovative and very interesting air wargaming rules recently. The rules are called Load and Return and, unlike most aerial rules, are focussed on fire fighting rather than actual aerial combat, which makes a very refreshing change, especially in this day and age. The author knows his stuff and has created a really thorough yet dynamic system, with some really creative mechanics and even a campaign system. I'm looking forward to play testing in the not too distant future but, for the moment, I'm simply casting an eye over syntax, grammar and clarity. I think this is a very promising concept and will be an excellent, highly engaging game to play.

Motor Gunboat Blocking In

A good start on the BPB Motor Gun Boats and RAF Rescue Launch today, blocking in the bases and giving the models a matt black basecoat, ready for blocking in the principal hull and topside colours. I've left the Kriegsmarine escorts to one side for the moment, so that I can concentrate on getting these painted first. I'm hoping that it won't take too long to get these finished, as I also have a convoy of merchant shipping to paint up, not to mention re-basing and tarting up my existing kit.

IAK47WD 2026

I'd forgotten about this but was kindly reminded by Jimmy James over in the AK-47 FB group the other day, so have pimped up the poster for the occasion. It's a way off yet but that means plenty of time to get organised for a game, which should be feasible as it's a bank holiday here in the sunny UK. I'll have to see what I can get organised at the club, which meets on a Tuesday, or possibly at home with the boy, as he'll be off work too. I haven't played a game in ages, so what better than International AK-47 Wargaming Day to dust off some technicals and take them for a test drive!

Coastal Forces Bases and Basecoats

I decided to change the painting method for the coastal forces project, adopting the same approach I have used in the past for my pre-dreadnoughts. Instead of painting then basing the models, I'm doing the basing first and the painting afterwards. The models are glued on to the textured bases and then will have a basecoat of Halfords matt black spray paint, after which I can start painting them in situ. The focus here is on filling gaps in my line up, so there are various Kriegsmarine escort craft and Royal Navy MGB's to be painted up, rather than more torpedo boats or merchant shipping. I'll also be re-basing my existing models to match the new ones, specially texturing the bases and re-painting them in my usual deep sea blue shades. 

New Tumbling Dice 1/600th French WW1 Aircraft

Voisin 8

Caudron RII 

Breguet XIV 

Nieuport 28 

Salmson 2 

SPAD VII 

Morane Saulnier N 

Nieuport 17 

Paul Sulley from Tumbling Dice was kind enough to send me some samples of the new 1/600th French aircraft he has just produced, although not yet available on the website. These fill some big gaps in the existing range, which is primarily early war, which means that the French, Italian, American, Belgian and Russian air forces are now feasible, give or take a couple of types. The Russian Civil War and Russo Polish War are also possible, so not just the First World War. I'm particularly impressed by the Breguet XIV, which is a lovely model and really looks like the real thing. Excellent!

PT Dockyard British Power Boat MGB's

BPB 72' MGB's

BPB 70' MGB's

BPB RAF Rescue Launch

Back home today after the holiday trip and on to the workbench to get the PT Dockyard British Power Boat Motor Gunboats assembled and undercoated. These are resin cast models and require a lot of attention to get them ship shape but, as they're the only option in 1/600th scale it's worth the effort. I replaced some of guns with a Tumbling Dice metal casting, which isn't accurate but a lot less likely to be snapped off than the resin equivalent. I also have a Tumbling Dice BPB RAF rescue launch to paint up, along with a downed air crew, so a nice collection of themed models to get painted over the weekend, if I have the time. I may even base these first, following my established method, rather than painting then basing later. 

Napoleonic Naval Review

The Royal Navy Fleet

The Spanish Fleet...

A couple of years ago I started a 1/2400th scale Napoleonic Naval project, designed for large scale fleet games but also for small frigate actions in a compact space. This was quite productive and I ended up with two fleets, one French and one British, although never got round to actually playing any games. I subsequently stared to build the models for an American squadron but they are still in a box waiting to be painted. 

I also gathered together a large selection of models for a Spanish fleet but, in the end, didn't make a start on them, or any new terrain for that matter. I'm now considering picking up the project with the objective being International Naval Wargaming Day in a few months time. The focus would be on the Spanish fleet or the American squadron, together with a few terrain pieces if I can find the time?

Cry Havoc Reboot

I was very surprised but excited to hear that a new edition of Cry Havoc, possibly my favourite hex and counter game, is being published soon by Footsore Miniatures as a Kickstarter. It's a simple repeat of the original but with updated graphics and maps that are green rather than bright yellow, so I don't really need to get a copy as I have the original. However, I will probably do so anyway, as I am a big fan of the game, as is my son (although he prefers Samurai Blades). It's launching in a few days, so keep an eye out!

War of the Gunboats

We're heading home in a few days so, to make the most of the holiday time left, I'm re-reading this book. Despite the title, it's an overarching account of coastal forces action in all of the theatres of the Second World War, but my interest lies primarily in the early war period in the English Channel and North Sea. It's a really good introduction to the subject and I remember it as being well worth reading as a primer for coastal forces wargaming, so time well spent. 

Torpedoes and Tides Scenario - Achtung Minen!

I've been scribbling some outline notes for a Torpedoes and Tides scenario set in May 1942. This involves a minelaying sortie by a rotte of two S-38 boats of the 4th S-Boote Flotilla, based in Boulogne, in the convoy lanes off Dungeness. A patrolling Isles class trawler, HMS Sir Galahad, is in the area and bumps into the enemy E-boats, who must sink her or force her to retreat, then evade back to their base, scoring set victory points for doing so. The trawler has to batter, wreck or force off the two enemy boats before being sunk, scoring cumulative points for the damage inflicted. 

There will be fog patches and a partial moon to add a bit of tactical shenanigans, while the E-boats will have zero torpedo reloads, being lightened for the minelaying sortie, so once expended they'll be down to guns only. I expect the trawler will go down fighting but as long as enough damage is inflicted on the E-boats to disrupt the mine laying mission, there's a chance it won't be a walkover for the Kriegsmarine, assuming I balance the victory points properly? 

One of the S-boote, S-55, will be C2 as it was the highly experienced CO, Götz Freiherr von Mirbach's boat, while the trawler commander and crew will also be C2 to give her a fighting chance. I'm not sure if the mine laying task will actually have to be carried out, as that would complicate things and be a bit unlikely, but it's still a work in progress and may be tweaked a bit. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, when I get round to it, and if I will need to beef up the RN or not by using a more powerful escort like a destroyer or corvette.

Summer Solo Naval Campaign

Every summer holiday I usually run a short solo naval campaign of some sort, occasionally interspersed with an air wargaming effort. This summer I'm planning to do the same and have three potential options:

1. Napoleonic Naval 

This would use my respectable collection of 1/2400th scale French, British and Spanish fleets, the latter being the only thing I'd need to paint in the run up. The rules would be Far Distant Ships or Grand Fleet Actions, so this would be for games with squadrons rather than individual ships, although a few frigate actions might well be in order.

2. WW2 Coastal Forces 

This would be a mini-campaign using Torpedoes and Tides, probably set in 1942 or thereabouts on the East Coast convoy route or along the English Channel. For this I'd need to re-base and tart up my existing 1/600th scale models, paint a merchant convoy of shipping and some German convoy escorts. A bit more work required but lots of potential for some narrative campaigning.

3. South American Interwar 'What If?'

A favourite theme of mine, as evidenced by a previous pre-dreadnought campaign, is a fictional yet feasible conflict between Chile, Argentina and Brazil. This time I'd be using the 1/3000th scale Navwar fleets for Argentina and Brazil, with the Chileans possibly making an appearance too. I would need to order some additional models from Navwar, now that it is up and running, as well as painting up everything required. I'd use Find, Fix and Strike for this campaign.

Motor Gun Boat Missing Models

I have no Royal Navy Motor Gun Boats, apart from a single dodgy model of a Fairmile C, in my 1/600th collection, but that is soon to be remedied. Fortunately, I have three of each of these resin cast models from PT Dockyard in the box, which I acquired years ago for the fast play Schnellboote rules, and I've rediscovered them after a bit of a rummage. This saves me the hassle of having to order some or finding some alternative, possibly 3D printed equivalent, as no one makes any in metal.

The BPB 72' models have been assembled, not an easy task as they're very fiddly and a bit fragile, but I've yet to glue together the earlier 70' models. The PT Dockyard range is excellent but they are cast in quite delicate resin and are very prone to breaking if handled roughly, so much so that I have replaced some of the smaller gun mountings with less accurate but more durable metal parts. 

I'm going to assemble the early BPB boats when I get back from the holidays and paint them up for some Torpedoes and Tides early war a actions. This will give me more options for scenarios against S-Boote, especially if I can get the merchant convoy ships painted and based as well. I also have some Kriegsmarine escort craft to paint that will enable me to run some torpedo boat actions against German coastal convoys, using both MTB's and MGB's if I get it all sorted. 

Cracking!

Algernon Pulls It Off! Again

I deactivated my Facebook account a couple of months ago as it was sapping all my time, energy and motivation. I was particularly tired of all the nasty politics and rage baiting that seemed to dominate my FB feed, so a break was a really good idea. Almost by accident I'm now back on FB but only in a limited way, with just the one group to focus on as an admin, in the shape of Algernon Pulls It Off! 

The group has been drifting along quite happily in my absence, but I'm going to try to give it a bit of a boost with some new content focusing on the 1/600th additions to the Tumbling Dice WW1 French range. I might even have a go at a solo campaign based on a fictitious French escadrille in late 1917 or early 1918. This is something I've been thinking about for a while but haven't done any work on, so it would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. 

Tally Ho!

The Greatest Raid

The next book on my holiday reading list is this fairly recent one on Operation Chariot, which I have in good old fashioned hardback. I've read several books on the St.Nazaire raid before so this will be interesting in comparison. It has an obvious but tenuous link to my current coastal warfare project too, although I very much doubt I'll be wargaming it any time soon!

2mm Hundred Years War Base Painting Technique

Step 6

Step 5

Step 4

Step 3

Step 2

Step 1

I was asked to explain how I go about painting my 2mm Hundred Years War bases, so here is the sequence of paint steps starting with the bases undercoated in Halfords Ultra Matt Camo Brown and finishing with a dry brush of very old Humbrol Lime Green. The first two or three steps are wet brushed, the rest either dry brushed or washed, followed by a coat of spray matt varnish to seal it all in. After painting the figures, over a matt black undercoat, I also then add a brush coat of gloss varnish if they are wearing armour, otherwise they lose a bit of shine.

Search and Rescue or a False Nose Job?

Fairmile B ASR M/L and Fairmile A M/L

For the next Torpedoes and Tides game I thought I'd try one of the generic scenarios, either Search and Rescue or the clandestine False Nose Job set up. The ASR scenario would be a good one as I have a Fairmile B ASR motor launch that would be ideal, accompanied by a Fairmile B M/L or C MGB. I also have an Denny SGB that I'm itching to deploy but that would probably be a bit too powerful for the opposition to deal with.

Denny SGB HMS Grey Wolf

However, I also have a Fairmile A minelayer motor launch, some of which were used to land or pick up agents or special forces teams in occupied territory, so that would also be an option for the False Nose Job scenario. The problem with that is the set up conditions which require two players, one who knows which counter is the landing point and the other who is in the dark, so to speak.

Fairmile A minelayer

Either way, the opposition will have to be S-Boote again, as I don't have anything else unless I use an RN trawler as a stand in for a VP boat or pretend the S-boote are actually Raumboote instead. It's a busy weekend which means any games will have to be bumped over to next week but at least that gives me some time to brush up on the rules and perhaps even decide a scenario or two of my own to play later on?

Torpedoes and Tides Trial Game

I played an initial game of Torpedoes and Tides today based on one of the historical scenarios in the rulebook. The game clicking along at a good pace and, unusually for me, I didn't cock anything up in the process. The action went for a full six turns, at which point the Kriegsmarine were defeated, with one S-boat wrecked and the other evading to fight another day. The Royal Navy were left with a severely damaged MGB but two M/L's virtually unscathed, so a clear victory for the senior service. I really enjoyed the game and it definitely captured the cut and thrust of coastal warfare actions, even though I was learning the system. I'm looking forward to more games but will need to paint up some more models to expand my scenario options, not to mention some 'tracer' style measuring sticks for visual effect.

Airfix Convoy Escort Destroyers

HMS Lewes

Up in the loft somewhere I have a set of four 1/600th scale destroyers that Airfix used to have in their naval range. These kits have been around since the 1970's but are perfect for coastal forces wargaming once water lined. I've been doing some research into potential options for Easy Coast convoy escorts, with an eye on the Town Class lend lease four stacker, HMS Campbeltown, as a starting point. The plan is to convert the model into one of the Rosyth Escort Force destroyers, HMS Lewes ex-USS Conway being the template. This would involve cutting down three of the stacks, remodeling the bridge, replacing the forward 4" guns, removing the torpedo launchers and adding pedestal mounts for the AA armament, so quite a bit of fiddling about but nothing too complicated. It will definitely be a bit different and will be great as an anti-E-boat asset, albeit with the speed and turning circle of a brick.

Tumbling Dice Convoy Escort Trawler

This is the Tumbling Dice ISA908 model of an Admiralty Drifter, HMS Arcady, but representative of a wife range of similar trawlers that were used for ASW and convoy escort duties in both world wars. I painted this model way back in 2014 as the ASW requisitioned trawler HMS Pearl, which was based in Plymouth for convoy escort in the Western Approaches. In reality, HMS Pearl was more heavily armed with twin Oerlikens on the bridge, numerous machine guns, depth charges and even rockets, but the model is a good match nonetheless. 

I like this model a lot so have ordered a couple more from Tumbling Dice to add to the convoy escort flotilla, with a bit of conversion work to make them look different being the plan of action. At only four quid a pop they're a steal. In Torpedoes and Tides I will give them the same profile as Kriegsfischkutters but with depth charges and the option to be over-gunned. It will be interesting to see how they match up against marauding S-Boote!

https://tumblingdiceuk.com/products/isa908-hms-arcady-admiralty-drifter-x1