Konfrontasi!

I was excited to learn that David Manley of Long Face Games has written a full campaign system for the Indonesian Confrontation, designed for Find, Fix and Strike. I've run my own solo campaign for this before using Naval Command, so have a lot of the models required and a good background grasp of the conflict, which will enable me to pick this up and run with it almost straight away. It's a fascinating subject and ideal for campaign purposes, as well as allowing for some iconic naval warships and aircraft to be deployed. Brilliant! 

2025 Review - Painting Things

I painted quite a lot of very small things this year, most of which were 1/600th scale aircraft but there were some 1/2400th ships and 1/600th scale tanks as well. I've also refurbished the bases on two 1/3000th scale Cold War naval fleets for the Indonesian Confrontation, so have bundled them in as well. All in all, not a bad effort and quite a lot of the stuff has seen some table top action too, so a fairly productive year of painting things.

RN / RAN Fleet Refurbished

I've completed the repainting and refurbishment of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships for the Indonesian Confrontation reboot project. They look better now that the bases have been repainted and I have two additions to the fleet, HMS Zest and HMS Eagle. I still need to add a couple more models and obviously now need to paint some FAA aircraft for the carrier, but I'm moving on to something different for next month, as a break from painting 1/3000th scale bow waves and wakes, one of my least favourite things to do!

RN Repainting Sitrep

Some half decent progress with the RN and RAN repainting today, including painting up HMS Eagle and HMS Zest from scratch, including flight deck decals for the carrier from, no surprise, Flight Deck Decals. Superb quality as always, even when applied by a cack handed duffer like myself. Next up will be wakes and bow waves, then a shiny varnish for the bases and a couple of labels. 

RN Refurbishing and Reinforcement

I'm now starting on the base repainting of the RN and RAN models for the Indonesian Confrontation reboot, the aim being for them to match the lighter blue of my sea terrain cloth. I've applied the basecoat and will do a dry brush and highlight tomorrow. I've also decided to finish two extra models, the fleet carrier HMS Eagle and the Type 15 frigate HMS Zest, both of which took part in the conflict. If I have time I'll also paint up the commando carrier HMS Albion, the light cruiser HMNZS Royalist and a couple of Ton class minesweepers.

Indonesian Navy Refurbished

The base repainting job on the 1/3000th scale Cold War Indonesian naval fleet is now complete, taking far less time and effort than I thought. I was expecting to have to replace the base labels and tidy up the models but it all went smoothly without any need to do any additional fettling. It's now on to the Royal Navy, with a handful of extra models possibly making it onto the workbench as I go along.

HMNZS Royalist

I found a surplus Davco model of a Dido class light cruiser in my WW2 stash while searching for something else, so had a go at a very basic conversion into a modernised version, to represent the obsolescent HMNZS Royalist. This involved straightening and reprofiling the stacks, removing the QF 5.25-inch C turret and rounding the corners of the bridge, with a few tweaks here and there. It's far from accurate but will do the job, giving me a New Zealand contingent for the Indonesian Confrontation naval project re-boot.

Indonesian Navy Base Brush Up

I made a start on the repainting of the bases for my Cold War Indonesian naval fleet today, blocking in with a basecoat of Vallejo Prussian Blue. This wasn't as fiddly or as messy as I thought it would be, so I had time to paint up two of the LST bases to a finish, to test out the rest of the process. Although I faffed about with the bow wave and wake a bit, they turned out looking acceptable, so I will crack on with the rest of the fleet after the weekend. If this works well, I'll follow on with the RN, RAN and RNZN, adding a few extra models that I didn't paint the first time around.

Indonesian Confrontation Brush Up

I've realised I only have a week or so left of holiday time to try and get something sorted, so instead of starting on the WW1 Ottoman fleet, I'm going to focus on the sea base refurbishment that I originally planned to do. Also, rather than starting with the War of the Pacific collection, I'm going to tackle the less fiddly and more straightforward 1/3000th scale  Indonesian Confrontation RN and IN warships instead. These were painted a few years ago with a dark blue mix using Foundry Union Blue, which I'm going to replace with Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue, which is a much better match for my sea cloth. I'll have to do this without removing the models from the bases but will replace the labels afterwards. I might even add a couple of models to the RN fleet, or some more aircraft, if I have the time.

Indonesian Confrontation Naval Revival?

David Manley has drafted a set of rules additions and amendments for his Find, Fix and Strike WW2 naval rules, so that they can be used to wargame the Indonesian Confrontation c1965. This is great as I have already played a solo campaign based on the conflict using Naval Command, so have most of the forces required, apart from the carriers and aircraft. I will give this some more thought, potentially adding the missing ships and repainting the bases on my existing models, as they are a bit too dark. David has also hinted that he may produce a campaign supplement for the conflict, which would really make this a feasible project revival, perhaps even for INWarD 2025?

Naval Command 2024

I've signed up to the play test Facebook group for the latest edition of Rory Crabb's modern naval rules, Naval Command. I have played quite a lot of games with the second edition of these rules including a whole 'What If?' solo campaign set during the Indonesian Confrontation, so have a good handle on the system, which is pretty good but full of glitches and bugs. I'm hoping that these have been ironed out in the new edition of the rules and I'm looking forward to giving them a try out, this time using my 1990"s era Chilean and Chinese fleets, unless I paint up some Royal Navy and Soviet stuff just for the kicks.

New Tumbling Dice Cold War US Aircraft

As promised, Paul at Tumbling Dice has filled some gaps in the Cold War US range with some really useful new models. The Voodoo has been a missing link for Vietnam games, especially Thud Ridge, so is a very welcome addition, as well as being a really cool aircraft. For me, the Neptune is also an excellent new model, as it can be used for the Black Bat RoCAF CIA backed intruder flights, while the Orion can be used in the maritime patrol role for numerous nations, most obviously my Chileans. Nice!

Harpoon Third Edition

I have a dog eared second hand copy of this somewhere but saw an unpunched version, bundled with most of the supplements and forms on eBay, so put in a low bid and got the lot for twenty quid. I doubt anyone plays it anymore but you can't argue with the price tag and the Falklands and Third World War scenarios have some replay value. 

I'm sorry to say that my modern and post war naval gaming has been minimal this year, having been frustrated by all the glitches in Naval Command and by the lack of a decent, fast play alternative, but I may pick it up again if I can find a better set of rules. I may even give prehistoric Harpoon a go, who knows? 

Missiles at Sea 2030

This is a new set of free to download ultra modern naval rules by a chap called Scott Elaurant, available via the Naval Wargaming (Historical) FB group. I've used Naval Command for my Cold War and Modern naval games in the past but have been frustrated by all the glitches and tweaks I've had to do to make them workable. These rules look a lot more solid and have been play tested properly, so I'm hoping they will tick all the boxes. 

There are lists for NATO and AUUKUS warships as well as Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese navies, so plenty to draw on for most scenarios. I'll be using them for my modern Chilean and Chinese forces, with a view to bringing on some modern French and British kit later, if the rules pan out. Good stuff! 

That's 2021 Done

I've decided not to dwell on 2021 that much, for obvious reasons, so my yearly review will be a bit shorter than usual this time round. In brief, I played a lot more games this year than I have for a long time, including some memorable Dahlgren and Columbiad, Fistful of Lead, Broadside and Ram and AK47 games, a full solo Naval Command campaign based on the Indonesian Confrontation, which I really enjoyed devising and writing up, as well as a Bag the Hun solo campaign and, last but not least, some games of MiG Alley and my own Wings at War variant for the Football War, Corsairs and Cavaliers. I also played a few games at the club, notably a multiplayer Cruel Seas game and some AK47, but these were few and far between as you might expect. 

As well as the actual wargaming, I also wrote an article based on the Bag the Hun Khalkhin Gol series of games that I played over the summer, now published in the 2021 Lard Mag, successfully finished play testing the Corsairs and Cavaliers rules and wrote a conversion of the club WW1 aerial rules to the modern era, aptly titled Jet Knights of the Sky. These haven't been tried out at the club yet, however, so remain on hold until things go back to something approaching normal. I also continued to support International Naval Wargaming Day, with a game of Broadside and Ram, later followed up with a couple of Dahlgren and Columbiad War of the Pacific scenarios that I devised for my 1/2400th scale ironclads.

In terms of projects, apart from the aforementioned Bag the Hun Khalkhin Gol project and the modern ships for Naval Command, including British, Indonesian, Chilean and Chinese forces, it's been a less successful twelve months. I had a lot of stuff on my 'to do' list and started on a couple of projects, such as 1/2400th scale Napoleonic French ships and a 1/3000th scale WW2 Italian fleet, but these stalled early on due to a work overload in the latter half of the year. I wish I'd managed to get these shifted as I am still keen on both of these projects and have some excellent rules to use with them, but supply work got a bit busy due to teacher absences so they are still on the metaphorical slipway. I also had some inevitable dead ends, most notably an ill judged attempt to get a 28mm British platoon painted for Chain of Command (what was I thinking!?)

I managed to avoid too many distractions this year and so did a little bit of painting rather than just adding more lead to the pile. This included a single 28mm mountain gun for my Back of Beyond expedition army, a handful of extra ironclads for my War of the Pacific Chilean and Peruvian fleets, some Royal Navy coastal monitors for my Victorian ironclads, a load of 1/3000th scale post war and modern warships (see above) and a complete flotilla of E Boats for Cruel Seas. I also painted all of the 1/600th scale Japanese and Russian aircraft for my Khalkhin Gol project and some extras for the Football War and MiG Alley projects as well. I even scratch built a railway for AK47. Not too bad, if not a massive inroad into the lead mountain.

That's all folks!