Not Just a Brush War

I'm a big fan of AK47, the original version at least, so have two armies and plenty more kit in the leadpile for 'imaginations' style post-colonial Africa wargaming. The AK47 rules are great and I particularly enjoy all the politcal shenanigans that feature in the pre-game phase, together with the none too serious write ups that I do afterwards. As you can see from the blog, it's probably the project that I've spent more time and effort on than any other, only Bag the Hun coming anywhere close!

However, the rules as they stand aren't really designed for campaign play or for detailed linked games, which is where I'd like to take them further. I'm now thinking of switching over to the Five Core Company Command rules system, which is far more flexible in this respect but retains the 'imaginations' element and the opportunity for a political context to be embedded into the game. I'm  still going to play AK47 but an alternative might give me some new directions in which to go.

Although Company Command includes a working campaign system, I was really pleased to find this  supplement for the Five Core rules which allows you to set up a comprehensive and coherent fictional background for AK47 style settings. There's a lot more detail in this than in the core rules and plenty of options to add as much detail as you want to the campaign structure, from political alignment and motivation, all the way down to the colour of your army's uniform.

I'm also thinking of branching out into 10mm or 15mm with Company Command or No End in Sight, with a specific focus on the French Indochina War, so this supplement will be useful for more than one of my future projects. In the meantime, I'll need to get the bases done on the last of my Superpower Backed AK47 army, so that I can run a playtest of Company Command sometime in the not too distant future?

A Postcard from the Baltic

 

I've not had much time for any fun stuff of late, so painting and gaming has taken a nosedive. To make up for this I have re-drafted and extended the Back of a Postcard ironclad rules written by Dave Spender back in 2008 for the Battle of Lissa, aptly titled 'A Postcard from the Adriatic'

These have been tweaked and fiddled with to create a variant for the Second Schleswig War of 1864, with a particular focus on the Baltic, although they are perfectly useable for the actions in the North Sea as well. The original rules were great fun and very fast play, so these should be good too.

 

I'm not sure how they'll work or if I've left anything out that needs to be covered but they now feature turret ironclads, shore forts and turning clarifications, so should be workable without too many glitches. I've also tweaked the firing factors and added some notes about damage markers.

 

When I eventually get round to painting up the 1/2400th scale Prussian and Danish squadrons, along with the Austrians which I have now located suitable models for, I'll be able to give them a playtest. In the meantime, I have some neat Tumbling Dice shore forts to put together, along with the ships for the Battle of Heligoland.

Galleys and Galleons [21]

I've set up a second playtest game of Galleys and Galleons for the 16th, so my priority now is to get at least half a dozen of my 1/450th scale Peter Pig pirate ships painted up, leaving the 1864 Danish and Prussian fleets on the shelf for the next few days. I'm planning to try out the next two scenarios in the rules, Cutting Out and Treasure Islands, so will need to sort out a fort as well as about a couple of hundred points of shipping for each side. I also have this 1/500th scale model kit to build, which I'll class as an East India Company Flagship at a whopping 82 points.

I  have the latest version of the rules to proof read and will be using them to run the game, so that any glitches can be picked out as we go along. These are pretty much the same as the draft version we used before but with very handy page numbers to help smooth things along. The front cover for the final version of the rules has also just been released and, as you can see, it looks great. It's a cracking set of rules already but the cover just makes it even better. Another big thank you to Nic for letting us play around with his rules.

You can read more about them here:

http://irregularwars.blogspot.co.uk/p/galleys-galleons.html

House to House

The habitual after work trip into town and the Oxfam bookshop this afternoon, so I now have this to read when I can find the time. It's written in a semi-narrative style and from the perspective of the soldiers involved in the street fighting in Saigon after the Tet Offensive. It's very evocative and full of loads of detail being based on first hand interviews with the infantrymen who took part in the operation. There's plenty here that could be turned into platoon or company level scenarios, so it should be a very worthwhile read and good background material for a Vietnam project.

Five Core Company Command Rules

I've been really enjoying the latest series of posts over on Just Jack's BlackHawkHet blog, which detail a mini-campaign that he's running based around a semi-fictional Cuban liberation conflict, very much in an 'imagin-nations' style but firmly grounded by a plausible back story. I've particularly enjoyed the post action reports, which give a really good flavour of the rules:

http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/5Core%20Company%20Command

The campaign uses a set of fast play rules for platoon level games called Company Command. These looked really interesting, so I downloaded a copy from Wargames Vault to take a closer look. After a quick flick through it soon became apparent that this was a very straightforward set of rules but with some innovative and interesting twists.

They are designed for small forces of a few squads a side plus support weapons and specialists, with vehicle and AFV's being used only in small numbers, if at all. That's not to detract from the scope of the rules which cover pretty much everything you'd expect from a 'modern' set, including off table fire support, helicopters and irregular forces, for example.

The rules have been written very much for AK47 style games in hot, dusty far away places but would be equally useable for any Cold War conflict, with plenty of scope for 'What if's?' The miminalist approach to unit sizes and the small size of the playing area, also makes it very manageable in terms of effort and cost. This is a big factor for me, with my limited time for painting and gaming.

I'm thinking of having a try out using my AK47 figures but also considering other things I could do with the rules, from 10mm Pendraken Royal Marines in Norway to the steamy jungles of Indochina, where my 10mm French and Viet Minh could find a new home. Then there's also the Indonesian Confrontation, Borneo and Vietnam in 15mm, which have all occupied some of my thinking time in the not so distant past.

Very cool!

Normandy Firefight Project [5]

 

I've been trying to find some 1/35th scale Lee Enfield sniper rifles to equip a British sniper team for Normandy Firefight but with little luck. However, I have now located said item, in a weapons accessory set from a company called Riich, which I have never heard of being a bit out of the loop as far as military modelling is concerned. The set in question is quite pricey but does also include a Vickers and a couple of Bren guns on AAA and sustained fire mounts, as well as the three sniper rifles I need for a prone, kneeling and crouching figure. I now only  have to track down a set that doesn't cost an arm and a leg!

Normandy Firefight Project [4]

I mentioned to a work colleague that I was interested in military modelling a while back and he said that his dad was clearing out some old model kits that I could have for free if I wanted. I was expecting some half glued together, half finished kit bashed odds and ends but today I was given a couple of plastic bags full of 1970's vintage 1/32nd scale Airfix figures, both from the multipose and the bendy plastic range. There were also some 1/76 scale Fujimi and Matchbox kits but the 54mm stuff is what really grabbed my attention.

These are in as new, if slightly musty boxes and the multipose figures themselves are still on the sprues inside sealed plastic bags, with all the original parts and instructions included. Wow! You can imagine my surprise and the subsequent nostalgia trip, as these are exactly the same kits that I built when I was a kid. I'm now thinking of a 1/32nd scale North Africa extension to my Normandy Firefight project, although the thought of breaking up these pristine kits fills me with pangs of guilt!

Chain of Command Japanese Platoon [12]

 

I was supposed to be taking part in a four player, four point SAGA game last night but, just as we had set everything up and were ready to kick off, I had to rush back home to sort out a domestic crisis! This was a real shame as I was really looking forward to having a crack at SAGA for the first time and had lined up my borrowed Cornish (not Welsh) warband ready for some seroius pointy stick throwing, only to have to bail out at the last minute. Sorry Gary.

 

 

Anyway, I had an evening in once the dust had settled, so dug out the big box containing the 28mm Japanese platoon for Chain of Command, to work out the extras that I need to finish off before I start painting them up next month. I dropped this project back in November when the work situation went **** up, so I'd forgotten exactly what I had and hadn't finished assembling, basing and undercoating. The list of 'to do' extra bits isn't too long in the end:

 

1 x NCO (standard bearer)

1 x Corporal

 

1 x MMG team (5 men)

 

1 x ATG team (5 men plus junior officer)

 

1 or 2 x Engineer team/s

 

1 x Tank Hunter team (pole charge)

 

1 or 2 x Chi Ha tank/s

 

3 or 4 x roadblocks / wire obstacles

 

I may start on these over the next few days, if I can squeeze them in alongside the pirate ships and ironclads. I have pretty much all of the figure sprues and model kits that I need to cover these extras already in the pile. It will be good to get back to this project and I'm looking forward to the painting stage, as they've been hanging around far to long!

The Battle of Heligoland 1864

I've been thinking about the other naval aspect of the Second Schleswig War, which involves the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the North Sea against the Danish, an aspect of the conflict which I had otherwise ignored. On closer inspection, this looks like a straightforward extension to my existing Baltic project, as it involves only a handful of additional ships, some of which I already have in the Baltic contingent.

The key clash in the North Sea was the battle of Heligoland on 9th May 1864, which was a tactical Danish victory against the Austrians and Prussians. The forces involved were:

Denmark
Niels Juel 42-gun screw frigate
Jylland 44-gun screw frigate
Hejmdal 16-gun screw corvette

Austria
Schwarzenberg 51-gun screw frigate
Radetzky 37-gun screw frigate

Prussia
Preussischer Adler 4-gun paddle steamer
Blitz 3-gun 350-ton gunboat
Basilisk 3-gun 350-ton gunboat

Great Britain
Aurora 51-gun screw frigate

The Jylland and Niels Juel were sister ships of the Sjaelland, for which I have used the Tumbling Dice ASV5 frigate model, so I can easily order a couple more. I also already have the Hejmdal based up and undercoated. Incidentally, the Jylland has been restored and preserved in it's original 1864 condition. The British Aurora only played an incidental part in the battle so isn't absolutely essential but would be a nice scenario extra.

The Schwarzenberg and Radetzky can also be located in the Tumbling Dice catalogue, although I'll need to do some research to find matching models from the French and British ranges. Finally, for the Prussian paddle steamer I can use the model of the Lorelei that I already have, alongside two of the first class gunboats from the Baltic flotilla to act as the Blitz and Basilisk, although I quite fancy getting new models for these as well.

Normandy Firefight Project [3]

I sat down with the rulebook yesterday and read through all of the scenarios or 'missions' to winkle out exactly what I need to kit up for the Normandy Firefight project, so that all the scenarios can be run either way round. The 'shopping list' consists of the following figures, for both the Allies (US and/or British) and the Germans:

1 x NCO (Thompson / Sten / MP40)

4 x Riflemen
1 x LMG gunner (BAR / Bren / MG42)
1 x Anti-Tank (bazooka / PIAT / Panzerfaust)
1 x Medic

In addition, I need a sniper for all three patrols, as Mission 2: Sniper Hunt would be a bit pointless without one and I'd like to switch the scenario round to give the German player a challenge. A wounded recce officer for the US and/or British is also required, as one features as an objective in Mission 3: Clear and Secure. 

I have enough prone, kneeling and standing figures to cover this lot but only for the Germans and US at the moment, with the British requiring a couple more lying and kneeling kit parts. I'm hoping to do some conversions to cover the shortfall. I also don't have any sniper rifles for the British, which might complicate things a bit, although I can probably knock one up with a bit of imagination.

In terms of vehicles, I will need a knocked out tank of some sort for Mission 1: Lead Scouts, although it doesn't really matter if it's Allied or Axis. I have an incomplete Italeri kit of a Hetzer which I can build for this, minus a missing sprocket wheel. I also need tanks or assault guns for Mission 5: Tank Hunters, one for the Germans and one for the Allies. An Italeri M4A1 Sherman will do for the moment along with a Tamiya Stug III for the other side.

To round things off, I need a destroyed recce vehicle for all three sides, with the actual mission briefing being for a US jeep or similar. I have a Bren carrier for the British but will need to find something for the other two patrols to locate, possibly cutting some corners by using a motorcycle or similar for both the Germans and the Americans. I guess this could represent a dispatch rider with important documents that need to be retrieved.

This all adds up to quite a lot of stuff...and I haven't even thought about terrain yet!