Schnellboot Strike

Wrong Squadron but you get the idea..

The recent Bag the Hun scenario writing project has got me thinking about an old scenario that I was working on a few years ago, which revolved around an anti-shipping strike on some E Boats by No.263 Squadron Whirlwinds in 1943. This was never finished and ended up being way too complex for a good game but I'm now thinking of rebooting it in a streamlined format for a club night. As I have some painted Spitfire Vb"s and FW190"s this will be a 1/300th scale game, also making use of my nice Cruel Seas models. It might not even feature any Whirlwinds, although it would be a shame not to include at least a couple of them, as they're pretty cool.

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2018/12/bag-hun-schnellboote-strike.html 

Sunray is Down

 

I thought these new rules for the Falklands and designed for 10mm figures looked interesting, so I have ordered the .pdf version for a closer look. It's a conflict that I remember well from my school days and which resonates even today, over forty years later, but one which I've shied away from in the past for just those reasons. However, the Pendraken 10mm range is excellent and I have some RM commandoes stashed away from an abandoned Cold War project that will more than fill out the ranks. If this is a decent set of rules then it may well be something to add to the list for 2024?

Napoleonic Naval November

 

Now that Bag the Springbok has been completed and emailed off to Nick at Lard Island, it's time to get back to what I was supposed to be doing this month. I am now going to paint up the 1/2400th Royal Navy Napoleonic fleet that I assembled, perhaps adding a few more 74's before I get stuck in, so that I can tick off the project from the 'to do' list and actually play some games. The French are already done, so it would be a shame not to get the other half of the project underway, now that the decks are cleared of Bag the Hun related stuff. The Red Actions! project is now going to be bumped over to 2024, as that needs more time than I'll have free over the next couple of months. 

Bag the Springbok Playtest

A playtest of Scenario Two, Turning the Tables, with three South African Gladiators bounced by four Regia Aeronautica CR42's in November 1940. The game clicked along at a good pace and worked well, the end result being an Italian victory, with two Gladiators shot down for one Falco forced off with critical damage. Thanks to the players who really got stuck in. Good fun!

Dive Bombing in BTH

 

One of the scenarios I might play test tomorrow is a maritime strike mission by Swordfish from HMS Eagle against a flotilla of Italian destroyers in the Red Sea in April 1941. The Swordfish attacked using dive bombing, each aircraft being loaded with six 250lb bombs, something which might be a surprise given the Stringbags torpedo bomber reputation. 

Dive bombing in Bag the Hun is tricky, To hit the target each aircraft has to fly half a move to within one hex of the target, then dive to ALT 1, remaining within one hex of the target after the bombs have been dropped. Any overshoot or undershoot results in the bombs missing the target. This means that the best approach for bombing ships is lengthways but it also means being exposed to flak at low level on the way out.

To make this mission feasible for the Fleet Air Arm crews, most of them are rated as Veterans in the scenario, which is realistic given their training and experience. This means when dicing for movement they can choose to add a range of hexes to their base move from the d4 random modifier. I'm hoping this will give them a better chance of being in the right place to hit the target and to avoid overshooting after the dive bombing has been carried out? 

If we don't play this scenario at the club tomorrow, I'll definitely give it a try myself at home this week, if I can find the time. Here's a link to a description of the attack based on an Italian account from crew of the destroyer Daniele Manin:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/mivruo/the_italian_destroyer_daniele_manin_she_was_sunk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Bag the Springbok Cards

 

I spent the best part of two hours cutting out and laminating the cards for the Bag the Springbok play test games today, which is a tedious task but has to be done. These are pretty basic but the lamination pockets I use mean that they are interchangeable with other sets I've made, being the same size and format, so much more flexible when you realise you've missed one out or need to add an extra one. I have enough her for four scenarios, so we have some options if the players want to try some different or if a scenario turns out to be a dud, which I'm hoping won't be the case (fingers crossed)?

Nimitz November

 

I have a game of Nimitz at the club in a couple of weeks, the first of what I hope will be many more, so have been looking at the models to use. I've decided to use my early war French as there is a full set of unit cards available for them and I have a lot of options. We are going to play the introductory scenario then have a go at setting up a basic rules based encounter type game using the points system, which means I'm going to have to do some working out beforehand so that I have some idea of what I'm doing! 

Bag the Springbok Playtest Planes

I spent most of my spare time today assembling and magnet basing the 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice models for the playtest games at the club next week. This took ages as the biplanes have three fiddly bits to glue together for starters, not to mention the separate undercarriage on the SM81 models. I added a Wellesley, as Paul was kind enough to sculpt one for me, but this lot will give me at least four scenarios to choose from for the playtest as it stands.

BTH Flight Stand Formation Fix

 

For what seems like ages I've been trying to find a way to make identifying different aircraft in formations obvious when using my home made flight stands. I've tried adding base labels, using coloured stickers and even marking the edge of the bases with pen, but none of these really worked. 

Today I had an epiphany when I remembered that I'd made some bases with double dice frames a while back, designed for twelve altitude levels using two blue dice. I realised that one dice could be swapped out for a green, red, yellow, white or even black one, which could indicate the position of the section leader and wingmen. 

Boom! 

Problem solved. I just need enough different coloured dice but that won't be a problem for Bag the Springbok, as there are only a small number of aircraft involved. I'm off now to see if I can find some more colours? In the longer term I'm going to try out hexless Bag the Hun but for the playtest games, this will do the trick.

Bag the Springbok Card Decks

 

I've spent most of my day off working up the scenario record sheets and cards for the Bag the Springbok playtesting next week, which has taken quite a lot of time but is now pretty much sorted, bar one set of cards for the last scenario. In the process, I've also been able to spot some snags in the scenarios and edit the briefings to get rid of potential problems, so that's been an unexpected bonus. I have now got five potential play test games almost ready to go, so there will be some options open to the volunteers and a bit of variety as well, I'm also hoping to do some play testing of a couple of scenarios at home over the next couple of weekends.