Narrow Seas [9]

I've decided to focus on the coastal forces stuff over the next couple of weeks, as I have limited time to spare and can squeeze some painting in here and there. The Bolt Action project will, therefore, be bumped over into May. My approach will be to do a half hour painting session each day, which I can manage alongside my workload, splitting the project into two halves on a production line basis.

The first half consists of the short and long boats, which I started on this evening by painting the deck areas in Citadel Shadow Grey.  This is none too neat but will be sorted out later on. I'm at the club tomorrow night for an ECW game but plan to paint the hulls and upper works on Wednesday. If I crack on, I should get the detailing done by the end of the week, which means that I can base them over the weekend.

...possibly?

Coastal Warfare Sea Cloth

On the way back to the ferry the other day, we stopped off for lunch at a shopping centre outside Morlaix. To keep the kids happy, we went round the supermarket where I found a discounted duvet cover and pillow set for 10 euros. The duvet cover is about 6' x 4' so not far off a normal wargames table in size, although I could double it in size if I unstitched a couple of seams and laid it out. It's not perfect but for the equivalent of seven or eight quid, I'm not that bothered and it's a lot better than anything else I've found so far. I may have a go at toning down the whiter areas with some green and blue dye or fabric paint, using the pillow cases to experiment on. If that doesn't work, the cover will make a very effective sky cloth for non-hex based aerial games like Air War:C21, so it's a result either way.

Bag the Hun Scramble!

The Toofatlardies 20% off sale was too tempting to ignore today, so I've bought myself a .pdf copy of the Bag the Hun compendium so that I have all of the articles and scenarios in one place. I have most of them already in the specials but it's worth having them easily accessible now that I have the Kindle. I can now refer back to specific rules, scenarios and add-ons without the need to search through the numerous specials, which should save a lot of time and effort.

A Splendid Little War

I finished reading A Splendid Little War on the Kindle HD today and it was rather good, much to my surprise. I don't read fiction as a rule, prefering military history over historical stories, as they tend to be less than realistic and often feature ridiculous storylines. Anyway, I enjoyed this one and will be downloading some more of the series. I've been interested in the Russian Civil War for many years and also the First World War in the air, so this story was an excellent combination.

I've had a few passing thoughts about wargaming the RCW air war too. I have several 1/72nd WW1 aircraft that I built for use with the excellent club hex based rules, Knights of the Sky, including a handful of Imperial Russian Nieuports and a lone Anatra Anasal. I could easily add some Soviet fighters to this but, as most people seem to use 1/144th scale these days, that would probably be a better option. However, this is all rather unlikely at the moment, unless I get an unexpected urge to 'bash some Bolos'.

The Kindle turned out to be a great way to transport books on holiday, without lugging around hefty hardbacks that always get bashed and biffed in the process. I'm going to take the Kindle instead of books in the future, as it's ideal for reading through .pdf rules and supplements, as well as background research for my various on-going projects. Not that I'm going to stop collecting and reading books, having just bought four second hand books today!

Le Tommy de la Libération

We're heading back home tomorrow via the other in-laws in Cornwall, so it's Au Revoir for a couple of days until I get back on line. I didn't get to the U Boat pens in Lorient this time so that's one for the Summer holidays. I did, however, finally get hold of a copy of this excellent softback reference book on the British army in NW Europe,which I've wanted to acquire ever since I flicked through a copy in the D-Day museum at Pegasus Bridge about three or four years ago. I also picked up some more of the plastic foliage mats that I found in GiFi, this time for only 1.99 euros each, so I'll have plenty of jungle for both AK47 and In The Heart of Africa.

 

 

Bag the Hun Convoy Game [4]

Click and Zoom

I spent an hour or two this afternoon drafting a plan of the set up for the Bag the Hun 2 convoy attack game, using a basic sketch that I'd worked out beforehand. The ships will be on table at the start of the game and will sail up the grain of the hex mat, with the option of some zig zags to throw off the attackers. They will have a maximum speed of three hexes per turn so plenty of time for the Blenheims to make their attack run.

The Blenheims will enter on Turn One from the North East corner of the playing area, initially in vics of three but with the attack carried out in 'offset formation' as described in the Italian convoy commander's report. They will be at Level 2 to start with, dropping down to Level 1 for the run in. I've divided them into two flights, one of F/O Greenhill, Sgt. Broome and Sgt. Routh (Red) and one of Sgt. Leven. Sgt. Baker, and Sgt.Harrison (Green).

The Junkers 88A4 will have the chance to intercept the Blenheims from Turn 3 onwards on the roll of a D6, requiring a 6 to get on table, intially at Level 3. I doubt it will make an appearance and, if it does, it'll have to push the throttle wide open to get into range of the Blenheims before they exit the Western edge of the table. This would seem to fit with the after action reports of both the Italians and the British.

I may give the Blenheims the option of a second attack run, if they have any bombs left and/or miss the  first time round. In reality, they'd probably make good their escape as soon as possible but that might make for a very short game. In this case, I'd allow them to circle around off table for two turns before making their run in from the South Western edge of the table, which seems the most likely option.

The bomber crews would rate as Veteran with F/O Greenhill as a possible Junior Ace, while the Junkers 88 crew would be Regular. The Priaruggia and the Partenope would rate as Flak Experts, while the A.Fassio would be standard Flak crews. This would help to balance out the scenario and also matches the slightly contradictory accounts from the Italian and British reports.

There's a few more things to sort out but I'm getting there...

AK47 Helicopter Transport

I won this spin-off on Ebay a couple of days ago for a fiver, which isn't bad considering it's full price is more than three times higher. A tip off by a fellow gamer made me look for one and I'm glad I did, as it will do very nicely as a transport chopper for either my nascent Superpower Backed army or for a UN Intervention force of some sort, for which I have some 15mm Peter Pig  FFL stashed away.

I can shift some of the leadpile..hurray!

I've also been thinking of using up all (well, some) of my left over old-style Peter Pig AK47 figures to create a fourth and final (?) AK47 army. As most of these are militia but with a handful of regulars, it seems sensible to put together either a Religious Movement or People's Popular Front force, both of which are militia heavy. I can also use up a lot of the old diecast trucks and spare vehicles that I have stashed away to create some knackered militia style technicals.

Hoot's mon.....you get the idea

I have a £25 Peter Pig voucher that my sister game me for my birthday, so I could do any 'topping up' for no expense and fill in the ranks with some of the 'old style' militia before they get discontinued. I particuarly like the chaps in their birthday suits, as they will be very quick to paint and will make the army quite distinctive, especially if I add some suitably garish tribal war paint.

I'm thinking of A.L.D.I. or L.I.D.L. as army acronyms, for obvious reasons.

Quick, cheap and fun...with lots of scratchbuilding too!

Bag The Hun Convoy Game [3]

The all important rules for flak!

Here's the action from the perspective of the Italian convoy commander, Lieutenant-Commander B. de Moratti, once again from the very thorough and well researched article by Andreas on his invaluable Crusader Project blog:

At 15.02 the left vessel advised of three enemy bombers which approached the convoy in low-level flight. The formation at that moment was as follows: Partenope in front, zig-zagging, steamer Priaruggia and tanker A Fassio in line abreast (Fassio to the right), with Priaruggia slightly behind. The escorting plane was far off, ahead of the formation.

The three Bristol Blenheim planes formed in an offset formation on the left of the convoy, coming roughly from the north-east. Partenope immediately opened fire with its central 20mm gun at a distance of about 800 metres. While turning and climbing the planes dropped a series of small bombs and strafed the convoy with machine guns. Of the bombs, one hit Priaruggia at the base of the funnel, the others drop to the left and right of the steamer, as well as between Partenope and the steamer.

Almost at the same time, two planes appear to be hit by the precise fire of Partenope, one in a staggering turn trying to touch down on the water, hitting hard, and then dives into the sea breaking up. The other, on fire, still manages a half turn, then dives into the sea head first, vanishing completely. The third plane carries out a wide turn, then continues to remain cruising for some minutes.

I am turning around, and order Fassio to remain in the area, zig-zagging. I am moving towards the life boats and rescue floats of the Priaruggia which, after emitting abundant black smoke and steam, now appears intact everywhere apart from the centre, where it shows damage to the base of the funnel, the masts, and the loading equipment. I am ordering to put the wounded on board of Partenope, and the able to return on board the steamer to prepare the tow.

In the meantime I move to the area where the remains of one of the shot-down planes are and where a wounded airman reacts to calls. I set the whaler into the sea to recover the airman and a yellow bag, which contained emergency signalling equipment. The wounded airman is tended to together with the wounded of the Priaruggia. He shows splinter wounds on the right knee and leg, and other wounds on the forehead, the right hand, and the front of his body.

http://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/a-costly-raid-no-107-squadron-11-october-1941/

This gives the me the relative positions and movements of the three Italian ships, as well as the approach position and formation of the Blenheims as they came into the attack run.

It's also interesting to compare the description of the AAA fire from the British and Italian reports. The RAF account suggests the anti-aircraft fire from the 'large m/v', presumably the tanker but possibly the freighter, was the decisive factor, while the Italian account suggests that the flak from the convoy escort Partenope was the more effective due to it's 'precise fire'.

I'll have to think through the flak ratings for the three ships, with one or other being rated as 'experts' to reflect both the Italian and British view of events and make the scenario accurate. I also have to think of the best way to incorporate the machine gun 'strafing' of the convoy by the Blenheims, as this adds an element to the attack that I hadn't considered in much depth.

The escorting twin engine aircraft, which Andreas has suggested as an Me110 of III/JG26 or Ju88 of LG1, clearly played no role in the engagement as it was miles ahead of the convoy and, presumably, had insufficient speed to reach the convoy area before the Blenheims were away. I may still incorporate the arrival of the escort aircraft into the scenario, probably using the Ju88 as I have a nice Museum Miniatures Ju88A4 in the spares box that I quite fancy painting up.

Many thanks to Andreas and Dunc for their advice and ideas...very useful and much appreciated.

Bag the Hun Convoy Game [2]

I've got four players signed up for the BTH2 game which I'm going to planning to run at the club in a month or so. As a result, I need to get cracking on the scenario development. The site that I've been culling information from is really useful and packed with the sort of historical detail that makes all the difference when writing realistic scenarios:

http://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/a-costly-raid-no-107-squadron-11-october-1941/

I'd usually try to find at least two other sources to cross reference the information against but, in this case, the job has been done for me. Excellent!

Anyway, to save you the hassle of reading it all for yourself, here's the RAF version of events, which has enough to set up the parameters for the game with the other details filled in from the Italian reports and a bit of educated guesswork.

11 October 1941

Six Blenheims captained by F/O. Greenhill, Sgt. Routh, Sgt. Broome, Sgt. Level, Sg.t Baker, and Sgt. Hopkinson were ordered to attack shipping in the GULF OF SIRTE. 3,000 lb of bombs were dropped. Total flying time was 20 hrs. 50 mins.

At 14.04 hours they located one m/v 3 – 5,000 tons, one Cargo boat 1 – 1,500 tons and one corvette in a position 31.53′ N 15.43′ E. They were escorted by ONE twin-engined monoplane. F/O Greenhill hit the large m/v forward and his aircraft was then seen by Sgt. Harrison to be hit in the belly and crash in the sea as he climbed over the ship. The vessel held fire until the aircraft was 50 yards away.

Sgt. Broome attacked the same vessel and hit it aft and left the vessel in flames with grey smoke pouring from it. He was chased by the escort plane which did not get within firing range. Sgt. Harrison saw Sgt. Routh attack the small Cargo boat, set it on fire and then crash into the sea having been hit by guns from the large m/v.

Sgt. Leven, Sgt. Baker and Sgt. Hopkinson did not make an attack and brought back their bombs. Four aircraft returned safely, but it is not thought that there could be any survivors from the two aircraft shot down. The crews of the aircraft were as follows:

F/O Greenhill, Sgt. Smith, Sgt. Whidden

Sgt. Routh, Sgt. Parker, Sgt. McLeod.

The only questions that I need answers for are as follows:

1. What was the bomb loading for the Blenheims - 2 x 500lbs or 4 x 250lbs?

2. What was the twin engined monoplane? - it won't be part of the scenario but I'd like to know.

3. What was the formation? - it's two flights of three but in what formation for each flight?

I think the Italian after action report will fill in some of the details but the rest will have to be improvised.

RIP all of the aircrew who lost their lives, brave men indeed.

Bolt Action Yanks [3]

Here's the first squad plus bazooka team in support, consisting of an NCO with Thompson SMG, two BAR gunners (you're allowed two in a late war squad) and seven riflemen with M1 Garands. I'm planning to get the second identical squad based up today. I've also got three MMG teams and a light mortar team to prepare but the bases that I brought with me are too small, so they'll have to wait a little longer. I may clean up a third infantry squad instead, minus the platoon sniper team.