I've ordered some sample Roman units from Warbases for Strength and Honour to see what they look like when painted up. If I like them I'll probably get some more in advance of the rules being published in a few weeks time. I was thinking of using them as the core of an army for either the 1st Century BC or AD, depending on some further reading around the subject.
I've had this book on the Kindle for a while so what better time to read it than over the half term holidays, during which I will be able to sit down and make some notes for the Bag the Hun Finest Hour solo campaign. Tally Ho!
I've always wanted to run a Bag the Hun campaign using the Finest Hour supplement for the Battle of Britain with 1/285th scale aircraft, but there wasn't any interest at the club so I shelved my plans a long time ago. However, my recent 1/600th scale games for the Khalkhin Gol project over the summer have convinced me that I can manage to run quite large games on a solo basis, with several flights on each side and bombers on autopilot. So, one thing I'm going to add to my 'to do' list for 2022 will be a Battle of Britain themed solo campaign, based on the system in Finest Hour and using 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice magnet based model aircraft.
To give myself something to aim for, I rolled up a squadron for the RAF today, using a combination of the mechanisms in the supplement and a bit of cherry picking. A dice roll identified the unit as No27 Squadron, which was actually based on the North West Frontier flying Westland Wapiti light bombers and Tiger Moth trainers at the time, but in my campaign it will have been disbanded and reformed as a fighter squadron in October 1939. The squadron is based at Middle Wallop airfield in 10 Group, which is just up the road from me and so an ideal choice. The squadron is equipped with the Hawker Hurricane Mk1 and has a generous compliment of seventeen machines, although one is currently U/S. The squadron code is RM.
As the timeframe for the campaign will be the Kanal Kampf in July 1940, the pilot generation system has given me a total strength of sixteen aircrew, so I will have four spare pilots in reserve and a full complement of twelve for my four sections. The Squadron Leader is a Top Ace, having achieved eleven kills during the Battle of France, and is leader of 'A' Flight, Red Section. The other section leader in 'A' flight is a Veteran of the fighting in France too, so a safe pair of hands at the helm of Yellow Section. The leader of 'B' Flight and Blue Section is a newly minted Junior Ace with five kills over the beaches of Dunkirk, but the leader of Green Section is a Sprog, fresh from advanced training (I decided that he was a well to do and well connected pre-war private pilot, so promoted to section leader on the basis of his supposed flying experience rather than any combat skill).
Luckily, there is another Junior Ace pilot in Green Section to shepherd its newly appointed section leader, backed up by a solid Regular sergeant pilot in the number three slot. The other section pilots are a mixed bag, with two more Veterans and Regulars, together with a couple more Sprogs, sprinkled around the squadron according to the random dice rolls that I made. The reserve pilots are all Sprogs, as you'd expect but there is a single Regular to give the CO some options when it comes to replacing losses and rotating pilots during the campaign. I may well dip into the character generation system in Squadron Forward to flesh out the identities and backgrounds of each pilot, but I don't want to over complicate things at this stage.
In terms of preparation for this solo campaign, I'll obviously need twelve Hurricanes based and painted but will also have to paint quite a lot of Luftwaffe bombers and fighters too. The Kanal Kampf gives me the option of using Ju-87 Stukas, so I'll need twelve of them plus twelve bombers to start with, probably Heinkel III's as they are really nice models. As fighters I will need twelve Bf-109's and, as it's still early days in the Battle of Britain, I'll also need twelve Bf-110's as fighter escorts. A couple of reconnaissance aircraft would also be useful, so I can add a Ju-88 or Do-17 in that role, with the option of expanding up to twelve aircraft in the bomber role later on. This is quite a lot to do but still manageable if I do it in stages (I have fiddled the encounter table to fix the maximum number of aircraft at twelve, which is more than enough to deal with!)
This will all kick off in 2022 but it's always a good idea to plan ahead!
I'm on holiday for a few days now, so have been planning some solo wargaming while the weather is still terrible, to squeeze in alongside the inevitable DIY. The focus will be on some more Wings at War, particularly MiG Alley as I've only just scratched the surface of the game and really want to try out some different mission set ups. I'm also going to be playing more naval games including at least a couple of War of the Pacific scenarios and possibly some more Anglo-British Victorian ironclad battles. I may even play a bit of Mad for War Essentials using the print and play counters that come with the rules, although it's all a bit sketchy at the moment, so who knows?
Here's the slightly delayed report for the Battle of Chipana (I blame the dodgy telegraph line from Chipana to Lima myself)
Turn 1
The Magallanes entered on the turn of the second card and proceeded to steam at full speed northwards, while the Union and Pilcomayo frantically weighed anchor. The Union fired a long range shot from her 100 pdr medium rifle but failed to cause any more than harassing fire, which is not surprising given the range and the speed of the target.
Turn 2
The Union and Pilcomayo had now slipped anchor and turned to starboard, heading west toward the Magallanes which continued to steam ahead, firing her 7'' medium rifle at the Union as she ploughed along. This caused harassing fire but little else, so the Union and Pilcomayo continued on course directly toward their target.
The Union now fired her medium rifle to port at a range of 11'' and scored a hit, inflicting heavy damage and a severed steam line. This was a disaster for the Magallanes, as she was now immobilised and so a sitting duck for the rapidly approaching Peruvian ships, both of which were now closing fast with the Pilcomayo now opening fire with her forward light rifle, luckily to no effect.
Turn 3
The crew of the crippled Magallanes were determined to put up a fight, so fired the medium rifle at the Union again, although this only resulting in harassing fire and failed to stop her advance. The Union and Pilcomayo were now getting very close, with the Union pulling ahead due to her superior speed to cut off the Magallanes, while the Pilcomayo steamed forward in a pincer movement. The Union was temporarily unable to bring her guns to bear but the Pilcomayo fired her forward 70 pdr rifle at 4'' close range, only to miss by a narrow margin.
Turn 4
The writing was on the cards for the Magallanes as the Union positioned herself to fire her medium rifle at the stationary gunboat. This time the result was a direct hit, causing severe damage but not enough to sink the plucky Chilean ship. The Magallanes now fired her medium rifle to starboard at the Pilcomayo at 3'' range, causing light damage and temporarily jamming her steering.
The Union now turned toward the Magallanes and fired her port 40 pdr smoothbores for good measure but to no effect. The Pilcomayo added her port light smoothbore to the cannonade, this time inflicting heavy damage to the hull, reducing the Magallanes defence value to 2. In reply, the Magallanes fired her starboard medium smoothbore at the Pilcomayo but fluffed it and only caused harassing fire.
Turn 5
The Union now decided to ram the Magallanes amidships in an attempt to board and capture her. Unfortunately, due to the shallow angle of the impact and despite the target being stationary, the Union glanced off and failed to grapple, leaving the Pilcomayo to finish the job. The Peruvian gunboat fired her port 40 pdr smoothbores in raking broadside into the crippled Chilean warship, with the shells shattering her hull and causing the crew to abandon ship as the Magallanes slipped beneath the waves.
A re-play is definitely on the cards!
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| The terrain modules as they are now.... |
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| ...and as they will look after a repaint (I hope) |
I'm thinking of repainting my existing coast terrain modules for the War of the Pacific naval games I've been playing and for a potential mini-campaign. I originally painted them with a green vegetation effect on the top but have now decided to make some new terrain modules for temperate areas, so can revert the old ones to a desert finish. This will mean a basecoat and successive layers of paint to match the finish on the cliffs and cover up the offending green bits, so nothing too complicated. I am also going to make a few more sections using the left over bits of high density foam that I've saved, including a port or coastal town, for example, so that I can run some blockade scenarios, shore bombardments and amphibious landing games.
I played the Battle of Chipana scenario with Dahlgren and Columbiad this evening, having had to squeeze it into a twilight hour due to a having other things in the way during the day. It was a very enjoyable game and ticked along quite smoothly, although I did have to do some head scratching again when it came to ramming. The end result was a decisive victory for the Peruvians, who managed to immobilise the Magallanes early in the game then hammered her to match wood in a well co-ordinated pincer movement.
I experimented with centimetres for movement, as I was using 1/2400th scale models, but keeping inches for gunfire and I think it worked very well. I'm going to follow this approach for future games as it did 'feel right' in terms of visual effect and produced a realistic outcome judging by the end results. I'll do a proper after action report tomorrow if I can but here are some photos of the skirmish in the meantime.
(once again, apologies for the poor photos as I am still stuck with a phone rather than a proper camera)
