Meeting one of my Wargaming Heroes

The highlight for me of the Battleground Show was meeting one of my wargaming heroes. As I've got older I've had the chance of meeting and on occasion working with (ok holding their pens) some wargaming folks who have made a mark on the hobby. The Fire and Fury guys, Dave Manly (Mr Naval Wargaming), Roger Gerrish and Andy Chambers (he prefers Evil Overfiend) to name drop a few.  

However I ran into this nice chap at Stockton and he was wearing a badge saying "Andy Callan". 

"Are you the real Andy Callan" says I - "you know, Loose Files and American Scramble Andy Callan?"

and it was. 

And I was very happy to meet him because I think he saved my wargaming life. Back in the late 1980s,  (September 1987 to be precise), Wargames Illustrated issue 1 was published, including a set of fast play American War of Independence rules called "Loose Files & American Scramble". At the time I was just out of University and living "Dahn Sarth" selling computers and software to Yuppies (look it up if you're younger than 50) and picked it up. I lost my job a little later and decided to come home "Up North" for a couple of weeks to catch up with friends and family (pre mobile phone & internet days) and then head back down to find another job.  Sadly my Mum's cooking and home life was far too attractive and decided to look for a job here, in the middle of one of the worse unemployment black spots in the nation during a depression (Doh!). I was broke, on my arse and without two quid to rub together. I really couldn't afford to spend my few ££ on toys and my gaming life was looking threatened. Then I remembered the WI and that set of rules. I managed to get a lift through with my mate Steve Irvin to Irregular Miniatures, who at the time were operating out of a series of ramshackle sheds in darkest Yorkshire. Armed with a tenner I had hoarded from my "Dole" and assisted by Ian Kay's generous throwing in of some freebies I managed to get enough 6mm AWI figures to field two small forces for both sides. I diligently painted them up, and they became my staple game army for the following months. Without them, I think I may have drifted out of wargaming. True story that. Thanks Andy!

Interesting fact  "Loose Files and American Scramble" is the only piece to be repeated in Wargames Illustrated, once in issue 1, and again in a later edition. They're an interesting, fast and dirty AWI set of rules with the added advantage of being fun. They look good in 6mm and thinking about it, if Warlord ever do AWI in "Epic" scale they would look even better. Hmmm  

Anyway I bought a copy of his new rules "Never Mind The Billhooks" which I hop to get on the table in the new year.

Cheers!

Stockton show report

Last week I went the the annual Battleground show in Stockton. It's pretty much the last show I attend each year and being local is something of a favourite. This year was particularly welcome as it was well attended by both the public and traders, and there was a wide range of demo games - all very pretty.

Stockton is a bit strange in that it is free to attend - not 100% sure how they manage this - I assume some community funding (??) but that makes it different to many shows as you get more "Joe Public" than you normally expect, and also there are a couple of historical talks which I have to admit I missed this year, which was a shame as they're usually first class.

The "haul" this year was not that great - some "Red Lantern" female Boxers from Ironclad Miniatures and some very nice Chain of Command Jump Off \ Patrol markers from the ever reliable Warbases, and a couple of books from Hellion on the Kido Butai's unwelcome cruise into the Indian Ocean. 

All in all a great show with pretty flawless organisation and execution. Highly recommended for anyone in the area. 

So here is the pic haul from the day - I should add this was taken quite late in the day as the hall was emptying a bit, hence some of the tired \ worn looks on some faces

Battle of Barnard Castle - I missed this the first time and needed to go back and get my eyes tested

A beautiful ACW riverine game in nominal 15mm

Vietnam - a SPAD making a run

Rapid Fire Western Desert game

Indian Mutiny

Fantasy (Middle Earth?)

Carnivale (I think) 

Traders

Traders

Ukraine 2014

Re enactors

SC

  

Getting real? Wargaming the current war

I don't normally do solo wargaming. To me it always used to smack of desperation - "Billy No Mates" and all that. Even through lockdown I rarely bothered, unless it was something written with solo play as an option (like Zona Alfa).

I also don't tend to do games based on current events. I'm not pontificating here. Philosophically I don't really see a big difference in playing a game which involves thousands of my representative troops being killed in a mad charge against a Roman Legion, or fighting through the rubble of Stalingrad. However the last really "current" conflict I played was back in 1982 when me and some friends at Hartlepool Wargames Club (Hi Dave Lakey!) played out some "What if" games as the British Task Force headed for the South Atlantic, before the real shooting war began. I don't think we really expected it to turn into a real shooting war. When our games resulted in a couple of Royal Navy warships being sunk by missiles I don't think we thought it would ever happen. Subconsciously I think I shied off from then on. I played lots of "What if" Cold War goes hot stuff, but no actual "live" conflicts. 

Anyway I digress. Mark F has been sorting through a box of spare 1:3000 scale warships dating back to the 80s, and asked for some help identifying what was what. I dutifully dug out my old 1982 copy of Janes Fighting ships and my model collection, and started to try and match his blurry pics to what I had. (seriously m8 my eyesight is bad enough - take better pictures!). This got me to thinking about current events, particularly the loss of the Slava Class missile cruiser Moskva. Interest peaked I dug out my old rules (Shipwreck) and decided to see what happens. Shipwreck was published in 1999 and was written with the 80s and 90s era in mind. Moskva was straight out of that era, and the Ukrainian Neptune missiles are very similar to US Harpoon* missiles, so that would do for my little experiment.

Scenario 1 - Wide Awake

I set the scene as much as I can work from open source material. Moskva is cruising with no close escort, and is attacked by a pair of Neptune SSMs fired from a land based launcher. Targeting is assumed to be a passive shot - ie the Ukrainians know the general area the cruiser is operating in, but don't have a precise fix. How the Ukrainians have a firing solution is currently unclear but I suspect someone from Langley may have made a call. Anyway the action starts as the two missiles reach maximum possible detection range for the Moskva's radar. 

Undetected missiles in grey

Onboard Moskva the radar operators are awake and alert. They make a detection attempt on the two incoming missiles, and much to my surprise, good dice results mean both are detected and identified as hostile. Someone hits the klaxon and alarms blare! However there is not a lot the ship can do at the moment. The main anti aircraft system is the S300F (SA-N-6). This is an area defence system and at least in Shipwreck can't target the incoming sea skimming missiles. That will have to be the job for the point defence systems - Moskva has a pair of OSA-M (SA-N-4) launchers, a twin 130mm gun and three groups of AK-630 gatling Close In Weapons Systems (CIWS). Not all of these can bear of course, but they're all brought on line.   

detected - red!

The missiles are coming in fast and low. They're subsonic, but they will still cover the distance to the ship in less than 2 minutes.... 

The SA-N-4 shoots first as the missiles get to very short range . Two missiles streak out, but miss. Moskva launches Chaff, but this will be resolved later.

The guns go into action. The 130mm and the front CIWS group open up, but miss. The starboard side CIWS however gets lucky, killing one missile. One left.

The remaining missile suddenly veer away, distracted by the chaff cloud, and crashes into the sea. All on board cheer with relief! A warship has shown it can defeat an ASM attack, just as designed.

Scenario 2 - Asleep at the Wheel?

We don't know if Moskva was aware she was under attack, but the pictures that have emerged show her SA-N-4 system is still stowed, and the missile directors are arranged fore and aft, which strongly suggests she was not. Maybe she was in passive mode, just listening, which it has to be said seems strange for an AA cruiser in a warzone, but stranger things have happened.

In this case the missiles are not detected until they are on their final attack run - Shipwreck assumes either someone sees them at very short range, or the seeker heads are detected when they go active.  Either way this is bad news. This time all the defenses miss - bad dice and no warning. The chaff isn't launched in time....

Both missiles hit the Moskva. One strikes forward under the bow CIWS cluster. It disables the guns but does only light damage. The second hit is a different story, hitting amidships and causing crippling damage. All power is lost and a fire rages. 

Damage control fights bravely, but two turns later the fires spread and the ship has to be abandoned. It sinks shortly after that. 

Not sure what this proves, other than even 23 years after publication Shipwreck works as a set of rules. Also the slightly disconcerting thought that possibly I'm ok with "current" wars as long as my countrymen are not doing the dying, which is food for thought. Will I be doing more from this war - nope. I'm still uncomfortable with that. However now I have dug out the rules and models maybe I will give them a spin again in a fictitious Cold War gone Hot scenario.

* The R-360 Neptune is a Ukrainian developed weapon that is based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti ship missile. The Kh-35 bears a startling resemblance to the US designed Harpoon, to the point it is often referred to as Harpoonski 

Thanks

Subliminal Messaging?

 I've bought a few board games recently to broaden my options for gaming sessions.

First up was Bristol 1350 - a game about trying to get out of a city when the plague arrives. Brilliant little game and loads of fun.

The second game I bought was Pandemic, a co operative game about stopping the spread of a series of global virus and disease.

Hmm

Guadalcanal Diary Part Four - Spotty Zeros

A slightly blurry pic of the A6M3s - 

The first quartet of Planeprinter A6M3 Zeros were in plain grey and painted up quickly enough. Tamiya paint and panel liner, plus the usual canopy. 

The second set of A6M3s I decided to try and copy the hastily applied camouflage they were sometimes seen in. Basically the ground crew were given a tin of green paint and a yard brush and told to get stuck in.  I thought the best way to try and replicate the washed out \ faded look was with either a sponge or cotton bud (Q Tip to our Cousins) over the same Tamiya grey - I went with the cotton bud. I'm not 100% happy with the result but it looks OK to me from "table distance".

Decals are from MiscMinis as usual. They include tail stripes but the pics I found didn't always have them and as the decals are designed to fit Armaments in Miniature models I decided to swerve them - both models are a nominal 1:200 but that doesn't mean they're exactly the same and wrapping decals around the fuselage is not a lot of fun.

Quick history bit.

The A6M3 was an attempt to improve on the superlative A6M2 that was sweeping all before it. the Imperial Japanese Navy may well have been suffering from "Victory Disease" but even they were noticing the Zero had some problems, particularly in a dive where controls rapidly became heavy. They asked Mitsubishi to work on an improved version to address this, and got the A6M3 with a new engine, more ammo for the 20mms and clipped wings which resulted in a (slightly) faster plane with better dive characteristics. It was a case of "be careful what you wish for" because the new Zero was not well received. The new engine was longer than the old one, so to get it in to the already tight A6M fuselage meant some changes, in this case losing some fuel capacity and therefore range. The changes also messed about with the centre of gravity a bit, leading to slightly less impressive handling. These changes hit at exactly the wrong time. The IJN was committing to the Guadalcanal campaign and was using A6M2s to escort G4M1 Bombers from Rabaul to the target at Henderson Field and the ships around Guadalcanal. This was a gruelling trip for the fighters, sometimes five hours each way, but the phenomenal range of the A6M2 made it possible, even though the pilots must have been tired even before they reached the target area. The new A6M3 just didn't have the range of the A6M2 so could not  escort the bombers all the way. To counter this, and make the trip less gruelling the Japanese establishing bases closer to the island such as at Buin on Bougainville Island. Operating from here, the A6M3s could cover the cover the bombers, and it would also provide a useful staging post for damaged aircraft on the return trip. Sadly this was also within range of the Cactus Airforce operating from Henderson Field, and the bases were regularly pounded both during construction and operations, leading to high attrition rates for the fighters based there. The IJN was forced to commit scarce fighter strength to defend airfields that were only there to allow fighters to operate further forward, putting their already limited numbers of fighters under even more strain. Guadalcanal was exactly the wrong battle for the Japanese, who were looking for a knock out blow, but found themselves in a meat grinder battle of attrition they could not win.

Guadalcanal Diary Part Two - Start - Stop

I've been meaning to do some 1942 IJN for a bit and Gisli's post just gave me the impetus. I ordered some decals from the ever reliable MiscMinis in the States. I already had the A6M3s from the Planeprinter Patreon in my "to paint" pile, and badgered Paul Davison into printing some G4Ms as my printer is a bit too small to do them comfortably.

I've always struggled with the IJN colours - not just the grey green white (whatever) but also the dark green. I decided to order some Tamiya paint - that should deal with the issue, right? Ideally I would have ordered some of Steve Toth's Blue Falcon Hobbies paint, but the last package from Steve got picked up by HM Customs and they demanded £50(!) to hand over 3 paint dropper bottles, so I had to go with plan B - Tamiya.

The Tamiya IJN Grey arrived and was duly used on six A6M2s and six A6M3s. I'm not that keen on the Tamiya paints - I'm sure with the right techniques and skills they're great, but my slap it on style doesn't seen to get good coverage, and while I am sure they're perfect on 1:48 scale, they look a bit dark on 1:200....

Then the decals for the Zeros arrived. Kevin Hammond at MiscMinis did a great job as always with these, however he included tail markings and fuselage stripes in batches of four (historically correct). As I had six planes this would mean a Chutai (flight) of four and another of two. I was also toying with the idea of doing one pair in the transitional grey plus hastily applied green splodges camo seen at the time, so maybe the logical choice was to do two groups of four?  I did have some "spares" from batch printing so two more were dug out and hastily undercoated. Having a 3d printer is marvelous but also makes you quite profligate. Ah well

So while I'm waiting for the Zeros to dry I started on the Bettys. They're big girls and there is a lot of glass to paint. I'm painting these in the lazy monotone IJN Dark Green - Tamiya again, and again I think they came out a bit too dark. Not sure if I need to maybe try a drybrush highlight? 

 

Guadalcanal Diary Part Three - (Bam Balam!)

OK I'm struggling with the title - been a long day :-)

In addition to the fighters, to do the heavy lifting, I'm going to need some bombers. The Mitsubishi G4M1 Type 1 Naval Attack Bomber, commonly known by it's Allied reporting name as the"Betty" is the logical choice. Entering service in 1941 as a replacement for the G3M "Nell", it was in almost all ways but one a superlative aircraft. The G4M had exceptional range, good speed and bombload, and good (for the time) defensive weapons. The only problem was to achieve that superlative range and other positive features the design sacrificed protection. Not to put too fine a point on it, but they did have a worrying tendency to burn if hit. When used as a high level bomber the speed and range of the G4M meant it could be hard to intercept. They could also be converted to carry torpedoes as well as bombs, and some squadrons were specially trained to do so with the aim of contributing to the IJN's Kantai Kessen (Decisive Battle) doctrine, where they would wear the strength of the US fleet down by long range air attacks before the two battle lines would meet. 

The Betty was the workhorse of the Imperial Japanese Navy's land based bomber force (fleet?) in WW2. Notable points were the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the assassination (is that the right phrase??) of Admiral Yamamoto. Their long range meant they could bomb targets as far afield as China and Australia. The Betty was ubiquitous, wherever the IJN went, there was the G4M.

The G4M was a big bird, more akin to a Wellington or Mitchell in size and role than a Ju88 or Blenheim (for instance) and it has a distinctly portly appearance - the Japanese pilots nicknamed it "The Cigar" as a result of it's shape, though how much the flammability issue contributed is an interesting thought. The Allies were much more straight and to the point, calling them "The Flying Zippo". 

In many ways the Betty mirrored the Zero in design, with protection being sacrificed to achieve excellence in other areas (range in both cases). That analogy continues to the crews, who were honed to a very high standard of capability, but who could not be replaced easily when lost. At Guadalcanal, this became horribly apparent as squadrons were almost annihilated by Wildcats and AA in long range strikes against the US invasion fleet at Lunga Point. Some squadrons lost 75% of their combat strength and received no replacements.

Throughout the war the IJN tried to update the design, adding more defensive weapons and even some protection such as rudimentary self sealing fuel tanks, however the weakness was baked in to the design and even at the end, the Betty had a well earned reputation as a flying torch. The Betty ended it's career and the war as a launch platform for the Oka suicide rocket plane. 

In Blood Red Skies the Betty is a good medium bomber. Speed 6 is commendably nippy for such a big plane, and defensive firepower is adequate - FP1 all round with a bonus +1 in the rear arc due to the 20mm cannon in the tail . On the down side it is rated as Vulnerable,  so enemies firing at it get an extra attack dice, and it can't dodge incoming attacks with Agility 0. The FP 1 rating is ok but can be deceptive if you are facing Robust enemies such as Wildcats which can negate your FP.  

My models are from PlanePrinter - printed by Paul D for me on his machine as mine struggles a bit to deal with something this big. The base colour is Tamiya IJN Green, which I'm convinced is a bit too dark for 1:200, but too late now...............Decals from Misc Minis.

So, which way to Henderson Field?