Impetus 2 = Like a reunion of an old rock band

Last night me and five other old Impetus players sat around a table and watched \ assisted \ hindered as a game of Impetus 2 was played.

Quick digression. Impetus is a set of Ancient \ Medieval battle rules from Lorenzo Sartori that were released rather a long time ago and were my no 1 go to rules. They arrived and were adopted at about the same time as plastic 28mm ancients were becoming available and it was a match made in heaven. Actually Italy, as that's where Lorenzo hails from, but you get the message. Lorenzo managed to create a fluid and exciting game and over the years I collected rather a lot of armies and played many, many games, including lots of tournaments which were never that large but always friendly and interesting. Impetus was also a great antidote to the "Boutique" nature of modern wargaming - all those terribly throw away small scale skirmish systems which have become the norm in modern wargaming. To do an Impetus army is a long term project, quite possibly open ended one. It was good to have a commitment.

The problem was every year as more players joined, more army lists were added and the tournament scene grew, a new set of annual tournament amendments were needed. After five years or so the main rules were now wandering away from the original and a new edition was needed if just to tidy up. But Lorenzo took his time. Lots of time. As this was happening the flow of new players dried up - it was difficult to recruit new players with the pitch "you need this set of rules, and then modify them with this sheaf of printouts until v2 arrives", and many players have moved on or decided to wait for v2. He's been working on version 2 for about five years and when version 2 was finally released in January my enthusiasm was tempered with some reservations.

So back to last night. After a few shaky starts it started to feel good - rather good. The same smooth play, the core mechanics are solid but have been streamlined. There are some differences which may impact on the overall game, but it is all looking good. There are some changes needed in my armies - mainly the change to basing generals individually, and the old "Rolls of Destiny" have gone, replaced by a new card system which seems quite interesting. Anyway, I'm feeling the old juices flowing again.

So back around our table last night it was rather good. The vibe was something like I imagine a group of old musicians getting back together - including the same frictions and bloody annoying youngsters,  but after a while we found we were slipping into a good, familiar and comfortable  groove - it was all good.

So I'm now looking for some nice Thracian Commanders to paint up, and some light cavalry, and ..................

:-)

Cruel Seas - Third Party Models (2) G5 MTBs

Following hot on the heels of the Bronekaters here are some thoughts on the G5s

The G5 is the standard Soviet MTB of WW2, if such a thing existed. It was unlike most other craft in it's design in a number of ways. Firstly it was made of Duralumin, at the time an advanced type of aluminium more usually encountered in aircraft design - maybe not so surprising as it's designer was Andrei Tupolev, the famous aircraft designer. This allowed a fast, strong and lightweight hull. This has some "issues" as without treatment it reacts to salt water...............something of a drawback for a boat designed to operate at sea. Secondly the G5 had a very "futuristic" appearance, with a streamlined turtle backed hull and enclosed wheelhouse that looks very much like a submarine. The design also lacks what we think of as traditional torpedo tubes, instead carrying the two torpedoes in troughs on the rear hull and launching them by dropping them backwards, followed by an obligatory tight turn! This is a method copied from earlier British Coastal Motor Boats (CMBs) that the Soviets encountered during and after the Revolution. Like most navies the Soviets struggled to find a reliable source for good fast boat engines, so a number of different engines were used and top speed varied, but some G5s were VERY fast - in CS up to 57 knots. Unlike some other boats the G5s didn't carry much in the way of other weapons - at best a couple of DshK HMGs, which combined with their low (20) hit points make them just a light snack for an S Boat in a gunfight in Cruel Seas. Then again, they're cheap, and did I mention how fast they are? If you are looking for a "pure" torpedo boat, look no further.

Warlord have just released their G5, and Heroics and Ros also have one in their vast WW2 1:300 range so I thought it would be interesting to look at both models side by side. Materials wise they are both identical - metal castings with some metal fittings - mainly guns. So here they are - Warlord nearest the camera in this pic.

Ros nearest in this

Overall I think the Warlord model is nicer. It has more detail, and is much crisper and a bit bulkier. In addition it has crew on it's guns, which immediately give it more character. The torpedoes are fully visible on the Warlord model but partly covered on the H&R - this is fine as it seems to have been a variation. Also the Warlord model has a mast, but being thin metal I'm not sure how long that will last in play.

Given there were a number of variations on the G5 design you could probably use them side by side if you wanted.

Cost wise the H&R model wins hands down, available for £2.00 each (two quid!) from H&R. The Warlord model is now available on their website in a four pack for £15, so £3.75 each. There is no mention of data cards or wake markers but they will be easy to come by if you play CS. That's quite a difference and makes the H&R version worth considering on cost alone, however if that is less important then I think the Warlord version just looks better.

Links
Heroics & Ros 1/300 Naval Range
Warlord Games G5 MTBs

Next I'll look at the Soviet D3 MTB

Cheers

Cruel Seas - Looking at third party models (1) Bronekaters

I've been banging on about Bronekaters now for a couple of posts. Now the Warlord model is out it is possible to make a comparison with the others out there, in case people are interested in some variations.

I have touched on the Scotia,  Ros and GHQ models before here Bronekaters Shoot Out so I will try to avoid repeating myself too much and concentrate on comparisons with the new Warlord model.

So having said I was going to try to avoid repeating myself, the first thing to say is Warlord got the name of their model wrong, which I seem to keep saying. The model is a twin turreted Project 1124 NOT a Project 1125 as Warlord continue to insist. They also mix the stats of the two up in the game. I'm not sure why they keep repeating this mistake other than somewhere there is a guy sat in the corner of their Nottingham HQ with his fingers in his ears shouting "La la la la la I can't hear you!"

Back to the model. As far as I'm aware there are only two options for Project 1124s - Scotia Grendel and Warlord. The Scotia model has a resin hull and metal details, the Warlord one is all metal. Here they are after I painted them up - first pic has the Scotia Grendel model closest to the camera, second has Warlord.

Detail stuff first. I think on balance the Warlord model is slightly more accurate when compared to historical photos I can find as it has the prominent exhaust pipe running down the port side of the deck, and the slightly raised deck house behind the wheel house. Both of these are absent on the Scotia model, which has a blank area behind the wheelhouse and a pair of vertical exhausts \ vents at the rear. There is also more detail on the HMG turret with some ribbing on the guns. The Warlord model comes with a "spare" T28 (T35??) style turret. I cant find any pics of 1124s with mixed T34 & T28 turrets, so you really need to have 2, but as they models are sold in pairs this should allow you to make one with T28 turrets if you feel the need. There is also a bit more detail on the deck, and it is slightly less "fiddly" to put together. However the Warlord model has less sharp detail on the hull and wheelhouse in particular, and both mine had some major clean up issues with the metal hull warping and the bows in particular showed some damage where they had been snapped from the mould. The Scotia model hull is very crisp, where there is detail, it is sharper, a result no doubt of using resin. It has a more angular AA HMG turret which I think marks it as a later model.  I'm unsure if this may also account for the different exhaust details??

The Soviets produced at least 99 Project 1124s and throughout that production run details changed quite a bit, so I am happy with both models and would not be worried running them side by side. The Scotia model is £9, the Warlord one has just gone on sale in their store at £15 for a pair. There is no mention of data cards and wake markers, but these are easy to come by.

I have three Project 1124s now. I think I prefer the Scotia model aesthetically just because the resin hull has crisper detail, and cleaning up the metal bows on the Warlord one was a bit of a chore, but it is a VERY close call. If I were to want a fourth, I suspect it would be Scotia - particularly as I have seen pics of a 1124 with a midships 37mm AA behind the wheelhouse, so it would be easier to mount on the blank area with the Scotia model rather than trying to clear the area on the warlord one with a file. On the other hand if you were starting from scratch the Warlord one may make more sense.

Lastly a pic of the four different Bronekaters I've been looking at . Farthest away to nearest Heroics and Ros Project 1125, GHQ Project 1125, Warlord Project 1124 and Scotia Grendel Project 1124

Links
Warlord Games erroneously listed as Project 1125
Scotia Grendel
WarGamingmats  for the mat in the pics

Hope you found that interesting - if so why not click the follow button on the top right?

Next - G5 MTBs in comparison.

Cruel Seas - The Power of Comrade Stalin

I think I mentioned I play World of Tanks on PC? There is an ongoing joke there about Soviet bias, and it particularly applies to the KV2 heavy tank and it's ludicrously inaccurate 152mm howitzer, which seems to defy all odds by hitting almost every time with devastating results. The joke is that if called upon, the cold dead hand of Stalin's Ghost guides the shells with unerring accuracy.

Its not just World of Tanks...............

I got my "official" Soviet fleet box over the weekend and rushed to get some of it ready for a game last night. Me and Paul D (my regular oppo) were going to try out the Convoy scenario, and my newly varnished Soviets were the escort. I took three Bronekaters (I'm going to call them Bronekaters for now as Warlord sell them as Project 1125s but they're actually 1124s) and a BMO armoured sub chaser. Paul was running with four S Boats, 2 early, 2 late. The Convoy was a Tanker and Merchant, both with a 3" gun mounted on the stern (but not modelled - yet).

My Bronekaters were using the "vanilla" stats for the Project 1125 in the rule book, even though I think they are "wrong" on a number of levels - see my earlier post here Bronekaters in Cruel Seas.

So over to the action. Turn one saw the Soviet Convoy sight some fast moving Fascists coming in, three from the port beam, one from just off the port bow.

Long range fire was ineffective against the main group, and all three put their torpedoes into the water at the first opportunity. The escorts tried to impose themselves between the vulnerable transports and the Fascist Sea Wolves and the transports turned to open the range to give them room to try and avoid the incoming torpedoes.

The Soviets did however manage to hit the S Boat approaching from the bow. Then the inexperienced gun crew on one of the merchants cried out "For Stalin!" and although they needed "silly" dice results their 3" shell smashed into the already damaged boat as though it had been a guided missile, causing three critical hits including blowing one torpedo tube overboard. The S Boat decided to turn away in the face of this heavy firepower. This was just a foretaste of what was to come.

Turn 2 and the Soviets had the initiative, moving one tanker to hopefully avoid the spread of incoming torpedoes. "Comrade Stalin, Inspire Us!" called the gun crew, and again, he did, this time an S Boat lost a gun and started to burn. The convoy started to think they have a chance.  The escorting Bronekaters now realised that the way to ensure damage was to call on the Leader, and in rapid succession their heavy guns started to get unlikely hits - fast moving S boat at long range? No Problem!

Meanwhile the Bronekaters thanked their leader for the wisdom of making them shallow draught as the torpedoes aimed at the transports passed harmlessly under their flat bottoms. Some fresh underwear will be required.

Turn 3 and the range was now officially "rather close".

German gunfire remained patchy at best, Soviet gunfire was almost supernaturally accurate hitting boat after boat, and that included the inexperienced gunners on the Merchant ships. One torpedo struck and badly damaged a transport, but by the end of the turn two S boats were already sank and a third was burning from stem to stern.

The last boat saw the writing on the wall and ran for home covered by smoke.

It was a fun and interesting game. Getting away from the issues of using Bronekaters as escorts for a moment (and indeed the strange stat line they have) they pack a surprising amount of "shooty" on a small hull for a reasonable points cost.

We still feel uneasy with the torpedo and "plume" rule - something that multiple Bronekaters can take advantage of btw - but we both can see plenty of gaming time and fun to be had with Cruel Seas in the future.   

Models - Tanker, S Boats and 2 Bronekates from Warlord, third Bronekater from Scotia - Grendel, BMO from Heroics and Ros. Merchant 3d print

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Cheers

Gaming Mats gaming mat for Cruel Seas - a review

Cruel Seas comes with a paper printed gaming mat. That's all well and good for starting out but it has the long term durability and survivability of a British Battlecruiser at Jutland (ie not a lot), and if you plan on playing regularly you will be looking for a replacement.

Something of a first but unsolicited I was sent a gaming mat to review. Not sure if this is "a thing" but why not. I'm also available to review vintage Port and , well, anything :-)

Seriously though, it does mean I feel responsible to do a fair job balanced job, but in the end its just my opinion so here goes.

The mat was from GamingMats - who make, well, you get it. This one was a clear ocean area with some waves scaled to Cruel Seas size, ie 1:300, but I think it would work equally well down to 1:1200. After that the waves may be a bit big.

Size is standard 6x4 feet but they make other sizes. Material is PVC 500gsm (grams per square meter) with a printed front and a non slip textured back. The printing on the front has good detail and although we've only used it once it looks hard wearing. I know some people prefer neoprene for gaming mats, but pvc does have it's advantages - easy to clean and generally spill proof and is also usually more affordable.

We got the blue version, but there is also a green tinted one available. Colour wise I think both seem quite good for the Med or Pacific but I would probably want a greyer option if I were planning on playing in the North Sea.

One issue is the mat has been created with a repeated pattern to cover the whole area. This looked a bit strange at first, but in use it rapidly became barely noticed. Anyway we gave it a run out at Asgard Wargames in Middlesbrough, one of our local friendly local games stores (see footnote).  Also note that bright red wall - it will get a mention later.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well it laid flat - previous experience with pvc mats has been a bit hit and miss in this, but this one lost its curl in a very short time - quite a positive. The non slip backing worked well in use. The pic above is straight out the box and you can see there is a small amount of curling at the far left but this had straightened by the time we started to play. The pic above also shows the repeated pattern, but as I said in actual use I don't think this will be an issue, particularly if you have islands or similar to break it up.

And here it is in use - sorry the reddish tinge is my poor camera and skills picking up reflected from the red wall, but the mat itself has a matt finish that meant there was less reflected glare from overhead lighting - another plus in play.

So overall not bad at all. Prices in the uk are £39.50 for the 6x4 including delivery, the 4x4 is £29.50, which is also I think quite reasonable.

Useful for Cruel Seas or indeed for other naval games

These are available from GamingMats ebay store 

I'm donating the review sample to our local club Hartlepool Wargames Society, where I am sure it will be put to excellent use. Clearly any bottles of Port sent to review will be disposed of in an appropriate manner too :-)

Cheers!

Footnote
I have in the past referred to the excellent facilities at Asgard Wargaming, including their well used but friendly tea making facilities. I was frankly horrified when visiting last night to discover this had been usurped by a "coffee machine" with those fiddly little pod things. Happily the kettle was still available for those of us who like tea, but I'm not at all convinced this is a good omen.

Cheers

 



 

Down the Rabbit Hole - "Fixing" Bronekaters in Cruel Seas

OK this is a bit of a stretch. A little while ago I did a comparison between the models available for Soviet Bronekaters (BKs) in Warlord Games new rules "Cruel Seas", which deal with coastal warfare in WW2. Which is sort of the first problem right there, as the inclusion of a river gunboat in the game certainly could raise a few eyebrows. On balance I think it is reasonable in the overall big picture as they could and were used on lakes such as Lake Lagoda and close inshore. What is less understandable is the stat line they get in Cruel Seas, and indeed the prominence in the Soviet listings - there are four Bronekater types listed, and only 2 MTBs or other genuine coastal warfare types, which is a bit strange. Even more so is the stats they are given, which seem to be a bit off when you compare both to the real world examples and some of the other ships in the game.

So I'm going to add to this extraneous layer of questionable inclusion by adding another layer of my own, based on my admittedly limited knowledge and research - ignorance of subject matter never was a bar in this sort of thing! Also it is worth noting that as the game uses a points system and lists the way to "build" boats using this, the results will be "legal" as far as that goes in the game. 

As I mentioned earlier Warlord give stats for four versions of the Bronekater, listing Early, Middle and Late Bronekaters, plus Project 1125. The details for all four are very similar, in fact suspiciously cut and paste as you can see below, and I think a bit more depth and detail can be offered.

I should add that in the errata published by Warlord recently they changed the weapons on the Project 1125 to 2x 6-Pdr for 55 points. This is (almost) certainly wrong!

Firstly, what are they actually talking about when they say Early, Middle etc? The Soviets deployed 2 main types of BK, the Project 1124 and Project 1125. Given the Project 1125 gets a specific mention that leaves the Project 1124 as the likely candidate for the Early\Middle\Late version. I'm going to proceed on that assumption.

There are some nicely illustrated pages on Engines of the Red Army here and WW2 Armoured Boats of WW2 here which give some details of the two main types, and I will be using them mostly in what follows, but any errors and assumptions are my own. 

The Project 1124 was around 25 meters in length and displaced around 50 tons, the Project 1125 was a couple of meters shorter and displaced about 36 tons. Both had armoured weapon positions, machinery and bridges. The main feature of both versions was they used complete tank turrets for their main armament, either taken from T28 or T34 medium tanks. This is a little unusual. No other nation as far as I can see thought of this, but hey, those whacky Soviets! It does make quite a bit of sense when you think that the main use for these boats was in confined rivers engaging targets on or near the bank at quite close range. This means they are armed with 76mm (3") guns, which of course is our first problem with the Cruel Seas stat lines, as they are all listed as 6-Pdr (57mm) guns. To add a bit more confusion there was a version of the T34 turret that mounted a 57mm, but there is no evidence this ever ended up on the BKs -  in fact it would be counter productive to do so as that gun was mounted to give additional anti tank capability against the new generation of German tanks the T34 started to encounter, but it is safe to say Tiger tanks don't float. I've tried asking them if this is a mistake or deliberate, and if so, why?  But no response as of yet. You could argue (I suppose) that a tank turret is a lot more confined than an open deck mount and therefore less efficient at engaging moving targets like other vessels. Then again, other tanks move...... So for my first "buff" I will be "upgrading" both types to 3" guns vice 6-Pdr. It is safe to say the down side of this is you can't expect a tank turret to engage aircraft. As far as I can tell these tank turrets retained their co-axial machine guns but I'm conveniently ignoring these - as Warlord seem to do.

The second issue is the number of guns. The Project 1124s mounted one turret forward and one aft, ie two main gun turrets, the Project 1125s mounted a single turret forward. All the Cruel Seas versions have only one turret, except the errata version of the 1125 which has two..... which is problematic. So the 1124 is getting a second turret, and the 1125 is losing one. On the subject of turrets on of the advantages of using a tank turret is you get a lot (in relative terms) of armour plate thrown in too. The rules cover this by making BK turrets immune to critical hits from guns of 40mm and below. Given the amount of armour involved in both the T34 and T28 turrets this seems reasonable. They don't seem to get any additional protection for the armour on their wheelhouse and other gun positions. This can be "fixed" by giving them the "Armoured Wheelhouse" trait used on later S Boats in CS, which seems reasonable. 

Secondary weapons also needs looking at, and here it gets a bit complicated. Both versions had their secondary machine guns mounted in turrets, initially lifted directly from the design of the T28 tank. As the war progressed it became obvious that the original 7.62mm DT machine guns were not cutting the mustard, and that the threat from air attack meant something more was needed. This saw the early MG turrets replaced with either single or twin 12.7mm DshK heavy machine guns in mounts that could elevate to engage aircraft. The actual number, type and position varied wildly, other than to say the mount on top of the wheelhouse tended to be twin DshKs in all but the early T28 turreted boats of both types.

Lastly there were a few more "options". Either due to a lack of spare turrets, or a desire to give them a gun that could engage aircraft, some 1124s mounted a pair of Lender 3" AA guns in open mounts in place of the tank turrets. These were the standard naval 3" AA guns mounted on some older surface warships and dated back a few years, but seemed to do the job. Finally there were versions of both the 1124 and 1125 that mounted a set of rocket rails at the rear. On the 1124s these replaced the rear tank turret, on the 1125s these replaced the rear MG \ HMG.

So lastly a quick look at the other stats - Speed and Hull Points. In Cruel Seas both types are given a speed of 21 knots. The on line sources vary quite a bit but 21kts seems about correct for the 1124s I think,  the slightly smaller 1125s seem to have been a little slower, with speeds of around 19 knots. Rating speed in CS is usually in 3 knot brackets for game use, so dropping the 1125s to 18 knots seems reasonable. 

Hull points are a bit err problematic. The problem is there seems no particular method in allocating Hull Points. I did a quick chart of the stats already given and it mostly equates to about 1 hull point per ton of displacement rounded up to the nearest five, but there are some that are wildly out, particularly the S Boats and larger. I've asked on the Warlord forum about this, but again with no response as of yet. The 30 Hull Points Warlord gives all BKs seems very ungenerous considering both their size and the fact they are armoured  - at least bullet proof, which is more than can be said of some of the other boats in Cruel Seas, particularly when compared to some other boats of similar displacement such as the Vospers and PT Boats which are rated as 40+. With this in mind I decided to give them slightly more Hull Points, closer to their actual tonnage. As this factors in to the points totals it should not give them an unreasonable advantage in the game. 

So with all that in mind here is my all singing all dancing re-stat of the Soviet BKs in Cruel Seas. By Early I am assuming either T26 or early T34 turret types, the rest being up-gunned as circumstances allowed and dictated.

Ship	Turn	Size	Slow	Combat	Fast	Hull	Equipment	Points
Project 1124 Early	R	S	7	14	21	50	2x 3” gun turrets*, 1 MG*, Armoured Wheelhouse, Armoured Turrets	85
Project 1124	R	S	7	14	21	50	2x 3” gun turrets*, 1x twin HMG, Armoured Wheelhouse, Armoured Turrets	85
Project 1124 PVO (AA)	R	S	7	14	21	50	2x 3” guns, twin HMG, Armoured Wheelhouse	85
Project 1124 Rockets	R	S	7	14	21	50	1x 3” gun turret*, 1x Rocket Rack, 1 x twin HMG, Armoured Wheelhouse, Armoured Turret.	100
Project 1125 Early	R	S	6	12	18	40	1 x 3” gun turret*, 3 x MG* Armoured Wheelhouse, Armoured Turrets	70
Project 1125	R	S	6	12	18	40	1 x 3” gun turret*, 1 x twin HMG, 1 x MG*	65
Project 1125 Late	R	S	6	12	18	40	1 x 3” gun turret*, 1 x twin HMG, 1 x HMG	65
Project 1125 Rockets	R	S	6	12	18	40	1 x 3” gun turret*, 1 x twin HMG, 1 x Rocket Rack, Armoured Wheelhouse, Armoured Turret	90

As with all boats above "Tiny" size rating, they all should have 2 "free" MGs as well, which I think is supposed to represent crew using small arms. Smoke pots or generators seem to have been a common addition too - again no surprise given their intended usage, so you can throw them in too for an extra 5 points. It's not exhaustive, but as it's already twice the length of the Warlord entry it's probably enough. A couple of points. Weapons listed as turrets have the Armoured Turret rule from page 91 of the main rule book. I would also suggest optionally these weapons should suffer an additional -1 to hit due to their cramped mountings. Any weapon listed with an asterisk (*) is in an enclosed mount and cannot fire against aircraft. There are no points mentioned anywhere for these additional factors, but I think that on the whole they probably balance out so I will not invent anything more to further complicate things.

I hope this helps give a bit more flavour to the Soviet Bronekaters in Cruel Seas. Comments welcome, and if you like this sort of stuff why not click the "follow" button over there on the right?

Cheers

The Cunning Plan 2019

Every year at this point most of us toy soldier bloggers spend a bit of copy space explaining how last year went and what the plans for next year will be. I'm as guilty of this as the next man. This year however I have..............

Not a Scooby, nada, rien, squat diddly idea what I will end up buying, painting and playing.

In my defence I think this is not a bad idea, as mostly I end up getting side tracked anyway. I would like to play Impetus 2 when it lands, and for once I'm ahead of the local hive mind curve at Asgard Wargames where they're planning to give AWI a try, but beyond that, I got nothing.

So here's to 2019. May it be fun and interesting.

Cheers!