Missing leaders?

Here they are!

Briefly reviewing my list of leaders, and still wishing I had kept those card 1/150 scale tanks, I realised that I had forgotten two. I hadn't planned on doing a top ten, I'd be happy with a top 8, but I really had overlooked a couple of key people, and here they are:

Philip Sabin: Now Phil could be on my list for several different reasons but he is here for something that perhaps is now overshadowed by his later achievements. Phil is on the list because of Phalanx. This was published as a game by the Society of Ancients in 1993 but it also made an appearance in WI. The game features 36 battles (Marathon to Philippi) each played on a 12 by 9 hex grid using armies consisting of ten units. Simply great. Figures, hexes and small armies. Perhaps this is what sent me in this direction. I plan to revisit this game the next time I'm bitten by Ancients. No DBA for me.

Charles Grant: I was bought Battle! by my parents on holiday in Scotland when I was a young teenager. Everyone has a book that is really inspiring and this is mine. Strange to think that we picked this up in a newsagents in Perth in the days when wargaming was perhaps more generally visible. I sold my original copy to a second hand bookshop (for pence) and later replaced it (for some £s) when I realised I couldn't do without it. Not just a set of rules but a guide to how to create a set of rules that can actually be played. 

Don't follow leaders...

Apart from these ones!

I have spent time this week looking at the combat mechanisms for Venture Fair. In doing this I have taken inspiration from a range of sources and, almost by accident, have come up with a list of people that I have found to be instrumental in developing the way that I look at and experience wargames. So, in no particular order, here they are and why they are important:

Mr W at the helm

Charles Wesencraft: I missed out on Charles' two books early in my wargames career, they arrived too late for me, but what did inspire me was an article he wrote for Practical Wargaming on refighting the battle of Borodino using battalions mounted on bases that could be manipulated to show formation. I have never found out anything more about the rules to be used or how the game played out. A great pity because I always wanted to do something similar. However, there were some great little drawings in PW which i still treasure.

KISS my Panzer Division!

Norman Mackenzie: Norman wrote a set of rules called KISS Rommel. Play the whole campaign in North Africa on a 4" by 4" table with a handful of 6mm toys. Published in an old edition of WI but still available from here. The Free Wargames Rules site has a number of different versions of this for different theatres by an Italian wargames group under the "High Command" banner.

Stephen Simpson: I am a big fan. His 18C rules appeared in in WI 75 and his Three Battles of the '45 in WI 134. The latter can be found here.

Prior Aelred Glidden: The good prior found a review of the Stephen Simpson rules in an edition of PW Review by Wally Simon. He adapted these rules and later wrote them up in MWAN. I have number 98 in front of me which includes his "Rules for the 18C". His "Monk's Corner' in MWAN was great but they ceased around issue 100 which was a real shame.

Pz8 sci-fi rules in action somewhere in the US

Panzer 8: I don't know this guy's name but he is a great producer of very simple games. Check out his website. At last count, his downloadable rules booklet contained 11 different sets, all two pagers, with more being developed. Well worth watching.

Neil Thomas: Nuff said, can't wait for his next book!

Mr Greening: This chap lived in Knoll Cottage, Dorking. He sold card models in 1/150 scale of most British, German and American vehicles of WW11. They were very cheap and the card went together well with polystyrene cement. Gun barrels were made of wire and if you were clever you could make the turrets rotate. He sold these vehicles through Airfix Magazine and I have happy memories of sitting through Wimbledon one year as a teenager and making up pretty much a whole Panzer Division and a whole British Armoured division. The only pity was the lack of 10/12mm figures to use alongside the models. I wonder whatever happened to the masters for these, I'd love to have another go.

Clive Lane: This gent had an article published in WI about using hex terrain. He had also written a comprehensive set of rules to use with the terrain with a number of scenarios from the Napoleonic Wars. What impressed me was the ability to play a large scale battle with relatively few Airfix plastics. I sent off for a copy of this (20 odd years ago). Clive sent me the rules, plus a scenario booklet with reduced scale battles as well as some very nice photos of his troops. These, unfortunately, are in the garage but I have it on my list to dig out the photos to post here. Inspirational, especially the use of bog standard Airfix types.

Right, back to work. I think these combat rules need a d8 (oh yes they do!).

Salvo!

Sink the Bismarck!

I had a cup of coffee this morning and instead of looking out of the window or reading the paper I played a quick game of Salvo! by Minden Games. 

Since seeing Marco Arnaudo's review of the game I picked up my copy of The Loss of the Bismarck by Graham Rhys-Jones and as a result developed a real urge to pit the Hood against the pocket battleship.

Salvo! is a neat little solitaire game by Gary Graber. I played it with the help of a nice player aid by Todd Sanders, available as a download from BGG.

Play just about to start

In this picture we see the starting positions, Bismarck at the top happily minding its own business and Hood below is on the look out. The weather is fair and Hood detects Bismarck at long range.

Hood close-up

In turn one, Hood closes the range but then finds that Bismarck turns towards her and closes down (oh dear!). Bismarck gets in the first shots, causing turret damage, but Hood has the better of it scoring flotation and speed hits.

Hood straddled!

Turn 2 sees Bismarck closing again, Hood offers broadside to get all batteries in position to fire. The exchange of fire sees further hits with Bismarck coming off slightly worse.

Both vessels are straddled

In turn 3 Bismarck closes again (ramming speed I think), Hood fires first and hits Bismarck's turrets while Bismarck's reply is no effect (twice!).

Turn 4 sees Bismarck withdraw, opening the range to medium. Hood gets in a final salvo, scoring two more hits. Bismarck fires her stern batteries, causing more damage to the Hood. At this point the end game die roll comes up and the Bismarck makes its escape.

A good little game with lots of flavour. It probably took half an hour (because I'm slow on the maths) but I actually enjoyed the contest. At the end, Bismarck suffered 8 hits and Hood 7. Still plenty of stamina left in both vessels for a longer fight but a rational outcome for a heavy unit contest.

Since my last mention of Salvo! I have come across the latest version (v2 2013) which comes as part of Panzershreck 16, a free downloadable magazine from Minden Games.

Venture Fair

A prototype Montrose game

Long long ago I started out to write a version of Stephen Simpson's 1745 rules for the campaigns of Montrose. They were called "Nil Medium Est" (No Middle Way). And here they are in all their hand written glory!

My main source was Auldearn by Stuart Reid (Campaign 123) and that remains the primary basis for the scenarios, see below.

I have been frustrated with these rules for a long time because, although only two pages long, they still feel too complex. I also had a big problem with the maps and how to actually draw them.

I have taken some decisions and had a bright idea. Ideally the game will be played on a hex grid and use toy soldiers. At present my Baccus ECW troops are unpainted and hidden in the garage. Therefore this prototype uses counters. They also use a map, in this case, the M44 scenario editor has been used. The M44 editor does not produce really printable maps but for a prototype it is just the thing. Once the troops are sorted I could even play on the Hold the Line map using the HTL tiles.

One map herewith for the battle of Aberdeen.

Graphics copyright Days of Wonder

And here are some counters I made.....

I'm quite pleased with these. Not good enough for a final print but good for a trial run. And last but not least, here is a test set up for Aberdeen.

Now I can get down to designing some new rules. These will be called "Venture Fair" after Montrose's code name. Hurrah!

Pleasant surprises...

are always very welcome!

Books: We don't make a big thing of Easter but my wife gave me a very interesting book, Crowns in the Gutter by Ted Raicer, published by Strategy and Tactics Press in the US. Ted is the expert on WW1 in terms of board games (Paths of Glory to name but one) and this book represents his analysis of the war as a whole, focusing on military operations. As you can see from the pictures, the book is very nicely produced and the format is very similar to the sort of articles you get in magazines like the now defunct Command. From what I have read so far this is very well written and very balanced. It is not just a collection of old articles. I wonder why this was never published in the UK?

Salvo!: A tiny promotional solitaire naval wargame from Minden Games on a postcard. I have this and a slightly bigger version, Great War Salvo, free from the Minden Games website as an article in Dispatches Magazine.

This afternoon I shall be playing this with my youngest son as my executive officer. I have been incentivised by Marco Arnaudo who reviewed Salvo recently on his You Tube channel, well worth watching.

Birds: Oh yes the feathery ones. I'm happy to report not only a Robin's nest in the garden but the close presence of four or more Goldfinches. if you haven't seen one of these they look very tropical!

Alarums and excursions

"Noisy, frantic or disorganised activity"

Yes, that's me alright, plenty of disorganised action over the past week, unexpected family activity of all sorts. Nevertheless, still surprisingly interesting from a wargaming point of view. Not so much a blog post as a list of stuff that has occurred!

1. PSC Universal Carriers: These little guys have been sitting in the study since Derby last autumn. Spurred on by the completion of the Shermans they are now ready for painting.

2. An actual excursion: To the West Midlands Air Museum. A lovely place with a Vulcan and other bits and pieces including this Mi 24. No opportunity to sit in the pilot's seat this time round but still a cool looking weapon.

3. Wurttembergers: Honest, one minute they were on the shelf next minute I'd paid for them. Whoops. Nice trip to Joto Hobbies in Rugby. These lads will come in very useful in future (oh yes they will).

4. Twilight of the Sun King by Andrew Colby and Steve Thomas: A set of rules from the Pike and Shot Society. Now ordered as a result of some thinking about rules by Steven Simpson on which these are based. Looking forward to getting these over Easter (hopefully).

5. Firestorm Norway: This cheered me up, due out this Thursday on the Flames of War site. I've always thought that Firestorm offers some really interesting gaming possibilities and its nice to know that we have another installment, this time Norway 1940.

6. Song of Drums and Shakos: After reading the interview with Andrea Sfiligoi in the latest edition of WSS I was tempted to put his latest rules, "A Fistful of Kung Fu", on my shopping list. Diverted recently by Board Game Geek I rediscovered this earlier work on Napoleonic skirmish by Andrea's company, Ganesha Games. Now joined by a supplement and a large battles version. Hmmm, this might be a job for the Wurttembergers!

7. Two Buck Games: I have bought their latest War of 1812 Battle Pack along with their AWI Southern Campaign Battle Pack. By my reckoning this is 21 small board games for less than $10. Can't be bad. Something for the holidays!

Patchwork Shermans

Nearly done

I have now completed my long awaited British Shermans. I am now the proud owner of two Sherman IICs and four Sherman Vs.

One of each!

This is a real mix and match between the Plastic Soldier Company M4A4s and their M4A2s. Some added SHQ tankies.

Another angle

Funnily enough I have a can of British Bronze Green so we may have some paint action soon!