02 Hundred Hours

Earlier this year Grey for Now Games announced they would be publishing 02 Hundred Hours, a new set of rules for night-time raids during World War 2. It sounded like an interesting topic, so I pre-ordered a starter set.

The starter set includes the rules, gaming cards, custom dice, counters, and 36 figures. The figures are multi-part plastic from Wargames Atlantic. I haven't had a chance to assemble my figures yet, but a few of us wanted to try out the system with stuff we already had. We decided go with our North Afrca figures and do an intelligence gathering mission by Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) on an Afrika Korps post. The game is normally for two players, but there were three of us playing and learning the system.

The system is interesting. You draw chits to see which of your fighters can take an action, but the actions are limited by the alert level and if you can see any of the enemy. Spotting the enemy is very important. Only the attacker can take offensive actions until the alarm is sounded. There are also Event/Order cards that each side can play to change things up a bit.

The game area is 3' x 3' and we set up lots of buildings on the board. The LRDG had an officer, a sergeant, and 8 troopers. The Germans had officer, a sergeant, and 16 sentries/military police, although half were off-map in reserve. 

The initial setup with German patrols deployed

Another view of the initial setup

Once I set up my patrol routes, we got underway. Initially the LRDG were slow getting on the board and had trouble ambushing some of the sentries. But then their paratrooper Sergeant showed up and took out the German officer to get things rolling.

One German down

The Germans struggled to sound the alarm, but eventually got there and called out the reserves. However, sounding the alarm sort of freed up the LRDG from having to be stealthy and they pummeled the initial German sentry force.

German sentries raising the alarm before getting shot to pieces

With the initial sentry force out of the way, the LRDG still had to find the intelligence and get off the board. So there was a bit of a race to search the buildings, while the German reserves tried to get on the board. Gunfire was exchanged and the Germans began to knock down some of the LRDG. The LRDG officer found some good intel and began to make his way off the board, while both sides were trying to get into position around another building with intel.

LRDG Officer making off with the intel

The game went back and forth or a while, then the LRDG found another intel marker that would give them the win. Meanwhile, the Germans needed to kill one more LRDG figure before they could get the intel off the board to win. But the Germans came up short and the LRDG escaped with the intel. It was an LRDG victory, but a costly one. Our first game was a lot closer than I expected.

German reserves move up to stop the LRDG

LRDG troopers set up to cover the escape

Germans in pursuit of the LRDG trooper with intel

The LRDG trooper escapes, giving the win to the LRDG

Overall, it was a fun game that can be played with not too many figures. The gameplay built up a nice narrative. There are several scenarios in the rules, so there is some variety in gameplay. The game worked fine with three players and would probably work with a fourth. But it may bog down with more than that.

If you are interested in small scale raid actions during World War 2, I would recommend you take a look at the game.

IJN Cruiser Agano

In my last post I ran a tease about me getting back to painting some ships. I'm working with my friend Kevin on some 1/1200 scale ships for some small night battles. As part of my contribution I ordered some 3D printed ships from XP Forge. I started off with a small order of resin printed ships, picking the American cruiser Salt Lake City, the IJN cruiser Agano, and some American destroyers. The main reason I chose the cruisers is that they aren't available in 1/1200 scale from Superior (through Alnavco), but they seem like useful ships for Pacific battles. Kevin would like to do the Battle of Komandorski Islands, which features Salt Lake City, and I would like to do the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, which features Agano (yes, I know that is probably too large for 1/1200 scale, but it could be broken down into parts). 

The 3D printed ships arrived without any issues and are completely useful for games as is. But the masts for most of the ships are a little bulky compared to the rest of the ship details. I considered making some adjustments to the ships (replacing most masts and cranes). But before I did that I decided to paint up one ship to see if I could use paint to add more details. I decided to go with Agano, since it seemed to have the least mast problems. Here is how she appeared before I started painting.

Agano out of the box

I grabbed my box of Lifecolor Imperial Japan Navy WWII paints (a good box to have on hand) and pulled out Kure Grey and Linoleum Deck. I used those as my main colors, with a few other colors (scale black, canvas, etc.) to round out the model. As I mentioned, I was trying to see what I could do with just paints to make it look good. 

Lifecolor IJN paint set 1

The basic painting went pretty smoothly. Then I began looking at how to add some details. I did some work on the floatplane deck and catapult. Then I added some canvas on the main guns and some windows for the bridge. Overall, I think it turned out pretty well and is certainly good enough for gaming. I could have done a little more weathering or added some more details, but I'm not sure how much it wold have added. Here are some photos from different angles, starting with the port side, so you can compare it to the unpainted photo above. 

Agano - port side view

port forward-quarter view

port rear-quarter view

starboard side view

starboard forward-quarter view

Even with this result, I feel like I need to make some modifications to the other ships. The more I look at the masts, the more out-sized they look. My plan is to clip them off and add change them to thinner wire. Stay tuned.

December Wrapup

I had been planning to save my final 2021 post for the planned DANG games, but the winter weather intervened and I had to postpone the games. 

My front yard after the snow

We had a snow storm on Sunday, with more scattered snow showers over the past few days. But what really killed my planned games was the temperatures. Since Sunday our high temperature was 28 degrees F (that's around -3 C for those outside the US). The low temperature prevented the snow from melting and made the roads a mess, so I decided to postpone the games. I'm looking to reschedule for sometime in January, when the temperatures get back to Seattle normal. So, more on the games in January.

With no game photos to share, I thought I'd show off a couple books I recently received. First up is British Submarines in the Cold War Era by Norman Friedman.

This book came out earlier this year and and covers Royal Navy submarine programs from just after World War II up to today. The book also talks about sensors, weapons, and budgetary concerns. I was never able to see much of the interior of Royal Navy subs while I was in the U.S. Navy (I had a tour set up once, but shifting schedules caused it to be cancelled). So far, I've found the book pretty interesting. It even came in handy during the week as my wife and I watched the BBC series Vigil (we both enjoy a good mystery/thriller and the submarine background is a bonus). My wife thought the submarine looked strange and I was able to pull out the book and show some photos of the Vanguard class. The series was good, but had some weak moments. But it is good to know the BBC has the same issues with the interior of submarines as Hollywood (although maybe the BCC thought the sub was like the Tardis).

Next I picked up a copy of The U.S. Cavalry 1865-1890 by José Antonio Mayoralas.

The book is similar to an Osprey Publishing book and was recommended for its descriptions of uniforms and equipment. The books certainly meets those goals. The publisher, Andrea Press is from Spain and there are a few translation issues, but nothing major. The local group has been discussing a Plains War project and this book will come in handy for that.

That's all for now. In my next post I will do my look back at 2021 and look ahead to 2022.

Black Sea Soviets

The next additions for my ongoing Black Sea/Baltic Sea project are some Soviet ships from the Warlord Games Soviet Navy Fleet box set. The box has one Fugas (Project 3, 53, 53-U, and 58) class minesweeper, a pair of Project 1124 Bronekater river gunboats, a pair of MO-4 patrol boats, and eight motor torpedoes boats. I started off with the larger vessels and will finish the MTBs later. 

Soviet Coastal Flotilla

Starting with the big ship in the group - the Fugas class minesweeper. The Fugas class served in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Pacific. There were 15 in the Black Sea, 20 in the Baltic, and 8 in the Pacific. They were used as minesweepers, minelayers, escorts, and to support amphibious operations. So this will be a useful ship for my Black Sea/Baltic Sea games.

Fugas class, starboard side view

The Warlord model comes armed with 100mm gun forward, a 45mm gun aft, and a pair of heavy machine guns on the open bridge wings. This seems to be an early war fit, since more anti-aircraft guns were added later as the threat from enemy aircraft increased. The Warlord kit comes with a resin hull, along with separate metals parts for the bridge are, funnel, life boats, masts, and weapons. The hull was a little bent, but I was able to heat it in warm water and flatten it out. The rest of the pieces went together fairly easily, although it was hard to maintain the shape of the lifeboat davits. For painting I went with a darker gray for the hull and a brick color deck. I wanted the ship to look like it had seen a lot of work with little up-keep. So I did a lot of heavy weathering, but I may have gone a bit 'overboard.'

Fugas class, port side view

Next up the river gunboats, also know as armored gunboats. Warlord refers to these as Pr1125, but I think the gunboats with two turrets are really Project 1124 class. So I'm going with that. The river gunboats mostly provided gunfire support from the larger rivers, but they were also did those tasks in support of amphibious landings in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea.  

Project 1124, port side view

The Project 1124 gunboat was armed with two T-34 turrets (with 76mm guns) and a twin heavy machine gun turret. Warlord also makes a variation of this class with a Katyusha rocket launcher. The models are metal, with the hull and three turrets coming as separate pieces. There is also a mast, but I found it to be pretty flimsy, so I left it off. I don't think it detracts from the overall appearance.

Project 1124, starboard side

Finally, the MO-4 patrol boats. There were around 250 of these boats built during World War II and they served on all fronts. They were designed as submarine chasers, but were used as a jack of all trades. The class lacked armor, making it vulnerable to even small arms fire. In 1943 the class was modified to add armor to protect the engines and bridge, giving it the designation BMO class.

MO-4 patrol boat, starboard side view

The class was armed with two 45mm guns and two heavy machine guns. Later in the war one of the 45mm guns was replaced with a 37mm gun for better anti-aircraft protection. Additionally, there lots of local modifications to the weapons fits, such as adding rocket launchers to support ground attacks. The Warlord model has a resin hull, with the gun mounts and mast as separate pieces. The model goes together well. The only issue I had was fitting the three aft guns into the small space (you can see from the photos that I angled the HMGs instead of having them point out perpendicular from the hull). 

MO-4 from the port side

One thing I've noticed is that the more work on the 1/300 scale ships, the more I find that I like the crew figures. They really do make the ships seem more alive. I only wish the Warlord figures were a little better and had more options. I'm planning to look around at some Heroics and Ros and GHQ 1/300 figures to fill out the ships some in the future.

German Räumboote and Italian MAS boats

The next additions for my Black Sea/Baltic Sea project are a pair of German Räumboote and four Italian MAS torpedo boats. First up, we'll look at the Räumboote.

Fresh from the yard, before I added some weathering

The German Räumboote, or R-boats, were motor minesweepers that were also used for convoy escort, coastal patrol, minelaying, and air-sea rescue.The Germans built over 300 of these vessels in several series during World War II. There weren't any major differences between the series,just some size and minor armament variations. Due to their general utility, they served in every theater including the Baltic, Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This makes them useful additions to a fleet for anyone wanting versatile ships that could be used in multiple areas. 

I picked up a pair of  Warlord Games Cruel Seas R-23 R-boats for my ships. These are early versions of the R-boat and later versions had a little more armament. The out-of-the-box model came with a forward firing 20mm gun and an aft 37mm. I considered adding another 20mm gun amidships, but there isn't really enough room on the model without some major work. 

Port side view with a little weathering

The hulls are one-piece resin and required some clean up. The weapons were straight out of box, as were the extra crew I added on one boat.

Starboard view

There are a number of camouflage patterns that can be used with these ships (just do a quick internet search to see what I mean). I decided to go with a splotch pattern camouflage, since it seemed easiest and seems pretty common. Overall, they turned out good and should be useful in games.

Next up are the Italian MAS, Motoscafo Armato Silurante (torpedo-armed motorboat), boats. These boats are similar to the British Vosper motor torpedo boats and smaller than the German S-boats. During World War II, the Italians sent a flotilla of these boats to the Black Sea and to fight on Lake Ladoga near Leningrad (today's St Petersburg). 

MAS lined up for inspection

These boats were fast (max speed 45 knots), but lightly armed with two 450mm torpedoes and an aft facing 20mm gun.

Arranged to show off all sides

These little boats only had modest success against the Russians. The boats in the Black Sea were eventually transferred to the Romanians. 

A close up view of the MAS

Like the R-boats, these are from Warlord Games. Unlike the R-boat, these boats are all metal and only have a few basic parts (hull, mast, and 20mm gun). So it is pretty easy to put together, but there was some clean up needed on all the parts. I think my paint job turned out as well as the ones on the Warlord website. Although I used a gray-blue color for the crew overalls, rather than the white used by Warlord. Thinking back on my old Navy days, I know that white is not a great color for a working uniform.

Overall, both sets of boats went together well and painted up nicely. They are good additions to the project. 

A before weathering photo on the ocean mat

German Kriegsfischkutters

Kriegsfischkutters (KFK) were small armed fishing boats used as auxiliary warships by the German navy during World War 2.

My newly completed Kriegsfischkutters

Similar to the British, before World War 2 the Germans created some standardized designs for their fishing fleet could be used by private operators. In return, the ships could be requisitioned by the navy during the war. One of the designs was the small Reichsfischkutter, which would then become the KFK during wartime. KFKs were used as escorts, submarine hunters, minesweepers, and general security duty.

Wartime photo of a KFK (from http://history-classics.de)

Over 600 of these vessels were completed before and during the war. They were typically armed with one 37mm gun, one 20mm gun, and depth charges. But they often mounted extra guns and I’ve seen photos where the forward 37mm was swapped for a quad 20mm. Because they served everywhere the Germans had ships, these little craft are really useful for European-based coastal forces games.

 

As part of my Black Sea/Baltic Sea project, I picked up a couple Warlord Games Cruel Seas KFKs to help escorts merchants.

 

The basic kit is nice and includes two KFKs. The hull and superstructure are resin and didn't need much clean-up work. Everything went together easily and fit well. The worst part of the kit was the weapons, some of which required a lot of cleaning and filing to look good. For all the Warlord kits I've gotten I've had to spend a lot of time cleaning up the weapons. For me, they have been the most troublesome part of the kit. That said, the end results generally look pretty good. So, I guess I shouldn't complain too much. 

The other side of the KFKs

For my models, I decided to use the standard layout and weapons fit. Warlord sells a weapons pack, so you could switch up the armament some and, for the really ambitious, you cut off the minesweeping paravanes and add another gun. 

Size comparison with an S-boat

I painted up my ships in mid-gray with a light brown for the decks (the ship colors on the Warlord Games site look sort of blue-gray to me, which seems off). I then attempted to do some weathering on the ship. The decks and superstructure turned out okay (you can see the different planks on each). But I wonder if I was a little heavy with the colors on the side of the ship and for the water run-off holes. I touched this part up several times, but I'm still not sure it looks right. While I generally don't like my vehicles to be factory-fresh looking, I also don't care for heavy weathering. They will probably look fine on the gaming table. 

Overhead view showing the deck layout

Overall, I like the KFK kit. I would recommend them for anyone looking for a simple German ship to add to the 1/350 scale fleet. 

KFKs escorting a merchant

A Diverson to Southeast Asia

Earlier this year several people in my local gaming group became enamored with the new line of Vietnam figures from Gringos 40. You can see some of the figures on Kevin's and David's blogs, along with their first battle report. With all the email's and blog posts, I found myself pulled into this diversion. Since this would be a skirmish game, I didn't want to just redo the same figures everyone else was doing. During the back and forth emails, we talked about other manufacturers that could be used with the Gringo 40s figures. I liked the look of the figures from Crucible Crush's Black Sun range. The rules and some of the figures in the range are definitely "Weird Vietnam War" stuff, but the U.S. Army and VC figures looked like they would fit in with the Gringo 40 figures. So, I took the plunge and ordered 3 packs of U.S. Army soldiers. 

 

Once the figures arrived, there was little in the way of clean-up or assembly needed (only 1 figure needed to have an arm glued on and there was little flask or mold lines). I did get  two duplicate figures instead of five different figures in the U.S. Army Rifles set, but I'm okay with that. Here is how the figures painted up. 

Radio operator (with added antenna), command type figure, and kneeling grenadier

The running men. The middle figure is the one that needed the arm glued on and he I added a pack of Marlboro cigarettes to his helmet

Advancing (one of my duplicates), M60 gunner, and firing soldiers

Advancing (the other duplicate), command (this is my favorite figure of the bunch), and a Grunt

Shotgun, high-carry advancing, and standing grenadier

All the figures, except for the shotgun soldier, have rucksacks. So they are out patrolling instead of sitting in a firebase. 

Group shot (although the front guys are a little out of focus)

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I'm planning on ordering the four VC packs, so I'll have both sides. But I don't expect to get any other figures. But who knows, since I wasn't planning on getting these guys. 

 

I think it will be back to some naval stuff after this. 

INWarD 2020 - Der Tag:1916

While I already posted an early International Naval Wargaming Day (INWarD) report, I thought I would also play a quick solitaire game on the official day. 

 

I selected the new Der Tag, 1916 game from Minden Games.You can get this directly from the Minden Games website, or as part of Panzerschreck #17 from Minden Games or at Wargame Vault. Panzerschreck #17 also includes two other games; Battle Over Dunkirk and Napoleon in Italy.

Der Tag cover

Der Tag, 1916 is a solitaire strategic game covering naval action in the North Sea during 1916. It puts the player in charge of the British fleet. There is an optional rule that allows you to switch sides and command the Germans, but for this game I stuck with the British. 

 

The game has 4 turns, with each turn composed 10 steps. That seems like a lot, but each step moves pretty quickly and some steps can be skipped depending on the situation.

 

At the beginning of the turn, you redeploy your ships to the four Royal Navy bases (Scapa Flow, Cromarty, Rosyth, and Dover). The only restrictions on the deployments are that each base has a maximum and minimum number of ships. In keeping with your high-level position, ships are deployed by type; BB+ (second-generation Dreadnoughts), BB (Dreadnoughts), BC (Battlecruisers), B (pre-Dreadnought battleships), and AC (Armored Cruisers). The game does come with named counters for the ships, but only types matter for deployment and combat. 

 

Next an action card is drawn. The action cards set what the German fleet does for the turn and where it happens. Most cards are raids or other missions where a portion of the German fleet comes out for a limited action. A couple cards are No Action, which means you skip all the remaining steps and go to the turn. One card is Der Tag, which represents a sortie by the full German fleet for a Jutland style battle.

 

After drawing the action, you use die rolls to determine the weather, the German ships in action, and location of the action. Then the Royal Navy player makes interception rolls to get ships to the action. 

 

Once you know which ships intercept, you set up combat. Combat can last up to 3 rounds. The German ships can participate in all 3 rounds, but Royal Navy ships may be limited to 1 or 2 rounds depending on their home base. Additionally, combat rounds may be cut short due to weather or other circumstances.

 

Combat is easy. You roll one die for each ship and consult the appropriate ship type table. The rolls result in automatic hits, hits, and saves. Each save negates an enemy hit, but not automatic hits. For each remaining hit, you roll to determine the ship type affected and then roll to see if the ship is sunk or just damaged. Damaged ships don't participate in the remaining combat rounds. 

 

When combat is complete, you score victory points based on the German action and any ships sunk during the turn.

North Sea Strategic Map

I started my game with the standard Royal Navy setup, with the fleet concentrated at Scapa Flow and Cromarty. Rosyth had most of the BCs and a handful of BB+ ships. Dover force had one BB, 7 old Bs, and 3 ACs. The German action was a BC raid on Hull. I tried for interceptions from all bases, but only the Rosyth and Dover forces were successful. The combat rounds resulted in some damaged ships on each side, but no ships were sunk and the Germans earned a victory point for the raid. 

 

On turn 2 I redeployed all my BCs and a couple more BB+s to Rosyth, but kept the main fleet in the north. The German action was a Tip & Run battle on Scarborough with all their BCs, 3 BB+, and 3 BB. This time the interception rolls went in my favor with Scapa Flow and Rosyth getting success rolls. However, the Scapa Flow force would not arrive until combat round 3. The first 2 combat rounds saw damaged ships on both sides and a German BC sunk. The third combat round was more decisive, with 17 battleships (8 BB+ and 9 BB) engaging the much smaller German force. When the smoke cleared, another German BC and 2 battleships had been sunk with no losses for the Royal Navy. The Germans did earn a victory point for the action, but this was more than offset by the victory points earned for the sunk ships. 

 

I didn't make any deployment changes for turn 3. The German action was another Tip and Run battle off Norway. This time the Germans sent all their remaining BCs, BB+s, and BBs. Luck was on my side again as I rolled successful interceptions for Scapa Flow, Cromarty, and Rosyth. This gave me a definite superiority in ships with 7 BC, 22 BB+, 9 BB, and 8 AC against 3 BC, 9 BB+, and 6 BB. But this is where my dice failed me. While I got lots of hits during combat, I couldn't translate those into sunk ships. The German dice were a little better, as they sank a BB+ and an AC, but they didn't earn any extra victory points for the action.

 

Going into turn 4, I still had a 18 to 8 lead in victory points. But bad rolling could change that. I shifted a couple more BB+s from Scapa Flow to Rosyth,but kept the other forces as is. The German action turned out to be No Action, which ended the turn and the game with a win for the Royal Navy. A fitting end for INWarD 2020.

 

The game played quick and was fun. There is a lot of variables in the actions, so I can see myself pulling it out again. The game also doesn't need much table space, so it would make a good travel game. 

 

I generally like the little games that Minden Games produces and would recommend taking a look at their website, but I know they aren't for everyone.

Finishing my French Fleet

To round out my French pre-dreanought fleet (started in my last post), I ordered some cruisers from the War Times Journal store. As with the previous ships, these are 1/1250 scale DLP 3D printed ships.

I was looking to pick up some smaller ships to round out my fleet. So, this order included Dupuy de Lome armored cruiser, 2 Amiral Charner armored cruisers, and 2 Friant protected cruisers. My order arrived at the beginning of June and began cleaning up the ships for painting.

French cruisers out of the box

Like the previous ships, these only had a few mechanical supports left from the printing process to clean up. Although, due to the smaller size, they were a little harder for me to get right.

Next I added the masts and spars to finish the look. I also added some extra top platforms to the Amiral Charner ships, since most of the period photos I've seen showed the extra platforms. After that is was time to paint them up. I used the same buff and black paint scheme as my previous ships and here is the end results.

The new cruisers

Dupuy de Lome armored cruiser

Amiral Charner class armored cruisers

Friant class protected cruisers

I looked around for some other smaller size French ships in this scale, but there isn't really much available. I will be keeping my eye out for ships, but I think the fleet is mostly complete. I have a pretty good mix of large and medium size ships from the era and that should be enough for now.

The French fleet trying to not ram each other

The last thing I'll do is put the ships on the bases. I'll be using clear bases from Litko. I liked how they turned out for my last DANG project, especially with the game mats I'm using now.