Final Enfilade Preparations

With Enfilade being less than a week away, I've been going through my checklist to make sure I have everything ready for my two events and for the other stuff I want to do.

I also want to post some pictures from the ships I recently finished for the Pacific coastal forces game I'm running on Saturday afternoon. These ships are optional forces for the game (the Japanese players will have several possible forces they can choose). The first ship is a Japanese LST from the Tamiya Military Transport Set. Realistically, none of these ships were available in the time frame of my game, but it is a nice looking kit and I wanted something a little different for the game.

Japanese LST cruising off-shore

Overhead view of the LST

You can see my island terrain for the game in the background of all of these photos. The second ship is a W19 class minesweeper from the Tamiya WWII Japanese Navy Auxiliary Vessels set.


W19 class minesweeper

Overhead view of the minesweeper

For a little fun I also took a picture of one of the little sailing vessel/working boat ships I have to act as transports and decoys in my games. It looked like it would fit right in with the island scenery. 

Island sailor

I also realized I never posted the final pictures of the Project 206MR Matka hydrofoil missile boat after I mounted in on a base. So, here it is in foil-borne view.


Project 206MR Matka

Finally, it looks like a really good year for naval games at Enfilade this year. Sometimes there are just a few naval games, but this year there are 16 games (including my two) with a good variety of topics and rules. I'm glad to see this and I thought I'd post the listing of the naval games at Enfilade this year (Note: You can find the whole Preliminary Event List on the NHMGS Enfilade page).
Friday Afternoon
Yalu 1894
Rules: Fire When Ready, Gridley
Description: Sino-Japanese war, 1894, the Yellow Sea: The Japanese fleet under Admiral Ito, attempting to disrupt the landing of troops at the mouth of the Yalu river, encounters the Chinese fleet under Admiral Ruchang protecting it. While the Chinese ships are better on paper, the Japanese are better lead - and apparently suffer less corruption when it comes to their naval suppliers. This battle was one of the first fought between pre-dreadnoughts armed with quick-firing guns and torpedoes. 1/700 scale.

Battle of Midway
Rules: Axis and Allies War at Sea
Description: June 4th 1942, two great forces collide in the Pacific around the strategic island Midway Atoll. The Japanese have sent an invasion force to capture this key island unaware that the American carrier fleet is lurking nearby. Play as either the Japanese or the Americans alongside skilled War at Sea players and relive the battle of Midway. Who knows maybe you'll change history.

Hunt for the Geoben: Battle of the Cervi Channel 1914
Rules: Fleet Action Imminent (GQ3-WW1)
Description: It's August of 1914 in the Med, and the gallant light cruiser HMS Gloucester has been shadowing the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau all night. In spite of attempts to jam the Gloucester's wireless, the Germans have to assume that British forces are closing in. Can the Goeben & Breslau slip through the Cervi Channel into the Aegean Sea at dawn, or will there be a superior force lying in wait? 1:2400 scale.

Friday Evening
Axis & Allies WWII Naval
Rules: Axis and Allies War at Sea
Description: No need to sign up, just stop by and try your hand as admiral of a WWII naval fleet. Games can take up to 60 minutes to play. No experience necessary to play. Play a historic scenario such as the hunt for the Bismarck or simply play a pickup game against a friend or knowledgeable player on hand.

Battle of Sluys - Medieval Naval
Rules: David Manley’s Medieval Naval Rules
Description: The naval battle of Sluys was fought in 1340 between the naval forces of France and England during the 100 Years War. The English must win to prosecute an effective land campaign on the mainland. The French must win as prelude to a successful invasion of England. The game uses David Manley’s Medieval Fleet Action rules, which have their basis in DBA.

von Spee in the Indian Ocean: Battle of the Maldives 1914
Rules: Fleet Action Imminent (GQ3-WW1)
Description: What if, in August of 1914, von Spee's German East Asia squadron had steamed west into the Indian Ocean instead of east across the Pacific, putting his cruiser squadron across the transport lanes for all the troop convoys from India, Australia, and New Zealand? It's September 1914, and British Rear Admiral Peirse, strongly reinforced by ships from the Med, is attempting to bring von Spee's dangerous squadron to bay somewhere in the Maldive islands. 1:2400 scale WW1 naval. Rules: Fleet Action Imminent (GQ3-WW1).

Incident off Vera Cruz
Rules: Supremacy at Sea: Great War
Description: It is April, 1914. The U.S. has been pursuing Mexican revolutionaries through kinetic military action. This is a major commitment and objective of U.S. foreign policy. It has been learned that Germany may be intending to interfere with these activities. A critical troop convoy is being escorted to Vera Cruz. The President has made it clear that that convoy must successfully reach the port. The convoy escort is authorized to warn any ships coming within visibility of the convoy to break off, and to fire on any ships that may threaten the convoy. Smoke on the horizon! Opening their Jane's the convoy commanders recognize some Teutonic ship profiles.

Saturday Morning
Tsushima
Rules: Fire When Ready, Gridley
Description: The classic Tsushima Straits scenario using David Manley’s “Fire When Ready, Gridley” miniature rules.

Man Your Oars
Rules: Galleys & Glory
Description: Captain your own galley on the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Ram your enemies and board them for glory and booty. Please the Gods and you will be favored in the future.

Operation Moravid
Rules: Bulldogs Away! Modern Fast Attack Craft Rules
Description: During the Iran-Iraq War, Iraqi forces equipped oil terminals at the north end of the Persian Gulf as military listening posts (with radar and troops) to track Iranian ship and air movements. On November 29, 1980 Iranian Task Force 421, composed of an LST with marines, a patrol boat, and a pair of missile boats, launched an attack on one of the Iraqi facilities. The attack on the oil terminal was successful, but as the Iranians were leaving they got word that Iraqi Navy dispatched missile and torpedo boats are approaching. Can the Iranians escape or will the Iraqis exact some revenge?

Saturday Afternoon
Roman Seas: Ancient Roman Naval, 48 BC
Rules: Roman Seas
Description: Caesar's Men Must Be Fed: Pompey's naval forces must try to stop a fleet of merchant ships from reaching Caesars forces. I will provide all ship models, crews, dice, etc.

South Pacific Nights
Rules: Action Stations! Coastal Forces Rules
Description: American and Japanese light naval forces (destroyers, patrol boats, torpedo boats, etc.) were the workhorses in the South Pacific. They conducted raids, patrols, resupply, and interdiction missions that often resulted in short, confusing battles. What will be the mission for tonight? A quick patrol off an enemy held coast... dropping off supplies to a beleaguered garrison... Join the game and find out.

Saturday Evening
Axis & Allies WWII Naval Tournament
Rules: Axis and Allies War at Sea
Description: New and experienced gamers invited. This tournament will be held with pre selected WW2 naval fleets from the game Axis and Allies: War at Sea. If you don't know how to play, don't worry! We will have helpful gaming members who will be on hand to help you learn. Prizes have been donated including War at Sea starter packs with all you need to start your own collection

A Lesson for Mr. Roosevelt
Rules: Supremacy at Sea
Description: Time: July 4, 1941, 4 p.m. (In a slightly different timeline).
Situation: The President has agreed to send the 6th Marine Regiment to Iceland to free British occupation troops. As this will be the first overseas deployment of U.S. troops, the convoy is being heavily escorted with two battleships. The situation for enemy forces is a concern. The Bismarck, after an uneventful cruise in May, 1941, was able to dock in Brest and join the Scharnhorst and Gneisnau. The Prinz Eugen is presumed to have returned to Germany as it has not been seen in France. Although it is not expected that Germany will intervene, the Royal Navy has agreed to provide HMS Hood as distant escort for the convoy. As Hitler has just added Stalin to his enemies list, surely he wouldn't want to anger the U.S. too?

Sunday Morning
Closing Wilmington
Rules: Ironclads for miniatures
Description: Fictitious battle based on Union efforts to capture the Confederate port of Wilmington on the Cape Fear River after the fall of Fort Fisher in the waning days of the war. A combined arms battle featuring all those things you love-shore batteries, minefields, ironclads, a Martello tower (!!) and even some land action. Some Ironclads experience is helpful but not required.

Dreadnoughts at Night
Rules: Supremacy at Sea: Great War
Description: It is midnight on May 31st, 1916. Assuming the Grand Fleet was cruising a couple knots slower than it did, the High Seas Fleet in a long line runs right into the middle of the Grand Fleet's night cruising formation. Dreadnought Armageddon follows. Note: This requires minimum 6 players. If fewer are available, we will do a smaller night action based on the situation of Dec 16, 1914 when the High Seas Fleet was within 10 miles of the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet and the Battle Cruiser Fleet.

A Couple of Short Book Reviews

Sorry I haven't posted any updated recently, I've been pretty busy with work the past week and haven't been able to do much miniatures work. But I thought I would post a couple book reviews as a little blog filler. Hopefully you find them useful.

Both of the books in this post deal with the War of 1812. Considering next year is the 200th anniversary of the war, I expect we'll see a lot more books on the subject.

Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas 1812-1815, By Stephen Budiansky

Budiansky's book takes a different tack to the naval portion of the War of 1812. Rather than focusing on the details of the naval actions, he turns his eye more toward the personalities involved in those actions, primarily viewed from the American side. While Budiansky does talk a little about the creation of the U.S. Navy, the book really starts out with the American war against the Barbary States in 1803, introducing the reader to Edward Preble, Stephen Decatur, and the unlucky William Bainbridge. After this introduction, the author moves on to the causes of the War of 1812 and general strategies for both sides.

The book goes on to cover the initial frigate vs. frigate victories by the Americans, but more from the viewpoint of how the commanders, politicians, and public viewed the battles than an actual blow-by-blow account. There are some places that I think the author follows some popular legends about these actions, but overall the story is pretty good. However, If you read a lot of book about the early U.S. Navy, there isn't much new in these portions of the book.

One section that does add might add some new information for readers is the chapter on American Privateers. This chapter provides a little about how the privateers outfitted their ships and operations, but the real meat of the chapter covers what happened to those ships that were captured by the Royal Navy. In addition to talking about the conditions on prison ships in the Caribbean and England, the author covers the eventual transfer of many privateers to Dartmoor Prison. I actually found the section on Dartmoor to be one of the most interesting sections of the book. Mainly because it was something that I didn't know a lot about.

The book only briefly touches on the naval actions on the Great Lakes and Chesapeake, but based on the subtitle, that is pretty much what I expected.

Overall, the book was an easy read and good introductory book for people that haven't read anything about the naval war of 1812. It does provide a little more insight into the personalities of the American frigate captains and the Secretary of Navy, William Jones, during the war, but if you are looking for detailed battle discussions, you probably want to look elsewhere. I would recommend the book, but I would also recommend reading Ian Toll's Six Frigates in conjunction with Perilous Fight.

Flotilla: The Patuxent Naval Campaign in the War of 1812, by Donald G. Shomette

This book is an updated and enlarged version of a 1979 book of the same title. Flotilla covers the formation, operations, and dissolution of Commodore Joshua Barney's Chesapeake Flotilla during the War of 1812. The book is pretty detailed in coverage of the flotilla. The first appendix has the muster roll of every man in the flotilla, including when they joined, their station (what they did), and when they were discharged (or in some cases, killed); while the third appendix has reproductions of some the fleet maneuvers that Commodore Barney planned to use with the flotilla.

The book starts out by looking at the English actions in the Chesapeake Bay early in the war, which included devastating raids throughout the region. For the most part American officials were at a loss on how to combat the British. In late 1813, Joshua Barney proposed the formation of an independent flotilla of gunboats and war barges to stymie the British efforts. Because of Barney's past success, having been a successful captain in the Revolutionary War and privateer during the War of 1812, the offer was accepted and Barney started outfitting the group.

The book goes pretty in-depth into the organization, building, and outfitting of the flotilla and the gunboats (the second appendix of the book lists the cost and materials used in the building of the row galley Black Snake, including the number of rounds for each cannon on the galley). If you are a rivet counter, I expect you will find this very interesting. Because the author is a marine archeologist involved with researching the history of the flotilla, he is very up-front about what is known about the gunboats for the flotilla and what is guesswork.

Once the flotilla is fitted out, the book moves on to its deployment and the battles it fought in. There are some really good descriptions of the Battles of St. Leonard's Creek and militia actions during various British raids (side note: as a wargamer, I found a lot to like in these descriptions, since I could actually see ways of turning these battles into game scenarios). The books continues on with the eventual abandonment of the gunboats and the participation of the flotilla's sailors in the Battle of Bladensburg. It finishes up with a little about the archeological research into the flotilla.

Flotilla covers a little known aspect of the War of 1812 and I really enjoyed this book. This is probably because it was a subject I didn't know a lot about and because I could see myself creating some gaming scenarios based on the actions described in the book. That said, it is a pretty expensive book (I would guess that is because it had a limited print run), so unless you have the extra money to spend on it, I would suggest checking with your local library to see if they have a copy or can get one through inter-library loan.

Completed LST and More

I've finally finished up the Iranian LST, which, with a couple borrowed Kaman class missile boats, completes the needed forces for the Operation Morvarid scenario.

As I've mentioned before, the LST is based on the Iranian Hengam class, which looks like this...

Iranian Hengam class LST

And here is my completed version from a similar angle...

My completed LST

It isn't a perfect match. As you can see, the bow on my version is a little pointier and overall my ship is blockier than the real thing, but it should work fine for gaming purposes. Here is an overhead view so you can see the helicopter deck. I'm not going to zoom in on the deck too much, since I hand-painted the lines on the deck and they aren't perfectly straight. 

Overhead view of the LST

Here is a group shot of the Iranian ships for Operation Morvarid.

Iranian forces for Operation Morvarid

In the front are two Kaman class missile boats (borrowed from Kevin) made by PT Dockyard. In the back is my semi-Hengam class LST and a stand-in for the Cape class patrol boat (in this case it is an American 110' Subchaser from PT Dockyard), with a UH-1 helicopter gunship overhead.

Here is a group shot of the Iraqis for the scenario.

Iraqi Forces for Operation Morvarid

The Iraqis have, from left to right, two Osa II missile boats, two Osa I missile boats (all from Skytrex) and two P-6 torpedo boats (from PT Dockyard).

With the set up and some other restrictions for both sides, it should be an interesting scenario.

A Little Air Cover

As I work on the ships for my Enfilade games, I decided to add a little (potential) air cover for each game.

For the Operation Morvarid game, I thought I would give the Iranians the chance to add some UH-1 gunships to their group. There isn't any mention of UH-1s in the real operation, but it seems plausible they could have been used and I thought they would add an interesting aspect to the game. Historically there were some Iranian F-4s taking on Iraqi MiG-23s and shooting up the Iraqi missile boats, but I don't want to turn this into an air-to-air game, so I'm going with helicopters. I will probably give the Iraqis some portable SAMs to offset the helicopters.

A pair of Iranian UH-1s

Iranian UH-1s over an LST

The helicopters are the 1/600 scale Bell Iroquois from Tumbling Dice. They are a good, although a little chunky, representation of the Bell 212 series. You can see the not-quite completed Iranian LST in the background. I still need to touch up the paint job and mount it on a base before it is finished, but it looks pretty good when slightly out of focus.

For the Pacific coastal action, I'm planning on adding a F1M2 'Pete' as an option for the Japanese. This type of floatplane operated all over the Solomons area in both day and night, so it is certainly feasible that one could be acting as cover for a barge convoy. I'm not too sure how useful it will really be in the game, but it should be interesting finding out.

A F1M2 'Pete' floatplane over a subchaser

An F2M2 'Pete' providing cover to a barge convoy

The Pete is a plastic kit from one of my 1/700 scale IJN accessories boxes. Tumbling Dice makes some of these too, but I already had the plastic one on-hand and it didn't seem worth making another order for those right now. The plastic Pete seems a little fragile (mainly because it is so lightweight), but it should hold up fine since the players can move it by the base. Plus, since it was just something I had laying around in a box, it won't be a great loss if it gets broken.

Time for a little gaming

Rather than spending time working on my stuff, I spent part of yesterday helping my friend Kevin playtest his Battle of Sluys scenario for Enfilade. we were joined in the playtest, by Mark and Joe Waddington. You can read more about Kevin's work on this project on his blog and just click the "cogs" label to see the whole story.

The English and French Fleets square off at Sluys.

Kevin is using David Manley's Quick Play Medieval Fleet rules for the game and yesterday was the first chance to test out the ships, terrain, and rules. The rules are somewhat like DBA, in that a turn consists of one side rolling for command points, allocating them by formation, moving, and then conducting combat (artillery, missile, and close combat) followed by the other side doing the same. Overall, pretty easy to understand, but with enough decisions to keep players in the game.

We set up the forces, with Mark and Kevin as the English and Joe and I playing the French. The French set-up in the middle of the channel between the mainland and an island. We also started the game chained together and can't unchain until 3 turns after the first French ship takes damage, so there really wasn't a lot to do for the first few turns but wait. Joe ran the French front line, while I took the third squadron in the back, which was a mix of mercenary galleys and medium cogs. 

The initial setup for the French fleet.

Before the start of the game, Kevin sprang a little surprise on us. He told us that overnight the French fleet had drifted toward the island on our right. So, all the sudden there was a big gap on our left flank. The English moved up with two groups to engage the French front squadron with artillery and later missile fire, while the third group tried to move through the gap on the French left. Unfortunately for them one of their cogs kept running aground in the shallows, forcing the group to stop before pushing ahead.

The fleets locked in battle as an English squadron tries to move through the gap (at the top of the picture).

This delay allowed time for my third squadron to unchain and move to block the gap. I was able to defeat the first group of English cogs in close combat.

My galleys plug the flank gap.

Then I pushed on into the flanking squadron taking out the squadron commander. 

The galleys counterattack!

This was the schedule time for the Flemish fleet of small cogs to appear in the French rear. However, by this time things weren't looking good for the English and the Flemish had to sail into the wind to reach the French line. We stopped the game, ate some pizza, and talked about potential changes for the scenario. Kevin took a few notes and after he sorts things out, I expect we will give it another play through.
In addition to seeing Kevin's cogs, I got a chance to look at ships Mark is scratchbuilding. It was around a year ago that Mark was thinking about scratchbuilding some ships for the Great Lakes during the War of 1812. I think he was originally planning to do the ships for the Battle of Lake Champlain, but I talked him into working on ships for Lake Ontario. He has been cursing my name ever since, but the ships look really nice. They are 1/600 scale from wood, with metal masts, and I'm looking forward to getting a chance to play with them.

Mark's Lake Ontario War of 1812 ships.

A Break for Opening Day

From time to time I take a break from gaming topics and this post is one of those breaks. As always feel free to skip over this post if you just aren't interested.

Today is opening day for my hometown team, the Seattle Mariners (Major League Baseball Opening Day was yesterday, but the M's first game is today). For me Opening Day is the breakpoint between Winter and Summer, good weather is on the way (although it is raining here today), and there is optimism in air (even when you know your team does really have a chance).


I expect that it will be a rough year for the hometown nine (I think they will be lucky to win 70-75 games this year). But it is hard not to feel positive on Opening Day. One of the local baseball writers posted the following a list of great things about Opening Day and I thought I'd share it here.

10 Great Things About Opening Day
By Larry Stone, The Seattle Times

1: Everyone is 0-0, .000, 0.00 - a tabula rasa, the whole world of possibilities awaiting

2: The pomp and circumstance - dignitaries, celebrity anthem singers, flyovers, bunting

3: The pre-game introductions of the entire team, even the equipment managers

4: The excitement in the eyes of the rookies doing it all for the first time, as they stand on the base line

5: The stats count - for your fantasy team, too

6: When someone homers, you get to say, "He's on pace for 162,'' and it's funny every year.

7: You know there's 161 more games ahead, the six-month soap opera and reality show about to commence

8: At least 161 more. Eternal hope, and the sense that anything is possible. Pirates fans can dream of contention and Cubs fans can believe this will finally be the year. Mariners fans, too.

9: Even people who don't care about baseball are paying attention today.

10: Baseball is back. For real.

Now back to your regularly scheduled naval gaming posts.

My Other Enfilade Game

The past few weeks I've been concentrating on getting ships done for the Operation Morvarid game for Enfilade 2011. With the missile boats done and the LST in the paint shop, I started looking at what I need for the other game I'm planning on running.

My second game will be a WWII Pacific coastal forces game between the Americans and Japanese. The basic plan is for the Japanese to be on a resupply mission, while the Americans are trying to recover a Marine Recon team in the same area.

PT Dockyard Japanese (from L to R) Type C armored gunboat, 46' Dihatsu barge, Armored Dihatsu gunboat, and lugger 

The Japanese forces will mostly be armed and unarmed barges (landing craft), along with some luggers. Although I think I will let them trade up to some larger ships, but there will be fewer of them. So, the Japanese players will have to decide if they want to go with more smaller ships that can stay close to shore or fewer larger ships that have big guns (but can run aground). I'm probably going to put together the LST from the Tamiya Japanese Military Transport kit as one of the possible Japanese ships, even though those ships were around until 1944 and the South Pacific battles were pretty much wrapped up by then. I think it would be fun to have it on the table and sometimes you just need to twist history a little. 

Tamiya Japanese destroyer and subchaser

The American forces will primarily be 80' Elco PT boats. As with the Japanese, they will be able to trade the PT boats for other types of ships, such as a subchaser or LCM gunboat. I might even pull out some Fletcher class destroyers as options (although those won't be able to get too close to shore to help pick up the Marines). 

PT Dockyard American LCM gunboat, 110' subchaser, and 80' Elco PT boat

I'll be using the Action Stations rules for the game. These are one of my favorite set of naval rules; they are easy for players to pick-up, play fast, and are really flexible so I can use them for a lot of different situations.
Things are getting a little busy at my day job, but I'm hoping to have some pictures of the newly painted ships next week.