Wednesday 27 June 2018

1:2400 Age of Sail: The Algeciras Campaign 1801 - Progress

Hi all,

Just to let you all know that progress is being made on this lot:

There will be painted for me by the brilliantly talented Richard Phillips!
Thanks for looking!

Peter

Saturday 16 June 2018

1:4800 Naval Warfare: Jutland 2? part 2 - Naval Thunder

Hi all,

Well, I gathered our merry band of wargamers together to play out the campaign section of our scenario!



The Germans began by sortieing with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau from Brest and making a high speed dash in to the southern Atlantic - which caused a bit of consternation for the RN players who were not expecting this! A few convoys were rearranged but since the RN could not really spare many ships to chase them around, the German's distraction did not pull any home fleet units away.

When the Tirpitz and Bismark did sail (with Prinz Eugen tagging along), they were tracked all the way up the Norwegian coast through a variety of means. The Home Fleet set sail with King George V and Prince of Wales heading towards Iceland and Hood and Repulse going further in to the North Atlantic, the Royal Navy players deciding to try to take the initial engagement on the battleship's chins.

The Germans headed through the Iceland-UK gap at speed, hoping this break with historical deployments would through off the RN. Sadly for the Germans, as per history, they were spotted and shadowed by cruisers and were unable to shake them off.

The Germans decided to use Prinz Eugen as a sacrificial lamb, and ordered her to turn back to chase off the shadowing cruisers whilst the battleships changed course and speed.

Such a move would never have been approved in real life by the Germans but we decided that it would make for a reasonably interesting game so we played it. HMS Manchester and Birmingham are in line astern heading WSW with orders to shadow the battleships (which will be just off the table with Prinz Eugen heading the other way).

Thanks for reading!

Saturday 2 June 2018

1:4800 Naval Warfare: Jutland 2? - Naval Thunder

Hi all,

Well we have an epic clash coming up soon in the wargames room!

The scenario - it is 1941 and the Royal Navy is worried about the massing Kriegsmarine heavy units in the Baltic. Rumours abound that Bismark and Tirpitz are going to sail together into the North Atlantic. Prinz Eugen is going to look very small next to these two...

To oppose them, we have Hood, King George V and Prince of Wales at Scapa Flow. Queen Elizabeth is at Rosyth and Repulse, Ramilles and Rodney are convoy escorting.

The plan is to run some map based campaign moves to see where an interception will take place...

Thanks for reading!

Peter

Saturday 26 May 2018

1:2400 Age of Sail: The Algeciras Campaign 1801

Hi all,

I have recently decided to go completely insane and build and rig a couple of fleets for the Napoleonic period...

Anyway, these will be for the fairly balanced (in terms of the number of ships involved) battles around Gibraltar and Algeciras in 1801.

The plan is to do the full orbat and the initial purchases are:


Rear-Admiral of the Blue Saumarez's squadron
HMS Caesar, Third rate, 80           Royal Navy          Rear-Admiral Sir James Saumarez
Captain Jahleel Brenton
HMS Superb, Third rate, 74           Royal Navy          Captain Richard Goodwin Keats
HMS Spencer, Third rate, 74           Royal Navy          Captain Henry Darby      
HMS Pompee, Third rate, 74           Royal Navy          Captain Charles Stirling
HMS Hannibal, Third rate, 74           Royal Navy          Captain Solomon Ferris
HMS Venerable, Third rate, 74           Royal Navy          Captain Samuel Hood    
HMS Audacious, Third rate, 74           Royal Navy          Captain Shuldham Peard              
HMS Thames, Frigate, 32           Royal Navy          Captain Aiskew Hollis     
Carlotta, Frigate, 38           Portuguese Navy             Captain Crawfurd Duncan            
HMS Calpe, Brig, 14           Royal Navy          Commander George Dundas      
Louisa, Brig, 14           Hired                     Lieutenant William Truscott        

Vice-Admiral Moreno's squadron
Real Carlos, First rate, 112         Spain     Captain Don J. Esquerra
San Hermenegildo, First rate, 112         Spain     Captain Don J. Emparran              
San Fernando, Second rate, 96           Spain     Captain Don J. Malina
Argonauta, Third rate, 80           Spain     Captain Don J. Herrera
San Agustín, Third rate, 74           Spain     Captain Don R. Jopete
Formidable, Third rate, 80           France  Captain Amable-Gilles Troude
Desaix, Third rate, 74           France  Captain Christy de la Pallière
Indomptable, Third rate, 80           France  Captain Claude Touffet
Saint Antoine, Third rate, 74           France  Commodore Julien Le Ray
Santa Sabina, Frigate, 34           Spain     Vice-Admiral Don Juan Joaquin de Moreno
                                                                  Contre-amiral Charles Linois
Muiron, Frigate, 40           France  Captain Jules-François Martinencq
Libre, Frigate, 40           France  Captain Proteau
Vautour, Lugger, 14           France  Lieutenant Kémel
Perla, Frigate, 34           Spain     Unknown

Saturday 31 March 2018

1:4800 Naval Warfare: History repeating itself - Naval Thunder




Hi all,

Well I almost could not believe it, everytime I play this scenario it ends up being a slugging match and the result (as it should have been) tends to be the defeat of the Germans.

This one did not go that way...

The Germans are sighted heading towards the open Atlantic

Hood leads the RN formation

With Prince of Wales following


Hood starts by firing some accurate shots at Prinz Eugen

Whilst PoW lands some damage on Bismark

Both Germans dastardly target the Hood
Hood quickly takes a lot of damage, and just as she hauls out of the line with crippled engines and a fire...
History repeats itself and her magazine goes up


A shocking result tbh, I can only imagine how horrible it would have been to have seen it in real life!

Thanks for reading!
Peter

Wednesday 21 March 2018

1:4800 Naval Warfare: Battle of the Denmark Straight - Naval Thunder

Needed for Saturday: one opponent. Must be prepared to be used as target practice by the Royal Navy and to speak in a corny German accent!



Going back to my favourite wargaming subject this weekend, naval warfare!

Peter

Saturday 17 February 2018

The Anarchy of the 12th Century : 28mm Gripping Beast & Black Tree Normans

Hi all,

This is a little bit of a nostalgic post of my painted Norman army - these are now on Ebay and will be sold off to buy a larger force with more later period equipment ready for gaming the 12th century a bit more accurately.




The force was a pretty balanced list (I think) of 24 spearmen, 2 groups of 12 missile troops and 12 milites.

For my next force I will be trying a few more colours on the tunics...

But it did look good though in games!

Peter