Interesting Naval Computer Wargames

 http://johntillersoftware.com/NavalCampaigns.html

Has anybody played any of them?

Wolf-Pack:

US Pacific:

Jutland:

Tsushima:

Any information gratefully received as my model 1/3000 fleets are getting rather interested in potentially using them!

Old Good is still Good: Naval WWI Article from 1989 Wargames World

As part of the Covid-19 lock-down activities I (like many wargamers I suspect) have been going through their collections musing over past, present and twinkle in the eye projects. You may also be like myself who nervously hears their beloved spouse mentioning "de-cluttering" in bewitching tones. Palpation and cold sweats follow as I hurriedly tidy piles of things, one of which being old tattered "but loved" magazines, that flip open at beguiling pages. One of which was Wargames World #3 dating back to 1989 (see below, in classic [now faded] yellow but still in relatively good condition - not my original I may hasten to add but one picked up either from a Wargames Show or cast-off from a friend):

It has several great articles, one of which is by Ian Drury entitled "Where was the Navy?" in 1914 - that is the Royal Navy, when the Germans (HSF) were shelling Scarborough, which has inspired me in several ways to invigorate my flirtation with WWI naval gaming - again, as I have had several "false starts" (see below, the title that got the wheels of my mind turning - good question I thought, read on I thought, to find out more, and I did and I was happy):  

It also came with an uncomplicated map of the North Sea theater of operations (see below, and remember that these were the days before the Internet, Google Maps and indeed desktop publishing; wargaming aids like these were gold dust - you can almost imagine the fleets of armchair admirals salivating with "map pins" primed in sweaty hands): 

With a certain spooky serendipity a long standing naval wargaming enthusiast friend had also just emailed me with a solo lock-down battle report using David Manly's recent WWI rule-set (1918) which he had found 'very playable' (he had done the Jutland "Run to the South Scenario" with his Hallmark 1/6000 ships) - these newer rules were used over the default venerable General Quarters 2 (GQ2) set (see below, "Si Vis Pacem" - to my shame - I still have "not read" despite having printed them out two years ago): 

It was just too much fro me to take and I launched (literally) into obsessively thinking about my fleets of 1/3000 Navwar battlecruisers in the loft, the ladder came down and up I went in "search and rescue" mode (see below, although I flinched when I saw "how I did waves" back in the day, there was a wave [unintentional pun] of nostalgia as these tiny ships took me back well over twenty years when I first started collecting them - amazingly they are cheaper per ship that the Hallmark ships a quarter the volume, I am a fan of the chunkier chaps - even wanting to go so much bigger and have a go at Fletcher Prat in 1/1200 at CoW [Conference of Wargamers] someday [are you listening Tim Gow?]):  

Not satisfied with the toys I turned once again to the book shelf. A useful addition to my naval library was an Osprey title called "British Battlecruiser vs German Battlecruiser 1914-16" which covered Dogger Bank and Jutland battles (interesting leaving out Falklands, but I guess you could say [although covered by a seperate Osprey Campaign book] was British Battlecruisers vs German Armoured Cruisers) in some detail (see below, I am a sitting duck for a book with battleships or battlecruisers firing at each other on the front cover): 

Reading through the Dogger Bank section gave me great delight (a copy of The Rules of the Game by Andrew Gordon also nostalgically winks at me for another read from my bookshelf) and the urge to re-fight this classic stern chase (although it could have ended up so many different ways if you incorporated map moves in it too). As Ian Drury pointed out in his 1989 article most of the major naval actions fought in the North Sea started with meeting engagements and clashes of battlecruisers with more of the "threat of" battle fleets of dreadnoughts appearing over the horizon (see below, my fevered scribbled notes after reading The Duel's section on Dogger Bank - it has to be done, even solo):   

Although I have an unread (as yet) copy of Castles of Steel by Robert K Massie sitting on my shelf, Ian Drury also makes another good point about excellent "of the time" sources available, i.e. Marder's volumes of "Dreadnought to Scapa Flow" and Julian Corbett's volumes of "Naval Operations". That seems at odds with my spouses desire to de-clutter but the magic of a Kindle may come to the rescue as certainly Marder's volumes are available electronically. Watch this space as I think this project has yet to run its full course!

New Blog found courtesy of ParadeGround 2016 connection

Battle Ground 2016 (North East of England Stockton:Middlesbrough):
http://www.battlegroundshow.co.uk/

Excellent Demonstration Game (Jutland 1916):
https://iactaaleaest.wordpress.com/

Long time since I managed to get out and "go to a show" but it was a really pleasant experience, despite "things having moved on" since my last outing. Hot things seemed to be Sci-Fi, Zombie Horror and 28mm plastics (replacing 15mm all things of 15mm) or 15/10/6mm WWII kits. My old school 15mm ancients and 20mm WWII were hard to find. Still it was great rummaging through stuff "bargain hunting". A comment from a trader seemed to be "most  people were looking and buying tit-bits rather than huge armies".

Impressively "shiny" new items found were:

• Russo-Jap ships in 1/2400 (Note: I have this period covered in 1/3000 from Navwar) from Tumbling Dice
• Sci-Fi Dropship Horizon

As it was I stuck to my old projects with a modest purchase of:

• Millennium Falcon for X-Wings, the Rebels need Han and Chewy
• 28mm Warlord Games Scots Lancers (ECW/Scottish Montrose Campaign
• 8 x 15mm Carthaginian Citizen Spearmen going cheap in a "bargain bucket"
• 20mm Britannia Miniatures Sherman ARV  
• 20mm Britannia Miniatures Matilda II CS
• 20mm Britannia Miniatures British Paratroopers PIAT Team, 2" Mortar Team

Jutland Re-Fight done earlier this year (by the USN)

Now this is what I call a Jutland re-fight (even if they did use cards instead of models, Fletcher Pratt will be turning in his grave):

https://wargamingcommunity.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/battle-of-jutland-centennial-2/

But even the US Naval War College did not finish it! Respect for even hosting it though ;)

Notes to self on: WWI Naval Technical Reference Resources

This is a random 'pull together' of my current WWI (and slightly earlier Pre-Dreadnought) Naval Resources:  
Primary Data Sources (Books):
Conway's Pre (blue) and Dreadnought (green), as both types fought in WWI (see below):

Jane's, although it could be argued that it is a mixture of fact and fiction it certainly gives the flavour of the era (see below):

Brown who describes in great detail the RN's ship building programme (see below):

Source of "Ship counters/models and maps" to cover all nations and theatres in WWI:

Avalanche Press, Great War at Sea Series: 

Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 (see above), I also have these ships in 1/3000 courtesy of Navwar Tsushima Pack and extending out to cover the pre-Tsushima "Yellow Sea" and the like battles around Port Arthur
 

Board Game Vol. I - The Mediterranean (see above), I had been after this one for a while (seeing it for £60 at Salute in London years ago when I was in London I didn't mind buying it for £25 and waiting while it came from America). Likewise, I have the combatant nations ships (down to and including a representative few destroyers) in Navwar's 1/3000. 

Board Game Vol. II - The North Sea, where the big boys play. Jutland and everything else that went on in the North Sea including the American Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet. Yes I have the Navwar 1/3000 models (gaining a flying start with the Jutland Battle Pack and expanding afterwards) for this (down to the representative destroyer level), including the Americans, Baltic Russians and Swedish Fleets.

The remaining Avalanche Press WWI naval game of interest is the Cruiser Warfare (more "commerce raider" global strategy than "Fleet Action"). This would cover Von Spee's East Asiatic Squadron (which did have small squadron actions at Coronel and The Falklands), SMS Emden, SMS Karlschruhe and the SMS Konigsberg.

The Navwar lists have now by and large have been 'plundered' regarding WWI 'standard fair' and I seem to be now extracting the more and more exotic or "ships that never made it off the drawing board"

What Next?:
What is needed is to put all the above to some good use in a "Naval Wargame Campaign"