FREE GAME: WWII Pacific Logistics - Fleet Train (Louis Coatney)

Just when I thought there was not much to LinkedIn somebody goes and posted an interesting game link! Click bait it is not, thank you Lou Coatney (see link to his website - not LinkedIn, below):   

https://www.coatneyhistory.com/FleetTrain.htm

Remember the quote: "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics."

iPhone "Pacific War2 Game - Nice Little Time Waster

This is not a simulation or accurate representation of Pacific Warfare, but it is a lovely timewasting piece of fun that is a little bit like a battlefield problem solver, with nice graphics that give good representations of the ships I am currently basing and painting in 1/3000 scale (based on the Microsoft Unity 3D game engine). It is an old game running on an old iPhone but gives me screen time fun (see below, sadly the IJN saw to it that this USN Essex class carrier did not make it through the war): 

I have already done the journey from Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, across the Pacific to Japan as the USN, so I am return tripping back from Japan back to Pearl Harbour as the IJN, hence the screenshots of sinking USN ships (see below,  a USN Baltimore class cruiser is now no more): 

What can I say, I like moving the ships around the seas shooting them at each other, the "variable range" estimation means that even when a ship has radar you can miss, though as you "go pro" it becomes a shooting gallery. The thing I have hardest trouble with is that the carriers start the game under the guns of enemy battleships and cruisers. Yes that is really silly (and not Pacific War), but it is the same for both sides. However, seeing as the Human Player goes first, you at least go down fighting, and if you can get another ship closer to the enemy it takes the pressure off. The AI is poor which is why it is nice to play it. The US gets a Gato sub which is lethal (and an atom bomb as a shock weapon), but the IJN player gets long lance torpedoes, Kamikaze and the Yamato. The hardest task the IJN player has to do is sink the US sub with a destroyer (depth charges), thankfully after the "beginner's series of scenarios" the US just show up with big surface things (cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers) things which you can easily see and hit!

Verdict: I can recommend it for its "therapeutic" value because nine times out of ten you will win.

52 Fletchers - 1/3000 Navwar

Dating back to the time I bought "The Battle of the Philippine Sea" Battle Pack from Navwar, I always had a few of these destroyers to base. It came to pass that now, was the time I had some time and inclination to do it (see below, I now have a harbour full of US Destroyer, 52 Fletcher Class ones to be precise): 

Stage one complete, got them out of the packaging, filed down bits of flash and then superglued them to a 20mm by 60mm card stock base. Good for the soul if nothing else. As you can see bottom right I have taken two all the way (for a different project) but the other 50 have to play catch up! 

Look Back at my CoW 2024: List of Games

Long overdue, but here it is! CoW 2024 at Missenden Hall,

There were so many games in parallel sessions that you could have attended CoW 2024 (and apart from the all inclusive plenary game) you could have had at least five separate parallel strand CoW experiences. Mine was fun and informative as detailed below: 

• The Plenary: Papal Conclave of 1559, an interesting game of papal political intrigue, back stabbing, rioting, opportunism and deceit. As a Spanish Cardinal I feigned disappointment as a French Pope (with audacity to take the name of Innocent[?]) sat enthroned as God's vicar in Rome. French gold clinked in my pocket and a position of "favour" awaited me.

• The Cactus Air Force (Guadalcanal 1942) - Blood Red Skies (BRS) fighting the IJN from Henderson Field:

Naturally I find myself surrounding by enemy Zeros, but I am distracting them from the USN bombers hunting a damaged IJN heavy cruiser!

Some how they all missed me and ACE made it back home, although the bombers missed the heavy cruiser in this game (a repeat game saw the cruiser heading to the bottom)!

• The Great War in the Pacific in the 1920's (what if the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 failed to take place and the USA and Japan ended up fighting a huge naval war in the 1920's? What sort of fleet would you build as the US to fulfil "War Plan Orange" and what in fact would be your war plan? [Ticket to Manilla, Home Island Hawaii Defence, Island Hopping, Japanese Homeland Assault]):

The game's bits and pieces (AH's Victory in the Pacific used as a map, 1/3000 Navwar ships, Jenga Blocks and plenty of sticky labels):

The USN Admirals Plan - note serious faces of austere concentration .. [obviously a posed photograph]

And they keep on planning. Note, then there is this guy in a Hawaiian shirt on the end, getting very chummy with the US Marine Corp chap MacArther ! Yes he got promoted to C-in-C, obvious with hindsight!

The Admirals of the class of 1926 all successfully "pass" the Ship Identification "end of term test", all proudly spotting the expensive, six funnelled USS Ranger aircraft carrier - a very advanced ship, laid on the stocks with no chance of being finished in time to participate in the war.

The Great Pacific War of the 1920's starts with the Manilla Squadron in dire trouble as an elite IJN fast battlecruiser squadron tries to Copenhagen them, but thanks to the foresight of the American Admirals the modernisation of the Manilla Squadron pays off and the IJN are sent packing, though vowing to come back with reinforcements.

With "The Ticket to Manilla" as War Plan Orange the USN charges across the Pacific, sadly loosing the CV they managed to build (the USS Langley) and the seven funnelled USS Lexington to IJN air and torpedo attacks. Nevertheless they arrive in time to face the IJN Combined Fleet (without Kaga and Akagi superdreadnoughts due to slow production and lack of steel thanks to US sanctions). Both sides engage in a battleline fight and loose all their battlecruisers. The USN have an advantage in battleships and the IJN in light forces (cruisers and destroyers).

A stroke of USN tactical genius and bravery sees the damaged USN Manilla Squadron sortie and catch the IJN in a pincer move. The Japanese battleline is Trafalgar'ed and remnants escape back to the Home Islands. The Japanese sue for peace. Well played the USN!

• Air Strike Nigeria - Planning a Jet Air Ground Attack (simple plan, rather than attacking the heavily defended by AA assets enemy HQ, we chose the high value AA asset [radar] for a points win [some would say long game] to take out - as the Rookie ordnance man I loaded up with range zero "big bombs" and some A-2-A self defence missiles which caused some consternation with the " married family men" of the flight): 

Death before dishonour, through evasive action that really jangled the pilots nerves [lose too much cool and you are a poor flyer which is not a good thing] we survive the close AA barrage [if I had swapped that for long range ordnance we might have suppressed the AA - lesson learned, a mixed array of weapons works best]. The big bombs clobber the important Soviet Era AA radar [4pts] and almost getting a win-win with the fuel dump too [just one hit point off] and try and "leg-it" but there are bandits on our tails.

We lose a boomer to enemy A-2-A combat but thanks to the plentiful availability of A-2-A in the attack flight we down "two" fighters which make the mission an outstanding success .. I am skimping over the pilot who ejected over "No Man's Land" due to "uncool flying technique" and had to hitch a lift home in a Yellow Taxi wearing civilian clothes.  

• Poland 1939 - One Hour WW2 (watched a game of Martin Rapier's excellent WW2 Brigade Level rules play an interesting Poland 1939 scenario [Stukas, Pz I's, Armoured Cars, Pak 35s, polish Cavalry and bridges that must be held at all costs]): 

The broad landscape with a good bit of Polish strategic pointing at the key terrain feature - the bridge across the river!

Massed German armour and stout hearted Poles in defence of the strategically important bridge that had been "pointed out" earlier!

The Luftwaffe's Stukas ensure "War is Hell". The Poles fought well, but the Germans were too "combined arms" for them in the end.

• A Simple Dice COIN Game (developed as part of his PhD wargaming research at Bath Spa University Pete Sizer has come up with this interesting solitaire COIN game, using a lot of dice):

Pete guiding six players simultaneously playing his solitaire COIN Dice Game, with dice acting as handy game tokens [representing things in various states] as well as "things to roll" - the amount of dice rolling was deafening! I stood on the side lines and watched this one as I was still mentally exhausted from putting on The Great Pacific War just prior to this, but need to play it. Perhaps in a quiet moment in CoW 2025 Pete can take me aside with a pint in hand to show me it again! 

• War of the Roses: Princes in the Tower - Cluedo(ish). There is Cluedo, then there is almost Cluedo with the Princes in the Tower historical authors battling it out with their egos over-filling rooms to define teh best "pet absurd theory" that will get them a lucrative "book deal"! I don't think I got all the in jokes, but enough to make it very amusing! 

• Lynchville is Burning (Again) - Role Playing and Committee Game. Naturally no photos as decreed by the 1950's emergency laws pressed into service. In an extreme state of anti communist paranoia where security and sensible lifestyle choices are paramount for the survival of the United States of America I can now fully understand the attraction of the Fallout Vault option. Sadly we did not have a vault, but we did have several cunning plans to infiltrate the seemingly harmless Trade Union to discover Soviet sleeper agents and undesirables. Each cunning plan failing in quick succession, the team turned to ever more desperate and darker tactics to give results, any results - no matter how fanciful to the powers that be that "ran" the organisation. The result was naturally chaos; it followed in an inevitable tragic sense. The fire at the gas mask factory was teh last straw, the bewildered workers mixed with agent provocateurs bused in for the occasion and unfortunate, unwanted newspaper coverage of agents no longer with the service, retired early before their prime. Are we still safe, that all depends on Department 12. 

• Ukrainian National Guard - A small squad tactics game, with maps and counters. A team planning and execution of a simple task that can always be made harder by doing something silly. Thankfully we watched, got lucky and flushed out the Russian observers but enemy drones blew up our BMP lift home.   

• GMT's - Last Hundred Yards Play Through. Using the serendipity of two people having the same game and wanting to know if they are playing it right this was a sit down session of a basic scenario. The good news was that we seemed to be playing it correctly, the game made sense and was a nice alternative to Advanced Squad Leader (ASL).   

• Bring and Buy Sale Bonanza (loot and swag collected at the bring and buy stall): 

Plenty of helicopters, Norman Knights and Hoplites, so what is not to like? Supplementing existing collections and periods.

 Plenty of "New Rules" courtesy of the stable of senor Trebian, for periods I want to get into!

 Old rules, but still the period is interesting and ideas are great to explore.

My personal weakness - other people's lead, end of collections and odds and sods, that could fit in somewhere (possibly) to my old collections. Pennies well spent I think, as the alternative is much more expensive late night Internet purchases, that you probably regret the next day! Well that is my excuse ;)   

Finally - the things that you never thought you would see again and missed getting first time round. A personal soft spot for me 2000AD, Judge Dredd RPG. A classic despite what Enzo the dog thinks about it!

And take a deep breath, sir all the above, mixed with great food, alcoholic drinks and good company. Fantastic event, I can recommend it to one and all.

More details of Wargames Developments can be found at: https://wargamedevelopments.org/

I know bookings for CoW 2025 are now open to the General Wargaming Public, come on in the water is lovely https://wargamedevelopments.org/event/cow-2025/ if you have read this far you will probably enjoy it!

Shiny Board Game Moment: VUCA Simulations

You can blame Whispering Al for this one, not me, if you succumb (see below, a very likable looking set of board games awaits the unwary traveller):

• https://vucasims.com/

Hmm, Pacific and Bismarck games immediately catch my immediate eye, but to be frank, they all look good!

• https://vucasims.com/collections/available-games/products/the-chase-of-the-bismarck-operation-rheinubung-1941
• https://vucasims.com/collections/available-games/products/task-force-carrier-battles-in-the-pacific

Not cheap, but the most expensive game is the one that is never played .. as it serves as a distraction!

Painting the Australian Matilda Tank Variants - Reference Point

This had been on my "to do" list for a long, long time. In a way it will be the end of my Matilda project (odyssey), which encompasses BEF 1940 (Arras, also including the\ Matilda I), the 1941-42 "Queen of the Desert" Western Desert 8th Army, Red Russia (snow camouflaged) and finally the Digger Australian Hedgehog, Flamethrower and gun tanks (see below, for current Australian reference points):  

• https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/australia/aus_matilda

Inspirational work (see below, Mini AFV blog): 

• http://miniafv.blogspot.com/2013/12/airfix-176-matilda-hedgehog-completed.html

I found this You Tube video very informative (see below, nice combat and motion pictures, plus CGI reconstruction):  

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1T9A7-Cxlc

The majority of my Matilda fleet come from the Airfix stables, but I have one ESCI/Italeri and one resin (Britannia Miniatures - I think) addition. There are two Matilda I's metal from the old 20mm Skytrex range (where ever they are now). If I was feeling brave enough I might have a go at the Matilda Scorpion mine clearing AVRE tank.

[Footnote: Sad fact of the Internet and "links" - they can and do change. This post has been so long in the pending state that one of the two original links I had - "expired" by teh time I came to post. So I guess, pictures and words last better than links over time.]

Nimitz - Sam Mustafa Wargame Rules .. is it "The One"?

Is it the .. "The One Set of Naval WWII Rules" .. (to rule them all) that I have been waiting for all my wargaming life (pass me my Hood and Rodney and bring out your Bismarck models)? Now I am a man who has collected a few set of naval rules over the years (and that is an understatement of sorts). I am a grizzled fifty plus year old with a large ship collection - some of which are even painted - in various scales. Post my Paul Hague "Sea Battles (in miniature)" adolescent gaming, I was weaned onto General Quarters I (for WWII) and General Quarters II (for the Great War, aka WWI) .. which were very close to very damn, damn good IMHO - bar time consuming for large fleet actions [but don't ask my opinion on General Quarters III as I think it "went the wrong way" counting turrets rather than abstracting firepower and they broke it .. sniff]. Then there were many such as Sea Krieg that had oodles of charts [but killed playability IMHO]. There were the insanely simple ones (from Full Thrust variants to one brain cell rules, akin to Victory at Sea and Victory in the Pacific Avalon Hill board games - and no I am not forgetting AH Jutland). The great David Manly produced some fine sets of Russo-Jap, WWI and WWII (which I bought and meant to really get into .. but time needed and the urge to learn yet another set, while "feeling around" for the native intuition of what the rule writer wanted to convey - left me cold) .. but what I really, really [Spice Girls] want, is to find the sweet spot of a "pick up an play" set of rules which give very reasonable [but not deterministic] historical results - quickly (as in quicker than the historical battle took) .. that lead into extended campaign play, of multiple scenarios - without premature umpire brain death. I am a man who discovered Fletcher Pratt very late in life, thanks to Wargames Developments [Nugget articles] and the History of Wargames Project [collating, then editing, reprinting and selling the rules]. There I see the beautiful analogue ingenuity of the firing mechanisms [hell it is a damn close to the same set of rules used by the professional US Naval War College in their inter-war years re-fights of Jutland and Sable Island [the latter being the hypothetical USN against the RN action], but for all its historical accuracy and fun suffers from the "mass is mostest and bestest" paradigm .. 48,000 tonnes of Hood could take on the 45,000 (or was it 50,000) tonnes of the Bismarck. No critical hits and punctuated equilibrium, but graduated damage. So back to Sam Mustafa's Nimitz (see below, a good book cover with the great man himself looking out over a battle scene with the USN's finest DDs doing battle, with the backdrop of a historical map): 

I went for the Amazon local print option and am currently digesting it. So far and so good, it is really two sets of rules in one - Nimitz for the tactical and Halsey for the campaign, which I like. Watch this space for further details and hopefully an AAR soon ;) 

Worthington's Coral Sea Solitaire Game

I immediately banked this one when it came out as an instant buy, a "must have", partly because I would simply cry buckets if it were not available when I wanted it as I knew I had all the miniatures to take it to tabletop (see below, US CV's are already done [Lady Lex and Yorktown], and I just need to base and varnish the two main force Japanese CVs [Shokaku (Soaring Crane), Zuikaku (Auspicious Crane)]): 

Then there is the third small Japanese CV [Shoho (Auspicious Phoenix)], some cruisers and the Invasion Fleet in 1/3000 to paint. Motivation, that is all I needed!

Airfix's "Boomerang Bob" Fighter - A Bucket List Build

I eagerly awaited the 2022 "Vintage" re-release of the Australian WWII "Panic Fighter" (the real thing was made from spare parts from aircraft available indigenous in Australia in 1942) as I remember "seeing it" as a kid in the Airfix Catalogue, wondering about it, but never going about getting it. There was always something more 'sexy' with crosses on it that took preference. A bit like the Fairey Battle and Brewster Buffalo, a missed childhood opportunity (see below, the CA-13 with original box art in all its glory, I bought it direct from Airfix when I picked up some resin buildings in their end of year sale):   

All things said it is not a particularly complicated build, not many parts but I took time as I was in no particular rush (see below, it came together quite nicely):  

If there was a scary part about building the Boomerang it was the canopy as it comes in three parts, the main bubble and two 'sliding' side parts (see below, I took time to make sure things fit well, the inside needed painting before the messy "Clearfix" came into use later):   

The decals were very sexy, the Australian RAAF Pacific version of the RAF roundel, with the red bit missing as "anything with a bit of red in it, got a lot of Allied AA fire" regardless of what it actually was. All the Allied countries discovered the universal itchy AA trigger finger of their AA gunners to their own cost (see below, something satisfyingly distinctive with the missing red that says Pacific War we are fighting the Japanese):  

Primed Airfix Acrylic Grey (see below, you may need to do a double take to spot any difference, but trust me there is a layer of grey paint there): 

Because it is the way I do things now, the whole model got a Vallejo Dipping Sepia Brown wash coat (see below, the brown and green colour scheme seemed to lend itself to brown rather than black for leaving the detail "lined in" after putting on the base colour, I guess it is all about "painting less" rather than more):  

Bottoms up, underside first. I wanted to use as close as I could to the original Airfix/Humbrol paint scheme and as luck had it I had Humbrol 65 (Matt Aircraft Blue) in a little penny packet paint pot from another "starter kit" which saved me a trip to the model shop (see below, the brown wash seems to be working nicely for the dark detail):  

Starting the topside camouflage, first the brown (see below, note this is where I had to use the paint matcher site which said Tamiya XF-52 Matt Earth [4.5 stars match] equates to Humbrol Acrylic 98 Matt Chocolate): 

https://www.modelshade.com/paint-conversion-chart/humbrol/241

Next the camo green part to complement the brown (see below, Humbrol Acrylic 149 Matt Dark Green gets matched to Vallejo Model 70.894 [4.0 stars but also a bit of confusion here, as the site matcher calls this Camo Olive Green - but my bottle says Russian Green, so I went with my 894 bottle anyway]): 

Next: The white tail (Humbrol Acrylic 34) and black (Humbrol Acrylic 33) propeller - note the tips of the propeller were not painted black, but were left lighter to help the yellow paint stand out better, Alos the flight jacket was given a Vallejo Leather Brown base coat (see below, the little bits count as much as the big bits - I think I have also given the pilot some flat flesh on his face and hands too): 

Next a highlight to the brown by mixing in a little yellow, plus the tips of the propeller are painted yellow (see below, I just wanted it to look a little blocky and weather worn over the panelling): 

Similar yellow mixed with the green for another blocky highlight, I also give the pilot a highlight on his leather flying suit (see below, at this point I think the paint job is starting to come together nicely): 

The tail gets a final white highlight which is just another coat of paint giving it depth to the prominent places, and neglecting the recesses, touching up with a brown wash. The cockpit glass is put into place using ClearFix - my least favourite Humbrol product as I find it very messy and stringy and I am odds to get it in the right places, even carefully dabbing it on with a cocktail stick (see below, fixed in place I leave it to set overnight): 

Fixed in place the plexiglass gets blacklined (see below, by this point I am almost exhausted painting, so I go slow and carefully, absolutely no rushing):  

From black to camo green and then a subtle highlight (see below, begging for the Australian decals to bring it to life):

The decals really make it look the part. However there is a sorry tale to tell here. As the Humbrol product I used, DecalFix reacted badly with the Tamiya and Vallejo paints, as in it stripped them away beautifully .. sadness gripped my heart. Now to worry I carried on and let the decals fix, then when all "well and truly dry" I painted round decals as best I could (see below, I think I got away with it; interestingly the subject of DecalFix melting Tamiya paints is well covered on the forums - I subsequently found out):  

The underside, the only thing to add is the fact that I highlighted the Humbrol Aircraft Blue 65, with a Revel Aqua Colour, Sky Blue, then adding a touch of white for a subtle highlight of a highlight in places that just caught the eye (see below, tickle that tummy, which has a bulbous camera housing in it, dead centre): 

The final act is a matte varnish (see below, Humbrol Matt Cote): 

Bucket list item .. "Done" and I am very proud of it.

Looking forward to this (Vintage) release from Airfix later this year (2022): RAAF Boomerang (WWII)

A bit like the Fairey Battle kit, the RAAF Boomerang was a kit that I sadly missed first time round from my childhood Airfix shopping list. As it approaches a new [Autumn, so still a bit off] release date my salivation will start. Luckily it is one of the smaller models so even with the current plastic manufacturers price hikes [some of the prices of the recent large Airfix kits have caused consternation over the morning coffee, quite scary to the likes of little old me] I should snap one us (see below, I love the classic box art): 

 

Note: Not a smidgen of red anywhere to be seen near the markings. Quiet the opposite in fact, blue highlighted by white. That is meant calm the twitchy trigger finger nerves of friendly Allied AA gunners and Allied aircrew alike, to avoid common "blue-on-blue".

Midway Aerial Combat - Warlord Games Starter Set

I hummed and hared and at first said "no" (with a surprising almost believable inner voice), as I was already collecting the same period in a different wargaming scale 1/144 (or should I really say scales, as on a stock-check I also had kits in 1/72 - for a separate more "modelling" based project - but not for air combat, despite what Airfix will have you think). Then I took another look at the contents of the box and the expansions in progress (sigh) and saw all the models I had not been able to yet collect (and did not really know how I was going to collect [Devastators, Kates and Vals]). So my inner self laughed at me and said "I was only kidding!" (see the result below, I am now the proud owner of a mighty Midway Air Combat Box although gawd only knows when I will be able to get round to paint them):

I already have my eyes on the USN Bomber pack for a Xmas present! 

Painting Pacific War (1942) Douglas Dauntless Version SDB-3: Reference Notes

While "going through my loft" in search of the 1/48th scale Airfix Spitfire Vb (now proudly hanging from a son's bedroom ceiling), I came across a box marked the Airfix USN Pacific Air (Midway) Project. A "project on hold". I had (at some distant point in the past) collected the Airfix Devastator, Dauntless and Wildcat USN trio (I also plan/planning to to the same for the IJN [Zero, Kate, Val], likewise there is a RAF - Battle of Britain Fighter Box [Spitfire, Hurrican, Defiant, Beaufighter and Gloster Gladiator] and a Signature Battle of Britain Luftwaffe [Me 109, Me 110, Stuka Ju-87, Ju-88, Heinkel 111] collection/project in progress). Seeing as the Dauntless was only 'part complete' I decided to "give it a shove" and also do an unboxing on the Wildcat kit - which turned out to my surprise as a more modern re-tooled Airfix kit - the difference in the level of detail and clarity in instructional layout is significant (see below, kit progress: 100%, -  50% and 0% done):  

The Devastator is a canny old bird and I have immense respect for the crew that had to fly these "obsolete" planes into battle in one of the pivotal periods of the Second World War. In fact the Devastator reminds me of the "Fairey Battle" of France 1940 fame. With respect to the paint job, I see I I tried to get a sea battered and weathered look (see below, I have a feeling that I have over worked it a little - sometimes less can be more): 

Job done for the day so time to return the Dauntless to its USN Pacific War party box. It is a "no rush" project, it was nice just to get the loose bits of plastic stuck together and not lost and MIA (which is frustrating). I used some Vallejo Plastic Putty to fill the inevitable "gaps" of an early Airfix model kit (see below, the current painting tray, eclectic as ever, a WWII Pacific USN Air War set next to Games Workshop Fantasy bunch of Nurgles!): 

One issue I have is, what sort of paint scheme to adopt. I chose the USB Dauntless SDB-3 option for the 1942 era Dauntless but the decals are for a NZ plane, the USMC decals are for the 1944 SDB-5 and the Oxford Blue paint scheme looks bad for 1942. So I am looking for a painting guide match for 1942 that can fit either Vallejo or Tamiya paints (at a push Airfix Humbrol). Suggestions appreciated.

Other USN Mid-War Camo Reference Sites: 

 https://www.modelwereld.eu/images/productimages/big/Douglas%20SBD-3.5%20Dauntless%20Airfix%20A02022%201;72%20tek.1.jpg