Claymore 2011

I managed to get to SESWC's Claymore last weekend, as I have tried to do each year whenever possible.  I think the first one I went to was in about 1980 when they used to hold it in Adam House in Chambers Street; and the purchase of my first flat in Edinburgh in the mid-90s was no doubt subconsciously influenced by the fact that Claymore was by then using Meadowbank Stadium, just across the road.

The venue is now the spiffy new Telford College at Granton a mere 20 minutes cycle (it's downhill) from where I live on the southside (did anyone spot me in my black and green cycling gear?) and the event is bigger than ever, but just as friendly and accessible.

The problem with Claymore though (or should I say the problem with me) is that I find that I am probably too out of step with the way things are in the hobby now, in that there weren't really any games on display this year using the rules, scales or periods that I play (or would like to play).  I suspect though that this is because when I finally get into a period it can take me a decade or so to get the armies up and running....

However, it is great that such an event is organised in the capital every year and there is always inspiration to be found somewhere, even if you realise it later on, so kudos to SESWC for organising Claymore and running it so well.

Despite my slightly negative feelings about it all (I was worried there that I may be turning into Keith Flint) I did manage to achieve something and that was to find the last book in the five-volume Tank Battles in Miniature series, written by Messrs Quarrie and Featherstone, that I've been collecting fitfully for the last five years, and here it is:

I can't remember which vendor sold it to me but he kindly offered to double the price when I incautiously mentioned that I'd been looking for this for ages in order to complete the set.

And the delayed-reaction inspiration?  Well, I've ordered Black Powder and intend to expand into what will be a totally new period for me.  More of that later (see you in about 10 years!).

Attack on Pola No.2

I described the scenario and reproduced the briefings for this fictional engagement in an earlier post and so here is the battle report for the Attack on Pola.

Russian forces comprised five ironclads plus two blockships, which they would try to sink at the entrance to Pola Harbour (just the blockships, that is).  The Austrians also had five ships, plus three shore batteries at their disposal.  The map below (done in MappingBoard) shows the playing area, which is supposed to be located on the Croatian coast in the Adriatic.  Not a lot of detail really, but then it is mostly sea.

The Russians entered at the southwestern corner of the board keeping well away from the coastline in order to avoid alerting the shore batteries.  Despite this, the Russians' first act was to fire on the shore batteries, thus alerting them.  This also had the effect of setting the clock running for when the Austrian ships would appear, which they duly did.

Getting closer to the harbour mouth the Russians started to turn towards the objective and the Austrians also turned to starboard in order to try to cross the Russians' T and bring all turrets to bear.  The Austrian ships and shore batteries were starting to get the range and quickly put Captainski's (i.e. HMS Captain's) after turret out of action (if you have Paul Hague's Sea Battles in Miniature you'll know that the Russians seem to get hold of British Admiralty blue-prints rather readily....), whilst the Russians kept firing, and missing.

A few turns further on and the Russians managed to destroy a shore battery but Captainski was still suffering damage and sank by a deck, thus losing headway.  The Austrian ship Edelweiss (the one with all its washing still up) crossed the Russians' T and poured more fire into Captainski, whilst the rest of the Austrians sailed southwards and parallel to the Russians with the intention of getting full broadsides in (not entirely successfully).  Meanwhile, the other Austrian squadron, which had been sitting with steam up in Pola Harbour, appeared on the table behind the headland.

Nevertheless, despite the Captainski falling out of line to starboard, shadowed by the now damaged Edelweiss, the Russian van continued its inexorable progress toward its objective (destroying another shore battery in the process) whilst the Austrians continued to sail past them the wrong way!  Turn round dammit!

A move later and the badly damaged Edelweiss finally sank the Captainski!  At last, a result for the Austrians (me), although with the rest of the fleet either heading the wrong way or not yet clear of the headland things were perhaps not going that well.

Meanwhile at the mouth of the harbour the situation was getting awkward with the Russians trying to get in and the Austrians trying to stop them.  With enough speed now gained, the Austrian battleship Liszt rammed and sank the blockship Spirit of Dunoon.  However, the other blockship (Frieda) and the Russian box-battery Carolinski managed to slip into the bay between the headland and the otherwise occupied Liszt.

As if this wasn't bad enough, the Russian box-battery Polanski got a direct hit on the Edelweiss and finally, after a very long run of dud die throws, the Russians managed to ignite her magazine and she blew up

Always slow burners, the Russians were now getting into their stride and, despite taking some last minute damage, opened the sea cocks on the Frieda and sank her right across the entrance to Pola, exactly where the scenario required.  To add insult to injury the Austrian breastwork monitor Silesia was sunk close to the headland as she raced back towards the harbour mouth, too late to do anything about it anyway.

Totting up the scenario victory points the Russians had got one blockship in position, sunk two battleships and destroyed two shore batteries, earning 60 points overall.  In contrast, despite getting first blood, the Austrians only managed 15 points by sinking a battleship and a blockship before it could get into position.

Overall, it was a successful game - from the point of view that we had a scenario that was interesting (I think, anyway), had a clear objective and was worth fighting for - and also from Geoff's point of view specifically because he won the battle so emphatically.  Furthermore, the simplified version of  Paul Hague's ironclad rules allowed us to finish the game in one evening even though there was a bit of re-familarisation to be done.

Finally, the ships fought well, including the old cardboard ships (some now 30 years old, such as Caroline, above) as well as the newer vessels made especially for the occasion. So, look out for further clashes in this era, although perhaps it's time to get back onto dry land after all this naval stuff and get some toy soldiers out again for our next outing.

River Boat No.2

There seems to have been a naval theme over the last month or so (and it's not quite over yet) and contributing to this I finally got around to finishing off the Darkest Africa river boat I'd been working on.  Over the black undercoat (see earlier post) I added a base layer of dark grey to the 'steel' areas (Revell Acrylic Mouse Grey) and gave the 'wooden' areas a rough layer of my trusty Raw Earth (from a Fired Earth tester pot).  Here is Coppletone's Col. Spalding (or is it Rufus T Firefly?) trying it out for size.

You can see that I've added more detail to the wheel house since last time including panels on the doors, a window frame for the front and a couple of louver-like vents.  All additions were made from strips of thin card (old business cards).  I also added some planking to the side wheels (just some scored cardboard).  Most of the woodwork was then painted with another tester pot emulsion, this time Farrow and Ball's "James White" (I wonder if they do a "James Brown"?), and then highlighted here and there with some normal white acrylic.

Steelwork was painted with progressively lighter shades of grey (although you can't really tell) and the windows were done with some gloss Revell Ultramarine Blue.  Decks were painted with Revell Dark Earth.  Finally, after re-scoring the planking on the side wheels (as it had got a bit clogged up) and a bit of touching up, I dry brushed the Raw Earth with some James White.  I then daubed rust spots and staining on the cabins and other white areas using thinned Revell matt Brown (an orange-brown, actually).

Overall, it's turned out not bad and it is now looking like a suitably disreputable riverboat rust-bucket on the upper Limpopo or wherever.  I'm tempted to tinker a bit but will probably just leave it as I've other things to do, including making a deck gun of some sort and maybe even adding some crew.

Attack on Pola No.1

Here are the briefings I prepared for the naval battle we fought this week using Paul Hague's Sea Battles in Miniature ironclad rules.  Battle report to follow.

Background
It is 1897 and the Greeks and Turks are fighting for control of Crete. The fleets of the Great Powers keep station in the Aegean warily watching the outcome of this conflict....and each other. Meanwhile, in the confusion, the Russians see a chance to get their revenge for the humiliating defeat previously inflicted on them by the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy by striking at their very heart in the Adriatic (I don't know what the Royal Navy was up to letting them slip out of the Black Sea - must have been the cuts).

Russian Briefing
Your mission is to mount a surprise attack on the main Austro-Hungarian naval base at Pola (now Pula) on the Croatian coast (across the Adriatic from Venice).

Your force will consist of a large squadron of battleships (5 No.) plus two blockships (Frieda and Spirit of Dunoon) that you must try to sink across the narrow entrance to the great harbour at Pola.

Austrian forces are likely to consist of a similar number of ships which are expected to be at anchor at Pola, if that is, you can get there without alerting them. There are a number of shore batteries comprising 10” guns (or so your spies tell you) on the headlands around Pola which are perhaps not as watchful as they should be.

Russian Winning Conditions -  If you get both blockships in position and close the entrance to the harbour (at the narrowest point) then you have an outright win (30 points per blockship plus a 30 point bonus). If you get one blockship in position then you will be awarded 30 points. 10 points are awarded for each Austrian warship sunk or incapacitated. 5 points are awarded for each shore battery put out of action.

Austrian Briefing
The Russians in their usual manner have not been subtle in their approach through the Adriatic and have been spotted coaling off Corfu. You surmise that they may be making for your main base at Pola (again, so far so predictable) and therefore you have been keeping one squadron patrolling in the Adriatic whilst the other remains on standby in Pola harbour with steam up for immediate sailing.

At the start of the game the Adriatic squadron (3 No. ships) will secretly dice to see when it appears from the north, rolling a d6 at the start of each move to see whether it comes onto the table that move, adding +1 for each additional move to the score (a total of 6 or more is required to enter). This squadron will enter at maximum speed.

The same is done to determine when the shore batteries spot the Russians and open fire, starting dicing from when the Russian fleet first comes into long range (60cm in this case) (assuming they're actually trying to be stealthy).

For the squadron in port (2 No. ships) throw a d5 from when the shore batteries first open fire. This is the number of moves before they can be placed on the table as they start to exit the harbour. They can only come out line ahead starting at minimum speed (2kts).

Austrian Winning Conditions: 10 points are awarded for each Russian warship sunk or incapacitated and 5 points are awarded for sinking a blockship (that doesn't block the harbour).

Wargaming Airborne Operations

I've had a copy of this 1977 Donald Featherstone book for a few years but the last time Geoff was round he expressed an interest in it, and as we've been in WW2 skirmish mode recently, I managed to get a copy for him from ebay (it's his birthday).

It's another one of those classics with lots of exciting pictures of barely or even unpainted plastic figures, paratroop drops using bits of tissue paper tipped out of a box and brilliant cardboard cutout gliders (that really glide!).  Such a contrast from today's slick presentation and requirements for this season's models and rule supplements (I digress).

Also, if you notice, every word of the book's title on the dust cover has a hyphen in it, which is quirky, to say the least.

Anyway, using the ideas in this book we have very successfully re-fought the D-Day landings and Operation Market Garden (And Crete?  I can't remember).  I even have a model of the Arnhem bridge in 1/72 scale somewhere...

...which looks remarkably like the one featured on pages 146-150 of the book.

Wait a minute.  Three posts in a row about books?  What's going on here?!

Ironclads in the Adriatic

After seeing my post on the rather one-sided tussle between the Russians and Austrians in the Adriatic, Geoff suggested that we give Paul Hague's Sea Battles in Miniature Ironclad rules another outing this week, perhaps to allow the Russians a chance of revenge.  In case you don't know Sea Battles in Miniature, it looks like this:

The rules are rather simple but I like to think of them as the naval equivalent of Brigadier Young's Charge! or Donald Featherstone's rules that 'classic' wargamers are understandably fond of.  Furthermore, the ship designs included within the book for scratch-building are also rather stylised (although based on Fred T Jane's drawings), which fits with the simplicity of the rules. Nothing wrong with that (it makes them easier to construct for one thing) although my ships are nowhere near as fine as this chap's.  Speaking of which, here are a couple of merchantmen I made this weekend for this week's scenario.  They are about 90mm long.

Hulls are balsa and the white bits of superstructure are pieces of polystyrene pizza-base, shaped to fit.  Add some cardboard hatch covers, match-stick funnels and pins for masts and voilà!

And here you go, a basic paint job as is befitting.  One or two other things to make but these shouldn't take long.  By the way, I can't tell you more about the planned scenario as I don't want Geoff to know what he's up against until he gets here....

Spanish Colonial Fortifications

I'm keen on making things for the wargames table and that usually means buildings (see previous posts), particularly structures that you might find in desert or arid environments.  Maybe it's because I'm from Scotland that I need a bit of simulated warmth now and then (I also lived in Granada for a while, which is probably the real reason).

Anyway, Spanish American buildings are one of the lines I'm interested in as I have a long term aim to wargame the Maximilian expedition in 15mm.  Furthermore, any such buildings may come in handy for Africa (AK47) and the ancient middle east (Lydia/ Persia).  Hence my latest purchase from Osprey:

And you know it's not just the Alamo in there, but lots of opportunities for interesting colonial interactions in the 18th century (or earlier) as well.  That said, I will of course still be relying on The Magnificent Seven for ideas on Spanish American architecture and ambience (not to mention Rosenda Monteros).

River Boat No.1

Developing my Darkest Africa theme (see previous posts) I considered that the intrepid explorers needed a bit of transport through the steamy jungle, and here it is:

This beauty is about 28mm scale and I made it using balsa for the hull and wheel house, cardboard for the sidewheels, lower cabin, bridge, upper deck and louvered doors, plus some matchsticks to hold the deck up.  The funnel is a short pencil from IKEA (it was free!) and therefore usefully hexagonal.

It actually started out like this but I modified it a bit, as you can see.

Some further modifications and additions are intended, not to mention painting, so I'll tell you about this when I've done them.  By the way, that Bell's miniature in the background traditionally holds paint thinner rather than whisky.  Desperate times call for desperate measures (pun intended).

An Incident in the Adriatic

I bought Paul Hague’s Sea Battles in Miniature in July 1981 (with my birthday money) from the famous but now sadly defunct Edinburgh bookshop James Thin’s (it's a Blackwell's now at least). It’s another one of those overlooked wargame classics, in my opinion, and has some cracking rules for various naval periods. One of the sets of rules is for Pre-Dreadnought / Ironclad games and as I still have the various turning circles and reference cards (made of salvaged cardboard), and even some old models we’d made to hand (ditto), we had a quick game to try out the rules.

The engagement we fought was a ‘what-if' (or ‘what the heck’) action between Austrian and Russian squadrons, somewhere in the Adriatic, perhaps off the Dalmatian coast, circa 1880, in a particularly green sea. We used a slightly simplified version of the ironclad rules that didn’t require the use of percentage dice to determine where on the ship hits landed (if at all).

Here is the situation early on. The Russians have already damaged an Austrian battleship, lurking beside an island.

Here is the Austrian Admiral getting the measure of things and about to put his superior numbers to good use.

And here are the Russians blithely steaming into trouble.

I’m not quite sure how but all hell broke loose almost immediately and, although the Russians initially scored some long range hits, the Austrians closed and rammed. Before I knew it I was two warships down and the third had fled.

I think he won.

Note that the rather ropey ships we were using were made many years ago, following the scratch building principles included in the Sea Battles in Miniatures book (substituting cardboard for balsa).

When we got them out of the tin we found that they were somewhat the worse for wear having been in storage for a long time. However, they were still serviceable and steamed, fought, rammed (and sank) just as well as they used to.

Yet another thing I’m planning is to scratch build some more warships so this is yet another possible project to add to my growing list of things to do. And I may use balsa this time as it probably floats better than cardboard.

Twig Trees

Isn't it amazing how twigs can look like miniature trees?  Here are some that have been languishing in the 'woods' box for quite a while now but which I've just freshened up with larger and more stable bases, rather than the flimsy painted cardboard they used to rely on.

For the new bases I used discs of pizza base polystyrene or thick card.  For some of the lighter trees I added a washer or coin to provide some stability.

I then textured the bases with Ronseal 'multi-purpose' wood filler.  I used the 'Walnut' flavour as it is a very dark brown so is useful as a base colour for forest soils.  I then painted the main colour using Humbrol acrylic 110 (I think it's called Natural Wood; how appropriate), leaving some darker shaded areas showing through, and dry-brushed with my trusty Laura Ashley tester pot 'Parchment', a sort of cream colour.  The bases were finished off with Javis 'Autumn Mix' static grass stuck on with PVA glue.

By the way, the arboriculturalists amongst you will have 'twigged' (did you see what I did there?) that the trees themselves are a mix of apple wood and heather (which we have quite a lot of in Scotland).  I'm thinking that heather stems will make pretty good African (read AK47) thorn trees which will be one of my projects this year or next.

Finally you may note that the tree on the right is a very old experiment in using strands of wire twisted together to form the trunk and then separated out progressively to create the branches.  As you can see the covering masking tape has come off and it's in rather rough shape but I kept it in for reasons of nostalgia and in homage to our old railway set now sadly dismantled. Ave!