Operation Pedestal a Go

Based on my research of rules, books and miniatures for the WWII naval operation called "Operation Pedestal," I have determined that I am going to do it [naval wargame fans go wild in the background].

I am looking to run this operation in a single four hour game session.  The operation was from August 9 to 15.  I will run the game very similar to my Arctic convoy game.

Rules

My previous convoy game used a variety of rules.  This time I wanted to see if I could just use a single ruleset.  I looked at a number of boardgames to see if they could be used with miniatures.  The best one I found is Second World War at Sea: Bomb Alley.  I tested submarine, aircraft and surface ship actions and all work well.  I don't have the second edition, but my edition should work fine.  So far I did notice I will have to modify the motor torpedo boat rules a bit.

Books

I did not start with many references to the operation, but have been finding a few books to help.  Here are some:

• Courage Alone: The Italian Air Force 1940-1943.  For Italian air force reference, I discovered this book is good for aircraft colours and squadron OOB.  There are two pages that show all the Italian squadrons, where they were stationed and how many aircraft of a certain type were operational during Pedestal.  I trust this over the Supermarine II scenario book below.

• Pedestal: Malta Convoy of August 1942 by Peter Smith.  Excellent book.  Very comprehensive and probably do not need another book on the operation.

• Supermarine II: The Second Part of the Mediterranean War July, 1941 to August, 1942 published by Clash of Arms Games.  The Pedestal scenario in this book is very good.  It outlines the air bases, number of planes and types.  Also it outlines the task forces in more detail than in the Bomb Alley scenario book.

Miniatures

I thought I could use 1:2400 miniatures (i.e. GHQ) for all the Allies and some Axis ships, but found the selection was not great and the models are probably too big to fit on the table (the 4'x6' cloth with hexes during the operation could end up having all the Allied task forces laid out).  I have chosen 1:3000 due to the availability of types of ships and ends up being cheaper.  I've painted up plenty of 1:3000 before, so they should look pretty good.

The aircraft miniatures will be CAP Aero 1:1250.  Nope, not all planes are available by CAP Aero.  I will be going with Tumbling Dice 1:600.

Italian Video

Operation Pedestal convoy action (no sound)