Battle of Midway with Miniatures?

Can the Battle of Midway be played with miniatures?  This was the question I posed to myself three years ago after running the Operation Pedestal Malta Convoy game.

I have since purchased a number of Midway boardgames and looked through the miniature rules I own.

Here are the boardgames related to the Battle of Midway I own:

• Midway (1964)
• Midway (1991)
• The Battle of Midway, 1942AD
• The Battle of Midway (HBG)
• Victory at Midway (Command magazine)
• Midway (Avalanche Press 1st ed.)
• Battle of Midway (Louis Coatney)
• Fires of Midway
• Fury at Midway
• Task Force: Carrier Battles in the Pacific

These are the miniature rules I've played or read through:

• Nimitz/Halsey
• Seekrieg V
• Sea Wars Fleet Actions
• General Quarters (1975)
• Naval Thunder
• Midway Campaign (David Manley)
• Victory at Midway
• Command at Sea
• Find, Fix and Strike

The miniature rules were either too complicated or lacked a simple map.  I chose to not focus on miniature rules mainly because of wanting a good map system that boardgames offer.

After testing the boardgames each at least twice, I came up with three main criteria for what is key during the battle that has to be well represented in the game:

1. Search for your opponents Task Forces.
• Dice roll (or random chance) to see if search planes detect Task Forces.
2. Damage to Midway by Japanese planes.
• Midway has to see some sort of recordable damage from each wave of Japanese bombers.
3. Damage to carriers.
• Something more than just a two hit damage result to sink a carrier.

As you can see from my long list of boardgames, I have had not much luck finding a game that meets the three criteria above.  This was until I recently bought Task Force: Carrier Battles in the Pacific and played the Midway scenario.  It met all three and is a quality game.  Midway by Avalanche Press is good, but the damage to airfields rules is not great.  Victory at Midway and The Battle of Midway, 1942AD are not bad.  I recommend Task Force: Carrier Battles in the Pacific by Vucasims.  I look forward to trying out the non-Midway scenarios (i.e. Battle of the Coral Sea).

Task Force rules Midway scenario.  Japanese and Americans can not 

deploy closer to Midway than their corresponding lines on the map.

Recently the Nimitz/Halsey rules by Sam Mustafa was published.  There are two rules published together in one PDF.  Nimitz is the surface miniature rules and Halsey is the campaign level rules.  The Halsey rules is also recommended for the Battle of Midway.  There is even a Midway scenario included.  I think the Halsey rules have an edge over Task Force: Carrier Battle in the Pacific when it comes to the display/use of miniatures.

Halsey Midway scenario map.

Ship Miniatures:

Looking at the Order of Battle for the Midway naval campaign there is a large number of Japanese and American ships involved.  The focus of the battle mainly involved the Task Forces of four Japanese carriers and the three American carriers.

GHQ 1:2400 miniatures would look great, but a bit too expensive for me.  I can see myself buying 1:3000 miniatures to use in conjunction with the previously mentioned rules.  1:6000 miniatures are just too small.  I recommend 1:3000 ships (i.e. NAVWAR).

Air Miniatures:

I have used 1:600 for some recent naval battles.  I have found that this scale is a good one to use for either 1:2400 or 1:3000 ships.  I recommend Tumbling Dice Miniatures and Pico Miniatures for 1:600 WWII planes.

Conclusion:

The Battle of Midway is doable using a map system with miniatures.  I think the real question is, does it make sense running the historic battle?  It is tough for the Japanese to win.  The U.S. reconnaissance is a lot more extensive than the Japanese.  The Japanese have a very low probability of spotting the U.S. carriers before they are spotted.  I have no problem putting together the scenario.  I would enjoy painting up the ships and solo playtesting through the scenario.  Would actual players be okay playing the Japanese and be ready for losing all their carriers?  Maybe I would have to run the Japanese and two or three players play the U.S. Task Forces and Midway island.

Story Board Games? Not for me

I have discovered I do not like what is called a "tactical-level solitaire tabletop wargame," that are basically story based solitaire wargames.  The two I own are The Hunters and Picket Duty.  This type of game typically receives raving reviews.  The games B-17 and The Hunters are excellent examples of games in the genre that are very popular and have high reviews.  For the games they are, they have their appeal.  Why would someone not recommend them?  That is what I'm going to explain.

At first when I played The Hunters, I enjoyed the game and saw how the game played out.  That was fine.  I then played Picket Duty and discovered as a player, I really did not make many choices.  It seemed like I was just going through each turn sequence and rolling dice on different charts.  I basically lost interest in Picket Duty.  I then watched a review of Devil Boats and heard how many charts and dice rolls took place.  The comment was made that there was little player choices.  I guess I had my eureka moment; I do not like games that have almost no player decisions.  These games basically just follow a flow chart model with tables with results that are decided upon based on dice rolls.  I think as a wargamer I want my decisions to positively or negatively impact the game/battles/campaign.  The players pride themselves on the cool stories that come out of the game.  I'd argue that I'd rather the cool stories come out out of player decisions with some randomness rather than mainly tables and dice rolls.

Maybe in submarines, destroyers, PT Boats, and bombers you really don't have many choices you can make, and you really just have to sit back and see what happens.  I think they would be a lot more fun if the player was able to make more decisions.

For now, I can't recommend this genre of board games.

Games mentioned in this blog post:

• The Hunters: German U-Boats at War, 1939
• Picket Duty: Kamikaze Attacks against U.S. Destroyers - Okinawa, 1945
• Devil Boats: PT Boats in the Solomons
• B-17: Queen of the Skies

Boshin War - Naval Wargaming

I recently dove into wargaming the naval aspect of the Boshin War.  Boshin War?

This war took place in Japan 1868-69.  The war was fought between supporters of the Imperial Court and supporters of the Shogunate.  The Imperial Court won the war, unifying Japan under the Imperial Court.  The Emperor moved from Kyoto to Edo.  Edo was renamed to Tokyo.  This war was in the middle of Japan's modernization.

Spithead Miniatures let it be known in 2020 that they would be producing ships for this period and noted that William Warner had produced a book on the subject.  I am definitely interested in the post Age of Sail to pre-dreadnought period.  I have ran American Civil War, Russo-Japanese, Sino-Japanese games and the Battle of Riachuelo in South America.  No problem signing me up for Boshin War.

Here are some Boshin War hobby resources:

Warships of the Late Tokugawa Conflicts: Japan (1853-1870) by William Eugene Warner

Knowing that I would be buying miniatures for the war, I needed to read up on the conflict.  This book is published by Amazon and printed to order.  The book was ordered, printed and arrived in three days...impressive.  There are 213 pages full of great background history on the naval aspects of the war with lots of maps and photos.  All major warships are covered with sketches and profiles.  Information about the weapons and flags are provided as well.

The book is not perfect.  Almost every page has grammatic, punctuation, or spelling errors.  An example of how bad it is, there are two full paragraphs that are repeated in one chapter.  The volume of errors in the book is pretty bad.  I have encountered this before with other authors who choose not to use an editor.  I wish all self published authors used editors.  I hope the facts in the book are correct as I really don't have another source.

Even with all the errors, I recommend this book.  The content is perfect for those interested in wargaming the naval aspect of the war.

My overview of the book.

Spithead Miniatures - Boshin War miniatures

Spithead just manufactured the 1:1200 miniatures for the conflict.  The hulls are resin and the masts are pewter.  There are seven Shogunate and seven Imperial ships available.  A flag sheet is provided.

The post about the miniatures is available on Facebook: Facebook Link

Ironclad 2: Boshin War game

This is a PC game available on Steam.  The game allows you to play either side with the objective to capture key harbours.  At the end of the game based on what key harbours, points are totaled and then it is determined if you won the war.  You spend money on infantry and warships to try to blockade, engage warships, siege or assault a harbour.  The game is mainly designed as a warship simulation.  The campaign portion of the game is just to give context and variability to naval battles.

The ship models look really good, but are not completely accurate to the real ship.  The look the period, but based on what I've seen from Warner's book and the Spithead miniatures, they need rework.  The naval battles will run for a long time, but are probably accurate due to the small number of guns on each ship.  The developer initially came out with the original Ironclads game c.2008.  The Boshin War game came out in 2017.  They have released many Ironclad games based on wars in the period.  I have played the original game and this one.

The game lacks tutorials and you should read the manual before playing.  I stumbled through the game and the manual.  I finally figured it out and it played okay.  The highlight of the game is looking at the ship models in battle.  It is unfortunate there are no islands or coastline in the battles, as historically this was almost always present, as well as coastal guns.  There are a few bugs while playing the game, but nothing causing the game to crash.  The naval battles are long and not very exciting, but I think it gives a good impression on what the battles were like.

For a $10 game, I think it is worth it for those that want to try out naval battles in the Boshin War.

The Boshin War: Civil War in Japan, 1868-69 by David Manley

This is a simple campaign system for generating naval battles using miniatures.  Ship data is provided for ships in the campaign.  David is one of the foremost naval wargame rules writers in the hobby, and supports all naval wargaming eras and has not overlooked the Boshin War.  I suspect he generated this system for his own interest and shared it with the rest of us in the hobby.  This is much appreciated as it will give good tabletop game variation.  There are a total of 13 pages of rules which makes it a easy campaign system to play out.  Since there are not many ships on either side in this war, it makes sense to keep the campaign system simple.

I look forward to using this system.  It is available from Wargame Vault.

Naval Game Setup: Battle of Gogland

I've finished painting up the ships for the Age of Sail Battle of Gogland.  This was a battle fought July 17, 1788 between Russia and Sweden during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-90).  Ship range from frigates to 1rst Rate.  The Russians have the largest ship at 108 guns.

I am using the Flying Colors rules.  The rules are available in the Blue Cross, White Ensign boardgame or Flying Colors boardgame.  The frigates I've painted up take up two hexes, whereas in the boardgame rules they only take up a single hex.  I don't think this impacts the battle, but it does spread out the initial setup a bit.

The game mat is a 1" hex mat from Cigar Box Battle over a 6' x 5' table.

The ships are 1:2400 Tumbling Dice miniatures.  Flags on the back are on narrow brass wire and glued into a drilled hole on the stern of every ship (white glue).  These can be easily removed and replaced if needed for a different country.  I've gone with numeric labels on the back of each stand.  The number corresponds to an OOB instead of trying to put names on the bases.   These labels are color coded to each navy.

Here are pictures of the miniatures and the layout before the battle begins.

My Age of Sail Flip-Flop

Once upon a time I played in a Wooden Ships and Iron Men Age of Sail game (with miniatures) hosted by a good gaming friend of mine at a gaming convention.  We'll call his name Dan.  It was such good fun.  I was hooked.  I had never played Wooden Ships and Iron Men before and the 1:1200 Langton Miniatures looked great.  I started to build up my reference material related to Age of Sail and ended up acquiring the ship miniatures from Dan.  I bought some miniatures myself and finished a schooner and frigate.  I was off and running into the Age of Sail miniature wargaming.

My Langton Miniatures frigate

Then some things happened shortly after starting into Age of Sail.  The miniatures from Dan actually made their way back to him.  That was not a problem, I was off and running with my purchased Age of Sail new packs of miniatures.  When I finished the schooner and frigate I discovered I did not like putting together the Langton Miniatures.  I blame the cost of the miniatures and trying to do the rigging.  It killed my interest in Age of Sail.  I had so many other wargaming interests, I bailed on Age of Sail completely.  I sold off my reference books and miniatures.  I only kept the Wooden Ships and Iron Men game and my frigate.  I kept the frigate as proof that I had actually finished a Langton Miniatures ship.  I was done with Age of Sail.

Something sparked my interest again in Age of Sail.  I can't place my finger on it, but having the Wooden Ships and Iron Men game on my shelf probably had something to do with it.  I had always thought if I got back into the era I would give 1:2400 scale a go, rather than 1:1200.  For some reason I have chosen the Battle of Gogland (1788) between Sweden and Russia.  I guess I have to continue my trend of picking obscure historic battles.  I picked up the Blue Cross White Ensign boardgame (a Flying Colors series game).  I have played out the battle with both Wooden Ships and Iron Men and the Blue Cross White Ensign.  It plays out well with either rules.  The miniatures have been ordered and received.  Assembly has started.  A 1" hex blue mat has been ordered.

Battle of Gogland

I think it should be a fun battle.  It is certainly fun to assemble the 1:2400 Tumbling Dice miniatures (with less rigging planned) and either ruleset.  I am currently leaning towards the Flying Colors rules.  In the future, I have a couple non-hex fleet rules to try out.

3rd Rate 60/64 ships ready to be primed

Ships ready for their sails to be glued on.

Operation Pedestal Game

I put together a video showing my Operation Pedestal game using the Bomb Alley ruleset with miniatures.  I wanted to use a ruleset that would move the convoy along and finish in four hours with up to four players.  I think the rules worked out very well and now I want to try/test out Midway (also by Avalanche Press).  A Midway campaign may be too predicable, but could still be interesting.  If it turns out to be a good one like Operation Pedestal, then I can see myself buying the needed miniatures (probably just the Carrier task forces).

I enjoyed painting up the ships (1:3000) for the scenario.  The ships are from NAVWAR, Davco, Mick Yarrow Miniatures and North Head Miniatures.  Most are from NAVWAR.  The planes are 1:600 from Tumbling Dice and PicoArmor.  A notable difference between these two manufacturers is the Tumbling Dice miniatures are made from a softer pewter than PicoArmor.  Both are recommended.

I want to thank Malcolm Wright again for his series of camouflage books.  They were exactly what I needed for painting up the ships.  I enjoyed painting up both the ships and planes, but the planes took a lot longer than I thought it would.  Also, the decals were insane (putting decals on 1:600 planes).  The Ju 88s for example have eight decals each.  For decals, I recommend Flight Deck Decals .com.  This company has also has carrier deck decals, but I chose to paint my decks.  I'm sure the deck decals work fine.

Link to Operation Pedestal game video:

The game was an adventure to research, paint, layout, test, and run.  I do think it was a bit too large (ships/planes) but it proved you can do a large convoy campaign.

Italian S.M.79 Bombers

Here are a couple photos from my first group of 1:600 planes for my future Operation Pedestal game.  In the photos, the planes further off the ground are S.M.79 bombers and the lower ones are S.M.79 torpedo bombers.  The 1:3000 aircraft carrier is the HMS Furious.

My research on paint schemes on the S.M.79 bombers turned up quite a few variations.  I went with as much variation as I could.

I have tried different basing options for 1:2400 and 1:1250 scale planes in the past and have not been very happy with the outcomes.  I am not going with plastic rods and plastic bases.  The rods are wood on a wood disk which is on a metal 1" washer.  The planes are either glued onto the rod in a groove (torpedo bombers) or via a pin embedded into the rod and then in a drilled hole on the bottom of the plane (bombers).

I thought I could not place decals at this scale, but I surprised myself.

Now I am onto the Ju 88 bombers.

Cruel Seas Discussion

I was able to get in a game of Cruel Seas (new WWII small ship rules) at our club meeting thanks to Bill.  I enjoyed the game.  Even though I had a good time, I don't see myself getting into Cruel Seas.

Recently there has been a very active discussion on Facebook regarding the new Cruel Seas wargame rules and ship models from Warlord Games.  Opinions have run the gamut.  I do not own the rules and do not have any of the models.  Based on knowledgeable Gamers, the rules and models are flawed.  I think this will be fixed in time.  Some Gamers felt that the negative opinions of the rules and company are driving new naval Gamers away from the naval gaming.  I disagree.  Everyone has games or companies they like or dislike and it is okay to express your opinion.

Let's say a Gamer says a ruleset is unplayable and strongly recommends avoiding it.  A new gamer should still give it a try and see what they think.  Hopefully this does not mean the gamer has to shell out a ton of money just to try the rules.  My example of this is when I tried out Blitzkrieg Commander years ago.  I knew that some people did not like it and gave all sorts of reasons what was wrong with it.  Well, for me the rules got me back into WWII land gaming.

How about a naval rules story; Once upon a time I was a naval wargame newbie.  My first miniature naval game I joined in was a Seekrieg IV game.  I had fun and enjoyed the rules.  Later I heard all sorts of complaints about the rules.  Some would say a complex rule system deters new naval Gamers from naval gaming.  No, if the game is fun it does not matter.  Sure, a simpler ruleset is easier to get everyone into naval gaming.  Also, I'm sure if someone did not like Seekrieg, they would give a different ruleset a go.

Another topic that has come up related to Cruel Seas is the historical accuracy of the rules and models.  In this day in age, there is no excuse for this.  Leave the historical inaccuracy to Hollywood.  The excuse that it is okay for a simple naval ruleset (mainly for new naval Gamers) does not fly.  Call it a fantasy naval ruleset.  I'm sure the majority of Cruel Seas is accurate.  The rules can be customized to add accuracy.

Rushing games to market that are not fully vetted is an issue in the video game market.  Not sure this was the case with Cruel Seas, but it does happen.  Blitzkrieg Commander III miniature wargame rules had so many complaints that they switched authors and are publishing a revised edition.

I have not read any books specifically on WWII small ship actions.  I have read about the Italian and German small ships that attacked the Operation Pedestal convoy.  This type of scenario with Cruel Seas ship models would not work based on the size of a typical game table and the size of British escorts and merchants.  I'm sure there are lots of other historic smaller engagements that would work great.  Maybe someday I'll read a great book that describes these engagements.

I recommend trying out these rules.  I think you will have a fun time.

Cruel Seas Ships

My Axis ships for Cruel Seas are ready!!

 Keep scrolling down

Did I fool ya?  They are not for the Cruel Seas rules.  They are 1:3000 German S-Boats and Italian MAS (10 times smaller than the Cruel Seas models).  These miniatures are for my upcoming Operation Pedestal game.

I am working on a Cruel Seas blog post and maybe I'll get to try out the rules before I finish the post.

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)

Operation Pedestal Convoy Wargame Research

I was interested in running a convoy wargame awhile back and was able to put together a WWII Arctic convoy game last year.  It was fun to research, figure out what miniatures to get, paint up the ships and then to run it.  Researching what rules to use was not that fun and I ended up using various rules for the game.  I think it worked out fairly well and got me thinking I could do another convoy game such as Operation Pedestal in the Mediterranean.

Bomb Alley boardgame laid out for testing.

So far my focus has been researching what rules to use.  I can not use Mal Wright's convoy rules because it only covers Atlantic convoys and I do not feel like modifying it for the Mediterranean.  I looked at various boardgames and Lou Coatney Malta Convoy rules.  These rules just did not get into enough detail to work with miniatures on the table.  I went to my shelves and discovered that I owned Bomb Alley by Avalanche Press.  I laid it out and went through the rules thoroughly and to my surprise, I think it is going to work really well.  Instead of using multiple rules for the Operation Pedestal miniature scenario, it looks like I will just use the Bomb Alley rules.  The rules cover the map movement and encounters fairly well.

Like the Arctic Convoy game I ran, this scenario will follow the Allied convoy from Gibraltar to Malta.  For the Axis there are German and Italian submarines and aircraft.  I really do not know Italian aircraft in WWII, so it will be interesting to learn more about them.  Not sure about Italian warships yet.  The Allies have a variety of ships and aircraft to defend the convoy. 

After testing with the rules and making up my own quick reference sheets, I will then move onto researching miniatures.  I already have some 1:2400 ships, but buying 1:3000 may be better and cheaper.  I do like the 1:2400 GHQ detail though.  I will also expand on the 1:1250 CAP Aero planes I already have.  I'm looking forward to painting up the Nelson class British battleships and of course the British carriers (watch me paint them up and they don't show up on the table).

As to the what will cover a 6'x4' table for the game, I'll probably go with a hex sea mat again.  A hex mat should be sufficient (with larger hexes) to fit the convoy and any other task forces that need to be laid out.

I think this will be another fun four hour map/miniature convoy game like the Arctic convoy game...maybe better.

Arctic Convoy Game

I ran my WWII Arctic Convoy scenario at the club last month.  The game went very well.  I ended up too busy to take many photos, but if requested I can take some additional photos of ships or planes.

The scenario was a summer 1942 based convoy from Scotland to Archangel.  It was a 14 day trip similar to historic convoys PQ16 or PQ17.  I was thinking this could have been convoy PQ16.5 (non-existing convoy).  The game was designed to fit in a 4 hour time block.  I think we finished the game in about 3.5 hours.

Here is the breakdown of the rules I used:

• The scenario was fully built from Journey to the End of the Earth by Mal Wright.  I pre-rolled all the ships and events for the convoy.  Events range from U-boat encounters, German air attacks, and poor weather resulting in merchant ships colliding.  Thanks Mal for researching and writing these rules.  I also used these rules to resolve what happens to the merchants that lag behind the convoy.  I did not use the combat rules.
• General Quarters I and II were used for air attacks, collision resolution, and torpedo damage.  I chose these rules because they can be resolved quickly.
• Seekrieg V was used for U-boat detection resolution.
• The Hunters solitaire game rules were used for U-boat attacks and depth charge resolution.

The convoy does not move on the table.  Each ship in the convoy is in a single hex, with a one hex separation between ships.  Mal's rules layout the convoy composition (merchants and escorts).  I decided upon 1:3000 scale and pretty much found everything I needed.  Aircraft are based one, two or three planes to a stand and each stand can occupy a single hex.  Bombers have to be adjacent to target ship but Torpedo planes can be up to four hexes away from their target to launch their torpedoes.

Each turn in the game is an 8 hour time block, which basically ends up morning, afternoon and night/twilight.  So this scenario ended up with 41 turns.  I made a PowerPoint presentation that contained a number of initial slides with background information on the scenario (OOBs and map) and then a slide for each turn.  The turn slides have the turn day number, time of day, events, photo of the main event and a map with a red symbol showing where the convoy current is.  I had a remote for the laptop to advance the slide while I sat at the other end of the table.

Two Wellingtons supporting the convoy for two turns.

The convoy made it to Archangel and took comparable losses to PQ16, 8 merchants, which was fairly light.  Winston Churchill had said that he would have been happy of half the merchants made it to Russia.

Having playtested this scenario a couple times and running the game at the club, I thought the summer 1942 Arctic convoy scenario was a good one for a convoy game.  I hope to someday run Operation Pedestal (WWII Malta convoy) using similar rules to this game.

I did discover there were some errors in Mal's rules (i.e. events).  This was not a big deal and I simply reworked them.

What would I change if I run another convoy game like this one:

• I probably won't use The Hunters rules again.  There are too many depth charge dice roles.
• Less movement of ships around in the convoy between turns.
• Figure out how radar factors into early warning of air attack.
• Work harder on the roles of each player in the game.  It is easy as a two player game, but I want to get four players fully involved.

John figuring out the AA on incoming German aircraft.
Three spectators in the background talking about something wargaming related.

Post any questions/comments and I can also expand this blog post to include more information if requested.

Arctic Convoy Setting Sail

All the ships and planes have been painted...well sort of.  I found I need to paint up two ships needed later.  Now for some additional testing.   Photos show the convoy laid out departing Scotland for Arkhangelsk.

A refresher...the ships are a mix of various 1:3000 scale manufacturers.  Rules are pulled from Journey to the End of the Earth, General Quarters 1 and 2, The Hunters, and Seekrieg 5.  The plan is for the convoy to reach the destination in a four hour game slot.

Future blog posts will show more from testing.

 

1:3000 Ship Comparison

I received my 1:3000 ship orders from four different companies:

• NAVWAR
• Davco
• Mick Yarrow Miniatures
• North Head Miniatures

Before I placed my order, I had only seen NAVWAR miniatures before.  I was pretty much going in blind on the other three companies.  Overall, I like all four companies both for my orders arriving so quick and for quality.  I recommend all four.

Here are some brief comments about each company, in no particular order:

• NAVWAR
• You have to order via snail mail using a paper order form, but you can add your credit card info on the form.  Ummm...NAVWAR, we are no longer in the 1980s.  But they do have a web site.
• This company offers the largest variety of ships for 1:3000.
• Quality is good.
• I thought my order would take longer, but came pretty fast (just less than a month).
• Davco
• Not the best online listing, but eventually figured it out. They need a better simpler page listing of stock, rather than big blank boxes with no photos.
• I thought I had not heard of the company before, but discovered I actually bought their port facilities years ago.  I have yet to use them.
• Quality is good.
• Mick Yarrow Miniatures
• Similar packaging to NAVWAR.
• Quality is good.
• Offers a good variety of ships that NAVWAR does not have.
• North Head Miniatures
• This was my first time buying Shapeways models, and the Frosted Ultra Detail quality is pretty darn good.  The models are as smooth as the metal models and do not need any cleanup.
• Quality is excellent.
• I think the only down side maybe is price. I bought from North Head Miniatures for those ships that were unavailable from the other companies.

I did not end up with a large selection of the same class of ship from each company.  Maybe in hindsight, I should have bought the same ship from all the companies and been able to show a better comparison.  I do not see any large scale differences from the companies and even though there are some differences.  I doubt anyone will see the difference on the table.  Heck, historically I think even within some of the merchant classes, they were not identical (except maybe US merchant classes).

Most of the ships I purchased are merchants or small escorts, so potentially the larger warships have a greater variation between companies.

Comparison photos:



Left: NAVWAR, Right: Davco
A/B type merchant

Left: NAVWAR, Right: Davco
Hunt 1 class DD

Left: NAVWAR, Right: Mick Yarrow Miniatures
Liberty class merchant



Left: NAVWAR, Right: Davco
F type merchant

North Head Miniatures
Hog Island class merchant (three still attached)

 

Next, I'll be painting the ships.  I guess you can say...the fun part.

Previous related posts:

Arctic Convoy in 1:3000

Arctic Convoy Game Research



Arctic Convoy in 1:3000

The decision has been made.  The ships in the convoy game will be in 1:3000 scale.

After researching the scales 1:2400, 1:3000, and 1:6000, I found that 1:3000 covered the most needed ships as accurately as possible.  My preference would have been 1:2400, but there were too many gaps.

Here are the 1:3000 scale suppliers I researched:

• Davco 1/3000
• https://navymodelsandbooks.co.uk
• NAVWAR
• http://www.navwar.co.uk
• North Head Miniatures
• https://www.shapeways.com/shops/nhminiatures
• Mick Yarrow Miniatures
• http://mickyarrowminiatures.co.uk

Of these companies, I am only familiar with NAVWAR.  Years ago I purchased WWI French, Italian and Austro-Hungarian ships and was pretty happy with them.  Amazingly I'll still have to snail mail my order in.

North Head Miniatures will be my first Shapeways order.  I'm curious how the ships will look.  The other two companies are a mystery, so we'll just have to wait and see what sort of actual size and quality they turn out to be.

For other gamers out there looking at doing a convoy game, I am currently researching a summer 1942 Arctic convoy game, so depending on what year, country and part of the world you do, 1:2400 or 1:6000 may work out just fine.  My convoy will have about 31 merchant ships of all types and sizes from different countries, so it is quite the challenge to get a good variety.  A smaller convoy would be easier to get on the table in other scales.

Previous post on game research: Link

Arctic Convoy Game Research

I have been considering what my next naval wargame scenario will be.  I thought about the Battle of Midway, but this campaign/scenario idea has been shelved for the moment.  Right now I am focused on the idea of a WWII Arctic Convoy.

But this is not a normal Convoy miniatures wargame scenario.  For my four hour game, the convoy miniatures will stay on the table but the game will cover the whole convoy journey from Scotland to Archangel in Russia.  I know...crazy eh?  The scenario takes place in the summer of 1942 before the PQ17 convoy disaster.  The summer convoy route takes a total of 14 days to reach the destination.  Will the convoy be attacked by German U-boats, bombers or naval surface forces?  Yes...the game would be a bit boring if it was not attacked.




View of my testing.  Actual game will have less paperwork on table and miniatures, not pieces of paper.

The trick for this to work is keeping the engagements simple enough to keep the game moving.  I have the convoy events already assigned thanks to Mal Wright's "A Journey to the End of the Earth" convoy rules.  I am currently reviewing various naval wargame rules to use for either air or naval engagements.  It looks like it will be a combination of "The Hunters" solo boardgame and General Quarters I.  I have discovered that no one rule set can cover what I am attempting to do.

Ship miniatures wise, I have not decided on a scale.  My options are 1:6000, 1:3000 or 1:2400.  There are such a wide variety of ships in the convoy I am trying to pick a scale that has the most to choose from.  I am looking at each ship in the convoy and all the manufacturers.  I would like to do it in 1:2400, but we'll see what my research discovers.

I will be using CAP Aero 1:1250 planes.

Another challenge is figuring out what the players will be doing.  I would like to have a four player game with two on each side.  The German players would be air and naval forces.  I'm not sure what each convoy player would be tasked with.  Maybe the convoy players would be each responsible for half of the convoy or just share responsibility for the whole convoy.  Maybe each has different escorts.  Sure the game would work best with only one player on a side, but I want to include more players.

We'll see how this goes.  Maybe players will enjoy this type of game or maybe it will be a flop.  If I decide to go with 1:2400 have a few miniatures, but would need to buy and paint up a bunch.  So I have not fully committed to this scenario.

I will certainly be updating my blog on the progression of this wargame idea.  I welcome any comments you may have.

Here are the list of wargame rules I have been consulting:

• A Journey to the End of the Earth
• The Rising Storm
• General Quarters I & II
• General Quarters III
• Seekrieg IV
• Seekrieg V
• Sea Wars Fleet Actions
• Command at Sea I
• Second World War At Sea: Arctic Convoy (boardgame)
• Second World War at Sea: Bomb Alley (boardgame)
• The Hunters (boardgame)
• North Cape (boardgame)
• Naval Thunder
• Naval War
• NWS: Naval Warfare World War 2
• Victory at Sea
• Naval Wargaming: From Ancient Galleys to Modern U-boats

Other references:

• Naval Wargaming Review Vol 4, #6, The Artic Convoys: A Campaign Game
• U-boat Tactics in World War II (Osprey)

Battle of Riachuelo

At the last club meeting I ran my Battle of Riachuelo scenario.  It went very well.  I started the scenario after the historic initial pass of the Paraguayan fleet by the Brazilian fleet.  In this historic scenario the Brazilians were setup moving down stream towards the anchored Paraguayans.

Rules:

• Iron and Fire by David Manley

Miniatures:

• 1:1200 ships by Pithead Miniatures/Spithead Miniatures
• 2mm guns by Irregular Miniatures

Terrain:

• Beige Vynl fabric for river
• Green fleece
• Woodland Scenics Bushes Clump-Foliage, Medium Green, 32oz

I thought I would run the game with four players, but it ended up running with six players with no issues.  I kept the terrain simple because I have no room to store a custom Riachuelo board and I just don't rerun the same scenario more than a couple times.  I used an orange kids washable marker to outline on the river the areas of shallows.  Below are photos from the game.


Photo 1: Initial deployment.  Paraguayans anchored at bottom.  Brazilian ships in line moving towards Paraguayans.  Two more Brazilians ships to enter.

 

Photo 2: Brazilian ships in line.  Note line showing extent of shallows on starboard of ships.

 

Photo 3: Paraguayan field battery provides support from shore.

 

Photo 4: Paraguayans decide to raise anchor and move towards Brazilians.

 

Photo 5: Ships from both sides are now getting in close.

 

Photo 6:  River is filled with smoke from the battle.  The Paraguayan flagship has rammed a Brazilian ship and captured the ship as their own ship sinks.

 

Photo 7: Last photo showing the second last turn in the game.  Not much changed in the last turn.

 

I called the game after four hours of game play.  Unfortunately the Paraguayans could not change the historical outcome.  The results were identical to history.  All Chatas (towed boats) and four ships on the Paraguayan side were sunk.  One Brazilian ship was sunk, but the Paraguayan Admiral was captured.  I did not tell either side what the victory conditions were.  The Paraguayans would have won if they did better than historically (lose less ships and/or sink more ships).

 

I recommend this scenario.  It is a good unknown or barely known battle.  The models are great and the rules went very smoothly, although I did forget about the possible effect of rolling a one on gunfire.  If I run the game again, I will start the battle further up river where the two sides first met.  Maybe we could see how the Paraguayans would do by not heading downstream and anchoring.

 

Rules wise, the rule about being easier to hit if stationary, maybe this rule could be dropped because the Paraguayans are at a disadvantage anchored.

 

A future post, I will share resources for you to use for building this scenario or just for reading.

 

Other posts on Battle of Riachuelo:

Paraguay Ships

Brazilian Ships

Order of Battle

Playtest Photo