Scallop Wars!

Readers in the UK and possibly farther afield will have been aware of a fracas off the Normandy coast between British and French scallop fishermen in an incident described as the "Scallop Wars". Of course this was too good an opportunity to miss for the creation of a special scenario for my "Cod War" rules, and so a couple of days back I posted this on Wargame Vault. Its just a bit of fun, but watch out for updated versions if and when the story develops.....

Find it here (its a free download)

"Scallop War" - Wargames Vault

"Cod War " - Wargames Vault

Si Vis Pacem

Today is the 102nd anniversary of the return home of the fleets from Jutland, and yesterday the anniversary of the battle itself. The occasion was marked with the release from LFG of "Si Vis Pacem", the fast play rules (developed by myself and Stuart Machin from my "Broadside and Salvo" rules) used in the Berkeley Vale Jutland refight (see the previous post), and Clash of Giants", the campaign material that Stuart put together initially for the NWS centenary game, but developed for the BV game.

SVP wasn't originally on the LFG plot, at least not for this year, but "Jutland in a Day" became something of a cause after the centenary game. That prompted my initial work on the subject and JIAD became a reality early last year as numerous battlecruiser actions were fought out in my campaign headquarters (ok, my shed). Stuart's enthusiasm for the rules saw them developed faster than I expected, culminating in the BV game last month. Stuart has done a grand job, especially on the campaign pack which will be of value to players of any WW1 naval rules, not just SVP.

As usual, both are available via Wargame Vault.

Si Vis Pacem

Clash of Giants

Jutland in a Day

Yesterday whilst most of the UK wargaming population were at Salute I took part in another refight of the battle of Jutland. This was run at the Berkeley Vale club in Slimbridge and was organised by Stuart Machin from the Naval Wargames Society. Stuart and I have been working on a WW1 set of fast play rules for a while now, drawing on my "Jutland in a Day" project, "Broadside and Salvo" (my pre-dreadnought rules) and the extensive work that Stuart put in to organising the NWS Jutland game at the NMRN on the battle's centenary.

Setup was completed at 1000, first moves at 1030 once a few players had downed a hearty breakfast supplied by the venue (the Tudor Arms pub in Slimbridge, home of the BV club and the site of a very nice skittle alley which serves as the games room). The initial setup was not quite as the actual battle as Stuart had run a pre-came mini campaign to determine starting positions. In the end things were not that different from reality, the main difference being that the German pre-dreads were left to guard Horns Reef, rather than being dragged out to slow down the fleet and act as a liability. Thus the High Seas Fleet looked rather small when compared with the Grand Fleet.

The Grand Fleet deployed in squadrons in line ahead. The ships used were Stuart's collection of 1/6000 Hallmark models, so no sneezing!

Ahead of the Grand Fleet, Beatty's battlecruisers and the supre-dreadnoughts of 5th BS probe towards the Germans. Contact has already been made between the light forces of both sides.

The High Seas Fleet - the German plan was to maintain much closer liaison between the main fleet (closer) and the battlecruisers (middle top). This was to prove to be a most useful decision

Initial exchanges proved costly to the light cruisers of both sides, which at times were the only targets for the enemy's battlecruisers. Echoing Heligoland Bight they were often rapidly dispatched.

Pillars of smoke denote the final resting place of two British light cruisers....

To the right of the shot the battlecruisers prepare to engage each other.

Between the line of the German BCs (lower) and the RN's BCs and 5th BS (top) a vicious destroyer melee is fought out. Both sides attempted to launch torpedo attacks on the heavy ships of their opponents, but these were frequently frustrated, the few attacks that were launched all failed at this stage of the battle. 

The battleships of the High Seas Fleet turn in echelon towards the battlecruiser action, seeking to engage 5th BS

Inexplicably, and against the best traditions of the Royal Navy, Beatty turns away from the Germans and opens the range. There will be some busy redrawing of track charts in the official histories (or maybe not....... 

5th BS in trouble. Despite roughing up the head of the HSF's battleline the QE superdreads came in for some punishment themselves. Barham, training the line, was heavily damaged, suffered a "fire" critical hit result and was unable to stem the flames. Damage escalated and the ship was lost! If nothing else this represented a severe moral blow to the RN, and the cheers of the Germans could be heard throughout the pub!

Despite their success at putting one of the QEs on the bottom the HSF found itself in a pickle as the  Grand Fleet hove into view. Discretion now being the better part of valour the decision was made to head for the hills (or at least for Horns Reef) and darkness (night was 3 hours away). However, several of the German dreadnoughts and battlecruisers had been damaged and their speed reduced slightly as a result. A tail chase was about to ensue.

A second disaster for the RN! Beatty decided to re-engage to sow the escape of the German battlecruisers. Lion found herself under heavy fire and she succumbed to multiple salvoes that sent her to the bottom. Beatty himself went down with his ship (so in the event no need to amend those charts!)

At that point your intrepid reported was forced to take his leave as emergent domestic requirements forced me to be elsewhere. Final details of the subsequent action are eagerly awaited from Scapa and Wilhelmshaven!

The game itself ran very well. The objective of fighting "Jutland in a Day" was ably achieved as I was informed by one of the players that the game drew to a suitable conclusion. And the rules worked very well, just one or two minor glitches hat were easy to resolve. Once a few turns ha been played everyone knew what to do and we progressed without many hitches (mostly caused by food and drinks breaks and inadvertent shifting of the tables!). So I think a great success.
 

Dahlgren and Columbiad

My latest set of quick play naval rules have hit the streets - or at least the servers at Wargame Vault. "Dahlgren and Columbiad" is a set of ironclad rules aimed at battles in the American Civil War and the ironclad wars in South America. It is aimed at games involving a small handful of ships and so it compliments "Broadside and Salvo" which was aimed more at fleet actions such as Lissa. It comes with a range of representative ship data for the ACW and South American wars

Dand C is supported by two theatre-specific booklets.

"By River and By Sea" covers the American Civil War in more detail, with two campaign systems and comprehensive ship data for over 175 ships and classes of the Union and Confederate navies.

"War of the Pacific" is something I've been working up to for decades and comprises a campaign system, ship data and brief campaign history covering the War of the Pacific, 1879-1883 between Chile, Peru and Bolivia, and also with my “Iron and Fire” more detailed rules from A&AGE. Ship data for the complete Peruvian and Chilean fleets is provided. Having visited Chile in 1994 and stood on the decks of the Peruvian / Chilean ironclad Huascar this is the culmination of over 20 years planning, and something I'm rather pleased and proud of :)

The third element of this project is the Paraguayan War, or the War of the triple Alliance, which again will feature a campaign system and comprehensive fleet data. This is all set to tie in with the excellent range of 1/1200 models from Spithead.

All three are available from Wargame Vault for a fiver. Links below if anyone is interested.

Dahlgren and Columbiad

By Sea and By River

War of the Pacific

Op Corporate for Air War C21

I've had a number of requests for the Falklands Conflict supplement that I wrote for Air War C21 many years ago. Its long out of print so I have spruced up the booklet and put it up on Wargame Vault. It is for the FIRST EDITION of C21, although it will, I hope, be of some use and interest to users of the current edition. The plan is to thoroughly update it next year to reflect the current edition of the rules, so for now its "pay what you want".

You can find a PDF copy of the booklet here:

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/229371/Operation-Corporate--Air-Battles-over-the-Falklands

Splendid Little War

My latest Wargame Vault production has finally hit the streets after a busy few weeks getting the finishing touches in place. "Splendid Little War" covers the Spanish American War of 1898, and features a short history of the war, a campaign system covering both the Caribbean and the Philippines, and my "Broadside and Salvo" pre-dreadnought rules. The set comprises a 60 page book, A3 copies of the campaign area maps, ship counters for US, Spanish and other nations vessels, and a set of patrol/blockade counters for use on the campaign maps. The approach is based on my earlier "White Bear Red Sun" campaign pack for the Russo Japanese War, but builds on that system in a  number of areas.

Astute readers will be aware that the war at sea ended up being something of a one sided affair due to the poor material state of much of the Spanish fleet, so the campaign allows players to work with the Spaniards as they should have been with well maintained ships and operational weapons, as well as the historical state of poorly maintained ships with inoperable weapons (and in some cases, main armament not even fitted). For added fun there are options to allow British, German and other European national interventions, so plenty of scope for some unusual actions in a historical setting.

I'm rather pleased at how this one has turned out. And it gave me the ideal excuse to spruce up my US pre-dreads and splurge on some of the lovely WTJ 3D printed models!

Splendid Little War can be found here:

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/226986/Splendid-Little-War

Ad Mare Bellum

Another new release from LFG, "Ad Mare Bellum" (AMB) uses the system developed for "Lord of the Sea" and "Cannon, Cross and Crescent" to give quick playing set of Ancient naval rules covering the period 2000BC to 900AD, They are aimed at small and medium sized games with up to 30 or so ships a side to be completed in a couple of hours or less. They have been written with 1/1200 models such as those from Navwar and Langton in mind, but could be used with larger or smaller models with appropriate changes in ranges and movement. Bookkeeping is minimal, using simple markers to indicate ship damage and crew casualties. Data for over 30 different broad ship types and nine different fleet lists are included, from the Egyptians and Sea Peoples, through classical Greek and Roman to Norse and Byzantine fleets and ships.

Available from Wargame Vault for a mere fiver :)

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/211446/Ad-Mari-Bellum

Cannon, Cross and Crescent

I’m pleased to announce the release on Wargame Vault of my latest naval fast play set of rules, “Cannon, Cross and Crescent”, which covers Renaissance galley warfare. They are based on my previous “Lanterna” set from many years ago, updated and expanded with new ship types, additional rules and improved detail. I'm currently working on a campaign system, and I'll be supporting the rules with some freebie scenarios as I did with "Lord of the Sea".

The main rulebook can be yours for the princely sum of five British pounds :)

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/210543/Cannon-Cross-and-Crescent–LFG004

The rules have been written very much with 1/1200 models in mind, so ideal if you have fleets from Navwar or some of Rod Langton's lovely models. However, they can be used with larger models by doubling movement and ranges, or with smaller models such as the Tumbling Dice 1/2400 range by using centimetres in place of inches. The rule book comprises 22 pages and includes movement and gunnery templates, and a Quick Play / Fleet Data sheet which holds a precis of the most commonly used rules and an area in which a fleet commander can record the ststs of the ships in their fleet, rather than having to refer out to the rulebook in the heat of battle.

The Schleswig Holstein Question

My latest release from LFG is a supplement for "Broadside and Ram" entitled "The Schleswig Holstein Question". 

This supplement allows players of “Broadside and Ram” to extend their games to the Second Schleswig War, fought between Denmark and the allied Prussia and Austria in 1864, and also the Franco Prussian war of 1870 (although here the naval warfare element is conjectural). Summaries of the naval aspects of both conflicts is followed by ship data for all the major and minor warships involved. 

Additional data is provided for a selection of British, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish ships of the era that could have been “on scene” and may form the basis for a hypothetical game. Finally a short set of additional rules covering sailing ships is included.

A copy of "Broadside and Ram" is required to use this supplement, which is available from Wargame Vault for $2.50

.http://www.wargamevault.com/product/187696/Broadside-and-Ram--The-Schleswig-Holstein-Question-supplement

Steamer Wars Goes To Russia

The second of three supplements for Steamer Wars has just gone live on Wargame Vault. "War on the Great Rivers" covers  naval engagements on the Dvina, Volga and Kama river and the lakes of Russia during the Civil War. The supplement includes a host of new rules covering mines and torpedoes, troops on shore, land based features and targets and the riverine environment.  Data tables are included for many new ship and vessel types from the navies and irregular forces of the Bolsheviks, the White Russians and the Royal Navy.

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/187346/Steamer-Wars--War-on-the-Great-Rivers

WotGR is available for a mere $2.50

The third and probably final supplement covering additional African lake scenarios will be some time coming now, so likely to appear in early 2017.

Broadside and Ram

My latest publication is now available from Wargame Vault. "Broadside and Ram" is a set of fast play naval rules and a campaign system covering the Lissa campaign of 1866, which cerebrates its 150th anniversary next month.  It is based on my earlier "Ironclads in Action" supplement for "Iron and Fire" which was originally published by A&AGE but which has been out of print for many years. The tactical "DBA-esque" rules are based on the principles used in my "Lord of the Sea" rules updated for the more modern era, and the campaign system updated to reflect the use of the tactical rules. That said the campaign system should be adaptable to any set of ironclad rules.

The rules are available from the following link:
http://www.wargamevault.com/product/185447/Broadside-and-Ram?manufacturers_id=6867

Lord of the Sea

After four years of development and a year of bashing through the last stages of playtesting and formatting I am happy to announce the publication of "Lord of the Sea", my second set of self-published naval rules which has just become available through Wargame Vault.

As those who have followed the development of these rules through occasional insights in this blog, "Lord of the Sea" is a collection of fast play rules covering individual ship actions, major battles and featuring an extended campaign system , and is centred primarily on naval actions in Northern European waters in the 13th to 15th centuries.

The rules have been written with 1/1200 scale models in mind, their inspiration originally being the models designed by Outpost Wargaming Services, but growing with the availability of other models from Ral Partha and Navwar.

On sale now and a snip at what I hope is a very reasonable $5 a copy :)

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/154102/Lord-of-the-Sea

River Wars

Long Face Games is happy to announce the release of "River Wars", the first of a short series of supplements for the "Steamer Wars" rules of WW1 gunboat warfare.

"River Wars" covers naval engagements on the Danube and other European waters. The supplement includes a host of new rules covering mines and torpedoes, troops on shore, land based features and targets and the riverine environment.  Data tables are included for over thirty new ship and vessel types from the navies of the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Serbia, Romaniaand Turkey.

River Wars can be had for the princely sum of $2.50 from Wargame Vault

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/147483/River-Wars

Two further supplements are envisaged, one covering riverine actions in the Russian Civil War, the other expanding the campaign settings in Africa.

Project X is.... Steamer Wars

This morning I finally got "Project X" off the ground (only took 2 years) and published my first set of wargame rules myself rather than through a publisher. The subject (as a few readers will know, and well done to them for keeping it a secret) is the "Steamer Wars", the naval campaign on Lake Tanganiyka in 1914, and if you'd like to take a look you can find them on Wargame Vault here.

Its only a smally set, but it does comprise tactical and campaign rules, and is a snip at only £5 from Wargames Vault :) They were written the rather nice range of 1/600 models available on Shapeways from Northhead Miniatures

I'm sure that I won't find myself retiring in the lap of luxury on the proceeds, but its something I've been meaning to do for some time so I'm quite pleased.

And I think I came out OK :)