End of (Another) Era, For Now

I have just finished editing my last edition of the NWS journal "Battlefleet before handing over the reigns to Stuart Fieldhouse, the new editor. I took over from Jeff Chorney in 2014, having previously edited the journal in the 1990s, but the plan this time was always to act as "caretaker" until a permanent editor could be found. Such is the way of things I'm confident that I'll end up doing it again in a few years.

I've enjoyed this second stint, but happy to be handing over to a new editor (who, unlike me, has professional editing experience!).

Pre-Dread Plan Continues

The pre-dreadnought element of the 2016 plan continues apace. This week I've managed to get my German squadron sorted out (four battleships, four armoured cruisers, two protected cruisers) and the worktop currently has a mixed bag close to completion (two British armoured cruisers, three Italian ACs and a PC, two Chinese cruisers that I missed last week, a Greek cruiser and two French battleships). Next up will probably be my Turks and a host of generic torpedo boat destroyers.

On other fronts I've just about managed to get the next edition of Battlefleet completed for the NWS. This will also be my last as editor, a volunteer having come forward to take over. I wouldn't be surprised if I pick up the job again at some point in the future but not for a good number of years.

With Battlefleet done and dusted the only other big planning activity I have on now (apart from a "special project") is the Naval Wargames Show in Gsport, July 2nd and 3rd. There'll be more on this later, but we are shaping up to have another good selection of games there this year :)

"Sails of Glory" - The NWS at Colours 2013

Yesterday the Naval Wargames Society ran "Sails of Glory" at Colours (one of the main wargaming events in the UK). The small but intrepid team of four stalwart naval types  (myself, Simon Stokes, Rob Hutton and pressed man Paul Ewins from my local wargaming club) assembled at the show at 0800 Sunday morning, set up and in very short order got straight into action. We played an initial game amongst ourselves to give the newbies a chance to get up to speed. Even this game, kicking off before the show started, attracted considerable attention from the gamers and traders present. The show opened officially at 1000 and the public appeared. We were kept busy right through the day, playing through six games, all of which were hard fought and very enjoyable actions, and in fact we were just about the last game still playing on the day.

The reaction to the game was amazing. Everyone who played it loved it. And it worked just fine for all ages. I think our youngest player was 10, but we had a visit from a 6 year old who was very well acquainted not only with pirates, but with Admiral Nelson and Trafalgar, and who grasped the style of play very easily - no prizes for guessing what is on his Christmas list this year! The table was often surrounded by observers If we'd had copies on sale on the day we could have cleared dozens based on the numbers of players and observers who were stuck by the quality of the models and the speed and ease of play. We had a few "old salt" naval gamers playing as well who thought the system was ideal for those quick "club night" games, and for small ship actions (we are already kicking off thoughts for period and other variants using the basic system).

So, all in all a very successful day. And with luck more demos and parti games upcoming at events in the next couple of months (I'm planning to bring it down to Stuart's Crimean campaign weekend). The game was a big hit, highly popular and, if today's reaction was anything to go by, assured of great success in the near future!

I posted  a similar summary to the Sails of Glory forum and was asked by a member there for any advice in running games of this type. I posted ten "hot tips" and thought, as a bonus, some readers here might like to see them too.

1) Have a good team of players with you. It can get rather wearing running game after game after game so you need to be able to swap between umpires. It also allows those not directly running the game to hover around the players to help them out if they get stuck remembering the rules or wanting advice. It also lets the "spare bodies" dash off for a short while to see the rest of the show.

2) "Battlespace management" is more important with a sailing game than most others I think, due to the effects of the wind. The action will naturally flow downwind, so be aware of that and have your scenario starting points clustered towards the upwind part of the table. and think about how the terrain (if any) is going to help and hinder the game. We had an island that, if at the downwind end of the table, was a real pig to sail around due to its proximity to the corner**. So we swapped ends and it was now at the upwind end and much easier to negotiate.

3) If you are playing with the four starter set ships, impress upon whoever gets the frigates that they ARE highly vulnerable to incoming fire from the SOLs. We had two games where frigate players (despite this advice) went SOL hunting in frigates. Their games were short. But tell them anyway, some of them might listen.

4) Practice. Set the game up some time before the event and play it through with friends o make sure your scenario works. I didn't get a chance to do this on this occasion as the kit arrived just the day before, if I'd had the chance the issue with the island would have been spotted before game #1 rather than during it :)

5) Have an on duty "caller" - a floating person who spots interested people (or even vaguely disinterested ones) in the crowd and passers by and hooks them in for a chat and to inveigle them into the game. You need to have a separate person doing this, not the umpire (they are busy keeping the game going)

6) Remember, keep clutter to a minimum. Nothing looks worse than a table strewn with drinks, lunch, random stuff that someone has bought and dumped on the table edge, odd papers etc. A tidy game is an efficient game :)

7) Bring glue - although not required on this occasion I always have some superglue and/or plastic cement (as demanded by the models) on hand to conduct running repairs during a game. Especially relevant in this as you only have four ships to work with and, had one been damaged and out of action, that would have seriously compromised the game.

8) Prepare yourself as well as the game. I take a sports water bottle to shows so can have a crafty drink to keep me going through games - all that talking through rules and the game with players causes havoc with your throat.

9) Practice your rules summary - you need to get the key concepts of play explained to and understood by your players in 5 minutes or less. So work out in advance what you want to say and demonstrate.

10) Above all, have fun! Although you are Ares unofficial PR department on the day remember its a hobby, not a job. and if you aren't having fun, chances are your team and your players aren't either.

** why place an island there, you might ask. The reason being that we had no "official" game mats (they didn't make it across from the US, neither did the display material or packaging) so I ended up using a playing surface made from a roll of John Lewis heavy duty underlay. its blue, flexible and non-slip so ships don't slide around. The night before I sprayed and dry brushed it to bring out the texture as waves and spray and left it to dry - only to find 5 minutes later that the cats had decided it was THEIR mat, had sprawled out on it and, in stretching had clawed the surface in two places. The damage was OK for a club game, but not for a demo at one of the UK's most prestigious gaming events, so islands were placed to strategically cover the tears!

The Naval Wargames Weekend 2013 - Report

The Naval Wargames Weekend has come and gone for another year, and this year’s was the best yet. Thirteen games over two days, with nine games running on day 1, and seven on day 2.

On the Saturday I ran my Cod War game from Salute 2013. The rules were developed slightly from the original game and, as always, much fun and merriment ensued as frigates rammed coast guard vessels and vice versa. Highspot of the day was the “death ride of the Leander” in the final game as she rammed and sank a coast guard cutter, then immediately sideswiped a trawler and also sent her to the bottom. Instant RN loss! 

The Solent Wargames Association ran two games each day. On the Saturday Mark Backhouse ran his popular “Hail Agrippa” ancient naval participation game based on the battle of Actium. An innovative set of rules based on the “Hail Caesar” land rules, emphasising the similarities between land and naval warfare of the period.

Solent’s other table ran a WW2 coastal game in 1/1200 using Action Stations rules, with lovely models and some exquisite coastline and harbour terrain pieces that prompted much discussion. They also ran a developmental game covering piracy off Somalia.  

Mark Barker and the Inshore Squadron presented the 1797 battle of Camperdown. The battle was split into two phases, with the Southern Phase played out on day 1. As always, Mark’s models were awesome.

Wayne Pocock ran the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1/3000 using War Times Journal minis and Naval Thunder rules. Naval Thunder has become something of a favourite with Wayne’s team within the NWS.

Jeff Crane ran the second NWS game, this time a fantasy action with another battle from his continuing  “Keshian Civil War” campaign (which must have been running for over 20 years

 now).

Rob Kirk and his team brought another WW2 coastal game, this time in 1/600 and again using Action Stations. The setting was the Mediterranean, with allied convoys beset by waves of Stukas and axis torpedo boats.

Another Mediterranean setting covered George Street’s 1/6000 modern naval game set off the coast of Crete using a variant of Shipwreck. This was an intriguing game played at the task force level.

Last but not least,  Mongoose Publishing brought along their revised Victory at Sea WW2 naval rules and samples from their new 1/1800 resin ship range. MGP played through several demo and parti games based on the Battle of the River Plate, and the new rules seemed to go gown well.

Although not run as a trade show Mongoose brought along their trade stand and they were joined on the trading front by Stuart Barnes Watson’s “Anchorage” 1/1200 ship dealership, both of which prised some cold hard cash from the hands of the captive naval wargamers present J

Saturday evening’s barbeque was cancelled due to the inclement weather, but an intrepid cadre of NWS veterans slept over at the museum after holding the NWS AGM. So we were able to reset the hall bright and early for Sunday’s games.

For me, Cod War gave way to the age of sail, with a demonstration through several participation games of Ares Games new “Sails of Glory” miniatures game. SOG is similar in concept to Wings of Glory, with simple yet effective rules using prepainted models. Many games were played, much discussion had, and the publication version awaited with great interest. As an aside the NWS will be running this game at Colours in September.

Solent continued with the WW2 coastal and Somali pirate theme, but also brought a lovely 20mm Sudan-esque riverine game. This was a characterful game with some lovely scratch built riverboats, which always seemed to be having a hard time against the Dervish horde!

Mark Barker’s Inshore Squadron  moved on to the Northern Phase of Camperdown. As with the previous day’s action it seemed the British were getting the rough end of the stick for a change!

Rob Kirk’s team brought along their “Cockleshell Heroes” parti game, with canoes converted from Airfix 20mm Commando figures, scratch built “targets” and the dastardly Hun appearing from the shadows. I didn’t get a chance to play this one but I spoke to some that did and it was a lot of fun.

Ian Armstrong, one of Rob’s team, also brought along his “work in progress” – fleets of scratch built Tudor era warships, fully rigged, fully crewed, which had to be seen to be believed. This is a project that has been running since 2001. With luck the fleets will be completed ready for a game at the next show in 2014.

So, more games than ever, more games than we used to have at the old NWS show at Fort Brockhurst and, as far as I am aware the biggest naval themed wargames event in the UK, Europe and (maybe) the world. The aim of the show was to give naval wargamers an opportunity to get together, play games, try each other’s games and to swap ideas and techniques. In that I think it worked very well. The feedback from attendees has been great with everyone planning to come back in  2014. The tentative plan is to hold a slightly bigger event the same weekend, so pencil in the 21^st and 22^nd June for next year J

Disaster at Trafalgar!

This weekend I was invited by Tim Moore to take part in a refight of the battle of Trafalgar at the Staines club. The draw for me was that Tim and his cohorts are fans of "Form Line of Battle", a set of rules which I love (for obvious reasons) but which the demands of time have meant I've not had a chance to play for way too long. So I was more than happy to spend 4 hours on the M4 and A419 for a day's gaming. Being the shy, retiring chap that I am and not wishing to impose on my hosts' hospitality by grabbing a glory-bound command I settled for the rar of the Allied line and Admiral Gravina's squadron. A full report will appear in the NWS newsletter, "All Guns Blazing" in the not-too-distant future, but suffice to say that, for the British, a disaster of near biblical proportions occurred as both the Royal Sovereign and Victory managed to get themselves well detached from their squadrons (Collingwood and Nelson both being extremely keen to close with the enemy) - both flagships were lost, Royal Sovereign admittedly to a series of VERY unlucky die rolls during a  frantic boarding action against one of my Spanish 74s. And so, as Collingwood and Nelson enjoy a dinner in Cadiz as "guests" of Admiral Gravina the inquiry into the disaster begins in the Admiralty.....

The game was a whole load of fun. Excellent models, good company and fought out in extremely good spirits (and with a fine pub just down the road for lunch). I'm so glad I went.

 Tim's "Oil Rig" play aid - must try making a few of these myself....

Two of my 74s in a spot of bother.....

The captured Royal Sovereign is spirited away....

Cod War at Salute

So I ran the "Cod War game at Salute yesterday on behalf of the Naval Wargames Society. And the event was a blast (although of course not literally as in the game no-one is shooting at anyone). We played four games over the day, with about 30 punters taking part driving Icelandic Coast guard Vessels (ICGVs), warships and defence tugs. We left the trawlers as umpire controlled, which worked well. It was mayhem from the start, with collisions both accidental and deliberate on a regular basis.

Highspots included a "jolly" discussion between opposing players in the first game over the interpretation of the IMO Collision Regulations in trying to determine who's fault a particularly vicious ram had been, a defence tug that seemed to be working for the "other side" as it rammed a friendly tug, cut his nets and then took out the side nets of a second trawler, and Cdr "Bumpy" Hewitt's "red mist" charge at the end of the game that saw him drive HMS LEANDER head on into the ICGV Tyr at high speed with "porcupine" rails deployed; a combination of circumstances that, when coupled with a maxed out die roll left the poor coastguard ship in a sinking condition (and which turned a drawn game into an instant British loss!) So, over the day the score was 3:1 in victories to the plucky Icelanders.

 Of course the other high spots were all about the people we met. In one game we had the joy to meet a US Navy veteran and former sailor in the destroyer Charles F Adams, and he'd been based in Keflavik during the final Cod War in 1976. And it was great to meet "Decapod" and his children who took part in Game #3; I hope he thought I'd done his lovely Shapeways models justice.

Extreme thanks to Drew Jarman who made an excellent "Master of Ceremonies", and to the rest of the NWS team who turned up to help with the game.

As always I came away thinking of various tweaks and adjustments that'll make the running of the game better and easier, and we got some useful pointers in designing scenarios to maximise the playing area and increase the action - very important for a game at a show where the aim is to go from explaining the rules to ENDEX in an hour or less.

An added bonus for the day was that I was able to see the demonstration set and the models for Ares' new game "Sails of Glory" (on which I shall be posting in the future) in the flesh for the first time. For those that don't know the game uses prepainted 1/1000 scale models - very nice. Also had a chat about the new Zvezda "Armada Invencible" game, probably hitting our shores in the Winter.

Alas, and as usual the coverage of naval gaming at Salute was thin, with only one other game there, based on the 1942 battles around Guadalcanal. Something for dedicated naval fans to think about for next year....