NOT SO EASY WINS

As in oratory, lists are best in threes.  My initial post was "easy wins", those games that require no, or virtually no effort.  My second post highlighted those games that, with very small effort, are easily within my grasp.  This post required some thought - obviously the third and final post should be about pushing the envelope, something a bit more ambitious - but the aim should still be about the achievable with what I have available.

So, I thought I would use a theme that will allow me to explore several periods, enhance the battles I have already played and possibly link them all together with many of the same terrain pieces - and the answer was sieges!  They are always a good basis for campaigns and an excuse to further expand existing armies and terrain.

Ancient Sieges

Mark already has a rule set from "Little Wars" which I would love to try. I think this could inspire development for later periods.

Medieval Sieges

I really want to buy the Norman motte and bailey castle from Total Battle Miniatures but not before I have a set of rules for gaming on it. I may use a version of my 1066 rules but I would be happy to develop a set that may lead into the later Middle Ages.  The 15th century would be spectacular as you have both traditional catapults, siege towers and artillery.

Renaissance and the 18th Century

I did try out the PoW siege rules earlier last year and they worked very well.  I have been building the siege entrenchments and I would like to create the actual trace with glacis and ditch for my existing fortifications.  If I am to complete the SYW India campaign I will need to finish off some specific Persian/Indian fortifications.  Also, there may be opportunities to do some combined operations in conjunction with the 18th century naval scenarios that I'm developing. And if I get Operation Nostalgia up and running I can use the same islands to do a Venetian v Ottoman game with galleys and fortified harbours.

WW1

In a sense the great trench assaults are siege battles and we've played the Somme, Verdun and some of the 1918 actions.  I would like to do Cambrai but that may be one for the future.

WW2

Again, we have played some assaults on fortified positions; Sword, Tarawa and Pelellui come to mind; and I would like to give all these another try in the future.  I would like to develop some city scapes for Stalingrad, Berlin and Budapest.  I would also like to explore the city fighting in Toulon and Cherbourg with their large shore batteries in support.  The landings in operation Torch or the attack on Elbe or Walcheren could also be part of this development. We touched on this with the Monte Casino test game but I would like to add marshalling yards and factory complexes.  The railway embankment that I'm keen to build for the Goodwood scenario can be used for another Rapid-fire scenario set in Stalingrad so that would be an easy first step.

To some degree, Operation Nostalgia would involve some sieges and island assaults, especially if this was rolled out in the Pacific as well as the Mediterranean.

Modern

I am continuing to build a representation of Khorromshahr from the Iran-Iraq war - motorways, ports, oil refineries, airports - this was dubbed the Stalingrad of that conflict.  This will open other potential conflicts like the Israeli siege of Beirut.





There may even be options to develop any WW2 city scapes into more modern equivalents as we game the the cold war in Europe?

ALMOST EASY WINS

This list follows on from the previous post for games that almost require no effort to put on.  With just a little work or thought I can easily roll out the following games and campaigns;

WW2 Operation Goodwood

OK this should not have been on the previous list as it does require me building the railway embankment.  But I have been experimenting with the process for the East African operational game and I want to do a similarly elaborate rail bridge and embankment for some Franco-Prussian games and this would move me along in the right direction.

WW2 Operation Battleaxe

Mark got me thinking about resurrecting this game we last played about 10 years ago!  With all the terrain and troops ready I only need to polish the rules system and I'm ready to go.

18th Century Naval

This is more of a steady slow burn.  As I previously posted, I have the first historical action ready to play.  However, I need more ships to roll out more of the larger actions but all I need to do is buy another starter pack at each show I attend and a month to 6 weeks later I have another action or battle ready to play.  I have found this a very manageable way to keep a project bubbling along - and of course the Brigade Miniatures 2mm fortifications and buildings give me further options to do amphibious actions like the siege of Louiseburg or the assault on Quebec.

Franco-Prussian Battles and Campaign

Again, I have the armies ready for my first battle.  However, I also have more French, Prussians and even Austrians ready for rebasing and playing the great mid-19th century European battles.

WW1 Mesopotamia

Slightly off the beaten track, this is an epic campaign theatre featuring camels, arab irregulars, gunboats as well as regular Ottoman, British Empire troops and even the Russians.  I already have the terrain and I am currently building river sections.  However, I do not have the troops and this would be a large project for me to begin.  Nevertheless, I have a few simple scenarios to get the ball rolling and I can use my WW2 Italians and British as stand-ins allowing me to dip my toe before making the plunge - easy!

River Sections

I finished a 4 foot section last year and I am now experimenting with curved pieces before I have a go  at building a harbour.  One piece at a time is not burdensome whilst giving me more options to play different games.

Iran-Iraq War

This project continues to advance and I am now able to put on a mountain scenario.  In many ways this is terrain driven and I am looking forward to completing the oil fields, marshalling yards, international airports, city and port areas required for many of the games,

Operation Nostalgia

This is a project that has been on the horizon for many years.  A Mediterranean or Pacific version of this multiple island campaign are both viable.  I already have the troops, ships and terrain to play one island before deciding to commit to building about ten different versions.  A couple of games could well help make the build project a lot easier.

Fort Dolgoroduc

I will be putting on a version of the East African game at Joy of Six as I have all the terrain and troops ready.  However, I have a few months to give it a bit of a polish and I will be building the Italian Fort Dolgoroduc.  In the original game I used Timecast entrenchments - which were fine - but I was thinking of building a more elaborate rendition using Steve's Atlantic Wall sections and some home built MG/Gun towers.  Should be fun and not a lot of work.

Magnus Imperium

Mark has all the armies covered for Grand Armee but I would really like to paint up an army for Magnus Imperium.  Ideally, I would like to base it in the desert so that I can use my terrain boards.  Contenders are Byzantines v Persians, Crusaders v Saracens, or two Biblical opponents like Egyptians v Hittites?

Obviously it would take a few months to paint up an army but as an easier way of honing the troop types, rules and army organisation I would like to play some games with just the bases - an easier way of getting it right before doing the work!

Or

Privates on Parade

Once a month, or sooner if I get the chance, I intend to get an army out of the draws and onto the table.  It's not really a great deal of effort but I do find you look at what you already have with fresh eyes and often rediscover something you had forgotten about.  Again, with very little effort I may just remember what it was that got me so enthused to paint the figures in the first place and get the creative energy boiling for a project I already have ready to play - easy!

EASY WINS

It's that time of the year again when wargamers look ahead and make ambitious plans for buying new armies and dreaming up grand campaigns.

However, and I am guilty of this, the temptation is to draw up some elaborate framework of future games that requires hours of painting and denies any opportunity to slip in some new and shiny period or project.  The plan might last the first few months but bears no resemblance by six months and is wheezing away in some forgotten corner of your mind by the end of the year.  Worse, the plan can hang over us like some portent of doom which can kill off any spontaneity and lead to that worst of wargaming maladies - loss of mojo!

So, do we kick all plans into the long grass and run free like nature intended?

Of course not, and here is my alternative plan for creating easy wins with no or little work involved.

EASY WINS

WW2 Alamein

I have a Rapid fire campaign book and a lot of pdf scenarios that can keep me in Thursday and Saturday games for the rest of the year.  Well detailed and easy to pick up these can be small or very big affairs.

Battle of the Bulge

There is a linked campaign in "Forgotten Battles" - I suspect Mark has all the troops for this - what a great way to spend three consecutive Thursdays.

Operation Goodwood

This perhaps shouldn't be on the list as I would need to make the railway embankment that dominates the centre of the table - but it wouldn't take me long!  Russ and Mark have the figures and the rest of the terrain is done.  Again, this is another excellent Rapid fire scenario.

ECW in Cheshire and the North Wales

The course at the Nantwich museum was inspirational.  For anyone interested I can walk the battlefields of Middlewich, Nantwich, Rowton Moor and Denbigh and follow up with a battle - if I can get these all played this year I would be impressed - and no work is required.

Napoleonic - Battle of Leipzig

Many years ago, in an issue of Miniature Wargames (I think the same one that inspired the operational games!) there was an article about the Battle of Leipzig in which the French players sat enclosed by tables on every side.  Where they sat was Dresden whilst the Allied players brought their separate armies from all directions.  The French, in the centre, would have to husband and redirect their armies in every direction to pull off a win.  This is a very big battle, up there with Waterloo, but I think Mark may have all the troops for this.

Franco-Prussian

Battle of Spicheren, using the Bloody Big Battle rules, is ready for a Thursday night outing - I just need Mark's terrain hexes to represent the historic battlefield.

Gettysburg

I think Jon may have all the troops for the first day?  If so, we should fight this using Mark's hex terrain.  In addition, Mark could give the whole battle a try using Napoleonic armies and we could get the hex terrain played upon in advance of playing it using ACW troops.

18th Century Naval

I'm ready to put on the Combat of Cape Francis, my first historic naval action.

Guadalcanal Naval Campaign

I have a rule set to play the entire campaign - and with Mark I have all the ships.

All the above are ready to roll and require little if any effort.  I think it would take a year to get this lot played and in the meantime they would serve as inspiration for other armies, periods and campaigns.  I'm sure others could easily add to this list.

Naval Scenario #11 - Mers el Kebir

3rd July 1940.  

The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir (3 July 1940) also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir, was part of Operation Catapult. The operation was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the base at Mers El Kébir on the coast of French Algeria. The bombardment killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed.


The combined air-and-sea attack was conducted by the Royal Navy after the Second Armistice at Compiègne between Germany and France on 22 June. The only continental ally of Britain had been replaced by a government administered from Vichy, which inherited the French navy (Marine Nationale). Of particular significance to the British were the seven battleships of the Bretagne, Dunkerque and Richelieu classes, the second largest force of capital ships in Europe after the Royal Navy. The British War Cabinet feared that France would hand the ships to the Kriegsmarine, giving the Axis an advantage in the Battle of the Atlantic. Admiral François Darlan, commander of the French Navy, promised the British that the fleet would remain under French control but Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet judged that the fleet was too powerful to risk an Axis take-over.

Ships : 

Royal Navy

• HMS Hood – battlecruiser – Flagship
• HMS Resolution – battleship
• HMS Valiant – battleship
• HMS Ark Royal – aircraft carrier
• HMS Arethusa – light cruiser
• HMS Enterprise – light cruiser
• HMS Faulknor – destroyer
• HMS Foxhound – destroyer
• HMS Fearless – destroyer
• HMS Forester – destroyer
• HMS Foresight – destroyer
• HMS Escort – destroyer
• HMS Keppel – destroyer
• HMS Active – destroyer
• HMS Wrestler – destroyer
• HMS Vidette – destroyer
• HMS Vortigern – destroyer

French Navy (Marine Nationale)

• Dunkerque – battleship – Flagship
• Strasbourg – battleship
• Bretagne – battleship
• Provence – battleship
• Commandant Teste – seaplane tender
• Mogador – destroyer
• Volta – destroyer
• Terrible – destroyer
• Kersaint – destroyer
• Lynx – destroyer
• Tigre – destroyer

Set-up 

Assume an 8x6 table with long edges denoting North and South.  Set up the French fleet about 2' up from the South end of the table.  

Force H comes from the North side of the table.

Coastal guns are in effect from Fort Santon and Fort Mers-el-Kebir. 

Aircraft are Swordfish and Skuas for the British, Curtiss H-75 fighters for the French.  

Swordfish can drop magnetic mines and/or torpedoes but not in the same attack.  

All French ships are stationary at the start of the battle.  Surprise by the British will mean that the French ships can only respond after d3+2 turns (3-5 turns).  Roll individually for each capital ship.

Coastal guns can return fire after 3 turns.  Assume equivalent of 13.5" guns - 2 per fort.  British ships can engage the forts coastal guns (check GQ rules).

Response means both returning fire and moving.  Note the tight confines of the harbour and the necessity of not fouling on the defensive boom means that French ships will move at a maximum 1/4 of their maximum speed until clear of the boom.

Ships can exit the boom in single file (capital ships) or side by side (destroyers).  If the British have mined the boom exit, roll for mine attacks for ships exiting the boom.

Once out of the boom French ships can aim to escape from any table edge.


Objectives / victory conditions

British
Sink / cripple 3 or more French capital ships

French 
Have 3 capital ships escape off table.


Referees Notes

The French player(s) will be up against it from the start so make it clear that they are not expected to win by engaging the British fleet directly but to escape to fight another day (although they will need to fight in the escape if only to reduce the amount of incoming fire!).  It is recommended to have more stoic players play the French.

Alternative Scenarios
a) The French have advance warning of British intentions and get underway from the end of Turn 1 

b) French warships dispatched from Toulon and Algiers in a reprise attack engage Force H as it returns to Gibraltar.  The French fleet consists of the remaining three battleships of the main classes of the French fleet with commensurate cruiser and destroyer escorts.  British ships are any remaining (and carrying over the damage) from the scenario above.

French ships at Mers el Kebir

Mogador runs aground after being hit by a 15 inch shell

Strasbourg under fire

Naval Scenario #10 - Rodina

Note : points factors based on General Quarters 2 attack and defence factors added together.  Pints are in parentheses.  Message for Russ, Ian, Mark and Jon - this will be the scenario for Thursday

1943.  The Russians are riding on the back of their stunning victory at Stalingrad and on all fronts the German forces are being pushed back.  Stalin has decreed that it time for the Soviet navy to add its strength to the struggle - for too long the naval forces have sat behind minefields and let the Germans control the Baltic.  No more!  Orders are received to roam into the Baltic and sink any German ships (or those of their allies).  An opportunity has arisen to do so - a major convoy heading from Gdansk into Turku to supply armaments and other supplies into Finland.

Scharnhorst

Alas, it is a cunning ruse cooked up by the Abwehr.  Not a merchant convoy but a heavily armed squadron comprising some of the best remaining German ships afloat and a new type of destroyer.  

But Russia has its own effective spy network and they too know the composition of the forces ranged against them.

In the desperation of all-out war, there can be no compromise.  Make no mistake, this will be a battle to the death!

8x6 table.  Denote one wide edge north and the other south.  Germans enter from the South. Russians from the North East corner.  Place all ships within 12" of their entry point in whatever formation you choose.

Sevastopol

Special Rules

Russians have initiative at the start of the battle.

Visibility is good (bright winters day)

Russian Forces

Battlecruiser - Sevestapol (44)

Cruisers - Kirov (11), Krasny Krim (9), Kasny Kavaz (9), Chervona Ukrania (9)

Destroyers - 4 Leningrad class destroyers (18 points)

Total : 100 points

German Forces

Battlecruiser - Scharnhorst (34) 

Pocket Battleship - Lutzow (18) 

Cruisers - Prinz Eugen (17), Nurnberg (9), Leipzig (9)

Destroyers - 3 x 1942 type (12 points)

Total : 100 points

Victory conditions

Russians - sink the Scharnhorst and any two major ships 

Germans - sink the Sevastapol and any two cruisers.

If time runs out, whichever side is closest to their victory condition wins.