Last weekend we got in some more Nimitz gaming, this time introducing 2 more local gamers (Dave H & Chris P) to Sam Mustafa’s Nimitz. This saw two games with the mighty HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales going up against a variety of German opponents in the North Atlantic. Game one was a replay of the first game from a week or so ago versus DKM Bismarck and Graf Spee (see And We’re Off! Nimitz On Table Action, At Last: Part One for the previous game).
Continue reading “More Nimitz Action in the Atlantic”Tag: WW2
Nimitz 1/1800 Eye Candy
Continuing on from my last post on Nimitz: And We’re Off! Nimitz On Table Action, At Last: Part Two… So my buddy Dave H has 3D Printed and painted a sample vessel in 1/1800 scale for Nimitz, from the STL range of Lee McColl’s available on MyMiniFactory. This is a couple of sample pics of the vessel, along with a comparison of it alongside my 1/2400 HMS Hood, and some quick thoughts and notes on basing.
Continue reading “Nimitz 1/1800 Eye Candy”And We’re Off! Nimitz On Table Action, At Last: Part Two
In my previous post And We’re Off! Nimitz On Table Action, At Last: Part One I summarised the action in game one set in the North Atlantic, and I also covered the forces being deployed for game 2, which was set in the pacific at night. You can see the detail of the 2 fleets in part one, but in summary the Imperial Japanese Navy had 1 (dreadnought era) Battleship and 3 Cruisers (2 heavy & 1 light) versus the United States Navy’s 1 (modern) Battleship and 2 heavy Cruisers (1 USN & 1 Australian). So in the Solomons, somewhere around Guadalcanal, at night, the IJN had the advantage as the forces approached each other…
Continue reading “And We’re Off! Nimitz On Table Action, At Last: Part Two”And We’re Off! Nimitz On Table Action, At Last: Part One
Well it’s been over 10 months since I posted “NIMITZ: A New Take On WW2 Fleet Action” so its taken a while to finally get around to getting some game time on the table! However I’ve been looking forward to having a crack and finally managed it this week, with a couple of buddies from the local wargaming scene. So here’s a brief run down of the 2 games we got in and a few related thoughts…
Continue reading “And We’re Off! Nimitz On Table Action, At Last: Part One”NIMITZ: A New Take On WW2 Fleet Action
It’s great to see Sam Mustafa’s latest ruleset “NIMITZ” come out – it’s Sam’s take on WW2 Naval Fleet Action. I’ve been looking forward to seeing this released – Sam always has a fresh approach to rules writing that I enjoy and I find usually gets a good balance between playability & fun, and realistic outcomes (i.e. is this how you’d expect such and such an encounter to turn out) with minimal gamey tactics, etc. An expansive campaign system, Halsey, is also included that can incorporate as many players as desired.
Continue reading “NIMITZ: A New Take On WW2 Fleet Action”Blindés de Combat Magazine
Back in 2010-2013 I was talking about the Combat Tank Collection series (of 121 different models), and subsequently Altaya released a second magazine series Blindés de Combat which featured another 62 models, and a much greater variety of non-tank military models in 1/72 scale.
Continue reading “Blindés de Combat Magazine”The Confusion of British 2pdr & 6pdr HE in WW2
Over the years there has been a lot of confusion around British HE for 2pdr and 6pdr guns – especially in the early part of the war. e.g. The 2pdr didn’t have HE, yes it did originally in 1940 but they stopped making it, no it didn’t, yes it did and they even had 11,000 rounds of it siting in storage at the outbreak of World War II – they just never issued it to the troops! Anyway I thought it might be useful (for my sanity and anybody else’s) to collate the facts as known (at least as I now know them), given a lot more information has come to light in the last 10-15 years on the subject. This was partly sparked by a recent YouTube video I watched (on the Matilda) that quoted quite inaccurately the claim that the British had 2pdr HE (in storage in 1939-1941) and never issued it, either through incompetence or criminal negligence!
Continue reading “The Confusion of British 2pdr & 6pdr HE in WW2”Mackay Force in the Florina Valley 1941
Quite sometime ago I wrote a simple resource document for a Spearhead mini-campaign set in the Florina Valley in April 1941. Mackay force was a weak-division sized force (of British, Australian & New Zealand troops) sent to cover the Monastir Gap; and prevent a German thrust down central Greece that would split the main Greek Army on the Albanian Front in the west from the British & ANZAC “W” Force (and remaining weak elements of the Greek Army) on the Bulgarian (eastern) front. It was necessitated by the sudden and very unexpected ‘rapid’ collapse of the Royal Yugoslavian Army, which, although not overly modern was still expected to have put up sufficient resistance to have at least held up the Germans for a few weeks and been able to at least hold a final defensive line in Southern Yugoslavia in co-ordination with the Greek Army on the Albania frontier.
Continue reading “Mackay Force in the Florina Valley 1941”Raid On Villa Winter
“Captain Hendry de Cromault paddled steadily and quietly through the uneasy surf, his sergeant and some of his men behind him doing likewise. To either side more boats of British Commandos were also paddling through the surf. As their boats ran up on the volcanic beach with the crashing breakers covering their approach, the first rays of the sun were providing a faint glow off to the east well beyond the mountains, and even further, as the sun rose over Africa and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean. Quickly drawing their boats ashore, they were startled by the sudden winking of a bright lamp inshore, sending jumbled encrypted Morse code signals; ‘a U-Boat must be about’ Cromault thought to himself, ‘why else would the Villa Winter be activating it’s powerful beacon lamp, hopefully it doesn’t stumble across their transport home, a Royal Navy Destroyer lurking to the north’. Even as he thought about it his raiding force was assembling around him at their rallying points, and beyond expectations the entire force had safely made it ashore. Assembled on one of the remotest parts of the Canary Islands, they set off to accomplish their mission of destroying the secret mid-Atlantic U-Boat base built and run by by Gustav Winter, a reclusive German engineer, disguised beneath his Villa ‘Casa Winter’ on the island…“
Continue reading “Raid On Villa Winter”Chain of Command First Action
Down at the AWC Kieran and a few others have been playing Chain of Command. I finally had a chance to get down to the club so played an introductory game with Kieran… Using the basic ‘Patrol’ scenario (essentially the traditional ‘encounter’ game – although probably never the best scenario type for an impromptu wargame, especially first taste of a rule set) we set up a village crossroads ‘somewhere in Normandy, 1944’. Continue reading “Chain of Command First Action”
Tales Of Cromwell Tanks
If like me you love Cromwell tanks, then you will enjoy this video of annecdotes and facts about the British Cromwell Tank in WW2. The Cromwell first saw action in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944, equipping the armoured reconnaissance regiments of the 7th and 11th Armoured Divisions and the Guards Armoured Division. The armoured regiments of the 7th Armoured Division were also equipped with Cromwells at this time (in lieu of M4 Sherman tanks). Centaurs (the Cromwell without the Rolls Royce engine) were used in combat fitted with a 95 mm howitzer, as part of the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group during the initial ‘amphibious invasion’ days of the Normandy campaign. Continue reading “Tales Of Cromwell Tanks”
Jagdpanther with Hilary Doyle
Fantastic Video of the Weald Foundation operational Jagdpanther, presented by Hilary Doyle (renown German Armour Expert) with some absolutely fascinating and obscure facts included. A must watch if you are a WW2 Tank fan. Continue reading “Jagdpanther with Hilary Doyle”