1915 And All That

Inspired by his recent visit to the Hendon collection, Daniel asked if I could run a game of Spandau & Lewis last night. Originally I was going to run some balloon busting, since that suits two people rather well. But with two other people signing up I needed a larger game. Since Daniel had been rather taken with the Vickers FB5 at Hendon I decided to rerun my 1915 scenario.

This is a fairly standard game with both sides having two scouts and two reconnaissance aircraft looking to observe objectives on the enemy side of the table. The fun comes in the choice of aircraft. In 1915 both sides were looking at how to arm their aircraft, so the game mixes up a number of solutions.

In terms of  'scouts' the British had a Vickers FB5 'Gunbus' (famously the first aircraft to be built specifically to shoot down other aircraft). This is a two-seater pusher with a flexible Lewis gun firing to the front. Their other combat plane was a Bristol Scout armed with a front-firing Lewis gun on an improvised mount that would attract a firing penalty. Their observing aircraft were a pair of BE2c two-seaters. One was unarmed aside from a rifle, whilst the other had a Lewis gun firing to the rear. 

The German scouts were an Albatros C two-seater equipped with a machine-gun covering the rear arcs, plus the height of 1915 technology, a Fokker EII equipped with a synchronised front-firing machine-gun. Both of their observation aircraft were Albatros B types, unarmed aside from a rifle for the observer.

Daniel and Geoff took the British whilst Stewart and I took the Germans. We took one 'fighting aircraft' and one two-seater each. 

I went down one side, running the Albatros C. I was initially up against Geoff with the Bristol Scout and the machine-gun armed BE2. We spotted each other fairly quickly. I sent the Albatros B towards one of the objectives as fast as possible and sent the Albatros C to intercept the Bristol. 

(The Albatros C was played by a Roland CII, to keep it distinct from the Albatros B's)

Stewart also sent his B type towards the objective. Both of his planes spotted the approaching British, but were not spotted in return. This gave the Fokker a chance to pounce on the British. 

This he did. He bounced the Gunbus, and inflicted a hit on it. He then turned and shot at Daniel's BE2, inflicting another hit. The Gunbus turned to engage the EII and managed a hit. 

Meanwhile I managed to get my Albatros C into a position to shoot at the Bristol Scout - a tricky job when you only have a rear-firing gun. I didn't score any damage. 

Our side of the table broke up a little. Geoff sent his BE2 towards an objective, trusting that I wouldn't be able to make an effective pursuit with my two-seater. The Scout sped off towards the British side of the lines to engage the German two-seaters who were currently unopposed. 

A broad view after the initial encounters. To the bottom-left The Fokker EII is chasing Daniel's BE2. Despite tailing hm for a few turns Stewart rolled terribly when firing and inflicted virtually no damage. In the centre the Gunbus and the Scout are hunting Germans, but haven't closed up on anything. My Albatros C is to the right, also looking for a target. And at the top of the picture the Albatros B's are both doing their job - observing objectives. 

The luckiest BE2 in the world. 

To add insult to Stewart's injury, the observer on the BE2 managed to get a rifle shot on target and score some real damage to the EII! Both planes were now half-damaged, but really that BE2 should have been wrecked on the ground. 

On the plus side the fight did make it hard for Daniel to turn onto and observe the target.

I's observed one target and was moving up on the second. Stewart had had some issues lining up a good run, but was also now in place. However the Bristol Scout was closing in. My observer popped away at it with his rifle, a couple of shots coming close. The Scout failed to do much in return.

Another set of observations for the Germans. My Albatros B crew had nerves of steel and did their observations with the Scout right on their tail. But again the dice gods failed Geoff and he was unable to convert his advantage to damage. 

With the game over halfway through both sides were looking at whether to turn for home, or hang around for more observations or possible kills. The Fokker EII was briefly out of the fight, but returning. Daniel had abandoned his mission, but Geoff's BE2 had managed to observe both targets. Geoff decided to return home with the Scout. The Gunbus hung around briefly trying to intercept Albatros Bs as they headed home. In fact Stewart sent his Albatros B after the second objective. 

The Fokker returned and briefly chased Daniel's BE2 again, but the British plane ducked into some cloud and escaped. 

With that everyone headed for home. However Stewart's Albatros B had lingered fractionally too long over the targets, and failed to make it off the board by a single inch when the 20 turn limit was reached. So whilst not counting as lost he counted as having failed to return the observations to base. 

VPs were 3VP for each returned observation, 3VP for shooting down an enemy aircraft, 1VP for each half-damaged enemy and 1VP for each enemy still over the board when the time-limit was reached. Both the British and Germans got two observations home, for 6VP. The British had two planes badly damaged (both of Daniel's) so that was another 2VP for the Germans. But the Fokker EII was also badly damaged (thanks to that lucky rifle-shot) and Stewart's Albatros B hadn't got home in time, thus conceding another VP. So that was 2VP for the British as well.

So both sides ended up with 8VP - a draw. And despite our best efforts, and a great expenditure of ammunition, no plane was shot down. 

It should be noted that the last time we played this the Germans won a decisive victory, with the Fokker shooting down both BE2s and the Albatros Bs getting three observations home. So I think both sides were just very unlucky in this game not to score some fatal damage. 

Dancing In The Dark

One of my view of simple scenario design is that you simply chuck plenty of troops into the mix, randomise some entry times and entry points and let the situation develop from that. Sometimes it doesn't work, but most of the time it produces entertaining results.

Anyway, that's what I did last night for a club game of Torpedoes & Tides. I played Torpedoes & Tides because (i) Daniel asked for a game (ii) Naval games were the theme for the week and (iii) Yesterday was, by a staggering coincidence, International Naval Wargames Day.

I set up the Grey Christmas scenario from the book. This sees two British steam gunboats (HMS Grey Owl and HMS Grey Wolf) opposed by a air of S-boats. One vessel from each side is elite (the British one is commanded by Peter Scott) and there's a patch of mist to keep things interesting.

But I added more. For a start I added another patch of mist. Then I gave each side reinforcements. The Germans got a minesweeper and a large flak boat with an 88mm gun. The British also got a minesweeper (one of my Halcyon-class models making its debut) and a Round Table class armed trawler. 

If you look at the stats in the rules you'll see that just about everything in the game has 'big' guns. Only the S-boats are relying on smaller weapons. But they are the fastest things on teh table, and not only have torpedoes but have torpedo reloads. And they can't be torpedoed by the British gunboats. 

The gunboats and S-boats start in the centre of opposite edges. From Turn 2 onwards each side rolled a D6 at the start of their turn. On a 5-6 one of their reinforcements would show up. It could appear on their starting edge, or the left edge or the right edge - equal chance of each. I then randomised where on the edge it appeared. 

And that's it. Simple but, hopefully, chaotic. 

Oh, and there's no moon, so visibility is limited. 

I played the British and Daniel took the Germans. 

Here's the position a couple of turns in. One British gunboat has been spotted, whist ahead of it the second (the elite one) is hiding in the mist. The other three markers are the S-boats and the flak boat (the 'Thor')

The elite steam gunboat tore out of the mist, revealing an S-boat that promptly opened fore on it, causing damage and a fire. The British replied to no effect, and then sped into the other patch of mist. 

By now the Germans had both of their reinforcing vessels on and closing in on the fight. Both S-boats and gunboats were revealed. Commander Scott extinguished the fire on HMS Grey Owl, but decided the damage was too great and headed for home. 

The S-boats and the other British gunboat (HMS Grey Wolf) hid in the mist. And that's where they collided. HMS Grey Wolf was undamaged but the elite S-boat took a hit. 

Owing to my inability to roll a 5 or 6 I was now a few turns into the game with no reinforcements. Since Grey Owl had buggered off, this left Grey Wolf facing four German vessels alone. HMS Grey Wolf is marked with a red dice. 

The German minesweeper chased after HMS Grey Wolf, which wisely dodged and hid as much as possible, looking for a chance to torpedo one of the larger ships. 

As the German minesweeper turned past the mist the first British reinforcement arrived - the minesweeper HMS Parthenope. It lasted one turn. It spotted the German vessel who, in turn, shot at it and set it on fire. On the next turn the Parthenope's crew decided to head home. 

It did manage a wild parting shot that damaged the German minesweeper, though. 

HMS Grey Wolf managed to shoot up the flak boat Thor, knocking out some guns. 

But now the sneaky elite S-boat captain saw his chance and launched torpedoes at the Grey Wolf. They missed. The S-boat disappeared into the darkness to reload. 

The other British reinforcement finally turned up - HMT Sir Mordred. It immediately engaged the Thor, damaging it. 

The second S-boat fired torpedoes, but it was a bow shot and teh plodding trawler easily evaded them. 

The trawler took a shot at the S-boat, but couldn't hit the fast-moving German vessel. 

A big aerial view of the action. Some ships have returned to blinds because they were out of sight of enemy ships. Top right you can see HMS Parthenope heading home. 

The Thor fired starshells (the yellow counter) to try and help the the S-boat's gunnery, and the trawler was damaged. 

HMT Sir Mordred kept up the fight, damaging the Thor again. 

Meanwhile on the other side of the board a long-range (at least as far as the darkness allowed) shot from the German minesweeper hit the Grey Wolf and - you've guessed it - set it on fire. Fortunately the British crew extinguished it fairly rapidly. 

Thor and Sir Mordred continued their fight. 

HMS Grey Wolf came up on the Thor and fired torpedoes. Naturally they missed. 

Grey Wolf shot up the Thor some more, knocking out its guns, and the German flak boat broke off the action. 

Meanwhile the German minesweeper had had a strange time of it. It had to roll on the All At Sea table three times in three turns and each time got a turn to either port or to starboard, so had weaved a strange random course across the board. The Sir Mordred came up and put a shot into its bridge, battering it. The minesweeper returned the favour, damaging the trawler's engines. 

The trawler was no battered and it too was steering wildly. It veered across the course of the S-boat, there was a collision and the trawler was sunk. The S-boat escaped without damage. 

And that was it. A final shot from HMS Grey Wolf failed to finish of the Thor and we called the game.

The Germans had a crippled minesweeper, a badly damaged flak boat and a lightly damaged S-boat (the elite one that had, after firing off all its torpedoes and missed with every one, simply given up and gone home). The second S-boat was undamaged and even had a torpedo left. 

The British had had Grey Owl lightly damaged, Grey Wolf damaged, HMS Parthenope damaged and HMT Sir Mordred sunk. We decided that it was nominally a draw but that the sunk British vessel gave the Germans a marginal edge. 

All in all it was a splendid and chaotic game, and a perfect way to celebrate International Naval Wargames Day for 2026. 

Boardgames

I realise it's been a bit quiet here the past week or so. Part of this is that I didn't get a game organised last Thursday, so there was no club game to report. The other part is that I haven't had any regular toy soldiers out at home for a while. But I have been gaming.

Last week Mrs Kobold and I broke out Battle Cry. We played the First Bull Run scenario through a couple of times, swapping sides after the first like you're supposed to. 

The Confederates won both times, but I did better than the Union than Catherine did, so I won overall. 

At the end of the week I found an interesting-looking Memoir '44 scenario for Kasserine. The Germans have to attack US positions through some fairly difficult terrain, but the US defences are fragmented, so if the Germans pick their targets carefully they can pull of a win. I played it twice and the Germans won both times. The first time was a convincing win thanks to two Armour Assault cards coming up  just as all of their tanks were in good positions. The second win was more of a slog, and the Americans came within a medal of winning, so a much closer game. 

And this weekend Catherine and I started another Flamme Rouge tour. This time we're doing the nine stages of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes. 

In fact we started on the same day they did. 

I'm playing red, Catherine is Blue, and we have two bot teams playing Black and White. 

We played the first two stages. I won the first race and picked up second place as well. Catherine didn't place, although we all got a good time.

The second stage. Aloy moved in to help. 

There were some tough sequences of climbs in this one and it split things up a bit at some points. 

Best I could manage in this stage was second place, whilst Catherine came first and third. Again, our times were exceptionally good.

So after two stages I'm ahead on Tour Points, but our overall times are equal. Still everything to play for. 

Ten Years Ago - August 2016

I seemed to have spent most of August 2016 refighting battles of the South American Wars of Liberation. I covered Chacabuco and Laguna Salada, as well as Tucuman, the subject of this month's retrospective post. It's also the first time I tried Neil Thomas's 'Simplicity In Practice' rules, which I still like, even if I haven't played them for a while.

Oh, and August 2016 was when I finally decided that I'd had enough with the cesspit that's The Miniatures Page. I was out of there. 

Anyway, here's a refight of the 1812 Battle of Tucuman, using my Liberated Hordes rules. 

The Battle of Tucuman

And it's also been a year since I started doing my Ten Year retrospective posts. 

A Complicated Man

We went to see 'The Odyssey' this weekend, and enjoyed it. 

And who doesn't go and see a film and feel inspired to put together some kind of game afterwards?

Now I did think that it would be possible to run a solo Galleys & Galleons game where a hero in a ship (or with a squadron of ships) has to cross a table dotted with hazards, and the rules would certainly allow that. It might not be a very interesting game, since the hazards would be static, but it has possibilities. 

However I ended up just setting up a straight galley fight using Galleys & Galleons. 

And then I fiddled with it slightly. Why not add some heroic elements?

So here we are. 

It's the Trojan War, or at least a version of it. The Trojans have sent a squadron of ships to harass the Greek supply lines. Agamemnon send Odysseus with the ships from Ithaca to intercept them.

Both sides had a single command consisting of a trireme flagship, four triremes and four biremes. All pretty standard so far. However I gave the Ithacans Odysseus in command, so his flagship counted as Charismatic, and had Expert Rowers. On the Trojan flagship was a priest of Poseidon, who counted as a Hydromancer. 

I set the terrain randomly (after laying an obligatory coastline), and it ended up with one small offshore island. Random positioning for the squadrons saw them approaching each other diagonally, with the Trojans being inshore. 

The Ithacans (foreground, in red) sent their biremes to the left of the island and the triremes to the right. The Trojans (green) had their triremes in the centre, with a pair of biremes covering each flank. 

Here's the position a couple of turns in. In both cases the flagship is to the rear of the triremes. 

The Trojan centre split, with some triremes going after the Ithacan biremes (top of picture) and others heading for an exposed trireme and bireme on the right. The priest of Poseidon used his power to drive back an Ithacan bireme. 

At the bottom right you can see the first attack of the game - a Trojan trireme rammed an Ithacan bireme scoring light damage.  

The Ithacan response was fast and deadly. Three triremes rowed fast and hard, ramming three enemy triremes. This heavily damaged one and crippled a third. 

Out on the Ithacan left one of their biremes rammed a Trojan bireme and took it after a short boarding action. It was rammed in turn, but survived. 

The Trojans struggled with activations and seemed to be pretty much paralysed. On teh next turn their flagship, now isolated, was rammed by three enemy vessels and reduced to matchwood. 

The Ithacans now began a simple process of mopping up. As with most of my galley fights I set the breakpoint at 50%, with a flagship counting as two ships. The Trojans had already lost four vessels on that basis. 

At the bottom right two Ithacan triremes attack a couple of Trojan counterparts. And to the left an Ithacan bireme finished off a crippled Trojan trireme, ending the action. 

So the Trojans lost four vessels including their flagship, and another was crippled. The Ithacans had a couple of vessels badly damaged, but that was it. Odysseus took no direct part in the battle, although his leadership bonus allowed his ships to do that effective initial strike that effectively saw the beginning of the end for the Trojans. 

It was a quick game, but I played it in bits whilst doing other things, so it filled in some time in a pleasant manner. I need to try more games with magic.