Aircraft project, part 1

 This post was behind schedule - June was the month for my aircraft project, one of my rotating series of other games vying for my attention...

First up is Aeronautica Imperialis, the new game from GW with Warhammer 40K aircraft.  These planes are not too large, definitely not to scale with the 28mm 40K figures.  They are a bit expensive, especially for larger planes than shown above, but few are needed.  The kits themselves are very nice with plenty of options for assembly.

Part 2 of the aircraft project started with these fine models.  I picked this box up on eBay, with a surprise within:

The kit was advertised as having three kits within the box.  Upon arrival, I discovered that there are SIX planes in the box - 4 fighters and 2 attack planes.

Of course, an opposition force is needed:

And gets an ungainly start with the Airacobra!  Fortunately more, and better, planes are to come.

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Part Two!

I had intended to continue the wall of text approach with my decision of a genre to pursue more closely.  But, I think it makes more sense to just cut to the chase and get going.  WW2 naval it is, specifically The Med as a starting point.



Now, does this mean that I am taking the narrow historical account?  Nope.  The collection will start with some hypothetical French/Italian actions, maybe even as early as 1939.  It is my intent to collect the proper forces to do historical battles, but I do not want to be limited to only that approach.



Slowly, this will include the British and Americans as well.  Plan Rubber has not been forgotten, but I will not be working on it to a large extent for a year or more.



The task has started already:

The pic above shows what is left of my WW2 naval collection, being re-organized.  These are all miniatures from GHQ.  Over years past, I sold off all of my completed ships, including a large Italian contingent.  Now, I am starting with two battleships, a Littorio class and another BB which I have yet to identify - probably Cesare.  One French ship is there - Dunkerque.  Two US ships were spared, Arkansas and Texas.  Four British ships are waiting - King George V, Hood, Rodney, and Barham.  And, a lone German ship - Graf Spee.  I have a large quantity of bits from past work, and one can see that they are being organized into a more sensible system.



It is a start, yes, but much more needs to be done.  Basing, rules, paints, and more are still to be determined...  Clear for action!!!

Plan Rubber links

A brief post for today, as we are having our delayed Thanksgiving get-together now that my step-daughter has returned from Iraq...





Plan Rubber on Wiki



Plan Rubber at Sixtant





A couple of links that explain the situation and the historical outcome - from which I plan to deviate of course!

Budget woes

Looks as if my planning tempo is going to slow down a bit - I'm facing the prospect of reduced hours at work.  This means that the GHQ project will slow down a bit until I get some funding.  It is not such a bad idea since I have yet to decide what exactly the project will encompass beyond getting some GHQ miniatures!

However, I am going to pick up on the MAATAC project as I already have some miniatures on hand.

Speaking of MAATAC, I believe that Eric Hotz is going to run another session for the Trumpeters on Friday December 2 - if you are in the Vancouver BC area you should stop in!

WW2 naval, part 3

I think that I have a good idea of what the US force will have available for Plan Rubber, plus a couple of additions.



CV Ranger

BB Texas

BB Arkansas

CA Augusta

CL Savannah

DD Wainwright

DD Lang

DD Wilson

DD Hambleton

DD Emmons



During March 1942, all of the above ships, excluding the battleships, were formed as TG22.7 for a brief time, patrolling the Caribbean and Atlantic near Bermuda.  The battleships were being used as convoy escorts. shuttling back and forth from Maine to Iceland.  This, I feel, is a good basis for my Plan Rubber US force.



Additional forces could be drawn from the following:



CA Tuscaloosa  -  assigned to the US Atlantic fleet, she spent much time operating with the Royal Navy as a convoy escort.  As USS Augusta is a thin-skinned Northampton-class heavy cruiser, the better balanced New Orleans-class Tuscaloosa would be a good option.



DD Rowan and DD Hobson  -  these two destroyers were just coming off time in the yards for refitting and could be available for escort duties.



CVE Long Island  -  the first US escort carrier, USS Long Island spent much time as a plane ferry later in the war.  For Plan Rubber, I envision her with a small deck-load of USAAC P-40 fighters to be flown off for use at a captured Brazilian airfield, and her normal naval aviation complement - stored on her hangar deck - would be available afterward.  She would be very vulnerable prior to the flying-off, but there is a lot of potential with more US aircraft in the air.

Still scheming, dreaming of a WW2 plan

It is a good thing that I have yet to buy any micro-armour - I keep thinking of different theatres to work on!

I have discussed the eastern front (Europe) previously.  The western front of Europe is looking good also.  One could start with 1940 France and, using virtually the same terrain, play games set in 1944 France.  There is not so much variety in nationalities involved, but lots of miniatures are available.

Another theatre would be North Africa, and by this you could stretch it from Beirut or even Baghdad to Casablanca and all points in between.

And to top it all off, GHQ has started production of their Wehrmacht '47 line of what-if German vehicles - vehicles that were on the drawing boards at the end of the war.  This could be used to extend any European front, but I wonder if it would work so well in North Africa...

WW2 naval, part 2

When it rains, it pours sometimes... Just when I thought that I had figured out a simple WW2 project, I find something else that catches my fancy.  Here are the two candidates:



Plan Rubber - US forces try to invade Brazil to insure the security of airbases in Northern Brazil, vital to the transfer of aircraft from the US to Africa/Middle East/Australia.



The Med - France vs. Italy in a what-if based around Italy's earlier entry into WW2 i.e. 1939.





Plan Rubber, although hypothetical, has a lot going for it.  Most of the US forces are available in miniature from GHQ.  It can be limited in scope, or expanded.  I am thinking of two different starts to this project.  One, the US invades in March 1942 and provokes an angry reaction from Brazil, and two, Brazil has already turned to an Axis puppet and the invasion is an Allied reaction.  The first option I think would make a great short campaign, starting after US forces make their initial landings and focusing on the Brazilian reaction.  The Brazilian forces would not need as much added, although they would still be much better than their historical counterparts, as the Brazilian dreadnoughts were barely functional at this time and there was a severe lack of modern destroyers.  The second option would see a greatly augmented Brazilian navy and air force operating against an Allied (US/British) force.  So, there is a 'Small Solution' and a 'Large Solution' for Plan Rubber, which would allow for the inevitable desire for project creep.



The Med is being sparked by the soon-to-be-released Bretagne battleship miniatures by GHQ.  Again, this would be a project that could start small and expand.  GHQ makes most of the classes of the Italian Navy (except for some destroyers and smaller) while the French fleet is growing.  Project creep for The Med would include adding Royal Navy units.



Both plans have interesting features, and I have suitable miniatures for each of them.



Decisions, decisions!

Looking at a WW2 naval project...

After a little bit of digging I was able to find a good quantity of GHQ WW2 naval vessels in various states of disrepair.  Many of them look like this:

The top pic shows, from the left:  a King George V class battleship, a Caio Duilio class battleship, a Littorio class battleship, and a Strasbourg class battlecruiser.  The second pic shows, clockwise from the top left:  Hood battlecruiser, Texas class battleship, Arkansas battleship, and a Graf Spee class pocket battleship.



Quite a disparate bunch.  Unfortunately, Littorio and Strasbourg have various amounts of paint, which would need to be stripped as I am certain that I no longer have those hues in my collection.  The others pictured above, along with Rodney and Barham, are bare or in primer.



The ships I have lean somewhat towards the Mediterranean campaign, but another idea struck me while digging for these miniatures.  I found this magazine during the search:

Inside, there is an interesting article:

The article details the planning that occurred in 1941 when policy-makers in Washington DC thought that Brazil might become pro-Axis.  While it seems to be a stretch of the imagination today, the population of Brazil contains a number of German emigrants and some of the Brazilian army officers were thought to side with the Germans.



The map above is perfect for the task, detailing airstrips of various sizes and the capacity of the ports.  The real task is assembling the miniatures for the campaign.  GHQ makes most of the US ships - including Texas and Arkansas which I have in my possession.  Panzerschiffe makes the Brazilian dreadnoughts Sao Paulo and Minas Gereas.



There is a lot of room for adding more forces to this what-if scenario.  Some of them are mild, such as adding German aircraft squadrons and U-boats.  Some are wild - adding Graf Spee and Prinz Eugen to the Brazilian fleet.  And there is the truly fanciful, with Bismarck and French ships making their appearance.  But I have to admit that the strangeness adds to the appeal, for me at least.

Back on track, with a surprise...

Far too slowly, but it is finally done - the hobby table is set up for business:

And, it is immediately besieged with projects and a few surprises as well if you look closely!

Here is the first one:

1/2400 Figurehead English 16th century squadron

1/2400 Figurehead Spanish 16th century squadron

I thought that these packs were sold off long ago, but they look intact and almost completely untouched. Looks like two to three ships per pack - plenty to start off. I really do not know much about the period - any rules suggestions? Since these minis received the official 'thumbs up' from the missus, they are keepers...

The missus and I are still debating the fate of all of those 1/6000 ships, scattered on the work table in the first pic; I am still sorting them out! Looks like British, German, Turkish (!), US, and Brazilian (?) ships, in a mix of WW1 and WW2 eras.

Another naval mini You Tube video...

You Tube user SEEKRIEG4 has a video of a WW2 naval miniatures duel for your viewing pleasure - SeeKrieg Naval Miniature Battle

Ship gaming YouTube video

Ted Henkle's latest wargaming creation is a movie about a Malta convoy in WW2 - Impending Fury 

Drumbeat 2009

Yesterday, I played in my first game of General Quarters 3 at Drumbeat, a nice but small historical-only gaming event in Seattle. Mark Serafin braved adversities to show up and run this event.

The scenario was a training scenario, just to get people up on the rules. There were six players - 2 Japanese and 1 German vs. 1 US, 1 British, and 1 Dutch (me!). Each player had three ships: 1 light cruiser or large destroyer and 2 smaller destroyers. The Dutch force consisted of: Java, Kortenaer, and Witte de Withe.


Here are my three ships, GHQ Models I believe and expertly painted by David Sullivan.



The game starts - Java leads the way. HMS Penelope is close astern as we pass close to an island.



German destroyers off the port bow! We started the game at a really close range, and in the name of simplicity the visibility rules were not used. The action got hot immediately - the Germans received fire from my division and the Brits. The US destroyers were waaaaaaaay behind us, and the Japanese forces were not this close! Java was able to damage the lead German DD, and she had some luck in the return fire - Java was hit twice, but each hit was against a non-existent system (TT launcher in this instance), in effect no damage was done. Kortenaer (second in the Dutch line) was not so lucky - she suffered an Engineering hit, reducing her max speed and lost one of her two TT launchers.



The Royal Navy division - Penelope leads 2 H-class (?) DD. Minis by GHQ and well-painted by Mark Serafin.



A little later in the game - Java (and Kortenaer) in the bottom right corner, the two remaining Germans heading away, two Japanese groups (in the top center), and the Brits. The US force is somewhere off-pic to the left (!). Witte de Withe has sunk earlier, previously undamaged, by a German torp. The lead German DD was sunk by concentrated Dutch and Brit gunfire and a Brit torp. The British force is taking massive damage from very close range fire by the two Japanese flotillas. In the pic you see blue poker chips; Mark uses these to cover the torpedo launches.



A Japanese flotilla closing in on Java. The torpedo launch chips astern the Japanese have sunk Kortenaer and things look grim for the Dutch. I'm not going down without a fight though! Java has a lot of guns, and can dish out a lot of damage at close range. The Japanese CL gets peppered by a broadside, and is severely damaged. In the exchange, Java gets scraped paint and splinters (more hits on non-existent systems).



Java turns to starboard to keep the maximum amount of weapons on target. Off the pic, off Java's bow is the late-arriving US division. I decide to turn in and follow the US ships, although I should just open the range.



Here is what I get for following the US destroyers - a spread of 3 US torps heading directly towards me! The torps were intended for the Japanese flotilla, but I plotted my move just perfectly to intercede. Fortunately the torps missed; gave me quite a scare though!


Soon after this, we had to pick up the game. I had a blast! I really like the way that General Quarters has been improved in its third edition - I ordered a copy of the WW1 version later that night.

Many thanks to Mark Serafin, for coming to Drumbeat despite his troubles; and thanks to the other players - Chuck (Japanese), Jeroen (Japanese), Dantae (German, and perhaps 12 years old), Dale (US), and the Brit player whose name I did not note.


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Dutch BC mini

Ken Hall has made a nice conversion for a never-constructed Dutch BC, the pic is here - link



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