"Fighter" - Len Deighton - a review...

If you weren't an avid fan of WWII Air wargaming before you read this book, then I can guarantee that you almost certainly will be by the time you've finished reading it....

Deighton's book is ostensibly a history of the Battle of Britain, but the span covers much more than this as the key components that came together for the battle had originated much earlier - in WWI, the Spanish Civil War, and of course in Poland and France...

The book is roughly divided into three parts so in no particular order...

• First you get a description of the key players on both sides - the airmen, flyers, inventors and scientists on both sides who prepared the way for the actual battle, from Camm (designed the Hurricane), Mitchell (Spitfire), Willi Messerschmitt (the 109), Park/Dowding/Leigh Mallory for the RAF, to Goering/Galland/Sperle for the Luftwaffe - absolutely fascinating... lots of tit bits of information - how the RAF were as keen on political infighting as the Luftwaffe - the shameful way Dowding was treated, and how much was owed to Beaverbrook.... he spends a lot of time on the differing training methods, and how short the training time became for British pilots as the battle went on, and of course what we owed to the Polish and other foreign pilots that flew for the RAF.
• The second section deals with the planes themselves - their design basis, how they came to be, and the struggles the forward thinkers in the RAF had trying to persuade the more conservative elements (including some pilots!) that all-metal monoplanes were the way forward...  we were, after all, still building Gladiators at the start of the war... he touches on the design limitations of the 109 (thin wings resulted in not so much armament), the 110 (too big basically). The problems the Germans had with engines - nothing to match the Merlin - and the British genius that sent the Merlin design to America to be made there under licence....
• The third section deals with the battle, which Deighton divides it up into its various phases - it was an amazement to me how lackadaisical the Luftwaffe plan was when you consider their huge advantage in numbers of planes and their practical know-how gained in Spain/Poland/the Low Countries & France. Strategically the battle was supposed to pave the way for Operation Sealion, but the impression you get is that Hitler's lack of desire to actually invade Britain lead to him letting the Luftwaffe just get on with it....   despite that they came very close to winning, and if they had not been lured by the bombing of London they could have very well done it....

A superb book, hugely readable, but the overwhelming view I got is that ultimately the RAF won the battle by making fewer mistakes than the Luftwaffe. Deighton is clear who the hero's are - Dowding, Park (commander of 11 group who defended London and the South East), Beaverbrook (who put a 10 megaton rocket up the production schedules for Spitfire and Hurricane), and not least the pilots of both sides who exhibited huge bravery on a daily basis...

Loved it - 10/10...

"Hearts of Tin" - trial game...

As I get older I increasingly find myself getting irritated* with rules that are needlessly complicated...  you know the one's, why have 5 pages when 50 can be filled with endless complications that in the end, result in the same result... and yes I'm aware that the counter argument is that we just line them up and throw a D6 each to decide the outcome, but what I want is a set of rules that sits on that side of the half way mark between the two extremes......

* I got so grumpy the other day that I even caused my self to stop and think..... 

So it is with the current game that DG and I are playing using the eminently sensible, but endlessly confusing (to me), Regimental Fire and Fury rules - I don't know what it is but despite playing them for almost two years now, I just cannot get on with them...  I'm happy to play them, but only if DG explains what I need to do at any point in time, as I'll freely admit they are the most counter-intuitive set of rules I've ever played....  and don't even get me started on the D10....

For a short while I had hoped that "A House Divided" might do the trick - it says "Fast Play" on the front after all - but no, even DG describes them as "wordy", and at 120 pages long how fast play can they be (answers to me by all means, but as another blogger wrote, send them on a used £10 note )....

So it was that I was reading Ross McFarlane's [clicky] blog recently and my interest was piqued by his mention of the rules he has written called "Hearts of Tin" [clicky]...   I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment (following a few months of wargamers block) so I set the table  up for a small American Civil War set to in order to try the rules...

For my scenario I turned to my well thumbed copy of "Battles with Model Soldiers" [clicky] and chose the third of Don's demo games...

How many happy memories does that simple little diagram bring back....

Which ended up as the following once I'd laid out the table...

NB. The signal tower is just a "nice to have"!

 Herewith the Confederate deployment...  from the left:

• 4th Virginia
• Artillery (12pdr Napoleon)
• Tiger Zouaves
• Cavalry

  ..all troops for this game (both sides) classed as "average", all muskets are smooth-bore, all artillery 12pdr Napoleon's..

.and here's the Union - from the left:

• 8th Ohio
• Duryée's Zouaves
• Artillery (also a Napoleon)
• Cavalry

...and so to the first move...  both sides diced, the Confederates win and become "Player 1"... both sides then threw initiative dice...  "Hearts of Tin" uses a DBA'esque activation system where the brigadier and any units within close proximity get to move "free"  but points then need to spent to move units that are further away etc. As you can see in the following the Rebs had more movement opportunities than the Union but either way at the end of move 1 positions were as follows.

End Move 1 - Union has deployed its artillery, both sides are sending their cavalry on a flank move, and the wall continues to be a magnet!

Move two - first melee as the Union cavalry crashes home on the 4th Virginia - both sides lose a stand - the small D6 indicates that the Confederates are also carrying some additional casualties towards losing their next base - the good news is that the infantry have held, and things will not be so much in the Union's favour in the second round (no charge bonus in subsequent rounds).

Elsewhere the cannons continue to boom - causing little damage....

End Move 2 - Union Ohio Regiment turn to face Reb cavalry... the Tigers will move through the wood...

Move 3 - further firing - little effect...  the melee continues between the Union cavalry and the Confederate infantry - the other melee has ended quickly however, as the Confederate cavalry inflicted enough casualties in the first round to cause the Union infantry to immediately break and rout away - the Confederates now have an open flank and a target rich environment - worse than that, the  Union artillery is now shielded from any useful targets...

End Move 3  - Union infantry are out of shot, bottom left

Move 4 - end of game - in the third round of the melee the Rebel infantry see off the Union cavalry who break (and are also just out of shot bottom left..)

The Confederate cavalry has charged home on the Union artillery causing them to break, the Tigers have flanked the Union Zouaves...

Union commander orders retreat leaving the Confederates as victors..

End Move 4

End Move 4 - Union troops retreating pell mell....

Post Match Analysis:

• A fun little game - I'm going to have another game with a few more units to give the activation rules a proper chance of building some "friction"
• I liked the melee rules - "Hearts of Tin" uses a 3 phase move where the moving player gets to do their move, then in the second phase the opposite player throws their melee dice and the first player removes casualties and tests for break, and in the 3rd phase the moving player then throws their melee dice and the second player removes casualties and tests for break - casualties are not simultaneous. I see the second phase as modelling the casualties a charging unit takes as it crashes home... 
• Just two morale states - good or broken - simple, and does what it says on the tin..
• Shooting is not as effective as melee for killing people - two dice per stand in melee, only one when shooting.... if you want to kill your opponent, get hand to hand quickly...

Recommended - try them for a fun, quick, game, where you get to think of manoeuvring rather than whether you are allowed to do what you want to do.....

The Wargamers' Annual (2009)... a review

It's taken me a while but I got there in the end...

This was published in 2009 and is the first of the still running series of annuals... it's one of those purchase items that I thought about buying every time I saw it on the Caliver stand at one wargame show or another. I never did, usually because there was another call on my dosh that was more pressing at the time...  at the original price (£15) this would have probably remained the case for some time, as to be honest the price is the thing that puts me off them - I see these annuals in the same light as magazines, they're not intrinsic or key to my hobby in the same way that a reference book, or some little metal men, or paints, or brushes, or rules, are.... they are "nice to haves", and for me those purchases are governed by price and situation.... this years is  priced at £17.50 - I'll wait... 

..this one however was reduced at Colours (to £8) so I gave in and took the plunge.....pleased I did...

...the annual is put together by those two stalwarts Charles Grant  & Phil Olley, ably assisted by a few of their equally as well known associates (Stuart Asquith and Harry Pearson) and features a host of articles covering:

• wargame re-fights of Blenheim (superb) and Minden (also good)
• Harry Pearson writes on ancient wargaming  (OK)
• Stuart Asquith has two articles one on wargaming in the "Time of the Other Napoleonic Wars" -  basically all wars in the age of Napoleon III so from 1850 to 1870 (OK) and a second piece on Solo Wargaming  (a little minimalist this one - but then he didn't have a lot of space).
• Phil Olley does a battlefield walk of Tippermuir (good), and an article on his 30 Years war project (exquisite)
• there's also a whole load of short "How To" articles on making terrain items and such...  (varied..  one on battlefield redoubts was good)
• there's also a number of table top teasers including a night attack (small scale action - very good - want to try this one), blocking action (OK - some interesting thoughts on wargaming the firing from higher elevations)
• an article on using light infantry in your games (a "condensed" history but some exquisite  pictures by Bob Marrion)

Overall - highly recommended - 8/10 (but it would have been a lot less at the original price)

A funny thing happened on my way to the redoubt.... moves 11 to End (King)

...the game has drawn to a close, but not before a continuation of the most outrageous luck for the American's... I have never seen a series of dice like it*

So just a quick summation and a few candid shots...

We'll start with the position at the end of move 11 - by the very skin of their teeth the Americans have managed to halt the Brunswicker's on the very lip of the redoubt - no casualties, but a morale hit by one pip - in return the Brunswicker's handle the Green Mountain Boys slightly more severely..  both end disordered (yellow pins) - the Hessians have recovered from the cannon fire of the previous move and moved up behind their colleagues in the event that they break..

Move 12 - low water mark for the Hessians....

In front of the redoubt, the Hessians and the Brunswicker's both fail morale tests and rout.....

The Americans draw the King - their Dragoons arrive.. I throw for their arrival point and get a "1"..  yep....  right behind the British Dragoons who have just wheeled so as to head up the table towards the redoubt...  the Americans immediately charge... while still in column...

A bad day just got worse...

In the ensuing melee, the British stand (just), but in the contact phase the Americans throw 6 and the British throw 1 - beyond belief - the death and Glory Boys break and rout...

Overview at the end of move 12..

Hessian assault troops streaming away in rout.. the British Dragoons have just passed the lead wagon in the same condition... game lost I think...

I thought I'd go one more move as there was still one British regiment in good condition, and there was always a possibility that the other regiments would recover.. 

Not to be...  the assault regiments both routed again... 

In their turn the American cavalry...



...started to carve up the wagons - a target rich environment... two wagons finished for (rout markers - they won't recover so will count lost) - next turn the Americans will do the same (the cavalry will get breakthrough charge so can reach deal with two wagons per turn)

...and at that point - move 13 - I called the game - quite possibly the most outrageous game I've ever had the pleasure of playing - immensely enjoyable, but I wouldn't have wished those dice rolls on a live opponent!

*... except when DG is on a roll! 

Books for your Kindle... #2

Been a while but I was browsing at lunchtime......  

This one (left) was from here:

http://archive.org/details/rulesforconducto00grearich

Not particularly my cup of tea, but this is one for Bob Cordery :

http://archive.org/details/gameofwar00maxi

More to my taste - similar to the previous:

http://archive.org/details/warchessorgameof00rich