Operation Nostalgia: More about the background and concepts.

This posting is in response to comments made by one of the administrators in the Naval Wargaming Facebook Group about the 'Battle of Kasos' naval battle and the campaign in general. It raises issues that may also have occurred to some readers of the blog. I was not prepared to enter into a protracted debate on Facebook - I have seen all too often how those turn out!

The criticism in many ways is perfectly valid. Firstly why are there German ships in the Aegean in 1943? It was pointed out that in the original articles in Wargames Illustrated an example was given of this being a group of vessels on a flag-waving exercise in mid 1939 that remained in the Med after war broke out. The point was then made that the T4 and T24 torpedo boats were not available in 1939. The Germans had captured Italian and French vessels, why not use them? I quote, "I have no problem with the basic premise of the campaign. I just think it would be more realistic to have used 'Italian' torpedo boats, which were taken over by the Germans."

There are two principle generators of my tabletop games. Recreations of historical encounters and campaigns. For the former I try to be as accurate as possible within the limitations of my available space, terrain and collections. For the latter, unless it is a specific historical campaign which I am seeking to play out (none currently underway) then I am none too vexed about the precise orders of battle, terrain etc.

Dealing specifically with 'Operation Nostalgia', it is a fictional campaign based around a proposed invasion of the Greek Islands in the Aegean. Like my other campaigns, I view this as a method of generating interesting actions on the tabletop each of which have consequences further down the line. I never intended it to be a 'what if' campaign. Although most of the forces involved have the sort of kit available in 1943, I have been a little wayward in selecting some of the ships, one or two of the minor vessels were not even built yet. I did this for no other reason that I had models of those ships and I wanted to include them. I am not particularly fussed about how the German ships got to the Aegean, they are there for my campaign!

Which brings me onto the reason for this posting on my blog. We have a small fascinating hobby and a few months ago I chose to do my bit in promoting it by broadcasting to the public how I wargame through this blog. For those new to the hobby, or for that matter those like me who are a little longer in the tooth, it might provide ideas for your own games. For some it may not appeal and others, like the Facebook Group admin, it may not be historically accurate enough for their taste. That's fine, but this is how I wargame and after 50 years I am not about to change any time soon.

My message to all those new to the hobby is do whatever you like to create your own fun game. If you want to send Type 45 destroyers into the Battle of Narvik and get fun out of doing it then great. The emphasis is on 'FUN' as Jay Arnold spells out at the end of each of his podcasts. I would never presume to pass judgement on anybody else's wargaming. To me the fact that you are wargaming gets a huge thumbs up.

I apologise if this comes across as something of a rant. Whilst none of us are above criticism, I have to confess at being a little miffed on this occasion!