Defending the Malay Barrier: End of Turn 2, 1st - 15th January 1942

The final actions of campaign turn 2 are potential air attacks on crippled or disabled ships underway for repair.

The first phase is a carrier strike group from the Ryojo attempting and failing to locate the crippled Houston and its destroyer escort.

The final phase are the Land Based Aircraft attempts. The WAF fail to locate the crippled HMS Dragon in poor weather. The EAF however, are blessed with clear skies and good weather and do find HMAS Canberra escorted by HMAS Hobart.

I used the Campaign Air Ops in GQ3 rather than Tactical Air Ops to speed things along.  

The first attacking wave consisted of 9 flights of 'Nell' bombers. 4 targeted Hobart and 5 Canberra. Medium bombs were dropped keeping the aircraft out of short range AA fire. Neither Australian ship scored any hits using their long range AA armament only.

The Canberra was faced with a heart-stopping moment with a near miss. They only had one hull box left and the near miss reduced that to a half!

The second Japanese wave consisted of 7 flights of 'Betty' bombers. 2 targeted the Hobart and 5 Canberra. On this occasion the Australian AA fire proved far more accurate. Hobart damaged one bomber and Canberra shot one down. 

As the medium bombs rained down Canberra held its breath. Even a near miss would sink her. Fortune favoured the Australians with all bombs falling wide. This signalled the end of turn 2.

Continued -

Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 2, 1st - 15th January 1942, Allied Forces intercept Japanese Convoys.

Two allied naval groups have succeeded in thwarting any Japanese attempts to prevent them intercepting convoys.

EASGROUP v JINTSU CONVOY

EastGroup (USN) having defeated the Nachi patrol now approach the Jintsu invasion convoy. The USN flag is transferred to the cruiser Boise who leads 7 Clemson class destroyers north. 3 of those destroyers have sustained hull damage limiting their speed to 30 knots. 

Success! The Japanese convoy is contacted by the American sweep. 8 merchant ships/transports escorted by the cruiser Jintsu and 2 Kagero class destroyers make up the convoy.

 

The USN Boise Steaming north leading the destroyers in line astern. It is now nighttime.

In the foreground, the Boise sights a Japanese ship heading directly towards them from the east at a distance of 20,000 yards (100cm).

Continued -

On the Workbench: Ancient Spanish Cavalry, Japanese Floatplanes, Royal Navy Ships

Time for an update on what I have been painting this year so far. Starting with figures for the Trebia project:

4 bases of Spanish Heavy Cavalry. All figures are 6mm Baccus, 10 figures to a 40mm x 30mm base. A base of Italian allied cavalry was also completed having discovered I was one base short!

Continued -

Plans for 2025

 It is time to plan the year ahead, or at least have an idea of what I intend to do!

As in previous years I will break down my plans into Battles, Campaigns, Painting/Modelling.

BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman: 9th Legion v Ancient British Mona.

Punic Wars: Battle of Trebia.

ECW:

TBC. Braddock Down is a possibility but I have yet to settle on a particular battle. It is possible that ECW will be a period not covered this year.

NAPOLEONIC:

Peninsular War project - Battle of Busaco 27th September 1810. 

ACW:

Cross Keys 8th June 1862. 

PONY WARS:

A priority this year now that all figures and terrain have been completed.

COLONIAL:

Zulu Wars - Rorkes Drift

WW2:

Market Garden: Battle in the Woods from the Rapid Fire scenario book involving the UK Paras.

Operation Compass: Attack on the Maletti Group. This is a scenario from a mini-campaign acquired from Wargames Vault. 

It is unlikely I will have time to play both WW2 games but hopefully one will see the tabletop.

Continued -

Review of 2024

I hope you all had a great Christmas and it is now that time to reflect on how the wargaming year went.

As in previous years this will be a review of my wargaming year including how close I was to fulfilling the aims set out in 'Plans for 2024'.

It will be broken down into 'Battles', 'Campaigns' and 'Painting/Modelling'. the initial aims are quoted in italics.

 BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman 20th Legion v Ancient British Cantii tribe who have rebelled.

Completed - see 'Campaigns' below.

ECW:

Edgehill - This is a definite and I know this as it is currently occupying my tabletop. Hope to have a blog posting very soon.

Completed:

Forlorn Hope rules were used and proved to be a resounding Royalist victory.

NAPOLEONIC:

Peninsular War project - Battle of Busaco 27th September 1810. Approximetely 2/3 of the figures I needed to paint were completed this past year. All being well this should be on the tabletop before the end of the year.

Good news is that all figures required are now ready but the bad news being that I ran out of time before I could play it.

Napoleonic Campaign - The next map moves have yet to be completed but confident at least one action will be played out.

Failed! Clearly over-confident.

Continued -

Market Garden: Groesbeek Heights

 

The initial German plan of attack.

TURN 1

The initial assault on Wyler proved costly for the Germans. An infantry platoon was lost with others suffering casualties as the attempted to storm the village buildings.

The Germans benefit from excellent command dice in their first turn allowing for several activations for each formation. Here the Goebel's battle group make good progress towards the woods near Wyler.

Continued -

Market Garden: Groesbeek Heights Introduction

This is the 2nd scenario in the Rapid Fire! supplement 'Operation Market Garden'. Orders of battle have been converted for Blitzkrieg Commander (BKC) rules. 

This posting will provide an introduction to the game including objectives etc.

Game details:

Table Size 4'6" x 3'

Figures - Heroics & Ros (new sculpts)

Rules - Blitzkrieg Commander IV

My interpretation of the map contained within the scenario book.

Continued -

On the Workbench: Punic Wars

Some decent headway has been made this year on the Trebia project. Plenty yet to paint but these are the latest on the painting table:

Republican Romans

These will be representing 2 legions for the game but in future games can be one or part of a legion.

Baccus do not provide separate models for the Principes lumping them together with the Hastati without chainmail armour. I merely painted armour on the figures and although not ideal, in this scale it is not too obvious unless you look very closely. It makes it easier to differentiate them from behind.

Continued -

On the Workbench: Busaco - French Allies

 Another project completed and ready to play is the Peninsular War Battle of Busaco. 

Originally I intended to include the entire battlefield but after a re-appraisal I thought 'why' when all the action was confined to no more than 2/3 of it. Concentrating on the main action has reduced the number of Portuguese in particular that need to be painted so saving a little time.

With the Anglo/Portuguese forces completed it just left several battalions of French allies:

I apologise for the quality of the photos, which includes the other posts of this batch of "On the Workbench". I do not have the luxury of lighting from all angles and have to rely on a strip of 5 adjustable lights mounted on a strip on the ceiling of the garage. I made some adjustments including with the camera and it was only when I had transferred the photos to the screen that I realised all had not gone to plan! 

On to the details of what has been painted:

Legion du Midi.

Continued -

On the Workbench: US Airborne

 The US Airborne for the 505 PIR is now complete and is the subject of the next game.

All figures are of the new Heroics & Ros range and the orders of battle are taken from the Rapid Fire 'Market Garden' supplement. This represents the full regiment of 3 battalions.

I have covered this in previous blogs but a reminder here on converting RF orbats to BKC. It is relatively straight forward with each stand representing one platoon. With regard to the number of figures it is roughly RF + 50%. Or a ratio of 1:10. For vehicles the ratio is 3 in BKC for every 2 in RF. No change for artillery.