All at Sea - The Leeward Line using War by Sail, Solo Game Playthrough - Part Two

Picking up from where I left off last week, I've been messing about on the table with the 1:700 age of sail ship collection completing play of The Leeward Line scenario from turn three as the rest of Admiral Collingwood's leeward column of British ships closed to contact with the Allied line at Trafalgar.

Warlord Games - Trafalgar Leeward Line.pdf

A lot of die rolling ensued as the British ships barged their way through the forward line of Franco-Spanish ships to luff up alongside and begin the process of exchanging close range broadsides like two boxers mixing it on the ropes, and it seems produce a result very similar to the historical reality of the battle.

Wargame Vault - War by Sail

The pictures below are taken from the close of play and, I think, really capture why this scale of model  adds so much to the table-top impact of the game, which has provided lots of food for thought for staging something much bigger.

In the video I was keen to try and illustrate the damage sustained by the two fleets over a period of time that can represent up to two hours of fighting, and it is worth stressing, as pointed out in the video summary of the damage percentages, that the percentages represent the damage sustained to the ship's ability to fight, float and/or manoeuvre, not for example, a percentage of crew casualties sustained. 

I played the scenario to the actual events as much as possible so had the British ships reserving their first broadsides until within close range, and if the chits presented the opportunity, allowing them to make raking attacks as they passed through the Allied line.

Once the first broadsides were fired, War by Sail models the need to either take a whole turn not firing to reload or to reload and fire as the target bears, testing the individual gun crews to see if they are ready to open fire, with the better trained British crews more likely to get more of their guns ready to fire than the French or Spanish.

I will no doubt try this scenario again using 'Kiss Me Hardy' as a comparator, which, with the rules scaled at around 1:900, should work well as written for this scale of model. 

Santa Anna-112 guns exchanges greetings with Royal Sovereign which saw Admiral Colingwood and his officers come under fire.

Behind the Santa Anna, Le Fougueux 74-guns wallows in the swell, critically damaged and on fire, but with its crew determinedly hanging on and its colours flying

HMS Tonnant has just passed through the Combined Fleet line with the two French 74's, Le Pluton and L'Algeciras, Admiral Magon's flagship, having been saluted on the way through.

HMS Mars 74-guns (left centre) surrounded by enemy ships having contributed to the distress of the French 74's, Le Fougueux and Le Pluton in its wake crosses the bow of the Spanish Monarca 74-guns

HMS Tonnant's stern quarters can be seen as the British ship cuts through the Allied line

HMS Colossus cuts the line to the rear of the Spanish 74-gun Bahama as the stern quarters of HMS Bellerophon are seen further along the line crossing the bows of the Spanish ship, with Admiral Magon's French 74-gun L'Algeciras in the process  of hauling down her colours.

So if you would like to see how the scenario played out just click on the video links below, with the link to Part One first, for those that might have missed it followed by Part Two below:

Next up: More adventures in Vassal as Steve and I reacquainted ourselves with Columbia Games'  Richard III as we sat down between Xmas and New Year to play the Wars of the Roses Campaign game, and work is progressing to add another six French 74's to the age of sail collection.

Rommel in the Desert - Campaign Game with Vassal

 

So just before the close of play last year, Steve and I decided to finish off 2020 with the full campaign game of Rommel in the Desert (RITD) which combines the 1941 and 1942 scenarios into a two year campaign by linking the orders of battles and checking for supply and build up points from month to month in effect twenty turns of play that covers the period encompassing, The retreat from Benghazi, Operation Crusader, Gazala, First and Second Alamein if you get that far.

Empire Set Up April 1941 with the Tobruk garrison of five units plus some extra infantry operating in the outskirts and my forward units of Neame's battered and worn XIII Corps

Out of preference to the way I like to play, I would probably err towards playing Afrika Korps and the Axis, but we decided to roll for sides and I took the Empire forces.

This is a game that Steve and I had discussed many times as one we would like to play using the board game with time permitting and room to leave it set up, and so Vassal really makes playing this longer variant so much more 'doable' in that we were able to play through for three nights over three weeks, saving and coming back to the game in between.

Empire Order of Battle for the Campaign Game, less the set up units which are illustrated above in the placement I opted for at the start before Steve started the Axis forces rolling forward from El Agheila

As will be surmised from the orders of battle in the two shots from the game set up, the advantage in numbers and quality lie with the Axis in 1941 and early 1942 and for the Empire player it is not simply a case of hanging on, but one of looking for opportunities to degrade the Axis order of battle by writing down Afrika Korps units in particular, whilst not paying too high a price to do so, knowing better quality units and lots of them will arrive in the later period.

The Axis Order of Battle, very much front loaded with some excellent Afrika Korps units, but starting to dry up as the war progresses into late 1942

In addition to managing the battle situations, the Empire forces, in particular, have to know when to trade space for time, ideally leaving well reinforced garrisons in Tobruk and Bardia with effective defences, better supported with mines if possible, thus stretching the Axis supply line if they advance past those garrisons and allowing the Empire to shorten their supply and logistics route to Alexandria at the same time.

Of course if the Empire forces fall back too soon without drawing Axis units forward in their wake, they run the risk of leaving the garrisons to be overwhelmed before relief forces can reach them and if the Axis get control, particularly of Tobruk in 1941, it could be a very long game for the Empire.

The set up for 1941 recreates the battered and worn Empire units fresh from their success under General Richard O'Connor having defeated the Italian Tenth Army during Operation Compass between September 1940 to February 1941, seeing them capture 130,000 prisoners, 400 tanks and 1,292 guns, but leaving the Empire troops exhausted and regrouping near Beda Fomm with forward elements patrolling towards the Italian supply base of El Agheila, and much weaker after having a veteran cohort of the force siphoned off by Churchill for operations in defending Greece and Crete.

Enter the Afrika Korps under a relatively unknown German general, Erwin Rommel, who not prepared to sit back and wait for his total force allocation to arrive, plunged off into the blue with his first units of armour and reconnaissance troops that clashed with and then rolled back the weak Empire forces before them in April, starting the first part of what became commonly known to the British 'Tommies' as the 'Benghazi Handicap' as opposing forces raced each other along the North African coastal highway to be the first to the next potential choke point before Tobruk.

Empire Retreat April 1941 - Turn 1
Empire rear-guard forces do an excellent job delaying the Axis advance and inflicting annoying casualties, whilst forcing them to burn vital supplies in the advance to Tobruk

In anticipation, from the Ultra intercepts I had been receiving, I planned for my inevitable retreat to be more ordered than that achieved by Lieutenant General Phillip Neame commanding XIII Corps and placed small units of motorised and lorried infantry supported by the odd battered remnants of cruiser tanks from 2nd Armoured Division at choke points such as Benghazi and the coastal corridor through the mountains of the Jebel el Akhdar and south of them on the desert track at Mechili, to act as speed bumps.

I could not hope to stop the Axis units coming up the road towards me but by occupying positions that were far enough away, such as Mechili to force supply point expenditure to get there or in places like Benghazi and its fortifications together with limited access reducing the number of Axis forces that could attack at any one time, the plan was to fight and withdraw, hoping for the manoeuvrability, and/or armour of my troops to give them an element of protection from pursuit fire, but enabling me to delay the Axis and build up my forces in and around Tobruk.

Axis consolidate whilst Empire reinforce from Alexandria May 1941 - Turn 2

As my rear-guard forces fell back before Tobruk in May 41, the delaying tactics seemed to have paid off with two highly valuable Afrika Korps units in the destroyed box alongside three of my battered remnants and a more valuable brigade from 70th Division, caught up in the retreat from Mechili, but a reasonable trade off that allowed me to build up supply and manpower as the Axis spent theirs in the pursuit.

Destroyed Axis and Empire units April-May 1941
Those two Afrika Corps units, more than made up for the loss of my three remnants and the lorried infantry brigade from 70th Division.

As the Empire forces fell back on Tobruk and later towards the Egyptian frontier, both sides drew breath and pulled forward their reinforcements, which saw a formidable stack of Axis troops advancing around Tobruk as the Empire had the fortune of the early arrival of several full strength cruiser tank brigades, plus spending fifteen 'build up' points to build minefields in and around the Tobruk defences.

Our previous warm up games playing Crusader and Gazala had taught both of us the lesson to be wary of charging in on stacks unprepared and the value of all arms attacks to cover those eventualities, but the pressure for the Axis to make hay in those early months ensured the attacks that came in during June, July, August and September as we both fought in the sands south of Tobruk on the frontier, attempting to weaken the other enough to enable either the Axis to assault Tobruk without hinderence or face being driven back to regroup from losses sustained in the fighting.

End June 1941, Axis lay siege to Tobruk - Turn 3
An ominously large stack of Axis units hovers south of Tobruk, looking to force events on the Egyptian frontier south of Bardia

In the end the fighting close to Bardia proved too much for the Empire troops, having called in reserves from Bardia itself only to see the Axis rush troops forward to occupy the key town and then to smash the Empire armour units in a very large drawn out battle near Fort Capuzzo as both sides increased their forces committed that broke the Empire force sufficiently to cause a general withdawal back to Alexandria and the Alamein line at the end of November.

The start of the Battle of Fort Capuzzo as the lead elements engage, that would see the Axis victorious and the Empire forced back to El Alamein in November 1941.

The really great part of playing the full campaign is that it forces the players to think ahead and not just on the battle in front of them during a two or three month scenario.

In the campaign, decisions have to be made when to call an end to the combat, to allow the opportunity to get key forces away from the battle to hopefully be rebuilt alongside newly arrived reinforcements; and leaving those forces as rear-guards to die, unable to escape multiple attacks in pursuit is sometimes not an option, but the decision to fall back from the frontier to Alexandria was a difficult one.

Destroyed Axis and Empire units End Nov 1941
This screen-shot tells the tale as to why the Empire forces had to fall back to Alexandria and leave Tobruk to fend for itself in January 1942

The decision put the ball very much in the Axis court and Steve found himself having to decide whether to pursue the Empire towards El Alamein with Tobruk behind and on his supply line and all the problems of the length of the route causing to his own supplies and reinforcements, but with the opportunity, should the Alamein line be broken, to end the North African campaign in 1941; or to make use of the breathing space to turn the full force of the Axis against Tobruk and deal with the problem in time for the next campaign in 1942.

End November 1941Tobruk under siege and Empire back on the El Alamein Line - Turn 8
A difficult decision at the time, but the Empire had to fall back to Alamein if it were to stand any chance of holding on into 1942

Steve chose the later option and so January 1942 saw the Battle for Tobruk as Axis troops braved shell, shot and mine to attempt to batter their way into the city as the Empire reserves desperately rebuilt and regrouped alongside the new arrivals to rush along the coast road to Bardia, with not much hope of closing on Tobruk before February 1942.

The minefield placement in Tobruk in May proved a wise investment and the Empire infantry together with support from their 25-pounders chewed up the Axis attacks in the first rounds of combat, but Steve was committed to the offensive and threw in the reserves, reducing the defenders to a single artillery brigade with one strength point left before the Axis were compelled to withdraw through lack of supplies to support more attacks; 'a close run thing' as the Duke would have called it!

As the Axis battered themselves against the defences of Tobruk, the Empire reserves rushed up to Bardia and with the Axis frontier stripped of troops investing Tobruk, assaulted back into the town and rounded up the German infantry left to hold it, later laying mines around it before advancing on Tobruk with a large force of mechanised infantry, armour and artillery to Gambut on the coast road below the Sidi Rezegh escarpment as January drew to a close.

End January 1942 - Turn 10
The battle to take Tobruk was a close run thing but the Empire just held on as their reserves rushed forward from Alexandria to retake Bardia 

The choice of positioning the main Empire relief force at Gambut was deliberate in that it both supported Tobruk and Bardia, enabled reinforcements to make their way in to replace the losses in Tobruk and being on the coast below the Sidi Rezegh escarpment limited any Axis attack to just two routes in, thus limiting the numbers that could engage at any one time.

With the Axis forces busy sorting themselves out at Gazala, the crisis of our campaign had been reached with the beefed up units of Eighth Army due to arrive in the summer including the new Grant tank brigades, Steve would have to force the issue around Tobruk now.

The fighting in January and the subsequent losses together with the Empire reinforcements had seen a shift in the balance and now the Axis were hard pressed to attack Tobruk whilst preventing those forces from being attacked, but, having the advantage to move first, moved immediately back into the attack on Tobruk, whilst placing a blocking force between the city and the Empire reserves at Gambut on the coast road at Belhamed.

However the Gambut forces were composed of armoured and mechanised troops supported with artillery and anti-tank guns, so that as the reinforced garrison in Tobruk now sporting a brigade of Matilda infantry tanks in support held the Axis attack, the forces at Gambut fell on both the Axis blocking force and were also able to put units into the Torbruk area thus splitting the fire of the Axis units there.

End February 1942 - Turn 11 and they think it's all over, well it is now! The Axis forces fall back from Tobruk for the last time

The fighting in Tobruk and directly outside it at Belhamed proved too much of a stretch for the Axis units left and with supplies dwindling and the Afrika Korps armour bled white together with numerous other support units now destroyed, they fell back to Gazala.

A quick look at the 'Dead Pool' at the end of February 1942 shows the comeback the Empire made in the first two months of the year with numerous Axis units written down in and outside Tobruk in the bitter battles for possession of the town.

Destroyed Axis and Empire units End Feb 1942 and Game End

At turn twelve with the first Grant tank brigade to arrive and another eighteen Empire brigades in the next six months, with next to nothing for the Axis we decided that Rommel would be looking to fall back to Tunis from here and so called the game.

The campaign lived up to all our expectations with all the added drama of retreats, build ups, pursuits and massive battles in between the twelve months of campaigning, as we worked our way through, and RITD is a definite favourite and one I'm sure we will return to again.

Thanks to Steve M who played a great game as Field Marshal Rommel and produced a real cut and thrust contest with the Empire driven back to Alexandria in December 1941, eight months earlier than his historical counterpart managed and came within a battery of 25-pounders of also emulating the German general by nearly taking Tobruk the following month.

Next up - Lots of stuff in the pipeline; The Leeward Line scenario continues using War by Sail as Collingwood's British division of ships comes broadside to broadside with Admiral Alava's and Magon's Franco-Spanish division, plus Steve and I managed to squeeze in a Vassal game of Columbia Games' Richard III as we played the campaign game between Xmas and New Year, and later I have six French 3rd rates on the stocks in a slightly different Revolutionary War livery and an interestingly different Age of Sail book that I'm reading at the moment to review a bit later.

All at Sea - The Leeward Line using War by Sail, Solo Game Playthrough

This time last year, the world was a very different place and I was looking forward to developing the 1:700th Age of Sail collection of ships and working up a set of rules and scenarios to play them with which saw me post a couple of games played with Jack, Bob and David, 

JJ's Wargames - War by Sail

as we set about some single ship and later multi-ship games using War by Sail, written by Tom Jensen and available through Wargames Vault in the link below.

Wargame Vault - War by Sail

Like most others faced with social distancing and lockdown, my tabletop wargaming has gone on the 'backburner' as I turned my attention to the painting, modelling and reading side of this particular project, however the desire to get some toys out on the table and start to enjoy the models in the way they were created to be enjoyed became rather overwhelming and so I decided to contemplate the idea of doing some solo games to help further develop some rule ideas I have had and to have some fun fitting them around an historical scenario.

Warlord Games - Trafalgar Leeward Line.pdf

As mentioned in my JJ's Wargames - Year End Review 2020 Plan, perhaps the worst case secret ever rolled out on the blog, was the plan to finish off the current collection with a view to producing the Battle of Trafalgar as a very big game, and so it seemed to me that a Trafalgar based scenario would fit the bill perfectly for playing through some ideas I have for the larger game whilst demonstrating those ideas as well as how practical 'chit draw activation' games are as a vehicle for solo play.

Thus I have started to work my way through The Leeward Line scenario from Warlord Games as a free pdf, see link above, to play solo with some added modifications based on the detail contained in Mark Adkins - The Trafalgar Companion and put together a video compilation of the game as it progresses.

Close Action! - Things hot up in the first video recording as HMS Royal Sovereign smashes her way through the line of the Combined Fleet at Trafalgar

One of the best aspects of having a dedicated room and table is that I can leave the game set up between play and carry on the other aspects of the project, namely building the models and researching the theme whilst working through the game mechanisms that I collated from the earlier games plus a few others that might be practical going forward but that needed testing.

So the game I am presenting is very much a development play through and some of the rules I have added to the original set might get changed in time and bearing in mind I haven't played for twelve months, some might get omitted through error, but then that's what happens in most games anyway! 

This still from the game captured Collingwood's Royal Sovereign battering Alava's Santa Anna as the two large first rates drew up broadside to broadside with my gun-flash markers adding to the effect.

If you want to see the first part of the play, where I start with the approach of the British Leeward column as it attempts to penetrate the line of the Combined Fleet under fire, then just click on the video link below; the next part of play will follow in due course and I hope you enjoy the presentation.

Next up: I have a Vassal game report to post looking at Steve and I playing the full campaign game for Rommel in the Desert, plus six French third rates are on the stocks in JJ's Shipyard and I am starting to read my way through some new books that Santa brought me for Xmas, so book reviews are on the list.

British Frigate vs French Frigate 1793 - 1814 - Mark Lardas/Peter Dennis (Osprey Duel Series)

Let's get 2021 off to a good start with the first book review of the New Year and an Osprey Duel Series book I got for Christmas from my Mother-in-Law, thank you Barb.

I know I have written before how easy it is for those of us who have been in the hobby of historical wargaming for any length of time to take Osprey Publishing somewhat for granted. 

They have always been there, ever since my early days in the hobby back in the mid-seventies, and with improvements in publishing technology and their commitment to recruiting some of the best historians and military artists in the field of military history, have improved their books tremendously since those early first editions, many of which I still treasure, as much for their nostalgia value rather than their content.

Of course with such a large back catalogue of titles to choose from some of these small books are better than others, providing as they do a starter but with lots of pointers to further reading to add to the knowledge and understanding of a given subject.

As mentioned these are small paperbacks usually of just under one-hundred pages with lots of illustrations interspersing the text, providing an introduction to a subject or period and so can be read cover to cover quite quickly, and in this case over two nights during the Xmas break.

A model of the Flore Americaine illustrated in the book, one of the early French frigates from the Seven Years War that pioneered the early development of the new cruiser type of warship.
Photograph by Rama Neko, Wikimedia Commons, Ce-by-sa-2-0-fr

I have to say that I thought this particular title was definitely one of the better ones with a logical progression of chapters looking at the development of the frigate to replace the small 40-44 gun two decker fourth rates that often had difficulties opening their lower tier of gun ports in heavy weather; seeing that lower gun deck given over to crew quarters and storage, which with the increased stores capacity improved the cruising range between stops to re-provision; and, by extending the length of the hull, enabling a longer single gun deck arrangement above it, with slightly fewer guns but all able to operate in all practical weathers, thus increasing the firepower and with the weight saving and longer hull offering improved handling and speed advantages over the old small fourth rates, enabling a very cost and combat effective cruiser.

With the new class of warship finding its niche in the line up of the major world fleets as a cruiser, scout and merchant/transport escort, the race became one of developing the ships into ever larger more powerfully armed units whilst retaining the elements of speed and manoeuvrability that saw a gradual development of first the 20-22 gun 8/9-pdr frigate to the 26-28 gun 12-pdr model with the later 32-36 gun 12-pdr frigate becoming the standard European type of medium frigate superseded in those navies by the 38-44 gun 18-pdr heavy frigate, with the British settling on the 38-gun design after their experience of taking in battle several of the larger French and Spanish 40 gun designs with, to them, little perceived advantage to those respective navies in fighting capability for the extra time and cost involved in building the slightly larger ship.

HMS Endymion was a British built 40-gun frigate seen here exchanging broadsides with USS President in 1815

The British would revaluate this assessment after their experience of encountering the American super-frigates, nearly the length of a third rate with their reinforced hulls of white oak, but often with reduced manoeuvrabilty. The British experimented with a larger 40-gun model with the building of HMS Endymion, but with the development of the carronade and the ability to produce lots of 38-gun Leda Class type heavy frigates with plenty of third rates and medium frigates in support, they saw little need for the more costly American 'Tiger tank' type frigate to police their ever growing world empire.

The frigate concept began as a French idea and they led the world in the eighteenth century in the development of fast sailing and well armed ships, which drew the attention of British designers when they were captured to not only imitate the designs but to adapt them with improvements better suited to British needs.

The access to supplies of suitable oak and pine for hulls and masts favoured the British supply chain and French designers were forced to adapt, using lighter components than in a typical British design, with thinner frames and spaced further apart, leading to long hulls that gave speed through the water but weaker hulls more prone to 'hogging' or bending at the stern and bow with the centre of buoyancy pushing the ship up in the middle, with the weight of any guns on the forecastle and poop making the problem worse.

The Great Guns as illustrated in the book by Peter Dennis illustrating the arrangements for the 8/9, 12 and 18-pdr Long Guns and the British 12, 18 and 32-pdr carronades eventually matched though not very successfully by the French 36-pdr brass obusiers de vaisseaux, later changing to iron carronades similar to British models

As time went by the lead in frigate design shifted from the French to the British, never averse to adopting and adapting French building techniques, something seemingly not copied by French designers and thus with the development of the carronade and coppering of hulls, the British took a distinct lead in the design of these types of ships from the late eighteenth century. 

Thus it would be the French Marine National force of large and medium frigates that posed the greatest threat to British mercantile trade and force projection and against whom the majority of frigate versus frigate engagements would be fought between 1793-1814, although, as the book illustrates, surprisingly fewer that one would imagine, with just forty-five ship to ship engagements illustrated on a great little map of the globe for handy reference.

One of those rare French victories is illustrated by Peter Dennis depicting the moment French boarders 
from MNF 28-gun 8-pdr Baionnaise overwhelmed the upper deck of the British 32-gun 12-pdr frigate HMS Ambuscade off the French Biscay coast, 14th December 1798.

During this time period the Royal Navy enjoyed unrivalled success winning thirty-five of these encounters, with seven described as inconclusive and with three French victories, with the book going on to describe three such encounters in detail, something really handy for those of us messing about developing scenarios to refight on the table.

A section of the map illustrating the positions around the globe of the forty-five Anglo-French frigate actions between 1793 -1814

British Frigate vs French Frigate is 80 pages cover to cover and includes the following chapters:

Introduction

Design and Development

The Strategic Situation

Technical Specifications

The Combatants

Combat

Statistics and Analysis

Conclusion

Further Reading

Index

I really enjoyed this little gem from Osprey, proof of which was that I did indeed read it from cover to cover and yes a significant amount of material was not new to me, but then I have been doing this stuff a long time and have read a few books before coming to this one.

That said Peter Dennis' artwork is as usual worth the cover price alone to inspire my own ideas around this subject and Mark Lardas compliments the ten pieces of colour artwork, diagrams and maps together with forty-nine illustrations, many from his own personal collection that I had not seen before, and with some really interesting stats and comparisons that I know will inform my scenario designs for these type of table-top engagements.

British Frigate vs French Frigate has a cover price of £12.99 but I see Amazon have it listed new for just £8.99 on Prime with free delivery and second hand copies from £5.90 plus postage and packing.

So next up I have the last few Vassal games played before the Xmas break to report on which included a fun campaign game of Rommel in the Desert with Steve and I battling backwards and forwards along the North African coast, followed by a foray into the Wars of the Roses with a game of Columbia's Richard III.

Following that, the French shipyards are at full capacity with six generic third rates on the stocks as I write and I am having fun with the video camera again trying out something new for the new year - more anon.

JJ's Wargames Year End Review, 2020 & The Plan for the New Year Ahead, 2021

A Storm with an Anchored Warship in Distress off a Rocky Coast - Nicholas Pocock

When I sat down to start this annual review for the blog, I began by looking for a suitable header-picture to try and capture some of the thoughts I had about this year's wargaming activities and the plans I have looking forward for 2021; and, as with last year, the nautical theme captured my imagination, but instead of the focus on the plans very much front and centre in last year's post, this year feels a very different situation that I suspect many of us find ourselves in.

I then saw the evocative picture by Nicholas Pocock of a warship, practically dismasted, looking close to dragging her anchors on a rocky lee shore and with her ensign upside down signalling the distress of attempting to ride out the storm and immediately thought how the scene seemed to capture so much of how 2020 feels like after a year of lockdowns; with constant mortality reports, news of political unrest brought to the streets, a seemingly never ending Brexit negotiation and our hobby time impacted massively by the requirements of social distancing, but with the promise of better times ahead now several vaccines seem close to being made generally available, captured in the burst of sunshine in the break in the clouds.

My header from last year's annual review with so much to look forward to doing in the New Year
in a world so different to the one we have now.
JJ's Wargames - Year End Review 2019

I then thought of how this year has been very much a case of 'battening down the hatches' which has caused a lot of distress for many and less so perhaps for others but has naturally caused change to the daily routine and the wider adoption of technology to enable different forms of social interaction to continue and in my own case see me finally grasp the intent to use Vassal for boardgaming to its full extent with Steve and I now very comfortable using the platform to continue our regular boardgaming meet-ups whilst chatting over social media.

So with the caveat of what a year 2020 has been and the impact it has had I thought I would look at how much wargaming activity has been covered here on the blog and the changes to the content caused and what I hope to do in the New Year with another caveat that the future is still fairly uncertain.

This year started to look like most others and with my table back in action after a few months of house renovations had caused it to be covered up it was great to be able to welcome Jack, David and Bob around it to start to work up a set of rules, War by Sail, for my growing collection of 1:700th age of sail model ships, that culminated in us playing the action off Cape Ortegal fought after Trafalgar in November 1805.

Our 'War by Sail' game of the Action of Cape Ortegal 4th November 1805, played back in February in what turned out to be the last game fought on the table this year.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/02/all-at-sea-cape-ortegal-4th-november.html

Only a few weeks prior to that game I attended the only wargames show I got to visit in 2019 when I drove down to Plymouth for PAW 2020 which now seems like a lifetime ago and, looking at the pictures from my report, like another world away from the one we now inhabit.

My picture of the main hall at PAW in early February this year in a the world we used to have with the babble of wargamers enjoying their hobby in social conviviality.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/02/paw-2020-presented-by-plymouth.html

Then the following month I attended the last gathering of the Devon Wargames Group since the pandemic and reported on a great game that most of the club participated in whem club members Lee, Mel and Jamie brought along their amazing collection of Lord of the Rings figures and terrain to stage the Battle of Pelennor Field, so it was certainly a good game to bring a premature end to the year on.

We didn't know it at the time but this great LOTR game would be the last held at the Devon Wargames Group meeting in early March.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/03/war-of-ring-at-devon-wargames-group.html

So effectively a normal year in the hobby came to an end in March 2020 with the government announcement of a national lockdown in the face of the Covid19 Pandemic that changed the world forever and changed the content of the blog.

My reaction to this situation was fairly philosophical based on my professional experience in the pharmaceutical industry and knowing 'that this to shall pass' whilst conscious that at times like this our responsibility to others is called upon and thus the pleasures of a simple hobby and pastime take second place to those other more important demands.

So, like for many others, the regular hobby habits had to be adjusted to the new situation and thus whilst some activities such as wargame shows, face to face gaming and visits to historical sights were reduced of stopped altogether, others, like reading, modelling and adventures into new activities such as remote boardgaming and video tutorials definitely gained from the change of focus and illustrates well why our hobby is one that fits in well with any life situation offering so many ways for us to express ourselves and enjoy all its many aspects.

So it was really interesting pulling this post together to see how the change had affected the content of the blog whilst noting that the output of posts was maintained and I start the review with the book reviews posted this year that is one area of my hobby that definitely gained from the change.

The opportunity to read more books has been amply rewarded with a lot of additional books read and reviewed here on JJ's.
http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Books

Historical wargaming as opposed to simply gaming demands and rather presupposes an underlying interest in the history that underpins the gaming activity and a regular reading habit supports that base of knowledge that informs the games we play.

Reading for me is such a pleasure and a natural turn to in between modelling and painting and certainly at bedtime with a book setting up my pre-sleep routine perfectly, and I always have the next book lined up ready to replace that one being currently read.

I very rarely give my books a new home, hence I now have a rather extensive collection covering the periods and themes of military history that interests me; and with the current theme very much focussed on age of sail it has been a real pleasure picking out old books from my collection and rereading some of them alongside the newer titles I have picked this year, not to mention the odd excursion into other themes to broaden the diet.

At this rate I'm going to need to get some more book shelves!
http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Books

It was really pleasing to see that the book reviews, which included a review from Mr Steve, were dramatically up on the year with just six looked at last year and nineteen this year which certainly reflects my own reading habits, as not every book I read gets reviewed on the blog.

Unfortunately face to face gaming alongside show attendance were the most changed aspects in my hobby year, with a good start on the gaming front with the Target for Tonight Battle for Berlin Bomber Campaign reaching a climax with just two games left to complete the eight game series when pandemic stopped play, and very much at the top of my play list once we can resume normal activity.

The Target for Tonight Battle of Berlin was proving an interesting campaign of eight games when we were forced to call a halt after six games played.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Target%20for%20Tonight

Likewise the age of sail gaming was just getting started with our two meetings to play 'War by Sail' which holds much promise as a turn to set of rules but unfortunately that development was also brought to a premature postponement.

 

War by Sail getting an early play test before the pandemic
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/War%20by%20Sail

Thus with face to face gaming on hold for the foreseeable I turned to other ways to get my gaming fix which resulted in me digging out the Vassal collection of boardgame modules to help fill the time, first with a solo game module of Tonnage Wars recreating the U-boat war against Atlantic convoys and then setting up a regular Tuesday night meet up with Steve M to see how practical the online platform was to use for some remote play.

Band of Heroes, Break out Normandy, Tonnage War and Mr Madison's War, part of the collection of games played this year on Vassal and reported about here on the blog.
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Well since getting to grips with Columbia's War of 1812 back in March our adventures with this platform have really gathered pace since, with the following favourites played and reported here on the blog, captured in the collage of screen shots taken from our games this year.

Screen shots taken from our Vassal games of Rommel in the Desert, Mr Madison's War, War of 1812, Unhappy King Charles and Washington's War
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With a change in the weather and the warm summer sun, infections rates dropped dramatically and movement restrictions relaxed allowing some of the usual outdoor activities normally covered here on the blog to resume.

I have been really keen to explore some of the many Neolithic-Iron-Age historical monuments on Dartmoor and to get more familiar with using my ViewRanger walking app carried on my phone and it was great fun exploring the moor this summer.

The summer weather and the subsequent drop in infections together with a relaxation of movement restrictions allowed for some expeditions on to Dartmoor exploring ancient iron-age settlements and monuments
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Dartmoor%20National%20Park

Alongside the Dartmoor expeditions I managed to get some historic sites walked this year that saw a visit to the Froward Point WWII gun battery that guarded the approach to the naval base at Dartmouth during the war.

A few historical sites were explored this year including this one, the former WWII Coastal Gun Battery at Froward Point on Devon's South Coast.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/09/froward-point-walk-brownstone-battery.html

Also Mr Steve and I were able to meet up to take advantage of the summer sun with visits to Lansdown Hill and Tewkesbury together with several other interesting sites close by.

Mr Steve and I also squeezed in some relaxed lockdown expeditions first to Lansdown Hill and to Tewkesbury featured below.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Battle%20of%20Lansdown

The expedition to Tewkesbury was the last this year before infection rates started to rise and movement was again restricted.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Battle%20of%20Tewkesbury

Another area to gain from the forced confinement was the amount of figure painting time that saw a few 28mm additions completed alongside the bulk of work that concentrated on the All at Sea project to produce a rather large collection of Age of Sail 1:700th ships.

As well as reading time, painting and modelling time benefited from the confinement to quarters with some figure modelling squeezed into the ship building program.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/05/american-war-of-independence-commanders.html
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/05/hobilars.html

Building, painting and rigging these models has been great fun and a very enjoyable way to spend my time and these imposing models really reward the effort put into them with the way thay can look that really captures the elegance of these classic ships.

Of course this year has been very much focused on building up the 1:700th collection of Age of Sail model ships
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/All%20at%20Sea

The core of the collection is now complete and leaves just a relatively small number of models to be added for this first part to be done as outlined in my New Year plans below and like anything the more you do the quicker and more effective you become and I am keen to press on with some additional collections as outlined below, later this year.

The collection was featured in August as part of my effort to support promoting International Naval Wargames Day this year, and will continue to feature as part of my plans for the collection going into the New Year
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/All%20at%20Sea

In addition to completing my own projects which feature here on the blog, I really am keen to share the love and the skills necessary to help others replicate the way I like to build and paint my models.

I have produced PDF tutorials before, that are available here in my links bar on the right column, in my downloads section, but I was conscious that with something like rigging these model ships, actually seeing the process and hopefully how relatively straight forward it really is to do would encourage more folks to have a go.

This idea prompted me into developing a new skill, that of simple video production and editing, that could help me develop video tutorials as an added feature of the JJ's Wargames YouTube channel and I hope to add other useful and interesting content going forward, time permitting.

Another new venture this year was to get into video and video editing to make better use of JJ's Wargames YouTube Channel with the roll out of three video tutorials looking at rigging 1:700th model ships.
http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/search/label/Tutorial

So 2020 has seen lots of models built and painted, lots of reading and book reviews, a few places visited and explored and lots of boardgames revisited with gaming activity enhanced using Vassal and video to add to the content, but I have really missed the social side of the hobby and the games played here at JJ's, at my monthly gatherings with the chaps at the DWG and the wargame shows that have made such an important part of the annual calendar.

This is not the annual review I would have expected to be writing when I sat down to compose the review for 2019 and I note with a smile that alongside my collection plans, I was anticipating being away on holiday to the other side of the world which of course has been postponed.

Likewise the plan for 2021 seems much less certain than plans I have sat down to write in the previous years, knowing as we do that 'any plan changes on first contact with the enemy' with the past enemies being distractions and lost time now further complicated with the addition of Covid 19.

So with the prospect of circumstances changing, one way or another, the status quo is likely to remain until opportunity presents other options with the routine of the last few weeks continuing into the first quarter of 2021 as vaccine roll out takes effect and warmer weather sees the seasonal decline of the virus to allow increased social activity.

My little pile of work planned for the foreseeable few months of 2021 as things look set to change yet again.

Thus my plans for 2021 sees work continuing primarily with the 1:700th model ships, with my stack of unbuilt kits topped up by family members over the Xmas break and giving me impetus to crack on once the holidays are over.

Black Seas being premiered at Salute 2019 
http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2019/04/salute-2019-south-london-warlords.html

So what is all this activity directed towards? I know I am not alone among age of sail wargamers to delight in the idea of at sometime playing the Battle of Trafalgar and when I first saw the Warlord range of models being premiered at Salute in 2019, I thought them perfect for staging such a game with all the table-top impact that 28mm gives to figure gaming.

Battle of Trafalgar - Thomas Serres
The kind of scene I hope to evoke with a game recreating the battle in 1:700th scale

Of course playing such a game will require a bit of pre-planning to create the space and time to play it but the first hurdle has to be the creation of the collection of models and at this stage the following need to be constructed:

French - 8 x 3rd Rate, Spanish 1 x 3rd Rate and 2 x 1st Rate, British 2 x 3rd Rate, 4 x 1st Rate and a cutter and Schooner.

Once these models are added to the collection I will do some roll out pictures of the British, French and Spanish squadrons that made up the British and Allied Combined Fleets.

Then planning will hopefully proceed on to testing the rules out with some smaller scenario type games once we can start to get back around the table top which will allow for any necessary adaptations to allow for a much bigger game.

Of course, I would very much like to play the game on or as close to October 21st and the intention would be to create a Trafalgar Night gathering to remember and certainly something to look forward to once this pandemic has been brought under control.

Battle of Cuddalore 1783 - Auguste Jugelet

My interest in the Age of Sail has in the past been primarily engaged with the earlier period and particularly the American War of Independence when the superiority of the Royal Navy was not at the peak it reached in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

That interest led me to build a collection of 1:1200th ships for the Suffren-Hughes campaign fought in the Indian Ocean and I am keen to replace that collection with a similar one in 1:700th and have already started to assemble reference materials and some of the models in preparation for that next project.

I am really looking forward to the challenge of creating the models to capture the look of the British and French fleets that fought off the Coromandel Coast in the late 1780's.

Lake battles and the smaller actions would seem a perfect fit for using 1:700th models

Finally as far as model ships are concerned, the scratch building of some of the smaller ships has further interested my ideas to collect suitable models for the smaller actions fought between fifth rates or lower and a Great Lakes selection of models that would tie in with those ideas nicely, with 1:700th scale almost perfect for recreating these actions.

Once the ship model itch has been well and truly scratched I feel likely that the 28mm Ancient and AWI collections will resume centre stage with work needed to finish off my Romano-Dacian collection and my Mohawk Valley project, but I am not  going to make them a hostage to fortune until the current plans are nearer completion and the time ahead becomes somewhat more predictable.

With regard to the blog, I plan to maintain the shape of its content and regularity of posts going into the New Year with the content changing in reaction to circumstance.

The Christmas and New Year break from my normal painting and modelling activities has provided a bit of down time to turn my attention to gaming the Trafalgar project, starting with a re-write of the Black Seas Trafalgar Leeward Line Scenario for War by Sail.

I have all the models including the named ones to recreate this action recreating the attack by Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood's Leeward Column and his first group of ships and have made some changes to my record sheets following the playtests this year to produce the required orders of battle.

Part of the British order of battle for The Leeward Line Scenario

In addition to that I have been finishing off the first re-write of the War by Sail QRF which includes some of the alterations we made to the rules during our games which I will use for this warm up game.

My new look Ship record sheets, for play testing will hopefully form the basis of the look of the record ships for the complete Trafalgar game.

So to wet the appetite of the games to come and some of the work I intend to do as part of the warm up work I have attached pictures of the set up for the Leeward Line Scenario ready to work on over the next few days.

Collingwood aboard the Royal Sovereign 100-guns leads the British Lee Column into the attack.
'What would Nelson give to be here?'

With my recent boardgame activity I have been following the work of game designer Gilbert Collins on his YouTube channel where he looks at and talks about various games he plays in his collection.

Just recently he has been refighting the Battle of Minorca using Flying Colours and his walk through of the play and his re-write of the rules to produce his fast-play set has given me an idea to do something similar with this particular scenario.

The view of the British attack from the Franco-Spanish Combined Fleet perspective with Alava's flagship Santa Anna at the head

The two opposing lines about to make contact

So I will produce a report of how this plays out in time with my normal in game pictures but I might look at producing some video to illustrate the rules during the play-test.

Royal Sovereign (left) races the 74-gun Belleisle into the attack

The lead ships Santa Ana 112-guns, Le Fougueux 74-guns and Le Pluton 74-guns prepare to open fire with L'Indomptable 84-guns and Monarca 74-guns covering the gaps, and with the frigates Cornelie 40-guns and Le Themis 40-guns in the rear ready to give assistance to any crippled survivors.

Seagull's view over frigate Cornelie

L'Indomptable 84-guns covers the flagship

Le Pluton 74-guns leads L’Algeciras 74-guns in the centre of the squadron

With the band of the Royal Marines playing and the signal 'Engage More Closely' flying, Royal Sovereign prepares to break the enemy line.

Thank you to everyone who has joined the fun here on JJ's in an interesting year with the comments you have left and particularly to long-suffering friends who have contributed to the posts on various activities throughout the year, that make the blog content what it is.

May I take this opportunity to wish all my readers every success with their own plans for 2021 and to have a happy time pursuing them in the New Year.

As ever, onward and upward.

JJ