Tundra Con IV

January 6th saw the 4th installment of Tundra Con at the American Legion Post in Appleton, WI.  We had a wide range of games and a few vendors.  Food and drink available on site too, so at just $10 for a day of gaming it seems a bargain and attracts around 50 players each year.  We have been lucky that in four years there has been bitter cold, but no severe storms.  Check out Tundra Con V on January 5th, 2019.

"Siege of the Lich King" on an adjustable table (for sale).
Bruce Laue GM

Setting up Memoir '44.  Todd Chirhart GM.

Battle of Culloden using Final Argument of Kings.  Todd
Prochniak GM.

54mm Greeks and Trojans for sale by Ken Ciak.
https://www.facebook.com/Lodtoysoldiers

Russo-Japanese War in 1/600 using Naval Thunder.  Dan
Wideman GM.

Pikemans' Lament set-up, "They Are Coming For Us" scenario
set in the colonies around the turn of the 17/18th century.
Mike Husky GM.

Something has gone wrong for Kyle apparently, Star Fleet Battles.
Eric Drumm GM.

Table detail and dice tower.

A 4x6' table that can be custom built.  Multi use item.

The undead hordes are shambling forward.

The invasion is on.

The "Lost Battalion" is lost, using 1916 as rules.  Paul Alaniz GM.

Lots of Bolt Action action.  Teddy Alecos and Kyle Bey GMs.

Check Your 6 being prepared over the Eastern Front.  Chuck
Seegert GM.

My own game, a pirate "Raid on Marquay". 

Pirates rowing ashore in the gloom.

The Free Men of Color company rushes to rescue the brig Electra.

We also had Hail Caesar (Paul Alaniz), Wings of Glory (Bob Rondou), modern micro-armor (Dan Wideman) and probably others I'm forgetting.  Some games ran multiple times.  In my own game the pirates cut out the Electra (4 guns) and a small craft but failed to take the shore battery or town, in part because of a warband of natives that showed up to investigate all the noise.  But the creepy Governor escaped with his entourage and most of his ill-gotten fortune, all while mentally wording his report to the King of Spain about how the pirates took everything and taxes would need to be doubled.

See you in 2019!

Oshkosh Game Day

Just for our group, the Fox Valley Wargamers.  We had different gaming interests last Sunday so we went to our favorite shop, Adventure Games in Oshkosh, WI and used two of their tables.  One for a Russo-Japanese War game and another a mid-war Flames of War North Africa game.

The RJW game was the historic action at Port Arthur immediately following the Japanese "sneak attack."  Rules were Naval Thunder: Rise of the Battleship.  The Flames of War had slightly less than 100 points of Germans and British squaring off.

An "annihilation" battle, much of what you see wasn't on table yet.

Battleships leading, cruisers following.  Russians at zero movement.

The action was the Japanese attack on Port Arthur the morning of their destroyer attack on the anchored Russian fleet.  While the Japanese did not immediately know, two of the battleships and one armored cruiser were "hors de combat" and could not fight.  The others had steam up and could begin moving on turn 1.  Historically Togo formed two columns of major ships and ran in close before the Russians could make much speed, daring the shore batteries (marked on the table with thumbtacks).

Russians slowly getting underway.  Advantage lost.

We quickly found that outside of 20" it wasn't practical to shoot.  So the long range plan of Togo would be for naught.  It also negated the Japanese range advantage with main guns.

Battle is joined.  Game mat is gorgeous.

Both sides had recon to do an initial move forward, but soon came under heavy fire from large numbers of tanks on both sides, particularly the British as their tanks are much cheaper than German.

Wasting no time starting fires.

The British pushed on their left and tried to hold in the center.  The Germans had no trouble hitting the British armor, but had a lot of trouble blowing them up (fire-power test).

Closing the range, Japanese AC prepare to attack.

My command was the three Japanese armored cruisers.  Six Japanese battleships squared off against five functional Russian, three armored cruisers and the shore batteries.  I left off a Japanese cruiser division for play balance.  I thought the shore batteries would have a significant effect, but I was wrong.  Historically Togo was very concerned about them.

Germans can't buy a firepower test.  Lots of hits, little destruction.

The Germans began to be whittled down as the British made critical dice throws when they really needed them.

Taking evasive action while trying to close to torpedo range.

I had considered giving the Russians a -1 to hit due to their historic abysmal record, but nothing was needed today as the Russian dice were colder than a glacier.  Only the Japanese damage control rolls were keeping them in the game.

An engine room hit forced one AC to fall back, but the Russians
are all tangled up and masking each other.

And then they were over.  The Petropavlosk got a second severe list result and rolled over and sank.  The rest of the fleet began to run for the inner harbor.  On the other hand, as we rolled out the damage results even though the game is over, both the Mikasa and Fuji succumbed to flooding results.  This information would not be known to the Russians immediately though, so they would likely stay in port.

The Germans were cleaned off the table in the other game.  I didn't witness the end but one turn they were fighting and the next they were picking up.  Both players seemed satisfied however.

Seven players gathered to roll dice and Adventure Games were fine hosts as always, providing the tables.  Till next time!

Battle of Yellow Sea Redux

"Smoke sighted, 10 miles.  Orders Admiral Vitgeft?"  "Action stations" came the soft reply.  "We're going through."

With that our refight of the 1905 Battle of Yellow Sea began.  The Imperial Russians had in line ahead, the pre-dreadnoughts Tsesarevich, Retvizian, Poibeda, Peresviet, Sevastopol and Poltava.  The Imperial Japanese Navy line was lead by the Mikasa, followed in close order by the Asahi, Fuji, Shikishima and armored cruisers Adzuma and Kasuga.  Click images to enlarge them.

Russian fleet sailing southeast

Rules are "Rise of the Battleship," part of the Naval Thunder series.  Models are 1/2400, mostly by Viking Forge with one Panzerschiffe model thrown in.  The game system plays quick with more realism than comparable sets and is well supported online.  Naval Thunder.

Both admirals chose to close quickly with little maneuvering.  Realistic shooting ranges are limited by the technology of the period and both sides were anxious to get their copious array of secondary guns into play.  As would be expected, initial shots went wide.

The four Japanese battleships, lead by the Mikasa

As each line made an adjustment in direction to bring more guns into play the Japanese landed the first key hit with a flooding hit on the flagship Tsesarevich.  Meanwhile the Mikasa, a real beast built for the Japanese by England, seemed to shrug off hits in return. 

The chit represents the temporary flooding result.  Shell splashes by Thoroughbred Miniatures

As the two lines began to square off against each other the Retvizian began to absorb penetrating hits, much like the historic action.  Both sides started to take some damage with small fires springing up and being quickly controlled by damage parties.  The flooding result on the Tsesarevich briefly turned into a severe list which impacted her gunnery as well as survivability, but heroic efforts eventually evened her out.  Suddenly a penetrating hit on the Mikasa had an impact that strongly influenced the outcome.  Sporting a small fire she abruptly heeled out of line, turning away from the Russians.  A rudder jam!

The Mikasa turns away, throwing the Japanese line into confusion

As the full weight of the Russian line came into play they had the advantage of six battleships against only three plus two armored cruisers.  Of course the Adzuma's armor was better than two of the Russian battleships, but the big guns were critical.  Also critical was a command failure on the Mikasa which delayed her return to action.  On the Russian side the Retvizian was slowing and the Pobeida was crawling along.  A rudder jam on the Retvizian had the good fortune to jam directly ahead so it had no impact on the game.  Still, the Russian line was forced to break and some ships were briefly masked from firing.

Plunging into the gap came the battleship Asahi which fired torpedoes to port AND starboard.  The well perforated Fuji was blocked from breaking the line but things began to look grim.

Torpedoes away as the Shikishima burns in the distance

Just as Admiral Vitgeft was beginning to congratulate himself on getting most of his fleet away to Vladivostak the Tsesarevich shuddered from a torpedo hit directly astern.  Her speed dropped and the flooding damage taken before now loomed menacingly.  Plus, the Mikasa had corrected her rudder problems and although somewhat distant, was actively pounding away again.

Now all the cumulative damage caught up, first with the Japanese.  The well-holed Fuji went under, followed by the Adzuma which although well armored had been receiving way too many 12" and 6" hits.  At this point it was easy to adjudicate a result as we had run out of time.

The sinking, with more to follow from both sides

Sunk: Asahi, Fuji, Adzuma, Tsesarevich, Retvizian, Pobeida.  Escaping the Sevastopol, Peresviet and Poltava.

If the Mikasa hadn't been so difficult the Russians might have stayed to finish the fight since they were no more than 30% damaged on any ship but survival seemed more important.  Meanwhile the Japanese had lost two precious battleships they could not replace as well as a splendid armored cruiser.  A solid victory for the Russians (by points) that "turned" on the rudder jam early on.

This was a demo game outside of Gnome Games East in Green Bay, WI and we stopped several times for conversation with interested people.  Unfortunately we didn't lure any into the game.  With just two relatively inexperienced players and distractions we completed the game in a little over three and a half hours.  If we had just played straight through I estimate it would have taken an hour off.

For more information on the Russo-Japanese War I heartily endorse the Russo-Japanese War Research Society.