Given that its the 78th anniversary of the outbreak of war in the Pacific tomorrow it seems an appropriate time to start this thread....
They say that imitatation is the sincerest form of flattery so thanks to BigJackMac for the inspiration to bring this little project ot the table. I am playing this as a solo campaign as sometimes its along time between regular games for me and this offers a quick and easy gaming session for me without having to get any extra materials beyond what I have to hand already.
Loosely based on the exploits of 488 Squadron RNZAF which flew Buffalos and later Hurricanes in the defence of Singapore between December 1941 and February 1942 I am going to be flying occasional missions with Kapito Squadron (which is an entirely fictional unit along the lines of Derek Robinson's Hornet Squadron) using the rules and modifications that Jack has kindly shared recently.
I had 90% completed preparing a Malayan campaign by adopting Two Fat Lardies "Their Finest Hour" Battle of Britain campaign supplement and was going to use TFL's Bag the Hun 2 rules, but the rules that Jack's been using allow for quicker games without lots of cards for each formation and also sufficently differentiate between different aicraft performances (might add a few minor tweaks of my own as well though) to forfil my aerial combat dreams :)
Katipo Squadron will form part of the RAF's Far East Command and will up against the odds with mainly inexperienced pilots flying Model 339E Buffalos against both the Imperial Japanese Navy's experienced 22nd Air Flotilla (which includes A6M2 Zeros) and the Imperial Japanese Army's 3rd Flying Division (A mix of Ki-27, Ki-43 and even some pre-production Ki-44 fighters). Reinforcements in the form of tropicalized Hurricane IIB's armed with no less than 12 0.303 Brownings have been promised by London, but firstly they must be shipped halfway round the world through U-Boat infested waters, and no date has been given for when they might arrive. One squadron will not change the outcome of the entire campaign so I am keeping the basic historical timeline of the actual campaign - Singapore will fall on 15 Feb 1942 - but they will get the chance to make a difference.
I don't have a blog to record every move of each game but I will put up something if there is anyone who might be interested and is still awake ;)
So watch this space.....and always check your six.
Tally Ho!
Peter
Looking forward to following this :)
Let me know if you want some non-solo games ;)
Fantastic, Peter, I can't wait! Great concept, and I'm so happy to see my stuff has inspired someone else to move into something new. As I've always said, it's really cool, and I'm just passing it on; if it weren't for four very influential (to me at least) bloggers, I wouldn't be here, doing what I do: Shaun's "wargaming in small spaces," Jeff's "6mm Republic of Prussia," Joe's "Platoon Forward," and Ronan's "2d6.fr" were the ones that got me into this 'lifestyle.'
And no pressure, Pierre, but if you're going to start running campaigns, you just gotta get yourself a blog! ;) C'mon, you know you want to! Go over, get yourself a Gmail account (if you don't already have one), then get over to Blogger and create a blog. It's completely free, and it couldn't be more simple. And if you need any help, I'm right here (and that goes for anything with the rules or how I run campaigns, should that be of interest or helpful).
Very cool man, I'm very much looking forward to your campaign.
V/R,
Jack
Got the RAF counters completed....just need to do the Japanese ones now.
put together a working copy of the rules with Jack's amendments and some of my own tweaks to take into account the aircraft involved.
Blog set up.....very easy indeed to do.....now have to find time and content to maintain it I guess ;)
Awesome, Peter, can't wait to see it!
And, for what it's worth, I'm right proud of you, and happy you took the leap! There's no pressure, your blog can be whatever you want it to be. But careful, don't turn in to me and let it take over your entire life! ;)
V/R,
Jack
Completed 600 x 900mm MDF board and designing the Japanese aircraft counters finally. Now just need to print and mount the aircraft counters and its ready to go...
Got to play a couple of small games with Paul yesterday....we used 6 fighters a side in each game, both of which turned into pretty bloody affairs with 3 or 4 aircraft lost per side.
Even though the rules are simple they do reflect very well the differences between the agile but quite fragile Japanese aircraft and the more solidly built, but slightly less manuverable Allied planes.....we used Hurricanes vs Ki-43's and Zeroes.
I can see why Jack likes these rules so much. We had a good talk about the game mechanics and morale in this type of game.... happy with the game mechanics as they stand so onto the campaign which I will cover in the blog.
If it goes well I have some further campaigns in mind to do that would use some of the existing aircraft counters but have variable outcomes using a VP system, starting with the Japanese carrier sortie into the Indian Ocean in April 1942.
Two very enjoyable games with simple, subtle and elegant rules :-bd =D> :-bd =D>
As Pierre the Shy mentions the three different types we flew all felt and performed differently :)
Bigjackmac, thanks for sharing your tweaks to the basic system, they represent the different aircraft types very well :)
In the campaign I suspect you will want to conserve aircraft. For one off games we could perhaps introduce a turn limit, representing limited fuel, to avoid games going down to the last pilot flying and not breaking off due to damage.
Pierre the Shy, let me know if you want more games ;)
With my son off to university and twins now back at school I finally had a chance to start this campaign today since I need to use up some leave days......It didn't start that auspicously for the Kiwis....you can find a brief report here:
https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/
If you want pictures galore like Jack's reports next time I will charge my phone properly before playing ;)
That was a bit of a sticky debut! Still, probably better than reality :o
Good to see this under way :)
Things are unlikely to get much better for the Kiwis :(
Interesting! looking forward to see some pictures.
Cheers,
Rob
In real life they removed most of the guns and the armour to get a half-way decent performance.
Yeah, Ken Natt did an excellent piece for Blood Red Skies last year on the little plane that mostly couldn't :D
https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/04/brewster-buffalo-in-blood-red-skies.html?m=1 (https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/04/brewster-buffalo-in-blood-red-skies.html?m=1)
First, let me say sorry, I've been out of pocket for a bit, but catching up now.
So the first thing is, HURRAH! Congratulations, Peter, on getting the blog up and running! I told ya it was easy ;) Looks great, already got three batreps up, which is more than I've done in the new year, so good on ya!
The squadron roster you're using looks great, and I like how you're tracking repair time for damaged aircraft, very cool.
And to you and Paul, it was my pleasure to share my rules tweaks, love to help out whenever I can.
V/R,
Jack
Quote from: bigjackmac on 12 February 2020, 11:30:07 PM
First, let me say sorry, I've been out of pocket for a bit, but catching up now.
So the first thing is, HURRAH! Congratulations, Peter, on getting the blog up and running! I told ya it was easy ;) Looks great, already got three batreps up, which is more than I've done in the new year, so good on ya!
The squadron roster you're using looks great, and I like how you're tracking repair time for damaged aircraft, very cool.
And to you and Paul, it was my pleasure to share my rules tweaks, love to help out whenever I can.
V/R,
Jack
Welcome back Jack, thanks of the inspiration.
I have written up a report for the events of 9th December, which went a lot better for Katipo Squadrone. I did take some pictures which I have included, although some are a bit hurried.
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?tab=mj1&blogID=3401582076154047011#editor/target=post;postID=7495388127093269885;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname
Go the Kiwis :-bd :-bd :-bd
This link doesn't need you to be logged in to see the blog post
https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2020/02/bounce-back-9-dec-1941.html (https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2020/02/bounce-back-9-dec-1941.html)
I have gone back to these simple air rules to run a short scripted campaign that I have come up with covering "Operation C" The IJN carrier raid into the Indian Ocean and the attacks on Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in April 1942 from the Japanese perspective.
Produced 37 more Imperial Japanese Navy and Fleet Air Arm counters to cover the carrier based planes needed.
Hopefullly I will be able to run the first couple of games tonight since our regular gaming timeslot is in recess for a few weeks over the holidays.
I will do a write up on my very under used blog if anyone is interested.
I'll definitely be interested ;)
OK I finally got some time to write up some background to the Operation C campaign that I have now begun playing here:
https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-japanese-carrier-raid-on.html
I hope you find it interesting enough to follow....I do intend to do a write up of each engagement with some pictures, but the reports will not be as epic as Jack's many adventures ;)
Looking forward to seeing the AARs for this, hopefully with lots of pipe cleaners in the photos ;)
Well, I never knew the Japanese attack Ceylon in WWII! Looking forward to the AAR's on this campaign :).
Thanks for the comments Paul and Steve J....yes the raid in April 1942 was, fortunately for the British, the only major sortie into the Indian Ocean that the IJN ever made. They had enough problems to contend with in the Pacific after mid 1942.....
I posted the AAR's of the first two games I played on the blog at https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/
I have played the third game (but have yet to write it up) This turned into a real furball when no less than 6 defending fighters turned up.
The recce scenario was always going to be tough on the Cat X_X
Two nice little scenarios and young Watanebe certainly had a great debut game/mission!
Pierre,
Fantastic man, absolutely fantastic! First, let me tell you, your blog is coming along nicely; I told ya, if I can do it, anyone can do it! ;)
The one (small) complaint I have is... where's the minis???!!! ;) Don't misunderstand, the counters look very nice and are very effective, the narrative and photos are easy to follow. I'm just always gonna be partial to minis. And I think I recognize that little explosion you're using to mark downed aircraft/shooting ;)
Regarding your concept, man, you've taken my idea and cranked it up to 100! That linked mini-campaign structure you created is absolutely magnificent! And I love how you've come up with the detailed victory conditions, not just the 'shoot down his airplanes' stuff I've been getting away with! I've really gotta steal that! All of it ;)
The first fight was cool, about as one would expect; that Cat really needed some escorts, or some clouds to duck into! Regarding the second fight, that's cool how the Brit interceptors are penalized by the preceding fight, and I figured it would handicap them; I guess Watenabe proved that! At least the Japanese bombers didn't hit their targets as effectively as they could have, getting all six Kates through to the target.
And I noticed you took it easy on yourself with a 3 vs 3 escort mission ;) I'm here to tell you it's no much fun going 4 vs 6! Man, this is super cool, and lots of fun, I can't wait to see more.
V/R,
Jack
Quote from: bigjackmac on 19 January 2021, 03:11:57 AM
Pierre,
Fantastic man, absolutely fantastic! First, let me tell you, your blog is coming along nicely; I told ya, if I can do it, anyone can do it! ;)
The one (small) complaint I have is... where's the minis???!!! ;) Don't misunderstand, the counters look very nice and are very effective, the narrative and photos are easy to follow. I'm just always gonna be partial to minis. And I think I recognize that little explosion you're using to mark downed aircraft/shooting ;)
Regarding your concept, man, you've taken my idea and cranked it up to 100! That linked mini-campaign structure you created is absolutely magnificent! And I love how you've come up with the detailed victory conditions, not just the 'shoot down his airplanes' stuff I've been getting away with! I've really gotta steal that! All of it ;)
The first fight was cool, about as one would expect; that Cat really needed some escorts, or some clouds to duck into! Regarding the second fight, that's cool how the Brit interceptors are penalized by the preceding fight, and I figured it would handicap them; I guess Watenabe proved that! At least the Japanese bombers didn't hit their targets as effectively as they could have, getting all six Kates through to the target.
And I noticed you took it easy on yourself with a 3 vs 3 escort mission ;) I'm here to tell you it's no much fun going 4 vs 6! Man, this is super cool, and lots of fun, I can't wait to see more.
V/R,
Jack
Thanks for your opinions Jack, great to know you like what I am doing :)
I went for counters for two reasons - a) there is no real altitude components in the rules I am using (but I do refer to diving/climbing in the batreps in a round about way) and b) sheer practically - I have a heep of modern 1/600th planes from Picoarmor and TD to do up eventually and I just don't have time to do up a fair few WW2 ones as well.
Feel free to use any concepts that I have used. I will willingly email a copy of the stuff I have put together if its any use.
I have just finished writing up the third mission...I will let you read the report on the blog ( https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/ ) but I will just say it started as an "against the odds" furball.
I have not changed any outcomes and didn't have any pre-conceived ideas about the pilots in this campaign.....but I am enjoying playing the games and writing up the batreps (the 3rd one took me over 3 hours to do!!) but what I really like to be able to put in "human" touches that make the characters more than just one-dimensional and also to include a bit of a storytelling.
Cheers
Peter
Very cool, Pierre, another great dogfight, it's making me want to pull my WWII Pacific squadrons back out!
Old Watenabe is headed for "Natural Born Killer" status! I'm guessing the Vals finished off the target?
Looking forward to the next fight, I'm guessing torpedo bombers are going after the British cruisers?
V/R,
Jack
Quote from: bigjackmac on 20 January 2021, 03:38:43 AM
Very cool, Pierre, another great dogfight, it's making me want to pull my WWII Pacific squadrons back out!
Old Watenabe is headed for "Natural Born Killer" status! I'm guessing the Vals finished off the target?
Looking forward to the next fight, I'm guessing torpedo bombers are going after the British cruisers?
V/R,
Jack
Yes Watenabe is doing rather well at the moment isn't he?
The second wave strike by the Val's was successful. yes the cruisers will be facing Kate's. Historically the cruisers did not have any fighter CAP and were dive bombed by Val's which scored around 80% hits but l am assuming that they're close enough to the British carriers to be able to receive fighter cover from Fleet Air Arm fighters.
You have to remember that April 1942 probably represents the lJN carrier force at the zenith of it's achievement. From May 1942 they were held at Coral Sea and absolutely devastated at Midway a month later by the USN. The Zeros are good, but not untouchable as the IJN found as the war progressed.
I will report on the next engagement once l have completed the game.
It all sounds great, Pierre, and I'm painfully aware of the Japanese carrier force's power! ;)
I eagerly await the next fight.
V/R,
Jack
Another good game by the sound of it :)
Also catching up. Liked looking through your flowcharts on blog.
At first I pictured winged bison roosting in the sturdy nutmegs but then recalled the marine squadron at Midway from incessant play of the AH game in the late 60's.
Great story telling, Mr. Shy.
I have tried to correct the subject heading to reflect the current campaign.....
Managed to complete two further games, with some dice rolling assistance from Dougal the cat (He rolls better than me usually ;D ;) ).
I will be writing them up over the weekend....but they both turned into really complicated fights so they may take a while.
Its now dusk on April 5th 1942 and the Japanese task force is temporarily withdrawing to the South East to reset for its second strike on a Ceylonese port which is schduled for dwn on April 8th, this time it will be against Trincommalee.
Looking forward to reading those :-w ;)
Managed to post the first new report tonight after a productive evening of AWI gaming.....
A tough fight for the Zeros this time, with half the Kate torpedo bombers shot down en route to the target area....
The second wave fight is even grittier, but I have not started writing up that one yet.
Another good read :)
The young chap is doing rather well ;)
Thanks to those who have been following this and for your comments here or on the blog....I will reply but this blogging lark is new to me.
I have just posted the last mission that I played...a very narrow victory to the Japanese.
I'm not going to do a follow-on to the Operation C campaign, at least immediately. It's time to immerse once again in some war of the 3 kingdoms actions instead.
https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-cruisers-2nd-wave.html (https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-cruisers-2nd-wave.html) for those wondering where it is
Good for the Japanese that you followed Dougal's advice ;) :)
Great stuff, Pierre, a thoroughly enjoyable campaign, very interesting! And it definitely felt more intimate following only a single flight of three pilots, which was really nice. But I don't think I could pull that off, I lose way too many aircraft to do that! I must be doing something wrong, your guys flew five sorties, shooting down 14 British fighters (and one PBY) while only losing a single Zero!
It seemed to me that you played the interceptors with a laser-like focus on attacking the strike aircraft, whereas I tend to play my interceptors as splitting their force to try and contain the escorts while the other section goes after the strike force. Or sometimes no plan at all, just a blind charge into a furball! ;)
And speaking of furballs, old Dougal is a cutie, but you trust that varmint around your minis more than I trust my children with mine!!! ;)
V/R,
Jack
Another advantage of counters over minis ;)
Yes I have been thinking about the relatively high number of kills the Zeros have been racking up, though I do make a point of not pursuing any damaged British fighters that are attempting to leave the board. I suppose I am a little too focused on trying to protect the Japanese strike aircraft, not that I have been doing a very good job in the last two fights when I lost over 50% of the attacking Kates to FAA fighters :( :o Same with the FAA fighters trying to shoot them down rather than engaging the Zero escort; mind you in April 1942 would you prefer to dogfight with a Zero or engage a loaded bomber trying to sink your carrier?
I think the high number of kills being made by the Zeros is a bit of an offshoot of how the campaign is structured, since I am representing the events of the entire carrier raid from the point of view of a single flight of fighters.....would one flight really fly four missions in on day? probably not, but its a design limitation I can live with. Remember I am not following everything exactly as it happened....HMS Cornwall and HMS Devonshire were actually left totally reliant only on their own AA guns for protection as they fled south from Columbo, only to be caught and sunk by a strike of around 80 D3A Val dive bombers which acheived around 80% hits from their attacks.
I'm sure Dougal's input was helpful in that last scrap :) he's a stray we got from the SPCA about 18 months ago and has fitted into our household really well....and yes he has me very well trained to feed him at his convience ;D
Overall I am very happy the way this campaign is progressing, certainly furfilled the desire to refight the carrier raid from a aerial combat point of view. It's certainly an "intimate" one since its only focused on three main pilots as Jack has pointed out.....For a moment it felt almost like a real loss when Honda was shot down.
Thanks for all your thoughts....next stop Trincomalee.
More great stuff and Watanebe is progressing rather well to say the least :).
Pierre,
"Yes I have been thinking about the relatively high number of kills the Zeros have been racking up, though I do make a point of not pursuing any damaged British fighters that are attempting to leave the board."
Not very sporting, is it? I tend to let them escape as well, though there may have been times that wasn't the case, I can't quite remember ;)
"...mind you in April 1942 would you prefer to dogfight with a Zero or engage a loaded bomber trying to sink your carrier?"
Certainly not, I just can't seem to focus on the the intercept though, knowing all those Zeros are buzzing around behind me. And I don't mean that in any way as a criticism, just a different tactical decision is all.
"For a moment it felt almost like a real loss when Honda was shot down."
I know what you mean, it's actually pretty easy to get attached to characters once they get a few games under their belts.
"next stop Trincomalee."
Looking forward to it.
V/R,
Jack
Thanks for your thoughts Jack...always really appreciated and I know we all approach things from our own perspectives :)
I completed the next misson against Trincomalee, you can read the report here: https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-attack-on-trincomalee-1st.html
I did try some slightly different tactics with the defending fighters....they tried hard and almost pulled off a big upset...
Next up is another recce mission... this time the Japanese are trying to find units of the Eastern Fleet.....the outcome of the recce mission determines what may have been sighted.
This campaign is reaching its conclusion (there are a maximum of 2 missions left). I don't intend to follow the Shotai further at his stage and involve them with Coral Sea/Midway etc......I'm very happy with the way the campaign has worked and may move onto other theatres to undertake other "short" campaigns in a similar manner....I have a couple of ideas, one of which (Operation Pedestal) involves a more complex arrangement of intertwining two separate flights, one on a carrier and one land based, but that will take a bit of working out.
Also managed to play and write up the IJN recce mission today:
https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-ijn-recce.html
I wrote up the final mission of the Operation C campaign that I played out last night.....
https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/01/operation-c-attack-on-british-fleet.html
I will post a quick wrap-up on the blog about my thoughts on what worked, what didn't and where too next.
If you have been following this thanks for reading my narrative, I hope its been entertaining.
And don't worry Steve J...the empire's tea supplies are safe once more ;)
Two very good reads :-bd :-bd
An Immelmann in a Fulmar :o X_X
I suspect there is a bit of hint where you might be going next in that second post ;)
Fulmer weren't that bad, at least it isn't a Rok!
I've enjoyed this, Peter, I need to dig out and paint my Falklands air stuff.
Quote from: paulr on 30 January 2021, 04:01:28 AM
An Immelmann in a Fulmar :o X_X
I suspect there is a bit of hint where you might be going next in that second post ;)
Quote from: mad lemmey on 30 January 2021, 10:20:06 AM
Fulmer weren't that bad, at least it isn't a Rok!
Fulmars were officially fighters (basically a Hurricane with space for an observer in the back) so they can do aerobatics etc. They were certainly a step up from the Skua and Roc in terms of performance......but by mid 1942 it was clear that they were fast becoming obsolete. While Seafires were fantastic fighters in the air they had real issues trying to land on carriers. Ultimately the FAA found its fighter requirements met when they adapted the Corsair.
I am not going to continue with the Zero shotai at the moment anyway.....I just mentioned Midway as it was their next camapaign historically that the bulk of the Japanese carriers took part in. Its either off to the sunny Med for a quick dash to Malta using a "crossover" combination of carrier and land based flights or to the Norwegian fjords using an amazing assortment of low performance aircraft to undertake a wide verity of missions in a (mostly) low threat evironment (If any 109's turn up your Skua's could be in big trouble, but there were very few around in northern Norway in 1940). I have yet to come up with exactly how to do either campaign....concentrating on War of the 3 Kingdoms stuff for the moment.
Quote from: Ithoriel on 30 January 2021, 11:35:03 AM
I've enjoyed this, Peter, I need to dig out and paint my Falklands air stuff.
So do I ;) I'm slowly accumulating stuff for this, next year being the 40th anniversary....though it doesn't seem that long ago.
Wasn't the Fulmar a development of the Fairey Battle :-\
But tongue was firmly in cheek for the Immelmann comment ;)
Quote from: pierre the shy on 27 January 2021, 11:13:56 PM
This campaign is reaching its conclusion (there are a maximum of 2 missions left). I don't intend to follow the Shotai further at his stage and involve them with Coral Sea/Midway etc......I'm very happy with the way the campaign has worked and may move onto other theatres to undertake other "short" campaigns in a similar manner....I have a couple of ideas, one of which (Operation Pedestal) involves a more complex arrangement of intertwining two separate flights, one on a carrier and one land based, but that will take a bit of working out.
Many thanks for the narrative, which I have followed with great interest. It has given a few ideas to follow through with in a similar vein.
The British "adopted" the Corsair under duress, USN wouldn't fly them of carriers and kept the bulk of Hellcats for themselves, sending the Corsairs to USMC anf FAA. Later Hellcats were supplied and the problems with the Seafire fixed.
Cool stuff, Pierre, and I can't wait to see what you get up to next (I've actually been to those little islands!). I don't know how helpful I've been, but the British seemed to do a alright with an element trying to keep the Zeros busy while the rest went after the Vals, but damn, Watenabe with two more kills!!??
V/R,
Jack
Quote from: bigjackmac on 01 February 2021, 03:56:08 AM
Cool stuff, Pierre, and I can't wait to see what you get up to next (I've actually been to those little islands!). I don't know how helpful I've been, but the British seemed to do a alright with an element trying to keep the Zeros busy while the rest went after the Vals, but damn, Watenabe with two more kills!!??
Yes Watenabe seems to have become a natural doesn't he? :)
I did a quick wrap-up on the blog about my thoughts on what worked, what didn't and where too next.
https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2021/02/operation-c-lessions-learnt.html
Don't expect me to start another campaign too soon...I have to put together another much more complex flow chart first as well as finish some W3K scenarioes and do 101 domestic tasks first ;)
An interesting read :)
Looking forward to any cross over games :)
Pierre,
Hey, I thought we were headed to the Aleutians, ASAP! ;). And now that yours blogger you're not allowed to have wargaming interests other than what your fans demand; it's how I ended up with four different blogs! ;)
And don't mind me, I will always prefer minis to anything else, but your counters were very good looking and effective, nothing that would keep me from investing time in following.
So thanks again for playing and sharing with us, I look forward to seeing what's next (Malta sounds great).
V/R,
Jack