Shipwreck! The Liaoning Unleashed!

Howdie.

As part of my summer resolution, I listed three gaming mileposts... the first of which was to finish my current PLAN forces (though I am not quite done, as you shall see).  Everything in the following images is 1:3000 from NavWar.

The Liaoning.... I finished this centerpiece of my fleet, and I think it came out well.  I saw several different deck marking configurations, from one photo to the next, so I went with what I thought looked ok.

This Kuznetsov miniature from NavWar is a fine looking piece... the Liaoning may be years away from full time duty, and I doubt that she will run as well or be as capable as say the Theodore Roosevelt CVN, but I think this is a very handsome ship... and dangerous enough....  hen hao!

I also finished the remainder of my surface elements, a pair of Jiangwei II and a pair of Jianghu III, shown here as escorts for the Liaoning...

I had previously finished my undersea elements, even using one in a game, but never announced their completion.  Here they are, 3 Han SSN and 3 Ming SSK... and boy oh boy are the USN quaking in their boots about those Mings :)  On the other hand, I don't think they were too concerned about the Han either... at least until our last game...

The NavWar aircraft are very, very affordable.  They do sit flat on their own bases, so no nice looking "flying on posts" miniatures... and I have to admit, the lead strips they arrive in required some labor to cut apart (it is very thick lead).  Still, like I said, they are very affordable, and for the scale, have a decent amount of detail.  They were super easy to paint, too.

The problem is, there are not many aircraft for the Chinese available from most sources, and none from NavWar (except for the Soviet clones of course).  I didn't want just a bunch of MiG-15s and 21s, so I had to get a little creative...

I bought a pack of 15x MiG-23s, using 9 of them as JH-7s (they have a similar look, at this scale anyway), and 6 of them as J-10s... they don't really look like J-10s, but I painted on some pectoral fins, painted on a slightly longer nose, and "blue skied" over the anterior parts, and with a squint (and at 1:3000 scale!) they will pass as J-10s.  I just wanted a little variety.

 

A little easier, I bought a pack of 9x Tu-16 Badgers, which obviously work perfectly for the Chinese clone, Xian H-7s.  I marked 7 of them for H-7s... then marked the last 2 as Shannxi Y-8s.  They don't look anything like Y-8s, but I need the aircraft, and I think my USN opponent will understand.

Same problem with helicopters.  I bought a pack of 15x Ka-25 Hormones... but the PLAN helicopters are several different things.  I painted 6 of them for duty with the PLAN, simply marking them "KA" with the intention of using them for every helicopter I need... honestly, at this scale, I probably should have bought a pack of US Seahawks or something (which might look closer to some of the PLAN helos), but I plan on using the remaining 9 as their true selves (Ka-25s) for my Cold War Era Soviets. 

Effectively my PLAN fleet is DONE!  Plenty of people have pointed out that I can purchase newer Chinese craft (with better electronics, detection, weapons, etc) from sources such as Shapeways, and I probably will do this in the future, but for now, I have more than enough to work with, even if it is not the "best"... my complete Chinese fleet under way towards... Japan?  Taiwan?  Guadalajara?

I still want to buy specific aircraft for the Liaoning.  I'd like to get some Su-33 for the J-15 (or Su-27 or Su-30), and another helicopter type that would work better for at least some of the Chinese helos I should be using.  I also would like to get 1 or 2 Il-76s.  Since I likely will be working on that Soviet Cold War era fleet sometime, I might decide to look at the 1:2400 offerings, which are more expensive, and won't match up perfectly with my 1:3000 aircraft... but I realize I can't fake the J-14.  In 1:2400 I do have more options... and maybe the 1:3000 sea skimmers will look ok next to flying 1:2400 (the perspective would work in my favor).

So I'm not QUITE done just yet with the PLAN...

Tremble you running dog imperialists! The Chinese fleet on the prowl...

and in port....

Thanks for all of the helpful comments as I worked towards completion, I will be sure to share future game reports!

Shipwreck! Submarine Action

Howdie.

We recently had a chance to try out the sub rules.... overall this proved to be easy, but at the same time, a few issues came up that we questioned.  For the first encounter, I fielded a Han SSN, my USN opponent fielded an OH Perry (which was nice of him, he certainly had some better options).

Here is our hated capitalist running dog enemy...  OH Perry deploying Seahawks.

And our righteous defender of our glorious revolution... Han SSN skulking 'n stalking.

I started my Han at VLong range, and slowly worked my way closer to my target, mostly staying under the thermocline (this hurt my detection attempts, but, since I was mostly out of range, I was more concerned about not being detected!).  Finally, after about 7-8 turns, I closed to within Short range, detected the OH Perry... and fired a torpedo (following my card, it appeared I could only fire 1 torpedo at a time) which would not arrive on target until the next turn.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

We maneuvered, with the OH Perry attempting to localize.  I fired another torpedo as the first one arrived, and hit...

Dead in the water, and unable to fight, the second torpedo slammed into the OH Perry and finished it off...

Score one victory for the PLAN!

OK, on this, we used the attack score of the torpedo as listed on the individual card (in the case of my Han SSN, this was a 6) instead of the "9" listed on the rules chart.  We did not apply the guided / unguided / wire-guided modifiers as we decided this would (should) have already been calculated in.

At about this time it occurred to us that there does not seem to be any modifier for the subs own ability to detect enemy surface vessels... all subs seem to be treated the same in this regard.  We may be overlooking a rule, but if not, this seems strange.

OK, since the first battle was so short, we set up round two, pitting my Luhu DDG vs a USN Improved Los Angeles (I think the model pictured is a Virginia, but we didn't have a card for it).

Sailing to glory.... or death.... we will find out shortly...

(unfortunately some of the following pictures are blurry for some reason)

We went through a few turns, as the Los Angeles closed a wee bit on my Luhu, before stopping above the thermocline.  I wonder what he has in mind?

Oh, once he has a detection (actually, impressive at that range... being stationary and above the thermocline seems to help), he appears to be launching something... a brace of Harpoons methinks...

As unlikely as it seems, my chaff was able to distract one, and the second missed, leaving my Luhu shaken but not stirred (yet).  I got lucky on this one, as my AAM were out of arc except for the ineffectual guns.

We live!

Now that the Los Angeles was detected, we worked for a localization, and tried VERY hard to close on the enemy sub.  The USN failed to keep a detection, allowing me to close, slightly.

Man, what a nice place to have had helos with ASW options.... I think in the future, we will use the alternate player rules that allow the helos to make attacks.

Inevitably, the Los Angeles regained contact, with predictable results... a flight of 4 Harpoons (he realized large volleys are the way to go)...

OK, so nothing to shoot them down with, chaff does nothing, what could go wrong?????

One Harpoon missed, and, believe it or not, with a 10 rolled, one harpoon did no damage... but the other two hits resulted in a Light and a Heavy...

On the following turn, I passed my repair roll, and got back under way,... at 1/4 speed.  But my primary ASW system had been destroyed, leaving me with only a particularly ineffective ASW option.  There seemed no point in going on, I was at the mercy of my USN opponent, who would have sunk me the next turn that he could claim a detection.

In all, it did go well... but there seem to be some things not quite right.  I think we may decide on plotting "vectors" or "zones" for the sub approach.  I had a real hard time swallowing how hard it would be for a surface ship to close on a missile equipped sub... then realized, that was perfectly realistic.  Stand off attacks would be hard to deal with.  Also, with multiple assets, spread in a defensive pattern, it would be much harder for a sub to find a "safe" position to attack from (unless of course the sub decided that attacking an outlying escort would be a more survivable option).

Actually, the thing I was really happy about was my Han sinking the Perry!  The Perry had some bad detection rolls, my Han did pretty well with closing and detection... and once that first torpedo hit, it was pretty much all over.  Don't worry, I will take that victory, thank you very much.

We shall sail again!

Victus! Gladiators by Chal

Howdie.

Doc Merkury was kind enough to bestow upon me some plastic gladiators.  I actually found the time to paint 3 of them... including a modified Thracian (the infamous Ludi Cris).  I did not finish the bases (including the blood marked guard), but these are basically done....

front....

back...

In Ferro Veritas!

Chalfant

Shipwreck! Perils of the Yellow Sea

Howdie.

This past week I finally had a chance to participate in a game of Shipwreck! We used our 1:3000 NavWar moderns.

My nefarious running dog capitalist opponent and I agreed to basically game a stand up fight to work through most of the game mechanics by placing a DD and FF from both my PLAN forces and his USN forces.  We recognized that the USN ships would hold significant advantages, but as a play test this should not matter.

Here are my Luda DDG and Jiangwei Ty I FFG, with Dauphin helo launched....

Here are the hated USN Arleigh Burke and O H Perry, with Seahawk helo launched...

On the 2nd turn the helos race towards the opposing fleets as we begin to attempt detections on each other.  You can see the USN ships at the top of the image.

My PLAN helo was able to detect the Burke, while the Seahawk detected my Luda.  We proceeded to the firing phase of combat, the USN launched Harpoons, and the PLAN... did nothing.... as I had totally disregarded firing arcs.  The only weapons positioned to fire were forward guns, woefully out of range, so I had to sit and wait.

We went through the process of detecting the incoming missiles.  I learned some things here.  I had crowded the Jiangwei close to the Luda for overlapping defensive AA fire... but, as the rule states, you can not fire on incoming threats at VS range from non-target ships... my weapons in arc were only good at VS range and could do nothing.  Chaff sent one Harpoon into the sea, and another missed, but that left 2 Harpoons to impact the Luda with expected results...

 

 A crippled Luda dead in the water :)

In the next turn I paid attention to arcs, and moved the Jiangwei into a firing position, but failed in my detections of the USN vessels, but the USN detected the Jiangwei easily enough.  Both of us kept our helos (the USN had 2 in the air now) out of enemy AA range.

(you can see that I need to work on the playing area, I used a scrap blue vinyl sheet, I will need something better and not cut up)

We used scraps of paper to indicate the missile volleys, but will work on counters... perhaps something more attractive than the paer scraps :)

Ah, look, flights of Harpoons....

This time around, an alerted and more properly positioned Jiangwei managed to shoot down one Harpoon, but the chaff failed to disorient any of the incoming missiles.  The Jiangwei suffered impacts...

...and was rapidly sunk.

With the Luda dead in the water waiting to sink, and the Jiangwei already sunk, and no damage to the USN, we decided to call it a "marginal" USN victory :)

It underscored how important the EW ratings are for ships, and the effectiveness of the individual weapons (especially having multiple launcer weapon systems!).  As a game follow up, we "allowed" the PLAN ships to fire weapons at the USN, so that they could practice the defensive actions.  The Burke had little trouble defending itself, but the Perry ran into trouble with weapons bearing that could not affect a Chinese sea skimming attack... which left the Perry crippled in the water.  I think the PLAN got lucky there.... we could launch far fewer weapons per action than the USN ships, and overall much reduced accuracy.  The hits were still effective, though.

Many lessons here.  Still some questions.  Overall, this was a positive experience... the game was short, quick resolutions at all stages, and an accurate result.  These ships meeting under these circumstances should result in a badly mauled pair of PLAN vessels.

We will continue to game some play test scenarios as we incorporate submarines and jet aircraft.  I hope to post some of those in the upcoming months... and I will try to consolidate my questions for more experienced players.
 

Cold Wars: Zero Sum Oblivion and Moderns

Howdie.

Well, we are closing in on Cold Wars.  I admit to having pre-convention cold feet... so many things to do around here without preparing for a convention!  Ok, wipe the tears away, and lets do some collective updating...

I have recently finished painting up some armored support for the Nihon Special Planetary Landing Force involved in the fighting on Ghenna IV (see event S-359 - Surprise on Gehenna IV).  I received several models from a local manufacturer Proxie Models to use in this game.  These are 3 of his Trencher Tank Mk 2.  For me they will serve as Type 82 Medium (Border) Tanks.  Shown below painted in their primary camo scheme (without and with flash... photographer I am not)....

I am also not a model builder (hate putting together models) but these are pretty easy kits to build.  Now, the Type 82 is (like many of the weapons systems in ZSO) a basic design, that gets heavily modified depending on where it is built.  Its also classified as a Border tank, meaning, even for the Nihon its not first rate.  So, it looks a bit crude compared to the mainstream Nihon armor, and its a bit large for a medium... but that's likely because they are using a lightweight but bulky local (local to the factory that produced it) material for the armor. 

See how that worked.  I just justified / rationalized my use of these tanks in my games :)  One of the things that I want for Zero Sum Oblivion is for players to use whatever they might have laying around.  The primary factions of the setting are important... but the universe is a big place, and not everything has to look the same (and none of your sci fi models should be collecting dust!).

The Warcats will be fielding re-purposed Battletech 'Mechs as medium and/or light walkers.  They look completely appropriate in a 15mm game.

A couple of weeks ago, I threw some 25mm Star Wars miniatures on the table, using ZSO, for a Tatooine game.  We were really short on time, so only got a couple of turns in... but it gave me a chance to test a new way to look at "mobs" (units that are easier to activate, but gain no advantage from leadership).  And to prove that a unit of Jedi are not who you want to go close combat on.

Some shots of that game (board was way too small for what we were doing, but it was mostly a throw down kind of game anyway)....

I also had the good fortune to be involved in another test run of the Siege of Mecca game (see event S-356 - The Siege of Mecca:  Assault on the Qaboo), a moderns game run using Disposable Heroes : Point Blank.  I ran the insurgents, though later in the game another player joined in to help me out.  We did not do too bad, lots of carnage on both sides.  I had no hand in the development of this scenario... which was a good thing, because the Gm (Steve) came up with an absolutely brilliant method for running this double blind.  Come check it out, if for nothing else than the impressive board and the even more impressive double blind system.

You also want to get into Jayson's Victus game (see event S-364 VICTUS! Gladiator Fight) if you can.  Its our newest game, and is great fun.... I have to start working on my own Ludus soon.

Anyway, lots of work going on.  Maybe I will see some of you at the convention.

Modern Chinese Navy Sails Forth!

Howdie.  This will be a fairly long post, as I have plenty to talk about :)

I decided recently to indulge in a new / old interest:  modern naval wargaming.  Decades ago I played Harpoon.  While I no longer am interested in such a detailed system, modern ship to ship combat is something I wanted to revisit.  After conference with another interested party in our club, we decided to utilize 1:3000 for our ship scale and selected Shipwreck! from Vandering as a more approachable system than Harpoon, producing games that could be completed in a couple of hours.  We have not as of yet played a game, but we have only had the miniatures and rules for a couple of weeks.

We ordered from Navwar.  I am happy with the purchase, the price (even with heavy shipping) was quite reasonable, though, I can't resist saying that the ordering system will not be for everyone.

We agreed that we would be gaming in the waters of the Far East... he opted for the USN, I chose the PLAN.  What was I thinking !?!?  I have a lot to learn about the Chinese navy, but something I know already is that their ships are outclassed by their American counterparts.  I hope these will do more than serve as targets for American missiles....  the completed fleet thus far....

Many thanks for the images and advice I found on Of Dice and Tiny Men.  I did not use the commercial water effects paint... I used plain old water soluble caulk, carefully smeared thin on the bases, and "waved" up mostly with my fingers.  It seems to work fine... though I like the colors on the Of Dice and Tiny Men ships better than my own (I think that mine will work fine too).

My order was centered on the grab bag style "Fleet Pack".  Wasn't sure what I would get, but I was not disappointed when it arrived.  Here is a tally of what that included (fleet packs are12 GBP plus shipping of 40%, or about $27 USD total);

Han subs (1x3)
Ming subs (1x3)
Luhu DDG (2x1)
Luda DDG (2x2)
Jinan DDH (1x2)
Jiangwei Ty I FFG (1x2)
Jiangwei Ty II FFG (1x2)
Jianghu Ty I FFG (1x2)
Jianghu Ty II FFG (2x2) .. but see below about these
Jianghu Ty III FFG (1x2)
Fuqing Oiler (1x1)
Nanking Replenishment (1x1)

Now, those last two supply ships are something that I can use, but probably would not have ordered.  Since they came with the grab bag, its basically like I got them for free (price wise, it's like I got a bunch of free packs). 

I added some additional support to the fleet pack, in the form of an Admiral Kutnesov CV to represent the ex-Varyag now sailing for the PLAN as the Liaoning (can't hurt to have a carrier).  The opposing USN force is centered around a Theodore Roosevelt CVN... so I added some aircraft, a pack of MiG-23 which will work visually as J-10, a pack of Tu-16 for my Chinese H-6 copies, and a pack of Ka-27 Hormones.  Well, the helos will fill in for every helo I need.  I may look into getting a pack of F-18s, and use them as J-15s (at 1:3000 that might work, as the J-15s or Su-33s are not available).

I have not painted these yet, nor the subs, or the Jianghu Ty 3 and Jiangwei Ty 1.

Speaking of painting, these are very different than anything I have painted before.  I suffered some momentary panic, before realizing I had to adjust my methods.  These are not going to win any prizes, but they look good enough for me.  Most of the pictures I have seen of PLAN vessels show them as very light grey or near white... so I went with a light grey coat, darker grey for the deck, then white paint for the hull and superstructures.  They should be "lighter" than the USN ships.

The backbone of my surface fleet are the Luhu destroyers, and the blood of my fleet is the supply ships... here they are, sailing with Jiangwei Ty Is in support....

 The Luda class destroyers will serve as important ships also.  I have 4 of them, plus 2 more converted with a helo deck.  Only 1 of these (the Jinan) was actually built, but the pack came with two.  I painted one miniature as the Jinan, and "promoted" the Changsha to the same status, thinking it might be better used as a "what if" option than broken up as a wreck marker.

Now, where I had trouble, was with the Jianghu Ty II frigates.  I was really confused by them as they have helo hangars and decks on the aft section, instead of a gun turret.  I am not an expert on the PLAN, but my understanding is that 1 (one) ship (the Siping) was converted to a Jianghu helicopter frigate, and is usually known as a Jianghu Ty IV.  Except, in the grab bag, I have 4 of them.  Based on some conversations, and what references I can find, it seems that sometimes the helo conversion is referred to as a Ty II... if you saw that in one source, and saw in another source that there were 12 or 15 active Ty IIs in service, maybe some confusion would occur.  I could be wrong about the whole thing... but it looks like I have 3 of these too many, and no actual Ty IIs at all.  I based and painted them all, one is labeled as a Ty IV (Siping), the rest are labeled as Ty IIs.  I may field them as Ty IIs, I may try to convert them at some point, or I may turn a couple of them into wreck markers... not sure yet.  But here are some photos of the Jianghu Ty Is and "IIs" side by side....

Once I have the Liaoning, subs, and the rest painted up, I will post pictures.  For now, I am trying to learn the new system, trying to learn my new fleet, and looking for a miracle to defeat the USN.  Hey, just kidding... its all about scenarios baby... I think the Chinese need to look at scenarios, not ship to ship comparisons, to find victory... plus rely on land based airpower to lend some help.  Or get someone to build an Indian fleet I can go tangle with.

Anyway, thanks for enduring this extra long post.  I happily look forward to the future of modern naval wargaming at our local club.  And the sinking of those running dog capitalist warmongers.

Zai jian!