[hammurabi70]

Sorry to learn that you had a bad experience.

It was a wholly disheartening experience and just reinforces  the notion that gamers are socially inept.

I am not convinced that they are any worse that the General Public from whom I periodically suffer poor odour and regularly poor manners.

not that I know who it was as there was no obvious signage.

Strange as eveyone trading at shows I haxe ever seen are proud of their products although the trading name might not be emblazoned in your face.

This usually my experience with doing anything that involves going Outside.

My thoughts; it might be related to my habit of thinking or saying “when I wer’ a lad”.

I was very surprised at the friendliness, engagement, and family atmosphere.

Overall I find recent years better experiences but if you have a sequence of negatives you are not very encouraged to want a repeat.

I  haven’t been to a large event for a couple of years however and the last one – Warfare at Farnborough- was a bit like your experience, although I suspect I may just have been grumpy because they keep moving it further away from me!

I missed last year but I am a fan of the Farnborough venue and the show there.

To be fair this years Partizan show was superb, with general good manners on display and pretty good hygiene, but it was busy. Going back 10 years or more the shows were very much about buying stuff and being inspired by games on show, but these days with everyone seemingly having an online presence, the former is certainly no longer the case, with some of the bigger names no longer attending shows, or just a few of the big ones.

My more recent experience so now I do two shows a year when during the last decade I did about one show every four years!  With online buying you no longer need to go to shows with large packs and it is easier and cheaper to do it from home, which seems to me to be the main risk to shows.  However, it would be a shame to see them all go.  Perhaps a culling makes sense.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

 

Guy Farrish wrote:

What is the difference from the Imagi-nations board?

My take on it!  Just a variation of imagi-nations.  What posts are being made that need to be accumulated in a special sub-forum or what evidence that posts are not being made?

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Jim Webster wrote:

 From memory was it lieutenants who suffered the highest casualties?

Battalion commanders.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

In my limited experience this is the key question that nobody has got an answer for yet.

All those that I know with a copy of the rules who want to use them have written (significant) changes into them to make them usable.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Soviet T35.  A masterpiece.

 

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Excellent write-up.  Giving the brief details on rules, troops and terrain is very helpful to anyone who wants to do something similar.

Looking forward to the More later … !

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Many thanks for establishing such a civilised website and all your efforts involving it; so much better than Another Place!

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Great looking ships; how do you glue them to the perspex stands.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Very interesting to read about your campaign and your queries. No, I haven’t seen questions like these, but that’s why I like this forum.

Agreed!!  I am not on Facebook where I understand the HONOR forums have migrated.

Shore bombardment

The battleship guns were much more effective than cruiser guns but everyone seemed to want to lob some shells into Henderson Airfield.   It is frustrating not to now how to deal with this.  I am having to make arbitrary decisions on the levels of damage inflicted.

Aircraft ranges

Stavanger to Edinburgh is 341 miles and the Me109 is given a range of 300, so it can reach Scarpa Flow and northern Scotland.  Calais to London is 82 miles so I can see the difficulty in putting the whole area into one square but it does give very real issues at the shorter ranges.

SM79s

The bomb symbol only relates to bombing bases (page 87); anti-shipping is defined by having a blue number on the bottom left of the air unit counter.  The SM79 counter has two bombs, indicating a high level bomber.  I am just assuming it can do low-level anti-shipping attacks by bomb as well as torpedo, with torpedo hits treated according to the rules and assuming the bombs fall like a dive-bomber or skip bombing.  Two serious issues seem to be the explosive impact for both: is the only issue with torpedoes getting a hit and the same with bombs?  I think not because the lighter Japanese bombs are treated as having a slightly lesser effect, so I think the Italian bombs should also be so treated, and the rules significantly differentiate between Japanese Long-Lance ship based and aerial torpedoes so there ought to be some form of differentiation.

Bombing 

I do find the Me110 bombing idea very odd but I suspect it is there because of its use on ground targets.  I have the impression that the game is really designed for 1942 carrier battles in the Pacific, with torpedo-bomber and dive-bomber aircraft and the other theatres added subsequently.

 

I do find positive that people are encouraged to adjust where they think the rules are wrong.  I have divided the Mediterranean into a grid of 20 x 11 120-mile squares but it is throwing up some significant queries.  Overall I am looking to run long campaigns on the Mediterranean, Arctic, Solomon Seas and Dutch East Indies but there are some oddities in each case!

 

 

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Great stuff; excellent looking project.

I have just started running a Mediterranean campaign but have adjusted HALSEY to 120-mile squares and six-hour turns.  A few queries have arisen.

There are no rules for shore bombardment, which one would think an obvious move at Guadalcanal; did you have any?

Aircraft ranges are poorly organized; I am currently planning a Norway campaign and have found that the rules as given allow Me109s to reach Scotland from Stavanger!  Did you find any curiosities?  I am finding that aircraft can be flown into Henderson Airfield but I thought they had to be ferried in.

Air launched torpedoes, which had about half the explosive weight of surface launched torpedoes, have the same effect, other than the Japanese ‘Long-Lance’ torpedoes.  Of course, weight is not the only criterion for damage but it looks odd.

Italian bombers (SM79) were sparsely equipped with torpedoes (getting a bulk delivery of 50 in August 1940 diverted from the Kriegsmarine and four a month thereafter) but there is no provision for SM79s to use bombs in the rules.  Did you find any oddities?

Dive-bombers seem little more effective than tactical-bombers, is that appropriate?  An Me110 will have the same chance of hitting as a Vindicator and will do the same damage; the Dauntless has a 50% better chance of a hit (4+ rather than 5+).    I think the dive-bombers were a lot more dangerous than the Me110 with better chances of hitting and likely to do more damage.  Did you find any peculiarities?

Italian bombs were lighter than British but apparently are just as effective; in practice they were barely capable of penetrating cruiser armour yet only Japanese bombs are treated as lighter.  Any similar issues in the Pacific?

Has anyone seen these being considered online?  Or elsewhere?

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

vtsaogames wrote:

I have WWII East Front, so anything set there would be fine. The open steppe combat that surrounded 6th Army in Stalingrad? I know urban combat gas lots of fans. I prefer open field fights and dread making up all those ruined buildings.

In order to do something a bit different a friend, now sadly deceased, decided on doing the Rumanian Army on the Eastfront.  I have done Italian and another friends has done Pz38(t)s for the Germans rather than the ubiquitous PzIIIs.  It is good to do something a bit different!

We have a preference for earlier periods in WWII when manoeuvre on the battlefield is more readily achievable than later ones, as it gets rather tiresome to be taking shots at targets on the far horizon, or would be if a few feet on the table can be perceived as that.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Command and Colors: Napoleonics

Played it over ZOOM during Covid crisis.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Not Connard Sage wrote:

According to David Manley, who seems to have deserted TWW recently, Navwar is NOT closing. Tony is looking to sell the business as a going concern, until then he’s still taking orders.

 

Do tell more.  The NAVWAR website has been down for several weeks.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

I would recommend cloth as being easier to store folded up rather than rolled tube material.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

An update from the flyer received from NAVWAR with my order today.  Ill-health is forcing closure and the business is now selling off existing stock.  My order involved unusual ships (Greek & Dutch WWII fleets) so although I used second-class post I got mine in 10 days with a complete order!  Superb service.  I suspect if you want more popular lines you will have to include substitute choices as the available stock runs out.

Should anyone be interested, the business would be sold as a going concern.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

An update from the flyer received from NAVWAR with my order today.  Ill-health is forcing closure and the business is now selling off existing stock.  My order involved unusual ships (Greek & Dutch WWII fleets) so although I used second-class post I got mine in 10 days with a complete order!  Superb service.  I suspect if you want more popular lines you will have to include substitute choices as the available stock runs out.

Should anyone be interested, the business would be sold as a going concern.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Excellent stuff!!

Why choose 6mm?  I have 2mm Napoleonics and 6mm WWII and cannot decide which scale is better for ACW.  2mm will do to differentiate between horse, foot and artillery but for WWII the smaller scale is too small to differentiate tank types.  ACW seems more like Napoleonics but perhaps I am missing something.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Perhaps they consider the commander base includes a communications team, supply depot and artillery firebase.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

irishserb wrote:

Probably right about the Russians. Thanks for the suggestions, I was hoping that there may have at least been some Dutch figs available. The French idea will give some contrast in appearance should they be on the table the same time as the Russians. I’m still not completely sure about how I will represent them, but figured I’d use regular infantry stands once they were fighting. I’ll probably use some ratio of cav figs and infantry stands to indicate when they are on the move, as I really don’t look forward to painting a lot of 6mm horses, just something that I don’t enjoy. Thanks again, irishserb

 

We use an infantry stand and then put an appropriate model on the stand for transport: half-track, lorry or horse.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Interesting campaign; I much enjoyed the Memoir Expansion:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/209827/memoir-44-battles-khalkhin-gol

 

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Good stuff!  The battles are run as a series of linked engagements?

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

The Czech Skoda works are well known for the sabotage of munitions they manufactured for the Germans.  They were not the only ones to be doing it and there are a myriad of similar stories that contributed to defective supplies to the German frontline.

The result has been a lot of ‘odd’ stories.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Some of us do not do Facebook; what about an io.group?</p>

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

As a teenager, more than 50 years ago, I used painted balsa blocks with coloured pins as strength markers.  It rather looks as if ideas have come full circle.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

I suggest getting the effects of artillery right on the battlefield should be the main objective in any rules.  You can tweak the result for any particular characteristic: training, competence, experience.  I am not aware of any great differences between the nations other than some developing the use of Grand Batteries.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Based on the good food I had at JOY OF SIX I can recommend it!  It might indeed be the best show-food to be found.  However, I prefer to take my own sandwiches, not for reasons of cost or quality but because it allows one to choose when and what you eat during the day as well as avoiding any queueing that might be needed.  Being able to pick the time of the meal break gives flexibility to the day.  Gourmet eating by wargamers is a novel concept but something I would follow with interest.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Then this might interest some.

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-960-plantagenet-cousins-war-for-england-1459-1485.aspx

Looking forward to getting my copy; always thought KINGMAKER was overhyped.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Everyone knows about Nelson and Trafalgar but few give a thought to Collingwood and the subsequent blockade of France over the subsequent years.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

The original, first colour, was white but it was soon standardised as sand.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

NIMITZ is our go-to rules at the moment, although the main game-play is through HALSEY.

A satisfactory game in an evening, although it can be readily done without miniatures by using counters only.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Interesting.  Lou Coatney has some postcard WWII games too.

https://www.coatneyhistory.com

 

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Norm S wrote:

Discuss :-).

Yes.

The glib answers:
(a) Depends on what the player wants
(b) Both

As you have started discussing, the deeper query is what do people think the merits of each one is.  I am interested to see what people think as I have the impression that there is something of a convergence between cardboard and miniatures gaming systems.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Very interesting.  Which is better: cardboard or some miniatures and a set of rules like Bloody Big Battles?

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

irishserb wrote:

Lots of badly painted micro-armor for for an east front Barbarossa campaign, and both 15mm and 6mm 1950s Cold War aircraft.  

I am looking forward to learning more of this.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Well wiki tells us:

Churchill 5,600

Crusader 5,300

Cromwell 4,000

Valentine 8,200

True that there were 17,000+ Shermans but it is rather … American.

Choose as you wish.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Try this list:

https://www.bhgs.org.uk/clubs.html

or this very old list

https://kriegsmann.tripod.com/frontline.html

 

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

The internet has certainly made it easier to use mail-order and a few pounds postage cost is less than travel and an entry ticket price so unless you have some big bulk orders the finances do not justify it.  However, some people do have big orders, it is good to see new products and social aspects are important.  I should think big shows will be able to last as traders are likely to want to limit the number of locations they visit but have ones with big footfall and sales.

As a demonstrator at WARFARE this year I would certainly recommend the new Farnborough venue: good lighting & heating, easy road access and plenty of parking.  Remarkably, it is a two-day show.

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

I have come across this comment in relation to the current performance of the Russian Army.

In many ways, the Russian army still resembles the former Soviet army in its mentality, hierarchical structure, poor quality officers, poor levels of training, ill-discipline, poor logistics, and corruption.

Is this a fair observation about the Soviet Army?  If the Cold War had gone hot would the Soviet Army performance have been as the Russian Army has performed against Ukraine in 2022?  I have the impression that these issues are much worse now with the Russian Army than they were with the Soviet Army but is this the case?  Would the Soviets lack uniforms, weapons and equipment as has been reported now?  Are the ‘outrages’ leaked to the press a few minor aberrations against a system otherwise performing reasonably well?  My impression is that whatever its many faults the Soviet system would have done things better but is that a false conclusion?  There are some rich oligarchs from the Putin era; I do not recall reading of rich commissars!

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

A very interesting series of posts.

Can you briefly explain why SVP or FFS for larger or quicker battles in preference to GF?

[Asks the man with Iron Bottom Sound]
{https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/189427/iron-bottom-sound-iii}

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[hammurabi70]

Awesome; how do you paint the canopies?

www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]

[Author]

Posts