Long Face Games Facebook Group

It's slightly over a year since I set up the Long Face Games FB group and, as you can see for yourself, it's now doing pretty well and ticking along nicely, thanks to some active participants and a fairly regular rate of new people joining. It's not always easy to contribute as my wargaming has dropped off a metaphorical cliff this year due to full time work, but I'm hoping to do more in what's left of 2024, particularly with Far Distant Ships and Broadside and Salvo.

Oi Navarcoi!

A couple of years ago I tinkered about with an ancient naval project which didn't go very far as I moved on to other things. This set of free rules, however, has reignited the project, especially as I have quite a lot of the Tumbling Dice 1/2400th trireme models in a box somewhere under the workbench. The rules look elegantly straightforward but firmly grounded in the period, the author being a fan of the 'play the period, not the rules' philosophy when it comes to design. This will be a project for next year, as I already have other things on the go, but think it's a really good prospect for something a little bit out of my comfort zone.

Long Face Games FB Group

             

It's been a bit slow to get going but the Long Face Games FB group is now starting to move along in a positive direction, with close to one hundred people signed up over the space of a couple of weeks. I'm ploughing a lonely furrow at the moment but I'm sure that more posts will be forthcoming, so that I can ease back a bit and let other people take the strain. It would be great to have some more diverse posts from a wider selection of people, but I'm grateful to those who have already contributed. If you haven't signed up already or are interested in posting some content, from game reports, to rules queries or modelling ideas, that would be excellent. 

Long Face Games FB Group Update.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1336305623905353/?ref=share

Why not pop over and sign up? ⚓

Long Face Games Facebook Group

As you know by now, I am an enthusiast for Long Face Games naval rules, with lots of great scenarios and solo campaigns played using Broadside and Ram, Broadside and Salvo, Dahlgren and Columbiad and Find, Fix and Strike. As such, I was thinking today as I walked the dog in the drizzle, about setting up a Facebook group to cater for players like me, or those interested in trying out some of David Manley's extensive catalogue of rules. 

A quick email to the aforementioned gentleman and I have the thumbs up to go ahead. This will not only give me something constructive to do while it's still crappy weather here in Brittany, but also a longer term project to build the Facebook group into a thriving online forum dedicated to an excellent range of rules. That's the theory anyway but, based on my experience with AK47, Wings at War and the club groups, I think it will pick up quite a lot of interest.

Watch this space...

Holiday Reading

I'm now officially on holiday but whether I end up in Brittany or not this year for Xmas is anyone's guess, now that the goal posts have moved again. Anyway, I have some interesting books to read while I'm stuck on a ferry or not, including this one on ancient Greek naval warfare which so far has been quite informative. It's something I know very little about and this looked like a good place to start. It has already given me a clearer idea about fleet composition and tactics, so it should be a good introduction for my solo campaign next year.

Ancient Naval Campaign Armies

For my ancient naval project next year, using the campaign supplement for Ad Mare Bellum, I thought it would be good to have some land based armies to fight out any battles that crop up. So, I've ordered a battle pack of 2mm Ancient Greek hoplite armies from Irregular Miniatures, which are a scale above the 1/2400th scale galleys from Tumbling Dice but should be fine as I'm not going to put them together on the table. 

I'm going to use a simple set of fast play rules to resolve the actual battles, probably the One Hour Wargames rules by Neil Thomas or the slightly more detailed version from his Ancient and Medieval Wargaming book, which look ideal for quick and simple battles on a small space with my coastal terrain doubling up as hills. I'm hoping that for a minimal outlay in cost and time, I will be able to add a whole new dimension to the campaign. 

Ancient Naval Additions

I've now decided to expand the historical scope of my ancient naval project, with a focus on the classical Greek period of the Greco-Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. This is a side line to my main focus on the Punic Wars but will be a good way to learn the rules and campaign system before setting out to tackle the Carthaginian and Roman fleets, as well as giving me some much needed experimentation in painting 1/2400th scale pentekonters, biremes and triremes. I've ordered a starter pack from Tumbling Dice, which should give me enough models for a small scenario or two, and I also have a few models that Paul sent me as samples. I'm really looking forward to starting on this project early in 2022 but will have to read up to really get to grips with the subject matter...time to dig out that copy of Thucydides!

Ancient Naval Campaign Land Battles

I've been reading through the campaign supplement for Ad Mare Bellum, A Wall of Wood Alone, with a view to running my own solo ancient naval campaign next year. One bit that I'm intrigued by is the land battles aspect, with armies marching from one map area to another along the coastline in support of the naval fleets. There is potential here for some land battles and a simple resolution system is included in the rules, with an option to play out the actions with conventional, condensed rules like DBA. 

Now, this started me thinking about a mash up with Ad Mare Bellum and Strength and Honour, with the former for the naval engagements and the latter for any land battles that might also occur when two opposing land armies end up in the same box. I think this would be a really neat way to tie together two separate projects and make for a more in depth campaigning experience than just a simple bit of dice rolling. I'll give this some more thought...

Ancient Naval Project 2022

I've now gathered together enough 1/2400th scale Tumbling Dice models to fit out a Carthaginian and a Roman fleet for my ancient naval project for next year, together with a merchant convoy and some wreck markers for all the whistles and bells. The aim will be to run a series of games using the campaign system for Ad Mare Bellum but starting off with some simple scenarios to learn the rules, while I paint and base enough models for the fleets. 

The two opposing fleets are made up primarily of fives, with a handful of sixes and sevens for squadron flagships, plus a nine and a ten for the fleet flagships of either side. I also have some trireme aphracts for scouting and convoy escort purposes, so I should be able to cater for most scenario situations, give or take some occasional add ons. I'm really looking forward to this project and hope it will be as much fun as this year's Indonesian Confrontation solo campaign project, which I really enjoyed playing.

Ancient Naval Project 2022

As the last of my new projects for 2022 I've decided to have a go at ancient naval warfare, once again using the Tumbling Dice 1/2400th scale range for starters but with a view to moving up to 1/1200th scale and the new range from Ark Royal Miniatures alongside Langton Miniatures, depending on the price tag. I've wanted to have a crack at this for years and have been looking for a new project to add some fizz to my naval wargaming, as the projects that I have tried to get started this year just haven't been particularly inspiring. 

The rules will be Long Face Games Ad Mare Bellum, which have familiar mechanisms to other rules I've played and are scribed by David Manley, who is always reliable when  it comes to rules that actually work and are enjoyable to play. The initial thrust will be to start with two fleets, one Republican Roman and one Carthaginian, as these offer a bit more variety than the earlier Greek City States, although these might turn up later on. It also ties in nicely with my land wargaming project for next year, Strength and Honour, albeit in a different scale, so there will be a classical theme to my wargaming next year to balance the rest of the things I'm up to which are predominantly modern. 

Terrain down the Tip

I went to the local recycling centre, today to drop off a load of old junk, only to find a whole load of high density insulation foam offcuts in one of the bins. I grabbed as much as I could get to, so now have plenty for another set of coastal terrain for naval wargaming. I just have to find somewhere to hide it from the wife, who will probably tell me to take it all back again if she finds out. 

Do you want ships with that?

I was planning to switch my project focus to sci-fi wargaming next year but I've had a change of heart and have decided to stick with naval wargaming for the fourth year in a row. This is mainly due to having several naval projects on the go, with boxes of assembled and based models queued up for painting, so that my project to 'do list' is very much undone. I also really enjoy naval wargaming and despite the backlog have had a lot of fun in the process, even if I'm currently a bit behind. 

To move things along, I'm going to re-jig my objectives for next year, moving some projects aside to make space for some new ones, while revisiting other projects that have been overlooked. One of the reinvigorated  projects will be Cold War modern naval, for which I've just ordered a carrier battlegroup worth of 1/3000th scale French warships from the old Davco range. I've got several more ideas up my sleeve but it's early days yet, so there's plenty of time to work it all out for Give Us The Ships 2021.

Scratchbuilt Islands Finished

I wrapped up the islands today, with some dry brushing and ink washing to match them with the rest of my coastal terrain. The original aim of this set of non-scale specific terrain pieces was to make them suitable for the coast of Brittany but they ended up more like the Aegean or Adriatic, which is fine as I can use them for the Mediterranean or similar locations, making them ideal for everything from Ancients to World War Two. Job done!

Scratchbuilding Island Terrain

Big Island, Little Island

USS Powhatan for scale

I enjoyed playing the Battle of Halifax scenario yesterday and I'm now planning the next instalment - the Battle of Sable Island - which I'll hopefully be playing at the end of the week. It will feature a couple of ships that I need to finish painting - HMS Monarch and USS Powhatan - so it will be a few days before I can actually run the game. I also decided that it would be a good opportunity to make a couple of islands to go with my scratch built coastal terrain, so here they are in their basic stage of construction. I don't think they will feature in the scenario but I've been meaning to put them together for a while now, as you can't really have a decent littoral scenario without one or two to crash into! 

Clash of Galleys

I've been thinking a bit more about my own set of rules for ancient naval warfare and have come up with a few basic ideas. It will be a hex based system, with turn cards for the movement sequence and with galleys organised into squadron formations. The ships will be 1/2400th scale and based on 35mm  hexes. The emphasis will be on fast play and minimal book keeping. 

I've had a look for existing rules with all of these elements but have yet to find a set with all of them present. I did find this set of rules, however, which is similar in many respects - having hex based movement with ships organised into squadrons - so I think I will download a copy for a closer look? It definitely ticks quite a lot of the boxes, even if it's aimed at 1/1200th scale.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/269969/Clash-of-Galleys?filters=40104_0_40001_0

Hex Based Ancient Naval Rules Writing

One of the things I'd like to do this year is to write my own set of naval wargaming rules, something that I have wanted to try out for a long time but just haven't got round to scribbling down. The obvious choice for me is a set of ancient naval rules, not because I know anything about the period (at all!) but because it doesn't require anything too complex. As ancient galleys were primarily oar powered, there is little if any need to model sailing and with no gunnery to speak of, the only combat would be by ramming or boarding, give or take the odd special manoeuvre.

I like hex based games and I like card based turn sequences, so those would need to be incorporated in the system somewhere, along with some element of formation based movement and a bit of 'randomness' for the fog of war to be present. It all sounds a bit like a set of air wargaming rules to be honest, which is something I am familiar with and which can give me a good starting point. The scale of choice is also 1/600th scale, so that I can fit models onto 30mm wide hex bases, so Tumbling Dice is definitely the best option, being cheap and quick to paint as a added bonus.

I have been assembling some background reading material as a starting point, with a second hand copy of The Battle of Salamis by Richard Nelson now in the post. I had a copy of this book when I was at school and I remember it having a pretty good set of hex based rules as well as some good detail on the battle itself. I've also been reading the relevant chapter in Paul Hague's Naval Wargaming, in which he has a set of hex based rules called Trireme, which look good apart from having no real initiative or move sequence, making solo play pretty difficult. I've also dipped into Bob Cordery's Gridded Naval Wargames, which is a great source of ideas and concepts from first principles up to workable rules designs.

I'll give this rules project some more slow burning thought over the next few weeks. If you think of anything you would like or expect to see in a set of simple, fast play and most importantly fun ancient naval rules, let me know and I'll see how I can work them into my design?

The Sky's The Limit

Today, I was reading Matt H's excellent battle report for INWARD 2019 on his Shell Splash blog, based on the Battle of Pacocha in 1877, which features some lovely Tumbling Dice 1/2400th scale ships, not to mention some very professional ship record cards for Dahlgren and Colombiad. However, the thing that caught my eye was his very effective coastal terrain and, in particular, the clever use of a sky background to add some atmosphere and perspective:

http://shellsplash.blogspot.com/2019/08/inward-2019-battle-of-pacocha-1877.html

I hadn't thought of this before but it reminded me of the model railway sky backscene paper strips that you see being used on layouts for the same purpose. A quick Google and I discovered that you can now get photorealistic sky sheets in 5' long by 15'' tall sections, supplied in packs of two, one of which would provide all the sky you could need in 1/2400th scale. They also come in different themes of overcast, clear sky and with clouds, so you can even represent the weather conditions. I may well give them a try?

https://www.modelscenerysupplies.co.uk/backscenes/Sky-Backscenes

INWARD 2019

This is on again in a couple of days, so I'll be organising a solo game of something while I'm away from home, using card and paper ships in the absence of my ironclad fleets. This year I have two possible options, one being a Napoleonic frigate action using the Fleets in Profile: The Battle of Trafalgar 1805 paper flats and some sort of 'back of a fag packet' rules from somewhere or other. The other option is some ancient naval galley warfare using the top down paper miniatures from Tiny Tin Troops and Long Face Games's fast play Ad Mare Bellum rules, which I left here last time I was over at Easter for just this sort of thing. Time to get cutting out and gluing I think!

Ad Mare Bellum

I'm off on holiday at the weekend so, as usual, I'll be taking some simple 'beer and pretzels' wargames with me to play solo and with the kids. These are usually card and paper based, as it's nice and portable and doesn't take up much space, so I do the write ups on my other blog rather than here:

http://teaandawad.blogspot.com/

This Easter I'm going to have a play around with David Manley's fast play ancient naval rules, Ad Mare Bellum, using some lovely card counters of Greek and Persian galleys from Tiny Tin Troops. I bought these to use with the Osprey ancient naval rules. Poseidon's Warriors, but Ad Mare Belllum has been published subsequently, so I have decided to go with those having enjoyed David's other naval rules. I'll post some reports once I've had a go!