Night Action in the Slot

Saturday night I ran a night time destroyer action using Snorkers! (Good Oh!) to familiarize myself with the rules for night fighting, searchlights, and radar. Scott was sick, Big Pat had a pile of marking to do, and the weather was filthy, so Weirdy-Beardy stayed home. So I played with myself. As usual.

With the last game I ran into some issues with things not being resolved in the correct order. All gun fire and torpedo attacks from an activated squadron are declared. Then gun fire is resolved, including reaction fires. Then torpedoes are resolved. So the Litko torpedo and splash markers that the Mad Padre gave me, which I've just been using to show what was going on and add drama to the photos, will now have a proper use for game play to show declared attacks and their targets.

American scout planes have spotted a large Japanese force of  eight destroyers (four Fubuki class and four Kagero class) led by a Tenyru class light cruiser heading south towards Guadalcanal.  TF-51 consisting of the USS Atlanta light cruiser and eight Fletcher class destroyers is dispatched to intercept.

Both sides start with a Force Morale of 20, but the Japanese roll an inferior commander, knocking them down to 18. The Americans roll a superior commander, moving theirs up to 24.

The night fighting rules assume the use of star shells etc., so there isn't any extra spotting, but gunnery is limited to medium range. The Japanese, who trrained more for night fighting, get an extra Jack (activate with a +1 on guns) card in their deck and can still launch their deadly Long Lance torpedoes at long range.

The Americans do not get any air power, but both sides can use spotter or patrol aircraft. Note to self: paint up a Japanese patrol plane.

Table set up. I diced for deployment. Japanese closest to camera. Americans in the far corner. Note that I've gotten more filter material and upgraded my fog/mist banks to be more irregular

IJN in 3 columns, Line Ahead. Tenyru in the middle.

USN also in three squadrons in echelon. The Atlanta is closest, so that there's less chance of the Japanese getting into a radar shadow created by one of the islets. The PBY is waiting to be deployed on table.

Both forces advancing at a moderate speed. Random Event on the Joker results in the Tenyru having Ammo problems and a permanent -1 on all gunnery and torpedoes. 

IJNS Hayashio fires a spread of Long Lances at USS Taylor. A sharp eyed ensign spots the phosphorescent track at the last minute and she evades.  

 

Japanese activate again on an Ace. They try to pin the Taylor with searchlights but fail. All 3 ships can now engage Taylor at close range. Hayashio and Amagiri engage with broadsides. Yugiri has a good firing solution and launches torpedoes! The Taylor fails to evade this time and two hit! With her back broken she goes down fast

USS Atlanta engages with the Hayashio with her full broadside of 16 5" guns and two torpedoes. Hayashio is rocked by multiple hits, starting fires. There is a sickening clang as an American torpedo hits, but it is a dud! 

Strong and O'Bannon emerge from the fog bank launching torpedoes! Yugiri and Amagiri each take two hits. Both take hits in their engine rooms Flooding fast, they both go under

IJNS Tenyru leads her squadron forward. Hatsukaze snaps on searchlights, pinning the O'Bannon. Tenyru gives a broadside. Hatsukaze launches torpedoes. O'Bannon and Strong fire at the revealed Hatsukaze. O'Bannon takes hits and desperately weaves but two Long Lances split her asunder! 

Ouch. Just the one hit would have sunk her.

The USN get an Ace, so Strong activates again and fires her last torpedoes at the Asagiri. Asagiri evades one, but one explodes, crippling her and causing flooding. 

DesRon 2 advances on a King. They save their torpedoes and USS Charles Ausburne, The Sullivans, and Fletcher engage the burning IJNS Hayashio with broadsides. Hayashio scores some hits on the Charles Ausburne but a flurry of devastatingly accurate gunnery sinks her.  

A PBY drones overhead trying to make sense of the flashes of gunfire below them in the dark. "It's the Yamato!" Their poor intelligence will cost the Americans their next card. The PBY crew fly back to Tulagi for beers. 

Atlanta gives the Tenyru a broadside causing a lot of damage and starting fires. She fires her last two starboard torpedoes, but they sail off into the Pacific night.

Tenyru and Hatsukaze launch torpedoes at DesRon 2. The reaction fire from the Americans pushed both into "Damaged" giving them -1 modifiers.  Tenyru misses her target, but USS The Sullivans is hit by two with devastating results. 

Meanwhile the crippled Asagiri in the foreground, is making smoke and trying to limp away before the Strong kills her.

Even though the Americans have drawn a Queen (+1 torpedoes, yeah they probably should have activated DesRon 2 to torpedo the Tenyru and Hatsukaze instead), they activate The Strong who maneuvers to give the Asagiri a broadside, reducing her to a flaming wreck.

The Japanese Flanking Detachment comes out from behind the fog bank to ambush the American rear!
USS Nicholas is engaged by all three ships, taking massive damage. The bridge is hit and she is crippled and on fire!

At the end of another card deck morale is checked. The USN are still in the fight but the IJN failed their roll. They withdraw into the gloom, hoping that dive bombers from Henderson Field don't hunt the Tenyru and Hatsukaze down in the morning.  The Americans search for survivors in the darkness

That was a very satisfying game. Everything I've been looking for really, ever since I started this project. I need to work on my IJN tactics and have them stand off and fire torpedoes from long range before getting in close.

Wargames Atlantic Romans

 Even though I've got a lovely army of A&A metal 3rd century Romans I just like the look of the era so much I need more of them. A connection on Bluesky has been making a 3rd century army and convinced me that, yes, the Wargames Atlantic Late Romans, with the appropriate helmet, are fit for puropose.

I got these finished early in December along with some Goths, but I was waiting on the shield transfers. The shields are part of the look for me and set them apart from earlier and later legionaries.

The transfers are from Relic Miniatures in British Columbia. They are water slide and need to be carefully cut and the space for the shield boss has to be cut out as well.

Each sheet of 12 shield designs comes with an appropriate vexillum. 8 of the shields are fairly uniform, but the other four will have variations on the theme.

Close up of the vexillifer and the centurion

Big Pat gave me a couple of jars of static grass so I thought I'd try it. It's looking a little like a golf course, especially compared with my traditional mix of colours and coarsness of flock with added chopped lichen and bits of clump foliage picked off the table 

I added some tufts for the pictures above, but I think I'll add some patches of traditional flocking too.

Goths in my usual flocking mix on the right. Romans advancing towards the 19th Hole on the left.

As you can see I'm basing these for Midgard to match the Goths. Saves mucking about with magnets and such. 

I might regret this down the road.

First Game of 2026! More "Snorkers! (Good Oh!)"

Last Saturday night I had Scott and Big Pat over for a game of Snorkers! (Good Oh!). I reused the squadrons from my second Christmas Day game, except to make the Force Morale a little more even I took three destroyers off the Japanese strength.

Scott ran the Americans. Deploying his squadrons with the 6" Cruiser Brooklyn and her escorts on his right, the 8" Cruiser Portland and her escorts in the middle and then the 5" Cruiser Atlanta and three destroyers on the left.

Pat put the Tenyru and two destroyers on his right opposite the Atlanta. The Krishima with one destroyer in the center, and the Mogami with two escorts on the left opposite the Brooklyn. Banks of mist or haze were in between both fleets.

One flight of SBDs has attacked the destroyer, but the other flight of SBDs and the TBfs are staying on target. Torpedo hits have done 14 points of damage plus engine room and steering damage.

Scott and Pat both advanced at moderate speed, not wanting to come to blows to quickly. Scott brought his air wing onto the table early and then with an Ace card launched a strike on the Krishima. His airstrike went much better than mine. A couple of torpedoes seriously hurt the Krishima, causing an engine room hit and jammed its rudder into a turn to starboard, effectively keeping her out of the game for a turn while the Brooklyn and Portland dealt with the Mogami.

Mogami's squadron wheels to starboard to take the destroyer between the squalls under fire. The Brooklyn is just behind the squall on the left. The Portland is just behind the squall above it.

Brooklyn emerges from the squall to take the Mogami under fire.

The Mogami is taking on water and her leading escort has been sunk

Pat brings in his airstrike, well part of it. They're jumped by Wildcats and shot down 

Pat then saw an opportunity to be aggressive. Tenyru's squadron dashed forward on the right and unleashed a torpedo attack on the Atlanta's squadron causing some serious harm even though a heavy swell effected torpedo accuracy.

Tenyru and escorts launch torpedoes at Atlanta and cripple the leading destroyer

The Atlanta and her destroyers tried to do the same back, maneuvering aggressively for good firing solutions and firing off their full loads of torpedoes. But between the Japanese speed and a heavy swell caused by the recently pulled Joker card, Scott got only a handful of hits and five of those were duds, so he only scored one hit out of 23 torpedoes launched.

The Krishima then got her repairs done and returned to the battle. Brooklyn and Portland engaged, with the destroyers rushing forward to unleash their torpedoes. Two American torpedoes got solid devastating hits sending the Krishima to the bottom but not before she got off a salvo at the Portland which scored an unlucky magazine hit. Gunfire sank the Krishima's destroyer escort.

Torpedoes and 8" shell fire sinks the Krishima

But the Krishima got her revenge

The Brooklyn then moved to support the stricken Atlanta's squadron and engaged the Tenyru with gunfire sinking her. This left the Japanese with two destroyers when Force Morale was checked at the end of the second deck.

The Portland's escorting destroyers sink the Krishima's consort in the middle. Brooklyn on the left is moving to take the Tenyru's squadron under fire.

The Americans had lost their heavy cruiser, and they had the Atlanta and three destroyers heavily damaged and heading back to Pearl Harbour for extensive repairs. The Japanese had lost their battleship, heavy cruiser, light cruiser and three destroyers.

End of game. The two surviving IJN destroyers are in the upper left

This game lasted a lot longer than my previous games. It was good to go over different gun calibers and how they effect the damage, and see the effects of the different critical hits for a change, and try a couple of air strikes. The Japanese light cruiser and destroyers probably should have been deployed on the left where, with more sea room, they could have stood off for their torpedo attacks. The Long Lance doesn't take a range negative modifier until 20" where the American torpedoes take a -1 over 10". And I need to paint up more aircraft for the Japanese, especially some Vals. 

But most importantly my friends had fun, liked the game, and I gained more confidence with the rules.

First Figures for 2026

The first figures for 2026 are, naturally, more Quar as I finish the odd bits that Don has printed for me from the Zombiesmith MyMiniFactory Tribe.

First up we have a very whimsical musician to boost the moral of the Gloam-Hyyn. He's playing a stringed instrument reminiscent of a Mongolian fiddle.

On his shoulder is a helpful beetle who is singing along. 

I love all the little details in his kit. The bottle, a couple of fish hanging from his belt, the wine skin and assorted oddments.

Next is a figure from a set that Zombiesmith released for folks to print up and give away at conventions or use for conversions or test uniform schemes on. He's got his carbine over his shoulder and is missing one of his sandals. I'm sure there's a story there. He's probably the company awkward squad.

 

I gave him the pack with the frying pan and spoon on it to designate him the Company Cook. He maybe a bit dozy, and probably lost his sandal gathering crawfish from the bayou, but his shrimp po'

boys and etouffee are legendary.

Officially, the Gloam-Hyyn don't get cooks, but since when have I been official?

Another addition to the Gloamers are these very piratey chaps with flintlock weapons. Buccaneers and Blunderbusses. The Buccaneers have two flintlock pistols but with all the prints one (usually the left hand) pistol broke. So I swapped the hand for one holding a sword to make him another junior officer.

Now I'm not really sure what the official lore is for guys carrying old fashioned blunderbusses. Perhaps they're sort of low powered scatter guns or shotguns?

But I'm thinking I might make them a squad of Grenadiers with Rifle Grenade Launchers. The big bell shaped muzzle looks like it could seat a grenade and they're obviously reaching in their bags for another.

I painted the Crusader Cook a while ago, but I didn't like that he didn't have a pack. So when I saw in the plastic Crusader Command set that the cook pack was the same as the Gloam-Hyyn pack I got Don to print another up and painted it to add to him.

This Toulmorese character is from the same set of one piece characters Zombiesmith released to be given away at shows or the local game store. 

I decided that he would be the Toulmorese Company Cook and issued him the same pack.

He obviously likes his drink.

Finally, we have some Wysp Handlers to go with the Toulmorese Trench Raiders. They use swarms of the big wysps to drive enemies out of cover. Or you could roll badly and the wysps attack you, or just buzz off.