Anchors Away!

I've been listening a lot to the "Unauthorized History of the Pacific War" on YouTube, which does some very detailed examinations of several of the many surface actions around the Solomon Islands in late 1942 to '43. One of the hosts being a retired naval officer really gives some good insights into why things happened the way they did sometimes. So as a break from the Mediterranean Theater I decided to get some Pacific Theater models ready. A lot of these battles would be quite well sized for Snorkers! (Good Oh!). Because the narrow waters around the islands limited the maneuvering of larger units, the actions were mostly destroyer and light cruiser affairs.

Perfect.

My 1:2400 fleets were pretty unimaginiative in grey, which is basically "Measure 1". Dark grey or dark blue decks make it "Measure 3." So I decided to try and delve into USN naval camouflage for the war.

Old 1:2400 and new 1:1800

I think the new basing gives more action, and going bigger isn't taking up much more sea room.

Boy, howdy!

There were TWENTY-FIVE different camouflage schemes used by the USN at one time or another during the war. Several all at the same time or overlapping significantly.

 

So, you've got to figure out when they were used, where they were used, and which were just for submarines or landing craft etc. Or only used by one or two ships as an experiment.

The Wikipedia article World War II Ship Camouflage Measures of the United States Navy was very helpful. Complete with useful colour swatches to try and compare my existing paints to, instead of working on guesses from photographs or buying a specialty paint set.

Two squadrons of Fletcher class destroyers 

Despite my best efforts, 2 ships were crooked on their bases, so I painted their wakes to make them look like they were maneuvering at speed.

Trying to strike a balance between accuracy, easy to paint, and pleasing to the eye, I settled on "Measure 12" as the most likely livery worn by USN ships during the battles of the Solomon Islands campaign.

I hope. Maybe it's "Measure 14?" 

For the "Ocean Grey" hulls I used French Grey Blue. The "Haze Grey" upperworks were dry brushed with Light French Blue. The "Deck Blue" for the decks I used Admiral Blue. Which might not be exact but it's the same colour I use for the bases. 

Atlanta class 5" CLs in front

Brooklyn class 6" CLs in front

But here's a nice Task Force of 2x Brooklyn class CLs, 2x Atlanta class CLs, and 8x Fletcher class DDs. Although I need two more 6" gun CLs to make a complete Cruiser Division for an action like Empress Augusta Bay.

I've got two Northampton class CAs and two battleships to paint until some Porter, Sims, and Bagley class destroyers arrive from Don's printer farm. I'll hold off printing labels until I can do them all at once.

Medieval Midgard Massacre!

Dan has been building a large number of angry peasants for his German Medieval armies so he wanted to do an 11th-12th century feudal era battle. So we met to decide who's candidate would be Pope, or Holy Roman Emperor, or Chief Dog Catcher of Altdorf.

His army at 450 points and 11 Reputation was pretty huge. He didn't add any upgrades to anyone and he had 8 or so horde units of peasants.

My cavalry foreground. Sergeants in the van, which was a fatal mistake.

My army was 442 points, 12 Reputation and had a lot of expensive knights. I outnumbered his cavalry 8 squadrons to 3.

Dan's cavalry

Dan's foot sergeants

Some of Dan's archers, peasants, and his thematic dice tray.

My center. three units of foot sergeants and two units of crossbows

Dan had his peasants massed on his left, but the frontage was constricted by some woods and a mountain side which wouldn't give my cavalry space to effectively smash into them, so I put the bulk of my cavaly on my left, opposite his cavalry.

I lead with my sergeants hoping to wear him down so my knights could then overthrow that flank. Instead my sergeants were defeated and thrown back onto my knights, which gave Dan's cavalry the impetus.

The Red Knight tries to stem the tide and dies in the melee

In the center my crossbows didn't do badly against Dan's foot sergeants, but it wasn't enough.

With my squadron of knights destroyed my army commander, Count Raymond the Good was on his own. Dan's cavalry commander challenged him to single combat and rolled four hits to my one. Ouch. My Reputation plummetd to -2. Troubadours will sing of his tragic fall for many years.

Count Raymond (R) in red cloak dies in Single Combat

The White Knight also found himself alone and fighting a squadron of Dan's knights single handed. 

A squadron of my knights charge Dan's hero hoping to kill him and knock some of his Reputation down.

My right wing, two squadrons of Knights tries to squish some peasants. They do, but it's not enough.

In the center I try and launch a counter attack with my foot sergeants but fail some Command Tests and it doesn't happen.

At the end of the turn we were at -1 Reputation for my army and 6 Reputation for Dan's. A mighty victory to be recorded in an illuminated manuscript or bawdy ballad. Or perhaps a bawdily illustrated manuscript.

Dan (L) likes thematic headgear and had to show me (R) his new nasal helm

This was my seventeenth game of the year! It was great to return to get these figures out again. I just love the early medieval period. There's something about knights in chain hauberks, kite shields, and nasal helms with lots of flags and colourful shields crashing about scaring the livestock and disturbing the peasantry.

Obvioudly I need to edit the army list though....

North Atlantic Squadron

 Away, away with the pipes and drums!
Here we come, we're full of rum!
We're looking for women to paddle our bums, 
The North Atlantic Squadron!

We certainly sang that lustily enough in our 14 year old innocence as we marched along in the summer heat. The verses, if you're familiar, describe the sexual (mis)adventures of the Cabin Boy. Most of which, I doubt we really understood. 

Tribal class destroyers and Flower class Corvettes served mostly in the North Sea and Atlantic, so these ships pushed me to attempt some Western Approaches camouflage. Some blue and green would be a break from grey at any rate. Ironically, the green is called "RLM Grey." 

They also gave me the opportunity to add some RCN vessels to the collection. 

Ready aye! RCN units join the battle.

Of course I had to include HMCS Haida, "the fightingest ship in the Navy!" Under the command of Harry de Wolfe, she served with other Tribals in the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, chewing up German coastal forces in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel. You can visit her in Hamilton, Ontario. 

The Tribals were designed for aggressive action and defeating enemy fleet destroyers. Destroyer Captains were picked for their aggressive style and Tribal Captains were the most aggressive of the lot. I submit the Second Battle of Narvik as proof. Possibly the Third, if you count the German's brief action with the Norwegian Coastal Forces as the First.

Drachinfel describes the Tribals as "floating lunatic asylums" and the 10th Flotilla as particularly mad.

As a patriotic Canadian I had to get some Flower class Corvettes as well. These can stand in for any minesweepers I might need as well. I almost named one HMS Bramble. 

HMS Peony, Hyacinth, Gloxinia, and Salvia all served with Force H and escorted Malta convoys.

HMCS Sackville has also been preserved so I had to name one of the corvettes after her. I named the other HMCS Rimouski because that name has always amused me ever since Canadian Geography in High School. 

A 25% off closing out sale at Wargaming 3D has prompted me to buy the Germans ahead of schedule. So hopefully by September I'll be getting into some hot North Sea and Bay of Biscay action.

Cadets aren't allowed to sing songs like North Atlantic Squadron any more. Which is probably for the best. Now they march along to more wholesome songs from the Scouting program. 

Roman Heroes for Midgard

I ordered these figures, piggy backing on a friend putting in an order to Footsore, before the Mad Padre sent me a sprue of Victrix plastic Roman generals. As usual with things I really want to look grand I over thought things, got paralyzed, and set them aside for a while before finishing them off.

But now I have lots of mounted commanders for both Roman armies and a proper King for the Goths.

I wanted a nice cavalry hero to lead the cavalry ala of Cohors Equitata IX Britanarium. This is the Footsore Belisarius figure. He has a suitably ornate helmet and armoured horse. His companion with the draco standard is from the Late Roman Cavalry Command set. His shield decal is from Relic Miniatures. I think it looks like Mithras and it seems like something a big damn hero would carry into battle. It was a struggle to make it fit the metal shield since these decals are made for the bigger Wargames Atlantic shields. Fortunately the boarderless design meant I could squish the edges around to make it fit. The signifer with the draco has a painted shield design. I have a few left over LBMS decals that fit the Footsore oval shields. I should probably just give him one of those so he fits the rest of the army. Especially since I suspect his job will be trailing around with Equus Fornicatus here to show the enemy what a Big Damn Hero (at least level 2) he really is.

"Treat your woman like your horse! Take her for a gallop and leave her sweating and breathless three times a day! Woof!"

The Goths really needed a bigger Big Man, or a properly heroic Level 3 King, if they're going to take the table as an army on their own. After a bit of a search I settled on Footsore's King Arthur, who comes with the draco bearing companion as well. Arthur himself is a one piece casting plus the wire spear. 

Finally the other two offciers from the Footsore Late Roman Cavalry Command set. I did one with a yellow cavalry crest and a LBMS decal to be another cavalry tribune for the IXth cohort. I tried using a Relic Miniatures transfer but it didn't work, the border on the design getting all messed up by the different curvature of the metal shield edge. The other commander, with the fur cape, I did with a blue crest so he can go anywhere. He could even be a Goth really.

The Footsore figures are a bit pricey, but they do have value added. I do like my round washers, but some of the horses wouldn't fit on one of those, and fortunately they all came with pill shaped MDF bases I could use. I even used some for the Victrix commanders mentioned at the start. They also come with the wire spears and poles for the dracos.

I have seen that Footsore is working on a 3rd century Roman range. So I may get some of those in the future. Possibly a pack or two when I finally pull the trigger on a Picitish army to face off againts the IXth Britanarium.