Miniature Wargames

Seekrieg 5 – Dreadnought 1906

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval game using the Seekrieg 5 rules. The year is 1906. The British have just completed a new battleship. Navel experts claim it makes every other battleship obsolete. HMS Dreadnought and two British pre-dreadnoughts take on six German pre-dreadnoughts.

There is land off the bottom of this photo, so both forces will need to reverse course. The initial range is about 24,000 yards.

The Germans: three players with two ships each.

The British: two players with one commanding the Dreadnought and one commanding the two prdreadnoughts.

The British turn away to keep the range from falling.

The Germans attempt to shorten the range at the expense of masking their after turrets.

The Pommern falls behind after hits from Dreadnought reduce her speed.

Braunschweig falls behind when two engines take temproary damage. Dreadnought’s speed falls to 17 knots due to boiler damage.

Deutschland is slowed by engine and boiler damage.

After about 4 hours of play and 20 game turns (40 minutes) we called the game. Damage results:

Pommern, 3 tiers, 12 knots
Schlesien, no damage
Braunschweig, 1 tier, boiler damage repaired
Schleswig-Holstein, light damage
Deutschland, 4 tiers, 15 knots
Hannover, 1 tier, 6 knots

Dreadnought, 4 tiers, 17 knots, both wing turrets out
Hindustan, light damage
Prince of Wales, light damage

Black Powder ACW – Piedmont 1864

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Black Powder Civil War game. The scenario was loosely based on the Battle of Piedmont, June 5th, 1864.

Black Powder rules modifications: BP-ACW specific rules (distances were adjusted for a ground scale of 50 yards per inch)

The river and hill terrain was based on Google Map terrain.

Barricades of felled trees protect some of the troops.

The Union advance with most of the artillery in the center, infantry brigades on each side and cavalry on the far left.

Union cavalry moving fast in march column are charged by Confederate cavalry. One Union regiment is destroyed.

The Union guns destroy a Confederate battery while the Union infantry advances.

Union cavalry and infantry gradually push back the Confederate right wing.

A Union regiment is broken by canister fire and another retreats. The second Union line charges in.

The Union assault on the barricades has failed, and the Confederate line shifts to face the threat to their right.

A Confederate battery is charged in the flank.

Union cavalry massed for an attack on the remaining Confederate cavalry.

After four hours of play we called the game. The Union took heavy casualties to their largest brigade, the Confederates lost two batteries and cavalry losses were about even.

Bolt Action – Marines Land Again

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Bolt Action game. This was a similar scenario to the previous Bolt Action game. US Marines landed on a beach defended by the Imperial Japanese Army. Six LVTs, each carrying an infantry squad and several small support units attempted to land in the first wave. Several grounded on a reef for a turn, but by the second turn all troops were safely ashore. Two LVTs were destroyed on the beach by a Japanese tank. The marines and the remaining LVTs moved inland against hidden or dug in defenders. When the game ended the Japanese still held 2 of the 3 objective strong-points.

After the initial naval bombardment, the Japanese wait for the landing.

… and land the troops.

The left flank LVT is destroyed by the Japanese tank while the Marines use cover to advance.

An LVT survives damage to close with the central Japanese bunker.

The second wave includes an engineer squad.

The second LVT is destroyed by the Japanese tank.

LVTs and a Sherman advance in the center.

Sudan – The Sword and the Flame

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Sudan game using The Sword and the Flame colonial rules (20th Anniversary Edition) and the Gunboats and Dhows rules. British forces were tasked with recovering captives, a river steamer and supplies taken by the Ansar. Ansar units were hidden on the table and more arrived on turns 3 and 6. The boats used were made by Last Stand Dan.

The captured river steamer and supplies are in the foreground. The captives are in the fort.

The British advance by land and water.

British infantry moving fast in open order.

Ansar infantry reinforcements arrive and clash with British cavalry.

The remains of a British platoon forms square and protects the wounded. The British gunboat safely passes the fort and shoot down many of the Ansar defenders.

Infantry lands from the British gunboat.

The small square survives against great odds.

The gunboat and its infantry shoot up the Ansar attempting to move the supplies.

After about four hours of play we needed to quit so the hobby shop could close for the Memorial Day weekend. The British recaptured their river steamer (2VP) and some of the supplies (1VP) but did not get into the fort to rescue the captives (2VP for the Ansar). A hard-fought British victory.

Tsushima – Russo-Japanese War Naval AAR

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Russo-Japanese War naval battle based on the Battle of Tsushima. In order to make the game more balanced, the Russian ships were not handicapped to reflect their historical performance.

Visibility 14,000 yards. Wind SW at 14 knots. Seastate 3

Status at the end of the game: tsus2 io

Damage output file: tsus2 out

Plot of ship movements:
0 to 30 minutes tsus2 plot 0-30
30 to 60 minutes tsus2 plot 30-60
60 to 90 minutes tsus2 plot 60-90

Computer code (described here)

Japanese fleet

We called the game after about 4.5 hours of play (90 minutes of game time). The damage was fairly even at that point. The Russian battleships were low on main gun ammunition and several were completely out, so their ability to continue the fight was limited.