The Dark Ages Campaign - Master Map

A short post as Nundunket and Jolly Broom Man are interested in the map.  I took a few minutes to unfold the master map I created back in the early 1980's and to get some photo's.  Its a big beast printed out on three sheets of A3 or maybe A2 paper, I should have measured it shouldn't I.  The original was hand copied from the OS Britain Before the Norman Conquest map (now sadly out of print).onto tracing paper selecting the details I needed and adding a few other things.  I then took it down to a printing and copying shop in York (when they still existed in most towns) who copied it onto paper for me on a dyeline printer.  I hand coloured the dyeline print  and taped the three sections together.  It has spent most of the last 35 - 40 years folded up which is why it hasn't faded too much.  I got bored with colouring in the hills and mountains within Scotland which is why the detailing stops at the line of the Firths of Clyde and Forth.  Most of the rest of the map would have been brown and for the solo campaign I don't need that level of detail anyway.

Dyeline was a system used before digital printing to copy and print large plans. Because it pre-dates digital imaging technology there is no electronic back up copy. which has always worried me.  I really should get a back up although who would need it is beyond me.

The entire master multiplayer version of the map

I'm quite proud of it to be honest.  I was a geology student and then worked for a very short time in a County Council road planning department and was taught a bit about drawing up plans which helped a lot with this.  It's the only evidence I have of my abilities as a map maker from before the computerisation of imaging and storage.

The South Eastern part in detail

The South West part in more detail

Southern Scotland & Northern England

The bit of the map showing Northern Scotland doesn't seem to want to load at the moment.  I will try again later.

Be safe and take care of yourselves

The Dark Ages Campaign - some background

I’m pretty sure the campaign will make more sense if you have some idea of the various locations.  The original map was drawn in the 1970s using the Ordnance Survey historical maps of Britain as a basis.  The map for the multiplayer campaign has settlements, roads, religious sites and centres of royal power.  It also has the physical geography the forests, hills and mountains.  I added some sea routes from off map to some of the coastal provinces and chances of ships being lost sailing those routes.

In the multiplayer campaign leaders were to have political ability/reputation points which would impact on the allegiance of the game provinces.  This meant control of provinces wasn’t just about military control and it would have required the players to allocate points to spread their influence both at home and in neighbouring nations to ensure stability at home or disunity abroad. In the solo games that doesn’t come into play and so only military control is important so the map simply shows the connections between the provinces. The combats are from connected province to province with the winner taking, or keeping, the province.

The sharp eyed will have noticed two provinces in central England without names.  There is an error in this copy of the map as the area is actually one province - Tomsaetan which is an arable area.  The boundaries are also incorrect.  the southern half of the two unnamed provinces are parts of Hwicce and Hendrica, the northern is Tomsaetan.  I will update the thumbnail in due course. The white sets of islands  (Manu and Dolman) are unallocated to players as they played little part in mainland affairs other than as bases for Norse viking raiders.

At the start of the campaign each of the Welsh provinces (Pouis, Guinned, Seisyllwch, Devet, Brecheniaug, Morgannwg and Gwent) along with Dumnonia are all independent native Welsh princedoms.

Cant and East Seaxe are Mercian sub-kingdoms but were claiming independence from Mercia.  The Kingdom of The East Angles (North Foulk and South Foulk) is a larger Mercian client kingdom now also claiming independence.

Wessex (Defnas, Sumersaete, Dorsaete, Wilsaeten, Hampton Scir and Bearruc Scir) is an independent nation previously under Mercian influence.

Northumbria (Lothene, Berneich, Dere, and Amonderness) is more difficult to model as it was actually undergoing an internal dispute over the Royal succession at the start of the game.  The two Cumbres are disputed lands probably within Strathclyde Welsh influence if not out right control historically, but also claimed by Northumbria.  Betwixt Ribble and Mersey is shown on the map as under Mercian control but is a Northumbrian province supporting the deposed king Oswald and is outside of Northumbrian control for the moment.  Elmete could be Northumbrian or Mercian land.  In the original campaign it would have been disputed land with both kingdoms having the same influence levels there.  In the solo campaign I have allocated it to Mercia but have special rules ready in case Northumbria makes a grab for it.

The rest of England is the kingdom of Mercia.  Still the most powerful of the English kingdoms but about to enter a period of weaker and less able Kings.  It’s geographical position is both a strength and a weakness.  It is surrounded by potential enemies, but has good internal lines of communication and large military reserves.  The rule limiting where troops will serve is as much to prevent Mercia steam rollering it’s enemies into submission as it is a reflection of the true historical limits on raising armies.

In Scotland there are also problems in modelling the political and military realities of the late 8th century. Historically it was on the verge of unification under a single King (which was complete by 845 AD).  The three playable states Strathclyde, Pictia and  Dalraitia  were more akin to different branches of a single Royal household each disputing which represents the line of the High King and which are Sub-kings.  The Picts seem to have used a strange system of succession with Kingship passing to male heirs but down the female line so that nephews succeeded uncles rather than Sons succeeding Fathers.  This wasn’t entirely sorted out until very late in the Viking age, much of the later disputes about which was the legitimate Royal house stem from this period having created two competing lines.

Starthclyde (Rheged, Start Clut and Galloway) is a Welsh state formed from the rump of a sub-Roman kingdom.  Originally it stretched from the Mersey all the way to the Clyde along the western side of the Pennines.  By the start of the game its centres of power lie along the Clyde valley.  Dal Raitia (or Dal Raidia) (Baetain, Comgail and Ile)is a Scots-Irish kingdom  with dynastic connections to the the North-East of Ireland.  The rest of mainland scotland is Pictish.  As far as I know the Picts were a Proto-Celtic people, not of the same ethnicity as the Britons who occupied Modern England.  They expanded into the highlands of Scotland from the far North West to fill the void left after the defeat of the Caledonians by Rome, probably acting as a ruling elite over the remnants of the Caledonians.

This leaves one small province, Orcades, which is subject to loose Norse control at the start of the game.  It essentially gives a toe hold on the game map to allow a base of operations for the Norse vikings.  Vikings operate in a different way to all of the other states.  Initially they have to raid and use the loot to 'hire' more troops once they have enough manpower they can create the Great Heathen Army and invade and settle.  At that point they raise troops like everyone else, or at least thats the theory.

So now you have some idea of the geography and the political entities.  Onwards to 798 AD where the Strathclyde Welsh attack Pictia.

The Dark Ages Campaign - 797AD

The Borderlands of Dumnonia 797AD

Dumonia (reduced to roughly modern Cornwall by the late 8th Century) a rump Brythonic Celtic realm has suffered over the last century.  They have been steadily pushed back losing ground to the West Saxons, seeing Somersaetan and Dorsaet falling to them.   King Hernam has decided to attempt to block further expansion and perhaps regain some ground by attacking Defnas (modern Devon).  Although Defnas was loosely ruled by Wessex  in the late 8th Century, it would be something like 30 years before they had complete control of the area and some kind of hold over Dumnonia.  Because of this the men of Defnas although drawn from the middle Anglo-Saxon list count as allied to Wessex and are being led by the Ealdorman of Dorsaete with his Hearth troops and Select Fyrd in tow.  I'm stealing the rule from DBM/DBMM for the possibility of unreliable allies to use in the campaign.

Gathering the men of Kernow to his banner Hernam crosses the Tamar.  He has a reasonable force at his disposal consisting of:

1 x General's Teula - 3Wb
7 x warriors - 3Wb
1 x light Infantry - Ps

Facing him are the Fyrds of Defnas and Dorsaete

Dorsaete
1 x general's Hird - 4Bd
1 x Hird - 4Bd
3 x Select fyrd -Sp
1 x Youths - Ps
Defnas
1 x Hird 4Bd (Ealderman od Defnas)
3 x Select Fyrd - Sp
1 x General Fyrd - 7Hd
1 x Youths - Ps

As a house rule the two county's fyrds must be treated as two seperate forces but with a single pip roll between them (as the combined force is only 11 elements).

I drew the men of Kernow as the player army with the Anglo-Saxons run using the solo DBA rules.  I decided that I needed to try to deal with the Dorsaetan Fyrd first and hope that a combination of difficult terrain and warbands rapid movement would allow me to rush forwards and engage before the Defnas Fyrd could roll up my line.  I stacked my line two elements deep to gain the rear support factor.  This narrowed my front but warband are resilient little devils and I might get away with it.  The Anglo-Saxon default was for defensive tactics, so I hoped that they would let me have freedom to determine how the action developed.

The terrain selected was a river, a road, two enclosures and a village.  The river was across the frontage of the Dumnonians with the road running between the two deployment zones.  The largest set of enclosures lay to the left front of the Anglo Saxons.  The remaining terrain wasn't going to have much effect as it lay out on the left and right edges of the the battlefield.

The Dumnonians started by pushing forward across the river aiming for the enclosures to the front of the Dorsaetan Fyrd.  With only 1 pip available there wasn't much else they could do.  The Anglo-Saxons rolled well getting aggressive for the turns tactical stance and 4 pips, meaning the men of Defnas would fight.  They push forwards towards the edge of the enclosures.

I continued pushing forwards until I came to contact as you can see in the photo below.  The Anglo-Saxons are hampered by poor throws on tactical stance and pips so they struggle to get their right flank into action.

The Warbands storm forward through the enclosures 

The fighting in and around the enclosures see-saws back and forth until the Dumnonians manage to quick kill a select Fyrd element.  The Wessex lines bend but they hold.  While this is going on the flanking move has been stalled from a lack of pips, but that couldn't last so the Dumnonians disengage to tempt the English to push into the enclosures where they will be fighting at a distinct disadvantage

The fight for the enclosures from the West Saxon side

Next turn the Saxons kill the Dumnonian light infantry and with good dice get aggressive tactics and high pips.  Despite seeing the risk the men of Kernow cannot deploy enough troops to fully cover the attack and the West Saxons of Dorsaete slam into the end of the Dumnonian line which is engaged against the Fyrdmen of Defnas.  In the ensuing combats they loose 2 warband elements which is enough to break the army.

The men of Wessex spring the trap and the flank attack goes in

The Dumnonian line breaks and the survivors flee back towards the Tamar and home.

Defeated warbands stream to the rear in panic

Gwent, South Wales 797 AD
Historically Morgannwg was connected to Gwent through dynastic marriages and the two regions were often under the control of one ruler.  In reality the region I called Morgannwg would be better termed Glwysing with Morgannwg being used when the region is merged with Gwent.

Morgannwg's ruler is nervous as alone he will struggle to resist pressure from his larger neighbours.  His advisors suggest, a 'union' with Gwent to the east.  Gwent is a smaller region and unable to defend itself so someone would be bound to attempt to help themselves to the spoils before long.  Why not Morgannwg and why not now?  So in the spring of 797 AD the Lord of Morgannwg called out his fighting men and headed east along the coast.

Morgannwg's Host consists of the Lord Prince himself - General (3Wb) 5 x 3Wb, and 1 x Psiloi.

Gwent can only muster the Teula of King Athrwys ap Ffernael- General (3Wb), 1 x 3Wb and 1 x Psiloi.  This should be a push over.  I diced to see which side I would control and got the short straw; Gwent.

Gwent's terrain type is littoral so a waterway is mandatory.  I also took a river, a wood and a marsh.  I elected to fight on the smallest board area and to have the waterway narrow the board by 3 base widths.  With only three elements I needed to narrow the frontage I would be attacked across and have a linear obstacle to defend.  I placed the river down the centre of the board hoping it would be across my frontage.  The woods went on the far side from the waterway as did the marsh but in two different quarters of the board.  The dice for choice of side was kind and I had the water way covering my left flank and the woods my right.  Using the Solo DBA amendments Morgannwg rolled an overall tactical stance of 'Normal' meaning no adjustments to the tactical stance check each turn.

Long story short for the first three moves the invaders threw low for tactical style getting defensive and also threw low for pips.  So they moved forwards piecemeal and couldn't attack.  That allowed me to get in place on the river bank. I took the decision to deploy in a single line hoping the river would aid my defense.

The enemy Psiloi reach the river.  Their warband is slow to advance (low pips)  

My Light Infantry face off  against their opposite numbers. 

Light Infantry destroyed my Warband steps up to the river

On turn four the enemy Psiloi attempted to cross the river and dicing for it's effect rolled a 5 making it difficult terrain and adding plus one for defending the river bank.  So far so good.  There was a chance, albeit a slim one, of defending the rich and fertile lands of Gwent, well not that rich and not that fertile,  otherwise I would have had more than a measly three elements to defend hearth and home with!  The enemy psiloi double the brave men of Gwent and clear the bank forcing a crossing. In the centre the warbands attacking me are stacked up two deep to get the rear support bonus, but my position defending the river bank off sets that.  Their attack is repulsed they are forced to recoil.

My warbands retreat to avoid flank attacks

Next turn Morgannwg roll aggressive and have plenty of pips they split their Warbands to try to work around my left flank and push the light infantry forwards along the wood edge. I hang on for a turn but my flanks are being turned. Next turn  I only get 1 pip so I choose to retire and consolidate to avoid being hit in the flanks.  It can't last and despite falling back under pressure and an attempt to take out the enemy light infantry eventually the weight of numbers tell and my commanders warband is destroyed.  That's game over!

The begining of the end.  I risked attacking and failed

I lost this combat and couldn't recoil - scatch one warband.

After the game was over I diced for Arthrwys and he had died with his Teula.  I chose a simple test; roll a d6 when the commanders element is destroyed.  On a 5 or a 6 he is killed.  Brutal but straightforward.  The first nation falls and Gwent is united with Morganwwg.

The chroniclers have two new entries for the year 797 AD

And in this year did Hernam ap Oswalt Lord of Dumnonia come forth from Kernow to dispute with the men of Defnas and Dorseate in battle and though they strove mightily the men of Wessex had the victory.

 and

Athrwys of Gwent was slain in battle with Arthfael of Glwysing and the land passed to him to rule thereafter. 

Onwards to 798 AD.

Dark Ages campaign. Rules and the opening moves 797 - 801AD

Although the game is mostly an excuse to get my 6mm Early Medieval troops into action I needed some basic rules to control which troops would be available for each game.  Fortunately I had already created a troop availability roster for each administrative area that the game map is broken down into.  That is based on the type and number of settlements and the general terrain type in that area.

In common with the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms most nations have a three part division to their military manpower.  First are the personal household troops serving the local leader such as a Viking Jarl or an Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman or even the Royal Household. These are professional fighting men and go where their lord goes.  Then there are the better off landholders such as the Anglo-Saxon Select Fyrd (The term is outdated, but it works for the context of dividing up the game's manpower pool, and service obligations).  Lastly are the ordinary peasantry equal to the Anglo-Saxon General Fyrd.  The Select Fyrd and equivalent will deploy in their own region and surrounding ones (think counties here), the General Fyrd equivalents in their own region, unless joining an army commanded by the King when they will deploy in adjacent regions too.

Lastly an order of activation is needed.  The system is to draw a playing card for each 'nation' and that determines the order in which they take action (for what it's worth cards are valued ace to king with suits ranked as for bridge bidding).  Obviously there is an advantage to activating later as it is clear what the nations who activate earlier have decided to do.  The order of activation can be amended if the current national leader is particularly able or inept.  Once an action has been decided on it must be carried out even if the results of earlier battles are unfavourable.

Each game turn is 5 years long so turn one covers 797 to 801 AD.  Each nation activates once and can decide to attack one or more adjacent regions, but doesn't have to decide which of it's own troops are called out until they actually activate.  Troop losses stay in effect all turn so a nation which lost troops in an earlier combat fights without access to those troops for the rest of the turn.  Come the start of the next turn all troops are available again although lost regions no longer contribute to the manpower pool of the original owner instead being available to the new owner.  There is scope for alliances between groups who share the same heritage as a kind of mutual defence pact.  A conquered region's troops are classed as an ally until the start of the third turn after being conquered when they become normal troops of the new owning power.

Leaders (Kings, Princes etc) may be killed in combat or die of natural causes but I will explain those rules when the need arises.  If I need to deal with any other events I will make up a rules as the situation arises.

Turn one kicked off with a number of acts of aggression (well it wouldn't be much of a wargaming campaign if it didn't).

The activation phase
As the campaign opens there are 16 separate 'nations' in play which will reduce as states cease to exist.  Some are very much stronger than others. The first activation sequence and decisions were as follows:

1. East Anglia - Defend
2. Dal Raidian Scots - Defend.
3. Dumnonia - Attack Defnas (Wessex).
4. Morgannwyg - Attack Gwent.
5. Devet -  Defend.
6. Strathclyde - Attack Menteith (Pictia)
7. Wessex - Attack Hwicce (Mercia)
8. Cant - Defend
9. Essex - Defend
10. Pictia - Attack Comgail (Dal Raidia)
11. Seisssllwch - Attack Devet
12. Pouis - Defend
13. Northumbria - Attack Rheged (Strathclyde)
14. Guinned - Attack Seissllwch
15. Mercia - Attack Cant and attack Essex
16. Danes - Raid Bernicia (Northumbria)

So ten field actions to play out and potentially some Viking raids.  The system means that Guinned may be facing a reduced Seissllwch army if they takes a beating against Devet, or an enhanced army with allies from a defeated Devet if they defeat them.

Overall I'm happy with the system its nowhere near as detailed as the full campaign rules but it will generate battles and has a vaguely historical background to tie everything together.  If it needs tweaking on the fly I doubt my opponents will mind, that's the beauty of a solo campaign

First Sight -Tumbling Dice 1/2400th Ironclads

I received my order of early Ironclads from Tumbling Dice Miniatures yesterday.  I only ordered on Monday so that's a really fast turnaround by anyone's standards.  Packaging was in a padded envelope which is more than adequate for 1/2400th ships as they are not exactly huge!

I spent a couple of hours preparing and assembling them.  Not that they needed a lot of prep work, a few lead strings from ait channels to remove and a tiny bit of flash plus smoothing the base of the huls so the fitted nice and snugly into the bases and that was it. Assembly was limited to supergluing some sails in pace and fitting the hull into the sculpted base, which was a doddle as they fit really well.

Not a great photo but this is the fleet so far.

My order covers the first Ironclad action from the ACW so I have confederate rams Virginia (ex USS Merrimac) with the Texas coming in that pack as well.  Three Monitor class ...er....Monitors so that gives me the USS Monitor (there is a pattern here don't you think), plus some steam screw gunboats and steam harbour tugs.  Then for the Great Pacific War of 1879-80 the four main Peruvian and Chilean Ironclad Frigates.  Last but not least a generic steam screw sloop. 

I have found a couple of tutorials on line for painting these so I will give it a go over the next few days.  As a bonus Mrs E thinks these are 'cute', she normally takes no interest in my gaming purchases whatsoever, so that's a major step forwards.

First go at painting them.  L-R a steam screw gunboat, CSS Virginia and USS Monitor.

I will have a go at the Pacific War ships tomorrow.

Offa was dead to begin with - Mercia 796AD

There are several points where the the development of a single English kingdom could easily have gone a different way.  One of these is the aftermath of the death of Offa the Great,  King of Mercia.  The history of the early England went through a number of stages where different English kingdoms were in the ascendent.  First Northumbria, then Mercia and lastly Wessex whose kings eventually became the first rulers of a unified English or more accurately Anglo-Danish Kingdom.  Although a unified english Kingdom would probably still have arisen it could easily have been under a mercian or Danish royal house and it's borders could have been very different to those that actually developed.

We don't know what Offa looked like, but this is a contemporary coin from his reign

The year 796AD is one of the points where things could have gone onto a different track.  This could have happened for a number of reasons.  Firstly Offa had been the overking of most of the other English Kingdoms and with his death they sought to regain their independence, his death followed in months by the death of his son left a power vacuum.  Secondly the first serious Viking raids had started only three years earlier, lastly it sees the start of the rise of Wessex, but it didn't have to be Wessex.

Here is a point here where the eventual direction of this island hung in the balance.  Would Mercia regain her ascendency, would the Danes conquer the whole of lowland Britain, which kingdom would become the next leader of the English.  If you have been watching the Last Kingdom or have read the Bernard Cornwall books the series is based upon, you will know the general outline of the history from around 865AD to 900AD already.  But, what if Wessex hadn't survived, what if Mercia had regained their position, what about the other English Kingdoms, the Scots, the Welsh, and the Danish and Norwegian Vikings?  What if the early Viking raids hadn't concentrated on Northumbria?


That uncertainty makes 796AD to 1066AD a great period to set a wargame campaign in.  As those who have followed this blog will know I have been interested in the period since long before Bernard Cornwall put pen to paper.  I started a campaign way back in the 1970's but as often happened with these things it stalled.  I could have started in 866AD with the Great Heathen Army, the first substantial Danish army, but the period between 796AD and 866AD has a lot going on outside of England itself, In Scotland the Strathclyde Welsh, the Scots of Dumbarton and the Picts are in an uneasy dynastic dance, with conflict and intermarriage of the royal lines leading to the emergence of the modern kingdom of Scotland by the late 840's.  Wales too was in flux as the various princedoms fought amongst themselves and against the English.  In England the kingdoms of the Heptarchy struggled to fill the gap left by Offa's death, and the Danes throw everything into flux.

The Death of Edmund the Martyr - that's some serious flux that is

In the absence of players to take the part of the other kingdoms (Plus I don't have the time to run a campaign) I have decided to run a solo campaign using DBA3.0 (initially although I am likely to try out some of the other DBA spin offs and ADLG as things develop) but with a different force selection mechanism.  The history will be simplified and the game will be based on a very simple campaign model of moving troops from area to area and fighting a battle where one side invades another's territory.  Basically its an excuse to get my Dark Age toys on the table.  I will leave out the politics, the finances and the personalities which I built into the original campaign rules.

The game starts in the immediate aftermath of the death of Offa and subsequent death of his son.  The initial objectives are:

Mercia has to stabilise it's position and take back control of the subsidiary kingdoms of Cant (Kent) Essex and East Anglia while cowing Northumbria, Wessex and the Welsh.

Cant, The East Saxons and East Anglia need to remain independent and expand

Wessex needs to expand into the South West and weaken Mercia to the north

Northumbria needs to weaken Mercia, and hold off or absorb the Strathclyde Welsh and the Picts south of the Clyde-Forth line.

The Strathclyde Welsh need to take control of Cumbre (modern Cumbria), and at least weaken the Scots and Picts.

The Picts are aiming to become the sole power north or the clyde and Forth line and then expand south.

The Scots just want to survive.

The various Welsh Princedoms all want to be the sole power in Wales but more importantly want to survive, oh and it would be nice to recover some of the lands stolen from them by the English.

Last but not least  the Cornish want to stay independent.

The Vikings don't come into play other than as raiders for some time and are going to be played as a random event until they can muster enough force to launch the Great Heathen Army invasion.

The game's afoot Gentlemen.




   

Random Thoughts #3 - Reading choices during lockdown

Lockdown and a couple of long Bank Holiday weekends has allowed me to catch up on some reading.  It's been a mix of rereading  old favourites and trying out some new material.

I read a lot of science fiction and have done since I was a teenager.  I started out on the books I could find in the local library, children's Science Fiction and once I had read everything the children's section had to offer I moved onto the adult shelves.  Some of the children's science fiction was complete tosh, more fantasy than science others were more rooted in actual physics.  After that I moved onto adult SF with paperback reprints of the greats of the post war science fiction scene Clarke, Heinlein Poul Andersen Asimov and their contemporaries mixed with the newer writers of the late sixties onwards like Larry Niven.

He didn't just write Biggles! (by the way this is tosh!)

That gave me a taste for slightly harder edged SF with at least some connection to actual science although I do like a good page turner in the tradition of 'Space Opera' stories from the golden age.  I am currently working my way through the Expanse series. I have enjoyed the Amazon TV version and as I will probably have to wait another year for the next series thought I should try the books.  They came well recommended and so far they haven't failed to keep me turning pages (well actually scrolling through screens).

Well worth a read especially if you enjoyed the TV version

My other current reading is a new set of rules, well new to me anyway.  'Dahlgren and Columbiad' by David Manley.  These are quick play Naval rules for the Ironclad era 1860 to 1885.  I had been toying with doing ACW ironclads for a while and Jim Jackman's excellent blog 'Jims Wargames Workbench' tipped me over the edge.  His blog can be found here http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/ .

The rules look really easy to use and are simple to read through so I suspect that I will be buying some teeny tiny ironclads from Tumbling Dice in the very near future.

So that's it for this post Remember stay safe and be alert, as the man said ...'We need lerts'

World War One air combat - some reading suggestions

Just a quick post.  Following on from the solo play World War One air game, I should recommend the books which whetted my appetite for the period.  Written by Derek Robinson there are a trilogy of books covering the air war.  These are well worth a read and are available on Kindle.

The books are:

Known as the RFC trilogy they cover the period 1916 - 1918 and feature FE2's, Sopwith Pups, Bristol Fighters and SE5A's.  Robinson has also written aviation stories set in the inter war years and World War 2.

Oh and he wrote the definitive guide to the laws of Rugby Union as well!

Gaming in a time of lockdown #2 - Air Superiority 1918

Preparing for this game has taken a little longer than I expected.  I had to add some stuff to the rules and I still don't have a set of spotting rules I am entirely convinced by.  Then again the point of play testing is to settle on the rules that work and are fun to play.

New rules include acceleration and deceleration rates in level flight which vary from aeroplane to aeroplane very slightly and a set of workable kinetic energy rules (at least I think they are workable).  I need to create some kind of height dials for my flight stands so for now the data on the flight charts will have to do.  I have reworked the flight charts by adapting the chart from Richtofen's War.  This was done as that system doesn't require a generic card for each and every aeroplane type.  Which is a relief as I now have a start on the basic game data for almost 100 operational types that flew over the Western Front.

As previously mentioned the point of this game is to try out special manoeuvre rules to allow some basic fighter tactics to be used.  The combatants are a pair of SE5As of the Royal Flying Corps on one side and for the Luftstreikrafte a selection chosen from an Albatros DVa a Fokker DVII and Halberstadt and Rumpler C class two seaters.  The dogfight should involve more than the turning fight typical of 1916 and early 1917, or at least that is the plan.  The toys are from Irregular Miniatures (the SE5As and Fokker DVII) and Heroics & Ros for the remaining German types.  Transfers of German crosses and RFC roundels are  I-94.  The lozenge camouflage and ID letters and numbers I made myself.

The potential participants.  Not much difference between the Irregular Minis and the H&R ones once painted

In the above photo we have a Rumpler CV with the green and brown camouflage flanked by a Halberstadt CLII to the left and a Fokker DVII to the right.  Behind that is an Albatros DVa (Orange and white) flanked by two SE5As.

The table is blank with no ground clutter to worry about and although I have plans for introducing rules about cloud cover, for this game it is clear blue skies.

My original plan was to have both sides enter from opposite sides of the table.  That has changed as when the lockdown started I read an article in Miniature Wargames no 373 by Martin England on solo gaming using a threat generation system.  This seems to be something that could work for solo air combat games as it builds in some fog of war, variable entry and direction and some vague spotting rules via the back door, as in if the enemy appear close by  it's assumed you had failed to spot them.  For game purposes I am playing a when they appear you have spotted them rule for my aeroplanes.  Crude but workable for solo games.  Martin's system was designed for land warfare but the basic ideas could be (and were) adapted.

The threat generation system
Before the game starts draw up a chart of ten potential encounters Using playing cards you could expand that but ten seems a nice round number the worked example assumes a pack of ten potential encounters hence using 10 cards for the initial pack, one per possible sighting.   Remember that these could be triggered on consecutive turns so tailor the number of enemy aircraft produced on each sighting accordingly.  My list for this game is:

1. Two scouts
2. Two scouts
3. One scout
4. Single two seater and two scouts
5. Two two seaters
6. Two two seaters
7. One two seater and one scout
8. One two seater and one scout
9. One two seater
10. One scout

Next take a pack of playing cards and select ten cards from one suit, Ace to 10 (if you use more or less encounters in your list increase/reduce the number of cards). Without seeing the face of the cards shuffle them and select two cards at random for each aircraft you are going to use on the player side and discard the rest.

Now from a different suit add the same number of cards  as you have been left with for actual encounters (I suggest using red for live units and black for the extra cards representing dummy sightings).  These extra cards will be dummy sightings where no enemy appears on the table.

Shuffle the cards and discard 1/3 at random still sight unseen (rounding down if necessary).  Lastly add 2 cards from the dummy sighting suit for each aircraft you are using on the player side, shuffle again and place face down to the side of the playing area.  This means most turns will generate a 'dummy' sighting.

If I have done my maths correctly for two player aircraft this should give me between one and three actual encounter cards At worst if they drop consecutively and the worst options come up I could face 6 scouts and a two seater almost simultaneously  At best a single two seater all on it's lonesome.  That seems like a reasonable mix and the worst case is pretty unlikely to happen

At the start of each enemy turn, turn over the top card and if it is a sighting check the encounter table.  Discard that drawn card it has done it's job.  Once all the possible live encounter cards have been turned then the game continues until one side has driven the other off the table or shot them down.

Of course you will also need to determine the speed, direction, distance and altitude of the threat.

For speed I assume that enemy aircraft are flying at cruising speed  Under my rules I set this as maximum speed less 3 movement points subject to always being at least  one above stall speed.

Direction uses the tool below to decide where the enemy are (using the nose of the lead player aircraft as the starting point.) The arrow on the tool is pointed in the direction the lead player aircraft is facing..  Throw 2D6 and that is the direction the enemy are spotted in.  The numbers create a bias towards creating threats ahead rather than behind.  Mine was drawn using MS Paint and glued to a passing 8cm x 8cm  2mm MDF base I bought for DBA camps.  The player leading aircraft is regarded as located at the centre of the tool when checking direction and distance of the enemy.

The threat direction gadget- this is 6cm square for my 1/300th planes

To determine distance throw 4D6 this is the number of movement units they are away.  In my rules the aircraft are mounted on hexagons and all movement is measured as the distance across a hex flat to flat.  Aircraft carry their hex around with them as a base, if that makes sense, all other hexes are measured relative to that.  So one movement unit is one hex width. You can adapt this to your own game rules and change the distance max and mins accordingly) 

For direction of travel use the direction tool again place the centre on the enemy location and point the arrow towards the player's nearest aircraft.  Throw 2D6 and you have the opening direction of flight.

For altitude we don't want them too far above or below as the whole point is to fight the random enemy!  I set three possible positions:

Above - a band 2,500 feet high above the top of the level band
Level - a band 1,000 feet above and below the current altitude of your aircraft.
Below - a band 2,500 feet below the bottom of the level band.

So if your aircraft are at 5,000 feet, 'level' is from 6,000 to 4,000 feet, 'above' is from 6,001 to 8,500 feet and 'below' is from 3,999 to 1,500 feet.  I have decided that entry heights will be capped at d at is 20,000 feet and the lowest is 1,000 feet.  This is for playability purposes.  I simply dice for the height band then the actual height within those altitude bands is further selected at random using  height divisions based upon your rule set of choice, mine are 50 feet, not that it matters.

Once placed on the table and the initial position, height and flight path has been set then play the enemy to your best  ability.  Remembering that two seaters will attempt to escape as they have a mission to complete while scouts will attack if they can and if not will attempt to gain a good attacking position.  I have some ideas about an AI combat system but more on that in another post.

The game.
I'm going to steal a good idea from the Jolly Broom Man's blog and put game mechanism explanations in red so you can spot when I break off from the game narrative.

The two SE5As (A and B but Algy and Bertie sound so much more personal) enter at 6,000 feet in echelon formation with Algy leading.  They are both standard pilots so have a resolution of 10 each .  [Pilot resolution is reduced as hits are taken.  Hits don't do damage to the aircraft which are mostly a lot of nothing wrapped in canvas, but they can trigger a damage check]. They fly straight and level this turn cruising at  8MP (about 160 KPH/100MPH).  On the enemy turn a card is drawn.......it's a dummy sighting, let's put it down to a flock of birds or caster oil smears on the googles.

Algy and Bertie continue on their merry way.  The next card is now drawn.  Its.....another blank, the boys are starting to get a bit jumpy.  This time our intrepid aviators make a turn to starboard (right)  (it's ingrained not to fly straight and level in the combat zone).  Next card.........another blank.  Algy signals Bertie and they start a steady climb gaining  150 feet to place them at 6,150 feet.  Next card .....Tally Ho!

A six of hearts gives a pair of two seaters with no escorting scouts in view.  Direction check next which rolls a 5 on 2D6 so the enemy are at the 3 o'clock position of Algy but passing towards the rear of the SE5As (an 8 on 2D6).  Speed is 5MP and height is in the level band but slightly above  at 6,600 feet [I used an online randon number generator for calculating the exact height within the 'level' band] and 17 MPs (1020 metres or just over half a mile) away.  The two seaters are cruising and don't appear to have seen the British scouts.  [We could have worked all this out before putting toys on the table and used the threat generator to simply create the opening positions].

Algy signals an attack and opens up the throttle to 10MP while starting a climb towards the enemy.  His intention is to achieve a lead pursuit position (with his nose ahead of the enemy aiming for where it will be when he reaches firing range.  This also creates a situation where he should be in the blind spot of the German two seaters as he climbs. He ends the turn at 6,300 feet [gains 150 by climbing but no hard turns which would loose 50 feet for a second hex side turned in the same hex] still two turns of hard climbing away from interception.  The next card is another blank so the stalking continues. The German pilots fail their spotting test and continue heading for home. The SE5As continue to climb while turning into the two seaters predicted path.  An attack from below and behind should have the least risk for them.

Turn three and another dummy card is turned however this turn with the SE's closing the German's spot the threat.  They go into a shallow dive and turn into their attackers.  This is probably not a good time for the RFC chaps to realise that the Halberstadt CLII is classed as an escort fighter and ground attack plane so is a bit handier in a scrap than most German two seaters.  It can turn with the SE's out climbs them but isn't as fast and can't out dive them.  Oh and it has a nasty sting in the tail. There is only a 200 foot height difference now and both Germans open fire (I have added a 3D range chart so targets above or below can be fired on, if the shooting aircraft is able to bring guns to bear).  The Rumpler scores hits on Bertie but doesn't do any serious damage (hits reduce the pilot's resolution, a second check might create critical hits and actual damage).  Bertie fires a long burst (double ammo used and a +1 to hit coupled with a slight chance of jamming the guns) and sees bullets striking the Halberstadt but no apparent damage.  Bertie flies past the enemy and then carries out a rolling reversal (a half loop and roll out) to get onto the tail of the Halberstadt, sheer luck ends the move with him behind and below it, safe in it's blind spot under the tail.  Algy is still trying to line up a decent shot but without success.

Bertie goes head to head with the Halberstadt before his rolling reversal

The next turn starts and the card turned brings a third German into play.  It's the Albatros DVa off at Algie's 5 o'clock but some distance away and up at 8,750 feet, the scrap is almost 2,000 feet below so it will be a turn or more before the scout can interfere.  The Albatros drops it's nose and enters a steep dive loosing 650 feet but picking up 2 movement points of kinetic energy as it drops taking its actual airspeed up to 8 MP (160 kph).   The 2 seaters do what two seaters do and start to circle trying to keep rear guns on the British scouts.  They both fire on Algy who takes control damage from the Halberstadt, he can't turn to the right anymore.

The DVa continues to dive and is closing in on the actioon

We are now starting the fifth turn since the two seaters appeared that's 50 seconds of combat so far.  The two seaters are still turning and the SE's have been suckered into playing the German's game rather than using boom and zoom tactics.  The Albatros continues to dive hard coming down to 7,300 feet and closing the range on Bertie he opens up.  It's at at long range but with twin Spandaus up front and a good di roll scores a critical hit damaging Bertie's engine.  That SE can't make full power anymore (probably blown a cylinder) and has top power reduced by 2MP.  Even worse follows and the rumpler's rear gunner scores a critical hit on Algy......he's a flamer.  Engine blazing and taking 2 damage and 2 resolution hits a turn unless he can extinguish the fire. (Putting the aeroplane into a steep dive might do that but it needs a 6 if in a steep dive and a 5 or a 6 in a power dive).  Algy puts the nose down and enters a steep dive.  Bertie also breaks off and follows his leader.

The Albatros tries to follow Bertie but he can't dive like an SE and in trying he exceeds his safe dive speed and has to test for structural damage.  There is a nasty cracking noise and he takes two points of damage.  Bertie is pulling away and there seems to be no point in chasing him and risking the wings coming off.  (The steep dive added more kinetic energy adding another 2 MP taking the albatros one over safe diving speed.  on a roll of six his wings would have folded and as a fragile plane he adds one to the dice giving a 33% chance of that fate, not a chance worth taking). I called the game at this point and for completeness continued to check the fire on Algy's SE.  Sad to say there was an empty seat at dinner in the mess that evening.  Algy didn't extinguish the flames and his SE broke up at 500 feet.  Whether he had continued to attempt to blow the flames out or had taken the 'easy' way out, courtesy of Messrs Webley, to avoid burning to death we shall never know.

The last sight of poor Algy, desperately trying to control the flames by diving.

We should always remember, especially on VE day, that we make a game of something horrendous.  The things we recreate on a safe tabletop, real people actually did.  Where we roll a dice and make a note on a piece of paper or change a marker, in reality there was pain and death and suffering.  Let us never forget.  For our today they gave their tomorrow.

Stay safe everyone.