October Digest #1

World of Warships

After grinding my five missions for the GQ Johnny tokens today (1 October), I decided to treat myself and took out Lushun as it's returning to the game in the next dockyard event as Lushun B. Earned her in a 2023 dockyard event. Thirty-five phases in total. Once earned however she became a port princess given my focus was on other priorities at the time. But figured it was time to "take her out for a spin..." 

Recall watching a Trenlass video from around the time of her release where he played her. All I remember of that memory was a game filled with lots of Lushun firestarter moments where Trenlass played brilliantly from behind cover and he did well to hold a flank in her. Her deepwater torps are deterrents to heavier vessels although playing her as front-line might require caution given her combined strengths (hydro, 360 turrent rotation, good concealment) and weaknesses (no smoke, slow speed, slower torp reload) might find better utilisation on a flank, farming from cover, or dealing to capping enemy DDs. 

Ran her in a couple of game with Sa Zhenbing at the helm in Co-Op then restored her assigned captain for one final game. Performed to expectation. Took on a Marceau and before that a Kleber (admittedly it's Co-Op) and Lushun more than held her own despite having no smoke. Reminded me so much of Groningen with its MG-like rate of fire. 

And her deepwater torps in double quadruple tubes at 11km present a decent defensive wall against aggressive cruisers or battleships. But its her stealth and gunboat build that marks her for notice.

Keen to see what are the new coal ships. I heard Defence is returning - have it from last year. What are the others however does not interest me at the moment. 

Noticed the new devblog site upgrade. Same old same old content however. New ships released with Update 14.9. Yawn....!

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Was going to skip this Update's Dockyard event but remembered my ultimate goal so participated. Paid for five phases (bare minimum to finish this dockyard event: up three from previous dockyard events). Also forty five phases - much longer than the previous (Laffey) by far. 

Finished the first mission six tasks by playing Karl XIV Johan in Asymmetric. The last mission task (earn 900 ribbons) needed to be done using a destroyer. Thus I took out Groningen because it's good for earning loads of ribbons. Five quick games later and I was done.

This latest Event Pass (German Reunification themed) offers nothing of value as I already have the Prinz E. Friedrich, the halfway reward. No end of event reward ship which is disappointing. One of the 'new' releases would have made a fine reward incentive.

Liberty Harbour event starts 9 October (next Thursday local time). 

Despite the fun of Asymmetric, I have decided this will be my final year playing World of Warships in my current commitment (playing daily). Once I reached 700 ships, I'm done committing to playing every day for several hours. Not the sort of retirement I had envisaged. 

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Mixed day of wins and losses in Karl XIV Johan in Asymmetric. Not too bothered by the outcome however. Still stand by my faith in the Pan-European vessel although I am fully aware of her weaknesses. But maximising her strengths and playing smart even with her weaknesses (AP not that great) can extend ones survivability that little bit longer.

Making full use of island cover to screen yourself from being focus fired upon is essential and helps prolong your survivability. Too often when hammered to death, I was caught out in the open and often presented my broadside making it easy for the accurate enemy fire to score successes. And make no mistake, the bots aim is better in Asymmetric. Couple of times I was killed off by accurate enemy fire before I could sneeze Dixie.

Also remain aware to guard your base. Lost a couple of winning games because our team forgot the enemy were capping our base. 

Play the objectives whatever they be. If you're on a flank and a cap is there for the taking and you're the only one left, take it. Unless urgency requires you elsewhere, take the time to cap.  

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Perseverance pays off. Enjoyed a special moment today (Sat 6 Oct) - a 10-ship-kill game in Asymmetric. 

Had help from my teammates for the most part. And many kills were just me finishing off the severely wounded. But once I was all alone, I remembered to play the objectives and capped twice to help the cause. Ignored the remaining two enemy ships. The enemy managed to cap one back but by then the timer had run out with us as victors. Play the objective.

Not long after, I enjoyed a really good seven-ship-kill game. Again, co-operation is the name of the game. Had great help from a Moskva. Together we took care of our flank, capped it, then moved to the others. Three enemy battleships left - V. Veneto, Richelieu, North Carolina. While the Moskva provided fire support from cover, I raced out into the combat arena, sailing directly for our foe. Loosed off torps on all three to close out the game. 

As a result of this session, I was finally able to upskill the Pan-European Unique commander Swirski to 21-points. 

Perhaps buoyed by this good mood from this session, I've decided to switch Lisboa back to his assigned ship, Libertad, and have him grind from 20-point to 21-point in Asymmetric. 

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Stardew Valley

Currently seeking Perfection for my third character. Finished my second one a few days back. I have several active because I wanted to hook up with every available single female character. Of those, ditzy Hayley is my personal favourite. Yep, I have a thing for blondes. 

Just completing the tasks for the Walnut Room (Mr Qi) so I can earn the necessary Qi tokens to purchase several crafting recipes and finish off the crafting achievement. Just that and the good neighbour achievement are the main achievements left to complete. Everything else is done. As stated, catching the Legendary fish can be done in one day using magic bait with max fishing buff. Having mastered fishing helps too cos you earn the Advanced Iridium Rod as a bonus. 

Once I've completed the Perfection for this third character I will take a break before completing the remaining active characters at my leisure. 

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Other PC games

Steam's Autumn Sale is currently active.. Looking for a new game to take over once I'm done with WOWS. Seen a few YT recommendations. Am interested in a couple already but happy to cast my eye further afield. No firm decision yet made however. Maybe none will be acquired. No rush anyway.

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September Digest #3

English Civil War

Resumed work on the Royalist cavalry after a very long and extended break. Decided to change my current listing to make all units conform to a similar size. The exception being the personal bodyguards of the main players - King Charles I, Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice. My miscalculation when initially drafting up the order has forced this change. 

Currently working on the King's Lifeguards (red uniforms), the two Prince's Horse regiments (blue uniforms), and the Northern Horse. Tweaking the numbers might generate another Horse unit but that's purely speculation at this stage. 

Pics to follow on painting progress. Cheers.

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World of Warships

Asymmetric Battle mode tends to wake me up from the normal zombie grind. 

Karl XIV Johan is my go-to ship at the moment. Potent long-range torps (13.5 km, quadruples each side). Decent secondaries. Quick reload. Quite effective in the developing strategy I am finding with this mode: once you weather the initial assault by the bots on your flank, then you can take the game to the opposition as a decent brawler. 

Today, in my one-and-only match I spawned with a Salem on north flank. We faced off against an enemy DD (Shiratsuyu)), two cruisers (Deustchland and Baltimore), and two battleships (V. Veneto and Bismarck). We survived the inital assault, persevered and took care of the cruisers then the battleships. Lost the Salem but cleared the cap then captured it. 

Got assistance taking out the surviving loitering DD from the friendly Goliath capping the centre. By then, there was just myself and the Goliath. We survived the onslaught from the remaining two battleships (Monarch) and hybrid carrier/battleship (Nebraska). Eventually won out because we had the two caps while the enemy had none. 

I place heavy reliance on the torpedoes with this battleship as its AP is fairly lightweight compared to a Pommern or Libertad. Managing however to play a balanced game using both assets carefully. Most times it works, especially you and your teammates are on the same page and cooperate. Other times, it doesn't work. 

The battle mode remains popular especially with those playing battleships. On the Asia server, at least fifty-plus battleships queue up to play.

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All good things come to an end eventually. The advent of missiles into WOWS, as outlined in the latest devblog, signals the end for me with this six-year journey. I can easily play Command Modern Operations because at least it covers the broad spectrum of modern warfare a lot better than WOWS. And it is more playable without having to cost more for each new advent. 

There is also the return to tabletop wargaming and model hobby where too many incomplete projects remain. And demand attention. 

So the remaining months of this year should prove interesting only from the POV I remain focussed on my seven hundred ship goal. I have thirty-two ships left to go. Can I do it? Not sure is my initial response but anything can happen between now and then.

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Still stand by using Karl XIV Johan exclusively in Asymmetric battle mode. Used it yesterday and today. Did as expected which means its survivability rating remains good/better than good. 

Latest news from the devblogs is that missile ships will be happening. Haven't bothered to read it through properly, relying on comments from favourite YT streamers regarding the matter. Some say as early as Update 14.10 (November). Others say we are moving into the Cold War era of WOWS ship combat. 

There was also forewarning of this eventuality with the last Star Trek event. So it shouldn't come as a surprise despite the usual protests and complaints. Speculation is rife but I'm not interested. I

However, it's becoming more and more clear that this will be my last "full on/daily grind" year of playing. Six years is long enough to devote to one game. And my attention is constantly wandering even when playing the game. 

Playing Groningen is valued because it's such a consistent ribbon earner. A high ribbon earner. Whenever the mission task requires earning several hundred ribbons, the Dutch farmer often shows up. Average is several hundreds.  

Guilio Cesare is an absolute beast in Tier V, and it rules as far as battleships are concerned at its tier level. Cruisers are practically dead whenever this Italian monster sets its guns on them. One shot kills are common: from full health to dead in the water. 

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Weekend grind in Asymmetric. First game was a win. Accidentally logged into the game with Almirante Grau, Tier VIII Pan-American premium cruiser. Lower-tiered opponents, mostly destroyers (over half the opponents). Before I realised it, I was one of the last two but couldn't survive being blatted by one of two battleships. Fortunately our surviving teammate was in a CV and he won the game.  Second game was a defeat however.

After that loss, I decided to switch to my usual go-to Karl XIV Johan in order to earn the remaining GQ tokens (play five games). And that's how each day pans out at the moment. 

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Stardew Valley

Perfection achievement is straightforward and easy to obtain if you plan it right. 

(1) Monster Hero achievement and Pepper Rexes. The wiki states these creatures spawn after Level 7 in the Skull Cavern. But when is part of the discovering. Simply move through each floor until you hit the floor with the Pepper Rexes. Once you deal with those there, immediately leave the mine, then turn around and return the same floor and repeat the process. It pays to have plenty of stairs. 

If you don't have enough stones to begin with, build a load of crystalariums and produce plenty of jade. On the 28th day of each season, visit the Desert trader with your hoard of jade exchanging them for stairs. Problem solved. 

(2) Crafting achievement. Probably takes longest (along with the Friendship one) because crafting recipes show up gradually and commensurate with your progress through the game. Make sure to check out all the crafting recipes sources - Walnut Room, Island Trader, Pierre's store, Robin's Carpentry shop, Wally's Fish Shop. 

Don't forget the Racoon family (newly added with last update) who have to offer a couple of crafting recipes. They sell Fairy Dust which comes in handy because the dust instantly produces the produce from any crafting item (preserve jars, dehydrators and others). 

(3) Master Angler. Easier than anticipated. Work your way quickly through the fishing rods to become more proficient.

For the Legendary Fishes make sure to have plenty of Seafood Pudding (+4 buff to fishing). Need the Advanced Iridium Rod because it has three slots - one for the Trap bobber (slows down fish fight) and one the Sonar bobber (IDs fish). And I prefer using the Magic bait (third slot) which enables out of season fishing. If Legendary fish are all that's left to go, you can obtain all in one fishing session using Magic bait. 

One of the Stardrops is earned once you reach the Master Angler status. 

(4). Increasing yield (gold). Starfruit wine cycled through a cask is easily the best and most expensive yielding produce. Truffle oil is also a high yield earner along while any Sweet Gem Berry fruit brings in gold. Once you unlock Ginger Island you can farm large crops of pineapple which you put through a dehydrator and sell off to earn more gold. 

The clock costs ten million gold and worth the investment if you don't want degradation and constant replacement of such items as fences. 

Just get the essentials. No more. 

Example: you need two Radioactive bars for two crafting items - Heavy Tapper and Hopper (both recipes obtainable from the Qi's Walnut Room on Ginger Island. You also two radioactive ores for Hyper Speed-Gro and Magic Bait (also both recipes from Qi's Walnut Room). Do you need any more then? Not really but it's up to you in the end.  

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Finished grinding to Perfection with my second character, the one who was a mess to begin with. First few days was sorting out the mess and refining the messy setup. 

Currently doing my third character. Only active for six seasons - first two seasons spent sorting out the Community Centre and getting the four candles from Grandpa's ghost by start of the third season. Should be interesting. More advanced than my second character in terms of perfection in less than half the time. 

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September Digest #2

World of Warship

Not going to get Conrad Helfrich: don't have enough festive tokens to get the required collection mosaic tiles. 

Finished the Event Pass and got the Tier VII premium crate reward. Unfortunately I have all the Tier VII premium ships that are currently available so received 12,750,000 credits as compensation. Surprised I didn't get one of the "new" ships WG is continually foisting on us. 

Only bright spot was finally grabbing the coal ship - Tier IX premium Soviet destroyer Neustrashimy. Hence why I finished the Event Pass sooner than expected (grabbing the coal). 

Goal for the remainder of this month is complete the commander upskill grind. Asymmetric battle mode kicking off soon so that should provide some fun. There's also the new German Early Access cruiser line kicking off tomorrow. 

And the penultimate Dockyard Event mission kicks off as well. I could expend doubloons to finish the Dockyard Event and grab Laffey sooner but prefer to wait given there are still several other major events happening between now and Christmas - Liberty Harbour build event, Christmas snowflakes, etc. 

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Got three of the new German cruiser line - Tier VI Deutschland, Tier VII Admiral Scheer, and Tier IX Manteuffel - using German tokens for the first two, and got a lucky break upon spending dubs from the Grand Voyage event to acquire four sequential bundles and scored the latter upon opening.

Just the Tier VIII Knesebeck left to go. Foregoing getting the Tier X Prinz Aldabert; don't have enough dubs so will wait until the entire line goes out of Early Access.

Manteuffel is fun to play. No problems taking on such OP vessels such as Napoli, Schlieffen, Pommern, Los Andes, Ipiranga without fear. With a secondary build, she's almost as potent as Pommern and Schlieffen. Even gun DDs like Marceau wilt under the relentless secondaries. 

Upskilled Charles-Henri Honore to 21 pt today. Also upskilled remaining two Uniques - Pan-American Lisboa to 20-pt level and European Swirski to 19-pt level.

Another Wishing Well event that I'm avoiding. Another pointless and futile attempt to part you with your money (if you're not already wise to it). New overpriced ships that are just not worth the asking price. 

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Thursday saw the release of the last Dockyard Event mission. Wasn't expecting to finish it in one sitting but I did. The various tasks weren't that difficult apart from earning fifty thousand BASE XP. But managed to do so by jumping into Asymmetric. Struggled initially with the skipper grind ships (Poltava, Prinz E. Frederich, etc) as these ships weren't as good as I had hoped. Multiple defeats. But eventually got it right with the selection in the awesome Tier IX premium Karl XIV Johan, the European battleship. Repeatedly performed to expectation and beyond, and often held the flank many times over. Noticed that despite assurances that you will face two tiers lower, there were games when the difference was sometimes three tiers. Subs and carriers showed up too. 

As a result, playing Asymmetric helped getting BASE XP faster. Eventually I finally got the Dockyard Event reward - the Tier X US destroyer Laffey. As a bonus, I also acquired the Tier VIII German Early Access cruiser Knesebeck. This completes the German cruiser Early Access line from Tier VI to IX. The final ship - Prinz Aldabert - is behind a 20,000 dub paywall so will wait till it's released into the tech tree line in a few months. 

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Friday was a quiet day after my marathon all-day all-night session yesterday. Completed the Knesebeck missions for 100 German tokens then logged out. It will be a quiet weekend as well. Maybe time to get back to some tabletop gaming. We shall see. 

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Four new ships - three carriers and one sub - paid for with my wealth of credit accumulated. 

Used the festive tokens for them to buy a few more Finest Hours crates (a la Conrad Helfrich). Regret now getting the explosive effect instead early on instead of focusing on the Finest Hour collection. Would have Helfrich by now. My fault for not paying attention. 

Having fun playing Asymmetric at the moment; nice break from the commander upskill grind. Karl XIV Johan performs well when not yolo-ing. Ideal tactic is to wait for the enemy to come to you, deal to them, then push. Not ideal: pushing aggressively without support. Depends also on your team mates. Playing a battleship usually means pairing with another ship. Use islands when you can. 

Today was supposed to be a quiet grind - a few games, then log out. But it got frustrating because I was distracted a lot from playing by anything outside of the game - dogs barking, tv show, cooking lunch, going to toilet, etc. 

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Weekend quiet as far as WOWS goes. Did the minimum five game grind then logged out.

The coupon event was poorly received with many missing out on this Twitch-initiated event. Not sure who was the target group - old hands or newcomers. Anyway, never bothered. Those fortunate enough, and wise enough to how the event was setup, benefited. The rest merely griped.

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Stardew Valley

Having recently discovered the Perfection Achievement, and completed, I attempted to repeat with another character. Frustrating because I'm not sure what the f**k I was attempting with this character who happens to have survived fifteen seasons (my longest running character). It was not privy to the recent updates (Dec 2024) so I had to grind to get back to Ginger Island and complete the attendant tasks. Sitting at 68% on the Perfection scale.

Play Stardew Valley as a decent break from the daily salt mine WOWS grind.  

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As of September 26 I am currently at 86% according to the Perfection tracker. Took a week and a bit to sort out the mess I had created and get it into a semblance of organised and efficient order. Just needing to complete the Master Angler and Crafting achievements as well as finalise friendships with a few characters before unlocking the boulder behind the train station and I can advance to the top of the mountain.

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September Digest #1

World of Warships

Reading through the devblogs for Updates 14.8 (September) and 14.9 (October) promises more of WG's 10th Anniversary celebrations. Which means more goodies but with the usual conditionals. Because nothing is ever truly free with WG.

Update 14.8 (September)

Kicks off in two weeks time (or thereabouts). New login calendar is nothing much apart from the addition of Festive tokens (at least 2,000) for use with the Battle Performance event. 

Of personal interest will be the reward, the new Japanese cruiser Kushiro, obtainable for 10,000 Festive tokens. Not a difficult ask if I read the devblog properly. As well, keen to grab the Bonus Package for Tier X ships. Unfortunately limited to just one per player. Worth 1,500 Festive tokens. Everything else doesn't interest me apart from maybe grabbing some Supercrates.

New ships being released are only of passing interest. Unless they're free to obtain through play, then I'll either skip or wait until Christmas. 

The Honorable Service reward system offers more freebies although I'm only focused on the sixth year one even though the devblog states if you've qualified for the previous anniversary years (from one to five inclusive) then you're also eligible for those anniversary rewards as well. We shall see although am highly skeptical meanwhile the only reward I expect will be the sixth anniversary year.

Blast From The Past event should be a hoot if I'm game enough while Asymmetric Battles will be fun as per usual. 

Update 14.9 (October)

Liberty Harbour build is the main event planned for this month. You earn resources to build the port. Completion earns you the Tier VIII US premium cruiser Bridgeport. 

Also released will be a couple of new crates - the Liberty Harbour and the Navy 250 premium one. The first contains a couple of collection elements per drop of which you require sixty to complete the collection. Two thirds can be earned through the Liberty Harbour build. 

A few other goodies are tied in with the port construction which shouldn't look too hard if what's read is how I interpret it. 

New ships once again being released during this Update and will be sailing to a port near you (if lucky) - Lanzhou, Nurnberg '44, Roussillon, Bremen, Aki, Hawaii, Surcouf, C. Aguirre, Blyzkawica '52, Deustchland, Sibir, Optio, Kushio. 

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Eventful Friday. Things back to normal (fingers crossed) today (Saturday). Got three new free ships in today's grind. Managed to complete the next mission of the Dockyard Event. Five more phases left to go then it's Laffey time. 

First new ship was a pleasant surprise upon log in. Received the Tier VIII German premium aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, an anniversary gift reward for six years devotion. 

Earned the Tier X Japanese premium cruiser Kushiro after exchanging Festive tokens (having over six hundred ships was a breeze accumulating the necessary 10,000 festive tokens). Ran it a couple of times; it plays pretty tanky for a heavy cruiser. Lots of torps was the surprise for me with quick reload. First time though I ran straight into a trio waiting for me - a Napoli, AL Bismark, and a Pommern upon rounding an island. 

The rest of the Festive tokens were plied into thirty-nine Supercrates which have been generous in terms of resource rewards (loads of economic bonuses, signal flags, coal, elite commander XP and free XP). Also acquired the one Tier X Bonus Package and one This is Fine Explosive effect. 

Still have enough Festive tokens leftover for my Tier VIII, VII, VI and V ships awaiting conversion. Which means still more Supercrates but there's a 130 limit so any excess (already acquired 29) will be spent on Blue and Green economic bonuses. 

The final new ship received today was the Tier VII Italian premium cruiser Optio, the halfway mark reward for the new Event Pass.

Still unable to fully access the entire range of Honorable Service rewards. Am after the other rewards that are associated with the sixth year rewards - 2 week Warships Premium account, 8 Unique EBs (all types), 7 Supercrates, 10x White Permanent camo, a 50% Discount coupon.

Have not tried the Blast from the Past event. Still playing for Festive tokens in Co-Op. Maybe preferring to wait for the return of Asymmetric Battle mode. 

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Decided to forego going for the Dutch Unique commander until I've gotten all the Supercrates I am allowed. Thirty-one left to go. Any leftover tokens can then go towards completing the collection rewarding Conrad. No rush anyway. Expect he will be made available over the next few Update events. 

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Today I tried to grab some more coal in order to buy one more coal ship - Tier IX Russian premium destroyer Neustrashimy. Thought the quickest way would be through supercrates. But not today although I finally got a ship reward through supercrates. Lucky for me it's the one ship I've been gunning for the past few months - Pan-Asian Tier VIII premium cruiser Irian. Plonked one of the Rong brothers (seasoned commander) and will grind him to 21-point.

It was then I realised the new US destroyer line was now out of Early Access. So spent Free XP and credits to acquire the Tier IX Christopher and Tier X Burrows. 

Getting there slowly but surely toward my seven hundred ship tally. At six hundred and fifty eight as of today.

Got the one hundred and fifty supercrates allocated. Now any festive tokens will be directed toward getting the Dutch Unique commander, Conrad Helfrich. Won't complete the collection of course but I hope to get close enough.

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Naval Wargaming 2025

I am going through a tabeltop naval wargaming revival at the moment. For me, I am concentrating on two main rulesets - Stations Manned and Ready II edition 1.1 (2016) and General Quarters III (2011). SMAR II is no longer available; only recently learned they've shut down their operation in July of this year. As for GQ III, they're very much my favourite because everything about it is well set out, researched, and organised.

Currently set up an historical game using SMAR II but paused it because I'm trying to figure out if I can play the opening moves from contact markers for both sides. Or do I deploy one side instead and leave the other hidden. It's a night action so contact markers would make sense for both parties. 

The US force is divided up into two divisions (Red and Blue) and are blockading the Japanese outpost island. The Japanese resupply forces (all destroyers) are hoping to get in close enough to offload the precious supplies and then tackle the Americans with their torpedoes.

This is another night action hence why I went with contact markers instead of actual deployment. My understanding is that actions are limited from contact markers (as shown in the photo above) so I've deployed the Americans prior to their spotting. Which they successfully do revealing one of the two DDs in the Green division. 

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PC Gaming - Stardew Valley

Forgot all about the Perfection Achievement. Currently completing the last of the Monster Eradication achievements - knocking off fifty Pepper Rexes - which should then unlock access to the top of the mountain. 

Problem with eradicating the dinosaurs is the infrequency with which the Prehistoric floor appears, about a 2.2% chance at or below Floor 7 in the Skull Cavern. Not good odds. Given I started playing last night and it's now dawn of a new day, I found the Prehistoric floor only once throughout the night session. The Rexes did appear a couple of times on the other floors outside of the Prehistoric floor. So, yeah, another long grind.  

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Today (Monday) completed the Perfection Achievement. Getting the last Monster Eradication achievement didn't take as long as I thought once I read the requirements properly. Got lucky though when I hit a Prehistoric floor and kept repeating knocking out the Pepper Rexes on that floor until I had to leave (2am shutdown). 

Doing that whittled down my requirement by well over a half so that I only had eleven to go (needed fifty). Unable to access a floor the following two days but the third I got lucky and was able to locate a floor at level forty-six in the Skull Cave. I was able to finish the achievement in one go. Fortunate too as I was low on stone steps. Jumping down holes is not recommended because you may skip the prehistoric floor which manifests after level seven. Hence why having a ready supply of stone steps is essential because you can simply activate the stone step until you hit the prehistoric floor. 

The following day, the path to the summit was unblocked and my character walked to the top where its partner for this particular game was waiting. Went through all the cast of characters like the end of a movie then the character walked back to the farm. And finished off the day's chores before logging out. 

Taken me some time to finish the game but not too fussed. It's done now. Have not gone the DJT path and trod the Corporation way. Easy to do but not my thing at the moment. 

A couple of achievements left to go to complete this right path (what does Joja Corporation want to discuss at the Pirate's Cove?).

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August Digest #6

General News

If not aware yet, Google are removing third-party mods so you cannot upload images via the Insert Image tab because doing so involves a third-party and that's now a no-no. Why? No idea but whatever excuse Google gives is perfectly fine by them. I suspect it might be strengthening its claim on any images you upload to any of Google sites (YT and Blogger for instance). 

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World of Warships

A couple of sessions today. Did an early morning one - my usual commander upskill grind - for a bit before I had to step out. Got back into it 

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Sunday. Last day of the month of August. Finished the latest Dockyard event mission. A few days ago, finished the fourth Operations mission and got the San Diego compensation reward - 11,000 doubloons. 

Also finished the Welcome part (complete 24 days playing and earn 1,600 doubloons bonus). Exchanged it for doubloons and now have a healthy amount ready for the Christmas snowflake event in three months time. 

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August Digest #5

World of Warships

La Pampas is back in a weird but very costly new event. Basically you exchange a percentage of your accumulated resources - Elite Commander XP, credits, doubloons, steel, and so on - in a cumulative progression in order to eventually reach the Pan-American broken DD. There is a restriction on the amount of resources you can contribute. However, the event is not all it seems. And it's extremely costly; unless you have a mountain or two of resources at your disposal, forget it. Typical WG sales approach: offer with one hand while taking away with the other.

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Today was short grind. Also happens to be the weekend, a trend I hope to continue over the next few months. 

The Tier VIII German premium Anhalt is a nice battleship yet requires a different approach to play. Slow in speed and turret rotation. The guns hit well enough when a target is presenting broadside but then that can be said about every other ship in the same situation. The single torp firing arcs gives all-round coverage. Which comes in handy whether yolo-ing and kiting. Reminds me of the Tier IX Pommern. 

Fujin is part of that famous trio (Fujin R and Kamikaze) of Tier V premium Japanese destroyers. When it's on, it's on. Yet was reminded how fragile it is (health pool wise) when a rival DD torp nearly wiped me out (too late and lazy to avoid it) with just one torp hit. Low detection and fast torp reload means it's a real threat if opponent is unaware. But you need to keep your distance waiting for the golden opportunity to move in fast, strike, and then flee. 

The Tier V US premium Marblehead Lima is sister to Marblehead and basically a clone of the tech tree version, Omaha. Bullying your way into a close quarter fight is a risky endeavour at the best of times for any light cruiser. Staying back using your good HE to start fires and torpedo salvos is the better tactical approach, one I've quickly adopted for this ship whenever grinding with it.

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Another short grind. Targeted goal was the usual three daily coal crates. Along the way, completed the Voyage and GQ Johnny token missions and the Event Pass bonus reward. Played the three 15-pt commanders on the Fujin, Marblehead Lima and Anhalt. A quiet session much appreciated.

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Same outcome as yesterday (above). Fujin reminds me of the yolo-Emilio in that it's fast torpedo reload is very handy. Playing the other two ships from a distance seems the best way to play both. 

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The Iserlohn Action

Historical action that took place on 15 April 1941 between an Italo-German convoy and four British destroyers. 

Anyway, played this historical scenario. The British force, consisting of two Tribal destroyers, Mohawk and Nubian, and two 'J' class destroyers, Janus and Jervis deployed approaching from the southern table edge. 

Their approach from the landward side would initially fool the Italian escorts, the destroyers Luca Tarigo, Baleno and Lampo who had positioned themselves to the open water side. 

The convoy consisted of four troopships - Adana, Aegina, Arta, Iserlohn - and one ammunition ship - Saubadia. The entire force was deployed in the north-east corner of the 6' x 4' table. 

Objective for the convoy and escorts was to exit the table in the south-west corner. The British aimed to spoil that objective by either sinking all the enemy or forcing them to retire to their embarkation port. 

TURN 1 began with the immediate sinking of Iserlohn after being illuminated by starshell from one of the British destroyers. All four destroyers opened fire blasting the hapless troopship into the briny. 

TURN 2 saw the Italians react with Tarigo and Lampo swinging about to try to intercept the British threat. Baleno remained with the convoy. However, the British scored a double immediately lighting up Aegina and Saubadia. And suffered the same fate as Iserlohn. Aegina managed to last long enough for the lifeboats to deploy before she too joined her fellow ships sinking into the deep briny.

TURN 3 saw the Italian destroyers finally contact their British opponents. Successful illumination was followed by gunfire and torpedoes. But the targeted British proved harder to hit. With all this happening, the British were momentarily distracted from their aims. However, they were able to reform and move towards the remaining two convoy ships. 

TURN 4 was a turn of maneouvre and counter-moves with no attacks on the convoy as both destroyer groups moved into suitable attack positions. 

TURN 5 was the last turn as Arta was spotted and once again British gunfire proved deadly. Soon Arta joined the other three ships. At this point, the game ended because the Italians had lost half their total ships, a condition for ending the game. 

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Vietnam War slow-grow campaign

Scenario 2: Action at Ca Bong

Table layout. View from northwest (upriver). Ca Bong, objective for the Americans, is in the bottom right quarter. 

Another view, this time from the western side of the Song river. Inhabited areas are denoted by black cloth. Fields are carpet squares. Hills are either shaped green scourer pads or grey foam. 

Deployment of the lead vessel, a monitor from the Riverine force Team One (Lieutenant Petersen's command) triggers game start.  Batrep to follow later on the week. Once done, will setup for the next scenario: Escape And Evasion whereby an SAS team attempts to extricate themselves from a tricky situation. Cheers.

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August Digest #4

Vietnam War slow-grow campaign

Scenario 3: Escape and Evasion

The SAS team having completed their mission must now extricate themselves from a tricky situation. VC presence has increased within their locality ever since that night ambush. Vigorous patrolling day and night in their initial holdup location convinced the commander that it was time to relocate. 

However they soon learned that all their alternate locations have been compromised or heavily scrutinized so instead the team opts to make their way to an extraction point a few miles south of Ap Song. 

The Captain decides to avoid any contact with the locals fearing they might be pro-VC and thus rat them out. And with the chance of happening across an enemy patrol or two sooner rather than later, the situation appears dicey to say the least. 

The terrain is for the most part heavy jungle and therefore slow going. Visibility will be restricted by the terrain type and density. 

Ap Song is the main village in the area opposite a string of low hills due east that mirror the flow of the Song stream, roughly north-south. Scattered ponds and underground springs feed the stream that divides the region in two. 

Isolated and scattered homesteads are the norm out east of Ap Song with few trails that are designed for foot or beast traffic only. The locals here are also wary of strangers. 

Main aim for the SAS team with this particular mission therefore is to make it unscathed and unnoticed from one table edge to the other. Where possible, they must also avoid contact with the enemy hunting for them. 

They succeed if they make it undetected to the opposite table edge. If they spot the VC or locals first without being spotted themselves then the team must either wait for them to move on or else skirt around. Failing that they may engage the enemy VC bearing in mind they have limited ammunition. If locals, the Captain must decide whether they are hostile or friendly and act accordingly. 

Crossing the Song stream is necessary. The stream is waist deep for the most part and slow flowing that sometimes expand into shallow ponds. Movement penalty for crossing the stream is -1 pip per dice. 

Objective of the VC is to either kill or capture the SAS team. If they capture a SAS team member, it is a major success. If they kill any of the SAS team, then it's a minor success. 

For every turn, a VC blind is placed on the table randomly. The Blind can be stationary or moving (depending on the circumstance of their deployment, ie dice for it). 

Direction of movement is determined by the Deviation Dice. If the die roll is on target then roll again until a direction is determined. If moving, the VC blind will follow the direction until they exit the table. If stationary, they will perform spotting actions unless they decide to move. 

The SAS team deploy from the start.

Local civilians will also appear when the Civilian card is dealt. 

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World of Warships

Played two sessions today. First one was playing the bare minimum five games using my commander skill upgrade grind ships. Did this to obtain the 500 Voyage tokens and 2 GQ Johnny tokens. 

Second session was an evening one where I ran several ships that had "new" or transferred in captains. A total of six ships were played to raise their Commander XP level to 6%, a goal I had set which often saw me play said ship several times. 

Among the ships from this second session is my new favourite battleship, the German Tier X Mecklenburg. Sixteen 305mm guns is nothing to sneeze at. She performs beautifully smacking cruisers into oblivion with one salvo and is capable of whittling down the HP of powerful enemy battleships without breaking a sweat. I also keep forgetting she has 6km torps, handy for those real up close encounters. 

Played my second steel ship Svea for the first time. Liked her but still learning about her. Went for a secondary build and it seemed to work although I was in games mostly against lower tiered ships. Her 13km torps are great but I have not yet mastered their tactical use. Handy nonetheless.

Prinz van Oranje was a last Christmas reward that I forgot about. Came out at the same time as the Chikuma II. Part of the golden ships event. Her single air strike takes getting used to; small targeting area but lots of bombs. Slow reload means having to rely on her twelve guns between strikes. Played her from behind island cover as a result. 

Loyang is a Pan-Asian premium destroyer obtainable for doubloons. Her two centrally located five-torp salvos seem to be her trick although I believe she also has good guns which would make her a handy double torp-gunboat threat. 

At Tier X Louisiana is the top end of the American hybrid battleship line. She performed reasonable but I need to play her more to familiarise myself with her abilities. Always in two minds how to play a hybrid anyway.  

And what can I say about Pommern which, until the Mecklenburg happened along, was my go-to all-round brawler battleship. Her long range secondaries remain potent as ever and will melt down a destroyer with ease. A high end performer at Tier IX. Will be interesting to see how she goes when they bring back Asymmetric in the next Update. 

Speaking of the next Update (14.8), WeeGee are continuing their Tenth Anniversary celebrations with yet more goodies. How spoiled are we? he says to no one as he pisses into the wind.  

The main points from the Devblog are briefly summarised as follows:

• Changes to the daily Login Calendar with rewards changed to include Festive tokens, the new currency to earn greater rewards
• Battle Performance Bonus. Similar to last year's anniversary celebration. Unfortunately I forget how that went. Two missions need completing. The first mission requires of earning a certain amount BASE XP. The amounts increases depending on the Tier level ship used. Only Tier V upwards. Second mission earns extra bonuses based on how many ships you have in your port.
• Festive Rewards. Earn Festive tokens depending the ship Tier (superships/Tier XI earn steel instead). These Festive Tokens can then buy various rewards including enemy destruction effect, collection containers, supercontainers (limited quantity), economic bonuses, and signals. However, the one that interests me and which costs 10,000 Festive Tokens is the new Tier X Japanese cruiser Kushiro. 
• Honourable Service. For every year you've been playing WOWS (a minimum of 25 game played per year requirement to qualify), you will receive a collection of rewards in gratitude for your loyalty (or addiction) to the game. The rewards increment in quantity and quality depending on the numbers of years with your involvement. I read that it's cumulative as well which might mean something else to how I interpret the meaning of "cumulative" in context of the wording. Will only know the truth once it happens. 
• Blast from the Past. PvP. 12v12. Surface ships only (no subs, no carriers). Specific tiers. Temporary game mode that celebrates specific years starting with 2015. Years include 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, and current. Runs for a week up until 2022 and current (two weeks each). Only those ships from those specified years qualify. And with the same attributes of those specified years. With the current year, all ships with gimmicks are banned.
• Asymmetric Battles makes a welcomed return. Fun mode and keen to give it a go this time round as I missed the last time round for whatever forgotten reason. 

By far the most interest is for the Blast from the Past game mode. Many of the current nerfs and buffs on specific ships from that period will be removed. For example, the Mogami of 2015 will be way different to the current (2025) Mogami. So it should bring back many who quit as those early years were, so I hear, the glory days of the game. Once the carrier rework was introduced, along with submarines, it's been on the decline so many nowadays complain. 

Sadly I missed first two years (I joined in 2019), and can barely remember those times since. But I will actually participate from start to finish to see how different times truly were and how much those ships have changed. And in some cases, travel down memory lane. 

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Played three of my commanders today raising them to the next skill level. Used the red economic bonuses on a couple because they were available (no point hoarding them for something in the future that may or may not eventuate). Once done, I exchanged the Voyage tokens already accumulated for doubloons. 

If I can I would like to buy a doubloon ship. Haven't decided yet which one. Not a big selection left however.

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1/3000 Naval Wargaming

Of late I have a hankering to run a solo tabletop WW2 naval wargame. 

I have several rulesets to choose from but two stand out because I've actually used them. The other two, Nimitz by Sam Mustafa and Admiral of the Fleet by Seekrieg are recent additions to the library; the latter is a dreadnought set which I've assembled 1/24000 paper ships (glued to balsa); Nimitz has not been trialed yet. 

Stations Manned and Ready II edition 1.1 is by A and A Games Engineering (Englishmen Andrew Finch and Alan Butler). I playtested the rules with part of my Mediterranean fleets (British and Italian). Involved best describes it yet I don't mind it but there is a high learning curve involved. 

But my easy favourite has to be General Quarters III by L. L. Gill. Lots of detail and plenty of ship lists - military and civilian. Played it several times. I like it especially for its naval air ops (carriers). 

Lots of reading in bed therefore as I succumb to the flu.

Some pics of some ships from the collection. Some still need paint touchups before I can run the game especially if wanting to run a large game. More likely I will pick a scenario from the supplements available with SMAR II.

Above photo: The battleships Washington and Indiana escorted by the cruisers Chester and Minneapolis and destroyers Anderson, Roe and Russell.

Above: Japanese ships: Asashio (DD), Yamagumo (DD), Yamashiro (BB), Kongo (BC).

Above: Battleship Vittorio Veneto, cruiser Fiume, light cruiser A. da Barbiano. 

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Above: British carrier Illustrious with the cruisers Achilles and Neptune.

Above: German surface ships, three destroyers (Z7, Z8, Z16), one battleship (Ulrich von Hutten), and a carrier (Graf Zeppelin). The last two listed are historical but never completed. 

And a quantity of both coastal and ocean merchant vessels completes my small collection. 

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Last night was looking for some scenarios for SMAR game from Games Vault library and discovered the latest letter from the game designers. Apparently SMAR is no more. Closed down in July of this year. You can contact them until the end of this year. Sad to hear this piece of news.

What's disappointing most is that the ships lists for the nations is no longer available. Downloaded the British and Italian ship lists for my Mediterranean fleets. But missed out on the other main players and rest of the world. May contact them to find out if it's still available directly. 

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