March Digest #1

World of Warships

Thursday means the next Nian Paradox weekly mission (#3) is now active. 

Highlight however was the release of the Finest Hour collection crates. Which means I can finally complete the collection and obtain Conrad Helfich, the Dutch Unique commander. That just leaves the Commonwealth Unique commander left to go. 

Also begun today was the Battle of Java Sea event. The prizes are four historical warships that took part in the engagement - Minegumo, Yudachi, Jupiter '42, Perth. Obtaining these ships relies upon having large quantities of special tokens especially for this event. Fortunately for me I already have all the ships -  so I can relax and concentrate instead on the Nian Paradox event.

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Becoming dyslexic but more a case of laziness again. Swapping numbers around seems common for that allowing a known condition getting the blame for something it's not responsible.

Finished the last mission task in the third mission set for the Nian Paradox mission event. Still playing the three recent fleet additions - Eastern Dragon, Nian, and M. Colonna. Gets tedious at times. Playing with a few live players but most are BOT players. When they are live players, I try to support them where possible, otherwise, I just do "my own thing."

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Got Conrad Helfrich today. Resisted the temptation to exchange steel for coal (why would I when steel is very hard to come by ordinarily plus I can earn the coal through the daily crates). Yet to decide upon which ship will receive him as captain.

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New PC Game - Surroundead

Saw a new Jingles playthrough vidz today. New zombie survival game - SurrounDead. Was hooked within the first minute and immediately bought it on Steam. Kind of reminds me of the Stardew Valley in that it's the work of one developer. Been around in Early Access since 2022. Constant updates. And fairly popular with many - a blockier graphical version of Day Z.

You start alone, without any clues, and just with a knife. Everything has to be scavenged. And don't take on the zombies unless you have a more potent weapon than a knife. Backpack helps. So does GPS to help with position location and navigation. Semi auto weapon much better than a knife.

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Frustrating part about this new game is that you're presented with several options from time to time early on but for some reason (not skilled up enough) you cannot access them due to malfunctioning mouse (middle mouse inoperative).  For example, recently happened upon a working golf cart on the second day with one of my characters. Aside from its excellent use as a mower-down-of-zombies-at-speed, I cannot access the other options other than (1) jump on. The others - (2) access storage, or (3) push require a functioning middle mouse. 

One of my earlier characters struck paydirt by basing close to multiple military drops. Food supplies, medical, equipment and weaponry - all kept showing up on my GPS map locator. Accumulated so much that I didn't know what to do with them. At peak, I had two fully packed day bags (supplies and food), two standard Coyote backpacks full of equipment, weapons, amoo, three large Coyote backpacks (much the same), an Alice pack (same as the Coyote bakcpacks, two military chests with assortments of long calibre weapons, a large quantity of jerry cans of fuel in my hidey spot. But upon return one day, all the backpacks and fuel were gone. Learned my lesson: store them away. Don't leave them lying about unsecured as they will eventually disappear.

I thought bandits had raided my base but that's not so. The military chests with weapons were still there as were the other immovable objects (small and industrial generators plus crafting bench). But anything else not nailed down and could be picked up that was of value was gone. At least they left me the camp lantern and sleeping bag or are they just part of the furniture landscape? Dunno.

Managed to kill off the lunk of a Zombie boss at Whitewood. Massive monstrosity that made me take him out safely from long range. Why get too close when good old 7.62 fired repeatedly will do the job for you. 

The cop car on the bridge will respawn new loot every day. So, if you camp on the bridge, you never short of ammo or medical supplies although what spawns daily is randomly determined. 

It's the same whenever you stay in one location for too long: while crates will spawn new items daily unless you have the appropriate storage crates, you will lose those items. Found that out (again) when basing myself in an abandoned building.

When you run out of food or water, your health seriously declines to the extent that if you don't feed or water yourself, you die. 

Melee combat can be hit-or-miss depending on the weaponry. Not quite mastered the mechanic which seems lacking to me. Oh, and don't linger around a dead zombie too long after downing them. Some have a habit of exploding like the acidic ones which can add more damage to your already depleting health. 

If the zombies and bandits is not enough, then the local wildlife - wolves and bears - will pop up at unexpected moments to keep you on your toes. Spotting them before they attack you is the fun part. Have not run into poisonous snakes...yet!

Will give the game another week to master. Can'd do much until I replace my mouse.

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Kind of getting the hang of this game. When you die though, unless you set it up, you lose the settings of the last save as in what was prevalent at the time of your death. So that when you reload the last save, you lose the conditions prior to your death. Which means, for example, if you've stumbled on several military drops and for some reason you end up dying, those military drops will have disappeared when respawning.

This time round however I got quite lucky with a new character and spawned far to the east of the sanctuary - where the friendlies meet and trade - in a small deadend street neighbourhood called Pine Road. 

Previously, I've nearly always started the game either to the west or southwest of the main sanctuary (shield symbol on the map above) where its friendlies and traders. 

What was really fortunate though (godsend actually) was stumbling upon the construction site at the end of the street where they'd boarded up the stairs so you can safely hide from the zombies by climbing over the barrier (they can't). Vacant first floor meant I could plant as many tents and thus store my loot safely (see photo below). To ease the worry, I placed a sleeping bag and got some shuteye rather than wait the night out which is both slow and stressful.

Pine Road is just a cluster of three residences and the construction site. Two of the residences can be accessed with daily random loot spawning.  There is also a military grade lockup for which you need bolt cutters. Meanwhile the third house is totally boarded up and inaccessible...for now. 

Managing this time round to remember to dump all the unnecessary stuff at the traders. Made easier by finding and fixing up a car (my first car) so I am more mobile this time round. Fixed it up completely and fuelled up at the POL just outside my door. 

However, the frequency of running into more and more bandits is increasing daily, especially along the sealed roads. So far, I've eluded them while managing to knock off a couple for having the audacity to run my car down. Got myself an AK for that. Old skool shooter that I am, nothing like the hitting power of a 7.62 round. Easily penetrates a lead plate at 200m in real life. Imagine what it does to a human head at 50m?!

For the zombies I have an AR-15 and a shotgun. So far I am preferring the shottie because it's a guaranteed killer being an area weapon.

The amount of loot accumulates fairly quickly. What with scavenging and military drops, it all adds up pretty quickly. And the variety is quite staggering from industrial generators to chainwire fencing blocks.

Not so fortunate this time round with coyote backpacks. Coping well enough with just a couple of duffle bags however. Unfortunately haven't yet figured out how to drink the liquor yet. It won't go into my medical bag but is sold by the medical trader. 

Certain items are useful for storage such as security containers, tool chests, and so on. Which saves on save. Even the good old leather wallet has its uses. Cash is still the main form of barter. Thankfully smart phones are considered junk. 

Sleeping bags are useful for allowing your character to skip the night fandango. If no sleeping bag however unless you can find a sleep posey, you're stuck being awake all night. But in summer it can stay semi light for a while. Only gets really dark at certain times. 

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Upgraded my little yellow putt putt vehicle for one of those grunty 4WD utility trucks (blue and white) after I drove at night with lights off and ran over a trash pile and got stuck. Found the new vehicle at the crossroads not far from where I was stranded. Popped into Mike the auto trader for fuel and repair kits.

Boss Zombies yield a trove of military weapons and better quality equipment. It would be a fool to tackle one in a melee however; quickly learned early on to stay at distance and use high-powered rifles to chip away at their high health pool cost. 

Combined with knocking off Boss Zombie is clearing an area of Infestation. Have to take out the numerous infected zombies before tackling the main Primary Infestation area. And then the inevitable attendant Boss Zombie. 

There was one at the Lonely Farm not far from my Base - a bullet round away in fact. Did not know it was there until I went exploring one day. 

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Scored a second truck tonight when I was scouting up north (beyond the radiated zones). Had to hump it on foot though after first dropping off my blue truck back at base and then backtracking to the location of the second vehicle. Went the direct route while skirting a couple of no-go areas (contaminated checkpoints and the unexploded nuke) along the way. Got there without too much trouble, and relieved to find the truck still there. 

Homebase is slowly getting crowded. Using tents to store all the loot gathered. Lots of crafting needs happening to have a secure base though - doors, walls, etc. 

Just crafted a construction bench (on the left) eventually after being sidetracked by all the loot collected. Just need to add the deconstructing workbench so I can obtain more raw materials. 

Realising that the longer you leave it, the more numerous the hostile bandits will spawn and thus make your continued existence a misery. So it pays to take them out whenever you encounter them. Just the other night, on the bridge south of Whitewood, I scouted out around ten of them just milling about close towards the police station. Took out several before getting wasted myself. You could tell they were hostile because whenever there is a newly placed burnt out vehicle within their circle you know they're in the area.

Taking out the primary infection is only possible once you've eliminated ALL the secondary infection locations. Just follow the tendrils spreading from the main infection zone. Of course, you also got the zombie hordes that spring up out of the ground to contend with. And then there's the fearsome lunky Zombie Boss itself. Relentless bastard.

Positively ID other humans before opening up at range. Simple mouse cursor hovering will inform you if they're friendly or hostile. They pop up from time to time.

Now that I'm more mobile, I've been doing the tiki tours around the map and identifying the various locations. Along the way I ran into the military trader who is always mobile in a well armoured and protected vehicle. 

There is another scavenger friendly zone north of the main sanctuary. It doesn't have traders and looks more permanent with concrete barrier surrounding a firewatch tower. It does have a turret auto gun at the entrance which is something. Hoping to find others in my travels west toward the port cities. 

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Glitch with the Humvee, getting in. So I left it where I parked it. Long walk back to base. I still can access the yellow truck I switched with. 

Started building perimeter around home base after watching a YT vid on base building and suitable location. Where I am is outside the coverage done by the YT vid so I'm pleased I have free rein. No clear design regarding perimeter, just winging it at the moment. Can modify later on. 

Crafting a deconstructing workbench is a godsend as far as I'm concerned. Helps to clear the clutter as well as provide much needed raw materials.

Needing new mouse as current one has broken middle mouse. Which prevents me from scrolling through options and refining placement of items. No rush though as priority is saving up for my dart board.

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Retrieved the Humvee. Glitch temporary. Operating fine. Picked up an ambulance as well. Base attracting other friendly scavengers. Wonder when the bandits will show up. 

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Every town seems to have an underground train station. Once you descend the stairs, ensure you have a torch or night vision goggles for exploring. 

Picked up a third vehicle, an ambulance vehicle. Stocking up each vehicle with equipment and supplies in case I get stranded. On the hunt for a tank now. Know a truck was available but I got sidetracked and then killed. When I respawned, the option was gone. 

Towing a vehicle. Haven't had to do so yet. Got stuck a few times. Discovered it's easy to just keep pushing the vehicle as many times as needed to dislodge it and thus reclaim it. 

Slowly checking out the eastern side of the map (below shows the mid eastern section). The sanctuary is more or less central in the map. 

Periodic supply drops are coloured coded with smoke: green for military weaponry and equipment, blue for food, red for medical. Places of interest are denoted mustard yellow. They range from former survivor camps to helicopters downed. Up to you whether you investigate or not. They change from time to time. 

Those places marked in white are permanent once discovered and investigated. 

Infested areas (zombies) are marked in red nuclear symbols. They too change from time to time. Guaranteed to find a zombie boss (and attendant hordes) as well as special loot boxes in these locations. Primary and secondary infection areas yield loot that's worth the effort. Zombie bosses definitely yield useful weapons and equipment, also worth examining. Unique loot boxes are as their name implies though what exactly is part of the discovery fun. 

Nuclear-contaminated areas are marked in green and tend to be avoided when traversing on foot. Better to drive through if possible. 

There is also the icecream van guy (got a goofy looking clown mask). He is a special trader with some really good stuff (unique weapons and so on) that appeared out of nowhere one day. Like both of the military and wandering traders he roams all over the map never staying in one spot for too long. The funny thing is the front of the van has been modified with a couple of menacing ram prows. The sight of it playing Greensleeves coming at you is both frightening and funny.

Oh, one other thing. Accidentally ran over the wandering trader one day outside the sanctuary. Wondering if he respawns or is permanently killed off.

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Ran into Coyote soldiers today. Two groups. Managed to kill the first group but was unaware of the second group not far away. Happened while I was trying to wipe out the primary infestation at the shipping port not far from Gladevale Military Base.  

Had run-ins with the Coyote para-military before. But every time I try to question others about them, I get no help at all. 

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Cannot stop collecting things. In this game, it's vehicles...lol. Picked up a yellow Charger with black racing stripes (opposite my character shown below) while cruising past Chester Lake, north of my main base. Picked it up because it's the same model as Mike the Auto trader. Still on the lookout for a tank.

Was at the port for most of today's session struggling to knock off the primary infestation. Got the Zombie Boss, Captain Phillips. But then another Undead Big Boss spawned later while I was about dithering killing both secondary infestations and the primary one. Swarms of zombies kept appearing from everywhere.

Figured out that if you get stuck with your vehicle, as you do from time to time (as shown below), the best way to extricate yourself, apart from pushing it (which is slow and laborious and not guaranteed it will work anyway) is to just exit the game and reload the last save. Of course if you get yourself into such strife as below and then the game auto saves, then you're up the poverbial creek without a paddle...sort of. If in Settings, you chose to autosave the same file, then, yes, you're buggered. But if if you checked to autosave a new save every time, then you're okay.

Knocking over zombies causes wear and tear on your vehicle. It's definitely fun and saves on bullets but eventually you're going to have to repair the damage done.

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Other PC Games - Wanderburg

Seen this fun-looking game thanks to Flambass. Downloaded the DEMO version for now. Yet to play. Fun is main word to describe what I've seen so far. As games should be.

I play PC games for fun so why bother looking for them when I have my favourite YT streamers do the job for me. Thank you sirs.

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February Digest #4

English Civil War

WIP so far...excuse the doctored photo. Removed the background to just focus on the models worked on today without the usual workbench mess. Models are based for Victory Without Quarter with a slight modification regarding figures per base. Noted commanders on round bases. Other commanders and couriers/aides on single bases.

Top left corner: King Charles I with two aides/couriers. Top centre/right: Prince Rupert and his Lifeguards bodyguard unit. Bottom: part of the baggage train with handlers. 

Not much done, I know, but it's something. Really cannot explain my current apathy towards miniatures painting. It was never relaxing nor was it a passion to be honest: it was a necessary step in getting minis tabletop. More interested in the history and narrative behind the minis. 

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World of Warships

The Nian Paradox event grind continued today with the unlocking of the 2nd mission series. At the end of completing all the mission tasks, Kiberpankov was earned. Completing it now unlocks the final Stage III with the Tempesta Nera (R. Lauria clone) as the final reward.

Liking Eastern Dragon, the Myoko-class heavy cruiser, a lot after playing it daily since acquiring it. Its poor torp angles are offset by its quick-firing accurate guns. Its torps are strong enough to sink a battleship but getting them off requires some astute handling. And playing it mid range makes good sense because doing so helps preserve its survival. 

Even though cloned, these ships (Eastern Dragon => Myoko & Narai => Tiger '59) offer the opportunity to learn how to play them to get the best out of them. You either love or hate Narai. I'm in the camp that doesn't mind it; in fact, I like it. But only when it's played carefully...like 10km behind all the action. Lol. 

M. Colonna is slightly better than Narai and Eastern Dragon. But not by much. It hits hard when it does get the opportunity, but as my recent experience in Asymmetrics showed, it's no good against stronger ships with better guns. 

For now, while the Nian Paradox event is active, I will complete the various mission tasks using these three ships. Two of them (Narai and M. Colonna) offer the 200% economic bonus reward for just playing them for at least another two weeks. And the cost of playing E. Dragon is more cost effective - economic bonus-wise - than running the supership Satsuma. 

Hope to upskill at least one commander to 21 points by event's end. Fingers crossed that I stay awake while playing.

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Jigsaw Puzzle

Online jigsaw puzzles are fun and for the most part relaxing. Noticing some odd things though. In the past I tried to use Screenshot save (PRT SC) on my PC rather than in-game through Steam. Each time however, it wouldn't let me. It kicked me out into the main menu. However, tonight after this puzzle below, I saw my PC had managed to capture a flat black screen captioned with the words (PORN)...

Laughed at this reveal but then it got me to thinking... as to why are there no porn puzzles? Anyway, this one was a bit challenging. But once I got over half done, finishing got easier.

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February Digest #3

World of Warships

The Nian Paradox event commenced today. Focus will be on going for Tempesta Nera, which is a clone of the steel ship R. Lauria. No doubt, a great many others will do the same - a free steel ship is definitely desirable and worth the chase. On the way, you also get to pickup Kiberpankov, a clone of the Soviet cruiser Dimitri Pozharsky.

WG throwing lots of "confetti" our way in relation to this new event, dazzling you into spending real money on their sparkling goodies. 

New Event Pass is offering only one vessel - Eastern Dragon as halfway reward. Happy to go for that.

Picked up the Tier IX Pan-Asian premium battleship Yimeng for free. Part of the free gifts thrown our way. Got lucky: it was part of the free Fire Horse permanent camo bundle. Obtained from the single Defenders of Order crate which dropped the Nian Treasure crate...and voila! 

Played Yimeng several times. It has a couple of gimmicks including torpedo protection that reduces all torp damage by 70%. Unfortunately it only lasts for 10 sec so activate it just as torps are about to hit.

Guess I used up my lucky quota obtaining Yimeng because I reviewed the process in pursuing the Tempesta Nera. The event itself has seven weekly missions offering a quantity of Lunar tokens, the currency for the Nian Paradox event. Which means I will be playing at least six of those missions in order to reach my quest. 

The remaining seventh mission tokens can go to one of the other parties - Shamrockville - with one of the rewards being Danu because it'll be all I can afford with the leftover tokens. With the Lunar tokens, you can't really switch sides unless you have a swag of Lunar tokens. Your best chance was in the Lunar Trials (Update 15.0). 

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While the Surcouf is out of reach to me (not enough resources) the two ships I did acquire - the Thai cruiser Narai and the Italian battleship M. Colonna - are proving to be quite satisfactory. Playing in Co-Op, that is. Learning to play to their particular strengths while minimising their faults as much as possible. As a result, enjoying playing both ships in PvE mode. 

When I took M. Colonna into Aysmmetrics however to fast track earnings for the Event Pass I soon found her to be outmatched and out of depth. And her brawler prowess in Co-Op was sorely exposed when tackling greater numbers of opponents all at once. The US tortoise Colorado in particular proved her nemesis every encounter. Once the exhaust smoke wears out, being stranded in the midst of a group of accurate firing BOTS can provide some very excrutiating moments. 

Still my goal for entering Asymmetrics was quickly achieved and now I'm just one phase away from the E. Dragon reward. Could easily spend doubloons but I can just as easily play for her tomorrow and thus save myself one thousand doubloons.

The Unbreakable Front battle mode has returned with some changes. Never played it and don't intend to any time soon. Some complaints I've read by those seem to prefer the earlier iteration of this PvP battle mode.

Operations has been revamped too although I haven't tried it yet.

Some have discovered you can't complete some of the Nian Paradox missions in Asymmetrics which is a pity. But WG don't like to make it easy for its playerbase. 

Example: In the Nian Paradox Mission 2, there is one quest that requires you to be in the top five in any ten matches played. Well, you can guarantee achieving that in Asymmetrics as there are only five of you anyway. So play five matches and you've completed the task. Easy peasey. But WG doesn't like that idea. There are no shortcuts in the salt mines or desolate gulags of Siberia. 

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Eastern Dragon is an interesting ship. A Tier VII Myoko-class heavy cruiser, its frailty is exposed in its weak armour, slow turret traverse, poor torp angles, slow torps, and slow ammo switching. A mid-range shooter that is not good at all in close combat encounters. 

Played it first time today after finally claiming it in the Event Pass. Stayed at mid-range where its guns accuracy came to the fore sinking two destroyers in quick succession. Because I had chosen the gun feeder skill (recommended) on my commander, I was able to switch from HE to AP fairly quickly and in time to take out an enemy cruiser. Used her slow torps in area denial, scoring hits on an enemy cruiser and battleship. Three kills on its first outing made me smile. 

I did switch out the original commander and installed Takeo Suzuki instead. Suzuki I am grinding to 21 points. He's currently on 20 points but his inclusion helped to make the first engagement a pleasant experience.

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New Project

Started a Foreign Legion fort for whatever reason decades ago. Almost finished it but then I lost enthusiasm because I kept over-complicating the design within. 

Now I want to make things worse by creating a small desert village to complement the fort. Started working on the buildings last night based on an original outline sketch done months ago. I am opting to expand the design and layouts of the various buildings and structures within a basically open layout. The real test will come in actually constructing the various components.

Below shows the original sketch layout done months ago. It's layout and components within will change as I get "creative". 

Below shows a sketch map created the other day showing a crude landscape layout. Include contour intervals. Shows the relationship between each component to one another narratively.

Building up to become a campaign but indeterminate as to the period. The obvious choice would be World War II. At a stretch it could even be set in Europe during the Interwar period.

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Peterbilt 359 assembly drama continues

Changing the design after watching a YT streamer reacts to some Australian road trains. That video made me realise my original final design is crap. So I am opting to go with a more straightforward simple design. It even passed the wife test. Below is a graphical sketch. Final reveal will vary slightly. Cheers.

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February Digest #2

English Civil War

Spent some time tonight working on the Royalist Horse list. Having to scrounge for figures to comply with the original listing but finding there are now shortfalls somehow. So some changes required...that's if I can't find enough figures soon.

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Unfortunately the original list is out the door. Discovering I stuffed up the original order means there is a considerable shortfall so I'm having to reduce numbers on a few 'large' units such as Prince Rupert's Horse. And changing the composition by standardising Royalist horse units to one stand of two figures throughout - heavy and light. 

Some painting work done earlier today on Cary's Horse, Prince Maurice's Horse, King's Lifeguards, and the two Lifeguard units for the Princes, and Northern Horse. Having to scrounge around for spares to fulfil Queen Henrietta's Horse. 

Some more painting done with the baggage train tonight. Slow progress because I'm out of touch with model painting at the moment. Plus, it's no longer the passion it once was but still a mildly interesting and often occasional exercise in time wasting. Says a lot about my enthusiasm these days regarding this hobby.

Water cart, stores wagon, and gunpowder cart (bottom left). I think I'm missing something for the ammo cart. Will probably modify it to make sit higher whatever it was. And the mule train. King Charles I, accompanied by his two aides/couriers, are overlooking the scene but unaffected by the activity happening. 

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Did some work on command figures tonight as I got into the workbench pretty late. Namely worked on Rupert and King Charles with his two aides/couriers. Not much progress made really but sufficient for the time spent. Still more work required however - flocking, and a great deal more detailing for all four figures if I want to make them acceptably presentable. Hopefully I can have something to present for this month's hobby achievements over on Oz Tabletop Forums. Doing so will provide a bit of incentive to clear my to-do list.

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Vietnam War campaign

Action at Ca Bong or "Boom, Boom, You're Dead!"

Operation Black Bottle began just before dawn as three companies from the 1st Battalion, 54th Infantry, 9th Division began their northward push up the Song Hoa river. 

Leading the way is Riverine Force Team One (Petersen), consisting of two Monitors and three Tangos, and transporting A Coy (Donald) and half of B Coy (Schuler). Team Two (Delweere) - two Monitors, two Tangos, one Command, is about ten minutes behind carrying the remainder of B Coy (Clarke) and D Coy (Zollerfeldt).

Donald's mission is to land south of the Suoi Trang river at Noi Buon. Secure it. Then advance on to Ca Bong from the south. Meanwhile Petersen with Schuler is to advance directly on Ca Bong, disembark and secure it and await the arrival of Delweere with reinforcements. Petersen is to provide fire support from the river and keep it free from interference from expected VC defensive measures (floating mines, etc.).

Delweere is to offload remainder of B Coy at Ca Bong and then proceed north some distance to offload Zollerfeldt and D Coy along the Ca Bong-Co Lac road.

Intel is sketchy (as in fluid and none too reliable) but it is known a strong VC battalion - the 275th - is operating in the area. And using Ca Bong as a main town within their network. Securing its capture would seriously impact on that network.  And disrupt any VC operations on this side of the Suoi Trang river where the VC have operating in many cases openly and with impunity.

FF are to treat all villages flanking the river as neutral but with caution. If fired upon, units are cleared to open return fire with force. However, once opposition goes quiet, cease firing and standard rules of engagement applies.  

Air and artillery support are on call but only in dire situations. Priority to be determined by supporting units, and on the proviso the targets are firstly clearly identified. No blanket preliminary artillery barrage is permitted. Only the FAA, FOO, or company commanders may authorise air/artillery support. 

With the recent incident at My Lai resounding globally, Headquarters is seriously adhering to strict rules of engagements: clear identification of enemy first before responding. Discretion to be exercised by the local commander based on rules of engagement in determining return response to being fired upon by the enemy.

Commanders for this venture are as follows:

Land operations - Maj. Schuler (B Coy). Officer commanding entire operation.
Riverine operations - Lt. Delweere (Team Two)

Terrain Points of Note: The crossing of the Suoi Trang can be done by foot as the water there is mostly shallow (no more than knee deep). But it deepens the closer to the Song Hoa so that crossing can only be done by swimming or boat. 

West of Ca Bong is a large palm plantation that reaches the road and borders both Co Lac and Ca Khoc and extends south for several kilometres. The Old Colonial Plantation is still occupied by a wealthy local family whose loyalties are unknown. 

The two hamlets north of the main road as it crosses the Song Hoa and connects to Lang Doi are small fishing villages where they eke out a living of rice and fish. 

East of the main road as far north as Ca Khoc and as far south as the Noi Buon road are numerous rice paddy fields belonging to the villagers. 

There is much traffic between both banks of the Song Hoa with trading happening all the time. So, be mindful the river will be busy in the mornings and late afternoon. 

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Delay playing out this scenario. Needs a full day totally devoted to playing it. Right now, however, I've got many other activities on my plate that I cannot spare the time right now. Definitely some time this week as I do need to clear the table from the garage for tidy up for my upcoming darts tournament post-Easter. Cheers.

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World of Warships

Sundays are relaxing days, as we all know. Jumped into the game after taking a couple of days off. Stress level returned almost immediately whilst playing. Controls seemed to stick at times throughout the session, often at the most inopportune moments. Puzzling phenomenon because the mouse works fine every other time. 

Anyway, I hung in there because I had one mission task to complete to finish the 120th Anniversary/Dreadnought mission. Did that soon enough and went to see what compensation I might get. Expected the usual credit spike.

Nothing. 

Checked the Compensation Rules on the WG site (link provided in the event). Everything seemed in order there. Checked the Dreadnought rules again. Notice then no compensation forthcoming. No mention of compensation whatsoever. If you already have it, tough titties, you get nothing. 

Bummer. WG keep moving the goal posts. There has always been compensation in such events. Now there seems to be nothing. 

On an unrelated matter, I looked at how much coal is required for Narai in the Surcouf Salvage event. Still not worth it. So I passed on that. Also saw coal can be had at a rate of 1000 coal for 100 steel. You know, egging you exchange steel for coal in order to eventually grab Surcouf. You're going to end up spending over a million coal to reach her though. Ask yourself is it worth grabbing this monstrosity of a submarine with cruiser guns? Only a deranged designer would come up with such a hideous vessel. But some people love ludicrous. 

As someone who has not bothered playing Ranked in a very long time, steel is about as rare as Research Bureau points to me so it would have to be a very tempting offer for me to part with my small but precious hoard of steel. For now, I'll pass.  

The Zarya-S is, as a YT streamer (and many others as well) pointed out, nothing more than a Tier IX Vladivostok.

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Was wrong about Narai. I recall it was one half of a duo of ships (the other was Cambridge) that came out part of an event last year that I was hoping to grab. Unfortunately I missed out but wasn't overly concerned because I knew it would eventually return. 

Initially dismissed it out of hand however because I soon learned that it was a clone of the infamous Tiger '59. Tarred by reputation. Dumb thing to do, I now admit.

However, since playing it, I like it a lot. It requires you to play her carefully (as in "take cover" at every opportunity; she's not a YOLO ship). Her rapid fire HE is good at starting fires more so when you place one of the Rong brothers (Seasoned commanders) on her. Which I did. 

All of this information learned thanks to another YT WOWS Community Contibutor (reinstated), one of several I follow for information.

Am I going for the Zarya-S? Short answer no. Long answer, unable to earn enough coal in time. 

===============================

Today was the Narai of common derision - the Tiger '59 version. Easily smashed in the early games but came back after adjusting play to minimize her many weaknesses - paper thin armour, weak guns (rapid fire compensates plus ship build and selective commander skill - playing one of the Rong brothers). Lucky I was also playing the M. Colonna in today's grind which made the session bearable. Early glitch with the signup notification popping up briefly. And as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. Trouble-free playing thereafter. 

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Peterbilt 359 kit build

Ignoring the transfers that came with the kit. Instead I will go with a custom design. This is what I've come up after some nutting out all night. The fonts I found online; settled on three that I liked. Favouring the Excel one because it relates to movement. Problem is whether to hand paint or create a transfer decal. Undecided for now.

Made some notes to the rough design created. For sure the final finished work will differ slightly from the design concept shown above. 

Still planning on hand painting the lovely lady originally shown because she's the figurehead for this road vessel. Like ships of olde. First and foremost though, this rig is a working truck so Miss Peggy Sue will feature in a discreet location.

Top view of bonnet does give it that British flag look. May modify it or remove the central stripe look altogether.

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February Digest #1

World of Warships

Returned to commander upskill grind since completing the Early Access European battleship specific missions. Enjoying playing Satsuma with my now-20 pt skilled captain because most Co-Op games involved just me and the BOTS. Slow grind for sure but I'm in no rush.

Realised I wasn't going to get the Enigheten with the tokens already earned for free without spending cash for the shortfall (needed at least 400 more). So I spent what I had to grab a new special commander related to these ships (10 pt) and the rest on credits (can never have enough). 

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Continuing to slow-grind my Seasoned commander (Suzuki) on Satsuma. I should switch to a lower tiered ship but I like playing by myself in a supership-only Co-Op game because I like the "peace and quiet" plus I get to know the characteristics of the other superships, especially the cruisers. 

Found Satsuma to be on par with Hannover and Ushakov in terms of potency. Definitely stronger than Devastation. Not played Patrie often enough to compare. But if Patrie is an upgrade on both Jean Bart and Republique then it's definitely a rival. Sensing it already from the few encounters with it. Played Maine when it was first introduced but can't remember much of its performance then so can't compare. Maybe I am confusing it with the Rhode Island? After a while they all tend to blend into the same which says more about my attentiveness and lack of skill. I could excuse myself by claiming I'm a casual player but that's not true.

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The Surcouf Salvage event kicked off today. Instantly exchanged coal for M. Colonna. Unsure about grabbing Narai simply because it's a knockoff of the infamous Tiger '59, considered the worst ship in the game. Besides, I also have the Tiger '59. But it's a quantity, and right now I collect quantities. 

Played Colonna for the remainder of the grind after initial game in Satsuma. Nice enough ship. Like the exhaust smoke which comes in handy when being focus-fired: it lasts for over a minute. HP and AP are decent enough but nothing to write home about. 

Wasn't able to improve on my 11th position in the Lunar Trials so earned only 300 tokens which tallies me up to 950. It is what it is.

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English Civil War

Tonight I resumed painting my Royalist list after a lengthy break. Started with 4 figures. Got bolder and added another 12 figures of Horse (with lobster helmets). My limit for the night. Definitely got me motivated to continue even though I wasn't able to finish the painting task.

So I will continue to finish the entire Royal horse list over the next few days if I can. This should include the remaining Horse as well as all the baggage and artillery trains and commanders and a few "floaters" - extra figures. Once done, all that remains will be the final detailing (basing, flocking, flags, etc.). Then I will parade the entire lot for posterity. Lol. 

==============================

Reviving this old project means having to recall what the Royalist Horse list comprised. Memory failed me so I did a bit of rummaging around and found the information from an earlier blog post. I should have enough but they will be outnumbered by the Roundheads who have a similar number of units but larger numbers. 

Reviewing the available rulesets, I'm staying with VWQ because it's the only one I'm familiar with. Was planning to run a campaign using TWWAE but it only deals with the period from the start to the Battle of Edgehill while my models are later period (1645). I could still run it using an adaptation but deciding not to do so. 

FK&P intrigues me. But it uses a card and grid system which I'm not familiar with. Eventually I will explore it in greater detail.

==============================

Vietnam War campaign

Need to finish this off because I'm organising a darts tournament after Easter. And therefore I need the garage space for the event. Prize are two glorious bottles of whiskey, aged through neglect. Full and unopened. Lol. 

First game will be the river patrol scenario designed and presented here months ago. Table all set up and forces prepped. Full batrep to follow. 

Next scenario is based on a true story (so I hear). An SAS recon team from NZ (4 guys) encountered a VC company and were able to extricate themselves to their extraction point some distance away without casualty while retreating over hill and dale in the j. Encounter took over forty minutes. The rules will require some modifying to accommodate the narrative. Not sure how the results will pan out however. Have to wait-and-see.

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January Digest #9

World of Warships

Finished the last mission task in the Dockyard event today and collected the last 250 steel available. Played Jean Bart which has proven itself a good ship to use in Asymmetrics. 

Tomorrow I will finish the last level in the Event Pass and collect the final reward, the Tier VI European (Greek) battleship Chios. Will play the specific missions for the three ships collected thus far in the Early Access - Tavuz, Tegetthoff, Chios. Plan to use the European tokens earned to purchase resources. Once done, I will ignore the other Early Access ships (which will cost money anyway) and await the release of this line out of Early Access two or three Updates later for free to grind. 

As for the Commonwealth Unique commander - Collins - as mentioned previously, I will wait for the release of the crates into the Armoury later this year and complete the collection spending coal. Already have a few collection tiles as rewards for various events this Update but not spending money for him at all. 

That's how it rolls with this game. And that's how to play for free (basically) WG's game. 

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As indicated in the post above, I played all three new Early Access European battleships obtained recently today. Here's my assessment so far:

• Yavus. Tier IV. Obtained for free from the Recurring Random Bundles in the Armoury as soon as the new Update was released. First ship obtained on my first attempt. Slow. Hits with the power of the German Moltke battlecruiser class from whence it originated. Has torps (four single launchers) and speed boost (only lasts for 90 seconds). Torps located amidships are paired so two can be loosed in one set. Midships turrets are in alternating alignments unlike the standard configuration. Never really encountered it within the game and it does take some getting used to. No gimmick aside from the additon of the torpedoes; at Tier IV that's uncommon so you get an advantage for sure. Against higher tiers though, this ship plays like a Tier IV and can be easily sunk.

• Tegetthoff. Tier V. Obtained as part of the current Event Pass. Interesting ship. Has the same speed boost as Yavuz well as torps that give good coverage front (handy) and side. You can even surprise an enemy pursuing you by letting loose with single firing torps as you're running away because the side angle extend back to around 40 degrees(?) from midships. Handy trick. Double main batteries bow and stern so all-round coverage. Can kite with a bite. Again the gimmick is the addition of torpedoes at Tier V. 

• Chios. Tier VII. Final reward from the current Event Pass. Simply a Mackensen clone that's been up-tiered from Tier VI to Tier VII. Also given 10+ km torpedoes as well as speed boost that looks to be the trait for this new battleship line. Some changes to the secondaries as well (now 100mm instead of the usual 80mm). AP deals around 11,000 damage per shell. Good at citadel-ing enemy cruisers as well as targeting superstructure damage on battleships. Solid performer thus far so I'm finding. Not so great against top tiered ships though. But it's to be expected. 

Just noticed there is a possible fourth ship to be had for free, the Tier VIII Enigheten. It's part of the sequential bundle package that also includes the Tier IX Gustave Den Store and Tier X Thor. Total cost is 750 European tokens to reach this ship. If you're wanting to include the Tier IX ship, it'll cost around 1800+ tokens in total. European tokens can be earned by playing the set missions for the above three ships. Or by purchasing tokens in the Armoury for doubloons. Or you pay for a quantity in the paid version of the recurring random bundles. 

The Tier VI Laudon can be had as part of a separate random bundle package (2000 doubloons per bundle).  

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Completed the Tegetthoff specific missions yesterday. Today it was the Yavuz. Just the Chios missions to go. Hoping to complete it before Update 15.1 rolls around.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles event being rolled out again. WG does this annually. This year is no different. Same stuff being offered with a price increase. No ships being offered. No. Just characters, from what I quickly saw. Definitely steering clear of this money sinkhole. Definitely not worth it.

Lunar tokens event. Basically you're placed in a group of either 25 or 50 players. Based on your performance in-game, irrespective of what battle mode you're playing, the outcomes go towards the group ranking system. The reward, for now, are tokens and the HIV crates (lol). HIV being the Honour, Integrity, Virtue collection crates, or Unique Commander Collins. Later these seemingly worthless tokens can be exchanged for CAMO or other items when Update 15.1 is operational. But no ships. One more thing: everyone in the group gets something. Hoping to grab a good ranking so I can earn some more European tokens.

Santa crates end tomorrow. Never got one of those really powerful ships - Bremen or Hawaii. Got the Aki and Le Havre though which is fair enough compensation for trying I guess.

The remaining European battleships are available for acquisition but for cash either directly (Thor) or indirectly (Laudon, Enigheten, Gustave Den Store). Still going to wait their release from Early Access in Update 15.2 (March). 

While playing the Yavuz in Co-Op today I was situated on the left flank where we dealt to the threat (lone enemy DD). Anyway, the rest of that enemy flank was making for the middle so I steered Yavuz toward that area, lined up a Myogi and began to whittle it down with AP fire. Launched torps at it once I got close enough. What I didn't know at the time but only saw too late was another set of torps making a beeline for the Japanese battleship. Mine hit first. And thus I claimed the kill. 

Suddenly Yavuz was being pummelled by friendly fire from a Phoenix to my starboard stern. Looked at the map, the Phoenix was running away from the fight. I immediately assumed my ship was the target for the pointless friendly fire because there was no enemy BOT ships in immediate proximity, i.e. I wasn't being threatened or attacked. Barrage continued for several salvos. I couldn't figure out why the Phoenix was doing this stupid act so I calmly commented in chat, "Frustration is common in this game." Thinking that it would defuse the situation. The firing on my ship stopped after that for a few moments, an apology appeared in chat explaining away the actions of a few moments ago. So I replied, "Mistakes are made, dude!" The emphasis on the "dude!" being don't sweat it. Move on. Player however continued to rant and rattle for a bit longer hoping for engagement in chat. But I wasn't playing that game. So I reported him/her/it/they/them, and continued on my merry way. 

==================================

So, a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...

Was grinding out the penultimate mission specific task for Chios (earn 6000 BASE XP) in Asymmetrics because it was going real slow in Co-Op. Anyway, in one Asymmetric game I was one of two surviving team mates: the other ship was a Scharnhorst '43. We had a tough ask though: knock out seven remaining enemy ships. I decided to plant myself next to an island on the right flank and just use my guns. The Scharnie was stationed over on the left and doing ok for itself. 

I was doing ok managing to protect myself whilst dealing damage to the enemy. But then I got impatient and moved out from my spot. Immediately got focus fired from a Kongo, Chungking, Montecuccoli and a couple of others whose names I forget. Of course I died not too long after exposing myself. 

Thought my remaining teammate would handle the remaining four because he was doing excellent work managing to rack up five kills by the time I died. 

We had the clock on our side and we were accumulating points faster than the other side. But then after knocking off more two ships, teammate decided to park between two islands and remained static. Initially thought that odd but continued to watch thinking he was up to something to help win the game. But after a few moments realizing he was doing nought, I decided to quit the game and try to join a new game before I fell asleep. Then I got the message upon quitting: Early Termination...only BOTS remain...

Huh? BOTS?

Checked back into the game. Player was still active. Quit the game again. Same message....only BOTS are left playing...

A bit gobsmacked to say the least. Ok, so here's the actual proof there are BOT players in the game. Damn!

Other than that incident, it was a pleasant enough experience although five Defeats in a row in Asymmetric with Chios forced a radical change of tactics. Although it has torps and decent enough AP, it's no brawler unless the odds are heavily in your team's favour. And she's no YOLO master, unlike the Paolo Emilio. 

Seen a WOWS YT streamer tonight post a video lauding free ships about to happen in Update 15.1. They were crowing about all the new ships they were gunning for, in particular the top-priced premium steel ship R. Lauria. So I went to WG's devblog site to check out the kerfuffle for myself. Remembered they had made an upgrade on the website. What I was able to glean from reading the devblog. 

It also cleared up why I was playing for Lunar tokens in the first place. And there was a Leaderboard for the event. Apparently the Lunar tokens will be the currency for the new Lunar New Year event being rolled out in Update 15.1 (February). And the Lauria is one of the several rewards only this time it's being renamed Tempesta Nera. 

As per usual WG confuse the issue by over complicating the event. Basically you pick a faction - good or bad - based on the backstory (which isn't too bad). Play the series of missions for that faction. Once completed you get access to the rewards - several ships depending on which prize you go for. Obviously the more complicated the missions, the more "valued" the reward. 

You gain Lunar tokens several ways with the main ones:

1. Playing the current Lunar Trials in the current Update (15.0). As briefly explained previously, you're lumped into a grouping of 25 or 50 and play your heart out FOR BASE XP. This determines your ranking on the leaderboard for your group. Where you placed after determines your rewards in Lunar tokens. Note: Every member of the groups a reward. Of course, the higher up you place, the greater the rewards.
2. Logging in daily during Update 15.1. Other rewards are gifted free as well. 
3. Playing the event-specific missions where you can earn up to 40,000 Lunar tokens in total. What the cost for the ships though is not disclosed in the Devblog.
4. Acquiring for free through random bundles made available in the Armoury. Small amount however.

You can freely chop and transfer between the two factions (there are sub groups within those factions). First time it is done for FREE. Second and subsequent floppings cost COAL. When you do switch (traitor!) any progress remains so that when you switch again, you can pick up where you left off. How convenient. There are other associated but minor details regarding the event that's not worth repeating. Check out the devblog page for yourself if interested. 

So...am I interested in the upcoming Lunar New Year event? Yes, now I am especially if it's a chance to finally grab a clone of R. Lauria. 

Update 15.1 will also see the return of the "popular" Unbreakable Front. Improved so it states. Never played the battle mode hence why I put the quotation marks. 

Also on the winds of change will definitely be a favourite of mine and a battle mode I am more than familiar with, Operations. Getting a long overdue makeover. Will certainly play a few games when it's released. 

To round out the changes, there is mention of the recalibrating moves in Brawls. To briefly sum up, there will now be three Brawls. First one is basically a torp fest where armaments effectiveness will be reduced except for torps which will reload faster and cause greater damage. Your speed improves (to dodge those torps) as compensation. So, as they claim, torp away.

The second one applies specifically to health pools. You restore your health pool the more damage you do to your opponent. Weird but okay. 

Meanwhile the third Brawl will be the standard familiar unchanged version. Whatever that is. Haven't touched Brawls in a very long while ever since they first introduced it and long before it became part of the permanent battle mode line up in Update 13.6 (July 2024). 

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Starcom Nexus

After so much game time doing it, I realised it made no sense after all doing the grid searching pattern. Made no sense in that any further exploratory discoveries would have found by now. Plus anything hidden would been of minor significance such as finding the planet with geese or the lost island. The focus now should be paying closer attention to the unfinished quests.

Problem is that when given choices on first encountering, whatever is chosen determines subsequent narratives. And if it leads to a dead end, then you're stuffed. But you don't know the future so you respond at the time of the encounter. Example: Araona Home Nest world. Cannot enter. Openly hostile towards our ship because we failed to answer their questions correctly. Plus I inadvertently destroyed the Nest World orbiting battle station after it tried to fry me with its laser batteries. Same situation in being denied access to the Provisional capital home world of the Araona Dispersed Fleet (another sub faction) although they still treat us as neutral. Cannot convince both factions that we're not Phage with whom they were engaged in a long war.

Tonight I managed to research the Sentinel Keys (after obtaining all nine of them) and was therefore able to stop the Sentinel robots from continuing with their open hostility towards us based on our transgressing their Directives 2 and 3. Learned who issued the original directives. Now if only I could make the Araonas stop mistaking us for the Phage.

Meanwhile am slowly going through the remaining active quests. About five left.

Upgraded to the Dreadnought class tonight. Modified it by adding the Axial Ultragun and the Havoc flak batteries (for mining, of course) fore and aft. Might be time to rename her from Jetson to Steel Elefant. Or Grey Bloater.

Next ship class left to upgrade to is the last and most powerful Starcom ship class, the Leviathan class. There are no blueprints available in-game so this will be made-up entirely. Do I go Star Wars Deathstar globular or 40K Gloriana-class gothic-style battleship or something altogether equally made up and ludicrous? Have to wait and see. 

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Tonight was an early session. In it, I had returned to Station Kite. Awaiting me as I popped out of the Nexus Gateway was a small fleet of now-friendly Sentinel ships. And one of them was huge. It dwarfed my Behemoth class vessel. It even dwarfed Station Kite.

No luck convincing the Aroana Nest World that I am not the Phage. In the meantime I am slowly gathering Research points so I can unravel the CMB transmissions. 

As for solving the Temple of the Fallen Gods riddle, I have no clue whatsoever where to begin my search. Planets surveyed cannot be re-surveyed which is a bummer. 

I may reluctantly have to start a new game. Advantage of knowing what I now know will help I suppose but nothing like mystery to pique the interest, as they say.  

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Jigsaw

Finally finished this I started a week ago. Initially it was straightforward doing the tree, the foreground and the water. But then the sky presented more of a challenge throughout. Was hoping to finish in one sitting but that went out the door fairly fast. No worries however. In the end, I just took my time.

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January Digest #8

World of Warships - Another Asymmetric report

The long weekend. Jumped into Asymmetrics again with Mainz, my new favourite German cruiser.

As the game summary above shows, it proved to be an interesting session with a lot more losses this time round. Not worried though because I achieved my daily goals - rewards from both Event Pass and daily coal crates. Also upskilled my captain who is now 12 point. 

Game 1: UNSURE. I believe this was a victory but I don't remember anything about this game as I died pretty quickly and early. 

Strong lineup in terms of firepower and brawling capabilities - double Valparaiso with Ipiranga. The CV was a bonus (depending on player skill of course).

Being paired with a Val I sailed confidently towards the A cap (my torps and accurate cruiser fire and the Val's firepower and brawling abilities). But I got blasted into oblivion around D4 by combined cruiser and battleship focus fire. Still, I was expecting a hard fought win by my teammates. Did not stay to take more screenshots. 

Game 2: LOSS. Made some wrong positional decisions and failed to contribute. As a result I died early. (1) Positioned myself behind the island at E6. This blocked my view of the enemy Budyonny who was free to cap B. (2) Failed to help the Chapayev racing to the middle to help out. Was too slow to come out of my hiding place and he died needlessly. (3) By the time I emerged the cap was taken and I was about to be focus fired by a total of four enemy ships. (4) Should have sailed directly into the cap, contest it against the Budyonny, and then deal with whatever would happen next. But I didn't. And paid for it.

Don't know what happened to the others after becoming a spectator but the GQ Johnny was last man standing in our loss. 

Game 3: WIN. Spawned with a Valparaiso. Again confidentally sailed for the C cap. However as I drew near I got focus fired by a Sinop so decided to use the island cover to close distance and loosed off two sets of torps at the impudent Ruskie. Then loosed off my other two sets at its companion Lyon. 

Flank secured, we moved into the centre where our Carnot did his best but was overwhelmed by numbers (obviously).  

Lost our Pommern on the right flank in the meanwhile. This just left me, Val, and Zeiten left to take out the enemy remnants who still outnumbered us. By effective and combined coordinated fire and movement, we achieved our victory. I contributed further by sinking the enemy carrier Independence and thus eliminated the pesky air threat. 

Game 4: LOSS. Two Brothers map. Interesting because we started off well enough but then one by one our team died leaving me to fight off the remnants. I tried my best but ran out of health.

The image above shows the situation I was left to confront. Took out the two cruisers Kikjduin and Chumphon capping our base. Barely had time to sigh relief when I had to quickly deal to the openly hostile Fiji charging at me. Then without respite the F. Caracciolo emerged through the gap. Loosed off torps but then grounded myself as an almost-full health Colorado appeared. Was unable to loose off more torps as I had to reverse. So used my guns and came "this close" as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, would say to sinking her. Ran out of time. Secondary battery hits from Colorado finished me. 

Game 5: LOSS. Here I made the common mistake of hesitating and dithering. Spawning in the centre can be manageable depending on where one deploys, and how one reacts to the situation. D'oh! After stating the obvious, I dithered by reacting too early to the incoming enemy fire. Then, because I had advanced too far forward, I failed to make use of the island cover to tackle the greater enemy forces coming at me. 

With a glut of target choices I froze. This hesitation cost me time and then my ship's life. I thought that I had help from the Zeiten and Tirpitz. The Val and Kitakaze I thought would hold their respective flanks. But obviously I was wrong because we lost. 

Game 6: WIN. Riposte map. Spawned in the middle. I chose to play aggressively and sailed towards the B cap. 

Doing so meant taking out the enemy cruisers first before tackling the battleships. Managed to complete the first part but died while attempting the second part. Luckily our Pommern came over to help. His assistance won the situation in the middle. 

Game 7: LOSS. Same map as previous game. Spawned on the left flank which is too open making one susceptible to crossfires from the middle. And in my case, I failed to pay attention to the threat posed by the enemy Laudon, one of the new European battleships. It smacked me as I was attempting to take on the threat to my front. I raced to use the island (H6) as cover. But I had suffered a big bite from the Laudon who was in grid G5 (see two images down).

My loss left the Hawke to deal with the Sinop alone. He could have, and should have. But he didn't. This left the remaining two teammates a mammoth task. Hipper is good enough but not in this situation; the Laudon would have smacked him to oblivion. And the Pommern had his hands full with the KGV and Gneisenau.

Game 8: LOSS. Myself and the Toulon took on the middle. I died too soon while tackling the enemy cruisers. Got one but the other escaped. Meanwhile crossfiring whittled my healthpool down fast. Left on his own Toulon had to retreat. But it was too late. Meanwhile the Rooke had decided to play chicken early in the game and sailed north. Massa B was stranded and did his best but was taken out. This left the V. Veneto to deal to the enemy on his own. 

Game 9: LOSS. Died but managed to help secure the centre. Had enormous help from the friendly Ipiranga and support fire from the Sejong. However the situation went from hopeful to dire when our left flank lost out with the enemy wiping out our friendlies and capping C. The A cap was also capped uncontested as both Valparaiso and Ipiranga were clearing the threat in the middle with me. When I left the game, just two friendlies to take one six enemy ships. The results state we lost. 

Game 10: WIN. The island stradding grids F/G5 is a natural barrier and so I simply sailed up to it and just sat there for several minutes. Allowed the enemy to cap. Then waited while the bulk sailed elsewhere before reacting. Took out the inquisitive Eendracht as I emerged from cover. Sailed into the cap and captured it. In the process of capturing, sunk the enemy Ranger, then assisted the team. 

SUMMARY. Mixed outcome as disclosed. Partial listing. 

The record (above) does not match the individual match reports. (1) Relying on memory to make these reports, and (2) my middle mouse is busted so I cannot scroll down the summary list and therefore it only shows the most recent matches. I do know I played more than nine games. 

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World of Warships - A New Day, etc, etc...

Jumped into Asymmetric with Mainz thinking to improve on yesterday's mixed results (post above). Needed a few more Base XP to complete the cruiser task for the Dockyard event.  But started the session awfully. Four losses in a row. Only improved when I stopped taking screenshots for analysis and simply played the game. 

After I had fulfilled the cruiser Base XP requirement (Dockyard event) I switched over to the battleship task. Doubt I will finish it in time and claim the last 250 steel on offer however because 42,000 BASE XP is a tall ask. Paused to decide which battleship to play among my commander upskill group. In the end went with Jean Bart. 

First run in Asymmetric it performed beautifully. Next game not so well because I was too exposed and failed to take out the destroyer early. Plus myself and the Pommern with me were being focus fired from two directions. 

Last game however was another good win and then I logged out.

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World of Warships - Jean Bart

With only eight 18" guns (two turrents in the front), you'd think this ship might struggle in the game because she doesn't possess a "funny button" or has sets of torpedoes or some other gimmick that seems the fashion these days. But nope. She's strong. She's powerful. She's a winner. Just keep her facing the enemy and avoid presenting citadels, know when to push and when not to, and you will be fine. 

Played this ship exclusively to finish the battleship task for the final Dockyard mission (earn 42,000 BASE XP). Managed it without too much trouble in the end. It took me several hours although it did not feel like the usual frustrating grind. Quite the opposite - very entertaining, to be honest.

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