June Digest #4

Blog site

So, it seems like this blogsite is no longer viewable for free. You need a Gmail account to access and view my posts.

Old Skool

As cool and simplifying modern technology is, there's nothing like actually building something from scratch. 3D printers nowadays only require the design file and, voila, you have a miniature. And you've got it for a fraction of the cost of a commercially-available kind. You lose nothing on exquisite detail, (depending on the type of file) and you can print as many as you want. Hallelujah to that! 

World of Warships

Changes to the Armoury happening soon. Ship rotation will be a thing from Update 14.6. Not concerning for me at the moment. 

The Legacy event is interesting for beside the new ships on offer, the amount of resources such as Free XP and coal is also pretty high and therefore enticing. Pity it costs you a pretty penny. Weighing up the worthiness of the enticement, ie can I spare a penny or not?

The Narvik to Dunkirk ended recently with a fizzle; the reward for the effort proved to be a single ship.

The Summer Festival event replacing it is a non-event insofar as the enticements also cost another pretty penny. The ships on offer - at least as far as I'm concerned - are in the Tier VIII bracket. But it's such a long way away being in the thousand token range. 

The daily tokens on offer amount to forty-five in total while the weekly one adds another one hundred. But I'm not going to spend any money to buy more tokens, so I will go as far as I can before the event ends in about two and a half weeks. 

For now, I am continuing to grind my way slowly through a selection of certains captains requiring upskilling. Of these, just two more Legendary commanders left to go - Lisboa and Swirski; a trio of Seasoned commanders - von Jutland, George Doe, Charles-Henri Honore, and the remainder of this select group include specific nationalities who are backups - Pereira (Pan-American #2), Druzhinin (Russian #2), de Ruyter (Dutch #2). There still remain plenty of others requiring upskilling.

As always, I plonk these captains on premiums, irrespective of class type, and grind away. Some from this group are fun to play like the Atlantico (Lisboa), the Monaghan (Doe), and the Kirov (Druzhinin). I say that because I like to play aggressively and am happy to YOLO into a fight, and the above ships suit that style of play. 

However, others require playing more passively, ie hanging back, firing from range and preferably under cover. This applies to the light cruisers in this group such as the Kikjduin (de Ruyter), Elli (Swirski), Dupliex (Honore), and Leipzig (von Jutland). 

The Jurua (Pereira) comes second to the Monaghan but handles itself well enough if you play to her strengths. Her single firing torps are handy and are an advantage against multiple enemy ships in a close range fight whereas the Monaghan's torps fire as a salvo set, and only from one side. So you're stuffed if they miss. Of course this is offset by her long-time US smoke. 

Boardgames

So I went into my studio earlier today searching for my sets of coloured pencils for sketching. Came across these two unopened boardgames during the rummaging.

This box set of Arkham Horror is the 2005 edition. Bought after having fun with my copy of Eldritch Horror (2013) which I had bought first. This can be solo played too. 

Bought Runewars: Miniatures Game on a whim around the same time of purchasing Arkham Horror. Not sure the reasons I gave myself, perhaps it was the fact it came with minis. I have since learned you need two core sets to fill out all the stands. Which is a bummer. Unsure whether to proceed or put it up for sale. There are expansions (new factions, etc) but it sounds too much like another wargaming project when I already have a multitude on my tabletop to-play list. 

Planning on continuing my current fascination for the Vietnam War period by playing a solo game of Phantom Leader (either 2010 or 2013) by DVG. Will check it out. 

Addendum: A quick online search tonight has yielded that FFG (Fantasy Flight Games) no longer print this game nor its various expansions. That's like nine years ago! However one place still selling the whole kit and kaboodle is Amazon although it's the first place I sighted. No doubt eBay and other online resellers will have elements of this game for sale.  

I know nothing about Arkham Horror but I understand it's still alive and still churning expansions. There is even a website devoted to the game so that's handy for newbies such as myself. 

As for Phantom Leader, I pulled out the game and spent much of tonight simply sorting out the numerous pilot cards for one of the two Cuba Missile Crisis missions. Certain Vietnam War planes were disqualified because they never existed. This limiting of planes is proving interesting. Shame there is no B-52 nor U-2 card in the game. More than likely I will go with one plane each from the available remaining pool just to see how they would fare individually in such a situation as this. More to follow then. 

Art

So, after procrastinating forever I finally got back into doing art stuff. For my first return after years, I chose an image sent to me last weekend. Had the idea of what I wanted done in my head but realising it proved another matter altogether. 

Idea, like I said, is there but execution was both poorly done and incorrect. I will attempt again anew. But with this effort, I can complete it by painting over the pencilled in image using acrylic. Or I can resume using art markers as I've started with part of the archer's cap. 

Cheers.

------------------------------------

 

June 2025 Digest #3

Vietnam War

Health issues currently interfering with this new solo wargaming project. It's been a long while since I played this ruleset so am fairly rusty reacquainting myself with the ins-and-outs. Nonetheless, the possibilities are proving exciting; making them real however is the real test.

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

Medical Break

Kidney stone pain is not nice. So distracting it's not funny. Planned gaming canned as a result. Will hopefully get back into next week.  

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

World of Warships

Been grinding for coal to access the hitherto untapped Collection containers, primarily for free XP but also to access the untapped rewards. Items are useful enough like permanent camouflage for ship types, second flags, commanders, and even ships. 

Currently completing the Always Courageous collection whose final rewards include the Tier V US premium battleship Oklahoma. Which is a pleasant surprise because even though custom camos or permanent camo are always welcomed, camo remains an accessory of no real economic value but is simply a visual cosmetic effect. Meanwhile a ship reward - however useless (so I hear) - adds value especially toward my ultimate total ship goal.   

The Legacy event in this Update is interesting but remains basically another money grab with ship rewards as the enticement. Sure, new ship chances are included in the random bundles that cost tokens, or you can buy them outright, ships like the Cambridge, Nanning, and Johnston. The GQ Johnny is also available - it is the Johnston but cloaked in its sunken camo. 

However, the enticement for me remains the resources. Today, for instance, it is the coal, free XP and Elite Commander XP I'm chasing after. One bundle type offered over half a million ECXP which was too alluring to ignore. So I've spent around AUD45 to grab both it and another bundle type that was offering 20,000+ coal. The ship rewards don't interest me; and I will continue to spend for the resources. If a ship reward pops up (it is random after all), then I won't say no.

Anyway, I used part of that ECXP haul to advance my Pan-American legendary commander (Lisboa) to the next captain skill level. And the coal was spent to make a serious dent in the Always Courageous collection. I estimate that I need another five crates. So, 15,000 coal, please.

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

Tonight I finally allowed myself permission to spend my stash of steel to complete a couple of collection. One was Always Courageous and the other Allied Heroes. Got the Oklahoma along with six special Allied commanders - all 10-pt - as my rewards for completing both. Been a slow process gathering steel which is one of the rarer assets in the game. Figured I might as well put what I do have to good use NOW instead of waiting forever to gather more from the various events in order to grab another steel ship. Given I don't play Randoms or Ranked, let alone belong to a clan and play Clan battles, it will be forever before I even get close to obtaining a steel ship ever again. So, no biggie in the end.

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

Seeing Potential

One of the more fun aspects of this hobby is being resourceful. Today I went to the local craft shop. Originally I was after some plastic counters (old skool terminology: tiddly winks) for proxy basing of my Big Men but ended with stuff equally as useful.

1. Blinds. The rules make full use of blinds to represent fog of war. They measure 8" by 1.5". Ended up with Jumbo Ice Block sticks (coloured) that measure 8" by 1". Useable therefore. Colourful as well. Simply cut two strips to .75" then combine to make one new one at the stipulated dimension.

2. (P)inned and (S)uppression markers. Found these teeny weeny alphabet dice. Plain or coloured. Very interesting option. Got two lots so there should be enough to cover. One of the dice are rounded for variety sake.

3. Big Man marker base. That's what the tiddly winks were meant for but found these plastic buttons instead. Figure fits perfect as photo below shows. Various colours. Extremely useful.

Total cost: Less than $12 for all three items - jumbo iceblock sticks, mini dice, buttons. 

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

Air Wargames

Tonight I was fortunate enough to find a WW2 version of Canvas Eagles. Managed to download the rules and aircraft profiles. Read through it briefly, and it is very much CE for WW2 airplanes. Same game mechanics throughout. Not quite 3D level but it's already earned a plus because it's familiar to CE. Finally my WW2 1/72 collection gets to take off.

There are some elements of the ruleset that I like a lot more than CE's version. The only problem will be finding bases that allow for displaying banking, climbing or diving. It's always been a challenge that was never properly addressed and resolved. So this needs another re-examination.

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

What Terrain?

Speaking of ongoing, I had a funny discussion with a gaming friend the other day regarding naval wargames and the lack of terrain being off-putting for him. I guess the simple response would be to point out that the open sea is the natural environment of naval wargames, and the lack of land formations, apart from the occasional island, rocky outcrops or coast line, is what naval wargames is quite natural.  

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

June 2025 Digest #2

Norm's Train

US modeller whose passion are trains. His works though are a sight to behold - visually appealing at a higher level than usual scratch building. His train displays are based upon real life. Highly recommended if you're interested in next level modelling utilising both standard modelling construction and incorporating 3D printing and laser cutting. An inspiration if looking for more in-depth modelling design and construction techniques. High quality, detailed, production. In some ways, he reminds me of my idol, the late great Donald F. Featherstone.

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

World of Warships

Earnings for the past two months (April and May) are as follows (from Co-Op Battle mode and all the rewards from the various WG events foisted upon us). Column one is for April while column two represents May:

In-game credits:    17,175,000        15,227,860
Doubloons:            3,650                 4,148
Grey EB:                430                    861
Green EB:              223                    376
Blue EB:                146                    103
Red EB:                  4                        24
Elite Cmdr XP:       474,000             580,675
Free XP:                 147,250              191,230
Signals:                   1,094                  786
Camo:                      25                      58
Coal:                       127,600              106,550
Premium days:        25                       26
Ships:                      1                         7
Steel:                       4,800                  4,650
Port slot:                  3                         4
Commander:            2                         3
Miscellaneous:        1,139                   1,271
Research points:      -                           -
Event tokens:           5                          10,949
Community tokens: 600                      -

Fairly steady overall. Not surprised by the absence of Research Points as they belong to probably the most expensive means of obtaining ships. That, and steel ships. 

EB stands for Economic Bonus which helps with performance rewards. Range from common (grey) to rare (red). Miscellaneous represents such items as Action reports (part of the Experimental Ships event), unique Explosion effects (recently introduced to make explosions looks "pretty"). Elite Cmdr XP is only useful for upskill captains. 

Currently gunning for more Free XP (in June) so I can participate in the next Reserach Bureau line reset. Which will be the Harugumo line. Which means I am simply following the recommended approach. 

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

New event although I wasn't aware - rehash of Soviet era warships. Played for the crates expecting nothing; ended up getting the Tier VIII Soviet premium destroyer Provorna (formerly German Z-33 and paid as war reparations to the Soviets). Not taken it out of port as yet; no intention too so far.

Card game is a simple but delightful diversion from the daily grind. Even jumped into Operations to complete one of the common mission requirements. 

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

Dunkirk 1940

On the evac mission, plonk At All Cost mod card on any ship to win irrespective of your opposing card's strength. Usually apply this winner on the two level three missions which are the most difficult. So, you need a minimum of 48 Support tokens to win at these missions but I aim for around 114 support tokens: you can boost your stockpile by playing all the support missions where you'll find opportunities to earn extra support tokens. 

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

Vietnam War solo campaign project

I will be using the solo variant of CDS as devised and promoted by Andy Bailey from Georgia, USA with some "house rules" variations thrown in for good measure to keep the narrative flowing. Core rules remain CDS, naturally.

Next, I am going to rate the various Allied "Big Men" who will be platoon-level commanders along with a couple of company and battalion level officers. NCOs, for now, will not be rated; however, should a platoon-level officer "Big Man" become casualty, the next in command (SNCO/NCO) will step up accordingly. Should company-level commanders get knocked over or incapacitated, same procedure will follow, ie someone steps up. 

All skill levels are diced randomly ranging from 2 (avg) to 4 (excellent). And these apply specifically to those undertaking the first phase of Operation Reprimand Sweep. Because they're ANZACs their skill level will be rated above average than their US counterparts. For now, these will be the BIG MEN with others added as the campaign unfolds.

6 ANZAC Bn CO - Lt.Col. Angua Kildove (AUS) = 4

A Coy 6 ANZAC, OC - Maj. Leigh Porter (AUS) = 3
A Coy 2IC - Capt. Brett Longford (NZ) = 3

1 Platoon cmdr - Joe Wilkinson (AUS) = 3
2 Platoon cmdr - Mike Sommers (AUS) = 3
3 Platoon cmdr - John Galbraith (NZ) = 4
4 Platoon cmdr - Peter Jensen (NZ) = 3

C Coy 6 ANZAC Bn, OC - Maj. Bruce Ford (AUS) = 4
C Coy 21C - TBA

9 Platoon cmdr - Kyle Simpkins (AUS) = 3
10 Platoon cmdr - Bill Hollis (AUS) = 3
11 Platoon cmdr - Ken Jackson (NZ) = 3
12 Platoon cmdr - Malcolm Ledbetter (AUS) = 4

Commanding the tanks - Ross Kilpatrick (AUS) = 3
Commanding the APCs - Miles Ramsek (AUS) = 3

NZSAS det - Capt. Mike Heeley (NZ) = 3

Next step will be to lay down the terrain for the table according to the solo variant rules. 

Phase 1 - Secure main road

The scenario will begin with a sweep through the village of Lang Dong Nam on the main route through the area. A Coy 6 ANZAC are leading the sweep in an inverted triangle formation on foot after demounting from APCs and trucks. 

Company headquarters and 4 platoon are in reserve. 

A Coy's mission will be twofold:

• sweep and clear the town of any possible enemy threat
  
• provide protection for a team of mortars that will set up therein
• secure town the for further use as forward Bn HQ

On call is direct artillery support from the NZ 162 bty at Firebase Montenegro. Air support will be also available via USS Abilene carrier group but the threat perceived is deemed low but they will be on standby should the situation deteriorate fast. 

C Coy ANZAC will remained mounted and move through and secure Ap Mo, a small hamlet a couple of kilometres along the main route. Defensive perimeter to be established. Kilpatrick's tanks will move up to connect with Ford's infantry and provide added fire support as required for the evening.

The remainder of the battalion (B Coy and D Coy and Spt Coy) will not be involved during this first phase.

Commentary: Overkill? Probably but when dealing with the VC you never underestimate their capabilities to disrupt and ruin your best laid plans. 

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

Warm up scenario: Hounds and Hare

First game tonight was a warmup reacquaintance which is a prelude to the above designed campaign. And occurs several weeks prior to the official campaign. A US infantry patrol is conducting a normal sweep in a hostile area when it encounters (surprisingly) a VC squad...

Used the solo variant for terrain placement only which uses deviation dice. Mark your table centre and go from there. Diced fifteen terrain items for this scenario. Below image shows some of the placements. 

Reverted to the basic ruleset for subsequent activities. Next thing after terrain placement (shown above) was determining the route of march for both forces (see below). I simply chose one table edge (short side) to the other for the VC. This led to a logical development. The Free World forces (an infantry platoon) would be marching from long edge to long edge (south to north). 

Once deployed the game happened pretty quick as one of the Free World squads spotted the VC. Moving up into an overwatch position, two of the squads engaged the VC who returned fire. 

But the weight of fire by the Free World fellas seemed to spook the VC who decided to flee. But the weight of fire and accuracy proved decisive as the VC unit suffered heavily losing all bar two in quick succession. The survivors surrendered. Unfortunately the VC commander was one of those killed. 

Still the Free World patrol enjoyed great success. 

Conclusion: Quick warm up game. Been a long while since I last played this game. However, as this is an ongoing campaign game, things are about to develop very quickly...

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

June 2025 Digest #1

Charlie Don't Surf scenario - Introduction

Recent intel scored a doozy today. Routine air cav patrol mission stumbled upon the greatest VC find in months. Flying back from their actual mission, over My Goh they accidentally but fortuitously spotted a VC formation out in the open. How this incredible find came about is unknown but immediately Area HQ despatch a Special Forces (SF) team into the area to scout and gather more information and reconfirm the sighting. 

The area is noted as being neutral (thus far) but heavily infested VC and no local friendlies within 25 kilometres. The nearest friendly is Fire Support base Montenegro (coords 334982/916777) which contains a battery from 162 Bty RNZA and a small mech company from 23 RAR.

Photos below were taken by the Little Bird attached to the air cav patrol.

Sighting was visually confirmed by multiples on board both Hueys and contributed to the immediate response by the Area commander - Big Joe. 

Estimation: A small ten-man patrol sighted bearing small arms moving west. Purpose: unknown. 

Area is known as being hostile-free with many locals abiding the overbearing terror of their fellow Vietnamese but preferring to get on with their agricultural lives. Paddy fields are bare (harvested no doubt). A possible family plot given only three crude dwellings sighted? 

SF patrol to confirm the identity as well as trace the movements of the sighted VC if possible. 

Update to follow...

May 2025 - Part 5

World of Warships

Replayed a 3 year-old Clyde Plays YT video on how to reset lines for Research Bureau points. I expect the values for credits and Free XP will have changed even if the RB points have not. As Clyde explains, it's very expensive but I have a handle on his method. Just have to stockpile the necessary Free XP needed, so it should take a few months given I only play Co-Op. 

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

Long grind but finally completed the final bonus steel reward in the Dockyard event. No more steel left to grind. 

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

The Dunkirk 1940 card event looks complicated, but it's not. Pretty simple really. 

But you do need loads of Support tokens. You can readily obtain 8 playing any mission in whatever mode, but it's the early run towards the prize within the card game itself plus the rewards of support tokens from successfully won daily support and evacuation missions - that will help you to grow your stockpile of essential support tokens quickly. For once you have over one hundred-plus, then you can pretty much speed-run toward the ship prize.

How?

Just buy and place the win-at-all-cost modifier on every ship card. The mod costs 12 support tokens each. That's why you need to have a ready quantity of support tokens. 

So (1) just keep earning those support tokens regularly to keep your stockpile high and (2) place the win-at-all-cost mod on every ship for every evacuation mission. Regardless of difficulty (class 1 to class 3). Which looks silly when my yacht (worth 98 power points) beats the enemy artillery (worth 203 power points) but that's how to exploit this game within a game.

WeeGee didn't exactly think this one out properly. Plus, they made it overly complex by way of explanation.

There are two distinct mission types - the first is the supply (blue) missions which are in the north-west corner of the map board (above) while the other is the evacuation (red) phase in the south-east corner which coincides with the beleagured coast of France. Progression happens only in the second mission type through the winning of evacuation points. 

You can only attempt the ten missions daily. And only the five red evacuation missions advance you toward the prize.

Got the Gallant soon enough once I realised how the game plays. Now I'm just playing for the resource rewards, mainly Free XP but happy to take the coal. 

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

A rare enough feat for me happened today. Sunk 7 ships in a Co-Op game. Bit fortunate how it came about. The only other surviving player was sailing away from the action which allowed me to grab the kills after I had managed to survive my flank. 

Rather than ignore them entirely, I tried to involved by openly outlining my plan in chat to take out the remaining enemy ships. To their credit, they turned around and started helping. Mind you the player was speaking in a foreign Asian tongue all the while responding. 

In the end, it was a positive outcome. Given the past few negative experiences I've faced these past few days in the game, the feat cheered me up after a long day grinding. 

But I managed the feat two more times. In different ships. In different subsequent games. Different days. 

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

When WG split due to the Ukraine war, the part that stayed in Russia rebuilt itself into the identity we WOW players know as Lesta. Different name for their version. And it managed to thrive and prosper. But their success has since drawn the eye and interest of the Russian authorities who recently seized their assets amid concerns the company was conducting itself contrary to the interests of the state. The management tried to have an open public trial but the Russian government aren't having any of that nonsense. Expect the outcome therefore to go the way all closed trials in Russia are conducted. 

Glad now I did not start an account with Lesta. Tempted but I don't speak Russian.

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

Another useful and entertaining way of earning Free XP is to spend coal on the collection containers. Something I don't mind as I've got all the coal ships I really want. 

Managed to start and complete both the 2nd Anniversary, the 3rd Anniversary collections. Got some quantity of Free XP. Also got 2000 doubloons as well. 

Then I finished the Heroic Clash collection scoring some Free XP there. By then I had used up most of my stash of forty-five thousand coal on these three collections plus single crates from two others. 

Looking at the next collection to target for Free XP. Will stay in the low one thousand coal per crate bracket for now. But first I have to stockpile more coal so will grind the Experimental ships for the quantity of coal over the next few days. 

Some of the more expensive collections (as seen above) will have to wait until I have a large coal quantity. For now I will stick with the 1000 coal container collections with each crate in this grouping costing 1000 coal. 

I've since completed the Belle Epoque, the British Destroyers, and the Viva la France collection. Currently grinding the Battle of the North Cape collection. 

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