Gods of War: Togo; Bombardment of the port.

This year, our club has been all about naval battles, which I’m very happy about. This time, we're playing Gods of War: Togo. I suggested one of the new scenarios for the game: a bombardment of the port. Instead of ports, I used lighthouse markers, and I think this is their first appearance in a game since I painted them.

SCENARIO: No.5 Bombardment of the port.
UMPIRING: Bartek Żynda

SCENERY: Bartek Żynda, SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Bartek Żynda

1. Forces.

US NAVY

(Alasdair, Tim)

USS Iowa (Flagship, Additional fire team, Ship Mascot)

USS Indiana

USS Ericsson

ARMADA ESPAÑOLA

(Bartek, Jimmy)

Pelayo (1888, Flagship, Additional fire team, Steadfast Captain)

Cristóbal Colón

Infanta Maria Teresa

Furor

2. The Game.

For that evening, I had prepared two point variants: one for 1,000 and one for 1,500. However, it turned out to be a quieter night at our club, with only four players in our group, so I chose the 1,000‑point option. Tim commanded the American fleet and, in addition to his flagship, had the USS Ericsson, while Alasdair commanded the USS Indiana. On the other side, we divided the Spanish into two squadrons: Jimmy, as commander‑in‑chief, on the Pelayo with Cristóbal Colón, and me on the Infanta Maria Teresa and the Furor.

The situation went badly for the Americans from the start. They positioned their ships poorly—too close together—and failed to adjust their speeds. The USS Ericsson sailed too slowly and the USS Indiana too fast, causing the larger American battleship to ram and sink the smaller torpedo boats.

The Spanish finally set their bold plan in motion. Jimmy’s squadron surged ahead to obliterate the American lighthouse, while my ships held position, steel-nerved and waiting, to shield our own beacon. Our vessels were thinly armoured compared to the American warships, but we possessed one crucial advantage: sheer speed. Jimmy slammed the throttles to full, hurling his squadron straight into the widening storm of American gunfire. In this deadly exchange, the Americans held the upper hand.

Cristóbal Colón was the first to pay the price. A rain of American salvos tore into her hull, sparking roaring fires that devoured the ship and dragged her beneath the waves. Yet amid the chaos, Pelayo broke through the gauntlet. With a thunderous impact, she struck Indiana hard enough to rip open her side, sending seawater flooding into the wounded American ship.

Then my squadron plunged into action. Infanta Maria Teresa unleashed her guns on Iowa, but the shells flew wide, while an American salvo struck true, tearing into our hull and opening a dangerous leak that I barely managed to contain. Before we could recover, a second roaring broadside smashed into us and crippled my rudder. Realising that one more hit could finish us, I refused to gamble with the lives of my crew, and the cruiser pulled out of the fight.

As we fell back, our torpedo boats hurtled into the fray. They loosed two furious salvos, but the first was launched from far beyond effective range, and the second veered off target at the last moment—even though it had already left the enemy ship reeling and disabled.

The clash between Iowa and Infanta hurled the American captain into chaos. As he fought to regain control, he misjudged the ship’s course, and the great vessel tore into hidden rocks. Steel screamed, hull plates buckled, and the ship shuddered under the impact—badly damaged, yet still grimly afloat.

Forced to pull back, Iowa turned away, her guns already seeking new prey. A line of Spanish torpedo boats swept past her beam, racing in for the kill. Iowa’s main batteries roared to life. A thunderous salvo crashed down among the attackers, and in moments the sea boiled with wreckage and flame as the Spanish boats slipped beneath the waves.

Desperate, the remaining Spanish crews loosed their torpedoes and drove straight for the crippled Indiana, intent on ramming her and sending her to the bottom. But before they could strike, Iowa spoke again. Another devastating broadside slammed into the oncoming vessels, shattering their charge and saving Indiana from destruction.

USS Indiana lunged after the Pelayo, driving forward despite the water pouring through her battered hull. Riddled with leaks, the American ship still closed the distance and opened fire on the Spanish battleship. The Indiana’s salvos roared uselessly into the sea, while the Spanish gunners answered with deadly precision, each impact tearing open new wounds in her armour. Water surged in. The list grew worse. At last, overwhelmed and broken, the Indiana rolled onto her side and slipped beneath the waves.

Now unopposed, the Pelayo bore down on the American lighthouse. At knife-fighting range, she unleashed volley after volley. The night sky flashed with muzzle bursts as stone and steel shattered under the relentless barrage. Moments later, the lighthouse crumpled and collapsed, its guiding beam snuffed out. The battle was over. Spanish victory was not merely clear—it was absolute.

3. Summary

Once again, the game proved the strength of its writing. The Spanish, wisely but with some risk, divided their fleet into two squadrons, a move that saved their lighthouse from destruction. The Americans chose to launch a full-scale attack on Jimmy's squadron and nearly achieved their goal, sinking the Cristobal Colon, but this didn’t stop Pelayo’s second ship from reaching her objective. Their second mistake was sending the damaged Indiana against Pelayo, a task that should have been assigned to the Iowa. Finally, after a long wait, Tim joined the Island Ramming Club—a distinction that almost everyone in our group has earned at some point.

4. Links.

SESWC:

https://www.facebook.com/Seswc.co.uk/posts/1102295478594449

FLICKR: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720333691907

Blood Red Skies: B-26B Marauder Squadron

After a difficult, time‑consuming project, I like to switch to something simpler and quicker. In such cases, I usually paint Soviet tanks. This time, however, I didn't have any tanks waiting in the wings, but some time ago, I bought a squadron of American B-26B Marauder bombers from Campbell.

I decided to use the scheme from the box, but without any extra markings—just the standard USAF insignia. The whole project took me two days, including drying time for the paints. You can see the result now. The aircraft are in 1/200 scale and, compared to my Hurricanes, they look truly impressive. Now the Allies have real bombers, and bombing missions will feel completely different.

My next project is the Khmelnytsky Uprising, which I'll be focusing on for the rest of my work. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth will be the first topic I cover!

54mm: Duchy of Warsaw.

A project that, to be honest, took me longer than I expected: the Duchy of Warsaw in 54mm scale. Although truth be told, the figures ended up in a slightly larger scale, 60mm, to be precise, due to an oversight on my part.

But let's start from the beginning. As the 54mm scale was gaining popularity in our group, I decided to expand my collection in this scale. Because no suitable figures were available on the market, I chose to upscale Polkowski Miniatures figures, which are originally 28mm. I entrusted this task to my printer, Tomek. However, when he sent me photos of the figures with their dimensions, I forgot to compare them with the figures I already owned—and that's how this happened. The blame lies squarely with me.

Up to now, I had only owned voltigeurs, and they were generally shorter. For them, I ordered 10 fusiliers and 10 grenadiers. Overall, it doesn't look bad, and with the right perspective on the table, it shouldn't be a problem.

The cavalry, however, is a different story. I ordered some Uhlans: an officer, a trumpeter, and three troopers. Some time ago, at Claymore, I got a Guard Lancer from Michael, and now that lancer looks as if he's riding a pony next to my Uhlans!

Still, I decided to paint them regardless of the scale issue. The real problem turned out to be the bases. The Uhlans were on Warbases products, and I chose the right size for them from the start. For the infantry, though, I used bases that were too narrow, and the figures became very unstable once they were fully painted. I had to glue them onto larger bases (both are Renedra products), but in the end, it doesn't look too bad.

The worst part, however, was the painting process itself. I haven't been this reluctant to finish a project in a long time, so the final touches were done rather quickly, just to finally get it over the line. It took me three months to finish that project, even though it should have taken only one month!

Anyway, it's finally done. They're going into the box to wait for their first game. I'm taking a long break from anything larger than 28mm—it's time to move on to smaller scales.

Finally, the infantry, fusiliers, and grenadiers are painted in the colours of the 8th Infantry Regiment, while the Uhlans wear the colours of the 7th Uhlan Regiment. The pennants on their lances are of my own design.

Black Seas; West Indies Campaign: Assault on yet another British convoy.

Another game using the Black Seas rules, set in our West Indies campaign. This time, a small British convoy is trying to reach the colonies with vital supplies, while a nimble French squadron sails out to intercept them. The French must capture or sink the British merchantmen, while the British aim to break through the French blockade. This time, however, the French have a little surprise in store: one of their brigs is a Privateer, specially trained for brutal boarding actions.

SCENARIO: Jimmy
UMPIRING: Jimmy

SCENERY: SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Jimmy

1. Forces.

ROYAL NAVY

(Alasdair, Ben)

1 x Frigatte

1 x Large Merchant Ship

1 x Medium Merchant Ship

MARINE IMPÉRIALE

(Bartek, Jimmy)

1 x Brig (Privateer)

2 x Brig

2. The Game.

In our game, Jimmy commanded a brig with the Privateer rule on the French side, and I commanded the other two French ships. On the opposing side, Ben commanded a frigate, and Alasdair commanded both merchant ships. The British made one move in the preliminary round, while the French, who had favourable winds, began the first full round. The wind direction did not change throughout the game, except for a single instance when it weakened. We played on a 4-by-6-foot table. To win, the British had to move both of their merchant ships across the opposite short edge of the table. If a ship left the battlefield via any table edge, it had to spend the entire next turn returning to the exact spot where it had exited.

The French plan for winning the battle was straightforward: my ships would weaken the British merchantmen's defences with gunfire, and then Jimmy would move in to board both vessels. We engaged immediately. My ships intercepted the British convoy, but my salvos were highly inaccurate. Ben's frigate advanced on my squadron and fired a precise shot at one of my brigs, setting it ablaze. For some time, I was unable to extinguish the fire, which caused further difficulties.

Meanwhile, Jimmy had fallen astern of the convoy and again attempted to fire on the British ships—this time successfully. At the same time, my squadron tried to hold off the British frigate, which rained relentless fire down upon us. This engagement proved very useful to our plans, as we managed to draw the frigate away from the convoy, allowing Jimmy to carry out his plan. Yet before he could do so, unexpected difficulties arose.

My ships had to commit their entire crews to extinguishing the fires, leaving them unable to manoeuvre. They also ended up dangerously close to Jimmy's brig, which was burning as well. Fortunately, Jimmy's ship quickly dealt with the threat, while mine temporarily withdrew from the battlefield. I managed to put out the fires and carry out some repairs, but I had to wait a full round before returning to the fight, leaving Jimmy on his own. It looked as though the British had gained the upper hand, but that impression turned out to be false...

The British frigate also turned and briefly left the battlefield. Meanwhile, Jimmy boarded a larger British merchantman and, using his special rule, forced the British crew to surrender. My ships then entered the fray, passed astern of the merchantman, and tried to open fire on her. One of them chose to use Red Hot Shot. Such a shot is much more likely to set the enemy ship ablaze, but there is also a small chance that your own ship will catch fire—and imagine what happened: my ship caught fire! That was enough for her to hoist the white flag. In the meantime, the frigate returned to the battlefield and found herself between the captured British merchantman and Jimmy's brig. She fired on both ships, and if she missed Jimmy, she caused the merchantman to sink!

This was not the end of the British troubles. The frigate was hit in return, sparking another fire on board. She was forced to withdraw to fight the blaze, which was eventually extinguished. However, this gave Jimmy the opportunity to attack the second merchantman with impunity. He boarded her again and forced the British to surrender. In the final act of the game, my brig approached my other brig and successfully boarded her at last. The French flag was once again raised over the brig—an undisputed, though costly, victory, given the damage the French ships had sustained.

3. Summary

In this game, we used different types of ammunition on such a large scale for the first time. Although using the Red Hot Ball turned out to be the worst possible choice for me, it could potentially inflict very serious damage on an enemy ship. The most effective weapon proved to be the grape shot, which caused total destruction at close range.

As for mistakes, one was made by the British when Ben fired on his own merchant ship, causing it to sink. For such an act, the British captain will likely face a firing squad...

The French achieved another victory, but it will take them considerable time to get their ships operational again. However, the most important thing is that the British crews on the islands have been deprived of provisions and supplies, which could end very badly for them. So the campaign will continue.

4. Links.

SESWC:

https://www.facebook.com/Seswc.co.uk/posts/1102295478594449

FLICKR: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720333491890