Recent content by Fitzwalrus

Old US Navy torpedo bomber squadron saying: "If you want to fill 'em with air, bomb 'em. If you want to fill 'em with water, torpedo 'em." :D

Oh, that Matt...... :wink: :lol:

The AP tactical system works OK if you're just sitting down to play the boardgame; Avalon Hill/Yaquinto's tactical system in Flattop also falls into the same category. If I were using any of these games as a Campaign basis I definitely would substitute VAS or some other miniatures rules for...

I have a variety of manufacturers' models in 1/2400th: Superior, Panzerschiffe, GHQ, one or two Viking Forge and some scratchbuilds. I prefer the larger scale (the GHQs are just exquisite little models) but a lot of folks here use the smaller 1/6000th ships, and have posted pictures of them...

The Avalanche Press series of games are indeed excellent: true mini- (and some not so mini-) campaigns-in-a-box. They are pricey, though, and unfortunately getting more so. At a recent Con I saw a copy of their Leyte Gulf, which covers more or less the entire invasion of the Philippines and thus...

Them's the ones! If you're going to design a nearly useless submarine, at least give it a ludicrously oversized gun! :roll: :lol: (135 degree side arcs on Surcouf... wow! :shock: 8) )

BuShips, behave yourself! :wink: There are a number of photos of the Surcouf, showing her twin 8" guns mounted in a "turret" built into the front of the large conning tower. Judging by the photos one might think her arc of fire on the 8" guns would be too restricted to allow full side arc...

Oh, there's an economically feasible alternative!! :lol: :lol: I like the Mars angle personally, but I'm sure at least one government bean-counter would make the point that it would be cheaper to raise every known WWII wreck instead..... :roll:

:lol: I had exactly the same thought.... but where do you get the uncomtaminated metal to make the clean smelters? Vicious circle...... :?

Exactly. Even if you did recover metal from merchant ships it would have to be remelted and recast before it could be used, which means you're using the smelting equipment that has alrady been used to work the contaminated steel and/or scrap, and you're right back where you started.... :roll:

I don't know how much scrap is left at Scapa (if any) but the point the original article apparently made was that most of the world's supply of even the older steel has been mixed and melted together with postwar scrap materials at some point, so there really is very little "uncontaminated"...

I'll throw in something from out in left field here. A buddy of mine who follows various scientific journals has mentioned that supposedly steel manufactured after July or August of 1945 has all picked up a certain amount of radioactivity to varying degrees from background atomic radiation...

Very pretty indeed... nice work!! 8) :D

That is the date the keel of the ship was laid in her launching slip: i.e. the day construction (as opposed to gathering materials) actually begins.

I think I'd still go with the "Slow Loading" rule, even though VAS really doesn't specify a time scale per turn. IRL a 20-minute reload time could be an eternity in the middle of a battle. In game terms allowing an IJN destroyer or cruiser division to pump out two Long Lance broadsides in two...