AKULA’s South China Sea Project (pg4 second Chinese Carrier)

[AKULA]

A new project - one that has been planned for a while, but on a subject that is now creeping into the news.

The plan:
Modern Naval 1/1250 scale, centred primarily upon operations in the South China Sea.


DDG 170 Lanzhou Chinese Type 052C Destroyer - Albatros metal kit

Background:
The South China Sea contains vast untapped fields of oil and natural gas, and sits astride one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world (about $5trillion of goods pass through it every year, on c250 ships per day). The two most significant island chains - the Paracels and Spratlys - are claimed by various nations that border the ocean, including China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Phillipines, Malaysia and Indonesia. China has sole control now of the Paracel islands (having expelled the Vietnamese militarily in 1974), but the Spratlys are hotly disputed - China claims control of the whole of the South “China” Sea, while it is known in the Phillipines, as the “West Phillipines Sea”. Various claimants have embarked upon a programme of building bases across the Spratlys, by a combination of deep dredging, and concreting coral reefs.

From time to time, China has tried to deny access to the vessels of other nations, but the US, UK and others continue to maintain “Freedom of Navigation” patrols - the most recent, by HMS Albion was buzzed by Chinese fighters, and shadowed by a Chinese frigate.

It is this background that I intend to use for a campaign, where tensions have escalated into a shooting war.

The models will be a combination of resin, metal, diecast, plastic and 3D printed, plus possibly some scratch builds.

Will write some rules (eventually) - as usual with the emphasis upon fastplay.


CG-59 Princeton AEGIS cruiser - a HobbyBoss plastic kit


Tanker - a Triang Minic diecast



A test piece - A small scratch built island outpost, with some items from my bits box.

[S_P]

That looks great- will follow this with interest.

[OSHIROmodels]

Looks promising and good to see you back at it 

[Marine0846]

A very interest subject.
With the stuff China is doing in the area,
I see this as becoming a shooting war in the next few years.
I shall be following what you do.
Love your ships.

[voltan]

How are you planning to do the zombies at that scale?

[AKULA]

How are you planning to do the zombies at that scale?

 

No plans for zombies, but they’d be 1.5mm tall, so who knows.

[commissarmoody]

Looking forward to seeing what rules you come up with. A friend of mine was talking about gameing this very same thing last week. But we really don't have a good rule set for it.

[voltan]

I'm kinda torn with this project, in some ways I want to see what you end up with, in others I'm worried it'll set me off on my own naval warfare project.

[ChargeDog]

I have not much interest in wargaming naval stuff myself but always like seeing it

Looking forward to seeing what you get up to!

[Arrigo]

A bit perplexed on the scale (and CG being bigger than islands)... but lovely works.

As rules I am partial to Harpoon and it is not that complicated (I am probably a minority, but with a ocuple of ships per side is actually reasonably simple) when it is used to simulate a specific engagement (ASW, ASuW, or AAW) with few ships. If you want to do everything at once is another problem.  You can link engagement in campaigns.

Shipwreck is much simpler, but lose a bit in small engagements.

I have seen excellent adaptations of DVG modern naval battles (and you can get the older version, Cold War Naval Battles, for free).  It is bare bone but... ships, surprisingly, work like they should, ships have individuality (a Spruance is different from an Adams).

Another contender could be Naval Command by Rory Crabb. I have still to lay my greedy hands on it, but David Manley seems to recommend it. I think David's opinion about naval wargames  are quite weighty.

[AKULA]

Looking forward to seeing what rules you come up with. A friend of mine was talking about gameing this very same thing last week. But we really don't have a good rule set for it.

I’ll do my best - I was thinking v.much with the emphasis upon fastplay rather than any attempt at “accuracy”...I’m looking to game with rival fleets rather than worry too much about the differences between missile systems.

I'm kinda torn with this project, in some ways I want to see what you end up with, in others I'm worried it'll set me off on my own naval warfare project.

Will see if I can push you over the edge then 


Not all of the Chinese vessels are homegrown - a couple of modified Sovremennyy-class destroyers from MML


A pair of US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers - the closest is a metal Argos model, whereas the one in the background is mostly resin from Mountford.



USS Mount Whitney Command Vessel LCC-19 - another resin model from Mountford

[AKULA]

A bit perplexed on the scale (and CG being bigger than islands)... but lovely works.

1/1250 isn’t the most practical scale, but I think they will look impressive on the table...and I’m a sucker for a good looking game.

At 1/1250 scale, a destroyer is c12cm.  For larger games I will probably use two joined/adjoining tables .... just to fit everything on - 1 per fleet.  With modern naval weapons, the range of weapons/radar makes scale a bit irrelevant - if it’s on the table you can hit it.

As for the cruiser being bigger than the island....I did say it was just a test piece - some of the smaller bases are pretty much a helipad or dock, and a radar dish/transmitter.  Rest assured though, I have plans for a larger island as well....

Thanks btw - a good summary of the rules available...as mentioned I’ll probably end up scribbling something simple down in the end.

 

[Mako]

I like it!

I plan to do something similar, with perhaps a mix of scales - 1/600th for the aircraft, most likely, and 1/1200th - 1/2400, or even 1/3000th for the naval vessels, depending upon funds availability, etc..  Probably the larger ships for air/sea attacks, and the smaller ones for bigger, naval battles.

In some cases, may just use top-down, printed images of the islands, with the vessels.

May have to use poetic license for some scenarios, e.g. sub-launched/ship-launched cruise missiles are running short, so need to send in the aircraft to pound the island bases.

Might even be fun to do some marine landings on some islands, like in WWII, using perhaps 1/144th, or 1/100th scale troops and vehicles, just because.  "Possession" is 9/10ths of the law, so I've read.

East China Sea is ripe for a fight too, and even Taiwan is looking to be under threat as well, of late.

Add in the Russians and the Japanese negotiations over the latter's Northern Islands going bad, and you've got yourself a real party in the region.

Last I read, Chinese and Russian aircraft were still testing Japan's air defenses fairly regularly, so there's plenty of room for decent scenarios over that too.

[AKULA]

Add in the Russians and the Japanese negotiations over the latter's Northern Islands going bad, and you've got yourself a real party in the region.

Well the Russians & Chinese have been conducting joint exercises lately - both land/naval.

Current plans are for the following forces:

Chinese
US
Vietnamese
British/French
Russian

Plus possible (if the campaign escalates):

Australian/N.Zealand
Malaysian
Indian

[Dr. Zombie]

Uhh this tickles all my special places.

I have long wanted to do some modern naval war. But so far I have resisted the urges. This might have pushed me over the edge.