Greek Torpedo-boat No.11

The Feth-i Bülend was torpedoed and sunk by the Greek Torpedo-boat No.11 in Salonika harbour on 31st October 1912. No.11 was one of six vessels that had been built at the Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany, for the Greek navy, and she had been commissioned in 1885.

A model of Torpedo-boat No.11.

Her characteristics were:

• Displacement: 85 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 37.5m (123ft)
• Beam: 4.66m (15ft 4in)
• Draught: 1.65m (4ft 5in)
• Propulsion: A locomotive boiler providing steam to a vertical compound steam engine (1,000ihp) driving a single propellor
• Speed: 18 knots
• Complement: 20
• Armament: 1 x 57mm (3-pounder) Hotchkiss quick-firing guns; 2 x 14-inch (356mm) bow torpedo tubes; 1 x 14-inch (356mm) trainable torpedo tube

Torpedo-boat No.11 was wrecked near Mudros Bay on 13th April 1913.

The Turkish battleship Feth-i Bülend and the Russian gunboat Vesta

The Feth-i Bülend was the name ship of a class of two Turkish ironclads built for the Ottoman Turkish navy between 1868 and 1874. The Feth-i Bülend was built by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company Limited, whose shipyard was located at Leamouth Wharf (which was also known as Blackwall) at the confluence of Bow Creek and the River Thames in East London. She was laid down in May 1868, launched in 1869, and joined the Ottoman Turkish navy after sea trials in 1870.

A diagram showing the layout of the Turkish battleship Feth-i Bülend's armour and armament.

Her characteristics were:

• Displacement: 2,718 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 72m (236ft 3in)
• Beam: 11.9m (39ft 1in)
• Draught: 5.2m (17ft 1in)
• Propulsion: Six box boilers providing steam to a horizontal compound steam engine (3,250ihp) driving a single propellor
• Speed: 13 knots
• Complement: 16 officers and 153 sailors
• Armament: 4 × 9-inch (229mm) Armstrong guns
• Armour:
• Belt: 150mm (6-inch) to 229mm (9-inch) iron armour
• Casemate: 150mm (6-inch) to 229mm (9-inch) iron armour

The Turkish battleship Feth-i Bülend during her reconstruction in Armstrong-Ansaldo's shipyard in Genoa.

Despite being damaged during the Russo-Turkish War, she remained in service until 1924! She was inactive from 1880 to 1900, at which point she was reconstructed by Armstrong-Ansaldo in Genoa. She was reboilered and emerged with two water-tube boilers, which increased her speed very slightly. her armament was replaced by four 15cm (6-inch) SK L/40 guns which were mounted in the casemate, and six 75mm (3-inch) quick-firing guns and six 57mm (6-pounder) quick-firing guns on the upper deck.

She was disarmed during the Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912) and her guns were used to defend Salonika. She was then used as a barracks ship. During the First Balkan War, she remained at Salonika, and on the night of 31st October 1912, the Greek torpedo boat No.11 managed to sneak into the harbour, avoid detection, and launch three torpedoes at Feth-i Bülend. Two of the torpedoes hit the ship, and she capsized and sank with the loss of seven crew. The torpedo boat escaped undamaged.

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Little is known about the Vesta other than she was a converted steam-powered wooden merchant ship that was armed with five 6-inch mortars and two 9-pounder guns and spa torpedoes. The latter were described in contemporary publications as lance torpedoes.

The Balkan League Matrix Game Campaign: Deal of the Day on Wargame Vault

As of 10.00am US Central time today, 17th June, the PDF edition THE BALKAN LEAGUE: A MATRIX GAME CAMPAIGN INCLUDING THE PORTABLE BALKAN WARS WARGAME RULES will be the Deal of the Day on WarGameVault.com.

The price of the PDF will be $3.29 … a great bargain!

Other people's Portable Wargames: Flank marches and the Balkan Wars

There are no blog posts about other people's PORTABLE WARGAMES, and then like buses, several come along at once!

Arthur Harman has written a very interesting contribution to the PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM about how to simulate flank marches in the FP3X3PW, and he has since suggested that a couple of area be added to the basic 3 x 3 grid so that units that are attempting a flank march can be placed there in the same way that units that have yet to arrive on the battlefield can be placed in the Reserve Area. If this idea were adopted, the 'new' battlefield would look something like this:

In a reply to Arthur's comment about this, Mark Cordone replied 'I'm thinking that if both sides are attempting a flank march to the same side of the battlefield, the units involved would fight a combat against each other with the loser being the first unit to take a hit whether it takes casualties or is forced to retreat. It would then arrive in its army's reserve area on the next turn and the winner would then get to make a flank attack on its next turn. If both units take hits, both flank marches would fail.'

This seems like quite an elegant solution, and one that needs further investigation.

Mark Cordone has also been fighting a fictional battle from the First Balkan War, the Battle of Vizya, using one of his 3 x 3 terrain boards. The battle took place when a Bulgarian army launched a surprise attack on the Ottoman army stationed to the north of Istanbul.

In his conclusion, Mark states that 'This was a fun, tense game that took a little over half an hour to play and showed Balkan Wars battles transfer very well to 3 x 3 games.' In reply to a comment, he further states that 'It would be a fun Matrix Game with an opponent, or Snakes & Ladders solo. You could have three armies on the Snakes & Ladders matrix at the same time with battles whenever any of them lands on a battle box. (Ottomans, Bulgarians and Serbs and their allies.)'

This has certainly given me several ideas that I want to follow up on ... when I have enough time!

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Please note that the photographs featured above are © Mark Cordone.

The Balkan League: The Kindle edition is now on sale!

Having had several requests for a Kindle edition of THE BALKAN LEAGUE book, I bit the bullet, and it is now available on Amazon for £4.99.

As predicted, the maps are rather too small, and the graphics on the Order Counters in Appendix III have disappeared. The later are, however, copied from the PORTABLE NAPOLEONIC WARGAME book and should not be too difficult to reproduce from the following image:

Click on the image to enlarge it.

I am still trying to find a way to make the text available as a PDF, but this is proving to be more difficult than I expected.

The Balkan League ... is now on sale!

Last nigh I was informed that both the hardback and paperback versions of my latest book are now available to buy online from Amazon.

THE BALKAN LEAGUE is both a Matrix Game Campaign that can be played by a group of people as a standalone game and as a means of generating tabletop battles that can be fought using THE PORTABLE BALKAN LEAGUE WARGAME rules.

This book is divided into three parts, a set of Appendices, and a Bibliography.

• Introduction
• Part One: The Matrix Game Concept
• The origins of the Matrix Game concept
• What do you need to run a Matrix Game?
• How to conduct a Matrix Game
• Part Two: The Balkan League Matrix Game
• Historical introduction
• Maps of the Balkans in 1912 and 1913
• Player Briefings
• General rules
• Specific rules
• Resolving battles
• Part Three: The Portable Balkan League Wargame Rules
• Introduction
• Land warfare rules
• Sea warfare rules
• Appendices
• I: Map sections for the First and Second Balkan Wars
• II: The Balkan League Matrix Game Playsheet/Prompt Board
• III: Order Counters
• IV: Orders of Battle and notes about the armies
• Bibliography
• Books
• Magazine articles

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The paperback is on sale for £9.99 and the hardback is on sale for £14.99.

The Balkan League book … is almost ready for publication

The draft text of my latest book has been proofread by Arthur Harman, and I am now in the process of preparing it for publication. Once that is done, I will have a proof copy printed and if it requires no further alterations or changes, I will release it for publication.

This book is divided into three parts and a set of Appendices.

• Introduction
• Part One: The Matrix Game Concept (including a short history of the Matrix Game concept and an explanation about to play one)
• Part Two: The Balkan League Matrix Game (including an historical introduction, maps, player briefings, rules, and how to resolve battles that occur)
• Part Three: The Portable Balkan League Wargame Rules (including land and sea warfare rules)
• Appendices (including map sections, a copy of the Matrix Game Playsheet/Prompt Board, order counters, and Orders of Battle and notes about the armies and navies that took part)
• Bibliography

With luck, I should be able to release the book in hardback and paperback formats by the middle of the month.

Other people’s Portable Wargame battle reports: Mark Cordone’s third Balkan Wars battle

Mark Cordone has now fought the third of his Balkan Wars battles - the Battle of Bregalnica - which saw the Serbs and Bulgarians fighting over the main crossing point of the River Bregalnica.

As the following photographs show, the battle started slowly but eventually evolved into a slogging match that the Serbians managed to win, although not without suffering numerous casualties.

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Please note that the photographs featured above are © Mark Cordone.

Other people's Portable Wargame battle reports: Mark Cordone's second Balkan Wars battle

At the beginning of the month, I wrote about the latest additions to Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars armies, his Serbians and Montenegrins.

He has now fought the second of his Balkan Wars battles - the Battle of Kumanvovo - which saw the Turks and Serbians in action against one another.

By comparing the following photographs, it is possible to see the ebb and flow of the action during the battle.

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Please note that the photographs featured above are © Mark Cordone.

Making progress

Yesterday I was able to make progress on both my FUNNY LITTLE WARS/PORTABLE WARGAME ARMY BLACK and my BALKAN WARS MATRIX GAME CAMPAIGN book.

The artillery and machine gun units that I have been painting for the former (along with a couple of senior commanders who are on foot) have been fixed to their bases and the process of flocking has begun.

The book is split into three parts and I have finished the draft of the first two parts (the first part explains the origins of the Matrix Game and how to play one, and the second part contains the player briefings, maps, and specific rules for the BALKAN LEAGUE MATRIX GAME CAMPAIGN), and I hope to complete the third part (which will contain the BALKAN LEAGUE PORTABLE WARGAME rules) by the middle of the month.

Mark Cordone's latest additions to his Portable Balkan Wars Wargame collection

Mark Cordone has added two more armies to his Portable Balkan Wars Wargame collection. They represent the Serbian and Montenegrin armies.

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Serbian and Montenegrin Armies.

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Serbian and Montenegrin Armies.

In the Serbian Army, the Ban One and Ban Two infantry, the artillery and two-figure cavalry are graded as Regulars. The Ban Three (who are shown wearing great coats) and one-figure cavalry brigades are graded as Poor.

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Serbian Army.

In the Montenegrin Army, the five two-figure Montenegrin infantry brigades and the mountain artillery are graded as Poor, but the infantry has a +1 bonus in Close Combat to reflect their reputation for ferocity in this type of combat.

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Montenegrin Army.

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Please note that the photographs featured above are © Mark Cordone.

September’s projects

It is the start of September, and it is already two-thirds of the way through 2021. Looking back, I don’t feel that I have been idle since the beginning of January, but some of my planned projects have been put on hold.

Last month I managed to add some cavalry and mounted officers to my FUNNY LITTLE WARS/PORTABLE WARGAME ARMY BLACK and hope to complete this project within the next week by adding some artillery and machine gun units.

I also did some work on my next book, which will be entitled THE BALKAN LEAGUE. It is based on the articles with the same names that were published in THE NUGGET and WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED back in the 1990s and will contain an updated version of the Matrix Game and a new set of army-level PORTABLE WARGAME tabletop rules. I hope to continue working on this book during the forthcoming month so that it can be published in time for Christmas.

Towards the middle of this month the Masonic year will hopefully begin to get into full swing … assuming that there isn’t another interruption due to a rise in COVID-19 infections. I already have quite a few meetings in my diary, and I expect that as Lodges begin to plan what to do at their meetings, I will get lots of requests for talks. Part of my duties as Provincial Grand Orator (or ProvGOrat as my title appears on paperwork!) is to help Lodges by providing them with speakers from the small team of volunteers who work with me, although I probably do at least half of the talks myself.

It looks as if I might have a busy time between now and 2022!

Other people's Portable Wargame battle reports: Mark Cordone does it again!

I never cease to be amazed by the way that some users of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules have taken my basic ideas and developed them in different directions. I have already mentioned some of the things that Mark Cordone has done in previous blog posts (see here, here, and here), but he has now taken it a step further and has put together two armies so that he can fight battles from the Balkan Wars ...

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Bulgarian Army.

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Bulgarian Army.

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Ottoman Turkish Army.

Mark Cordone's Balkan Wars Ottoman Turkish Army.

... as well as a portable terrain box.

Mark has now refought Battle of Kirkkilesse with these two armies, and the results are truly inspiring, as the following photographs show:

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Please note that the photographs featured above are © Mark Cordone.

Balkan League book

After a rather stuttering start, I have begun work on turning my Balkan League Matrix Game and tabletop rules into a book. As I have lost the original text files from the early 1990s, I am currently transcribing the text that was published in THE NUGGET and WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED into a format that I can work with. Once that is done, I will tidy up the maps and begin laying out the book.

I hope to make the book as user friendly as possible and want to include pages that can be photocopied by users (e.g. player briefings, copies of the maps, the matrix cards, etc.). I would also like to include a set of PORTABLE WARGAME army-level rules.

I have no idea how long this book will take to put together, but it will be a project that I can work on whilst our kitchen is being revamped and in parallel with work on my FUNNY LITTLE WARS/PORTABLE WARGAME Army Black.