Category: Status

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What are human rights in war?

Rules of war (in a nutshell) – Source: International Committee of the Red Cross

To look deeper into human rights in war, I have looked to the internationally general accepted rules. Please be aware that this is a quite modern creation, which was first negotiated after world war 2, and updated several times.

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.
Protection of the civilian population
Article 51 — Protection of the civilian population

1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.

….

4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:


(a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective;

…
5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:

(a) an attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and
…
6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.

…

Some parts of article 51 of Protocol I, Convention of Geneva Source: ICRC

Looking at these rules, it is easy to find violations on these rules. Only looking at the world war 2 all sides did make use of these kind of attacks. Think on the Luftwaffe bombing on London, Rotterdam and other cities. But also widely used on allied side, bombing German cities and the American nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.But even in modern times, it is still happening. Think about some Israeli attacks, US drone and anti terrorist attacks in the middle east. US shoot down of Iran civilian airplane in 1988 (Iran Air Flight 655). And before mentioned wars of Ethiopia.

In modern times these violations are often overlooked or other wise dismissed by the actors. Or research on these items otherwise blocked or hindered. A good example is the research on the downing of flight MH17 in Ukrainian. Were both sides blame each other, and Russia actively hindering the research and spreading a lot of disinformation. In my research I have read trough some international court cases of Eritrea and Ethiopia, on the Badme war. And it is quite difficult to determine what is actually a civilian or military target.

As example, there was a new Electricity plant in Eritrea. It was bombed by Ethiopia. Is this a tactical target and military objective as it powers the military air base? Or civilian as it is the power source for the whole city, and the civilian side of the air base? May the people suffer because the military have a base close by, and do have mobile power plants in case others are brought down. It was a very confusing case. In this case the power plant was considered military valuable, and therefore a legitimate target. But it did increase the suffering of the inhabitants of the city, and reduced the first aid capabilities to the city, because no civilian planes could land on the airfield anymore.

It has learned me a lot of new insights. War is always dirty, even if the good guy is fighting it. And people will suffer, both when it is a violation against human rights and when it officially is not. Next research case will be civilians in war games.

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Dutch Jets spotted

A little week of holidays past, to take a good rest. I did not spend anything at wargaming. But last saturday I visited the Dutch Air Force Open days, at Volkol Airbase, and took some pictures of Dutch planes.

  • Nice view on the rear of a F-16
  • Newest addition to the Dutch air force, F-35
  • Nicely decorated F-16 tail
  • Weather was not very good, but did give some nice effect on this C-130
  • Hawker Hunter with friendly pilot
  • And old Cold war bird still flying today, Dutch Hawker Hunter
  • Four F-16 Fighting falcon, in simulated bomb run

But there where also some guest from other countries.

  • Belgian F-16 solo display in nice scheme
  • Red arrows leaving for Britain
  • Nice old Saab Viggen
  • The Saab Viggen flown by a 71-year old pilot
  • Danish F-16 with some flares

Some new inspiration to go ahead with Cold war Dutch air force.

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Roundels of War: Ethiopian – Somali – Eritrean

I finished the books on the Ogaden war and the second volume on the Ethiopian Eritrean conflicts. For the project I try to create I am planning to have the air force of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somali. With all the photos in the book, I determined what the different roundels for the aircraft would be. For Somali and Eritrea this was quite easy. But the Ethiopian air force is quite challenging, and multiple different roundels can be found. Even the information on Wikipedia is incomplete. But I came up to the following roundels.

Ethiopian Air Force

The Imperial Ethiopian Air Force Roundel from 1941-1974. Multiple different shapes of the star in the middle can be found. With more sharper points. This roundel was replaced in 1974 but was still used on older planes for long period of time. So coexisted with newer versions.

The Ethiopian Air Force Roundel from 1974~1998. The roundel has been replaced with the next version, but can still be seen on older planes. Coexisting with both other designs, and can be spotted still today.

The Ethiopian Air Force roundel of present day. Introduced just before the Badme war. 1998~now.

Somali Air Force

Somali Air Force roundel, introduced after the creation of the air force in 1954 and still used up today. It is very similar to the USAF roundel from 1942-1943.

Eritrean Air Force

The Eritrean Air force was only created in 1994 when it gained the Eritrean Independence. It started with old Ethiopian planes. Roundel is used up to today.

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Mustering a Retinue

1629, During the siege of ‘s Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, the Spanish and Imperial troops launched a diversion attack on the Veluwe area. This attack was performed to relief the threat of the Siege, and try to create panic under the civilization. It raised to several Siege to several cities, but also sacked a lot of smaller villages and dwellings.

The main forces were considered Spanish, but for a large part came from the Imperial armies. Around 18000-20000 men where gathered from the Imperial forces under command of Ernesto Montecuccoli. And a further 8000-9000 men came from the Spanish army under command of Hendrik van den Bergh.

Hendrik van den Bergh gathered the men on 17 July 1629 near Cuijk, and passed the Maas river with boat bridges on 21 July. It slowly progressed and created a bridgehead in wait or supplies. On 10 August Enesto Montcuccoli joined the forces and both headed land inwards. Their aim was to lay siege to a couple of cities, mainly smaller ones. They didn’t have siege equipment, so mostly relying on fear. During this few months a lot of smaller groups were pilaging the different villages and farms in between. Around the end of august they had conquered some cities, like Amersfoort. But it didn’t relieve the pressure of the Siege of ‘s Hertogenbosch, so the Spanish Imperial retreated.

Map of the conquest of te Veluwe, Netherlands 1629; By Claes Jansz. Visscher in 17th Century

I think this history will lend itself quite good  for Pikmans Lament, to play out all the little skirmishes and pillaging missions. To start I want to create my first retinue, which are the defending troops against the invading Spanish/Imperial forces. Because my home town was also pillaged, and it did have a fortified home and landlord he will be the officer of my retinue. Although not all details will be completely historical.

Officer Willem van Scherpenzeel (~1590-1636)

The family Van Scherpenzeel has been the owners of the “Heerlijkheid” Scherpenzeel from around the 13th century as landlord. These landlords where knights in “kwartier” (quarter = district) Veluwe. I have found that is father Johan van Scherpenzeel participated in multiple knightly meetings of this district. Around 1590 Willem van Scherpenzeel was born, and he would take over ownership of the house Scherpenzeel in 1619 when his father died. I couldn’t find any other details at this moment, except that he didn’t have any children, and died in 1636 and left the house to his sister and her husband. Alida van Scherpenzeel and Hendrik van Westerholt. From that time on the house was not owned by the family “van Scherpenzeel” anymore.

A reenactor as officer during the Slag om Grolle event on 20 april 2012.

Age: ~39
Rank: Ensign
Honour: 10
Basic trait: Ineffectual

His background I have described above. Because there is not a low known about him, didn’t have a wife and was not very precise in his administration, I have given him the trait of Ineffectual. This is a mostly negative trait, but hope it will play out without to much hassle.

Reenactors marching to the battlefield, depicting the Spanish and Imperial troops for the Battle of Grolle. During the Slag om Grolle event on 20 april 2012.
Company Veluwe

You are only a officer when you have command over a unit. Because of Willem is part of the “kwartier” Veluwe, I will just call the company Veluwe. It is probably not an historical name. To allow multiple actions the company will have multiple different units, which might be used in different scenarios. Probably I will never table everything together. Also because I will use the Pikemans Lament rules want to be able to test the different units, I will have them all available. Historically it would probably only have some pike and shot as most of the army was used in the siege of ‘s Hertogenbosch. The company has the following available units:

Inspection of the troops before battle. During the Slag om Grolle event on 20 april 2012.
  • 1 unit of lancers (Elite gallopers)
  • 2 units of dragoons
  • 2 units of Trotters
  • 5 units of Shot
  • 2 units of pike
  • 1 unit of Clubsman (which might double as neutral civilian party in some scenarios)
  • 2 regimental guns when appropriate
  • Some loose musicians and onderofficieren (as Agitators and Heroes to spend last couple of points and boost morale)
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Ernst Casimir at the Siege of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Painting of
Pauwels van Hillegaert in 1635

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HMS Glasgow and HMS Brilliant sunk in Falklands

Last week I played some Missile Threat in the Falklands with my father. As I was painting the house, I did not have time to write this report earlier.


HMS Glasgow (type 42) and HMS Brilliant (type 22), still unpainted from the collection of my father.

The scenario is loosely based the attack of the HMS Glasgow (type 42) and HMS Brilliant (type 22). Forming a Type 42-22 combo. In our scenario the two ships are patrolling, with two harrier on CAP mission in the vicinity. The Argentinean are planning two attack with two flights of two a-4 Skyhwaks and a flight of two mirages. All equipped with bombs. The Skyhawks are coming in low (level 1) over land, to avoid detection, and mirages are entering on just cruising height somewhat behind.

Begin deployment. The ships are patrolling in the south, two Hariers on CAP in the West, and three flights of attackers approaching from the North-East. The Mirages and two of the Skyhawks are still unpainted from the collection of my father. The Hariers and the other two Skyhawks are from my own collection and painted up. The map is from my father, he designed himself with google earth images and let it print on PVC.

Because the Harrier where some distance away they would not intercept before the first attack. Therefore the first pair of Skyhawks came in low and fast and took the ships by surprise. Damaging the HMS Glasgow, keeping her crew occupied with saving the vessel. So already the air defense of one of the ships was taken out. The Harriers had closed in, and on of them fired a sidewinder on the first pair, from a large distance. This missile tried to track them but was in the end out ranged, and missed. The second harrier spotted the other two waves and tried to get a advantageous position.

The Harrier launches a sidewinder from long distance, just before the first bombs hit.
Blue dice is aircraft number (Argentinean blue, British red) Black dice is height and yellow dice the speed.
The sidewinder will eventually miss, but the attack is successful heavily damaging the ship. Knocking it out of action. Th HMS Brilliant was still unaware.

The second wave of Skyhawks closed in too quickly and the Harriers couldn’t prevent the attack. The HMS Brilliant was alerted by the previous attack, and was shooting with Medium AA, but the AA missles were not ready. One of the Skyhawks did attack the already damaged HMS Glasgow, and was hit again, sinking the ship. The HMS Brilliant was hit and lightly damaged.

Although now on Battle stations, the HMS Brilliant couldn’t do anything to prevent some minor damage.

The Harriers started to get behind the multiple attackers. Performing some advanced maneuvers to align their guns. They got some hits, wounding one of the Mirage pilots. But this was not enough to stop them, and the Mirages sunk the HMS Brilliant on the next attack. One of the Skyhawks was less lucky, and got shot down after it already had released its bombs.

The Hariers try to shoot down the attacking planes. Mostly with gun attacks.

Then the fight was over quite quickly, the Harriers went back to the carrier as there was nothing to defend, and the Argentineans went home bingo on fuel.

The causalities of the game. One Skyhawk shot down by the Harriers, and two ships sunk.

This was a good scenario, we had hoped the ships would have a bigger impact with their air defenses and that is why the British lost so much. Therefore this was a mayor victory for the Argentineans, as they only lost one Skyhawk, but sunk to ships.

The Missle Threat rules are very interesting and fun to play. But sometimes a little challenging to remember all the pilot actions. (When to perform a pilot check, and which attacks are allowed on which moment) Only the missiles feel a little strange. IR guided missiles are much easier to fire. And do not perform that much differently than radar guided ones. So it is very beneficial to have IR missiles over radar guided ones. Probably will play more games in the future. Hope to do also some solo campaign with the Ethiopian air force.

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Small Falkland conflict painted

After priming the planes yesterday, I have done a quick painting session this morning after church. I have painted the two Skyhawks and two sea Harriers. I am happy with the results. I could have worked longer on the details, and the free hand markings are not completly streight. It does look the job, and on table will probably look fine.

The inspiration for the colors did came from a decal manufacturer which has a lot of decals of unknown conflicts. Allthough these decals are for a different scale, the instructions on his website were a good guidance.

Website Dpcasper.cz

Maybe I will paint some extra details, like the exhaust and wheels on the Harriers on monday. But probably will spend some time on creating a scenario.

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Quick little Falklands

For my birthday I received some Tumblingdice aircraft. Two Harriers, two a-4 Skyhawks and two MB-339 planes. The last two will be reserved for the Eritrean air force, the others will be used for a quick paint up for the Falklands war. We will have a gaming evening next Tuesday I hope to finish it in time, so we can do a try out for the conflict. My father is doing a larger project, with extensive naval and air forces but his forces are still taking some time to be completed.

Next to these planes I already created an Avro Vulcan from scratch earlier and I had some mi-24 Hinds left in stock which I also based and primed.

Hope to be finishing the Falkland planes over the weekend. So they will be ready for a game. Still have to think about a scenario. I am thinking about some alternate history, were the British didn’t have the newest Sidewinder missle yet.

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Spanish civil war air encounters

With the Dutch air war of the world war 2, I will have a German early war air force. To expand the options to play, I want to re-purpose a part of these planes and use them in an other conflict.

When I started searching for suitable conflicts, were I could re-use the german planes, I quickly landed at the Spanish Civil war. I don’t know a lot about this war, but I will research this in the future. I did a quick search on the most common planes used in the war, and have assembled the following list. Hope this will provide an adequate force to use in the future.

German Condor Legion

  • Messerschmidt Bf 109
  • Junker Ju 87
  • Heinkel He 111b
  • Henschel Hs 123

Spanish Republican Air Force

  • Polikarpov I-15
  • Polikarpov I-16
  • Tupolev SB

This is a side project and it has not a high priority. The main reason to create these list beforehand and short descriptions is; that it is cheaper on postage cost to order larger packages. Therefore I might order all the aircraft together for the different projects, this will also apply to the decals. Do not expect any updates on this project in the near future.

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Dutch Cold war airforce project

After playing Missile Threat a couple of times with modern aircraft, I find the rules very engaging. One drawback I encountered, aircrafts after the 1980s do have a lot of missiles, which results in easy hits. Dogfights are therefore quick encounters, of who passes who first and fires the most rockets. A lot of times the speed is very high, which results bypassing each other too quickly, and then spending multiple turns to get in position agian. So I started to search for earlier aircraft types, were rockets are less efficient and guns still have a major impact. Starting with the Soviets this would be the Mig 15, 17 and 19. I staterd looking for historical conflicts, such as Taiwan strait conflict, Korea war, Suez crisis or Vietnam war. A lot of these conflicts do have nice planes, but not all the planes I like. 

A F-86 Sabre in colors of the 32 Tactical Fighter Squadron, without its engine, outside of the Dutch National Militairy Museum

As a child, I have been often to the Dutch Militairy Airforce Museum Soesterberg. There they did have almost all the planes which flew during the cold war, and a lot of the second world war planes. The planes I like have been influenced largely by these visits, as I could walk under those, and touch them. And on special occasions sit in the cockpit.

For the reasons mentioned above, I hope to do a project with the most important planes of the Dutch Cold war period, and have created an aircraft list in preparation.

Dutch Airforce

  • Gloster Meteor (1948-1958)
  • Republic F-84 Thunderjet (1952-1956)
  • Repubplic F-84 Thunderflash (1956-1963)
  • Hawker Hunter (1955-1968)
  • North American F-86K Sabre (1956-1964)
  • Lockheed F-104G Starfighter (1962-1982)
  • Northrop NF-5A (1970-1991)
  • General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon (1979-)
  • Sud Aviation Aérospatiale Alouette III (1963-2015)

American forces under Dutch Command (32 TFS)

  • North American F-86 Sabre (1955-1956)
  • North American F-100 Super Sabre (1956-1960)
  • Convair F-102 Delta Dagger (1960-1969)
  • McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II (1969-1978)
  • McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle (1978-1994)

Soviet and Warshaw pact opponents

  • Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-15 “Fagot” 
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-17 “Fresco”
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-19 “Farmer”
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-21 “Fishbed”
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig -23 “Flogger”
  • Soechoj Soe-7 “Fitter”
  • Ilyushin Il-28 “Beagle”
  • Tupolev Tu-16 “Badger”
  • Tupolev Tu-22M “Backfire”
  • Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear”

For the soviet list it will be a general list and the aircraft marked with a red star. There have been some historical incidents during the cold war. For example a Polish Mig 23, which violated Dutch airspace without a pilot. The closest Warshaw pact force, where the East Germans. But for game purpose I won’t include all the different nations, and use just the generic Soviet style decals and camouflage schemes.


A F-102 Delta Dagger in colors of the 32 Tactical Fighter Squadron, outside of the Dutch National Militairy Museum

Most models will probably be purchaced from TumblingDice, in scale 1:600, with maybe some PicoArmor models. I have already seen that not all planes are available, so might have to be a little creative for some parts.

Probably I will make also some ground forces, air defences and targets. Hope to create a Nike Hercules Battery, although they are not in the rules yet.

Nike Hercules in Sunset, , outside of the Dutch National Militairy Museum

National Militairy Museum.

The Militairy Airforce Museum Soesterberg is the predecessor of the current museum. They have moved and combined it with the army museum, and is now called National Militairy Museum, located on the old Soesterberg Airbase. The cover photo, is a Mig-21 at the outside of the Museum