Mini Ship Gaming

Some progress:



Here are the contents of the Haitian rebel ship package - hulls, masts, bowsprits, funnels, and deck guns!  Fortunately, there are good pics of the assembled models on the FB page, and line drawings in the Salnave's War book.  Phil (of Spithead Miniatures) also sent a helpful e-mail detailing some of the differences he decided for the models, and suggested painting guides.




After a bit of sorting, the models are ready for assembly.  I need to review my basing plan before going much further.




Last but not least, the government squadron is sorted.

A good way to start off a new year is always with a new book, or maybe even two:



We found these at the local used book store.  The ACW book is a new copy, and the Salamis book is used but in great shape.  For US$20 total, this is not a bad way to get into the upcoming year.

I have read that there is some controversy about this ACW book by Dougherty; I have the similar work by Tony Gibbons and I will try to set up a compare and contrast post in the near future.

Not really an ironclad, this is an unarmored wooden steam vessel from the 1/2400 Figurehead line:







I intend to use it as the Austrian frigate Novara.

Building this one will be a bit different from the previous ironclads, as it appears that the fore and main masts are carried over from the Figurehead sailing ship lines.  The ironclads from Figurehead have the mast as an integral part of the hull, with the sails being separate, and the sailing vessels have the masts+sails as separate pieces.  Cutting the sails from the masts would be a delicate task; it will be easier to make a new set of masts.

After a long delay, I decided to get the shipyards going again.  Here is a brief glimpse:










A couple of Austrian ironclads to get the ball rolling again.  I am cutting the masts down somewhat, as I understand the Austrians ships, at Lissa, had reduced their rigging in advance of the engagement.  It will help differentiate the Austrians from the Italians, although the hull paint will cover that!

It has been a little quiet here at this mini-shipyard, so as an aid to get back into gear I'm listing the current naval projects:

1. 1/2400 Armada - The discovery of some long-lost Hallmark ships was a pleasant surprise, but I have not done anything else to them since. The two small squadron packs contain plenty of ships for now, but I am thinking of spicing them up a bit. I discovered just the trick for that - Tiny Tin Troops has a set of flags for Armada-era ships, so that has been placed on the To-Buy list. After that, just some paint and a set of rules then I'm set!

2. 1/2400 Ironclads - Ten Italian ironclads have been mostly finished, and there are 8 Austrian ships - 5 armored, 3 unarmored - waiting. I'm hoping to try a variant of DBSA to start once some Austrians are done.

3. 1/3000 WW1 - Still work to be done on these Baltic squadrons. Rurik and Novik are still not finished, and most of the German ships are only partially complete. These, however, have been stashed away since my recent move, but just a smidge of work would get this project afloat. DBSA will be the starter rules for this project as well.


And now for the 'other' naval projects I have been puttering around with lately:

4. 1/600 Tékumel naval - Fantasy gaming in the world of M.A.R. Barker - follow this link for a little bit of info.

5. 1/1200 Half-Continent naval - Also known as Monster Blood Tattoo or The Foundling's Tale, this set of novels details a blend of the fantastic with alchemy and the 18th-century. More information on my take of the story here.


Apologies for the lack of pics, and thanks for all the votes and comments on the previous post!

Just to show that I had not forgotten the ironclads, here is a pic for you:

These projects are slowly taking shape. My order from The Last Square arrived - mostly steel bases and one Austrian ironclad, Drache - and the bases have already been put to use.


I'm using 40mm x 80mm bases for my WW1 ships. The trio on the right are the German torpedo boats... they are a dark grey with a darker grey deck, maybe too dark! I will wait until I have the bases painted but the small boys might get another, slightly lighter coat of dark grey paint for their hulls and superstructure. In the middle you can see the backbone of the Russian cruiser force - Admiral Makarov, Bogatyr, Oleg, and Bayan. And finally, still on the painting rack: Rurik and Novik for the Russians; minelayer Albatross, light cruiser Lubeck, and armored cruisers Prinz Adalbert, Roon, and Prinz Heinrich for the Germans.


The ironclads have not been forgotten:


All of my current squadron of Italian ironclads are assembled and on bases, with varying degrees of completeness. The stack of minis on the right includes five Austrian ironclads and five generic wooden steam ships. These bases are 30mm x 60mm.

Progress is slowly clicking along here - no pics though as the batteries for the camera are on the charger.

For the ironclads, I now have 10 Italian ships assembled, mounted, and with assorted amounts of paint. This is not the entire line-up at Lissa, but is plenty for the near future. Four Austrian ships and six unarmored 'generic' ships are waiting for their turn at the shipyard. I have yet to decide if I should use some of the unarmored ships for the Austrians or use them as the foundation of an Ottoman flotilla. One point that I did notice with the unarmored ships - the sails and masts are one piece, unlike the ironclads with the sails separate. A little more work will be needed to create new masts but not much more. It is odd that they are so different from their armored brethren, unless the mast/sail combos are just pieces from Figurehead's line of Age of Sail ships. I have ordered more 30mm x 60mm metal bases for this project.

In the Baltic, more loose ends are being tied up. All of the ships involved for the WW1 Götland scenario now have some form of paint applied. I probably should not call it the Götland scenario any longer, as my version is a bit different. In my Navwar order (from long ago!) I forgot to get a mini for one of the German light cruisers. That ship is being replaced by Prinz Heinrich (from WTJ); a slight upgrade there! I am also one destroyer short, so the Germans will only have six. I might need to lighten the paintwork on these destroyers - they are very dark grey. The Russians will get to keep Novik in their OOB - some sources do not mention Novik but he will be there in my games. Bases have been ordered also - 40mm x 80mm.

I promise pics when I can!

Again with the slow progress...

Just a pair of work-in-progress pics:

I sat down at the hobby table to try out an idea for the Figurehead ironclads. Almost all of these ships come with spars and sails set as a separate piece from the masts. Steam-driven ships would not normally have their sails set especially in a battle so it does look odd for the ships to be equipped this way. So, I have tried an experiment to make a ship look better:


Here is Re d'Italia with new spars added to replace the sails.


I used the original sail pieces to get the length of each spar. The new spar is a piece of thin plastic rod. Then, I notched the mast with a sharp knife at the location I wanted a spar, to maximise the surface area for the glue. Add a bit of super-glue, and the spar goes on. After it dried I added another small drop of super-glue to the join to coat over the entire area, hopefully to strengthen it.

What do you think? To me it looks good; I don't think that I will try to add furled sails to the spars. I am worried that they will break from handling during game-play, but hopefully the players will listen when I tell them to handle the ships by their base! I am also going to leave the jib and stay sails on the ship; that might be a bit too much...

Just a brief update:


Regina Maria Pia with a little bit of paint applied, and





Affondatore.

Progress has been slow through the previous month due to a really odd work schedule which should be resolved now. These Figurehead ships do seem to paint up nicely so that helps.


And the WW1 fleet has not been forgotten:



Before I set off to the balmy shores of the Med for WW1, I am going to finish off the ships for my Götland scenario. Painting is helping with my strange urge to purchase those 'lovely' French pre-dreadnoughts - I really do find the French designs to be strangely attractive!

A snippet or two of activity here:


The mini in the foreground is Affondatore, with Regina Maria Pia to starboard, mounted on thin steel bases - 30mm x 60mm - and primed. The bases are much larger than any I have used in the past, but I rather like them as there will be plenty of space for labeling and splash markers - many thanks to SteelOnSand for the tip!

But, I feel that in my haste to get them mounted I have made a slight error. The bases are very thin steel, which will probably lead to players, in the heat of gaming, to grab the mini instead of the base for movement. So, I imagine that I will add a layer or two to the bottom of those steel bases to give some needed thickness.

Also on the workbench:


Here is Re d'Italia in her packaging.




And the contents. You will notice that the fore and main sails and yards are separate pieces. I am thinking that I could just leave the sails off the mini, and add some yards. The staysails would require much more work to remove; they look OK to me as they are.



Now, all of this work on minis for Lissa has, of course, got me to thinking... Compared to the Baltic, there is a lot more naval action in the Adriatic: Greek triremes, Roman quinqueremes, Venetian and Ottoman galleys, all the way up to WW1 and beyond. Maybe I should be looking at the Adriatic more than the Baltic as a focus for my naval activity?

Just a couple of observations on the fine ironclads from Figurehead...


The first point is minor: all of the Figurehead ironclads, all of them steam-powered, have sails set. I could probably live with that point; it does not seem to detract from the models at all. But, if one wanted a bit more realism, the sails would need to go. On Regina Maria Pia and her sisters, it would be easier than others as the sails of the fore and main masts are actually separate from the mast itself. Others in the Figurehead line have the sails cast as part of the masts, making replacement of the entire piece necessary. For me, more thinking is required before getting my clippers ready.

The second point is more important, at least to me: the base is too small. I would like to put some labeling on the base itself and the included base, although sculpted with a nice wave effect, has no room for labels.


Here is Regina Maria Pia resting upon a 1" x 2" metal base. I think that a centimeter or some would be enough at the stern for the labels .


Is 1" too wide? Or maybe I should apply the label along the broadside edge of the base???

I have been slowly sifting through boxes of hobby stuff, and some surprises have been uncovered. There are some pics of some items over at my other blog, but the discoveries have not been of a naval variety, until now:




I was quite shocked to find these! These are a nice set of Figurehead Ships ironclads in 1/2400 scale. I purchased these 9 or 10 years ago, I think, at a convention in British Columbia. The dealer had them at 50% off and I bought what he had left. Figurehead's selection is based on the Battle of Lissa, 1866, at the end of the Seven Weeks War. Now, I'm not sure but it seems that I have a good selection of Italian ships, but only 4 Austrians; not nearly enough for the actual battle. There are also some 'generic' steam ships, which I think I bought with the intention of using them as Turkish ships. Figurehead minis were originally cast in England, but they are now available from Noble Miniatures in the USA.

I assembled one of these fine minis, long ago:


Regina maria Pia, one assembled and one still in the bag. The mini is in four parts: hull w/masts, 2 sails, and a base. On the assembled ship, the base is augmented by a piece of magnetic strip trimmed to the size of the original base.


Not quite 1½ inches long including the base. The mini is very nicely detailed, with individual gunports and some deckwork.


The sails are well detailed also. In all, a fine looking mini!

This looks to be a significant addition to my list of naval projects. Although I am rather short on Austrian ships, there are enough to start working on learning some rules and then building up to the full Lissa fleet rosters.