My ship building programme is almost complete.
All 26 English ships now built and only eight more of the Spanish to go. Thank ph#ck! It is/has been several parts tedium and several parts rewarding. Fortunately, more the latter; most of the time! :)
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| The cyber-fleets: English all completed in the middle-background (previously assembled and part-painted French behind them). Spanish, in progress, in the foreground. Since taking this photo this morning I have completed the two frigates at front of picture and put all three masts on the six 74s in the middle of the photo. So I only have to complete the 74s and construct the two 'big girls': Rayo and Santisima Trinidad. |
Thank you to all of you who have made comments, which are as encouraging as ever. It's nice to share a bit of 'show and tell' with like-minded people via these blog posts and beaut when people take the time to leave words of encouragement, suggestions or questions. I have not replied to your comments recently, so will do so via this post (which is a bit light on for content).
Naval wargaming is not for everyone—I have wondered if it is for me as well, when trying to get small bowsprits and the jib sails onto the smaller of these models! :) I can completely understand, Keith that you would not bother. I am the same when it comes to mediaeval wargaming. Besides, we all need some periods that we do not 'do', or the madness will overwhelm us, haha!
Yes, simple rigging and ratlines are the order of the day Peter/Lawrence. I have tried the same approach as you mentioned Peter, with the couple of French ships that I have experimented with so far, and am happy enough with the result.
I was determined to push through and to get all of these ships built, so it is great to see the end within sight. Painting will then begin in earnest, which will be a great relief and it will also enable me to put a bit of paint on some of my many land forces (Napoleonics and others).
These ships are not intended for the game of Trafalgar. Julian is on 'lead-electric wargaming direction' for that one and he/we will use his Ares Games 'Sails of Glory' ships, with 'Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail' as the rules. I will assist however and whenever he needs me and I am able to do so. We should have a sizeable, final playtest of the rules sometime in our late spring (late autumn for you northern hemisphere people).
My plans for these 1/3000 Navwar ships are not so grand. Nor would I have sufficient ships to do so, if I they were. Once ready, they will be for small and mid-sized actions using more detailed rules.
Coming together nicely James. The finished items should be very rewarding in themselves. I used to think Medieval wargaming wasn't for me either, but have now built three armies with three more in the pile and am enjoying playing with them far more than I ever thought I would. I still feel as though I have to find the set of naval rules, WWII or Napoleonic, that I am completely happy with.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lawrence.
DeleteThat's a real beauty of the hobby isn't it? There is enough scope of periods, figures (models) and rules for us all.
Napoleonic rules? I have a few sets listed under my 'testing rules' tab that you can check out! :)
Regards, James
Thanks for taking time to reply to my previous comments, James!
ReplyDeleteI do have a small 25mm medieval force (Scots for William Wallace/Robert the Bruce Era Wars of Independence)....they have not seen the tabletop for a good few years now!
Anything earlier has so far been avoided (except for my Shadowforge Viking Valkyries, of course!) but Early Imperial Roman's have always held an appeal, so, never say never! Boats and planes, though, dont really grab my fancy, although I can certainly appreciate the aesthetic attraction of sailing ships!
Great to have a bit of a 'conversation' Keith. Thanks for adding more info. and thoughts.
DeleteI have a few mediaeval troops, but they are Mongol or Mamluk vs Ayyubid (with a few European knnnnights thrown in). Masses of cavalry and horse archers. Not blokes in a line hitting one another with 'pointed sticks'.
Be strong about ancients as long as you can. I held off for years, then gave in around 2010. I initially restricted myself to Caesarian Romans. Now I have over 7 000 covering armies from the 'sweet spot' of Greco-Macedonian-Persian to early Imperial Roman.
It is a beaut 'period' though. Lots of different troops, various infantry, light and heavy cavalry, horse archers/javelin-armed tricksy ones, ELEPHANTS and CHARIOTS (maybe even camels).
An e-friend from Brisbane who is part of a group of 1/72 devotees who exchange occasional emails (and introduced me to the group) recently wrote: "And am I allowed to admit this? I don't actually love WW2 gaming.”
I know exactly what he meant. As a kid it was all Second World War; TV shows, movies (loved "The Longest Day" again and again), Combat comics, figures on the bedroom or lounge-room floor going eee-ewwow. ’You can’t kill that one, it's ME...’.
Forward a few years and come to wargaming the period and it does not hold the same interest. Squad level is *okay*, but nothing grand after you have done even a few small battles of Napoleonics. Then big stuff doesn’t seem to work so well, especially if lower-level commands are combined into single 'elements’. People put marvellous looking games on blogs and photos of those at shows look beaut, but you don’t have the colour, massed cavalry charges, attacks of infantry in tight formation, grand batteries of guns…
My friend Julian has/is putting together forces in 2 mm so that he/we can do it 1:1. That should be pretty groovy. Still, no gaudy uniforms or cavalry charges…
Yes I know exactly what you mean about WW2 James, it always seems better in the anticipation...and that's taking into consideration my most recent "new" collection was 28mm Blitzkrieg Germans!
DeleteThe one exception to the rule, in my experience, is 15mm using CrossFire....those rules are definitely my favourite for WW2 infantry action...armour is a bit of a bolt on afterthought in my opinion...but the way the infantry works in those rules is excellent!
James, my wife said long ago about me working on WW2 in 20mm rather than my Napoleonic troops "not very exciting to look at, no glory in the look. I did take that as permission to expand the collection.
ReplyDeleteI did get some merchant ships to set a series of pirate actions , a sadly unrealized project at this point.
That will be a good sized fleet in the end.
ReplyDeleteIt’s true that there are periods/ genres that do not particularly grab us. I thought I had all my periods years ago but I keep finding new ones. 😀
That's a lot of ships James. I've been painting some up myself but for the earlier Anglo-Dutch Wars. They're a lot of fun to paint up, how are you gonna paint them? I used Speed paints. They work very well.
ReplyDeleteGreat progress on your fleets, I'm probably better read about naval warfare than land but gaming it holds less appeal, I don't know why! I know what you mean about WW2( not sure if I'm allowed to use the shortened version but I will plow on!) I'd rather be playing Napoleonics or Pike and Shot, tentative start with late Romans, I do of course have unbuilt Early Imperial Romans and as you say the Republican/ Successor sweet spot is difficult to resist!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain