Off To Sink The Bismark? But With Which Rules?

While I had the camera out the other day I thought I’d snap a few quick shots of my 1/2400th World War II naval models. I picked these up several months ago off a wargamer in the USA as I had sold off my existing fleets of 1/4800th models (mostly C-in-C) and was planning on replacing them with 1/2400th GHQ models, but took this opportunity to acquire a reasonable German fleet with a couple of British Battleships (Hood & Prince of Wales) and an unpainted Japanese fleet (which is exactly what I was looking for to complement my Crossfire WW2 Pacific land forces). The vessels are all GHQ except for a few of the Japanese which are some very nice resin models (manufacturer unknown). The pictures here are the classic 1941 North Sea vessels (Battle of the Denmark Strait) – but the issue now is what set of rules to use with them…

Continue reading “Off To Sink The Bismark? But With Which Rules?”

Najewitz Modellbau Buildings Arrive

Over the past 18 months I’ve regularly looked at the models buildings and wagons (and the Berlin Tram) by Najewitz Modellbau in Germany – they look fantastic in the photos and I’ve always been keen to take the plunge – however the description of the material has always had me a bit wary – the wagons & tram and some of the smaller scale buildings being laser cut Finnpappe which they describe as “…no word for it in English dictionary is a product made of ground wood pulp. To say it is cardboard is the wrong title for it. It´s more similar to MDF, quasi ‘MDF-light’.” However the larger 1/72nd and 28mm buildings are kitsets of a resin material, the type isn’t clearly specified on the website – but I took the plunge recently and ended up ordering a selection of the 1/72nd scale buildings…

Continue reading “Najewitz Modellbau Buildings Arrive”

Some Lovely Langton 1/1200 Ships

Stumbled across these excellent efforts by Alanus, Dux Homunculorum on his blog. Check out HMS Orion (74), HMS Phoebe (36), and the French vessels Scipion (74) & Hortense (40). Wonderful stuff and another gamer going through the Langton SCAFP or Too Fat Lardies KMH or similar “which rules play best” process, as mentioned in my earlier Trafalgar vs. Signal Close Action Fast Play post. Continue reading “Some Lovely Langton 1/1200 Ships”

Trafalgar vs. Signal Close Action Fast Play

The last year or so I’ve been trying to get back into some Napoleonic Naval Gaming – initially I started out using 1/1200th Langton Miniatures (and Rod Langton’s original edition of “Hoist The Signal For Close Action“) back in the early and mid-90’s but after moving to Auckland switched to the 1/2400th Hallmark ships when Fire As She Bears (FASB) first came out (as several AWC members already had that scale). Although I purchased FASB II when it came out I never really got back into Napoleonic Naval at all for most of the last decade (i.e. 2002-2010). However in the last 18 months I have sold off all the small 1/2400th ships and reverted to the larger 1/1200th scale, and I’ve subsequently purchased “Trafalgar” and the latest editions of  both versions of Rod Langton’s rules (“Signal Close Action (SCA)” and “SCA Fast Play“), and with another AWC gamer also considering looking at “Kiss Me Hardy (KMH)” too. Continue reading “Trafalgar vs. Signal Close Action Fast Play”

Sixteen Miniatures on a Lead Man’s Chest…

Check out this fantastic looking Pirate Convention Game Sixteen Miniatures on a Lead Man’s Chest… which features some lovely terrain, ships, and figures at Fist Full of Seamen. This game was run at the Recruits Convention in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, USA, the weekend of 9-11 September 2011 by Cody Dillon, Steve Hobbs, and C.S.Christian – See Sixteen Miniatures on a Lead Man’s Chest… for more details. Continue reading “Sixteen Miniatures on a Lead Man’s Chest…”

Arrr! A Buxom Beauty: A Pirate Ship in 28mm [Part 2]

Aye!! She's a Buxom Beauty of a Pirate Ship!
Aye!! She’s a Buxom Beauty of a Pirate Ship!

Avast! Get ye grog and hornpipe smartly, lubbers, for a beauty she will be and we must Jolly the Roger! Aye!

Kieran Mahony continues his account of building a Pirate Ship to the plans by Gary Chalk (of Wargames Illustrated Magazine) from Avast! Ye Lubbers: A Pirate Ship in 28mm [Part 1].

Details Around The Deck

I added some balsa strips around the door and also made it look like there are steps between the different deck levels. I extended some of the strips up to the main deck to make a handrail…

Continue reading “Arrr! A Buxom Beauty: A Pirate Ship in 28mm [Part 2]”

Avast! Ye Lubbers: A Pirate Ship in 28mm [Part 1]

Arrr! A Pirate Ship Ye Say...
Arrr! A Pirate Ship Ye Say…

Avast! Ye Lubbers and Bilge Rats! Be here the means and way to use the contents of ye bung hole to build ye very owne brigantine pirate ship! Arrr!

A while ago one of my main gaming opponents, and Auckland Wargaming Club member, Kieran Mahony built himself a Pirate Ship for use with 28mm Pirate Figures playing GW’s “Legends Of The High Seas” (LOTHS) rules. Kieran originally published this article on his 6mm Wargaming website in 2008, but as that website is not necessarily the best place for an article about 28mm figures and scratch building a 28mm scale Pirate Ship I’ve decided to host Kieran’s article here to hopefully give it a wider audience!

Continue reading “Avast! Ye Lubbers: A Pirate Ship in 28mm [Part 1]”

World War II Mosquito Fleet 1/600th Naval

Having been recently inspired by a David Manley article reprinted* in the latest SOTCW (Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers) Journal for fast play Motor Torpedo Boat rules for World War II, I am looking to dust off my reasonable sized fleet of Skytrex 1/600th scale vessels that have been living in boxes for 15 years – since my days of playing “Fast Attack!” Looking forward to hauling these out soon so keep an eye out for some new material later in 2009 on this… I’ve been further inspired to possibly also do WWI as well just Dave G’s models available at PT Dockyard giving an indication of the vessels involved.

David Manley’s fast play MTB rules were first published in “Wargames Journal” issue 9 at the start of 2008.

The Russians Are Coming!

The Russians Are Coming! CanCon 2009.
The Russians Are Coming! The RINS Vladimir Monomakh at CanCon 2009

Colonial participation game at CanCon (Canberra, Australia) wins ‘best participation game’ of convention. Depicting the feared Russian invasion of Australia, and generously supported by Askari Miniatures who donated figures to promote the game, the guys involved have done a fantastic job! You can see the photos and read more at the Defence of Melbourne blog.

WW2 (& WW1) Mosquito Fleets

Having been recently inspired by a David Manley article reprinted* in the latest SOTCW (Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers) Journal for fast play Motor Torpedo Boat rules for World War II, I am looking to dust off my reasonable fleet of 1/600th scale vessels that have been living in boxes for 15 years – since my days of playing “Fast Attack!” Looking forward to hauling these out soon so keep an eye out for some new material later in 2009 on this… While I am mainly a fan of Skytrex 1/600th models I’ve been further inspired to do WWI as well by Dave G’s range of models at PT Dockyard showing what the possibilities are.

(*David Manley’s fast play MTB rules were first published in “Wargames Journal” issue 9 at the start of 2008).