What I've Been Painting...

Between weather, schedules and an annoying habit of finding myself in the hospital, gaming opportunities have been a bit sparse.  Fortunately it doesn't preclude painting.  So with a shameless lack of modesty, here are pics of stuff from my workbench.

Ottoman Sipahis from a commision job.

The Assault Group figures I believe.  For an Imagi-Nation army.

Next some Tatar light cavalry.

Same company for the same Imagi-Nation.

They were fun to paint.

Repurposing to an extreme.  Here my harbor is guarded by a...

Pencil sharpener.  A post on The Miniatures Page put me onto
it.  6USD from Walmart.

I love 1/600 ACW ships but am often frustrated by the comparative
lack of Confederate "cottonclads."

So I started building some.  Some parts from my gubbins box
and we're ready to go.

It was hard to have a clear idea of specifics, lots of contradiction.

This is a Thoroughbred metal miniature.

My goal is to have the ships for the Battle of Memphis.

A pair of Vospers in 1/300.

The light makes the decks more yellowish.  It is a tan color.

Some pictures I found had a dark deck but I assumed air
superiority and left them a natural wood color.

A 1/2400 Micronaught model of the USS Farragut.

A trio of early war (for us), DDs.

Three Fletcher class DDs, also in 1/2400.

Quite possibly my favorite destroyer design in history.

Hopefully things will improve on the various fronts and I can do more game-related posts.  Painting is fun and relaxing but best is too:

Napoleonic Sail Action

The Gentlemen of Leisure gathers for a small naval engagement using my 1/1200 Napoleonic era sailing ships using the venerable but still enjoyable Wooden Ships and Iron Men.  We were supposed to be six so the scenario I prepared had six British ships of the line and three frigates (one Razee) against a mixed force of French, Spanish and (Yes!) American ships.  The latter headed by the historically not-finished-in-time ship of the line USS Franklin.  I know, but I painted them and wanted to see them in use.  Unfortunately in the random draw of commands I didn't get them.

With only four players at game time we randomly left off the French and one group of British.  The allied fleet had the larger ships but the British had the quality edge, though all were determined by using a chart for each nationality so there were surprises.  Each fleet started with favorable wind.  Our regular haunt at Adventure Games played host.  Hex cloth was created ages ago with iron-on transfers.

British line with HMS Shannon 38, Powerful 84, Vanguard 74,
Royal Sovereign 98, Swiftsure 74 and off line HMS Pallas 32.

Front: USS Franklin 74, Santisima Trinidad 136,San Telmo 74.
Back row: USS President 44, USS United States 44, Artimise 40.

A signals snafu throws the British line into confusion.

The poor Shannon fouls the Franklin, breaks free and is pounded
by the allied fleet.

The fouling puts the allied fleet in some disarray, giving the
British a chance to reorder.

 An optional critical hit table was used that led to the early demise of several ship's officers.  Suffice to say the "Preble's Boys" would not be doing further service.

The Royal Sovereign deals some serious hurt to the Franklin.

A trio of French ships makes a belated appearance including
l'Orient 120.  The wind  keeps them from closing too fast.

The Shannon finally strikes, alone and battered.

The Americans and Spanish pull back a bit to join forces with
the French who ignore them a sail on.

The French ship Achilles is chastened for her boldness as the
British commander makes signals.

So in the face of the superior numbers (9 to 5) even the vaunted Royal Navy had to abandon the Shannon and retire.  Getting the jump on the allies by raising full sails there was no way they could be caught except by the American frigates who aren't that good.  If the third British group had been used it would have been a closer fight.  As it was only the generally poor crew quality of the Spanish kept the British in the fight.  Even so it was a fun engagement and a bit of a departure from our usual close and batter each other.

Action off the Cape

The call went up for sailing ships so I turned to my trusty old Avalon Hill game, Wooden Ships & Iron Men.  Hex based and a d6 game, players with a little experience can easily handle four ships of the line, maybe more.  With just four players and no playing time this year we had HMS Vanguard and Goliath as large 74s, Swiftsure and Culloden as common 74s.  Three crack and an average crew.  The French had the Bucentaure 80, Achilles, Spartiate and Redoubtable all 74s and featuring average crews, and finally the Athena 64 with a crack crew.  The French have an extra ship and the biggest, but the difference between an average and crack crew is large so I felt it fairly balanced.  As another advantage, I gave the British the weather gage.

The French squadron, several ships unable to hold formation.

The British quickly turn into the French while others straggle.

No table talk was allowed unless ships were in neighboring hexes.  Flag signals could be no more than six words.  Since it was a small table I didn't worry about repeating signals down the line or potential errors reading them.

First shot of the game, totally ineffective.

Here the Bucentaure and Redoubtable fire, but with little success.

Redoubtable could fire a full broadside at the Goliath, or a partial
against the Swiftsure.  Being a bow rake, she took the latter.

Attempts at formation are tossed aside (as usual) and we get to grips.

Nelson supposedly said before Trafalgar "No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."  Our captains largely followed that principle, sometimes to their detriment.

The Swiftsure and Achilles have fouled their rigging and are in
a pounding match.  

The Bucentaure was pounded into a wreck and struck her colors on turn 16.  In the raging fight no one could take time or crew to put a prize crew aboard.  This was to later matter.

The Swiftsure grappled the Achilles, but was forced to strike.
A prize crew was immediately put on board.

The Goliath took a critical hit which shot away her rudder.  Unable to steer and fight, she put up full sails and left the table.  Alone somewhere, repairs could be effected.  The crew of the Bucentaure, not yet prisoners, went to work patching holes in the hull.

Swiftsure gets underway with a French flag flying.

Collisions or near misses abounded, while the guns never cooled.

Culloden found herself surrounded and pounded as Vanguard
tries to help.

Culloden fires both broadsides, but can only reload one.

The Athena is ravaged, rolls two sixes, and explodes!

All that is left of a fine ship and crack crew.

The Spartiate puts up full sail and races ahead of the Culloden to
cut off her escape.

After 23 turns and three hours+ play we wrapped it.  The Swiftsure with it's prize crew sailed off table.  Goliath escaped to fight another day.  The Bucentaure rehoisted their colors after the British left and made repairs to be towed home.  The consensus was that Culloden was not going to escape.  The battered Redoubtable had taken a repairable rudder hit and had sailed out of the action.  Spartiate was in good shape and the Achille was also badly damaged.  Vanguard sailed away to search for the Goliath.  So in the end two common 74s were taken against the loss with all hands of the Athena.  A tactical victory for the French.  Nice to get out the 1/1200 ships, a mix of GHQ and Skytrex models.