Waffen SS Company

Another project I am starting this year is attempting to put on a game for the battle of Rostov in 1942. Not the most well known of battles, it was in reality quite one sided as the Russians chose to retreat rather than stand. However, it does have some interesting potential for a game. It saw the SS Wiking division attack alongside the Slovak Fast division while on the Russian side the NKVD caused some havoc and put up a stiff resistance in the town.

I already have the tanks for SS Wiking in the summer of 1942, so now wanted to put together Kampfgruppe Dieckman which was the force put together by Wiking to attack Rostov. The infantry was the 1st battalion of the SS 'Germania' regiment, along with a company of engineers and artillery support.

I have used the Valiant 'Classic German infantry' box as I had it and, frankly, wanted an excuse to use it! I love Valiants, really nice models.

I've also had my first go at changing heads on some of the models - a pin vice from my ship models meant I could do this now; and using Nigel Higgens (from NBHW) blog, 'view from the duck pond' on which he posted a really good video tutorial on how to do it.

Overall pretty pleased, shame no smocks for the SS, but hey, it was the height of summer!

German Artillery

A WW2 German artillery unit; a couple of 105mm and an OP unit. Just need to do some horses to pull the guns around.

Zvedza guns with Brittania crew:

And the OP team with kubelwagen, also from Britannia:

Seascape Mat

My Seascape mat has arrived from www.terrainmat.com

I like it! It is very malleable and transportable and I'm looking forward to using it. All handwoven, with a nice gloss finish.

However, I think I'm going to need a slight extension to fight the Nile battle - oh well, another one for the list!

Warhammer Fantasy

I don't play Warhammer anymore, but it was how, like a lot of people, I got started in Wargaming. I have decided to sell my small collection to fund other projects, but before they go here are a few photos!

Orc Chariot:

Orc Boss:

Orc Boyz

Orc Arrer Boyz:

Giant:

I am quite proud of that one!

I also have some Empire stuff:

General:

Spearmen:

Cannon:

Handgunners with a Hochland Long rifle

Généreux and Aquilon

My last two ships from Christmas are finished! L'Aquilon and Le Genereux.

L'Aquilon has the black strake, and was captured at the Nile.

Le Généreux was one of only two ships to get away, albeit not forever. It's ensign is now in storage at Gressenhall museum, Norfolk.

Pleased with the rigging on these!

Friday paint night in New Buckenham

New Buckenham Historical Wargamers:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.907885062597704.1073741978.302874659765417&type=1

Le Timoléon 74 gun

The second ship on my new 'Battle of the Nile' project, the 74 gun Timoléon, which was the final ship in the French line. Like several ships at the battle, it has red sides, which visually also makes a good contrast on the table.

My next two ships - the final ones from my Langton starter pack - are both French 76 guns. No ships were 'officially' 76 guns, but several of the larger 74 guns were listed as having 76 guns when captured. Three ships at the Nile - 'Spartiate', 'Aquilon' and 'Généreux' were listed as such when captured and were slightly larger than the normal 74. I will paint my ships as the latter two, which coincidentally were also red, Aquilon having a black strake.

Resources for 'Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls'

With just 2 more ships to paint, and my Seascape terrain mat due any day, my thoughts are turning to using the ships in action! 

I'm hoping to run a small game at the New Buckenham club in a month or two, probably a simple parallel engagement for 2-8 players to try out Alan Abbey's 'Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls' ruleset. It looks a good set of rules, fast to play and simple to pick up, without too much in the way of charts and so on.

Age of sail stuff has been played at club, but not for quite a while, and I'm keen to put on an enjoyable game for everyone. To help, I've worked on a few game resources.

The first set are some foamboard game aids taken from the rules and based on a set I've seen on the 'anything but a one' blog. Thanks to Clive (who writes the blog) for the idea! Clockwise these are the firing arc indicator, wind direction indicator, turning measure, and wind/speed measure.

I've also made/bought some other resources. At the bottom are simple markers to indicate ship sail settings and whether the ship is disabled or sinking. Top left is a set of phase cards I've made, showing the British Repair phase in this case and the back is an old naval map I found on google images. I've also sourced a set of Nelson playing cards to use as damage cards. 

Hopefully they will all contribute to a decent game!

Another Friday night in New Buckenham

New Buckenham Historical Wargamers:

A link to the Friday Night game at club, couldn't attend this one....

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.903949062991304.1073741977.302874659765417&type=1

80 Gun 'Guillaume Tell'

I've made a start on the French Langton miniatures. This is the first ship for my 'Battle of the Nile' project - unfortunately the British fleet was made up of 74 gun Common ships, so I will need to start that from scratch. 

I thought I would show you some of the process of putting the ships together. I use Langton's 'Painting and Rigging Guide' which I thoroughly recommend, although after doing a few of the ships I've rejigged it a bit to suit me.

First, the parts are washed to remove the release agent that the modellers use to get the parts from the moulds. I also drill the holes for the later rigging at this stage with the Pin Vice, which is a bit earlier than the guide suggests but I find otherwise it scratches the paintwork.

I then glue the sails to the masts, and the stern to the hull. I use two types of superglue for the models, with a resin-type glue for the sails/masts and stern, as well attaching the masts to the hull. I use a very thin superglue for the rigging.

The parts are then sprayed with a primer (I use grey for these ships), and the sails and masts are painted. The masts are different for the French ships to the British ones I've made before as they tended to be black, and the models came with the topgallant sails furled as well.

The deck and hull are also painted. I've used a darker colour for the French decks as they weren't scrubbed quite so religiously as the British ships which therefore had paler decks, while I also wanted the fleets to look a bit different from a stylistic point of view. The 'Guillaume Tell' had hull colours of a light yellow with a black strake so that part should be historically correct.

The masts are then attached to the hull. Blutack is good for keeping them upright while the glue dries.

Next, we come on to rigging. Quite fiddly but fun. Having the right tools is important. The bendy tweezers are really handy to help tie the knots, while I dap the glue on with the bamboo stick, which I find more sturdy than a cocktail stick. The glue is a very thin runny glue, I dab more of that on than the Guide suggests, but so far it is the only way I've found to keep the thread taut. The thread is the thread Rod Langtom recommends on his website.

Rigging complete.

Next, I prime the base and the ratlines.

I then paint the ratlines before cutting them out and sticking them with the resin glue.

The base gets a coat of navy blue, a very thin wash with the navy blue mixed with some black before I then paint on the navy again on the tops of the waves while the base is still wet. When dry I drybrush it with a turquoise blue and a sea grey.

Finally, I attach the flags (hardened and creased with the thin superglue) and glue the ship to the base with the resin glue. A final touch up of the paint and a finished ship of the line!