Some naval scenery!

A few islands finally done for my naval games.

I have made a base for my Tour Royale, the entrance to Toulon Harbour. Used some drawings from the time and Google Maps to work out what it should look like! Made with foam, covered with filler and painted with emulsion, and drybrushed. Flocked and clump foliage applied. Trees from irregular miniatures. Play sand for the beach.

I have managed to finish my two Amera islands, the two larger ones. Decorated in the same way, with a base coat of dark brown emulsion, and drybrushed with the brown mixed with yellow. Then, play sand for the beaches and flocked and clump foliage applied (soaked in PVA and hardened first). Finally, blue emulsions for the sea. Fixed with hairspray and I will varnish too.

Aboukir Island

Here is my attempt at some scenery for my Battle of the Nile game - Aboukir (later Nelson's) Island.

I've taken a bit of artistic licence, but tried to keep it in the realms of realism.

It's blue foam, with a covering of play sand, PVA and yellow emulsion. Then, washed with Vallejo sepia wash and drybrushed with lightened yellow emulsion and magnolia. The palm trees are from Irregular miniatures.

Finally, a covering of coarse sand, play sand and my basing mix, and a few tufts of clump foliage hardened with a PVA mix.

I've added a couple of photos of the real island for comparison. 

Ship for scale!

A couple of reference photos of modern day Nelson's island:

Some naval shenanigans.....

They are done! My final three ships for the Battle of Aboukir Bay - the 74 gun Heureux, the 40 gun Justice and the 36 gun Serieuse. This means I am just waiting for a friend to paint up 2 British 74s which I will then rig, then the fleets are complete with the aid of some club friends.

Here are the two frigates - the 40 gun on the right is 'at quarters'. 

And the 74 gun Heureux. All 3 ships, like L'Orient and Peuple Souvrain which were the previous two I completed, had simple dark yellow sides so no strakes to paint.

Finally, a bit of a treat, I gave the Langton Toulon fort I got at Salute last year a quick paint:

I think I'll use some weathering powders to tone down the washes a bit, but generally pleased with it!

A bit of an update!

OK - so a busy few months! November/December saw house moving, boxes, more boxes, a trip to hospital and Christmas preparations; the festive period was spent away at various family members both over Christmas and over New Year; and with any new house there are always 'things to do', along with a (rapidly growing) baby, all of which has eaten substantially into modelling time, which has always been affected by my job as well!

The result is that I haven't been able to do as much as I would have hoped a few months ago. My wargaming collection is now sitting comfortably in my garage having spent several weeks and months stored in my car, which is good, but I have only managed to get to NBHW twice since the start of December.

However, I HAVE managed to (almost) finish my final few ships for Aboukir Bay (two last frigates to base and ratline) which (with help from some NBHW club members to the tune of 8 ships or so) means (after I've rigged Ryan's two British ships for him) that THE FLEETS ARE (virtually) READY!

Phew. That's 15 British ships (including the Brig Mutine) and 17 French ships (including 4 frigates). Thirty-two ships. I am very excited about that game, the spectacle of that number of ships across 10 feet of seascape mat, but equally concerned about running it! I will book a couple of warm up games in at NBHW beforehand.

Which brings me to my plans for 2016. The final part of the Aboukir Bay game will be to prepare Aboukir Island itself as some 'fluff' for the game board, and one or two small game resources to go with it.

After that I will see how the mood takes me!

Currently I'm keen to get back to my WW2 Soviets to paint up 2-3 battalions for Lipovec and Rostov, but then there are some other assorted projects to get my teeth into.....

So, on the 'to do list' for this year, in no particular order....

• finish the final ships, island and resources for Aboukir Bay.
• put on some warm up games and organise the big game itself.
• paint and base my 1941-42 WW2 Russian infantry.
• Look to play more Rapid Fire! and put on the battle of Lipovec at NBHW later in the year.
• paint my last two Amera islands and my Toulon fort for my naval games.
• I have a few other Napoleonic ships which are not needed for Aboukir Bay. These include a 100-gun Russian ship of the line which I am planning to paint and sell (see what my work is worth!)
• I have a host of WW2 buildings from Rapid Ruin and Airfix that I would like to paint up
• I also have a bunch of trees to base and make.
• If all that is done, I have a few Sherman kits which I plan to build and paint to expand my Normandy British forces a little.
• Oh, and have I mentioned my little foray into Lion Rampant? I didn't think so - a retinue may be on the cards......

The final one there is very much as an ideal world/wish list item. You can see I have plenty to be getting on with! I'm thinking Condoterri at the moment but would need to do some research there too.

In fact, I have made myself a little promise, that I will spend very little on wargaming this year. I don't want to fall into the habit of having a huge collection of kits, boxes and unpainted figures. All the stuff I have 'to do' I can and will use in games so I'm really keen to get those done first.

Exceptions to this lack of expenditure will be models for the Soviets or Germans at Rostov (when existing ones are painted) and new paints/brushes/terrain bits for the above/etc. 

I have already bought myself a new desk lamp to paint by!

Now, back to the new house/baby/etc.....