1/1200 Napoleonic Naval Battles

Time for a change and a chance to prove that my collective efforts don't entirely revolve around tanks!

I have to confess I'm one of those wargamers who tends to sneer when I hear the mention of the words "Games Workshop". Where really, when I take a close look in my workshop at all the GW products I actually own, I'm really just an old hypocrite!

One of my favourite sets of GW Historical rules is TRAFALGAR.

 I bought these on impulse having watched a demo game at the rules' launch at Penarth Crusade a couple of years ago.

French fleet

The book is very well produced (aren't they all) and includes all a novice to this period would require.

The book is broken down into;-

1. The Rules
2. Advanced rules
3. The Fleets - ship nomenclature and descriptions
4. Complete fleet list for the Battle of Trafalgar
5. Brief history of Napoleonic Naval warfare - focused mainly on Trafalgar (surprise!)
6. Six scenarios to play out
7. Hobby guide on collecting and modelling ships (Painting, rigging etc)
8. Campaign rules and 5 further scenarios
9. Brief histories of some of the heroes of Trafalgar and the vessels they sailed
10. Reference sheets - QRS, counters, templates etc.

British fleet

The rules are suitable for most of the popular scales and include advice on gaming with models from 1/3000 through to 1/100th scale.

Each basic game turn is broken down into ;-

1. Weather phase (Wind direction etc)
2. Sailing phase (Movement)
3. Gunnery phase (yes, you guessed right)
4. End Phase (anything else not already covered)

Each is explained in copious detail and illustrated with actual examples. It uses correct nautical terms (which is nice) and explains them clearly to the uninitiated like myself.

I've read elsewhere on the interweb that these rules are in many areas (particularly gunnery) oversimplified when compared to "serious" Napoleonic naval warfare rules.  This may be the case, but  as I'm not a serious wargamer, they seem just fine to me!

The QRS, counters and template sheets are available as pdf downloads on the GWH website to avoid having to butcher you lovely rule book. I'd advise you to laminate the counters and templates before you cut them out as they get quite a bit of handling during play.

As this was never going to be my main period of gaming, i.e. just a bit of fun, I purchased seven 1/1200 metal men-o'-war from Warrior Miniatures. Whilst these models will never be up to Rod Langton's standards, they paint up well (after a good deal of cleaning up with a file! Followed by assembly with superglue) They are extremely good value - the dearest comes in at only £2.50 and really look the part.

I haven't gone as far as to rig them with cotton, but the book gives a detailed step-by-step guide on how to do this. I have based them all on Warbases mdf which I textured with a bit of PVA before painting and gloss varnishing. The name plates were created in PowerPoint and printed off the computer before laminating and cutting them out.

You need the usual handfuls of D6 as well as a tape measure to play. The ship stats are recorded on cards (again - downloadable) which if you laminate you can use again and again to record the outcomes of battle with water based OHP pens (about £1 each from Rymans).

 

So far I've only played small actions with the seven vessels I own - how you'd get on with bigger fleets I don't know. But I have to say these are great fun and I'd thoroughly recommend them as a fun diversion from the usual historical periods.

All pictures are of my 1/1200th Vessels by Warrior Miniatures.

Black Seas - First Frigate

When I bought myself the Black Seas boxed set late last year, I thought I'd have the models made in no time at all!

Experience with the two free models that came with WI left me under no illusion that these were rather fiddly little miniatures to finish to an acceptable standard.

My original foray into Napoleonic Naval warfare was using GWH Trafalgar Rules back in 2011 (http://timstanks.blogspot.com/search?q=trafalgar). For this I used 1/1200th metal castings from Warrior Miniatures. These were one piece hulls with masts and separate cast sails that were very easy to assemble and paint up.....and most importantly..........did NOT require any rigging!

So far from the boxed set I have only finished one model, a frigate.

I mistakenly assembled it completely...including the masts. This made painting the deck problematic and any future models will be assembled without masts for painting purposes!

Initial rigging using black thread. Note the blobs of super glue drying with a whitish bloom

I used Contrast paints as they worked well with a matt white primer on these models as there is lots of deeply engraved detail for the paint to flow into.

Once completed it was time for rigging.

I keep this simple. There are pre-moulded holes in the hull wall by each mast. I simply thread black cotton through these and form a triangle with the cotton secured at the top of the mast using a blob of super glue.  To speed up the setting of the glue I spray an accelarent...mentholated spirit!

I used to buy the Gale Force Nine Super Glue Accelarent from Firestorm (£3.60 per bottle) and it used to disappear in no time as it evaporates. A quick Google taught me that the key component in super glue accelarent was alcohol. A quick experiment with meths proved it works just as well and cost a fraction of the real thing!

Once these three bits of rigging were complete I run a length from the bow sprit via the main masts to the mizzen masts, fixing in place along the way with super glue.

When all this was done, I attached the ratlines. These are printed on acetate sheet and require cutting out with a sharp knife. Attaching them with superglue is a little awkward, and I found in practice they were 2-3mm too long. They look OK in most cases, just be careful to keep glue to a minimum as it dries with a white finish on the acetate.

Last job was the sails. These come pre-printed on thin card, and more importantly, pre-cut too. This speeds things up a bit!. Having pushed the sail from the sheet I added a bit of curl to them by rolling them around a paintbrush handle. hen I attach them to the appropriate mast or rig line using a single bead of superglue along the top edge only.

To accommodate the super glue and rigging at the top of the mast I cut a small notch out of the smaller sail first.

The last step,  was to attach a flag to the rearmost rigging. These come pre-printed on paper, but require cutting out with a knife. They then simply fold around the rigging and glue together with PVA.

I know they should strictly be facing the other way due to the perceived wind direction filling the sails. But you can't easily see them if you do, so I have them pointing the other way!

The very last job is to touch up the areas of superglue where it has the tendency to dry with a whitish bloom. This was done with contrast paint once again.

The finished article looks OK at tabletop distance and hopefully will prove to be reasonably robust.

The downside is fingertips coated in superglue😕

New Rules - GWH 50% off Sale

Well as a committed tight arse, I can never resist a bargain. So when I stumbled on Warhammer Historical’s 50% off Sale I couldn’t resist!

My feelings towards GW are probably similar to many others in that I’m torn between disliking the extortionate prices and the manipulation of customers, to admiring the production values of their products. As a result of the latter, I must confess to actually owning more than my fair share of their historical rule sets, Warmaster Ancients, WAB,WH ECW, Trafalgar & The Great War.

 I’ve only got experience of playing Warmaster and Trafalgar……both of which are great fun. The others I’ve bought intending playing but only got as far as reading so far.

When I saw the various forum entries advertising the 50% off sale and at the same time forecasting the iminent demise of Warhammer Historical, I thought I’d better get in there quick.

 I was amazed when earlier in the Summer they published three new rule sets in quick succession + the long promised follow up to The Great War and have been following some of the early on-line reviews with interest.

So on the back of these I took the plunge, and I am now the proud owner of the following, Waterloo, Kampfgruppe Normandy,   Over the Top & Gladiator.

Three working days late they arrived, and I finally got to sit down with them last night. It took the whole evening just to look through them all! First impressions are…..well Wow! I’ll expand on this when I’ve had time to read them through.

Black Seas - Wargames Illustrated Freebies

I tried to tell myself I didn't need Black Seas in my life.......

I already own two fleets of metal ships in 1/1200th scale and I enjoyed the GWH Trafalgar rules a lot...

And then Wargames Illustrated gave me two free Brigs in 1/700th scale for the forthcoming Warlord Games release.😉

These are great little models. Simple to assemble, nicely detailed and appear quite robust when completed.

The Brigs come two models to a sprue (there was alternatively a single free Frigate).

I've put some pictures below taking you through the process....

The hull is made up of three parts

The bowsprit simply fits into the hole on in the bow

The foremast has a rolled sail moulded on the lower spar.
 The mainmast needs to have the two horizontal mizzen masts added 

The lower mizzen mast is horizontal, the upper one is angled upwards at about 30'

And that's it! simple!

To paint the model I used a few contrast paints following the usual matt white spray primer.

The paints I used were; -

• Outer Hull sides and masts- Skeleton Horde
• Inner hull walls - Blood Angels Red
• Deck - Snakebite Leather
• Lower hull, cannon, top edge of hull, mast cross members - Black Templar

To finish these off I decided I would paint them up and add the paper sails that are downloadable from both Warlord and WI's websites.

On sheet two you can see the red guidelines to help with cutting out

I printed these out onto thin white card. The file is two pages and they should be printed out double sided so when you cut them out there is detail on both sides.

Printed as they come they are really too big even if you follow the red printed guidelines. With hindsight I think printing at 75% would have been fine.

I cut them out with a scalpel and then rolled them around a paintbrush handle to curl them. The carefully applying super glue to the cross-spars, I attached each sail one-at-a-time, and used a quick spray of accelerator to get the glue to dry instantly.

To attach the bowsprit sail I was going to have to use some cotton as the only way to fit it is to have it supported by rigging.

As I was going to do this I decided to add some basic rigging to the whole model using black cotton. Again this was added using superglue & accelerator to secure it at each point on the masts. The pictures will better tell the story I think.

Not full rigging by any means, but I think sufficient to give the look & feel of black powder era warship.

Needless to say, I weakened. I'm now the proud owner of a Black Seas Starter Set.....😚