The Look of the Thing

Whilst visiting Wayland Games for club night last Wednesday evening I had a little time before the denizens of SEEMs arrived. I was not stopping long - merely to catch up with Mr Fox - as a busy day at work and a few domestic issues meant that I was not really on top form. I wanted to show Mr Fox the Axis and Allies model of HMS Hood so he could see what they are like. You may recall seeing this in a previous post - it is a nice model albeit a little ‘heavy’ looking in respect of the top hamper - but I wanted an independent opinion.

Whilst waiting around I found myself (oh look - there I am....) next to a vaguely seascaped table that measured 6ft by 4ft so I decided to see just how the model looked from a scale perspective.

The Mighty ‘Ood’ in all its pre-painted plasticness.

The above was the close up whilst the following picture shows her deployed as though in an engagement. I wanted to see how this size of model would look on the tabletop and so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked OK. I have used 1/3000th scale ships over the years equally successfully - I am of course talking about the ‘look of the thing’ - and for me the key criteria is the illusion of distance. Using smaller models makes the distances look bigger somehow which serves to make the ‘abstractness’ more believable.

There she is once again.

I have pretty much all that I need for phase one of the Axis and Allies naval set up in respect of models - I have a small order going to Historical Boardgaming for some bits and pieces - and so now the real work of painting and finalising the rules can continue.

I am pleased though with my impromptu experiment because it has in many ways justified my decision about the models I am using.

Plenty more to do though!