Wednesday 26 September 2018

Big Ship, Little Ship....Cardboard Base...



1:4800th scale HMS Hood courtesy of MY Miniatures. The model is roughly the same size as the Axis and Allies plastic version (a shade under 2 1/2") although not as tall.

Following my recent forays into the American Civil War and the Colonial (not to mention the Napoleonic naval aside of my previous post) era it is almost with a sense of relief that I am at last back in the grey wastes of the North Atlantic in early 1941. If you recall my plan originally was to use the models that come with the Axis and Allies strategic World War 2 board game as well as a similar game called Global Conflict. The scales for these models are fairly elastic with the destroyers coming in at around 1:2400th and the larger ships – which are roughly the a similar physical size – coming in at a relatively smaller scale. Initially I was going to use them as is but had a minor relapse as whilst the odd variation in scale is OK visually the difference in scale between destroyers and battleships was difficult to ignore. I opted to get some 1/3000th models from Navwar but these also look a little oversized alongside the models I have and so I shall be exchanging them for something else. As an experiment I can chalk this up to experience!

For the most part the capital ships from the two games mentioned are around the 1:4000th to 1:5000th mark with 1:4500th being the average. The 1:3000th models looked OK with certain combinations of types but wrong where it counted i.e. destroyers alongside the capital ships. Then I remembered 1:4800th as a scale.

I had posted about this scale a few years ago but like many ideas at the time it fell by the wayside. These models are small but not as much as 1:6000th and they will fit in alongside many of the major Axis and Allies capital ships. Using this scale also means that I can keep to 3” squares for the rules I shall be using (Barry Carter’s WW1 and 2 set with a side dish of Bob Cordery’s Gridded Naval Wargames)  as well as having access to a pretty good range of ship types available from the manufacturer – MY Miniatures.

The selection I need will be fairly modest and painting them will be very straightforward indeed. Naturally the models will be based using my tried and tested technique of ‘waves, wakes, names and ensigns’ and I already have a cloth I can grid, even a large MDF board if needs be, to use with them when they are finally ready.

The 3” square grid is probably going to be my naval gaming standard as it will enable me to use the very small WW2 (and WW1 in due course) models as well as the larger scratch built ACW and other vessels I am planning.

2 comments:

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

I am just sticking to my guns and keeping to 1/3000

David Crook said...

Hi Geordie,

And why not. I have owned numerous 1:3000th fleets over the years and have nothing against the scale in any way shape or form. I have at various times owned pre dreadnought French, WW1 German, WW2 British and German, WW1 Turkish, Greek, Black Sea Russian and Bulgarian not to mention Modern Russian and US.

My choice at this time is driven simply by the fact that for largish long range naval battles - WW1 and 2 - i need to use smaller models for the space I have available. For naval combat that is 'up close and personal' I prefer to use larger models and s will be looking long and hard at Cruel Seas when it comes out and for non scale specific scratch builds for the ACW and other things.

1:3000th will always have a special place for me but I have kind of moved on from it to an extent.

I am certainly discounting using it again though!

All the best,

DC