Naval Estimates

Bob Cordery's excellent tome, full of inspiring stuff like....

....these two very effective looking scratch built models.

In advance of the figures being completed for the Spencer Smith 30mm ACW project I have been giving some thought to the naval dimension. I have mentioned previously that my plan is to scratch build a dozen or so generic looking river types that will be around five to five and a half inches long, two to three inches wide and around two inches or so tall (excluding funnels). These will definitely be ‘cartoon-style’ and will not, for the most part, be designed to replicate specific types. I also plan to have around half of the total useable for either side merely by swapping the flags over. Furthermore, I will be including a monitor or two in the mix rather than just casemate types. Bob Cordery’s excellent book Gridded Naval Wargames has some very neat ideas for building similarly styled models.

Historically both sides made use of hastily requisitioned and assorted river craft so giving these the ability to serve in both navies is fine. There will a few fleet specific types – for example the Rebels will not have any monitors whilst the Union will not feature any casemate ironclads although a couple of casemate paddle gunboats will feature (USS Carondelet or similar).

I plan to use these in direct support of the land operations I will be conducting so the cartoon-style approach will be ideal, especially as I am using 30mm figures. The height of the models will help with the visual aesthetics.

The models will be made from assorted pieces of timber and various odds and ends from my scrap box. Unusually for me these ship models will not be based so no worrying about ‘waves, wakes, names and ensigns.’ As a rule they are designed very much with combined operations in mind although the odd purely naval action will undoubtedly arise. My plan is to run a small river-based series of linked scenarios or even a mini-campaign.

Many posts ago I mentioned about my acquisition of a Peter Pig hexed gaming mat. I still have this and so the size of the models I am planning have been designed with this in mind as the hexes are 5.5” across the flat sides. It would not be beyond the realms of possibility that I use a 6” long hull as a maximum but I will fall off that decision bridge when I get to it.