Finished at Last!

HMS Mimi and Toutou with HMS Fifi (ex Kingani) at the top of the picture

Graft Von Goetzen at the top with the Hedwig Von Wissman (left) and the Kingani (right). The latter has a flag but the camera angle does not show it!

No varnish dramas and with flags proudly flying! I have to say that this little mini project (should that be Mimi project?) has really given me a boost and so I am looking forward to getting them into action and also adding to the collection. There are another half a dozen or so models for Lake Tanganyika and then it will be on to the Rufiji Delta, West Africa and then the Red Sea.

Methinks that Warbases are going to be busy….

First of all though, redoing some pictures and fighting a battle, possibly two!

Lake Tanganyika - Going Forth With Mimi and Toutou

With apologies for the picture quality - Graf Von Gotzen at the top, Hedwig Von Wissman below the Graf, Kingani/Fifi - the same ship but will feature both the German and then the Royal Navy ensign following her capture and finally Mimi and Toutou. Just the varnishing needed and the all important flags and then - to battle!

Ok then, the models are built and merely need varnishing and the all important ensigns and we are ready to go! I need to get some pictures redone for Steamer Wars: Hexed once they are ready so, all being well, it should be available via the Wargames Vault next month.

The build was quite a learning curve in many ways as well as being a useful way to get back into the construction groove.

The main takeaways are as follows:

1. Plan and use plans (the internet is your friend, along with Jane’s, Conway’s and a whole host of other titles!

2. Paint items prior to assembly- especially where overhangs are involved!

3. Make sure any holes are drilled out with the right sized bit….

4. Think about ‘universal pieces’ - items of superstructure or hull that can be designed and produced by Warbases across as many models as required.

5. In short, remember the 7 P’s!

 

The First of the Few....

Ready to boss Lake Tanganyika and probably suitable for commerce raiding duties as well. 5" long and 1 1/4" across the beam. Solely painted with Vallejo acrylics and made from MDF for the hulls, elements of the superstructure, gun shields and the boats, card for the hatch covers, dowel for the funnel, bamboo skewers for the crane uprights and cocktail sticks for the crane arm and flagstaff. 

No, I am not talking about Spitfires or anything aerial related - rather the model you see above is the first of the few needed for my WW1 Lake Tanganyika project. She is the largest of the lot and is based upon or inspired by the German Graf Von Goetzen.

I am pleased with how she turned out but since that picture was taken I have had a bit of a nightmare with her! My tin of satin varnish - admittedly a few years old - seemed to have 'gone off' and after a coat of the same the model had all manner of dirty streaks everywhere although the varnish itself was lovely and satin. The result was probably accurate but not the look I was aiming for. Anyways, I have gone over the offending pieces with some fresh paint and have applied a coat of brand new varnish so hopefully all will be well. 

The other five models are painted but are awaiting their weapons which I had hoped to have been able to attend to today but for the varnish incident.

I have learned a lot from this build and for sure there are certain things I would do differently going forwards. Painting pieces prior to assembly being one of them!

WW1 in 200 Pages

Not my usual style of reading material but….

….it covers all the bases and has some wonderful battle scenes. Besides, at the cost of £1 it was too good to turn down - so I didn’t!

First piece of WW1 related news - the models for Lake Tanganyika are roughly 80% finished with everything painted but requiring final assembly, last minute touching up, varnishing and the addition of the all important flags. I shall be spending some more time on them this evening with a view to finishing them all off tomorrow. An action or two will then follow shortly - using the hexed version of Steamer Wars and Bob Cordery’s Mimi and Toutou go Forth rules found in his excellent book: Gridded Naval Wargames.

Second piece of WW1 related news - I picked up the book above at our local boot sale this morning for the princely sum of £1. It is by no means a detailed account of the battles included but serves as a good primer. It is chock full of colour pictures and some very nice battle scenes. I suppose you would class it as a coffee table book but it is nice to own and serves as a great taster for the battles of the Great War.

There are some other titles in the series - WW2, the ACW, Battles of the Great Commanders and Great Battlefields of the World.

The ACW version may be worth digging out but we shall see.

Carry On Up The Jungle By Following That Camel....

Two theatres of the Great War of a particular interest....

East Africa - obviously nowhere near as detailed as the board game Schutztruppe but a great primer all the same

The siren call of the desert.... I can almost hear Maurice Jarre's epic soundtrack to one of my all-time favourite films.....

No, this is not about the two Carry On films - rather it is fleshing out the why's and wherefore's of my current flight of fancy, a WW1 naval campaign based around East Africa, the Arabian peninsula and Madasahatta.

By a huge twist of fate - aka a convoluted internet search - and following an industrial quantity of assorted disposals, I was able to acquire the two games you see above. These are by Decision Games and are part of their 'Mini Games' series. Of the two the Lawrence of Arabia title is a solitaire game whilst Lettow-Vorbeck is designed for two players. Either way I reckon that both can be played solo - I have 'form' in doing this so it will not be a problem!

There is no real connection with my planned campaign style set up with either of these two games other than that the subject matter is of relevance. Having said that, the idea of 'point to point' movement would translate into a Portable Wargame  Campaign type of set up - especially if Madasahatta could be accorded similar treatment.

That is not something I would do BUT, I know a man that might..... :-)

Madasahatta would of course be a naval hub in all this as its location would be astride the routes into the Red Sea as well as towards East Africa. 

Needless to say I now have rather a lot to think about!

Madasahatta Meandering and Arabian Activity

A smattering of inspirational reading material for my ‘no so latest’ flight of fancy!

This is not really a new post as such - more like a ‘the story so far’ kind of thing! If you look through the Madasahatta folder you will see a number of ideas I have bounced around over the years - mainly from the naval side and incorporating Madasahatta, East Africa and the Red Sea/Arabian peninsula. Originally I worked on the basis that the German East Asia squadron - centred on the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau - headed west rather than east, to be based on Madasahatta. In fact I have acquired the models for this in 1:2400th from Tumbling Dice. 

Fast forward to today and with the Lake Tanganyika project in full flow - serious painting starts today - I am now looking to revisit the earlier idea, albeit on a smaller scale. 

Previously I had included the Goeben and Breslau, a brace of ‘I’ class Royal Navy battlecruisers, HMS Triumph and Swiftsure and a random selection of assorted obsolete cruisers etc. Looking at this from the perspective of building the models myself the project itself now will be at a lower level. There will be a degree of fudging in terms of the ships involved but being as this is designed firmly with Steamer Wars or similar in mind, that will be no bad thing. As it stands the largest ship that will appear will probably be the odd predreadnought battleship so no battlecruisers. 

As it stands the list of models to build is surprisingly small but overall there will be more work involved in the construction of them. As far as possible I will use what bits and pieces I have from stock but there will certainly need to be some bespoke pieces ordered from Warbases, mainly hull pieces.

This will be naval war of older and extemporised warships, gunboats and second line types with the odd more modern vessel - mainly of the light cruiser variety. 

As yet I have given no thought to the land side - either in Africa or Arabia - but in either theatre the rules of choice will probably be the Portable Colonial Wargame or maybe even When Empires Clash. The block armies will be used for this.

As far as naval rules are concerned I will need to think about this as Steamer Wars is fine for the gunboat level stuff but would rolling out light cruisers be a step too far? In any event I do not have to worry about that for now as the first batch of building will feature nothing larger than a gunboat or possibly an armed merchant cruiser (AMC). I will need to think about merchantmen though, primarily as targets methinks!

The Last Detail and News

Ship’s boats and the all important funnel

Cranes (left), masts and cocktail sticks destined for gun barrels and flagstaffs

Deck guns showing the breech….

….and the business end!

The above are a selection of close ups of the bits and pieces that are painted prior to final assembly. This is not new - I did similar when building the ACW ships - but it makes painting certain parts of the model easier. 

Sometime ago, in the early days of the ACW building project, I ordered a number of fairly generic looking odds and ends of ship superstructure with a view to making later period models - pre-dreadnoughts and similar. These will be very useful now as it means that I should be able to confine my Warbases orders to such things as hull templates or similar.

News

I mentioned previously that this whole WW1 Africa project has really inspired me and so I have taken the decision to expand it to include other areas apart from Lake Tanganyika. I am currently collating ideas for this - basically writing lists of ships that are likely to feature - and I am hoping to turn the whole thing into a campaign style setting ‘a la Madasahatta meets the Arab Revolt’.

Essentially then, a rehash of my old 1:2400th scale idea only this time I shall be building the models instead of buying them!

Building Up a Head of Steam!

Where we are. The main hulls are undercoated and the various bits and bobs you see at the top of the picture are those items that are easier to paint first and stick in place second. The top stand has a selection of light masts and the whole length cocktail sticks are painted first and then cut to size - these will be gun barrels and flagstaffs. The middle two stands contain the cranes and guns for the Graf von Gotzen (bottom right) whilst the lower stand has a funnel and four ships boats.

A busy day for sure but I was able to get the models undercoated prior to serious business of the top coat is undertaken. I have a couple of free long lunchtimes this week so should be able to get these table ready and into action over the bank holiday weekend.

I have also made a couple of significant decisions in respect of how this ‘mini’ project will develop and will pen a suitable post in due course but for now it will be enough to say that this particular obsession will not be going away anytime soon!

Which means of course, that something will have to give way….

A Naval Problem Solved

The final mock up of the Graf Von Gotzen - with her ‘teeth’ (although historically these did not last long0

OK, I know the purists will be mortally offended but I have solved a construction problem that has been nagging me for ages - that of guns with shields. It is basic but it works and given that my models are ‘based upon’ rather than strictly accurate it will do - and it has opened the door to a whole new universe of naval model making, at least for ships that used shielded guns which, coincidentally, ties in with my planned WW1 adventures.

The solution was, as is usually the way with these things, ridiculously simple and basically consists of a 5mm square of MDF that is 3mm thick with a hole drilled through it to accommodate a length of cocktail stick. A 2mm piece forms the ‘breech’ whilst the remaining length is the barrel. It is a straight shield so sadly no curved versions but hey ho, these models are after all, ‘based upon’ or ‘Hollywood’ style!

What will be my standard shielded gun mount for WW1 warships - simple, crude even, but very effective looking!

The Graf Von Gotzen has now been sealed prior to painting so the next time she appears she will be sporting her new paint job. 

I have really enjoyed working on this project and as mentioned it has opened the door on a whole lot of other goodies so expect to see more of same and a few surprises along the way - all WW1 Africa and the Middle East based!

Progress? Kind of, but S-L-O-W-L-Y!

It is getting there - note that the ships boats are shown purely for effect. 

It has been a funny old week and spare time has been at something of a premium! Five of my Lake Tanganyika models have been sealed prior to undercoating and painting but the sixth has caused me a few headaches - so much so that I more or less scrapped the original design and rebuilt it from the hull up. The result is that I am now far happier with how the Graf von Gotzen looks!

The ship’s boats are not fixed in place at present as I shall be painting them, along with the guns, cranes, funnels and flagstaff prior to final assembly.

You can see that a lot of filing has taken place but for my modelling that is quite usual!

The result of this delay means that my planned game for this weekend will not be taking place BUT, Laurel has a few social engagements next week so I should be able to run something then.

Assuming the DIY list does not grow anything else of course!

BIG News!

 

Coming soon to Wargames Vault - the cover will change as I shall have the models ready fairly soon.

Absolutely chuffed with the above - mainly due to wanting to ‘Hex’ the rules for some time - and that Mr Manley has trusted me to make it happen!

The models for the above are progressing nicely and I should be at the sealing prior to undercoating stage tomorrow. Painting and final assembly should then follow and so the plan is to run a game using the rules over the weekend - naturally this will feature on the blog. 

For the record I am already thinking ahead to other gunboat style operations especially some Madasahatta style operations. This would be a personal homage to Eric Knowles given that my very first naval command was in Madasahatta and consisted of a pair of German gunboats!

The circle, as they say, is now complete…. :-)

Naval and Other Stuff

Missing masts, funnels, flagstaffs and gun barrels but other than that are moving along nicely.

Phew! It has been rather a warm day for sure! Work has continued on the models for Lake Tanganyika using my usual ‘based upon’ styling. I am now at the mast assembly stage along with flagstaffs, funnels and the guns. The Graf von Gotzen is the model that will be bringing up the rear of this batch - mainly because I am still thinking about the best way of tackling elements of the build - but not by much. the issue is really more about the fact that she is at least twice the size of the other models! 

My rescaled flags arrived, courtesy of Brigade Models, so everything will have a suitably sized ensign which adds to the look. 

Flags - 1:1200th at the top, 1:900th in the middle and 1:600 at the bottom - the latter was my default size for the ACW collection but are too large for the smaller models currently under construction.

At the time of writing I have a few hours spare on Wednesday which should see the main bulk of the remaining work completed which means that next weekend I shall be testing out the rules - there will be some really exciting news on the back of this so stay tuned!

Loads of generic looking 18th century troops for which I have a cunning plan….

Sunday morning saw Laurel and I venturing out to our usual boot sale where I scored an unplayed version of the board game Risk containing a vast quantity of generic 18th century looking types. I have gone through several copies of this version of the game but this time have a definite goal in mind which will feature in a later post. Really pleased and at £1.50 an absolute bargain!

A Wargames Iceberg

The beginnings of what will be the Graf Von Gotzen - note the use of one of the ‘broadside gun deck’ templates for the central superstructure, along with the bow forecastle. 

Showing the superstructure piece in place. This is currently separate from the hull as there is more work to do on it before being glued in place. The hull will also require some holes drilled into it.

Spare dice frames about to become the cockpit surround for Mimi and Toutou!

A strange title for a post to be sure but you will see why!

I am not sure of the correct ratios but as I recall only one eighth of an iceberg is visible above the surface - the other seven eighths are underwater and unseen. 

My Lake Tanganyika project is currently in iceberg mode - the pictures show the relatively modest amount of progress I have made with the models but believe me, there has been a lot more activity! I touched on briefly about having to modify my modelling technique to work with smaller models than those for the American Civil War. I am now satisfied that I have worked out what to use material wise so progress now should be steadier.

As usual, there are a number of shortcuts that can be taken - I am a great fan of using all manner of odds and ends for scratch building - and so the final models will be simplistic looking and very much ‘based upon’ rather than museum-quality scale representations. Make no mistake though, for all of the seemingly simple look achieved a lot of thought and head scratching has gone into the finished item!

Bit like an iceberg really….

Sort of…

Naval Stuff - Models, Rules and Future Ideas?

The eagle-eyed amongst you will note the progress on the middle two hulls…..

First the good news. My hexed rules for the Lake Tanganyika expedition (and gunboat actions in general) are finished and are currently with the original author for review etc. As yet they are untested but as soon as I have finished the models I shall be trying them out. 

Now the not so good news! Whilst the ship models for Lake Tanganyika are simple in terms of detail the scratchbuilding has presented a few challenges. As I am working with much smaller vessels compared to the American Civil War a lot of my standard building techniques are a little on the unsuitable side for such  models. Some of the materials I routinely work with are simply too large to use. After much trial and error I think I now have it ‘dialled in’ so progress should be more straightforward.

A closer look at the middle two models. The funnel will be placed between the two raised sections on the central ‘island’. Guns are fore and aft of the central island and I also need to place a mast and flagstaff. For the record the hull is 5cm long

In other news I irked up a copy of the book you see below at our local boot sale for the princely sum of 50p! Very useful for ‘Cold war turned hot” 1980s style games - think Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy as an example.

Just right for the “Dance of the Vampires”

It seems strange to refer to naval warfare set in the 1980s as “Modern” given the technological advances since then - but it will suffice especially as the whole “Cold War turned hot” period is one that I dabbled with “back in the day” and was a lot of fun to game. 

I would hazard a rather ill-informed opinion that this period would probably work best as a boardgame instead of using models and certainly that is an area I will look to explore.

Into Africa - A Nod to Madasahatta

The models under construction - no prizes for guessing which are Mimi and Toutou….

Tuesday the 6th of August is International Naval Wargaming Day and as luck would have it on that particular day we are having a new fence installed in the garden! However, in the spirit of solidarity with naval wargaming chums across the globe I am aiming to have the forces ready for a game in honour of the occasion. 

It will not be the American Civil War though….

I am currently scratch building the principal combatants for the operation on Lake Tanganyika during the early part of WW1. Going forth with Mimi and Toutou in fact.

Part of the WW1 East African section of my library

The story of the Lake Tanganyika Naval Expedition is well known and so I shall not recount it here - there is a brief overview on the as follows: Battle for Lake Tanganyika. It is also an action that has been fought on numerous occasions at various wargame shows - along with The African Queen, naturally as well as ‘Shout at the Devil’ style shenanigans. As an aside I watched the film ‘Shout at the Devil’ for the first time last night - aside from the lovely looking model used as the German ship I was really taken with the scenes shot in Zanzibar - putting me in mind of Madasahatta.

The story itself of the Lake Tanganyika expedition as part of the Great War in East Africa was of course part of the inspiration for the famous Madasahatta campaign organised by Eric Knowles.

Written and collated by Bob Cordery - Gridded Naval Wargames includes a set of rules for Lake Tanganyika as well as an after action report using them. Both are available via Amazon or the Wargames Vault

Anyways, I have the six main combatants (five in actual fact but as one of them served on both sides I thought having them represented with the correct ensign would be a nice touch) under construction and am working on a set of hex based rules for the period. Both have been started and the action or actions will be fought and reported on the blog next week. I am also working on another Confederate commerce raider - the C.S.S. Florida - mainly because she had two funnels. I am sure that many a model has been built for less a reason!

From the pen of the indefatigable David Manley - he has added a few supplements as well, one for the Danube etc during the Great War and one for the Russian Civil War and more recently for actions on the Italian Lakes during the war of 1866. All are available via his Long Face Games label on Wargames Vault

From the collection of David Manley - rest assured that my versions will not anything like the above!

The rules I am cobbling together owe a huge debt to David Manley for the inspiration provided by his Steamer Wars set as well as his very attractive looking models. I am trying to get both ready in time for the 6th of August but time will tell as we have a lot going on over the next few days so time will be at a premium.

I must admit that building something a little more modern than the ACW collection will make a welcome change and be a nice diversion before the main undertaking of the year - the main units for Lissa - starts.

Easing my way back into my modelling groove in easy stages!