Gods and Admirals: Immobile Bay....Late 1864....Game Number 63 Part 2

 

The two Union columns approaching the entrance to the inner basin of Immobile Bay. The small brown discs indicate the possible presence of torpedoes

The view from the Confederate side - note the Hammerin’ Iron mat placed under the squared board. the choice of the ‘DEFENDER’ end for the rebels was purely coincidental!

The two Confederate ships quietly slipping their moorings and readying for action

The two Union columns approach - the U.S.S. New Glory leading the North division and the U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene the Southernmost.

Turn 1. No rolls for anything so straight to initiative which the Confederates won 5 - 2 and so opted to allow the Union to move first.

The two Confederate ships quietly slipped away from their respective moorings as the first of the Union ships appeared in the mouth of the basin. The C.S.S. Secessionist quickly moved to engage the Yankee ships whilst the C.S.S. Jedidiah Cornpone took up position to the stern of the rebel ironclad, patiently looking for an opportunity to engage the enemy on her terms.

The U.S.S. New Glory rounded the point at the northern entrance and was greeted by the view of the harbour spread out before them and the ominous sight of the ironclad floating battery the C.S.S. Southern Belle. the captain wanted to reduce speed to better engage the anchored rebel battery and because he was fearful of the rumoured torpedoes said to have been deployed. Rear admiral Beare turned on him “Damn the torpedoes! Captain, go ahead, full speed!”

The U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene rounded the southernmost point of the inner basin and was greeted with a similar view to the flagship except that there was the not insignificant matter of a rebel ironclad heading straight for them and obviously intending to ram! The day had suddenly gotten a whole lot more complicated for the Union.

Turn 2. The C.S.S. Southern Belle opened fire on the U.S.S. New Glory and promptly missed. The C.S.S. Secessionist however score two hits from her forward battery against the U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene scoring two hits, one of which was a critical! The resultant roll was an engine hit and so her speed was reduced by one.The U.S.S. New Glory fired at the C.S.S. Southern Belle scoring 4 hits! No critical hit but three points of damage. Once again the Confederates won the initiative (5 - 1) and so the Union were asked to move first.

BOOM! The U.S.S. New Glory runs straight on to a command detonated torpedo and immediately takes on water. The damage is heavy but for the present controllable

Meanwhile both the C.S.S. Secessionist and the C.S.S. Jedidiah Cornpone simultaneously engaged the nearest Yankee ships by ramming! The C.S.S. Secessionist inflicted no damage on her target but the Jedidiah Cornpone was more successful although she suffered some damage of her own

The damage report on the U.S.S. New Glory confirmed that although she was flooding the pumps were keeping pace with the influx of water for the time being. Rear Admiral Beare inwardly cursed but was determined to press on with the attack. The captain advised backing away but this would serve to throw the formation into confusion whilst under close range fire from the rebel battery. “No, we must push on at best speed” he told the  captain.

The U.S.S. Potomac was rocked heavily by the impact of the rebel ship but all that happened wa s that she was pushed away from her assailant meaning that she would be able deliver a devastating point blank barrage from all three turrets.

The U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene was stopped in her tracks by the speedy side wheeler that had crashed into her bow and her captain desperately needed to get her guns to bear on the enemy - she needed sea room, and quickly.

Turn 3. The flooding on the U.S.S. New Glory worsened. She continued to fire at the C.S.S. Southern Belle scoring two hits for one point of damage. The C.S.S. Southern Belle returned fire scoring two hits for two points of damage. The U.S.S. Potomac fired at the C.S.S. Secessionist will all three turrets. Two points of damage plus a Fire critical hit resulted. The return fire from the rebel ship was ineffective. The Union won the initiative and opted to let the rebels move first.

 The two Confederate ships backed away from their targets to ram them again - this time with catastrophic results for the U.S.S. Potomac as her hull was riven from beam to beam ash so she quickly sank beneath the waves. (Note the very impressive dice roll which generated 6 flotation points of damage!). The C.S.S. Secessionist, despite the fire raging in her gun dec, suffered no damage in return and so has no chance of being locked with her sinking adversary. The Jedidiah Cornpone attempted a similar feat but only slightly damaged her target whilst sustaining minor damage herself.

BOOM! The U.S.S. New Glory runs on to a second command detonated torpedo and this time it proves fatal. The ship settles quickly by the bow whilst the monitors prepare to enter the basin.

No sooner had the U.S.S. New Glory eased away from the scene of her first torpedo attack when an ominous boom sounded beneath her bow and a great pillar of water washed over her. A second torpedo and this time it would prove to be fatal as the great ship nosed down into the waters of the bay. With all order gone the crew headed over the side and made their escape as best they could and made for whatever would float. Rear Admiral Beare surveyed the wreckage around him, aghast at what had taken place. What had seemed so straightforward had proven to be anything but. Cursing these new-fangled rebel weapons he made for the gunwale and jumped over the side.

The two monitors following the U.S.S. New Glory swerved around the stricken and sinking flagship to see the three turreted U.S.S. Potomac also in a sinking condition. A dull orange glow could be seen on the nearest rebel ironclad and the thick gouts of black smoke issuing from her could mean only one thing - she had a fire on board. 

The U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene had backed away as far as she was able from her tormentor and was making ready to move off as soon as she could gain some room to move.

Aboard the C.S.S. Secessionist the crew worked frantically to bring the fire on the gun deck under control. Speed was of the essence as another enemy monitor - U.S.S. Congress - was bearing down on her.

Turn 4. The C.S.S. Secessionist rolled to see how the fire fared. A 6! The fire became uncontrollable! In d6 turns the ship would sink (she rolled a 6) with her speed reducing by one point per turn and no firing allowed. Also, each turn there is the chance that the fire might reach the magazine, thereby destroying the ship! The dice on the ships indicate the game turns until they sink. The U.S.S. Congress opened fire against the blazing rebel ironclad, scoring a further hit which proved to be critical and resulted in a further two points of flotation damage. The Union won the initiative roll 4 - 2 and opted to move first, no doubt eager to force the issue.

By virtue of some canny seamanship the remaining Union ships, enter the inner basin with the U.S.S. Congress leading. Meanwhile the C.S.S. Jedediah Cornpone rammed the U.S.S. Pocahontas with both ships suffering two points of damage.

Events moved quickly. The U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene, more by chance than design, suddenly found herself leading the entire Union battle line as it headed further into the basin, past the the stricken U.S.S. New Glory and the Potomac. The big rebel ironclad was now ablaze from stem to stern and appeared to be backing away from the action. Out from the smoke of battle the C.S.S. Jedediah Cornpone, fresh from her attack on the U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene, determined to attack any Yankee ship that got in her way and so the luckless U.S.S. Pocahontas was rammed on her starboard aft quarter. The impact stunned both ships and the rending sound of tortured metal and splintering, groaning timber resonated through both ships. The rebel vessel backed away and would surely pay for her temerity.

Turn 5. The C.S.S. Secessionist rolled to see if the fire reached the powder magazine. A 6! The rebel ship exploded, sending debris high into the sky and showering the ships nearby with metal and timber. The ships nearby suffered no damage for being in close proximity. The three Union monitors opened fire with the U.S.S. Pocahontas firing at the C.S.S. Jedediah Cornpone whilst the other two engaged the C.S.S. Southern Belle. The Confederate ram sustained two points of damage and critical hit and managed to cause a flood. The C.S.S. Southern Belle received a further two points of damage and her return fire was ineffective. For initiative the Confederates won 2 -1 and opted to allow the Union to move first.

Endgame. With the destruction of the C.S.S. Secessionist, whatever slim chance the Confederacy had of delaying the oncoming Union ships disappeared. As the victorious Union squadron circled into the basin so a plethora of white flags appeared hoisted from the buildings along the shoreline. Immobile Bay had fallen and with it the last seaport open to the Confederacy. The South was doomed.

Moments before....

With an ear splitting explosion, the stricken and blazing rebel ironclad, the C.S.S. Secessionist blew up. Time seemed to stop. As great clouds of acrid smoke rolled across the sea and debris scattered far and wide, so the crews of both sides stood and watched, silent and thoughtful. A ragged cheer rose from the U.S.S. Coeur D’Alene but was swiftly replaced with profanity as various pieces of rebel ironclad landed on her deck.

The moment passed. There was still a job to be done, a job now made immeasurably easier by the spectacular demise of the Confederate flagship. As though conducting a review the Union ships moved in to the inner basin in tight formation and readied to settle accounts with the C.S.S. Southern Belle. Her commander could see no value in a senseless loss of life and so ordered the white flag run up. He would have been powerless to resist the Union ships as these could have happily stood off her beam ends and battered her into submission without an effective reply. With the torpedoes in front of her she had a chance and seeing the Yankee vessel hit not one but two of these devices was scant consolation but a consolation nevertheless. Now that the Union ships were able to get behind the torpedo screen there was little point in offering any resistance.

The C.S.S. Jedediah Cornpone would live to fight another as her captain wisely chose discretion as being the better part of valour and headed away at best speed from the bay. The ship had been damaged and would doubtless be harried and pursued to destruction but for now though, the ship was safe.

Rear Admiral Beare had largely been a spectator to the unfolding events since the U.S.S. New Glory had sunk although he was at least on dry land along with a few other survivors. Most of the crew had taken to the sea and had headed straight for the rebel battery where they were duly taken prisoner (although would be freed shortly as the Southern Belle surrendered). He was satisfied overall with how the day had played out but any sense of wellbeing evaporated when he and the small body of men with him were surrounded by a Rebel cavalry patrol and taken prisoner.

Clinging to a small piece of a wooden hatch cover, half drowned, burned and bleeding, Captain Jubal  Le Vite gingerly moved his head in the direction of the shoreline to see what seemed like an endless line of Yankee ships and white flags everywhere. He closed his eyes and wearily turned away from this most depressing and yet somehow inevitable scene. He was too tired to think, too tired to move and certainly too tired to resist as willing hands carefully but urgently pulled him into the small rowing boat. The last thing he remembered was a Southern voice reassuring him that he was safe and that he would get away from the Yankees. He smiled inwardly, secure in the knowledge he would live to see another day and so slipped into a troubled and haunted but nevertheless grateful sleep.

Well what can I say? Yes it was contrived, yes it was crowded and yes, it threw up a few rules issues but you know what? It wasn’t half great fun! Fortune swung both one way and then the other but I reckon overall the result was about what I expected from the scenario. The two areas that need some tightening up are turning and ram attacks - before and after the attack. The models looked fine en masse and with the arrival this morning of my Warbases order I will be able to press on with the remaining models for this phase of the ACW project.

It is funny in that the loss of two of the models - the U.S.S. New Glory and the C.S.S. Secessionist - actually made me feel quite sad. They have been through a lot together and have both been royally battered but have always lived to fight another day. Perhaps it is fitting that their final hurrah was at the end of a contrived mini campaign. You see, it is possible to get attached to a fictional unit just as easily as an actual one!

More on the WoFun Front

WoFun War of the Roses range - as penned by the indefatigable Peter Dennis and now available

This is not the post I intended writing as originally it was supposed to have been the actual battle report for Gods and Admirals. Due to a variety of reasons this has not taken place but rest assured will be doing so in the very near future.

Aside from the snow my grandson was with us for the weekend so I was rather busy with a few things. On top of all that there have been a few Wofun related issues.

You may recall that in the light of of getting the incorrect size of order sent to me (18mm rather than 28mm) I decided that I preferred the smaller size and so opted to dispose of the 28mm collection in order to finance the remainder of the 18mm. My old friend the redoubtable Mr Fox is now organising the 28mm collection in his usual inimitable style and so I got the order sorted out for the remaining 18mm using the sale proceeds. All good so far and for me, eminently sensible.

I am not pleading poverty at this stage but I should point out that I have a finite budget for anything gaming related. Aside from the odd birthday or Christmas gift card (the children have this more or less as a standing instruction for me - it suits them and it certainly suits me!) and boot sale purchases my enjoyment of our hobby is largely self funding. In other words I sell off bits and pieces to buy new bits and pieces. If I am honest I actually quite enjoy the ‘wheeler dealer’ side of the hobby - I cannot say that I have made huge sums of money doing it - none of the Del Boy style ‘this time next year we’ll be millionaires’ shenanigans - but it has enabled to me to keep ticking over which, as I am on the minimum tier of the furlough scheme, is no bad thing. 

Anyway, there were several calls on the warchest arising from the sale of the 28mm ECW Wofun figures which took priority over the 18mm collection. These were duly acquired meaning that my budget for the 18mm figures more or less disappeared. I have no regrets about this as the ECW was always going to be a project for later in the year as my ship building adventures take priority at present. 

The 18mm ECW Wofun collection I own is currently horribly unbalanced. It is desperately short of cavalry, has no artillery, no Dragoons and is short of the right sort of foot. I had gotten an order together to rectify this and was in contact with WoFun when I decided that balancing the collection based on what I had would mean that whilst I would have a really impressive ECW set up it would be far too large for my needs. I began to think that on balance this was not a good idea as I could see little point in buying an excess of figures effectively for the sake of it. I contacted WoFun and decided to cancel the order and I also decided that it would be easier to make a clean break from the collection, dispose of what I had and then order in exactly what I wanted rather than using what was there. There was another reason for this in that I am no expert on the ECW and I really wanted to research it further in order to make an informed choice as to the army make up. With this in mind I even went as far as listing the figures on eBay and a few Facebook groups. 

Imagine my surprise and delight then, when Wofun contacted me with the news that the order was going to be sent to me in any event as a thank you for my continuing support and unofficial promotion of them. 

This is generosity taken to the next level as far as I am concerned - and it is something that will be repaid in full as I have covetous eyes on the WoFun Armada and Trafalgar sets in due course!

Definitely on my ‘to get’ list as a campaign tie in supporting the WoFun armies

Armed with these additional figures I will be able to tackle the ECW in a substantial way (larger than I would have planned for sure) so I now plan to tie it in with the new ECW block based wargame - This War Without an Enemy produced by Nuts Publishing - for the strategic side (I am not alone in this as fellow blogger nundanket has similar nefarious designs!) and to act as a game generator. It will not be until the second half of this year though as I have ships to build, rules to write and, believe it or not, figures to paint....

WoFun Tricks

The chap on the right has been varnished and ‘edged’

My good friend Mr Hardman acquired a 28mm AWI set up from WoFun and has been busy beavering away getting them to the standard he requires. He has opted to base the figures his own way and these have also been flocked and the fixing slot filled. He is also edging the figures using Agarax Earthshade - a Citadel brown ink and is also looking to seal the figures using a matt varnish. The effect of this is very impressive looking in my opinion and so it is something I shall do myself when I get to the ECW after the ships.

Mr Fox, always alive to the odd good idea, has opted to use movement trays for his collection and has rather cunningly decided to use a uniform size for a DBA derived Pike and Shot variant. His standard movement tray will hold three bases - a centre pike and two sleeves of shot - which has the added advantage of meaning that a single foot regiment can field two such units. He is also planning on using the Dan Mersey derived Pikeman’s Lament rules as well.

In closing I am hugely appreciative of the gesture by WoFun and I am looking forward to getting some ECW based games in although the collection will now require some work beforehand to get table ready. This is not a problem and will certainly not be difficult but it will take time. In the meantime though I shall be able to search the period in more detail and also think about such things as terrain and also the board game.

Gods and Admirals: Immobile Bay....Late 1864....Game Number 63 Part 1

Full steam ahead and damning the torpedoes.... 

With the eventual fall of Fort Purepoint and the subsequent capture of Shepherds Island the way was open for the Union forces to undertake a naval attack on the remaining Confederate naval base of Immobile Bay. It was not a question of if but of when the assault would be made. The material superiority enjoyed by the Union in respect of warships and men would enable the last rebel bastion to be taken relatively easily but all were sure it would be a hard fight. Spies had already detailed the demolition efforts undertaken by the rebels as they prepared to abandon the base - two ironclads, believed to be the C.S.S. O’Hara and the C.S.S. Butler, had been burnt to the waterline due to worn out machinery and the inability to be repaired. It was believed that the only vessels remaining were the C.S.S. Secessionist, the C.S.S. Southern Belle and another vessel, believed to be river steamer the C.S.S. Jedidiah Cornpone. The latter had escaped from the Missenhitti some time previously and although she was but lightly armed and armoured she was quick as well as having been fitted with a ram. There were no shore batteries to speak of - Immobile Bay’s defences were the succession of outer works of which Shepherds Island was the last - but it was believed that the rebels would be making use of torpedoes to support their defence.

Aboard the recently repaired U.S.S. New Glory, Rear Admiral Frederick Beare, the deeply religious and teetotal commander of the Union forces, addressed the assembled officers in the Captain’s cabin. “Gentlemen, we are within a hair’s breadth of capturing Immobile Bay and thereby ensuring that the rebels no longer have access to a blue water harbour worthy of the name. I do not expect them to relinquish this lightly. We know they are deficient in just about everything but they still have the spirit to fight. This I intend to break. I want Immobile Bay to be rendered unusable by anything larger than a rowing boat and even then only when the tide is right. My plan is as follows. We will steam into the bay in two columns, each of three ships. The North column will consist of the New Glory, the Congress (sister ship of the recently sunk U.S.S. Senator) and the Pocahontas whilst the Southern column will consist of the Coeur D’Alene, the Potomac and the Hiawatha. We shall enter from either end of the bay and each column will exit from the opposite side. We shall engage whatever the rebels see fit to deploy against us and destroy it. We will also reduce whatever facilities we can to matchwood”. The Rear Admiral paused as the full import of his words registered with the assembled throng. He took a measured breath and continued. “I will not tell you that which you know so well. We are on a noble crusade to restore the integrity of the Union and as God is my judge we shall prevail. Gentlemen, to your ships, and may the Lord be with you!” The assembled gathering slowly dispersed, leaving the Rear Admiral to his thoughts and, as it was the day for it, his prayers.

The main thoroughfare in Immobile Bay was a scene of chaos. Wagons bustled hither and thither, civilians  dashed in and out of buildings emerging with whatever they were able to carry only to dump it unceremoniously upon the realisation that they would not be able to take it with them. Men shouted, women comforted crying infants whilst all around the remnants of the military attempted to restore a semblance of order. 

Captain Jubal Le Vite, the sole remaining and senior officer of the rapidly dwindling naval presence in Immobile Bay stood on the foredeck of the C.S.S. Secessionist surveying the chaos on shore and the smouldering remains of the C.S.S. O’Hara and C.S.S. Butler. He was bitterly disappointed that these two ships had needed to be burnt but they could not be allowed to be captured. He had issued his final orders - in truth these were more appeals to honour rather than strict instructions as the time had long passed for naval protocol - and mentally prepared himself for what he expected would be his final battle. The plan was brutally simple. He and the two other warships were to engage the Yankees and buy time for the evacuation to continue as best it could. The few remaining transports were already dangerously overloaded and he did not give them a chance should the Union ships happen upon them whilst they ran the gauntlet to safety. It was his job, so the governor had reminded him, to ensure that they could get away - the Confederacy demanded it, he added, rather unnecessarily Le Vite considered. Under normal circumstances this would be a difficult enough task and whilst he was confident his own ship would be able to give a good account of itself the rest of his command consisted of a floating battery and a converted river steamer that really had no business mixing it with purpose built warships. Two ships against God knows how many - the odds were not good. 

The floating battery, the C.S.S. Southern Belle would cover the North side of the bay, supported by command detonated torpedoes and the C.S.S. Jedidiah Cornpone - a river steamer fitted as a ram and fast with it - in reserve. The C.S.S. Secessionist would take the Southern side. Given the resources they currently had it was a sound plan but it would only be a matter of time before the Yankees would prevail. The transports could have no escort other than the odd tug and these were to exit quietly via the smaller basin - in the hope that the Union ships would not notice them whilst engaged fully with the main body of the Confederate ‘fleet’.

Le Vite was tired and fully felt the weight of his sixty years. The end was near; the end of so many things he held dear and of that he was certain. He resolved that he would not go quietly or meekly into ignominious captivity and of this he was also certain. A very young and fresh faced junior officer stood stiffly to attention, his face a study in concentration. “Ship is ready for sea Sir!” He said crisply and in a clear voice with not a hint of the nerves and trepidation he must have been feeling. Le Vite, nodded slowly, “Thank You son, let’s get underway”. With a last look at the shoreline the Captain turned and made his way into the warm and oily embrace of the great ironclad, the hatch clanging shut behind him.

To Be Continued....

More on small Buildings

Tumbling Dice 1:600th scale infantry with Lego buildings....

....and the same with Monopoly types 

Whilst playing around with the Lego buildings I also dragged out some of the Tumbling Dice 1:600th scale infantry I have (actually the figures are 4mm rather than the 5mm I reported previously) as well a bag of hard plastic Monopoly buildings I picked up on their own from a boot sale time ago.

Where is all this small scale real estate leading? Well, I have something in mind - not a new project by any means but a reimagined version of an existing one - that requires buildings that are smaller than the tried and tested Town in a Bag types but larger than the Irregular Miniatures 2mm or the Brigade Models 1:1200th scale offerings - lovely as they are.

On another note....

Those wonderful people at Warbases have let me know that my custom order is with the production team and so should be with me in a couple of days. This means that these occasional flights of whimsy will cease as the serious business of ship building resumes.

Old Dog, New Bricks....

All in all its just another brick in the hall (actually the lounge but you get the drift....)

 The weekend just gone saw the whole household sorting out for disposal the Lego collection that my grandson had built up over successive birthdays and Christmases. Going back to when I was a boy I really used to like building stuff with Lego - long before they started with all the ‘one shot’ style of model. One used to get a selection f basic bricks and a manual with several different models to build from the available selection. It will come as no surprise that I regularly used to build all manner of military stuff - tanks, aircraft and similar - in fact my very first wargames block armies used Lego bricks for units. The eight stud brick was my standard infantry unit (organised in units of four blocks), the six stud brick (with a two stud brick on the top) was a cavalry squadron (three of these for a regiment) and artillery was a two stud brick with two single stud gunners and were organised in pairs - I suspect that all looks achingly familiar but bear in mind this was going back to around 1970 and long before Command and Colours!

Anyway, back to today and the sort out of my grandson’s collection. A large chunk of it has now moved on - mostly the aforementioned kits, a selection of Star Wars, Marvel Avengers and DC Comic sets - but there was a large box of basic bricks. I had a rummage through the box with a feeling of nostalgia for times gone by when I remembered something I used to do for terrain ‘back in the day’. I quickly knocked the few items you see above into a small village and so decided, as much for old times sake as for anything, I set these to one side for future use with my (wooden) block armies.

I will not paint them but I will fashion some doors and windows to finish them off - probably using pieces cut from sticky labels and coloured in appropriately. Simple? Yes. Inexpensive? Again yes with the added bonus that these will work very nicely with 3mm figures or in conjunction with my ship models (apologies for the red roofing in evidence!).

Building Turkish Ironclads and the Russian Response

 A quite superb title - I only wish it was in hardback! Note the positions of the spars on the leading ship - very much looking to operate with a reduced sailing rig

Part of my ship building programme includes a selection of ships for the Russo - Turkish War. My main references for this is the excellent book by Piotr Olender as well as my old friend The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828 to 1923 although I have it on very good authority that apparently the latter is not quite as good as it appears. Naturally Conways also features (I own the ‘holy trinity’ of the 1860 to 1905, the 1906 to 1922 and the volume going to 1946) as well the internet which has been a revelation in respect of information if you are prepared to do a little digging.

I thought this was the definitive work on the subject but apparently this is not the case. I always found the coverage of ships a little uneven but the redeeming features of plenty of pictures and some very useful plans made up for it! It is a good book all the same.

I have a certain amount of wargames history with the Turkish navy although primarily from the Balkan and Great War period so it has been a really enjoyable experience looking at those ships the Turks had from their original commissioning and in their original configuration. Many of these earlier ships were rebuilt and served in the later periods - not exactly in a hugely successful way it must be said - but given the parlous economic situation the Ottomans routinely found themselves in modernising an old ship was probably a better bet than building from new.

Anyways, aside from the Danube river theatre I wanted to get some deep water models built otherwise the whole project would have been very similar to what I am doing for the ACW - mainly river and coastal actions. This way I am covering a wide strategic canvas so to speak.

I did not want to go overboard (never a great idea when on a warship....) with the build and fortunately the naval forces for both sides were quite modest although the Turks definitely had the advantage, in numbers if nothing else. I finally settled on five or possibly 6 ironclads.

To give you a flavour of how my construction process works and just why using Warbases was such a life saver take a look at the following.

Using the template on the right as the base of the hull you can see how the layers are built up. I am waiting on the hull shapes you see (in the quantities stated) to finish this pat of the process. The holes are where the masts will sit and the notches are gun ports and also for the bowsprit as all of these will have a full sailing rig. The two diagrams on the left are all that is required for the two hulls I have started on - in this case the Feth-i Bulend and her sister. The larger three are for the Messudiye.

The above are for the Muin-i Zaffir and her sister ship. In both the above pictures you can see the gun sponsons and the central box battery. getting these laser cut would be immeasurably more accurate than anything I could do by hand!

The Messudiye, as befits her size will have a hull a full 6 layers deep (meaning she will be 18mm tall at the main deck level. Feth-i Bulend and the Muin-i Zaffir will be 4. In actuality both of these were roughly three quarters of the length of the Messudiye and a third of the displacement but I shall be building them to the same length of 5” (and thereby having my soul cursed for all eternity!). As they are primarily for use on a grid it does not make any real difference in respect of the size in my opinion.

Once I have the hull assemblies the rest of the model is very straightforward. All I will then add will be hatch covers (usually placed where there is an empty space on the deck!), funnels and the masts and spars. I need to think about deck mounted artillery - the Peter Pig models are a little too detailed for the models - and am also looking at adding ship’s boats at some point.

Hatch or gun port covers are usually from card, funnels are from dowel rod cut to length, masts are from bamboo skewers, spars and flagstaffs are from cocktail sticks. 

Russian About....

I wanted to beef up the Russian navy so I shall build two or three of the Ekaterina ll class despite them not being commissioned until the mid to late 1880s. Certainly the Turkish navy had not changed since the end of the war and in fact had probably gotten worse! This ship will be a challenge for sure given the curious arrangement of 3 barbette gun positions. These will be the last models for the Russians for this project and they will only be built once everything else has been. It has given me an extra idea though.

Now that is going to be fun to build and no mistake!

The Russians were very concerned about the possibility of the Royal Navy entering the Black Sea to prop up the Turks (bear in mind the Bombardment of Alexandria in 1882) and in fact the class of ironclads mentioned were built with this threat in mind. They were built with two barbettes forward and one aft with the forward two deployed side by side. This gave them a four gun forward broadside considered to be very helpful when used in support of amphibious landings as well fighting in a confined roadstead with limited room for manoeuvre.

Rule Britannia 

Mention of the British brings me to the final part of this post. The final part of this project will be the building of a Royal Navy squadron - no more than six models for the battleships, possibly with some support vessels - to help keep the Russians honest. Paul Hague in the first volume of his Sea Battles In Miniature fought an action between the Royal Navy and the Russians using his own rules - and it was great fun to read. This would take the project into ‘imagi-naval’ wargames which I have no problem with at all.

Summary

This all seems like a lot of work but it should be viewed through the prism of being both very practical and spread out over the next couple of months. Most of the models for the Russo Turkish war are of a simple style to build with the sailing rig being the thing that takes the longest to tackle. With the exception of the pieces for the four Russian ironclads (and for the British although one ship may be built alongside the Messudiye) I will have everything I need to build the models from stock. 

First of all though, I need to finish the ACW part as well as the rules.

No pressure then....

Limbering Up for the Final Phase....

The hulls for the next three models prior to completion. Gun ports, funnels (funnel in the case of the C.S.S. Missouri, pilot houses and the paddle boxes to be added - not forgetting the all important flagstaff and the paint!

Those very nice people at Warbases - Diane and Martin - contacted me to say that my order is in the production queue for this week - HUZZAH!!

In the meantime I have set to work on what I can do in advance of the extra parts arriving to complete the models. I had planned to have a ‘masts and spars’ building frenzy for the Turkish ironclads but due to getting some games in and tidying up the rules I did nit get around to it. What I was able to do was to build the casemates for the two city class gunboats and the C.S.S. Missouri.

As usual these are very much built in the ‘purely representational’ school of modelling rather than being of museum quality. I used my Dremel on some of the pieces - I am still learning to use it so the scars on the casemate roofs bear silent testimony to my deplorable beginners technique - but fortunately the marks left over will be covered when the the models are fitted out and painted.

The models will be rather more ‘racy’ looking than the originals, mainly because of the shape of the bow not being quite so blunt. The casemate angles are also slightly awry but hey ho - they are purely representational after all. No matter, they will serve as intended!

I have a further four river paddle steamers to build which will leave me three spaces to fill to make up the twenty four models for this phase of the project. I rather fancy tackling a sloop for the Union as well a Benton. For the Confederates I am undecided but I am sure I will think of something!

Once this core of twenty four models is completed my plan is that should anything else for the ACW catch my eye I will be able to add it in as required.

....And Part the Second....

I am rather looking forward to this as the navies will feature both the largest and smallest types of warship - in the case of the former Russian spar torpedo boats and the latter the Turkish ironclad Messudiye. I will need to give the Russians some heavier metal to even things out a little but fr me the real attraction will be building and using some of the Turkish ships in their original configuration rather than as the rebuilt versions still in service in the Balkan and Great War! As usual these will follow my ‘based upon’ method and I have to say that I am quite excited at the prospect fo building some of them!