Books

Not much is happening here on the hobby table as far as naval projects go, but hopefully that will end soon enough.

I have purchased a few books to help stoke the boilers a bit:

Many directions these tomes lead!

Pre-dreadnoughts

A bit too much time away from here, don't you think?  I have not had much desire to work on naval stuff lately, despite having several projects deserving attention.  One has to start someplace so let's go:

Here is my first group of ship models from WTJ.  These are assorted pre-dreadnoughts in 1/1800 scale.  US, Spanish, Japanese, and Russian vessels are pictured as they await some attention with soapy water and a brush.

After that, I need to make masts and figure out how to base them...

Great Lakes, part 1

With my recent order to Waterloo Minis, I added a sampling of the Langton War of 1812 ships:

Here we have a pair of schooners that could be used for either faction on the Great Lakes.  Each model is comprised of five cast pieces - hull and masts - and a set of photo-etch sails.  Beautifully cast in the Langton manner, and oh my, are they small.  Each square on the grid in the pics is ¼" (6.35mm) - the hulls are less than 1" (25mm) in length.

Anglo-Dutch, part 3

The second pair of miniatures for my Anglo-Dutch naval project recently arrived.  These ships are Langton, and they were purchased through Waterloo Minis:

This is Langton AD8, a British 4th Rate vessel, 48-56 guns.  13 pieces total.  I decided to try cast sails for this batch, just to see how much difference there will be in assembly compared to the photo-etch variety, plus they were a bit less expensive.  Beautifully detailed, as one would expect from Langton.

This is Langton AD14, a Dutch 4th Rate of 46 guns.  Again, 13 pieces make up this model, and again beautifully detailed.  It is interesting to note the size difference between the two 4th rates - the British ships are a fair amount larger than their Dutch counterparts.


The easy part is now complete!  Next is to figure out basing and rigging essentials, as I want to have all of the supplies present before I start any assembly.

Anglo-Dutch naval, part 2

As part of the build-up to my Anglo-Dutch naval project, I purchased a copy of this:

This volume is part of the 'New Vanguard' series from Osprey, number 183.  A slender volume at 48 pages, it is nonetheless a useful introduction to the period.  Design, construction, and operation of the two different navies are covered, and there are many period paintings reproduced within, along with  color plates commissioned for the book.  The most interesting part is a series of tables listing the names, rates, and fates of individual ships from the two sides.

Projects

This is just a simple post to provide a bit of info on what is happening behind the curtain.

I have several naval projects that have various, but comparatively little, amounts of completion.  First off is a fantasy naval project, based on the fictional world of Tékumel.  This project will utilize 1/1200 ancient naval ships for the most part, although many will need conversions. 

Next is Age of Sail.  In reality, this could be split into more than one project, but I am going to try and keep it simple (and to fool my brain about not having too many projects!)  This will be in 1/1200 also, and will be subdivided into Anglo-Dutch and War of 1812, and maybe another...

Ironclads is the next project, once again at 1/1200.  At first I was quite keen on ACW (as noted previously on this blog), but I am hoping to also add South American actions into the fold.

Last but not least is pre-dreadnoughts.  I am looking to pick up the pieces of my old WW1 project by slowly acquiring more 1/1800 ships from WTJ, although the cut-off point for my collection will be well before 1914.



Of all of these projects, only the Tékumel naval set is remotely close to earning the title 'playable', as I still have some of the ships from previous work.  Nothing is painted, however, and there are many ships to get for balanced forces.  Age of Sail counts only two models in my possession at the moment, and much prep work needs to happen before I can start to build them.  I want to get my ideas about rigging, basing, rules, etc. solidified before jumping in too deeply.  In the Ironclads project, I have a few vessels from a variety of manufacturers, and those are not in a cohesive collection as they are scattered among different theaters of the war.  Pre-dreadnoughts are still just a collection of books as I await my first order of models from WTJ.



It might seem that I am spreading myself thinly, and that is largely true.  However, with many of these projects I can have a game with only a single vessel on each side, or maybe two.

Back

A bit too long of a break between posts!  Even so, I will keep this one brief.

Many things are happening here, both hobby-wise and other-wise.  I am still struggling to shake off the lethargy that descended many months ago, but I am picking up more steam as I go.  There are old projects that will be revisited, and a new project or two that have suddenly sprung forth.  Once I get my photo editing woes out of the way, there will be more posts.  I just need to make it a habit once again...

And, my apologies to those who have blogs - I have been a very infrequent reader of even the blogs I enjoy, and a much less frequent commentator.  I hope to rectify this also.