The League of Augsburg

English: From left: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 5th galley-frigate

I mentioned previously that it would be fun to get some small fleets together chosen/owned by blog visitors and that I would where possible, fight out randomly generated actions and feed back the results. If lots of people participate then the game load may get onerous and your fleet may not see action too often but, we can only...

A representation of Tangier harbour in 1666. The shape is roughly that of the modern port as seen on various pictures

The English colony in Tangier has always fascinated me. I have gamed it on land and am currently in the process of assembling forces for it again in 28mm.

I have gazumped that project with an extension of my Dutch Wars naval adventure. As I always do, I try and stretch any project...

The blue markers indicate ships which have fired and which will need to pass a reload check before firing again.

Firstly I learned that I enjoy naval wargaming as much as I did when aged nine. Then gaming involved hand-drawn and coloured plan views of Napoleonic men o'war which sailed round my blue bedroom carpet using a rule set borrowed from the public library. I have such fond memories of those...

Returning to the Essex coastline to bring you the news from the fleets... whether you align with the Dutch, English or French... here it comes.

The most dramatic moment of the battle seen from the north.

Turn 5 

Many vessels, feeling they had the advantage of opponents in gunnery duels, attempted to back sail and hold position to secure victory. The Ruby, surrounded and taking heavy fire, was shot to...

The war between the English and Dutch intensifies with King Charles' fleet desperate to expunge the shame of 1667 which haunts the navy, torments national pride and the authority of the Crown.

Dutch admirals are brazen and bold and have little fear of probes and forays into the very heart of home waters. One such 'cruise' is moving down the English coast off Essex and appears to be heading into the...

Thick of the action at Foulness.

Work has been pretty all consuming of late and I have been promising myself a gaming treat for a while merely as a little carrot to keeping me wading through the grind. The naval rules have been growing in detail and feel and during my travels. A point system and some of the random elements which I like to incorporate in rule mechanics to remove player control have...

Remember these? I moved to V2 for each

I very much enjoyed customizing the Tumbling Dice models for the large English men o'war 'in ordinary' which I have shown previously in some posts. The more work I do with these 1/2400 models the more confident I get in the scope of conversions.

V2s in the rear V1s to the fore

I was very happy with the versions I did until I thought about simulating their...

A French 1st rate sails past a wrecked English 1st rate

I wanted to make visual representations of ships that had taken a bit of a hammering during action and used some of the Tumbling Dice wreck markers as made whilst doing some work myself with

Dutch wrecks for 4th/5th rates and Fireships

bits and pieces of other ships which I had cannibalized for various reasons. These all came out quite well. The...

Looking north(down river) and from the west bank.

Things are progressing. I have concentrated on the western bank of the river and focused on flora and dwellings.



The perspective on the landscape is better with trees and buildings in place. The wooded areas and hedges are glued down with slow setting Bostik.

Some 2mm troops on this base - Dutch Marines face off local militia

The village is place on...

I have been researching how to bring this important campaign to the table top for a while now. That activity has paid off. I originally planned to build the entire river in 1/2400 which would have been a mammoth task however, I have now identified five important stretches:

1.The Mouth/Sheerness
2. Musselbank
3. Gillingham Reach and St Mary's Creek
4. The Chatham Dockyard stretch
5. Chatham to Rochester...

Restoration idyll. Lying at anchor in the calm of a June morning - Three men o'war in ordinary.

I was keen to run this scenario and determine whether it made an exciting  two player wargame or, whether it was a 'play against the house' type affair.

I have explained the background in a previous post - During the Medway Raid (Tocht naar Chatham) the ultimate phase was the Dutch attack on the pre-sunk...

The fascinating Dutch raid on the English fleet at anchor in the Medway in June 1667 is full of wargaming potential.



One of the most spectacular incidents occurred on June 13th. Having broken the English defensive chain at Gillingham, the Dutch rounded a bend in the river and were faced with the straight stretch between St Mary's Island and Chatham Royal Dockyard. This strategic installation was...