The League of Augsburg
It's Saturday, I'll build a castle
I have several new scenarios coming up for the 17th century naval campaign. I needed something that resembled a Scottish castle. I thought - just a tower. Then, what about a tower on a rocky outcrop? Then that morphed into... maybe I could expand it to look like the stronghold of a clan chief with outbuildings etc.. yeah...
Now, how was I going to do that. Well, two cups of coffee, various rummages...
Sea, what I mean..
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| Some 1/2400 scale ships on the finished boards |
Sea mats have been very useful so far in my naval adventures and some of them are actually pretty nice. I would however, feel a bit of a phoney if I used one in a demo game at a show. This piece is a short insight into an experiment in making sea boards as opposed to the river boards I am pretty comfortable in producing.
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| A Nine Years War battle in... |
Medway Project: the second board
Completion of the first (and most complex) board for my Medway Campaign fired me up to attack the second. I managed to get it from plain MDF to finished product sans the varnish in less than a week.
This section, downriver from the Royal Dockyard stretches from Upnor Castle, an Elizebethan era...
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| Unadorned Board 1 with unpainted board 2 - just sizing it up and getting motivated to begin the paint job. |
This section, downriver from the Royal Dockyard stretches from Upnor Castle, an Elizebethan era...
Medway stage 2
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| A dressed shot of the dockyard looking east from White Wall Creek. |
When I started the project I knew where I wanted it to go but it seemed somewhat of a tall order. Several months down the track and I believe the most difficult bits are behind me. Most of the ships are done. The dockyard board which is the most involved, is done bar the shouting - one minor road change plus the appearance of a...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 2 - Hail Mary!
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| What will happen to the unlucky Eendraght? |
The walk through of my evolving naval rules for the 1640-1700 period continues where we pick the action up at the beginning of Turn 4 with the Allies once more winning the initiative which allows them to move first or, compel the French to move.
By the firing step in T4 the Allies had manouevred ships into two opportunities. The first involves Eendraght,...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 1
Let me start by saying thanks to Neil Fox for helping me get onto this path in the first instance. He sent his Solebay Fast play sheets to me and I played many games with them to get a feel for the issues around naval gaming and in particular the period 1650-1700.
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...
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| The Allied squadron in line astern |
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...
I bet you thought I'd abandoned this..
On the contrary my friends, or should that be Integendeel, mijn vrienden! It takes focus to get a substantial project finished and I had run out of gas with changing short term priorities after completing three of the four corners of this table during the late summer.
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| Aerial view of layout to get a feel for how it might build. I completed various buildings before attempting the gorundwork. |
The most...
Weather beaten? Part 1 intro : Tangier... but not as we know it Jim!
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| A representation of Tangier harbour in 1666. The shape is roughly that of the modern port as seen on various pictures |
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 Chatham Board - the tide is coming in
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| 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.
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| Some 2mm troops on this base - Dutch Marines face off local militia |
The village is place on...
One Saturday at mine... Building 1/2400 terrain
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...
1.The Mouth/Sheerness
2. Musselbank
3. Gillingham Reach and St Mary's Creek
4. The Chatham Dockyard stretch
5. Chatham to Rochester...
Nice day
In truth, I wasn't really looking forward to Claymore this year. Not because I don't like the show, I have been a loyal participant for more than 25 years but circumstances were conspiring against me somewhat. Too much day job work, too much travel, getting the new book out, other projects - a 0600 start, knowing I was again flying solo at the show... bed was the most attractive prospect on...
Garrison Point Fort in 1/2400 completion
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| The finished piece is about 100mm square. |
I finally got a chance to build Sheerness today. It's not often you get to type that! Took about 90 minutes to finish the first major piece of terrain for the 1/2400 part of the Tocht naar Chatham (Medway Raid 1667) project.
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| Here is how it all started. |
I used some of the simpler country style buildings from Brigade Models lovely range to to this. These...
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