Spartacon Picture Trove: First Session

Hey all! More pictures from Spartacon 2017. Not going to be much in the way of commentary, but tons of pictures.

Battle of the Big Fleets, 28mm Pre-Dreadnoughts at Spartacon

        I took my fleets to Spartacon and ran a game on the vast floorspace they were kind enough to provide. We ended up with twelve players involved using thirteen vessels over about a thousand square feet of playing surface. Now all I need is a week for my knees to recover!

        The scenario is that the French Fleet is escorting a group of troopships to add to the forces attacking a Prussian colony. They expect to encounter only the local Colonial Squadron, to their surprise the Asiatic Squadron has shown up as well. The Prussians have no intention of allowing the French reinforcements to get through and have launched an all-out attack with their more numerous, but slightly inferior, forces.

 

the dashing French Admirals commanding (L to R)

the Charles Martel, the Dupuy de Lome, the Bec de Corbin and the Nemesis

 

the phlegmatic Prussian Colonial Squadron commodores,

 commanding (front to back) the Thor, the Panther and the Beowulf

 

the Asiatic Squadron admirals commanding (L to R)

 the Blitz, the Donner, the Seydlitz and the Gniesenau

A Glimpse of Spartacon

          This year's Spartacon has come and gone. In the assembly hall of the Lansing Center we enjoyed the nicely carpeted floors and comfortable, well lit surroundings. I had the pleasure of playing in a re-fight of the battle of Kadesh in the early part of the day before running my 28mm Pre Dreadnought game in the afternoon session. Attendance was good with almost all of the player slots filled in both the morning and afternoon sessions.As I was playing in a game I didn't quite get the opportunity to get around and snap photos of all the games but here are a few that caught my eye.

 

Chris Maes and company presented the visually (and tactically) satisfying Battle of Kadesh  

using 20mm figures from Caesars

Crossfire, the Great War

Being a big fan of the Crossfire ruleset and The Great Wat I was easily convinced by Joe to give combining them a try. We made it easier for infantry to recover from pins and suppression and decided that tanks would be considered to be moving weapon systems that would have to take bogging checks.  That done I broke out my 20mm Great War terrain and figures and we gave it a go.

 

the notoriously daunting landscape of the trenches

New Vessels completed and they join their fleets

     I had the chance to complete the models and pulled out the complete fleets for a quick review. Now all I have to do is stat out the new models, balance the stats of the two fleets and put together a scenario. All in two weeks.

     Take a look at the new additions and enjoy the spectacle of the entire collection of boats on display on the gaming table.

 

crew figures lend a sense of scale, I still need many more to fully staff my fleets

 

I do love rivets

Something to Mollify Gary

     Sorry, Old Sarge. These aren't the giant flying bridges you were looking for (I tried, they made the models too top-heavy) but I hope this will keep you satisfied until I can build a full-sized battleship that can carry all that superstructure.

the Prussian went minimalist (or course)

 while the French were rather more extravagant

A Spot of Paint

I had a little free time so I threw a basic coat of paint on the models. I decided that the bigger, squarer one looked more Prussian than the elegant smaller model which, by default, became French. I am still tempted by Old Sarge's prodding to add a flying bridge to the French model. I also need names for these two. Suggestions are welcomed.

 

the funny part is that the hulls are exactly the same size,

 they were split longitudinally from one prefabbed hull, 

yet the black one looks much larger

Almost Ready For Paint

     I have been hammering away at the gunboats and have them almost ready for paint. This is the crunch-time. I have to finally commit to  which model gets painted into which navy. I am currently leaning toward the smaller one going to the French (it just seems to look French) and the other being Prussian.

the temptation to add a flying bridge to one  (or both) of these models is significant
I am constantly tempted to build something like this

Further Progress on the Gunboats

     I had a quiet morning to work on the boats and have added railings to the superstructures, fabricated gun barrels and, well, essentially covered the models in rivets. The smaller one has taken on a French appearance while the larger one has a distinctly Nordic flair. Like I said before, I really don't plan these things they just evolve as I work on them. I didn't go into detail on the construction techniques, for anyone interested in such things check the page listed at the top of the blog "Adventures in Blue Board and Foam Core" (or just follow that link) for step-by-step on previous projects.

 

I have had problems with earlier models losing their barrels due to rough handling,

I needed a sturdier way to attach the gun to the turret, voila! 

a roofing nail hot glued into place solves the issue handily

Goodies That I Got For Christmas

     I have a wonderful daughter-in-law. She got me two very interesting books for Christmas this year, they embrace two of my favorite historical themes. First they both cover conflicts of extreme obscurity. Second, they cover Pre-Dreadnought naval conflicts. Needless to say I was excited the moment I saw them.

   Taking them in chronological order I will look at the  Sino-French Naval War 1884-1885 by Piotr Olender, published by Mushroom Model Publications out of the U.K. ISBN 978-83-61421-53-5. This covers the "almost" war that lead to France taking over Indochina (and thus to the U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam War eighty years later) from the decadent Chinese Empire. It gives an overview of the conflict to place the naval operations into perspective but keeps to the main focus of the narrative firmly on the naval operations. The book provides complete fleet lists and data on each vessel. Heavily illustrated with period drawings, photos, scale drawings of some of the ships and perspective sketches it will fire the imagination. I found the modern maps left a bit to be desired but I am very demanding that way. Lots of material for wargaming, highly recommended.

The Return of the Giant Ships, Naval Gaming in 28mm (more or less)

     The redoubtable Ray Braemer has prevailed upon me to run a game at SpartaCon this January. Given that this is the one venue with enough square footage to allow a game of 28mm Pre-Dreadnoughts I offered to haul my fleets down to the Lansing Center and run a game.

     To put myself in the right state of mind I scrolled through the previous posts on the building and use of these giant models. In doing so I noticed a pattern that occurred in the games; the French lost. Stop your snickering! We are talking about the French Navy, not the army. The French Navy was one of the benchmarks used by the British for fleet comparison purposes, no Royal Navy, but they were pretty darned good! The Imperial Prussian Navy certainly didn't have the reputation that the French did.

      To redress this problem I have decided to add a few boats to the French Fleet. A brace of gunboats to be exact. See my initial ideas below.

 

as usual I don't really have a plan, I just start cutting foam

DONE! Danish Garden til Fods finished at last

     I discovered that I had all of my Christmas shopping done and nothing to distract myself from this project, so I sat myself down and finished the buttons and skin highlights then applied a final sealing coat of Armory Matte Finish spray.  Here they are in all their glory; The Danish Foot Guards.

 

I really must get over to Warflag.com and find some banners for these units I have been painting