The Maritime section of the Challenge is always an issue for me. I'm not really a "naval gamer" (although I did buy a copy of Black Seas and never assembled or painted the models, anyone interested?) but one naval thing I did get into was the Great War at sea using tiny tiny 1:6000 models. I happened to have a few unpainted in the Plano case so figured I'd paint them for this Challenge.
This scale is great for dreadnoughts because the models are so small you can have a reasonably convincing action on a 6x4 table, and it doesn't look like Napoleonic broadside action. The ships are spread out and far apart and it looks sort of like a real-ish naval battle would look.
Here are the British dreadnoughts I've painted - two "Colossus" class (Colossus and Hercules) and three "St. Vincent" class (St. Vincent, Vanguard and Collingwood). The base tags are white (for British) with a red stripe (battleship) and my own three-character code for the ship name. Colossus and Hercules were laid down in late 1909 and 1910 and of course saw service in the Great War. St. Vincent, Vanguard and Collingwood were laid down in late 1907 and early 1908.
Here are the Germans (again with grey bands for Germany, red stripes and three-letter codes) - four "Nassau" class battleships, Nassau, Westfalen, Posen, and Rheinland. These were Germany's first modern dreadnought battleships and were laid down starting in mid-1907. All saw service in the Great War but reviews were mixed. Somewhat unusually they had turrets mounted amidship which contributed to their poor handling and severe rolling due to the wing turrets' weight. In plan view they were pretty wide and stubby looking.
Hopefully we'll get to gaming with these models again someday soon but for now they'll take their places with the rest of the fleets in the case.
(added after suggestion by Minion)
Points:
9x tiny ships 18 points
Maritime bonus 20 points
See you soon with the next post!
Good entry for the Maritime section. One that Many are struggling to get to. Nice work on the waves below the ships, and the tags to know which is which considering the scale.
Would be good to add the Library map to show your path also to make adding the extra points easier.
38 pts added for you
Kyle
Nice work on your ships. I played a few games years ago at this scale on a large table. Maneuvering was key and boy if you lost speed it was over.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking ships. I think you are spot on with that scale allowing big battles.
ReplyDeleteFabulous looking coal-burners Dallas! I'm not sure if you've read it already but if not check out Robert Massie's 'Castles of Steel' for a great survey on the naval war during WWI.
ReplyDeleteNice work on these dreadnoughts Dallas. I don’t have the eyes or patience for 1:6000 but I do understand the appeal.
ReplyDeleteI've seen several naval-theme entries over the years and I still cannot figure it out how you guys can extract so much detail on these super -tiny models
ReplyDeleteThanks all - yes Mr Curt, "Castles of Steel" is on my shelf right now, it might be time for a re-read!
ReplyDeleteGreat WWI ships! I considere 1/6000, but having already invested quite heavily in 1/3000 I did not get them in the end. But these look great! As long as you are on the Massie track, his “Dreadnought” is also worth reading (perhaps even better than Castles).
ReplyDeletethese look so cool, nice painting on these
ReplyDeleteNice work on that scale!
ReplyDeleteThose are just lovely
ReplyDeleteGreat wee ships Dallas. Will make for great games when you get a chance to play.
ReplyDeleteFabulous paint job. The ships look crisps. All they need is an enemy.
ReplyDelete