Sunday, 11 February 2024

From LeeH: English 17th Century Warships (Library: Maritime) (80+20 bonus Points)

Sea spray and salt air mix with the smell of black powder as these 17th-century warships try to chase down their enemies in the Anglo-Dutch War. These 1/1200th scale models are by Ark Royal Miniatures and are based for use with the Mad for War rules, written by Barry Hilton (of League of Augsburg  fame)



My group, Posties Rejects had the great honour of refighting the Dutch Raid on Chatham using these rules, inside the target of the attack, Chatham Dockyard. We had two days of intense fighting as we recreated the battle and at the end, we all had such a good time we bought copies of the rulebook and a load of ships. I’ve already completed three of the ships from my British Squadron, these four are the remainder.



When we started these models we all agreed not to bother with the rigging…and then one person relented and now we all have to follow! I’ve used plastic bristles from a scrubbing brush for the main lines which were fixed with a mixture of superglue and intense, creative swearing!



So how to score these? Well, I should start by saying that only half of these count towards the Painting Challenge. The four smaller ships in the back row were painted a few months ago but hadn't been based or rigged because I wanted to do those stages on all the ships at the same time. So while I have done all the basing and rigging on all eight vessels, only the front four were painted during the Challenge and count towards my target. So what points for the four that do count? One of the advantages of the challenge blog covering so many years' worth of entries is that there is nearly always a precedent from a previous entry. There aren’t many 1/1200th scale ship entries to choose from, but Curt has awarded 15 points per ship before, so I’ll put that down and leave the final decision to the umpire. Plus I'll sneakily claim the Maritime bonus from the Challenge Library which should bring my total for this entry up to 80 points. 

4x1/1200 Scale Warships = 60 Points + Maritime Bonus 20 Points = 80 Points total

Lovely work here LeeH on these boats. Not just for the painting, but at the scale, and the rigging/basing aspects for it as well. Always amazing to see this, and I think the points are very well justified for it all. 

I added an extra 20 points, 5 pts per half finished boat, for getting the rigging/basing done on them alongside all of these. 

Only real comment to add is more for the posts.. if you can add your Library progress photo alongside the post that will help to see how far you have come and which sections you have finished so far in the challenge. Another accomplishment within the challenge itself. 

Great job, and 100 pts for you Jez
Kyle

12 comments:

  1. Lovely wee ships Lee. I did some play testing for MfW and quite enjoyed it, but I opted for 1:2400 ships and avoided rigging. I salute your efforts here.

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  2. Very well done, considering the complexity of such a tiny scale. The sea bases are fantastic

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  3. If I was to do a naval period it would be this- wonderful looking ships.

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  4. Excellent work Lee! Apologies I didn't get the names of the ships to you on time for this post. Hopefully I'll be able to add a few ships of my own to the Challenge soon?

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  5. Wow those are very cool Lee!

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  6. Holy cow, those look great - and the rigging! Just amazing.

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  7. You're a brave man doing the rigging Lee! I would have been swearing and "launching" ships across the room if I tried!

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  8. Great work and the rigging, well done.

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