HMS Lord Nelson 1/1800

Coming in at a mighty 75mm we have the last of the pre-Dreadnought battleships, HMS Lord Nelson.  A 3d design from War Times Journal and printed by Karl.  

Steaming on a placid sea.

Detail is amazing and it was so easy to paint.

Seagull or more likely, albatross eye view.

The funnels are actually hollow 

and the cotton wool was just held in place by a pin

providing an easily variable effect.

The paints used.

Burgundian Ordonnace versus New Kingdom Egyptians

In getting ready for the club's next Impetus tournament, I wanted to demonstrate to Karl the killing power of medieval armies.  As it turned out it was a near run thing, but my knights fought splendidly.

Out scouted, the Burgundians deploy between some difficult terrain.

Knights in reserve.

Advance.

But the Burgundians just go far enough to get in range

and start to fire.

Both sides lose a unit to missile fire.

The first charge of the chariots is withstood.

Knights are getting ready to counterattack on the right.

The second charge by the chariots.  

It is more successful on the left,

where the second unit of knights now starts to deploy.

But on the right the knights thunder in.

The Burgundian pike might not have fared well,

but their knights covered themselves in glory.

Jutland

After our practice game we started on Jutland proper, having selected some optional and advanced rules, namely U-boats and British sweep.  I was in favour of the latter as it seemed in keeping with the actual battle.  The U-boats was more a balancing exercise.  

I started the sweep late.  U-boats started early and so our initial moves found nothing.  As 30 May 1916 progressed the Germans quickly discovered that the Grand Fleet had combined into one Task Force.  There was then a race and chase back to the German home port.

Richard, who commanded the High Seas Fleet provided the following descriptive text:

It was late afternoon on Tuesday, May 30th 1916. The sun was low in the western sky as strands of light stabbed at the grey sea below through the scattered clouds which danced in the last glorious days and hours of Spring.

At 1800, precisely, Fähnrich zur See Steinhoff had taken his position as officer of the watch in his uncomfortable nest that would be his world for the next 8 hours. Steinhoff had clambered into his watch position with a strange enthusiasm that evening. They had been at sea for a couple of days now and the crew had become used to the relentless monotony of watch and sleep, but today was different somehow. He felt a knot in his stomach as he scanned the horizon. Something was up, he could feel it.

A gentle swell splashed at sides of their sea monster and the Imperial Ensign fluttered proudly in the wind, but there was a squall, nay a storm, brewing on the horizon.

Steinhoff thumbed his pocket watch, it was 1900, scanning the horizon, he strained to see through the spray. He felt the weight of duty on his young shoulders that day for he was literally the eyes of the fleet. As he wiped the salty spray from face, Steinhoff gripped his binoculars once more and stared into that eternal sea. Suddenly a wisp of smoke!  He held his breath and started to count, first one, then two and then many grey ghosts which now loomed into view.

"ENEMY FLEET SIGHTED BEARING 315!" he roared, "BATTLE STATIONS!"

However, battle there was not.  

So that everything was not wasted, we just set up the battlecruisers and had a game.

The British battlecruisers sailing into action

The end of the game.

The dice are just to denote for the photo the damaged ships.

Red are British, white are German.

The rest of the German fleet is coming to the rescue.  The British could have added more ships, but the physical job of managing it all becomes a bit of a chore.  Also, there is a distinct lack of visual appeal.  Pity as the game system is relatively sound and I have since found some articles in the General magazine that offer some interesting rule changes and options.

I'm investigating 3D prints, and it is first a question of what scale to go for.

The above image is 1/6000.

The model Hood is metal from a different game,

but shows what a model at that scale would look like.

Austrian Light Dragoons - Painted, Based and Blogged

This is a follow up to this post:

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2025/03/austrian-light-dragoons-rescued.html

Very happy with the result.

East India Companies

Well, Compagne Francaise Des Indes Orientales actually.  Richard was the Swedish concern (yellow) and amassed 125 points.  Russell was the British East India Company (red) and scrapped up 104 points while I was Blue and finished with 139 points.

Carthaginians versus Romans

Specifically, 2nd Punic Wars Carthaginians versus Early Republican Romans.  Using Great Battles option of Basic Impetus to provide a six-player game.

Romans: CinC Dave, Right Flank Brad and Left Flank John.

Carthaginians: CinC me, Right Flank Karl, Left Flank Mark B.

The Romans were out scouted and chose ground that placed a lake in the Carthaginian centre.

The lake was bigger than they realised and also consisted of a patch of difficult going.

Deploying first the Romans split their main command.

The Carthaginians massed on the Roman right.

Note: Dave was a bit short on figures, so his Romans are just 8 figures per unit.  I had failed to bring a unit of Spanish LF and was using a unit of Spanish S on a the LF base to represent them.  The command bases help keep track of who has activated etc.

The Carthaginians sent their Numidian cavalry out on the flanks.

Both sides advanced except that

the Carthaginian right about faced.

Numidian cavalry run down Roman skirmishers.

The split Roman centre decides to connect up 

via the difficult terrain. 

Numidian cavalry have shot their dash,

eh, I mean done their bolt.

The Roman right decide to fall back.

Well, the Numidian cavalry might have been dispersed,

but the Roman cavalry is about to suffer the same fate.

One mob of Gauls charge in the centre but just fail to contact.

The Carthaginian right starts to advance.

Those Gauls suffered badly for their failure,

but Libyan spearman have come to their rescue.

More Gauls are moving up as well.

The Romans are now fully engaged on their right

but the Carthaginians are in the ascendance.

On the Carthaginian things are also 

looking good.

The Romans are smashed.

I have to say the Great Battles option certainly gives a good multiplayer game.

Scythed Chariots

One of these I had for decades and one I've had for years.  There was a steep increase in price and I was unmotivated to do them up until now.  They were fiddly.

Back in the 1980s or maybe early 1990s a guy at the Canberra Games Society had a very nice Seleucid army that he had built using Tin Soldier figures, but doing some extra value add with detail etc.

That was where the idea for the whips came from.

Here you see the model pre whip and pre reins.

Also you can see the bases I made for each horse so I could position them better.

Positioning the horses was the major bit of fiddliness.

I went with thick wire for the reins as it was in better keeping with the models.

The whips are cotton thread coated in PVA glue.

As can be seen the scythes on the wheels are not the best.

I was tempted to add bits but decided against it.

They look mean enough.

Next step is to get them on to the table top.