tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8836543444880123972013-05-09T16:29:33.990-07:00Mini Ship GamingNaval wargaming, tactics, and strategy; news of the hobby and my personal projectsEl Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-86784874274033358102013-03-26T14:42:00.000-07:002013-03-26T14:42:46.228-07:0070 years ago...Seventy years ago, as of the time of this post, a battle was just ending in the North Pacific. Task Group 16.6, USN, under RAdm Charles McMorris, had just successfully disengaged from combat with a superior Japanese force under RAdm Hosagaya Boshiro. This battle is commonly known as The Battle of the Komandorskis, after the nearby Russian island group.
There are some good on-line articles on El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-31921652652218305402013-01-05T12:31:00.000-08:002013-01-05T12:31:16.726-08:00Austrian ironclads, part 3Not really an ironclad, this is an unarmored wooden steam vessel from the 1/2400 Figurehead line:
I intend to use it as the Austrian frigate Novara.
Building this one will be a bit different from the previous ironclads, as it appears that the fore and main masts are carried over from the Figurehead sailing ship lines. The ironclads from Figurehead have the mast as an integral part of El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-33382061746354095812013-01-04T12:16:00.002-08:002013-01-04T12:16:54.333-08:00Stoking the boilers again...Well, 2012 did not come off as I expected in the hobby department, especially with regards to naval gaming. Suffice to say, I completely lost the plot! I did manage to do a little with some of my other projects (I have a series of blogs specific to certain projects, click on my profile if you are interested) but I did not get very far with anything.
Recently, however, I have been trying to El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-41461944873355966282011-12-31T11:59:00.000-08:002011-12-31T11:59:41.502-08:00On the horizon - 2012Well, my last post of 2011! It should be something thoughtful and witty, but what follows will have to suffice...
First off, I would like to thank all of the people that follow and visit this humble blog. Having something to say is one thing, but also having an audience is another and I do appreciate all comments, so please keep them coming in!
Second, projects. I seem to be good at finding El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-71820594264428620032011-12-11T10:23:00.000-08:002011-12-11T10:23:39.015-08:00Leviathans, part 3After a long delay, here are some pics of another vessel from Leviathans, the French light cruiser Pontbriand:
Another nice looking model for the Leviathans game.
El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-81132872214319167962011-12-10T11:10:00.000-08:002011-12-10T11:10:53.267-08:00Plan Rubber linksA brief post for today, as we are having our delayed Thanksgiving get-together now that my step-daughter has returned from Iraq...
Plan Rubber on Wiki
Plan Rubber at Sixtant
A couple of links that explain the situation and the historical outcome - from which I plan to deviate of course!El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-42714716782343756352011-11-19T18:17:00.000-08:002011-11-19T18:17:01.178-08:00WW2 naval, part 3I think that I have a good idea of what the US force will have available for Plan Rubber, plus a couple of additions.
CV Ranger
BB Texas
BB Arkansas
CA Augusta
CL Savannah
DD Wainwright
DD Lang
DD Wilson
DD Hambleton
DD Emmons
During March 1942, all of the above ships, excluding the battleships, were formed as TG22.7 for a brief time, patrolling the Caribbean and Atlantic near Bermuda. The El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-29514793902384369422011-11-14T08:53:00.000-08:002011-11-14T08:53:17.930-08:00WW2 naval, part 2When it rains, it pours sometimes... Just when I thought that I had figured out a simple WW2 project, I find something else that catches my fancy. Here are the two candidates:
Plan Rubber - US forces try to invade Brazil to insure the security of airbases in Northern Brazil, vital to the transfer of aircraft from the US to Africa/Middle East/Australia.
The Med - France vs. Italy in a what-if El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-68095929470959457862011-11-06T10:22:00.000-08:002011-11-14T08:55:43.818-08:00Looking at a WW2 naval project...After a little bit of digging I was able to find a good quantity of GHQ WW2 naval vessels in various states of disrepair. Many of them look like this:
The top pic shows, from the left: a King George V class battleship, a Caio Duilio class battleship, a Littorio class battleship, and a Strasbourg class battlecruiser. The second pic shows, clockwise from the top left: Hood battlecruiser, El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-24813000026691738212011-11-03T15:43:00.000-07:002011-11-03T15:43:06.754-07:00Weak-willed me...Well now, another fork in the road of hobby project completion looms up ahead. Recently, I have been playing the on-line game World of Tanks. This has stirred a latent desire for micro-armour, something that I have not played for more than a decade, and collected longer than that. So, I zipped over to the GHQ Models web site, checking out tanks and such, when the urge to look at the El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-54415522758510506322011-10-05T20:35:00.000-07:002011-10-05T20:37:33.901-07:00Austrian ironclads, part 2After a long delay, I decided to get the shipyards going again. Here is a brief glimpse:
Drache
Kaiser Max
A couple of Austrian ironclads to get the ball rolling again. I am cutting the masts down somewhat, as I understand the Austrians ships, at Lissa, had reduced their rigging in advance of the engagement. It will help differentiate the Austrians from the Italians, although the hull El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-9144778132677327572011-09-29T07:23:00.000-07:002011-09-29T07:23:54.822-07:00Leviathans, part 2Here are some pics of the British light cruiser for Leviathans, HML Hertfordshire:
The models for Leviathans are 1/1200 scale. They are 'lightly' pre-painted in the colors you see in these pics, but I believe they come unassembled.El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-43783923171029677272011-08-31T06:28:00.000-07:002011-08-31T06:28:13.110-07:00Leviathans!At the recently concluded PAX Prime convention, I had the rare opportunity to see a great new game just before launch - Leviathans, by Catalyst Game Labs. We had next to no spare time as we were on our way to another presentation, but I had a brief chat with Randall Bills, mastermind of Leviathans, and as a token of appreciation (we were among the early playtesters - a few years ago - for the El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-23337349367355842292011-06-12T08:50:00.000-07:002011-06-12T08:51:45.131-07:00Another naval blogIf you are not already following along at Castles of Tin, you really should - great stuff!El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-20598229601883712522011-06-03T09:15:00.000-07:002011-06-03T18:09:22.983-07:00BecalmedJust a temporary slow-down, I am sure, but the shipyard here is looking at some downtime. Since I have not had a regular game group in several years, I do not feel any impetus towards completing projects, and with my regular game partner, my lovely wife, dropping a bit of a blast with "I don't really like naval games' (WHAT!!!!) I have lost all headway with the naval projects. I didEl Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-94694762583202052011-04-27T04:52:00.000-07:002011-04-27T05:31:37.877-07:00Award!!I am rather shocked and a bit pleased to announce that this blog has been nominated for a Stylish Blogger Award! (I suppose that this means that I should update it more than once a month then.) Many thanks to David Manley for the tip-of-the-hat!There are four rules that need to be followed after receipt of this award:1. Link back and thank the nominating party - Thanks again Mr. Manley!2. El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-23733491180585450912011-04-20T09:15:00.000-07:002011-04-20T09:37:23.796-07:00ProjectsIt has been a little quiet here at this mini-shipyard, so as an aid to get back into gear I'm listing the current naval projects:1. 1/2400 Armada - The discovery of some long-lost Hallmark ships was a pleasant surprise, but I have not done anything else to them since. The two small squadron packs contain plenty of ships for now, but I am thinking of spicing them up a bit. I discovered just the El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-66856500791367019502011-03-09T05:05:00.000-08:002011-03-09T05:15:59.809-08:00A bit of a diversion, and a poll...As many other gamers, I find it very difficult to maintain a singular focus on projects and periods - there have been many examples on this blog alone to prove that! But, I have endeavored to keep my blogs reasonably focused on certain genres. This blog is devoted to naval matters, and historical ones at that. But, I am also 'working' (more like thinking!) on non-historical naval projects, El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-50882667408809250792011-02-19T11:19:00.000-08:002011-02-19T11:27:59.465-08:001/6000Here is some of my unexpected collection of 1/6000 scale ships:Just the Germans and British in this pic. My 1/6000 German fleet is an eclectic mix of battlecruisers, pre-dreadnoughts, and torpedo boats, while the British only have battlecruisers. I have to say that I do not remember the specific plan for these ships! But, they are beautiful castings - do I really need another scale?El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-36896268056715234102011-02-12T09:58:00.000-08:002011-04-20T09:37:40.369-07:00Back on track, with a surprise...Far too slowly, but it is finally done - the hobby table is set up for business:And, it is immediately besieged with projects and a few surprises as well if you look closely! Here is the first one:1/2400 Figurehead English 16th century squadron1/2400 Figurehead Spanish 16th century squadronI thought that these packs were sold off long ago, but they look intact and almost completely untouched. El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-2234926774201323572010-12-31T16:12:00.000-08:002010-12-31T16:24:05.594-08:00On the horizon - 2011Yet another year is upon us. Here at the El Grego shipyards, things have been in a state of flux. I have not done anything with my naval projects for months, for a number of reasons, foremost amongst those being a change in residence. My work bench, which once looked like this:Now looks like this:The work bench was replaced by an old computer table, which is about half of the length of the oldEl Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-63092264552506681752010-09-25T14:37:00.000-07:002010-09-25T14:43:45.277-07:00Austrian ironclads, part 1Just to show that I had not forgotten the ironclads, here is a pic for you:Erzherzog Ferdinand MaxNo other progress however! I am a bit puzzled by the lack of sails for the mini - typically Figurehead ships come with enough sail pieces for each mast that needs them, but this one only has one. I will need to check with some pics of the actual ship to confirm but I am pretty certain that there El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-8513807978775313702010-08-14T12:11:00.000-07:002010-08-14T12:19:45.157-07:00German ships, part 1We saw the state of the Russian fleet last time - so here are the Germans:The bases are not quite finished; those that are blue will get one more coat, and the metal ones will get two! The torpedo boats do look dark and sinister, as they should, although when I paint the wakes on the bases they will pop out more.A broadside shot of the fleet. The closest ship, minelayer Albatross, is not nearlyEl Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-27724078461308421462010-08-07T13:23:00.000-07:002010-08-07T13:40:10.216-07:00Russian ships, part 2Long time no post - my apologies!I have put a little time and effort into the ships - the basics of the basing is done for all of the WW1 Baltic ships. I do wish that I had put a little more thought into basing before starting... I started with a thin piece of sheet steel, a commercially available base from Wargames Accessories. After super-gluing all of the ships to these bases, I realized El Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883654344488012397.post-10179776329396074402010-06-28T08:59:00.000-07:002010-06-28T09:23:46.816-07:00Work-in-progressThese projects are slowly taking shape. My order from The Last Square arrived - mostly steel bases and one Austrian ironclad, Drache - and the bases have already been put to use.I'm using 40mm x 80mm bases for my WW1 ships. The trio on the right are the German torpedo boats... they are a dark grey with a darker grey deck, maybe too dark! I will wait until I have the bases painted but the smallEl Gregohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15255734917358886698noreply@blogger.com2