Galleys & Galleons, part 1

Last weekend, my lovely wife and I sat down to give Galleys & Galleons, the renaissance-era naval rules now in playtest, a go.  You will need to forgive the pics, as I do not have miniatures painted up, and I forgot to get my blue felt out for an appropriate backdrop!

This pic was taken after the full first turn.  The table is roughly 3 feet square, and we are using counters out of the Close Action game by Clash of Arms.  We kept details simple for this first game - 3 galleons each, with equal stats.  My wife is closing fast, as she rolled very aggressively (and well) throughout the game.  At this point, two of my ships are in irons - i.e. pointed into the wind.  It is an omen of things to come!

A few more turns in, and I am trying to shake my squadron back into a line.  My ships are taking damage, and Little Miss Horatio Nelson is about to break my line!

Even though one of her ships is out of contact, things are not looking good for me.  Yes, that ship of mine got raked and will strike its colors in the next turn, and the one on the right side is about to get raked, catch fire, and explode (!) in the next turn.

Here is the next to last turn - my last ship is trying to get off the board. She agreed that if my last ship could sail off the table, that it would escape as my wife's ships would need to return and claim the surrendered vessel.  Fortunately for me, my last vessel escaped...


So far, the verdict on the rules is quite favorable.  Even my lovely wife enjoys them, and she is a hard sell on sailing ship games.

As I would rather play with miniatures than counters:

Here is the start of a fleet of Figurehead 1/2400 ships on the workbench.  The bases are just temporary until I can order some better ones.

Underway again if slowly

Well, it has been a long time, as I have not had much inclination for the wetter side of miniatures.  But, a slice of inspiration has arrived - I volunteered and was accepted to the playtest crew of Galleys & Galleons, being produced for Ganesha Games by Nic aka Mr Hotspur.

As this is intended to be a miniatures game, I would need a fleet or two:

And, here are some volunteers!  I have had these squadrons for some 14 years or so - the price is in CAD$, back when the exchange rate was quite favorable to us Yanks.

The plan is to paint these ships up, and get some gaming in.  I have half a thought to break these squadrons up and mix them into something a bit different.  Instead of Spanish and English, I was thinking maybe Dutch and Portuguese, and split the ships across the fleets of the two nations.  These miniatures will have to do for now, as the harsh reality of budget limitations for naval activities has closed in - no funds for new acquisitions, just upkeep of existing ships.



Getting these squadrons has spurred some more enthusiasm about older projects, namely those neglected ironclads; might need to drag them out as well.  And the WW1 ships, but I am not liking the way I have based them...

WTJ strikes again!

The ships are just flowing out of the printers at War Times Journal - now, there is a new line of ships:   World War One ships in 1/1500, 1/1800, 1/2400, and 1/3000 scales!  Check this link:

WTJ 3-d printed WW1 ships

Just Germans for now, but soon the Royal Navy as well...

And, for more pics, see this great new blog:   Red In The Morning

(Not my blog but go visit just the same!)

Another distraction?

Just arrived...

Egyptian ships

After reading the books I received about ancient Egyptian ships, I was able to piece together a list of common building materials for the Pharaoh's navy:

Acacia
Sycamore
Cedar (red and white)

Also used, but much less often:

Cypress
Pine


Cedar, of course, would be imported from the Levant and was often used for funerary barges for the high-ranking citizens and royalty.  I intend to paint up only a few ships in red cedar, and the rest in a more tan color.  Masts, as another nifty detail, were often made of the same material as the hull.