Mayhem 2025

Two weekends ago was the Mayhem convention. Life has been crazy since then so I am behind on posting.

My first game was GQIII the Raid on Yorkshire a battle of the Great War that almost was.  I ran part of the German Force. Successfully bombarding the town then beating up on two English squadrons. 

Unfortunately my ships Saydlitz and Moltkie were knocked around badly and the Blucher was sunk ending the battle in a draw.

The next game was Electronic Brigadier: Freeman's Farm. I was on the British side running a Hessian brigade.

My men covered the left flank of the Redcoat advance the Americans fought hard but English and German zeal and bayonets drove them back.

Saturday morning I ran a game I called the Gibraltar Races based loosely on the second battle of Algazias.

The action was furious and hard fought a minor English victory 

Saturday afternoon I was flying Mosquito Green leader hunting the Tirpitz. I helped take down a German Destroyer before being shot down 

We did manage to hit the big German ship multiple times and she was knocked out of the war. 

Saturday night I was the Alamo I had Jim Bowie's command defending the North East side of the mission and the "long" Barracks 

I the end we were no more successful than the historic defenders but man it was fun.

Sunday the savage aliens came to Hanghi Mike Payne's amazing Chinese city.

Mike and GM Gabe 

The game was chaotic and lots of fun a great ending to the weekend. 

Perils and Princesses: the Rat King of Fairyland.

 Saturday Evie, Connie, Nicole (Connie's mom) met for another game of Perils and Princesses. We had been asked to clear out the "Rat King" and some cursed bees. Bees are key to the Fairy village's economy so we tried to keep casualties to a minimum.  My character Beleg has an enchanting voice and can sometimes sing enemies to sleep so we used that to our advantage... unfortunately we had to kill the queen (hopefully they have a royal larva).

Eventually we made our way below the storage areas (and the hive that had taken it over) and made our way into the lair of the Rat King (it turns out that Rat Kings are real things check this out if you aren't eating anything) Beleg used his musical ability to inspire her troops.  

I also tried to get the Rat king to case me... but it went after the girls who managed to doge it's attack and after multiple attacks with spear, sword and staff we took it down.  This gave us one of the artifacts (the Rat King's tail, ewe)  we need to break the Candy Curse. 

Winter Painting

In the tradition of the Analog Hobbies painting challenge I present my winter painting.  I didn't participate in the challenge this year but I was painting 

Hartwell Tavern made by Things From the Basement.

Two Colonial house also made by Things From the Basement.

Two North Hampton Class Cruisers Printed from a Ghekek File 

Five Trible Class Destroyers 

Two Isa class battleships 

A pair of Hipper class Heavy Cruisers 

The French Magadore class Destroyers 

The French Light Cruiser Emile Bertin 

The French Heavy Cruiser Algerie 

The Heavy Cruisers Wichita 

Four USN Bagley Class Destroyers 

 and a set of ships for my nephews. 

Ship for Export

These are some Panzerschiffe miniatures that were a belated Christmas Gift to my nephews who have always been interested in my collection.  There are two Kangaro class destroyers and Mogami class cruiser for a Japanese task force.  To oppose them are two Fletcher class Destroyers and USS Helena and improved Brookline class cruiser.  
 

Ghukek's miniatures Bagley-class Destroyers

Some more ships Bagley  class Destroyers.  These will allow me to add some additional American Destroyers.  These are one of the last Prewar classes  so they are perfect for early war scenarios

They can also sub in of Gridley and Benham class destroys which were broadly similar.  All three are built for fleet action with 4 5"/38 guns and 16 torpedoes... American Torpedoes but still that's a lot of Fish. 
 

Ghekek's USS Wichita

 Thanks once more to Arofan's Shipyard (3d Printer) I have added the USS Wichita to my US fleet

The Wichita (which is really hard to spell) was a one off Cruiser and last US Heavy Cruiser of the treaty era and was consider a good balanced ship. 

From my untutored eye one of her significant improvements is the Aircraft facilities are in the rear not the middle of the ship.   I had to rebuild a crane from some wire after the resin one broke. 

More Ghekek Ships the French Navy

 More ships Printed for me by Arofan from Ghekek's excellent files.  I now have a nice little French Taskforce.

The Heavy Cruise Algerie Widely considered one of the best of the Treaty Era Cruiser 

She had a good balance of Firepower, speed and armor.  She never found a fight before France got out of World War II and she was scuttle in Toulon. 

Next up is the Light Cruiser Emile Bertin.   She served Both the French and the Free French Navies, having carried French Gold Reserves to the Martinique.

She served as a Destroyer Flotilla Flagship and could operate as a minelayer a very versatile ship.

Last we have the contre-torpilleurs of the Mogador Class the Mogador and the Vota.  English Sources call these Destroyers and they fill a similar roll but they really are a French approach.

They are large, fast(39 knots!) and heavily armed with six 5.5 inch guns as well as Torpedoes, Depth charges and Mines. They are powerful units on paper but in reality they had a low rate of fire and that high speed lead to poor maneuverability. Many Cruisers and even some battleships could turn tighter then they could.  

This Picture gives you an idea of the size of the Mogadors.  US Destroyer, Mogador and the light cruiser Emile Bertin as you can see the Mogador is about 70% of the size of the cruiser. 

More Ghekek Ships German Hipper class Cruisers

I had one Hipper Class Cruiser but a recent playtest of a fictional battle lead me to think it would be good to have some more.  

Historically the three that were completed didn't see much service together but for speculative scenarios its nice to have more than one. I'll now have three which is the number that were completed.  These were 3d Printed for me by Arofan from Ghekek's files. I have to say I am impressed. 

I used the Baltic camo pattern because I have always liked the way it looked. 

One of the ships has black on the super firing turrets for easy identification 

Here they are with my old Panzerschiff Hipper.  The Scale is a good match though the level of detail is much lower.  I've also got some new French and American ships to show off later. 

Ghukek's Miniatures 1/2400 ships

Arofan and I recently Discovered a new 3D Print designer Ghekek 

We grabbed a few of the Free offers and Arofan printed them up for me and I got them painted.  First up a American Northampton Class Cruiser with camouflage patter.

Here we have another Northampton in plain gray except for the False bow wave intended to throw off speed estimates made by enemies using optical range finders 

Two Ise-Class Battleships  a design I have always liked with twelve 14-inch guns in in Six twin turrets. 

These two didn't have much of a war rescored and were converted in to hybrid carriers. 

I want to use them as old school Battleships. 

Finally Five Trible class Destroyers so my British Battleship and Cruiser will have some escorts. 

I Think these may be form the Same creator Frank provided Arofan with the file.