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. 
 

Things From The Basement New England Village

These were Christmas gifts from my Mother-in-law and wife. Things from the Basement kits are awesome. 

The Hartwell Tavern kit is great an excellent reproduction of the original.

I like the detail of the cellar door.

These are two generic colonial houses. 

Less detailed than the Hartwell Tavern but still very nice looking.

Rear view of the same houses the color choice was difficult.

This is the captain Smith House which I painted last year it's got an extra level of detail and that I really like.  

All together they make a nice little New England village... A few barns and other additions. 

Cattle raid on Brecon, 1291

 Last Friday I wend to Arofan's and helped playtest some new rules for Late Middle ages Wargaming. I was Teamed up with Kelly and faced off against Mark and Eammon.

Kelly and I had an ambush set up and it worked great with archers and crossbow men quickly seeing off a unit of cavalry scouts. 

and other a Archery units quickly establishing fire superiority over a unit of Crossbowmen. 

Turn two things were looking good our Archers and crossbowmen had the flow on units of knights pinned down while our Knights had intercepted the enemy's leading unit of knights... Then our lord died in hand to hand combat! 

Still we managed to hold our own for a bit routing the Crossbowmen and keeping many of the enemies best units pinned down. Still with only two lesser lords we didn't have the command ability to take advantage of our good shooting. 

Our "second in command" was stuck holding the center lucky for him our peasants punched well above their weight holding off trained infantry.    

Then disaster struck as another lord fell defending the village as our opponents stormed in with multiple units... the Archers and Peasant levies broke.  A crushing defeat after a good begining. 

More Like Foxes Than Lyons Outside Frankfurt 1689

Mark and I had the French Army ecoutiering Germans near Frankfurt 

We oppted to focuse outside the town I had the infantry on the right.      

We advanced with our two batteries making a deliberate fire.  

Regiment Perche got an off an excellent volley at the German Grenadiers... killing many and causing disorder... Saddly my germans on thelft were routed in a crossfire, while the Gendarmes made an charge but the Imperial German's recovered. 

Despite inflicting a lot of damage on the Germans we were un able to break the Germans on the right and our troops on the left retreated an Imperial victory.