Award!!

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. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Nominate 10-15 other blogs for this award.
4. Contact those bloggers above about the nomination.


Seven things...

> I like naval wargames but can not swim.
> I like air combat games but have never been in an aircraft of any sort (in the air at least).
> I have a degree in history.
> And work as a chemical lab technician!
> I have been to... Yaak Montana (and the Dirty Shame Saloon!).
> My sons paint much better than I.
> In my household, I am 'geek second rank' after my lovely wife.


And now, in no particular order, the next nominees:

A Wargaming Odyssey
Hetairoi Wargames
Geordie's Big Battles
Col. Campbell's Shipyard
The Single Handed Admiral
Baron's Blog
chirine's workbench
The Tékumel Project
Geektactica



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Tékumel naval, part 3

With a little bit of free time at the table recently, I turned to making my first scratch-built Tékumel ship, a srügánta (comparable to a Greek bireme):


Plastic and balsa together for the hull. Oh boy, is it a chunky ship! Just goes to show that simply measuring things does not make a nice mini. The srügánta drawing in Qadárdàlikoi is much more sleek, although it does have an interesting sternwalk. Also, when I realized that my ship was not coming along, I made a very simple mistake and did not test-fit the aft superstructure piece before gluing it down; if you could see the mini from a top view it would be obvious, and too wide.

With the above in mind, I tried to draw some designs for more suitable ships:


The versions of srügánta here are still fairly chunky compared to the original, so I need to work with that. The zírunel, however, should be properly large and imposing and the drawing tries to be. I am also experimenting with slightly different architecture styles for the different nations plying the seas. I would like the ships of Tsolyánu flotillas to not only be a different color but a subtly different shape from their Mu'ugalavyáni counterparts.


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Projects

It 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 trick for that - Tiny Tin Troops has a set of flags for Armada-era ships, so that has been placed on the To-Buy list. After that, just some paint and a set of rules then I'm set!

2. 1/2400 Ironclads - Ten Italian ironclads have been mostly finished, and there are 8 Austrian ships - 5 armored, 3 unarmored - waiting. I'm hoping to try a variant of DBSA to start once some Austrians are done.

3. 1/3000 WW1 - Still work to be done on these Baltic squadrons. Rurik and Novik are still not finished, and most of the German ships are only partially complete. These, however, have been stashed away since my recent move, but just a smidge of work would get this project afloat. DBSA will be the starter rules for this project as well.


And now for the 'other' naval projects I have been puttering around with lately:

4. 1/600 Tékumel naval - Fantasy gaming in the world of M.A.R. Barker - follow this link for a little bit of info.

5. 1/1200 Half-Continent naval - Also known as Monster Blood Tattoo or The Foundling's Tale, this set of novels details a blend of the fantastic with alchemy and the 18th-century. More information on my take of the story here.


Apologies for the lack of pics, and thanks for all the votes and comments on the previous post!

Tékumel naval, part 2

My copy of Qadárdàlikoi arrived very recently, and although it is a book that mainly deals with land battles on Tékumel, it has some nice information of the naval side of things. And, accordingly, it presents myself with a dilemma.

In the section on naval warfare, there are stats and line drawings on six of the most common vessels used. These vessels are, for the most part, not very similar to the Xyston ships I have just purchased! So, a decision needs to be made [actually I have already made up my mind but I am dragging it out for you the reader ;) ]: use the Xyston ships and go a more 'faux' Tékumel look; or scratchbuild new ships based on the line drawings?

Now, I can not really foresee giving up entirely on the Xyston ships. In fact, the Xyston merchant vessel is rather similar to a Tnék, except it lacks a lateen foresail. The weapon and sail kits will be handy, and I might use the oar banks from the Xyston ships I already have on the scratchbuilt ships. So the Xyston purchase is not a complete bust!


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Ships, part 8

More bits and pieces have been added to the first iron dought in my shipyard:


The ship is pretty close to being at the end of the build phase now. I have yet to decide on whether to add the gunports or to decorate the stern. For the sake of simplicity the rigging will not be added. The masts need some adjusting - when the supports were glued in they appear to have pulled the masts a bit when the glue dried. A gentle application to a knife should fix that as the crooked masts just do not look right. Then it is off to be painted!

One more pic:


I think a different background is needed for these pics!