Ships off Haiti, part 1

Some progress:

Here are the contents of the Haitian rebel ship package - hulls, masts, bowsprits, funnels, and deck guns!  Fortunately, there are good pics of the assembled models on the FB page, and line drawings in the Salnave's War book.  Phil (of Spithead Miniatures) also sent a helpful e-mail detailing some of the differences he decided for the models, and suggested painting guides.

After a bit of sorting, the models are ready for assembly.  I need to review my basing plan before going much further.

Last but not least, the government squadron is sorted.

Back, again?

I am trying to get my wargaming 'sea legs' back!



A new arrival has piqued my interest:

These are 1/1200 ship models from Spithead Miniatures for the Haitian Revolution (Salnave's War) of 1867.  Also pictured above is an ACW 90-day gunboat and USS Benton.



To accompany these wonderful models, I picked up a copy of this:

This slender book is a concise source of information for the vessels and battles at sea during the revolution, including maps and drawings of all the ships present.

Great Lakes, part 1

With my recent order to Waterloo Minis, I added a sampling of the Langton War of 1812 ships:

Here we have a pair of schooners that could be used for either faction on the Great Lakes.  Each model is comprised of five cast pieces - hull and masts - and a set of photo-etch sails.  Beautifully cast in the Langton manner, and oh my, are they small.  Each square on the grid in the pics is ¼" (6.35mm) - the hulls are less than 1" (25mm) in length.

Anglo-Dutch, part 3

The second pair of miniatures for my Anglo-Dutch naval project recently arrived.  These ships are Langton, and they were purchased through Waterloo Minis:

This is Langton AD8, a British 4th Rate vessel, 48-56 guns.  13 pieces total.  I decided to try cast sails for this batch, just to see how much difference there will be in assembly compared to the photo-etch variety, plus they were a bit less expensive.  Beautifully detailed, as one would expect from Langton.

This is Langton AD14, a Dutch 4th Rate of 46 guns.  Again, 13 pieces make up this model, and again beautifully detailed.  It is interesting to note the size difference between the two 4th rates - the British ships are a fair amount larger than their Dutch counterparts.





The easy part is now complete!  Next is to figure out basing and rigging essentials, as I want to have all of the supplies present before I start any assembly.

The return of an old favorite, with a twist

Along with the Anglo-Dutch ships, I purchased a few miniatures for an era that I once played extensively - ACW naval:

These ships are part of a new series of ships from Thoroughbred Models.  Thoroughbred is well-known for their line of 1/600 ACW ships, and I once had quite a few.  They were sold years ago to make ends meet, but now I am ready to return to the genre except that my new collection will be in 1/1200 scale.





First up is CSS Arkansas:

Just 43mm or so in length, this model is a bit small but the detail is very nice.  This is a one-piece cast, although there is a flagstaff and flag included with the kit.



Here is a port bow shot:

Next is a Union 90-day gunboat:

This model is more complicated, with masts, bowsprit, foredeck, and a pair of separately-cast guns.





Following these is another Union vessel.  This one is an armed ferry:

Not a big ship at 37mm in length, but there is a lot of detail including a very nice 'walking beam' assembly for the engines.





Honestly, I find this project to be much less intimidating than the Anglo-Dutch ships, simply due to the greatly reduced amount of rigging needed per ship.  Some of these will required little to none.  Of course, once I get to USS Hartford, things will change!

Anglo-Dutch naval, part 1

This is the start of my newest naval project; just a pair of ships but I find it to be very daunting.  The rigging of these ships will be the hard part for me to overcome!

Here is the first step - a pair of lovely 3rd rates in 1/1200 scale from Langton.  (Edit:  purchased from Waterloo Miniatures)  (and the ratlines are sold separately!).



Inside the box one will find:

Above are the parts for the Dutch 3rd rate (Langton AD19).  The hull is three pieces, while the masts and sails comprise a total of 15 pieces.  All of the wonderful details that one expects from a Langton miniature are here.

The parts of the English kit (Langton AD9) are similar.



Please note that these miniatures are not very large.  The pics above are on a ¼" (6.35 mm) grid.  The hulls are less than 2" (51mm) long overall.

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.

Tékumel naval, part 12

Another 'for posterity's sake' pic, to remind me of exactly what sort of damage I did to a miniature (!):

This is the Langton Octeres, just prior to having the bow hacked and slashed.  This ship will be receiving the goblin's head, and a new ram...


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Tékumel naval, part 11

I recently became the proud owner of some new ship miniatures:

More Langton ships, all the way from Down Under courtesy of Ian (who has a fine blog at Thomo's Hole!)  The package included ten Bronze Age Egyptian and ten Sea Peoples ships along with bases.  Of course, what to do with them...  The first course will be to integrate them into my Tékumel fantasy naval project, where, due to their older appearance and small size, they will be representing minor powers (the Tsoléi Islands among others) or perhaps pirates.

And, here are some more detailed pics of the recent purchase:

These miniatures are somewhat smaller than the triremes and such that I have featured earlier.  They might be small enough to be classed as srügánta or even séscha.  These will fit in well with the rest of the collection...



Speaking of the rest, I have been messing about with the Langton Deceres, which I have decided will be a Mu'ugalavyáni zírunel:

I have decided not to graft the goblin's head onto the prow of this vessel, which will grace the Tsolyáni version instead.  The big alteration here, and one that might be extended onto all Red Hat ships, is the replacement of the standard Langton towers, which are shaped more like a cube, with cylindrical alternatives.  The original mast, of white metal, has been replaced with a piece of brass wire with a small bead topping it for a crow's nest.

None of this is glued up yet.  I have yet to decide if this is suitable.  With the similarities of the designs of the miniatures, I am striving to have some differences in the fleets of the various empires beyond the painted finish.  But, are the towers a bit too much???

#Tekumel
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Langton ancient ships, part 2

Here are some closer looks at the recent purchase:

Egyptian Warship of Queen Hatshepsut

Egyptian Warship of Ramses III

Warship of the Sea Peoples

I am still digging into some research on the fleets, but the fleet lists from Naumachiae list several types of ships for both the Egyptians and Sea Peoples.  It would be interesting to get a mix of ships, especially for the Sea Peoples, as they were a loose confederation of tribes their ships should be different also.  It is interesting to note that this Sea Peoples vessel was modeled without oar banks.  How hard might it be to add some?

A slightly different direction?

I recently became the proud owner of some new ship miniatures:

More Langton ships, all the way from Down Under courtesy of Ian (who has a fine blog at Thomo's Hole!)  The package included ten Bronze Age Egyptian and ten Sea Peoples ships along with bases.  Of course, what to do with them...  The first course will be to integrate them into my Tékumel fantasy naval project, where, due to their older appearance and small size, they will be representing minor powers (the Tsoléi Islands among others) or perhaps pirates.



But, it occurred to me that they could be used for historical purposes also.  I could paint them up in historical schemes, and they would still fit in with the fantasy scheme.  Some sea battles circa 1200 BC might be fun, and it would not be hard to expand the collection, especially if some of the other Langton ships fit in time-wise, maybe the 20-oar galley or pentecontors to represent Mycenaean or Trojan ships  :)

Tékumel naval, part 10

Before I start to abuse more miniatures, maybe it would be nice to post some pics of the subjects before undergoing the knife:

This is a Langton deceres, which is destined to become a zírunel. 

Two pics of a goblin miniature, 15mm in size, that will supply the basis of a new prow for the zírunel.  At first glance, it does look a little large for a 1/1200 ship, but I intend to blend the head into the ship structure somewhat.  Hopefully the conversion will look something close to OK once the knife is set down!

Also up for consideration are a few more add-ons, such as towers, and a decision on nationality - is this a Tsolyáni vessel, or is it Mu'ugalavyáni?  Blue, or red?


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Head hunting?

Not much in the mood for painting lately, but I am finding something to occupy myself:

I am in the process of coming up with a plan for my 1/1200 ship miniatures, and the few modifications that I think would be needed to give them a bit of Tékumel flavoring.  If you look at this excellent post at Pagálnikèlikh gàQadóshumashumámrakoi, you will see some artwork that I find very interesting and I intend to shamelessly steal the inspiration for my own!

So, I am digging through some old miniatures, looking for heads and other bitz that I can use.  In the pic, above, you will see several different types of 15mm miniatures, fantasy and historical, that might be useful.  There are some 10mm figures around here as well.  Then, I will need to come up with a plan...


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Langton ancient ships

And now, a closer look at the Langton ships:

Deceres

Octeres

Hepteres

These are among the largest ancient ships that Langton makes.  For Tékumel, they will fill the role of the zírunel,
the largest of the common classes of warships.  I believe that there are
larger warships plying the oceans of Tékumel, but they are rare and I
will not worry about them, for now...

Roman quinquereme

Carthaginian quinquereme

Quadrireme

Trireme

The next step down in size, these are slated to represent the qél for my Tékumeli navies.  I
was pleasantly surprised to see that the relatives sizes of these
miniatures are very close.  This will allow a lot of variety, not only
for different navies but also within a particular empire's navy (Langton
has other miniatures of this size that I have yet to purchase).

Liburnian

Trihemiolia

Hemiolia

These
three miniatures are markedly more narrow than the previous four, as
well as being slightly shorter.  For Tékumel, I think these will work as
the srügánta, although the hemiolia is a bit smaller than the other two and might be better as a séscha.  Out of these, the liburnian is especially appealing with the stern platform.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the appearance of these miniatures.  There is still work to do, as the representation of a séscha is
not fully set yet, and there are a couple of trireme variants I would
like to look at before setting it all in stone (heh) for the building of
some flotillas.

Tékumel naval, part 9

And now, a closer look at the Langton ships:

Deceres

Octeres

Hepteres

These are among the largest ancient ships that Langton makes.  For Tékumel, they will fill the role of the zírunel, the largest of the common classes of warships.  I believe that they are larger warships plying the oceans of Tékumel, but they are rare and I will not worry about them, for now...

Roman quinquereme

Carthaginian quinquereme

Quadrireme

Trireme

The next step down in size, these are slated to represent the qél for my Tékumeli navies.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the relatives sizes of these miniatures are very close.  This will allow a lot of variety, not only for different navies but also within a particular empire's navy (Langton has other miniatures of this size that I have yet to purchase).

Liburnian

Trihemiolia

Hemiolia

These three miniatures are markedly more narrow than the previous four, as well as being slightly shorter.  For Tékumel, I think these will work as the srügánta, although the hemiolia is a bit smaller than the other two and might be better as a séscha.  Out of these, the liburnian is especially appealing with the stern platform.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the appearance of these miniatures.  There is still work to do, as the representation of a séscha is not fully set yet, and there are a couple of trireme variants I would like to look at before setting it all in stone (heh) for the building of some flotillas.

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