Happy Close to New Years!

 In retrospect, it has not been an active blogging year. Could be due to a lot of things. I think one of the contributing reasons is that I wanted to focus my blogging efforts in posting after action reports instead of constant works in progress. Oh well. It is what it is.

A few end of the year odds and ends

Before I left for what might be our last annual Christmas trip to Chicago, I painted up these Eureka Miniatures orcs. I may have mentioned Eureka and a post long ago when they first came out with their line of 18mm fantasy. They seem to be first company to go gung-ho on the 18mm size. Early reviews said they were more like 20mm and didn't mix at all with other lines, so I never bothered to order any. Recently, there was a posting on the Facebook 15mm fantasy group that showed some of their orcs so I gave them a try. 

Here is a comparison shot of various manufacturers of orcs:

Left to right: 15mm dice, two Eureka orcs, Ral Partha
Europe (Demonworld), two Splintered Light Miniatures.

All seem to be compatible. The Demonworld orc has a cartoony head with a big lower jaw that looks like a throwback to Citadel orcs. 

Finally, the painted up version of the gunboat I showed in my previous post. 

Trip to Chicagoland

This year, my son joined my daughter and I to roam around downtown Windy City. It was a pretty warm day. Like last time, we had to visit the expensive stores on North Michigan Avenue, and we did stop at the three-story Starbucks for coffee (just what the world needs, right?). 

First we paid homage to the Bean in Millennial Park. It has an official title, but like many other structures in Chicago, the locals name things what they want. 

Afterwards, the kiddos were hungry for some lunch. Last year, my daughter and I went to have deep dish pizza, but we had that the night before. We ended up eating at a way overpriced Korean corndog place. They were good, but not $50 for the whole meal good. 

Massive $12 cheese pull

Me along the Chicago River standing next to a bust of the first non-native permanent settler, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Boy, do I look short and fat!

My kids, part 1. Behind them is the Wrigley Building. Corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company, currently is still the largest maker of chewing gum in the world. Across the street from it is the Tribune Towers that was also built in the early 1290s. Interesting side, embedded into the lower facade of the Tribune Towers are famous bricks and stones from around the world. For example, there is a chunk of stone from the Great Pyramid in Giza, and one from the Great Wall of China. 

My kids, part 2. Here they are standing in front of the Marina towers, formerly known as Marina City. It was built in the mid-60s as a combination luxury apartments and offices. I got to go up there once as a kid. My parents had some friends that lived there. I remember listening to a Beatles album while my parents and friends drank Manhattans. 

Christmas market. In Chicago, its held every year in the plaza in front of city hall. Another famous large work of art is the Picasso Sculpture that is located on the plaza. It doesn't have an official name. Built in 1967, it was the subject to a lot of ridicule as people did not know what it was and found it too weird. But times have changed and its one of the iconic structures of the city. 

 My kids part 3. The Christmas Market is not very big and it was very crowded, considering it was December 23. But we got in, looked around, and had our dinner (brats and deep fried cheese curds...I snuck in a beer), which was much cheaper than lunch. I almost bought a cool beer stein but decided not to.

Gunboat Diplomacy

 I had not planned to do any more ship building or any other hobby activities for that matter for the rest of the year. Friday, we leave for our annual and probably last trip up to Chicagoland for Christmas holidays. I have been trying to get a million things done to prepare for the trip. Yesterday, a bunch of mishaps happened to my son, some in part to his ADHD. Long story short, he forgot his art project he's been working on to school and its due tomorrow. So, after getting all his other homework done, he started rebuilding his sculpture from ground zero. To speed up the process, I helped cut out some of the corrugated cardboard pieces while he glued it together with the glue gun. As I was wait to cut more things out, I spotted a small rectangle of scrap styrene board on my workbench that would be perfect for a ship base. *light bulb goes off*

I've been reading over the various David Manley pre-Dreadnought rules. I now own all the various campaigns.  Splendid Little War lists all the various warships for both the Spanish and Americans and were they were based. I noticed there were a whole lot of gunboats on both sides. I counted 14 American and 8 Spanish gunboats. I always envisioned gunboats as these stocky little ships with small caliber guns like the fictional USS San Pablo from the movie The Sand Pebbles (1966).

From: https://www.thesandpebbles.com/

But its seems like they were all over the place in terms of what they looked like and their armament. A lot of American ones were more like micro-cruisers.

So as I awaited carboard cutting jobs and encouraging my son to work carefully and not rush things, I ended up making a very generic one.

It took me all of about three hours to build. Two hours last night, and an hour this morning. I gave him two large guns (5.5" to 6") and two smaller guns (3.5" to 4.5"). The most complicated part was the darn ship's boats. They always look cool to add them, but for some reason, they are a pain. Plus, no cranes to handle them. 

I have not decided which navy to assign it to. I will probably paint it a rather generic color of a mid-gray hull and a white superstructure. 

Update on the Fleets

 I've been chugging away both building ships and expanding the size of the hex board. My plan is to initially use the portable naval rules for battles but I do have a shiny blue plastic tarp that I can use with David Manley's many rules. As I build them, they seem to improve in detail as I incorporate new techniques. As you can see, I got a little more fancy with the masts. This is practice for when I attempt to make sailing masts for some of the more older ironclad ships. 

The Commonwealth of  Avalonia finally got some more battleships:

These are based on the Royal Sovereign class battleships. I unintentionally exaggerated the size of the main guns, but I justify their size because they are 13.5" guns rather than the 12" guns that many battleships of the time had. The one thing I could not cram into the models were cranes for the lifeboats. One of them has its own steam pinnace:

Must be an admiral on board!

Laramidia got another cruiser. This protected cruiser was built off of the casts I made of the hulls. Again, I made the guns, this time the gun shields, way out of proportion to the ship. 

Here is a side-by-side comparison with a sort of sister ship I had made earlier using the same hull.

I have have two more of these hulls left, including the original master hull out of wood.

I completed two out of four small torpedo boats but have not assigned them to a particular navy.

I used Green Stuff epoxy putty to make the turtleback forecastles. I am happy with the way they turned out, but I want to try to make the next two with a bow torpedo tube sticking out. The two silver footballs on the side of the funnel are supposed to be Whitehead torpedoes. From what I can tell, they were not painted and the early torpedo boats launched them by dropping them off the side of the ship. I made my crude versions of them by soaking tissue paper in glue and rolling them between my fingers. Some came out a little fuzzy.

Last but not least is a a little steam pinnace. She was originally intended to be an added piece to a larger ship model, but it fit well in some impromptu dioramas I make on my workbench. So, I made a base for her and painted her up. Like the tugboat I presented in the previous post, she can be part of a harbor scene. 

Little Toot's Tiny Brother

 My son loved having the book Little Toot by  Bernhard August "Hardie" Gramatky, Jr.

Running across the beloved book on my son's old bookshelf, I knew I needed a generic tugboat to service the harbors of the various nations. So, I built one:

It pre-dreadnought days, the tugs did not have old tires for bumpers (technically, they are called "fenders"). Instead, they used braided ropes that they draped across front and sides of the boat. 

It did need a little lifeboat to complete the picture, but I couldn't squeeze it in. 

I tend to get sidetracked on projects, so back to building battleships.

Battleships work in progress

 Finally, the big guns of the Avalonian fleet are starting to take shape. And by big guns, I mean big guns. I am building my impression of the Royal Sovereign-class battleships. They have 12" exposed guns on barbettes. Unfortunately, I used a way too thick 16 gauge floral wire. I should have used the 18 gauge that would have make them less exaggerated. 

The back story is that these are older ships, though not as old as the central battery ships. 

Artistical shot of two Avalonian battleships.
A modern frigate having nothing to do with
this pre-dread university is in the background.

Pre-dread Progress

 The various shipyards across the planet Nauticar Prime are ramping up ship building, though in a rather random unplanned way. Its as if it is the whim of some unseen hand that is guiding the construction of various vessels with no strategic plan. 

The old central battery ironclad Turkanesque and her sister-ship Djinn get upgrades. Sadly obsolete compared to other nations' warships, it is a stopgap until the Sultanate of Metamora can receive the battleships it purchased from Krackovia to defend itself from the Zordanian Empire.

The Turkanesque getting rebuilt in
the chaotic shipyards of Krackovia

The Djinn on patrol at sea

Flush with patriotic fervor from its surprising victory over the Commonwealth of Avalonia, Krackovia begins a major expansion of its navy, starting with several battleships. 

An unnamed Krackovian coastal battleship in the lead
of two other unnamed Krackovian battleships. 

Meanwhile, fiery debates rage on in the Avalonian parliament over the loss of two battleships and several freighters to the Krackovians in what is now known as the Hob-Slobia Incident. Some MPs refuse to fund any new naval projects until there is complete accountability for the incident. Others counter that this is an example to expand the fleet and build more modern battleships to counter both Krackovia and Laramidia.

The Cantankerous along with her sister ship the
Curmudgeon represent the aging and increasingly
obsolescent warships of the once mighty Avalonian navy

Secret interference by Avalonia convinced enough members of the small, but scrappy Republic of Cerviche's government to nix any leasing deal with Laramidia for guano mines. So, Cerviche was not able to procure the armored cruiser Arkandelphia. Cerviche settled for several, overpriced seagoing monitors, one of which is shown below.   

The monitor Cebolla steaming behind the light
cruiser Chupacabra. Both built in Laramidia

 Avalonian diplomatic corps scored another diplomatic victory by transfering several obsolete warship to Cerviche's rival, Escalona. In return they get rights to build a naval refueling base on Escalona's southwest coast obstensively for Escalonia's navy. 

Ex-Avalonian monitor Hobnob now Escalonian  Areias de Cascais

Pre-dread Cruisers

 The fleets are continuing to be built. Completed two ships last night. The lead ship is LNS (Federal Union of Laramidia naval ship) Arkandelphia, boasting 4--8' guns and 12--6" guns, followed by the light, protected cruiser the CRN Chupacabra with 6--6" guns. The Chupacabra is the first modern warship of the small but scrappy Republic of Ceviche. 

The Chupacabra is a fearsome yet noble beast that still roams the hinterlands of Ceviche. It is prominent on the republic's flag. Though a peace-loving nation, Ceviche has been forced to build up its military due to the threats by its increasingly aggressive neighbor Escalona. Ceviche and Laramidia are in talks to transfer the Arkandelphia to Ceviche. Laramidia would gain the rights pterosaur guano mining concessions. 

The two ships are involved in training exercises commanded by Captain Kurtas K. Kampka shown below in his tropical uniform.

Game of Team Yankee

 Friday, I got in a game of Team Yankee at Will's gaming store. I'm not sure why, but I enjoyed it more than the Fames of War game I played two weeks ago. Will ended up winning, but I enjoyed blowing up his Soviet tanks with my M1 Abrams. Surprisingly, ATGMs on both sides were not all that effective.  Here are some pics of the game. 

I also finished up another pre-dread warship. This is an one off, test ship.

I used layers of corrugated cardboard for the hull and used styrene plastic tubing for the gun casemates. I also experimented with using different materials for the main turrets. Not all that happy about it, but it helped me figure out what worked. It is very loosely based on the USS Olympia, which I didn't know was rated a protected cruiser. 

New Project: Pre-Dreadnoughts

 I have hinted several times now that I am diving into a new project. The new project is pre-dreadnought naval warfare set in an ImagiNation world. I will have a future post on the various opponents and fictional-historical background, but first a look at what's being built in the shipyard.

The basis for my hulls and superstructures are various-sized popsicle and coffee stirring sticks.

Here are couple of hulls: 

Generic torpedo boat destroyer hull

Light or Protected Cruiser hull

Many years ago, I built a fleet of US, British, and Japanese WWII ships for gaming. From a time and quality control standpoint, its a lot better to make copies of at least the hulls than to try to carve out each one individually. So, I played around with make molds out of my initial wooden hull.  Back then, there were little options for making molds of hulls. Now there are a lot more mold making choices that are more easy, health and environment friendly, and probably cheaper than back in the 80s. One of which is this transparent material that comes in rectangular sticks. It is listed on Amazon as reusable mold clay, but it has the Japanese name Oyumaru. It softens quickly in hot water. You have to work with it rather quickly but it makes nice push molds that hold a lot of detail and doesn't shrink. They suggest to avoid any casting material that will give off heat as it will remelt the mold, but I have yet to experience that. 

Once I made my mold, I tried an number of different materials to to cast ship hulls. 

From left to right of the above picture is the original wood hull, the next three are green polymer clay, the white one is Milliput, next is from multiple layers of clear UV resin, next is from moldable plastic beads, and the last two are from cheap fast drying two part epoxy clay. The one on the end hasn't been cleaned up yet. 
The winner would be the moldable plastic beads. Like the Oyumaru, they melt in hot water and can be pressed into a mold. HOWEVER, its made of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic is the same stuff that milk jugs are made out of. There is no glue I know of that will stick to the stuff! So, the winner ends up being this two part clay that you can buy at any hardware or home improvement store in the US. You have to work fast, but so long as you press it in well, you get a very good reproduction. It is mushier than Milliput, but that is an advantage as it gets into crevasses better, not to mention its a lot cheaper. Its other advantage is that you can use super glue on it and even though its impregnated with iron, you can drill holes in it. I was surprised how difficult it was to drill a hole in the HDPE plastic. 

Once I made the hulls, I then started building the ships. 

Torpedo boat destroyers with their conning tower and forward gun

Here is the finished but unpainted destroyers. 

I used a combination of wire, thin cardstock, and dowel rods to build them. I ended up using that HDPE plastic hull, but I roughed up its surface a lot, glued things down with the superglue, and then flooded it with the thin UV glue. Fingers crossed that things will hold. 

Here is an early pre-dread battleship:

Battleship in progress. Along side is a destroyer. Its seems that
there is a fire erupting on the dock in the background! I hope
that freighter is not loaded with explosives!

Finished battleship. Now it needs to be painted and based. 

The mighty battleship Curmudgeon leaves port followed by the torpedo boat destroyers Swiftly, Speedily, Quickly, and Hurriedly.

Quick Game of Flames of War

Will, friend and owner of the closest gaming shop around, got some Flames of War starter sets. Will likes historical gaming but his clientele are 40K zombies (sorry not sorry) so it is rare to find someone who is willing to play historicals.  I have the rules and always wanted to play, but there were some things in the rules I didn't understand no matter how many times I read them. So, I jumped at the opportunity to play. I should have taken pictures, but my opponent was someone I didn't know and some people adverse to getting their picture taken by strangers.

Will acted as referee. I took the US and my opponent the Germans. I had more tanks but in addition to PzIVh tanks, he also had a battery of 75mm Pak 40 anti-tank guns that sat in a forest edge and picked off most of my Shermans. My infantry did manage to put some hurt on his infantry but he had a 2 to 1 superiority in numbers. The other advantage is that the German light machineguns do not count as heavy weapons, but the US 30 cal machineguns do. This makes a huge difference when having assaults as heavy weapons are penalized during assaults. Assaults are the main ways infantry can be effective. 

The Germans clearly won, but they lost most of their tanks and almost one of their two platoons of infantry. I think I would have done a little better if those nasty 75mm Pak 40s weren't present.

It was a fun game and it answered a number of puzzlements I had with the rules. 

Cheap Game Table Mat Work in Progress

 As I mentioned in my previous post, I am switching gears after suffering painting burn out. It is time to actually play games rather than just paint hoards of figures. The few battles that I have had were on unnaturally colors tables. As cool as those neoprene, giant mouse pads are, they are way too expensive for me. I'd go with felt, but I found that the width dimensions are short and I am no good at sewing. I found these plastic backed table cloths at Walmart for about $5. They are textured but slick. I tested a spot with craft acrylic paint and it sticks and does not seem crack when gently folded.

I started with a big bottle of leaf green craft paint that I had from a previous attempt to make a mat. Unfortunately, I ran out before I was completely done with this one. Guess what? They don't make leaf green anymore. I got the closest thing I could find plus a darker green for a little variation. 

I'm using a wadded up paper towel to apply the paint and rubbing it on. I figured that if I use a brush the paint layer may be too thick and it might be subject to cracking. The paper towel seems to waste some paint but puts down a very thin layer that I go over again when dried. If the decorative pattern peaks through a little, its no big deal.

I'm almost done with it. When its finished, I will make another one in blue for naval games.

Painting in progress. Objects other than the
craft paint bottles holds the table cloth down while I paint.

Bytor and the Snow Dog

 This is probably the longest time I have gone without posting. Its not like I have not been doing anything hobby wise, it is just that I have not had the time to post. Also, a lot of things have been happening in my life, mainly my mother passing away over the 4th of July weekend. It was not unexpected but it was still unexpected. We came up for our annual summer visit to see my mom and sister and her family. We got there on the 3rd and she passed away on either very late on the 4th or early in the morning on the 5th. It further reinforces one of those morbid cliches that once an elderly person breaks a bone, it is quickly downhill health wise. She had broken her ankle in late November and it all went down hill from there. It has been hard and I am still processing it all. It does not help that I am the executor and have to figure out how to handle the estate.

In terms of the hobby, I have been on a roll to paint up as many 15s as I could. I really wanted to whittle down the pile. I have a new project that I have started so really wanted to clear the deck, so to speak. I still have a pile of lead to be painted but I feel like I can switch project now.

One of the last few figures painted is Bytor and the Snow Dog. If you are a RUSH fan, you will know which RUSH albums they come from. Yes, Bytor is a bad guy who fights and loses to the Snow Dog, but in a later song Bytor is a good guy that defeats the Necromancer. The main reason for these two is that long ago, in the very early 80s, one of the members of the D&D group I played in named his fighter Bytor. As he went up a few levels, the DM gave him an animal companion (familiar) that was a large beast that was part  arctic wolf/part polar bear. This was Snow Dog. They fought many battles together. I've aways wanted to have a model of these two in my 15mm world. This is my interpretation based on what I could find in 15mm scale:

I wanted a more fantasy Viking figure to be Bytor, but this Wiglaf Miniatures warlord did the trick. Nothing really matched my vision of Snow Dog. I thought of using a Reaper Miniature wolf or dire wolf, but they were way too big. I happened to find this wolf from Lone Gunman Miniatures and seemed to be a good size as it was a little larger than some of the other manufacturers' dire wolves. 

For fun, I played around with having them on a snow base, with some iced over puddles on Snow Dog's base. 

Now that I've got my 15mm painting out of my system, I am moving on to my next project.