Ships On The Horizon

Hi everybody.  Thanks again for stopping by while I pause and take a quick look at my projects over the last couple of months, before introducing my latest.  After fiddling with the formatting of the site, I now have links across the top which show all my completed and in progress projects.  My two big ones are of course the Imperial Guard and the WW2 stuff.  With the Imperial Guard, I've finished the planned 2 - 2,500 pt army, so I'm just buying interesting things (like the Sentinels) that are fun to build.  And with the WW2, I've got a small force for each side and I'll just buy some bits to expand it as we go along.

So, it's time for a few distractions to keep me going while I wait for some campaign games to come along.  Recently, despite my avowed treadhead-doughboy status as a keen land military history buff, I've been getting more and more into naval history.  This was sparked by reading Richard Connaughton's Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear - less than £10 on Amazon.  It looks at the Russo-Japanese War (RJW), 1904-05.  I initially became interested in it through its place the history of the machine-gun, one of my areas of interest, but it was the Battle of Tsushima that really caught my eye.

Coupled with the watching of a brand-new Russian film called Admiral, detailing the life of Admiral Kolchak, this has sparked a previously dormant interest in naval history - something that was clinched when I became medically addicted to Silent Hunter V.  So, I decided to something different - something naval.  Now, Headologist has always been a bit more into the naval stuff than I, so he's been suggesting a naval RJW game for a while.  We've had some very nice rules printed off; Quickfire, from War Times Journal - but a quick Google of 'Russo-Japanese War Naval Rules' will give you a selection of alternate free systems.

Our ships came from the WTJ site as well.  The 1 : 3,000 ships are all very nicely sculpted and historically accurate - the entry on the web store sets out exactly what each ships represent and goes from the largest battleships down to generic destroyers and torpedo boats.  The ordering system is clear and easy to use, and delivery is reasonable (I ordered from them in California to London, taking about three weeks to arrive).  The one downside is the cost - I got a squadron of about 10 (mixing Japanese and Russian), and it set me back a good $50.  For a pack which weighed a few ounces, this seemed a bit excessive.  But I won't let that detract from what really are some nice models.

Peresviet (I think), straight out the box.  These are nice models which require next to no cleaning.

And after painting.  Forgot to do this on the white backdrop - so there's a close-up of
three years of modelling encrusted on that chopping board.

Painting was quick and easy - a Nuln Oil wash, followed by a Bestial Brown / Graveyard Earth combo for the deck and funnels, with the tops painted black.  Not shown here, I also painted a plate with some wet Blood Red and dipped the flat bottom into it - this gives an even half-milimeter of red on the hull to represent the anti-fouling paint.  The whole thing took about two minutes, including drying time.  As for The Plan, we'll aim to recreate Tshushima, but hopefully move towards some 28mm land battles - possibly a linked game, with a side naval battle?  We'll have to see.

Coming up soon, another look at our WW2 campaign with some reinforcements for Ze Chermans!  Thanks for reading!

The Colonel.

Getting in character for Silent Hunter ...