Wednesday, 8 August 2018

Ironclad Gap Fillers

Fuso Central Battery Ironclad (1877)

I was browsing the Tumbling Dice pre-dreadnought range this morning, wondering when I'd get round to starting my own Anglo-Japanese war of 1900 project (?), when I spotted some interesting models in the Sino-Japanese war range. These are the earliest warships in the Chinese and Japanese fleets, dating from the late 1870's and early 1880's, so a perfect match for the existing ironclads from this period in the Victorian range.

There are plenty of central battery battleships at one end of the later Victorian range and no shortage of torpedo boats and coastal defence craft at the other, but not a lot in between. So, I was wondering if I could use a few of the Sino-Japanese models to bridge the gap and fill out the missing frigates, sloops and corvettes? There are some very suitable models that would be ideal for just such a thing, perhaps for the French and British to use, or for other smaller naval powers in South America, for example?

Kongo Ironclad Corvette (1877)

The models that caught my eye include the Fuso (ABJ20), the Kongo (ABJ21), the Katsuragi (ABJ30) and the Maya (ABJ31), all of which are masted and fully rigged, so a good match for generic colonial cruising warships or gunboats. I'm sure with a little research I could match the Kongo and Fuso to the equivalent French or British warships. I also would love to find a use for the Rendell Flatiron gunboats that are represented by the Chinese Chen Pei (ABC10). In think these would be perfect for a South American or minor European  'imaginations' type fleet!

Rendell Flatiron Gunboat (1875)

There are no pictures of any of these models on the Tumbling Dice website but, as they are designed by the same sculptor to the same scale, I can't imagine that they wouldn't be compatible with the Victorian ironclad range. I may well order the Japanese starter pack for the Sino-Japanese War, as it is good value for what you get and includes all of the ships I've mentioned already, apart from the gunboats. If they aren't useful for ironclad games, I can always add them to my pre-dreadnought project!

Just a thought?

2 comments:

  1. If it comes to the worst, perhaps you can use bit of them as sinking ships?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought I could either use them for the Sino Japanese War or as the basis of an imaginations fleet, perhaps South American? They might even work for the Chile Peruvian war of 1879?

    ReplyDelete

Labels

Bag The Hun (852) Books (502) AK47 (499) Ironclads (492) Wings at War (415) Pre-Dreadnoughts (243) Back of Beyond (242) Coastal Warfare (225) Napoleonic Naval (200) Britain's Small Wars (199) Bolt Action (175) Victory at Sea (171) What a Tanker (171) Knights of the Sky (164) Target Locked On (163) MiG Alley (160) Chain of Command (149) Old West (147) Find Fix and Strike (138) Bag The MiG (126) Naval Thunder (120) Sandbox Skirmish (119) Naval Command (118) Air War Over Khalkhin Gol (117) Pirates (116) Indo China / Vietnam (114) Fistful of Lead (109) 15mm Sci-Fi / Near Future (95) Darkest Africa (91) VBCW (89) Strength and Honour (86) Continuation War (82) Ancients (81) Shows (79) ACW (77) The Football War (76) Corsairs and Cavaliers (71) Boardgames (67) France's Small Wars (67) Shipwreck! (66) BKC (65) Rapid Fire (63) Saurian Safari (62) Cruel Seas (60) Saga (60) Air War C21 (59) Journals (58) The Men Who Would Be Kings (58) Nimitz (55) Flashpoint Alto Cenepa (53) IABSM (53) International Naval Wargaming Day (53) Gladiators (51) Flashpoint Taiwan (50) Finest Hour (49) Red Actions! (47) Fortifications (46) Scramble for Britain (45) Flashpoint Baltic (42) Duel of Aces (41) War of the Pacific (40) Cold War (39) Flames above the Falklands (38) Thud Ridge (37) SCW (36) Desert Spitfires (35) Death in the Dark Continent (34) RCW (34) One Hour Wargames (33) Algernon Pulls It Off (32) Atlantic Wall (31) English Civil War / Anglo Dutch War Naval (31) Lion Rampant (31) Post Apocalypse (31) Iron Cow (30) Bag the Springbok (29) Mexican Revolution (28) Normandy Firefight (28) Full Thrust (27) Dreadnoughts (26) It Rolls For Ivan (26) 2mm English Civil War (24) Bulldogs Away! (24) Samurai (24) Jet Knights of the Sky (23) 28mm English Civil War (22) Imaginations (22) Achtung Kommando! (21) Arctic Eagles (21) Flashpoint PVO (21) Ancient Naval (20) PITS (20) Galactic Heroes (19) Steamer Wars (19) Strontium Dog (19) Iron Cross (18) Winter War (18) Aeronef (15) Aircraft (15) Imperial Commander (15) Rate of Fire (15) Zulus! (15) Aliens (14) Dragon Rampant (14) Black Ops (13) CY6 Jet Age (13) Congo (13) Mad for War (13) Impetus (12) Wars of Insurgency (12) Flashpoint Fleet Air Arm (11) Gaslands (11) 633 Squadron (10) Franco Thai Air War (10) Get the Goeben! (10) Jungle Green (10) Sharp Practice (10) 28mm Future Wars (9) Bohica (9) Dux Britanniarum (9) Fire in the Sky (9) HYW (9) Merry Xmas Mr Sankara (9) Adventures in Jimland (8) Bombers over Germany (8) Cry Havoc (8) French Indian Wars (8) Renaissance Naval (8) Star Wars Legion (8) Sword and Spear (8) Through The Mud and Blood (8) Air War Angola (7) Frostgrave (7) Target for Tonight (7) A Mighty Fortress (6) AirWar:1918 (6) Five Parsecs From Home (6) French Resistance (6) Check Your Six! (5) Five Men at Kursk (5) Fivecore Skirmish (5) Maurice (5) Seven Days to the River Rhine (5) Three Musketeers (5) What a Cowboy (5) Wings Over Suez (5) Arab Revolt (4) Corvette Command (4) In Her Majesty's Name (4) Infamy Infamy (4) Medieval Naval (4) Never Mind The Billhooks (4) Battletech (3) Gangsters (3) HOTT (3) Hind Commander (3) Lord of the Sea (3) Luft 46 (3) Mourir Pour l'Indochine (3) Sturmovik Commander (3) Whispering Death (3) Blood Red Skies (2) Chincha Islands War (2) Crom (2) Disposable Heroes (2) Fire and Steel (2) Fivecore Company Command (2) Iron Stars (2) Judge Dredd (2) Lethal Skies (2) NUTS! (2) No Go Zone (2) Pulp! (2) Starfighters! (2) War in El Dorado (2) A Billion Suns (1) Air War 1940 (1) Battlegroup (1) Black Powder (1) Convoy (1) Dropzone Commander (1) Falklands War (1) Harpoon (1) If The Lord Spares Us (1) Indo-Pakistan War (1) Lacquered Coffins (1) Load and Return (1) MiG Hunters (1) Missile Threat (1) Missiles at Sea (1) Naval Wargames Society (1) Norway 1940 (1) Oi Navarcoi! (1) Sea Wars Fleet Actions (1) Si Vis Pacem (1) Spanish American War (1) Sunray is Down (1) Ultracombat Normandy (1) Wars of the Roses (1) Xenos Rampant (1)