2mm HYW English Men at Arms

A bit rushed today but here's the second base for the 2mm Anglo-Breton army, consisting of Men at Arms on foot. I went for a quick splash and dash approach with these but they still came out looking okay I think. Nothing flashy, but they'll do the job. I only have a few days left before I'm away on holiday but I'll aim to get another two or three if these bases finished if I can before we head off to France. 

Gunboat Command

I'm on holiday next week so will have some down time to spend on reading, amongst other things. This is one of the few books on coastal warfare that I haven't yet read so it will be top of the reading list for next week. I have a few more that I'm going to re-read in advance of starting the Torpedoes and Tides project for the summer. I'm also planning on a few basic solo games over the holidays, to try out the rules and get a hang of things like blinds, spotting, movement and firing, ready to upscale to some historical scenarios and a solo campaign in a few months time.

East Coast S-Boote Primary Sources

I was looking for information about Hunt class destroyer escorts this morning, when I bumped into this intelligence report from 1943, which was based on interrogation of the survivors of S-71 after she was rammed and sunk by HMS Garth. It's much more than an account of the action though, with copious detail of the 6th S-Boote flotilla and Kriegsmarine coastal warfare tactics in general. It's a gold mine for anyone interested in historical scenarios and also very useful for campaign background material. You can find scans and transcripts of the whole document here:

http://www.lowestofthistory.com/book/mod_report_garth_0.html

2mm HYW French for One Hour Wargames

With the Anglo-Breton army for the early Hundred Years War well underway, it's now time to think about basing up the opposition, which will be a Franco-Breton army for the Breton War of Succession. I already have a base of mounted men at arms and will add a second base to fill out the ranks of the French nobility, although they are more likely to be on foot after the disaster at Crecy.

This leaves me with the foot men at arms, which will be the bulk of the army and so will take up three or four bases, which I'll need for some of the early battles. As well as this, I'll put together a couple of bases of crossbowmen for missile support and two or three bases of spearmen to bulk out the army. I was also thinking of a base of 'skirmishers' representing bidowers, bidets or similar but I think I'll save those for later.

2mm HYW Anglo-Breton Army Base Painting Progress

The bases have now been completed on the 2mm Hundred Years War Anglo-Breton army, so that they match the test base of longbowmen that I painted last week. I now have to block in the figures with matt black before I can start painting them. The plan is to do them all in one go rather than one base at a time, which will be quite laborious but much more efficient. I'm quite looking forward to painting the men at arms, both mounted and on foot, as they'll add a splash of colour to the force.

5th S-Boote Flotilla for Torpedoes and Tides

Cruel Seas S-100 and S-38b 1/300th Scale

Ex-Skytrex CF304 S-38 1/600th Scale 

A few years ago, when Cruel Seas was all the rage, I built seven late war models for the 5th S-Boote flotilla, which operated from Cherbourg and the Channel Islands in late 1943 to mid-1944. These included the standard S-100 version with a few additions, primarily some 40mm Bofors mountings, as well as a couple of converted 'cut and shut' models to create the up armoured 38-b variant with retro-fitted 'kapotte' armour. 

I used these a few times in club games but, as I mentioned before, the rules left me a bit unenthused, so they've been sitting in a box since then. I have now gone back to 1/600th scale for the coastal warfare project, so I'm going to reproduce the same unit using the old Skytrex range of models. As my existing E-boats are all S-9 and S-38 versions, I'm going to have to start from scratch for the later war 5th flotilla boats, but the CF304 model is really nice, so it's well worth the effort.

1/600th H&R Vosper 72'6" MTB's

Vosper MTB flotilla c1942.

Some good news for the Torpedoes and Tides project today, after I asked if the old Skytrex Vosper 72'6" MTB CF02 model was available, not having been able to find it on the Heroics and Ros web shop. It turns out that it had been placed in the aircraft section rather than the naval bit by mistake, so is actually still in production and can be purchased. I was worried that it had been deleted, perhaps due to worn out molds or the master going missing, but I can order some to kit out the 23rd MTB flotilla for the Free French, rather than repainting and labelling the ones I already have. Excellent!

2mm HYW Anglo Breton Army Base Painting

It's been a busy start. to the week but I've made a start on the bases of the 2mm Anglo Breton army for my One Hour Wargame HYW project. These turned out better than the test base I painted last week, mainly due to a bit more PVA when I was adding the basing sand, as well as letting them dry out properly after the undercoat and basecoat were applied. Next up will be the grass shades, with  a bit of stippling, dry brushing and ink washing to complete the base painting. I might also start on basing up the Franco-Breton army now that the extra Antonine Miniatures bits have arrived from Warbases.

23rd Free French Flotilla for Torpedoes and Tides

A few years ago I was having a crack at Cruel Seas, with a focus on the 23rd MTB flotilla in and around the Channel Islands c1943-44. However, having played a few games of Cruel Seas I decided it wasn't for me, partly due to the scale (too big) but mainly down to the rules themselves (too silly in a 'gamey' way). I shelved the models I had started on and decided to drop the project, apart from completing my S-boote flotilla, at least until a decent alternative set of rules turned up.

Cruel Seas Flotilla

Now it's looking like a viable project again, this time in 1/600th scale using Torpedoes and Tides. The 23rd Flotilla was equipped eight Vosper 72'6" boats, which unfortunately are no longer available from Heroics and Ros, but I do have six already painted and ready to use, give or take a tart up, re-base and re-label. This means I can set up some historical scenarios and also, potentially, a solo campaign using the system in the rules and based on actions around the Channel Islands.

Skytrex 1/600th Vosper 72'6" MTB's

I'll need to sort out some Kriegsmarine coastal forces, as my stuff is mainly early war, but I have quite a lot already assembled and ready for painting which will speed things up a lot. The opposition was primarily the 5th S-Boote flotilla based in Cherbourg and small, heavily escorted convoys, with the focus on night actions in and around the treacherous waters of the Minquiers. I already have a good source of historical information for these ops, so can pull something together fairly easily.

https://www.polejeanmoulin.com/resources/-THE-FREE-FRENCH-IN-KINGSWEAR.pdf

Good stuff!

East Coast Convoy Extras

V & W class and Flower class

Colliers and Tramp Steamers

The Convoy

A busy afternoon gluing together and adding wire masts to four additional 1/600th scale merchant vessels in order to expand my coastal convoy to realistic proportions. Two of the new models have resin hulls rather than metal, making construction quicker but the wire masts and booms were still a pain in the arse to glue together, replacing the flimsy metal castings for durability. 

I also assembled a V and W class escort destroyer in WAIR configuration and tarted up a second hand model of a Flower Class corvette, which I acquired ready built from eBay but which needed some remedial work to correct some errors and replace a few broken parts. I've run out of grey primer so both of the escorts have a white primer coat, which I actually quite like the look of.