Get the Goeben Ship Stats for When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas

I've had a crack at working out the ship profiles for the Ottoman Navy warships not already covered in the First World War version of When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas. These include the two ex-German Brandenburg class pre-dreadnought battleships and the armoured cruiser Hamidiye. Its not too difficult to do the number crunching except for armour hull boxes but I think I've come up with some reasonably accurate ship stats, give or take a bit of guesswork. This means I can crack on with painting the models as soon as I've finished the 1/600th scale Airco DH2's for the PC10 project. 

When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas

I read an after action report of a game using these fast play WW1 naval rules, which I had never heard of before, and really liked what I saw. They're only four pages long, designed for 1/2400th and are supported by a scenario supplement and ship record sheets, all presented in to a very high standard of design. I've downloaded both the rules and the supplement as an alternative to Victory at Sea for my First World War naval projects, including the Battles of Coronel and  the Falklands, for the Dogger Bank and potentially for the Get the Goeben! project too. Excellent!

https://youtu.be/v1I1E4NJ3us?si=ld_eYt2p9OpQoyYZ

WW1 Naval Project Pick Up

It's been absolutely nuts since coming back from Brittany, with a funeral in Bath, a day trip down to Plymouth to pick up stuff from the boy's flat and even a missing person man hunt for a friend's elderly relative, who wandered off from his sheltered housing and got lost overnight.

This means I've not had time for anything remotely wargaming related, so instead I've set out what I'm going to do for the rest of the month, prior to starting a new project in September.  

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2025/06/summer-naval-project-ww1.html

I have been focusing on the First World War this year including the naval campaign in the Black Sea and the hint for the Goeben, with a Turkish fleet ready for painting, so this will be my focus for the rest of the month. 

I may also tinker with a few other things of a naval persuasion, such as rebasing the 1/600th War of the Pacific stuff and perhaps even refurbishing the 1/1200th scale models I was given, but nothing too much as I just won't get it done otherwise!

WW1 Turkish Black Sea Fleet

I've almost finished the Jasta 11 Flying Circus triplanes, so I'm moving straight on to the WW1 'Get the Goeben!' naval project for the rest of the month. Here's the Turkish Black Sea fleet all ready for painting, with the two torpedo gunboats and a U-Boat added for good measure. I'll get cracking on the bases tomorrow, when I'm also planning to add the decals to the Fokker Dr.1 models to wrap up the Algernon Pulls It Off! project, at least for the Summer.

Summer Naval Project WW1

After thinking through the problems caused by Navwar probably shutting down, I've decided that the South American interwar naval project is not really feasible, at least until Navwar finds a new owner. So, to cut a long story short, my Summer focus will be the 'Get the Goeben' project from last year, or at least the Ottoman Black Sea fleet which I have already assembled, based and undercoated, ready for painting. I will also be assembling some opposing naval forces, with some Royal Navy battle cruisers top of the list but potentially also some of the Russian Black Sea fleet as well. 

Magasin de Presse

We're about to head back home so, as usual, I've been to the local newsagent to pick up some French military magazines. This time there was only one that I thought worth buying, the current edition of Los!, which has some good articles on the Kanalkampf phase of the Battle of Britain and French pre-dreadnought armoured cruisers, amongst other things. The latter has got me thinking about the French pre-dreadnought fleet I have ready for painting but also the WW1 French models from Tumbling Dice for the Get the Goeben! project, which I didn't get round to assembling during the holidays. I'm definitely doing something naval next and either of these would be good fun to focus on next month.

WW1 Naval Projects - Coronel and the Falklands 1914

 

I've been enjoying the WW1 air wargaming project that I've been working on the last few weeks, so I've decided to continue this year with more 1914-1918 themed projects. The next naval project will therefore be the 'Get the Goeben!' project that I tinkered around with at the end of last year or quite possibly the Battle of Coronel and the Falkland Islands. As a matter of fact, I already have all of the 1/12400th scale Tumbling Dice models for both of these battles, which makes it an obvious direction of travel. When I've finished the aircraft for the scenario play testing I'm going to sort out all of the models and make a start on some ships for one or both of these neatly self contained naval projects. 

Get the Goeben! RN Battlecruisers

The latest addition to the workbench is a trio of Royal Navy warships for a "What If?" scenario set in August 1914. Here we have the battlecruisers HMS Indomitable and. HMS Inflexible, accompanied by the light cruiser HMS Dublin. I thought it would be a nifty idea to paint these up alongside SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau, so that I can actually play a game at some point, rather than have to wait until the Russians have been sorted out. I'll get these ready at the weekend.

WW1 Turkish Black Sea Fleet

I'm taking a break from painting tiddly planes this month, with something a bit different from the 'to do' list, in the shape of a 1/2400th scale WW1 Turkish fleet. I glued this all together earlier but still need to add a couple of additional models and then base the whole lot before I can start painting. I'm going to get started as soon as I've finished the extra models for MiG Alley, hopefully after the weekend. I'll probably use Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts with these, unless something else pops up that's suitable for small actions rather than fleet sized battles.

Drat and Double Drat

I've started the assembly stage of the Get the Goeben! project with the Austro Hungarian forces, consisting of two Tegethoff class dreadnoughts, two Admiral Spaun class light cruisers and six Tatra class destroyers. Unfortunately, one of the battleship models is missing the two funnels, which are supplied as separate parts, so that one will have to wait until I get replacements from TD. I've also ordered the other Austro Hungarian post 1900 battleships and an armoured cruiser to expand this force to a more impressive fleet. 

La Retour

We're heading back to the UK over the next couple of days but will be back over here in Brittany next month. This means that I'll be back at the workbench, home repairs and maintenance aside, for about a week, during which time I'll be cracking on with some of the three projects I have lined up. The initial plan is to get the Spanish Napoleonic fleet assembled, so that I can take it to France to paint, but the Get the Goeben! ships are also on the 'to do' list, so we'll see what grabs my attention first. I'll also start doing some background reading for this year's Bag the Hun article, which is looking like a Continuation War set of scenarios. 

The Ship That Changed The World

I've started reading this on holiday, as we're only away for a week and it should fill up the time I have while the weather is dodgy. As this is my next project, I thought it would be a good idea to actually find out what happened, other than by reading the fairly basic outline of events on the internet. This is the standard work on the subject and will be really useful when I'm planning out what I'm going to do. 

Austro Hungarian WW1'Fleet

A bit of holiday reading for the Get the Goeben! solo campaign, which has now been augmented with the 1/2400th scale Austro Hungarian battleships, light cruisers and destroyers. These are lovely models and have me itching to get them assembled, based and painted. In fact, I'm considering adding a few more to build a naval squadron for an attack on the Otranto barrage!

Get the Goeben! - Alez Les Bleus

The Tumbling Dice French ships arrived  yesterday, which was really quick. I now have all of the Triple Entente naval forces for the Get the Goeben! solo naval campaign project. The best of the bunch is the Courbet, an absolutely splendid model, although the Danton class battleships are also really nifty. I've decided to take these with me on holiday to assemble and base, possibly with the Austro Hungarian models if they arrive in time for the trip?

Get the Goeben! - La Royale

I'm a bit short in the old pocket money department at the moment, so couldn't order all of the 1/2400th scale models from Tumbling Dice that I need for the Get the Goeben! project. Instead I've just picked out the French battleships, armoured cruisers and destroyers and a couple of Royal Navy light cruisers, leaving the Austro Hungarian warships and the additional merchant shipping to a later date. If I'm lucky the postie will smuggle this lot through domestic security in time for the holidays next weekend.

Get the Goeben!

Righto. The Plan B for my WW1 naval project this year is to set up and run a solo mini-campaign based on the Catch the Goeben campaign in the Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnought Far Flung Seas supplement. As I already have the two German warships assembled and ready to paint, I thought it would be a shame not to use them for another one of my solo campaigns.

By happen chance, I also have most of the Royal Navy warships required for the campaign, give or take, as a result of acquiring a bundle of Tumbling Dice models a while back. I will need to splash out on the French and Austro Hungarian warships, however, but these are in reasonable numbers so not too much of a hit on the pocket money. 

I think this will be a lot of fun and with good replay value, especially if I use a range of different rules for variety. There's obviously the Age of Dreadnought rules to start with but this campaign would also be perfect for Si Vis Pacem, for example. The plan now is to order the models in time for the holidays, during which I can assemble, base and paint them, ready for a kick off in the autumn.

Projects 2024

         

AIR

A Lard Mag Scenario project for Bag the Hun (1/600) - The Continuation War 

NAVAL

An early war Royal Navy fleet for the Norwegian Campaign (1/3000th)

Napoleonic Royal Navy, French and Spanish fleets (1/2400th)

A pre-dreadnought or WW1 naval project (1/2400th) - WW1 Turkish Fleet?

LAND

2mm ECW Royalist and Parliamentarian armies for One Hour Wargames.

As you can see I'm going to focus on naval projects this year, with air projects cut down to the Bag the Hun scenarios with an absolute minimum of land based things. I'm sure other things will crop up too but this is my core list of stuff to tackle in 2024.