Tumbling Dice Feudal Japanese Ships

The new range of Asian warships from Tumbling Dice includes a number of Japanese models, suitable for the feudal era including the Sengoku Jidai civil wars. I ordered some of the packs a couple of days ago and they arrived yesterday, so I thought I'd show you what they contain.

Pack ASC41 'Nihon Maru' tower ship

This is the largest model in the range and represents the flagship of the Japanese fleet but could also be used as an O Atake Bune or very large 'battleship'. It's a four piece model and is supplied with a sculpted sea base. It's an impressive model even in 1/2400th scale and would make a great command unit, perhaps based with some of the smaller boats alongside.

ASC42 Atake Bune x 2

Although listed as a pack of four, this set is actually a pack of two Atake Bune, the standard medium sized warship of the period. Each pack contains two models, one with a sail and one with the spar lowered, together with two metal sea bases, both with sweeps. These ships would form the bulk of the fleet and would look good when massed together.

ASC43 Seki Bune x 4

These models represent the smaller galley style boats that were used for coastal raiding, boarding actions, patrolling and other similar things. The pack includes four different versions, each with sweeps out and spars stowed, cast on integral bases. They're small but nicely designed and really look the part.

ASC44 Kobaya x 4

This pack is of four light craft used for dispatches, raiding and so on. The pack includes two models with cast on sails and two rowed models, again on cast on bases. Despite being tiny they are also nicely detailed and should be easy to paint up. They would look effective based with some of the larger models as dispatch boats on a command base.

I also ordered some sets of Japanese clan mons or standards to go with the ships, another addition to the existing range designed by The Square. These are very colourful and should add a bit of flair to the different fleets once attached, although you'd need to add some flag standards to the models first.

Overall, I'm really pleased with these models and think they will look excellent once painted and based, although I'm not sure how I'm going to arrange them yet. I'll probably go for 30mm x 40mm bases or thereabouts, with single models for the larger ships and multiple basing for the Seki Bune and Kobaya.

Sengoku Naval Warfare 1/2400th Scale

I'm intrigued by the new 1/2400th scale Asian range that Paul at Tumbling Dice has recently produced so have ordered some packs of Japanese ships. I don't know very much about naval warfare of the period but I am fairly clued up when it comes to the Sengoku Jidai, so I'm thinking of a Japanese focus for this project. I've read the obligatory Osprey book and there's plenty of scope for some interesting naval actions between rival Samurai clans.

The rules are a bit of a grey area but it shouldn't be difficult to use Lord of the Sea with a few specific tweaks (what do you reckon David?). The tactics and sizes of ship are fairly similar so there's not a lot of difference in the way the rules need to work. As the models will be fairly small it will be a good idea to base them in multiples anyway, which should look pretty cool when they're all laid out for battle?

Miniature Maritime Middle Ages

I noticed that Paul at Tumbling Dice has just expanded his 1/2400th scale ancient and medieval range to include Japanese, Korean and Chinese warships. While I am sorely tempted to have a go at some Sengoku period naval wargaming, it did remind me of Lord of the Sea, the medieval naval rules by Long Face Games.

So, to cut a long story short, I emailed Paul to ask if he had any plans to add some European medieval ships to his range. He replied to confirm that there will be a whole new set of later medieval ships for the Hundred Years War and Crusades as well as a range of Byzantine ships, with the masters already finished and ready to go.

This is great news, as it means I can finally get round to playing some fleet sized actions, for which the rules are designed, using multiple based ships for which 1/12400th scale is ideal. They should be available at some point in the summer, so I'll have to wait a little bit longer, but it's definitely a project to think about in the meanwhile.