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Friday 29 March 2024

Belgian Progress and sinking the Bismarck

I'm on the last lap of the Belgians with just six more figures to go. I'm liking these figures which are mostly first generation ex Eric Knowles collection castings that are very well defined. The Dutch-Belgian charging figure pose is unique within the Napoleonic range (but can be found in the ACW range) and makes a change from painting the 'standard' Hinton Hunt charging pose.


Admiral of the Fleet Horatio Goya popped round this week bringing with him some lovely 1/1200 WW2 ships from his collection. The models are vintage ones from Eagle and very fine they look too.

Admiral Von Stryker trains the Bismarck's guns upon HMS Hood. I actually took quite a pasting from the Royal Navy but fortunately they ran out of ammo and the German squadron limped off into the North Sea mist.

We used some suitable simple Naval Rules adapted from an old copy of Military Modelling (November 1979) for a quick go at sinking the Bismarck. I wanted to christen the rules "Turrets and Torpedoes" but Goya was concered about potential copyright infringement.

These waterline models by Eagle are superb and Goya has made and painted them to a high standard. On this occasion HMS Hood did rather better than her real life counterpart.

Hopefully the Belgians will be finished and ready for my next post.

17 comments:

  1. The Belgian does look good, looks like you get better access to the figure's chest for painting, not to mention it looks more like a period drill pose.
    I don't recall rules for the Bismarck in MM, I used Fletcher-Pratt for my replay of Operation Rheinübung - you need a church hall to do it but they gave a result uncannily close to the historical outcomes in all four encounters gamed.

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  2. Those Belgians are really very nice indeed. I like those ships as well, don't do naval wargaming but they are great.

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  3. Rob, large scale naval battles are a young man’s game as it requires getting down on hands and knees! We found that a small action is possible on a 6’ x 4’ by repositioning the ships as they were about to sail off the edge of the world - good fun.

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  4. Thanks Donnie, I don’t really do naval wargaming either but this was fun!

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  5. Looks to be a theme or chorus - I don't do naval but nice ships.
    The Belgians are lovely and the orange sashes really pop.
    Stephen

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  6. With scenery for Naval wargames, do you have to reposition all the waves every turn?
    Stephen

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  7. Stephen, yes repositioning the waves is a bit of a chore but I believe Warlord Games are bringing out a miniature wave machine for only £99.99…

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  8. Takes me back to the day when I watched a chap with a splendid radio controlled model of the Hood on a pond on Wimbledon Common. He pressed a button on his control panel and the model exploded. Saves all that dice throwing...I should love to think that some of my boyhood Eagle 1200 scale fleet found their way into Goya's collection

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  9. Nigel, was that an intended historical reconstruction or a dodgy motor - I hope it was the former!

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  10. The Belgians are splendid Ian…
    I do like the look of the battleships … I notice Barry Hilton has started producing 1/4800 scale ships for WW1

    https://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/shop/products-cat-38.html

    I must admit I am more tempted by the Pre-Dreadnought Ironclads of the 1860’s-1870’s

    All the best. Aly

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  11. Those Belgians look pretty sharp! Great job on them, as usual.
    Bob

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  12. Lovely looking figures!

    Does the scale make the Bismarck a Pocket, Pocket battleship?

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  13. These are looking uncommonly fine, Ian. Well done!
    Congrtulations to Admiral von Goya too for his wondrous battleships.
    Best regards
    WM

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  14. Thanks for the info Aly, this is precisely what I didn't need to know!!!

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  15. Very good Matt, very good...

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  16. Thanks WM that Goya is a man of many talents!

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