What's on your workbench?

[RMD]

The two detached grenadiers on the end are from the same regiment, but will be massed with grenadiers from other regiments to form a grenadier battalion.

Maxwell's wasn't it? Served in a reserve brigade (commander unknown) alongside a battalion of Hanoverian grenadiers under a chap named Wasabe!

I forgot to mention that for some reason they've been sculpted with banded muskets. I presume that the sculptor was looking at pictures of Hanoverian troops when he did these? I painted the bands 'because they're there', but will probably not paint them in future.

[Shahbahraz]

What rules are you using for the coastal battles? I see there are quite a few 3d files available for printing, and it is a bit tempting.

I've plumped for Coastal Patrol, which appeared in the 2011 Too Fat Lardies Summer Special, and which I played with Brian Hall ("Sarge") on VLD4 and 5. I've got the Cruel Seas rule book, but have heard all sorts of gripes about it and didn't like it personally on a read-through - taken as a whole, it seems to have been released before it had been properly tested. I'm also trying to get hold of Narrow Seas and Action Stations, both by David Manley, which are the "serious nutters" rules (as compared to the "beer and pretzels" approach of Coastal Patrol) - essentially "you've hit my 912mm frontal armour at an angle of precisely 23 degrees 47 minutes, with a 49.8mm shell going at 345kph, plus a following wind of approximately 6 knots, and it's a Wednesday, so we roll 3xD6, 2xD10 and 1xD47, take away the number we first thought of and....." versus "What A Tanker". No contest.

Despite having bought a load of 1:600 stuff from Heroics & Ros and PT Dockyard back in 2018, I decided to try out the 1:300 Warlord vessels for simple skirmishes up to half-a-dozen vessels a side, but a mate has just built himself a wargames shed with a 12' x 6' table, and I seem to have unconsciously extended the parameters to include R-Boats, F-Lighters, Siebel Ferries etc etc (basically anything less than a destroyer). Unfortunately, Warlord seem to have "shut up shop" on the Cruel Seas range, which is a shame as they are cracking models (if not always accurate) and more of the smaller merchant ships are needed - if you're looking for ideas. That said, I've found a company that produces just the stuff I want, but it's in the US, so major postal issues (caused by Trump, but Biden has shown no sign of repairing the damage). Plus the vessels are eye-wateringly expensive ($60+ per item).

As Arfur Daley would say: "The world is your lobster."

Thanks for that. I don't think I have the 2011 special, but it sounds like it would be worthwhile hunting it out. David Manley being a 'serious' wargamer his stuff is always impeccably researched and realistic... but it sounds too much like Tractics to me. (Though not as bad as Newbury 'Fast-Play' Napoleonics... shudder... )

The Warlord Naval rules seem to have had a fair bit of play, but I tend to be suspicious of their rules offerings. Righto - off to check just how big a 1/300 destroyer is... bloody hell! 330mm for something like an H class.. that's big. 1/600 is still pretty large,

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

I think Manley actually works for either a civilian design/procurement branch of the Admiralty, or a civilian contractor, as he mentioned some serving officers he'd worked with when answering a question I asked on The Wargames Website about why the RN retained "open bridges" for so long.

The thing about the bigger vessels is that they are either targets (ie merchantmen) or they are controlling the torpedo boats via radar etc, and so can be safely parked down one end of the table., or even kept just off table for gunnery etc. I have a Flower Class corvette and a Hunt II in 1:600 and both are around 6" long. Unfortunately, Warlord chickened out and decided not to make the bigger vessels in 1:300, but fobbed people off with 1:350 kits from existing manufacturers (unfortunately, these are mostly NOT waterline models).

[Shahbahraz]

Yeah, I confess, if I was going to do it, I would be tempted to use 1/700 scale kits for the larger ships. (they are still whopping big vessels on table), and print 1/700 for the smaller vessels. Which would give you a Fairmile B about 5cm long. Still a decent size for a game.

[Buff Redux]

Bartholomew the Butcher. A Rackham Confrontation minotaur. Nearly finished.

[goat major]

Fantastic !!

[Shahbahraz]

That is very impressive. Nice piece.

[Shahbahraz]

Tonight I have been chopping up Perry figures to make vehicle crews. Fiddly as anything.

[levied troop]

Very nice - impressive beast Buff. And the figure looks good too.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Tonight I have been chopping up Perry figures to make vehicle crews. Fiddly as anything.

Nice - especially the Indian Pattern Carrier. I've sent you a PM about the Coastal Patrol stuff.