Having been considering, over several weeks, building an armoured cruiser for Ruberia, and finding myself at something of a loose end, I finally built one. It is modelled upon HMS Warrior. Here it is...
I have to admit to a considerable dissatisfaction with the gun turrets. Intended as an approximation of the bell-shape (in plan), I tried a trapezoidal shape. Unfortunately, my cutting device is getting blunt, and my spare blades have gone walkabout. So the gun turrets are pretty rough.
It is tempting to try out a larger scale fleet action between Ruberia and the combined fleets of Turcowaz and Azuria. The forces ...
Ruberia:
- 6 battleships
- 1 armoured cruiser
- 1 protected cruiser
- 6 destroyer/ torpedo boats
Azuria/Turcowaz
- 7 battleships
- 1 protected cruiser
- 8 destroyer/ torpedo boats
The slight numerical imbalance would probably be redressed by the more powerful units of the Ruberian 2nd Battle Squadron. This, of course, is purely conjectural. One never knows: perhaps some such battle will happen during the Little Great War...
The AC Warrior looks a nifty vessel to me. Nice!
ReplyDeleteJonathan -
DeleteThank you for your comment.
I have an idea that the class of armoured cruisers the Warrior class superseded was very similar in appearance, but had lighter secondary armament. This one might be a match for the Hellenic (Greek) 'Georgios Averof'.
Cheers,
Ion
Very nice! Looking forward to seeing them in action!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Mark -
DeleteI have so many possible battles that could be fought, and all!
All the best,
Ion
That is a nice collection
ReplyDeleteGeordie -
DeleteYour kind remark led me to do a count. Including the destroyers and flatiron gunboats, but excluding merchants and non-scale units, I have 52 vessels in this cartooned format. Even I am saying 'Wow!'.
Cheers,
Ion
Wonderful work on the ships, AAR's eagerly awaited.
ReplyDeletepancerni -
DeleteIt is clear from such early feedback, I'll have to conjure up an occasion for a battle. I do in fact have one in mind. The historical precedent is there; a narrative is forming; the gunnery rule set being worked on; I just need the time. Actually the time isn't wanting, it is worrying exogenous matters that are clouding the motivation.
Cheers,
Ion
Fantastic looking fleet Ion.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack
DeleteThe temptation is strong to have an all-in stoush! But the navies are quite deliberately unbalanced, although I stopped short of the Ruberan 'two navies' policy. At any rate, I now have all the pieces ready to go. I now need to sort out the rule set, and work out a map. It is possible that the Azurians will have TWO quite separate fleets: the Nordic Sea and the Mesogesean. That would make the strategic situation a whole deal more complicated for Ruberia!
Cheers,
Ion
Those are very impressive fleets, you must have lots of storage space! I really like the look of the Warrior class ship.
ReplyDeleteMartin -
DeleteAh, yes, Storage space. Actually, that is a little problematic, and like to become a deal more so in the near future. Unfortunately things are very much up in the air at the moment, and for the time being the future looks nebulous. One we know more about what's happening, we can begin to sort out solutions.
Cheers,
Ion
Nice little fleet. They look good to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rob. They're not display pieces by any stretch, but they look the part, and I like their chunkiness. I actually started making these things before I discovered that 'Chibi-Maru' was a thing. So I coined the appellation 'Chubby Marine' for my guys.
DeleteCheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo,
ReplyDeleteWhat an excellent addition to your already very impressive collection of ships! Every time I see them I feel enthused to follow your example … and if I wasn’t feeling so unwell at present, I would be!
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
DeleteThank you for your kind remark. I do hope and wish for your own speedy recovery. And I remain aware that it was your ideas and example that led me down this - shall we say 'scenic'? - track!
Cheers, and GWS,
Ion
Hi there Ion,
ReplyDeleteShe looks magnificent! The whole fleet looks ready for some serious action and I will look forward to seeing the ‘blooding of the guns’!
All the best,
DC
Cheers, David -
DeleteI'm still concerned about the gunnery aspects of the PNW rule set. I like the method, but the differencing for calibre (weight of shot, penetrability and rate of fire, rather than range), not to mention number of guns shooting per salvo, is proving rather an exercise. Having chosen a wide range of classes for each fleet, I think I might have created a rod for my own back! It seems likely that Bob went through this whole 'figuring-out' process when devising his gunnery mechanics.
I am beginning to think that I'll continue to difference by numbers of guns per salvo, and stay with Bob's system otherwise. I'll treat the pre-dreadnought calibres greater than 12" as 'old' 12", and there are 5 battleships among the whole array (not sure about the 'French' ships) that have 'modern' 12-inch.
So I'll be expanding my spreadsheet to include these new vessels.
Cheers,
Ion