In my last posting I indicated that I was beginning building navies for the belligerent powers. The biggest of these is that of the aggressive, expansionist island nation of Raesharn.
Rather than write a whole bunch of stuff about it all, here are some pics of where we are at so far. About 2/3 of the Raesharn Navy is complete, barring a fair bit of touching up...
Heading posting, the flag battleship of Hideo Sokituya, Admiral of the Red. Here is the same vessel from a dive-bomber's point of view.
A battle squadron steaming through the Straits of Omez. Fortunately the skies are clear of Kiivar aircraft...
Two carriers of the 1st Carrier Squadron. Two more need to be built to complete the squadron. Chances are, though, that the present squadron organisation will be abolished in favour of 'Carrier groups', though nobody has many carriers...
Three cruisers of 4th Cruiser Squadron. The Cruiser Squadrons will each comprise 5 units, rather than the 4 in the heavier squadrons and the destroyer flotillas.
A comparison of the sizes of the Battleship vs Cruiser. Actually the differences aren't apparent, here, on account of the smaller vessel being much closr. The Battleship is 6cm long by 1.5cm in the beam; the Cruiser 5cm by 1cm.
A destroyer leader of 6th flotilla. These were made from what were going to be battleship pieces for a version of the Auckland students' 1970s 'War Game'. Rather than waste them, I narrowed them to about 5-7mm, their length remain at 40mm and modified the crude superstructure. Having made 3 2-gun turrets before, a couple of destroyers kept them (including this one), but most get single-gun turrets, one forward, one aft. Of course, all destroyers count the same...
Having built 4 destroyers, I felt they were a little high-sided, given that the battleship hulls have the same thickness. I left these ones flush decked - the 6th Destroyer Flotilla...
Destroyers of 7th Flotilla. These are split decked... Not sure the improvement is all that marked, really... Here they are sailing in the company of a Raesharn cruiser. The size difference is quite noticeable, here.
Destroyers of 7th Flotilla escorting a convoy of tramp steamers and tankers plying the strait between Raesharn and Omez.
Comparison between Battleship, Cruiser and Destoyer...
Elements of the Raesharn Battlefleet on pre-War manoeuvres: 1st Carrier Squadron, 2nd and 3rd Battle Squadrons, part of 4th Cruiser squadron; all flanked by 6th and 7th Destroyer Flotillas.
The Squadrons and Flotillas are numbered sequentially, beginning with the carriers. It tends to disguise, or inflate, the actual numbers of the smaller craft. I don't really want to make 32 destroyers...
This is all intended to make up Raesharn's as a very large navy. The Kiivar navy, by contrast, suffered steep losses at the outset of the war, and its entire Battlefleet (when I've built them) will comprise a single carrier, a couple of Battleships, 3 cruisers and 4 destroyers. They will also have a number of submarines in operation (as will Raesharn, of course; though the Straits of Omez are dangerous waters, even for submarines.
Meanwhile, Jono has agreed to construct the Sarbian Navy - also smaller than the Raesharn, but, together with the Kiivar, should be able to contest the oceans.
Ion,
ReplyDeleteThey are fabulous ! They remind me of our ACW Naval games we used to play.
It will be great to see them in action
Great work.
Paul
What delightful little models or toys. Having been dragged back into some naval games recently, I probably shouldn't look too closely at how you made these but just admire from a far. Too many things on the go as it is.
ReplyDelete-Ross