Sunday, March 16, 2025

The Last of the Chromatic Naval Builds...

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.
But... unless eventually the gun turrets give me the pip, as they are they will remain.
The final pic is the tray containing the fleets of Ruberia and Azuria, and the Izumrud-Zeleniya capital ships. Oh, yes, the riverine gunboat - HMS Shoofly, different scale - is also there.

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... 

12 comments:

  1. The AC Warrior looks a nifty vessel to me. Nice!

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    Replies
    1. Jonathan -
      Thank 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      I have an idea that the class of armoured cruisers the Warrior class superseded was very similar in appearance, but had lighter secondary armament.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

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  2. Very nice! Looking forward to seeing them in action!

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    Replies
    1. Cheers, Mark -
      I have so many possible battles that could be fought, and all!
      All the best,
      Ion

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  3. Replies
    1. Geordie -
      Your 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

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  4. Wonderful work on the ships, AAR's eagerly awaited.

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    Replies
    1. pancerni -
      It 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

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  5. Replies
    1. Maudlin Jack
      The 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

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  6. Those are very impressive fleets, you must have lots of storage space! I really like the look of the Warrior class ship.

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    Replies
    1. Martin -
      Ah, 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

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