AHPC XIV Post 5 Late Roman Light Cavalry and Slingers

 No library sections today, but two units for my Late Roman armies based for To The Strongest.

First up a unit of 4 light cavalry with javelins.  I've named them after the Equites Dalmatae who served under the Dux Britanniarum and were noted as being stationed at Praesidio.  It is unsure where this is exactly, but best guess is somewhere in Yarkshire, maybe between York and Doncaster.  "Dalmation" seemed to be  type of cavalry rather than a place of origin and is often interpreted as being light cavalry with javelins.  Useful for running down raiders, patrolling frontiers and harassing flanks.  Being a Limitanei unit, there's no shield pattern for this unit meaning that I get to make one up.  I've gone with a Chi Rho in white on red.   Figures are plastic Gripping Beast from their Late Roman light cavalry box set (which is very good value and very useful).

Haven't added labels and I took this pics early in the morning and didn't want to wake anyone up by running the printer at 7am on a Sunday.  Also I need to check if I already have a unit of Dalmatae.

Next we have a unit of 6 Funditores or light infantry slingers.  During a business trip to Vancouver this summer, I picked up two Victrix Late Roman plastic kits which were put away until the Challenge, and then lost when I went to assemble and prep them!  Fortunately they have since turned up.  One kit was for Late Roman archers and slingers, which I plan to use for Roman and Barbarian units.  The ratio of bow and staff sling arms to regular slinger arms was not what I'd wanted but the kits have nice bits and I'll get some useful units from it.  I like the variety of loading and shooting poses plus the various types of slings (at least for the Romans, not so much the Irish!).   And there are tons of head options.  

Again no labels.  I may assign these guys to an existing infantry unit.

Love the motion in firing figures.

Points for this week

• 4x 28mm cavalry = 40
• 6x 28mm infantry = 30
• Total = 70

I should be able to count these against the Legions and Auxiliaries side duel if I can figure out how to do that!

Santiago de Cuba 1898 AAR

 

Last week I got my newly painted 1:2400 scale pre dreadnoughts on table for an action based f Santiago in 1898, giving the Spanish a bit more to play with .  Rule were Broadside and Salvo from Long Face games (also check out LFG's campaign sets for the Spanish American, Russo Japanese and Balkan Wars).

At the start, Jeremy in grey and Sylvain in green were the Yanks.  Curt (behind lens) took the Spanish and I was the  GM.

Curt's forces emerge from the harbour between the two freshly painted batteries.

Curt had

• Admiral Cervera's squadron of 4 armoured cruisers (Maria Teresa, Oquendo, Vicaya and Colon) and a torpedo boat flotilla
• Local forces of one old cruiser (Reina Mercedes), a flotilla of old torpedo boats and two forts.  The fort to the right of the entrance had a torpedo battery and an electrically controlled minefield in case the USN got too close.

The blockading Yanks were dispersed, including one flagship and attending TBs off table en route to meet with the Army General.

The US forces were

• Jeremy's Flying Squadron of the armoured cruiser Brooklyn and the obsolete AC Texas.  The battleship Massachusetts was off getting coal and unavailable. 
• Sylvain's Atlantic fleet with the battleships Oregon, Iowa and Indiana and two armed yachts.  His flagship the AC New York and a torpedo boat flotilla were off table.

The local ships are the first to leave to provide distraction. 

The USN reacts.

An armoured yacht got too close to shore and comes under fire.  She also narrowly missed running into the minefield.

Cervera emerges

Jeremy was close to crossing Curt's T and then Curt did a 90 degree turn to starboard to go behind the yanks.

The US squadron's got in each other's way a lot and there were some tense moments.

One of Curt's cruisers rams and sinks JP Morgan's yacht!

In the background a Spanish cruiser attempts to ram a US battleship with much less success, taking damage in the process.

Things were getting chaotic here.  The Spanish have yellow labels and the US light blue which helps a bit, but it was a wild scrum.

Curt had to get two cruisers off table and he is getting close to doing this.

And they've made it!

It was a fun game.  The rules worked well, were really quick to learn and fast to play.  And they gave reasonably realistic results.  I'll have more a review at a later point. 

AHPC XIV Post 4 Shore Batteries

 Only a teeny tiny post from me this week, although there's lots on the go on the workbench. After a good start, painting slowed a bit due to weather (see the screen shot below) and first week of uni classes.  Specifically my work load went up from 2 classes with 18 students to 3 classes with 168 students.  My normal load is two classes, but we were asked to pick up classes  for a couple of weeks to cover for a colleague with medical issues.  There was a first year calculus class in one of my open slots and I had just taught the same class in the Fall so had everything tooled up.  Anyway by Wednesday I was assigned the class for the entire semester...Oh well I enjoyed the class in the Fall and as my wife says, I run better in the Winter Semester if I'm kept busy.

I've had to go outside every day this week and there's nothing like this weather to sap your energy.

These are 3D prints from War Time Journal kindly printed off by the Snowlord.  A communications glitch led to Curt printing these in 1:1250 while my ships are 1:2400, but I think that they work well in full scale.

I added my cutting mat to show the size of these.

I have a couple of shore batteries in 1:1250 scale for Local History.  A quick check of your globe will tell you that there's no need for shore batteries in my current location of Regina, SK. However, home for me is always Halifax Ns which being a major naval port since 1759 has several.  These remind me of York Redoubt which covers the narrow entrance to a very big harbour.  I played on the 9" Rifled Muzzle Loaders as a kid (it was the 60s, boomer kids were expendable), walked my dog there in Uni, took young ladies for picnics and sailed past these guns in my day sailer.

Entrance to Halifax Harbour

York Redoubt was originally built in 1793 and then expanded in 1798 by the Duke of Kent, best known in most circles as Queen Victoria's father and in Halifax as the guy who liked round buildings.  With changing technology it was rebuilt in the 1870s and armed with 9" and 10" rifled muzzle loaders. In 1891 pair of 6pdr quick firers and a searchlight was added on the shoreline to fend off torpedo boats.  In WW2 this was one end of an anti-U boat net guarded by more modern 6pdrs. 

9" RML

This one nicely shows the commanding view from the guns.  The French and Americans better stay clear.

Finally, I thought I'd share a few shots from an AAR using some of the Spanish American War models I've done up this Challenge including these ones.

Even a single point is generous for these two, but I'll claim the 20 points for the Library category. Here's my updated trip through the Library.

Painting Challenge Post 3: Protected Cruisers

 If there were two subject areas on the Library Map that you could bet money on me visiting it would have History and Maritime.  So here's the second of these with a selection of 1:2400 scales ships for the Spanish American War, all of which fought at Manilla Bay in 1898.  All the toys are produced by Tumbling Dice, who do good castings with excellent service.

First up is a set of four Protected Cruisers for the US Navy.  Protected cruisers were a late 19th century development when navies were looking for speed with firepower at the cost of armour.  Early armoured cruisers had decent armour belt protection but the weight was so high that they were no faster than the battleships that they were to scout for.  A protected cruiser did away with the armour belt and substituted a armoured deck that would hopefully shield the engines and lower hull from the effects of shellfire.  British Arms magnate Lord Armstong's Elswick yard produced these as a popular option for smaller navies looking for prestige ships.

USS Boston was one the the first three cruisers for the US Navy using a home grown design heavily influenced by the Chilean Esmeralda.  Commissioned in 1887 she carried her two 8" guns in barbettes that were slightly offset to supposedly increase end on fire.  She was slow and slow firing by 1898 standards.

What's a barbette you ask?  Here's a picture from her sister ship Altanta.  The barbette was an armoured cylinder that protected the training and loading mechanism of the gun but provided no protection the the men serving the weapon.  Note the blue jacket fully exposed above the waist. 

These early ships came from a time when navies were loathe to abandon sails.  Boston carried an impressive full rig, but I've assumed that this would be downsized for combat.

  

The USS Baltimore was US built but used a design purchased from Armstong's.  Her 8" and 6" guns were broadside mounted but the crew had decent gun shields protecting them.

When I was adding ship labels I noticed that I had the Raleigh mounted differently from the other ships so that her table is on the starboard side instead of the port side.

USS Raleigh was a smaller ship commissioned in 1894.  She had mainly 5" guns which was the largest rapid fire gun available to the US Navy at the time plus a slow firing 6" on the foredeck.  She is credited with firing the opening shot at Manilla Bay. 

USS Olympia is a first class protected cruiser and one of the best cruisers afloat in 1898.  She carries four 8" guns in proper turrets and flies the flag of Commodore (soon to be Admiral) Dewey.  Dewey was a giant in the US navy pre WW1 and quite a character (see his bio here).  Most importantly, Olympia is still afloat and I visited her in September.

Look beyond my moose travelling companion and you can see where Dewey stood on the open deck while shell and shot whizzed past him.

Finally a trio of smaller ships.

USS Concord was a Yorktown class gunboat, useful for diplomatic missions!

Two members of the ill fated Velasco class, small cruisers with no armour and light guns.  Both (plus the Velasco herself) were sunk at Manilla Bay.  Two more members of the class were lost in storms. 

Summing up that 7 ships in 1:2400 scale at two points a hull plus 20 for the Maritime section nets me a total of 34 points.

This is my third section covered and my updated map is as follows.

Painting Challange Post 2 Pict Light Cavalry

 For the History section I've got a unit of four Pict Light Cavalry in 28mm, using Gripping Beast plastics.

These are based for my Late Roman Britain project using the To The Strongest ruleset.  There was some whinging from the Snowlord during a recent game that the Picts needed to up their mounted arm and I will endeavour to do this over the Challenge.  

The shields are freehanded.  Way faster, easier and more enjoyable that transfers.

Unlike a lot of Challenge painters I really like painting horses.  I can't be arsed to use oils, so use layers of acrylics with washes.

Lock up your sheep and your daughters!

These use bits from three Gripping Beast box sets.  The horses and torsos are from the Light Cavalry and Dark Age Cavalry sets, while the heads, shields and weapons come from the Pict Warrior sets.  These GB kits are good value for money, and you can mix and match quite easily,  

Four cavalry in 28mm is 40 points plus the History bonus gets me 60 points, and I'm heading out of Section 1 on the ground floor and up the stairs to Section 2.

Painting Challange XIV, Battle of Santiago

I've signed up for another painting challenge and my first post is below.

 WARNING:  This post is 25 years in the making, has lots of naval and personal history and I am too verbose at the best of times.  

In February 1998 I relocated from Halifax NS to Regina SK.  I spent the first two months in a sublet apartment with almost no furniture until my wife and toddler daughter joined me in April.  At loose ends with my evenings and weekends I bought an Xacto knife, sandpaper and some bass wood and started carving Pre-Dreadnought battleships for the Spanish American war.   I got some work done and then my family arrived, we moved into a new house and you know the rest....

In early 2011, I set up a blog and my second post featured my 1:1200 scratch built ships from this project which I had begun working with again.  Venturing onto the internet allowed me to meet gamers who lived within 2km of me, and my fleets made it on table in 2012.   I am not sure what happened but I'll ascribe it to real life.

In September, 2023 I went to Philly for Society of Actuaries exam meeting.  During some time off I went to visit USS Olympia, Admiral Dewey's flagship from Manilla Bay.  This time I think the bug took up permanent residence.  Fleets were ordered in 1:2400 scale from Tumbling Dice as I no longer have the patience for scratch building.  And my veterans came out for another test game.

OK, initial blather over, let's move on to the models.  Fast service from Tumbling Dice meant that I these arrived and were assembled and primed in time to get initial paint on during my wife's book club in November and then December hit and they sat.  So yes full disclosure, these were started prior to the Challenge but Curt tell's me that Overdues and Returns allows for that.  So I represent the full fleets from there battle of Santiago 1898.

First up is the US Navy with USS Texas, USS New York and USS Brooklyn leading the way.  I will note that the US Navy painted all of their ships grey for the war, but I've represented them in their much spiffier white and ochre peace time livery.

• Texas was built as a second class battleship to counter South American navies.  She was the first major warship built in the US for many year and construction was delayed as industry tooled up.  Therefore while her design was au courant when ordered in 1886 it was passe on completion in 1895 such was the speed of naval development.  She was considered slow and underarmed but gave a good fight at Santiago.
• No such worries with the Armoured Cruisers New York (ACR2 completed in 1893) or Brooklyn (ACR2 completed in 1896) which had a good balance of speed, protection and firepower. 
• New York was the flagship of Admiral Sampson in 1898.  She almost missed the battle at Santiago, as she was taking Sampson off to see his Army equivalent the ex CSA General Wheeler and only arrived at the very tail end.  She had a long service with two name changes to free up names for new construction and was finally decommissioned in 1932 in Cavity, where she was scuttled in 1941.
• Brooklyn had her turrets in a schwacky French-style lozenge arrangnement and was the flagship of Commodore Schley in 1898.  Schley had his moments during the war but was senior officer when Spanish came out to fight.  He narrowly avoided ramming the Texas, but sank the entire Spanish squadron with Brooklyn doing much of the heavy lifting.  There was a bun fight between Sampson and Schley after the war over who did what,

/

Next up three American Battlewagons, USS Indiana (BB1), USS Oregon (BB3) and USS Iowa (BB4).

• Indiana was lead ship of her three ship class, the others being Oregon and Massachusetts (which was off coaling and missed the battle).  They were designed for coastal defence and thus smaller than contemporary European designs and had low freeboard.  But they were well armoured and packed a punch with 4*13" main guns, 8*8" intermediates plus light guns.  They were overarmed and there was a lot of blast interference between the 13" and 8" guns. 
• Oregon was the most famous member of the trio.  Built in California she relocated 14,000 nautical miles around Cape Horn to the Caribbean in 66 days.  This level of efficiency probably scared the pants off of European navies, while the length of the voyage lead to the building of a canal by a certain Roosevelt.  She chased the Colon for over an hour until the Spanish ran out of decent coal. 

Last of the American are some light ships.

• USS Vixen and USS Gloucester were armed yachts, taken over by the navy, stripped of their finery and armed with light quick firers.  Gloucester was formerly owned by J P Morgan.  They were useless against big ships but shot up the Spanish destroyers.  While most of the Tumbling Dice models are really nice, I am not a huge fan of these casts as they don't yachty enough.  I may try to fine substitutes.
• The USN didn't build destroyers until the 20th Century but employed torpedo boats during the war.  USS Ericsson was part of the Santiago blockade but went off with Sampson to meet the army.  The rules I plan to use (Long Face Games Broadside and Salvo), represent torpedo craft in flottillas instead of individual ships so I've grouped them two per base.

Now over to the Armada Espanol (yes that it still the official name).

First up are the three armoured cruisers of the Infanta Maria Teresa class, all of which were sunk at Santiago.  These were standard armoured cruisers if slightly under armoured and influenced by the Royal Navy's Orlando class..  The biggest problem was the hopeless state of efficiency in the Armada.  

• The Infanta Maria Teresaflies the flag of Admiral Cervera who commanded the squadron.  She was named for a Spanish Princess who was the first wife of Louis XIV and thus green grandmother of Louis XV.
• The Almirante Oquendo was named for the Admiral who lost the battle of the Downs in 1639.   Other Oquendos had prominent roles in the 1588 Armada.  If your Spanish (or Scottish) you celebrate valiant losers.
• The Vizcaya was named for the Biscay region.  She had the misfortune to visit New York on a friendly tour just after the destruction of the Maine and without knowing what happened.  She was slowed considerably by a dirty bottom in need of a scrub (this brings back memories of saving with my dad).

• Cristobal Colon was a member of the Italian Garibaldi class cruisers, and was named for some guy who figured he found China.  Half sisters served in the Italian, Argentine and Japanese navies.  They were fine ships but Colon sailed without her 10" main guns due to a bun fight with the makers.   She nearly escaped at Santiago but her supplies of good coal ran out and she couldn't maintain a decent speed.
• Reina Mercedes was on station at Santiago when Server arrived from the Canaries.  Named for the first wife of King Alfonso XIII (she died six month after their wedding), she was old slow and not much use at anything.   Too slow to join Cervera's planned escape she did trade shots with the US Navy during the siege and was eventually sunk as a block ship in the harbour entrance. 

• While most of the Armada was old and cranky, they had some shiny new destroyers ordered from the UK.   Cervera sailed from Europe with three destroyers, of which the Furor and Pluton were sunk at Santiago.  Terror and engine troubles in transit and ended up in Puerto Rico where she traded shots with American blockaders.
• I can't find any records of Spanish torpedo boats in combat in 1898, but they had quite a few and there's always what ifs.

Blather over and a project well under way after 25 years.   I'll have ships from the Pacific side of operations later in the Challenge.  

Points wise I make it 19 ships in 1:2400 at 2 points per hull is 38 points plus a 20 point room bonus for Overdues and Returns.