ACW Naval - CSS Forrest

The guys are East Coast Iron Clads helped me out and made a really nice model of the CSS Forrest for me out of a description of it as a former canal boat. The model is really nice but each time I try to print, the print fails. I have a few things I need to try as suggested by a friend. I really don't have enough experience troubleshooting the printer. The last print had the islands and part of the supports but the boat itself just plain failed. I am assuming that the print is just a blob on the bottom of my FEP.

At this point, I have workable models for most of the Mosquito Fleet. Some of these vessels are speculative as no images have been found for them.

For the scenarios, I need a better model for the Savannah and for the Perry. Both are sailing ships and I have stand ins that I can use from my AWI collections. I have the models for the matchup of the Beaufort against the Albatross. They are printed and painted too.

For the action where the Fanny was captured by the Raliegh, Curlew and Junaluska, I need to print the models for the Curlew and Junaluska still. By the way, the model for the Curlew is a modified model from Long Face Games. I reached out and he did the custom model for me. I am very happy with it but yet to have printed it. The Junaluska I can either use a generic tug or use the model I received for the Forrest as it too was a canal tug.

The bigger action will be that of Hatteras Inlet. This one I am trying to source the models for still. There are existing modesl for several of the vessels. Harriet Lane is availaible from Long Face Games and the Minnesota, Susquehanna and Cumberland are available from East Coast Iron Clads. (LFG may have versions of these but i already had the ECIC ones). What is missing is the Monticello, the Wabash and the Pawnee. I have modified a vessel to use for the Monticello. In working with ECIC, they recommended upsizing the Minnesota model by 115% to make the Wabash. But the Pawnee is still a missing vessel in this order of battle.

I would like to do this battle as a combined arms battle and have the landed troops attacking the forts and masked batteries on Hatteras Island. If I can figure this out, I will move on to the Battle for Roanoke Island. This had a ship battle as well as the bombardment of the forts and landings.

Right now, the only thing slowing me down is my printer.

Squirrels Rampant

Like many people I have been looking at the new Reisswitz Press game Midgard Heroic Battles. I am looking to see if this will help dust off some projects. I would love to get my Dark Ages back out and get in some games. And Romans and Gauls for that matter. But this is a distraction from the ACW Naval games I am working on. But since focusing on any one thing is not possible, I managed to get some paint on a 1/700th Schooner for the AWI.

I can make some claim that the schooner would still be useful for the ACW as they were still around. But the next step away from this is I am searching for STL files for some ACW infantry to match my 1/600th scale ships. The thought would be to model some naval landings. I found some Thingiverse items from Simon Mann that look possible. The first one to look at is the battle of the Hatteras Inlet batteries.

Since my ACW Naval rules of the moment are Dawn of Iron, I saw that the author had started work on some land rules but as far as I can tell, they are unpublished. This leaves me to wonder if I could use something like Sharp Practice and twist it. The landings are much larger than what Sharp Practice was designed for but that never stopped me before.

The Confederate Forces for the battle are rather small. There are two forts (Clark and Hatteras)and a masked battery on Cape Hatteras. These were manned by the 17th North Carolina infantry Regiment, the Hatteras island garrison and some Naval volunteers. The total was around 900 men.

Besides the much larger Warships, the Union force contained elements of two regiments: the 9th New York infantry (220 men) and the 20th New York Infantry (500 men). There were other detachments including the 99th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiments (100 men), 2nd US Artillery Regiment (60 men) and some sailors and marines from the fleet.This would mean printing out some landing craft and some infantry. I have looked at Henry Turner's 6mm miniatures for this as well as Pico Armor. I may go with the Project Wargaming miniatures in the end. I am unsure if I would scale them up to 3mm figures or leave them at 2mm.

I went so far as to download the figures from Thingiverse that Simon Mann made and purchased the Project Wargaming ones. Just looking at the Project Wargaming minis, I will likely leave them at 2mm. Some test prints are in order. The Project Wargaming are set up to look like a company in formation.

Anyway, I am balancing a few things in my head and trying to figure out how to accomplish them.

Union Fleet off North Carolina 1861 to 1862

I did the Confederate fleet (NC Mosquito Fleet) already. I started on the Union as well. I have the fleet divided into three sections. The first is before the Burnside Expedition through 1861. Mostly they are vessels featured in actions. The second is the vessels participating on the Battle of Hatteras Inlet batteries. Then the next section covers the battles of Roanoke Island and Elizabeth City in 1862. A number of these vessels were also part of the Battle of Hampton Roads.

1861

Ship Name	Image	Model	Notes
USS Perry		Saturnalia Studios Brig	Sail Brig.
CSS Savannah		Hagen miniatures schooner	Sail Schooner
USS Albatross		ECIC	Custom miniature
USS Fanny		ECIC Tug boat	Same as the CSS Fanny. Captured Union ship.

Hatteras Inlet Batteries

Ship Name	Image	Model	Notes
Monticello
Harriet Lane		LFG Harriet Lane
Wabash			Use the Minnesota upscaled to 115%.
Minnesota		ECIC Minnesota
Susquehanna
Cumberland		ECIC Cumberland
Pawnee

This is still a work in progress. I will still need to update this as I go and will revisit this. I am interested in seeing if I can make this a combined arms game and include the infantry landings.

Battles of Roanoke Island and Elizabeth City

Ship Name	Image	Model	Notes
US Army Gunboats
Pickett			Smallest ship in the fleet. Flagship of Burnside's Expedition.
Vidette
Hussar
Lancer
Ranger
Chasseur
Pioneer
Sentinel
Zouave
US Navy Fleet
Philadelphia			Flagship
Southfield
Delaware *
Stars and Stripes
Louisiana *
Hetzel *
Underwriter *
Commodore Perry *		LFG Commodore Perry
Hunchback
Morse *
Valley City *
Commodore Barney
Whitehead *
John L Lockwood *
Henry Brinker *
Isaac N Seymour *
Ceres *
General Putnam
Shawsheen *
Granite

* - Vessels in the fleet for Battle of Elizabeth City.

North Carolina Mosquito Fleet of 1862

I am looking to make some scenarios featuring the North Carolina Mosquito fleet and their actions from June 1861 till their destruction in February of 1862. The actions tick several boxes on things I enjoy. They are largely erzatz vessels rather than purpose built warships and it is very early in the conflict before the tactics and technology truely caught up to one another. The Union fleets will be very large. But the nice thing is, many of the vessels match up with vessels that may already be in people's collections since they were involved in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862. Two of the smaller vessels of the Confederate Fleet at Hampton Roads are survivors of the Mosquito Fleet - the only two survivors.

I started on the Confederate Fleet first. In total, there are eleven vessels in the Mosuito Fleet. Their job was to protect the North Carolina Sounds and supply the forts on the barrier islands. In order to get this done, i have been searching Wargames Vault and Wargaming3D for suitable models. I think I have much of it figured out. Maybe.....

Ship Name	Image	Possible Model	Notes
Sea Bird	None	LFG CSS Toscarora	Flagship
Beaufort	None	ECIC Generic Tugboat Set	Also part of Hampton Roads set.
Fanny		ECIC Generic Tugboat Set
Appomattox		TRM Union or Confederate Transport Modified	Original model is a stern wheeler while this is a screw steamer.
Ellis		ECIC Generic Tugboat Set (Modified)
Black Warrior	None	Hagen Miniatures Schooner
Forrest	None	????	Described as a former canal steamer.
Junaluska		ECIC Generic Tugboat Set
Curlew		LFG CSS Samson	A decent match but the main deck under the bridge needs to be closed in.
Raliegh		ECIC Generic Tugboat Set	Also part of Hampton Roads set.
Winslow	None	LFG Samson	Described as a sidewheeler tug.

Acronymns:
ECIC = East Coast Ironclads, they sell on Wargaming3D.
LFG = Long Face Games, They sell on Wargames Vault.
TRM = The Raft Miniatures, They sell on Wargaming3D.

The images above are taken from the Wikipedia articles for the vessel or from https://underbothflags.ncdcr.gov/ for the Appomattox.

Several models need modification in order to match the vessel more closely. The Ellis needs a cut down supertructure to match. These modifications may be what I go with to model the Forrest. The Black Warrior is a sailing schooner and the only vessel that is not a steam ship of the fleet. The Hagen Miniatures model is the only physical model in the above list. The rest are all STL files.At this point, I have built and painted only the Beaufort and the Raliegh. I have purchased the miniatures for the Sea Bird, Fanny, Appomattox, Junaluska, Curlew, and Winslow. I will buy the Schooner from Hagen at somepoint as I really like their miniatures. I have several for my Age of Sail games.

I will update based on any new findings. I did pick up a great book on the Curlew by Christopher Olson. He has drawings of the Curlew that makes the Sampson a good match for a model. The differences are minor enough that I should be able to modify it in TinkerCad, provided the model creator gives me permission.

A Big shout out to Thomas at The Raft Miniatures who did give permission to modify his model to make the Appomattox. I have purchased the model and now need to play with it in Tinkercad. Thank You!

I have a big thank you to give to East Coast Ironclads when it comes time to work on the Union Order of Battle.

Painting Time

I managed to get some time to paint. I am working on the Galleys and Galliot I need for the War of Jenkin's Ear supplement. I have completed a hull for one of the Galleys and am currently fitting it with Yards. I am following the modeling instructions that I will be including in the WOJE appendix. The hulls are the ones that I have on the PayHip site. I believe that I will ignore the sails for now. But I may address that at somepoint later. I completed another Galley earlier. I left the masts bare and didn't inclue yards.

I have a base coat on the deck of five of the Galliots. I am struggling on what to paint the hulls. I have gone with a brown for the moment. I may paint some black. I have also thought about doing the upper portion of at least one in white. I haven't seen any historical description of what the various rowed vessels of the Spanish fleet looked like. Oglethorpe barely mentions the type let alone any more detailed information. Other sources are equally unclear, including the Spanish ones that I have found.

I have also begun the repiar work on a Brig that dropped during transfer. So far I have repaired the sails on the main and mizzen mast. I still have the bowspirit and the jib sails to repair. I am gluing one part per day and leaving it clamped together for a day for the glue to dry. I should have it finished in two more days.

Lastly for WOJE, I found some more piragua prints. This should get me to the numbers that I need. They still lack sails and masts. I may just finish these with bare masts. The 3d printed ones look so much better than my original paper attempts using thick cardstock. I will use the card ones as I am sure not all of the piraguas were uniformly built nor particularly handsome vessels.

This should put me in good shape to finish out the playtesting of the rest of the naval battles. I'll take some more pictures when I have them sorted out.

I also managed to sneak some of my 1/600 scale ACW prints into the painting queue. These are all models from Wargaming3d made by East Coast Iron Clads. They have an excellent line of files. A friend at work printed them for me in resin. While he only used Draft details, they came out well.

I started with the tugs and gunboats for the Battle of Hampton Roads. These small ships each are interesting in their own right. I think they would make for a great game just using them. I have them with their cards needed for the Dawn of Iron rules above. The generic tug set includes 3 diffferent tug models. The Teaser is my favorite as it has the lifeboat modeled on it. I may pick up some prints from Shapeways as they have a few small boats on their site as does Peter Pig in their range just to have more variety. I have worked on moding a few designs in Tinkercad to try and make some additional models as well. But nothing this small yet.

I also have prints of the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia. The Monitor did get a coat of paint. But there really isn't much there to paint for it. The first two prints that I had of the Virginia were not what I was looking for as they had a large base around the model. I did get a replacement without a base yesterday that will makes it way there soonish. The Virginia will need a bit more details than the Monitor did.