Painting More Romans and Other Projects

I managed a few moments to paint yesterday and finished a few figures. I painted the Decurion to complete out my cavalry command. I also painted a Praefectus on foot. I now have him based with two servants behind him. I think it looks pretty good. I painted an additional Optio and one more Auxilia as well. These all need basing. I am basing the Decurion on a round base to make him stand out on the table. I don't really have a standard for the leader figures for my Romans.

I took pictures of the above but they are all terrible. Once the basing of the above is done, I will be working on painting my Mile Fort. I think I will go with the sandstone look. After that, I think work on the Mansio and Villa would be next. I will save the watchtower for later.

I am looking forward to getting these miniatures out on the tabletop. I have an idea for a campaign that I want to run. The Briton/Celts that I have should be mostly ready. I have a base force that matches with the rules and some additional items on order. Both Romans and Celts need some more casualty figures painted.

ACW Naval

My North Carolina Coast campaign has warmed up again with some fixes to the printer. I printed a really nice version of the CSS Curlew. The front half matches the book description of the curlew. The back half should be more like a passenger vessel than what I have but it will stand in. As I was removing the support for the vessel, half of the front deck broke off. So the model ended up in the trash. I kicked off a print job for the CSS Appomattox as well. Will check on that when I get home from work. I think I will start printing these without supports. That should help. Once the miniatures are ready, I have several scenarios to try out. I need to ask the designer of the Dawn of Iron rules about how well his land rules are coming along.

Negev 1948 Campaign

I had a request to dust off my old SOTCW scenarios for my Israel War of Independence scenarios. I decided to rerelease the original scenario set which was written for the Arc of Fire game system and used the Skirmish Campaigns format. I converted one scenario of it to IABSM years ago and did nothing else with it. In reviewing the scenarios, the maps are terrible. So i will redo the maps in Campaign Cartographer before releasing. I did one of the maps so far and it looks much better. I do want to finish the conversion of these scenarios to either Chain of Command or IABSM at some point. But probably not any time soon.

France 1944

I have been working on a pint sized campaign on an action that took place in Singling France in 1944. It presents an interesting set of challenges for how to present it on the table. It was a combined arms attack that would allow the players to each have a platoon sized element to work with. I am working out how to make them work as stand alone pieces or make them for a games day type of action where two tables would be going simultaneously and a reseve force would be allocated as needed for each side. There is some really good documentation on this small battle that I am working through. It has proved to be a fun research project.

Early Imperial Romans for Infamy Infamy

I think I am now at a point that i am only missing 4 figures for my Roman Auxilia. Three cavalry figures to round out the last group and a Cavalry command figure. All in all, some good work over the holiday week last week.

I managed to finish my Medicus figure by giving him a patient. The dead Roman is a Xyston model. The Medicus and box is from 3dBreed miniatures that I printed.

I finished a basic engineer cart. I may go back and give the cart an ink wash as it looks a bit too new. Or possibly place some form of materials in the back of it. But it is close enough for now.

The first of what will be two engineer groups is also done. One thought would be to make the base part of a Roman road. But I couldn't figure out how I wanted to show that. Still, they are complete.

Here is the core of my Auxilia infantry. I have six groups of 8 Auxilia. with a Cornicen, Signifer, Optio and Centurion.

I also have a group of 8 Auxilia with bows. While they normally would be separated out into separate Sagitarii units, the game calls for them to be a group. I have two additional bow figures as well. For some reason, I have two different manufacturers. I am not sure of the manufacturers. The ones in a loading pose are probably Corvus Beli figures. Not sure who the giants are.

I also have a spare command group with a Cornicen, Optio, Signifer and Centurion. I figure these may come into play with Midgard.

I have a senior command element as well. Two figures I can use as a mounted or dismounted Praefectus.

I also finished my cavalry figures. I have a group of 8 Auxilia cavalry, a half group of Auxilia Cavalry and a standard bearer. (can't remember the name of the cavalry standard bearer.) As noted above, i still need 3 more figures to flesh out the group and a command figure. Also in the picture are some support elements that were finished, a pair of pack mules and a scorpion with crew. All of these have their basing finished but I didn't take a picture of them yet.

I also have been working on a command base for the Praefectus. The plan is to have a shield bearer and a slave with a wax tablet standing behind them on a small Flames of War base. i have a replacement figure for the foot Praefectus that I need to paint. The two background characters are already painted. I also have most of a 3rd command group painted. I need to finish painting the Optio and get a good Centurion figure for it. I will likely giev the centurion a fancier comb on his helmet to signify him as a Primus Pilus or the like. I also have a seventh group of Auxilia Infantry ready to go. They just require a movement tray. The problem is, I have no idea if I cut the movement trays myself or bought them. I have the start of an 8th group of Auxilia Infantry. There are three painted figures on an old base that they need to be pulled from. I also have a lone Auxilia on a painting stick leaving just 4 miniatures to be purchased. But as it stands, I should have enough for a game.

I do have a number of Roman Auxilia in more skirmishing poses that are either thrusting with a spear or throwing one. The problem is most of the spears are either bent or broken. A longer term item would be to purchase some wire spears and replace them then base these to be an additional set of groups. If I were to do this, I would be coming close to having a 1 to 1 Roman Century worth of Auxilia. This is really not needed for either Infamy Infamy or Midgard. Still, it is something.

Terrain:

I painted some test pieces of Hadrian's Wall. One in a gray stone pattern and one that is supposed to be sandstone. I can't really decide which one I like better.

I like how the sandstone came out. My wife likes the gray walls better. Still debating.

I have not done any more work on the existing Mansio, Villa or Watchtower yet. Hopefully soon.

Roman Cavalry

I managed to paint ten Auxilia Cavalry figures in the past two days. I am using Army Painter Speed Paints on the horses and they came out rather well. I still have to base them. I have settled on how I will base them. I cut up a magnet sheet and glued down each individual figure. This way I can make a magnetic base to put them on. I should be able to finish off the basing of these over the weekend.

I also managed to get the Engineers onto a large Flames of War base. They look like a work crew. I have also painted and based an engineer cart. It has felt good to get things done this week. I still have another set of engineers to paint up. I am still not sure why I have so many. I also have some figures that I will use for a rally point. These are slave figures that are holding a shield and have wax tablets to record the action. I will likely put these on a small Flames of War base. I also painted a scorpion and crew. These will go on a medium Flames of War base. Not sure it will ever see a game but I wanted one. The crew are legionaires rather than Auxilia but that is fine.

I also got some paint on a few pieces of the Hadran's Wall Mile fort. I am not happy with it and will likely try something else.

Roman Mile Fort

The Mile Fort that I put on my PayHip site as pay what you want turned out pretty good. I just received the pieces from a friend who printed them for me. I laid out the pieces on my desk and was pretty happy with them. I will likely get some more straight wall sections and two more L corners. I have also made a tower without the gate for the wall as well. But I want to paint out what I have first.

In looking at pictures of mile forts, I was looking at the images of the internal buildings. I decided to add an internal building to it.I have added it to the files. It is a rather basic one that would need additional work. I have no idea on how to make a pantile roof.... yet.

Anyway, this is where I am at the moment.

Roman Project Update

After having a change to sort through my found miniatures, I have a nice selection that have made their way to painting sticks for priming. This includes 10 dead Roman Auxiliaties, 13 dead Celts, 8 Roman Engineers, a Scorpion with 4 crew, three servants (holding shields and wax tablets), a mounted Decurio, a mounted Vexilarius, and nine Auxilia cavalry. This will round out my Roman force nicely. In addition, I have a Roman Engineer mule cart and two baggage mules. That should give me enough to field most of the support options for a game of Infamy Infamy.

There were a number of Celt miniatures in my find as well. There were some figures that would be useful as wailing women. just fully clothed. I also found some Celt civilians. These I believe are Blue Moon minatures that came with the village that I bought a while back. The village was nice but ended up on a shelf and never painted as I changed focus.

I have glued the pantile roof to the side sections of the Mansio. I am trying to figure out how to get the main roof done. I'm trying to decide how to paint these. I will duplicate that effort on the villa and watchtower as well. I am searching for videos that may help. I aam definitely going to rewatch an old video from Red Beard Baron on his Roman Houses. I may use this as the basis for all of it.

I received my PDF copy of Midgard over the weekend. I have barely started to read it. But I am interested if this could be used with Infamy to make for a larger campaign. Could be interesting.

I ordered some Celt miniatures a while back to add two units of Noble Warriors for my Celts. Those are still in the mail, possibly with my physical copy of Midgard. But the Celts are for later.

Terrain Time

I was able to spend some time working on my existing terrain for Infamy Infamy. I plastered the lower half of a watch tower. I finished the assembly of a Warbases Villa Gate. I also finished the assembly of a Warbases Mansio. I have started to put on some roofing material to match the watchtower. I have a few sheets of plastic tile roof that I am using. I plan on redoing the villa with that as well. I will also plaster the buildings and then base coat them. This gives some nice targets for a Celt raid.

I bought the full villa set from Warbases. With the gate completed, it looks pretty good. I will probably glue the separate buildings together and then plaster them. That should allow for a better join between the buildings.

The Mansio and its out buildings were a bit tricky to get together. There are internal floors but I don't believe I have them built correctly. I will likely try to base this and possibly the villa above too.

The watchtower was the building I purchased first and have done the least with. The plastering looks bad at the moment but I am hoping that it will give some texture to the model when I paint. While looking for a base to put my Roman Engineer work party on, I made a discovery. I found a number of figures that I had purchased and forgotten about. I now have enough Roman cavaly for at least one group. I thought Roman Cavalry was in groups of 8 but I reread the rules and see that they are in groups of 6. I found 8 Auxilia cavalry. Four had plain helmets and four had a small plume. I was able to cut off the small plume so all of them match. These 8 cavalry are old Corvus Belli figures. I also found some additional command figures that include some figures to support the commander. Then there was some cavalry command figures from another manufacturer. And a few more Auxillia infantry that have separate weapons. Not sure of the manufacturer.

This project is slowly coming together.

Engineers

I was able to get a few minutes of painting done. The Engineer team is coming along. I have a few minutes more painting to do and then I will have to base them. I am thinking of basing them as a group since they are less of a combat unit and more of a target or objective. All in all, I was happy with the progress. I need some more movement trays. I am still not happy with the movement trays for the Celts. I am wondering if there is a stronger sheet magnet that I could use other than the ones that I have currently. I also finished flocking the recently based group of Auxilia. At this point I have enough for two painted armies for Infamy Infamy. With possibly enough support for Midgard.

I am having a friend print out the mile fort for me with a few extra straight lengths. I will doubtlessly need more of the straight lengths. Once I replace the FEP on my printer, I might be able to print those myself. If I get two more of the "L" corners done, I can make a fort like Lochmule or one of the other smaller German Limes forts with it as well. It should prove to be fairly flexible and a good piece of terrain for the table.

I purchased a while ago, a Mansio, watchtower and Villa from Warbases in 15mm. The Watchtower and most of the Villa is assembled. I need to get around to painting it. Somewhere I have some round Celt Huts that i purchased as well. This should give me plenty of terrain to get started with. But the one item that I would like to have that was all across the Roman Empire is a bath house. I have an idea for how to make one. The original idea was to 3d print one but it would be a large building. This may end up just being a dream and never pan out.

I will start making my Briton force commanders up soon. The thought is that it is a raiding party that has come over the wall to attack the settlements below the wall. This is why I want the fort and walls. Hopefully, I can get a game in soon.

TinkerCad and a Roman Mile Fort

I have been messing around in TinkerCard and looking to make my own take of a Mile fort on Hadrian's Wall. I still need to make some doors but I think I may scratch build those with some scrap balsa wood. It turned out pretty well. The nice thing is that it could be used for a small fort on the German Limes as well by using additional corners instead of the T intersections. One part that i missed on was I have both ends of the pieces having an a raised portion on the battlements. That means when they are joined, they will have an odd looking battlement in places. Having not printed this yet, I don't think it will make that big of a deal. I need to make some buildings for the inside of the fort.

I decided to design my own after looking around and finding several others that were not exactly what I was looking for. Honestly, the old JR Miniatures fort was the one I really wanted. But with this i should be able to print out as many straight pieces as I want to stretch across a table for the wall. I built it for 1/100th scale (15mm miniatures). (Sadly, the corner pieces do not fit on my resin printer.) The way I made the grooves for the stones left come cavities inside the model that show up in Cura. It probably won't be a problem but who knows. To simplify printing in resin, I could make the hollow. But I haven't yet. The hardest part of the model was getting the stair case done. Fortunately, there is a few nifty sites online about how to calcuate making stairs. That helped a good bit.

If anyone is interested, I will drop this on my PayHip site as a pay what you want item.

Productive Hobby Weekend

Well despite still not being able to get a successful print our of my resin printer, I had a good hobby weekend. I made significant progress with my Infamy Infamy armies.

I manage to rebase another group of 8 auxilia. They still need some flock and their shields repainted but they match the rest of the Auxilia better now. Next, I was able to base and flock a signifer, a cornicen, a legate, a centurion, and two Auxilia infantry. The two infantry completes a partial unit of Auxilia. I think i still need to repaint their shields to match but they are better. Then I was able to completely base and paint a medicus figure to be used in the games. It is one from 3D Breed miniatures. The figure is kneeling on the ground and has a wooden box of gear. I plan on buying some Donnington dead Romans at some point. One will be placed on the base with the medicus to show him doing his job. I am pleased with how this came out. He is based on a Flames of War medium base because that is what I happened to have at hand. Game wise, I don't think it will matter. I also started painting an engineer party that I had previously basecoated a few years ago. There is a armored figure as part of this group that probably shouldn't be there but he got a bit of paint anyway.

To complete my Romans, I need to get a few more movement trays and to paint one of the ones that I have. For the Romans, they are individually based on small 12mm square magnets. These stick nicely to the sheet metal movement trays that I am using. I have glued a small strip of wood to the front to be able to line the troops up against them. I would like to get a bigger one that I can use for skirmish or open order troops. But this is just an idea at this point.

I still want some Auxilia cavalry to round out the force. I am thinking I will get Khurasan Miniatures cavalry.I want to start with enough for two groups of cavalry and possibly expand them to four in the future. But for now, I have the figures needed for a base Infamy force plus some extra. I am getting closer.

For my British/Guals I also managed a bit of work. Most importantly, I was able to rebase a full group of levy and the group of slingers, a group of light cavalry as well as a few odd warriors that were just on washers. This gives me a fully painted force. I could use a few more leader types as I am not too wild about the ones I have but they will work. This gives me one group of Elites, four groups of Warriors, one group of levy, a group of slingers, a group with javelins, a group of noble cavalry, a group of light cavalry and command elements.

What I am missing are good movement trays for the Celts. The metal bases for the Romans works well. But the Celts are based on washers. I have a sheet magnet that I am trying to use but it is a fairly weak magnet. I have a thought. If I take a sheet of thin balsa wood and cut holes for the washers and glue the balsa to the magnet, possibly the miniatures would hold better. However, I think this will be prone to warping and curl the magnet. I just don't have a good option yet.

As seen above, I am starting to work on some terrain elements as well. I have the beginning of a limes fence that I printed over two printers ago. The prints are not great but serviceable. The plan is to Get these done and then print/paint some more. I ultimagely want 4 feet of it as well as some kind of gate for a trade road. That could make for an interesting scenario. I have a watch tower that I need to complete that will be perfect to have behind that fence. I know that there was a wall instead of a fence.

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.

Midgard - Infamy Infamy and trying to sort it all out

Continuing in my efforts to not stay focused, I spend more time working on my Romand and Celts for Infamy Infamy. This is inspite having just received a wonderful new STL for my ACW naval forces that I need to print out. It is a model of the CSS Forrest, a former canal boat that was converted to a small gunboat for the Confederate Navy. I have run it through the slicer so it is ready to print.

For the Celts that I will use as Britons, I have a force that is shaping up. I have a group of six light cavalry, two groups of two charriots, a single group of ten noble infantry,one group of six slingers, one group of six javelin skirmishers, a group of noble cavalry, a mounted noble, two nobles and a standard bearer, four units of ten warriors, and lastly three units of ten levy. Also at the bottom of the picture is some purchased dead guals from Xyston that I have not painted yet. This force largely just needs basing. The levy needs more help. Some are just partially painted. I have in a drawer of shame three more groups of ten warriors in various states and another group of six slingers.

On the other hand, the miniatures are in much better shape for my Roman Auxilia. I have four movement trays completed that each will hold a unit of 8 Auxilia infantry. I have a group of bow armed Auxilia with a couple of extra figures. I have not made a movement try for the archers. I also have a couple more groups of Auxilia. I have one and a half groups based the same way. For command, I have a set of foot with a centurion, an optio, a signifer and a cornicen. I have another foot command set missing the centurion. All of these minis were from the old Corvus Belli ranges of Romans that i really like. Somehow, I don't have a centurion that I like for the second command group. I have one that I will probably paint and use. This one is in scale armor.

There there are the eBay purchases. I have a group that is mounted four to a small base that I will rework to match the others. Matching these, I have another group of four mounted in a strip and a command section mounted similarly. All of these will be rebased. I think I can get these done in a reasonable amount of time. That brings me to two more groups of Auxilia infantry. These are based in fours as well. But the shields and tunics are painted differently. They don't seem to match the others because of that. Also the shield design is quite different. I have painted the other shields to match that on display at the Saalburg Cohort Fort museum. I am not sure if I would use these are support from a different unit or repaint them.

There is another set of Auxilia infantry that I picked up on eBay. These are based in strips of three. They look like they are skirmishing and are painted differently than my other Auxilia. They are all in poses of throwing javelins. I have a total of 16 bases of three. On Carole's blog (Hippolyta's Tiny Footsteps), her review of Infamy Infamy points out some of the struggles of the Auxilia. They are not allowed slings and if they are mounted as skirmishers, they cannot reform. Given that, I am not sure how I want to treat these. Do I make a skirmish base for them or mount them on infantry bases? This last set will likely take a back seat and be ignored for a while. I also have some unpainted Roman engineers. They are on the to do list.

I am still missing some things that i want for these forces. For the Celts, I absolutely want to have another unit of 10 noble infantry. I am trying to decide which manufacturer. Part of me wants to just buy the Old Glory Miniatures Blue Moon minis in chainmail. That would give me enough minis for three more groups. The shipping would be cheaper as they are US based. Way more than I need or wanted but possibly more cost effective than ordering from the UK or Europe? I am also leaning toward Stonewall Miniatures for the Celts and the Roman Centurions on their site. Still undecided. I am also in need of Auxilia cavalry. For these I may look at Khurasan. I would buy the Rebel Minis but they do not offer a command element. I also want a mule train and an engineer's cart. That should wrap up my needs for troops.

As to terrain, since I am doing this project in 15mm, I have trees, swamps, rivers and the like. I had also purchased a few items from the Warbases 15mm range. Including the mansio, a villa and another one of their buildings. I also have a watch tower. This should be enough to keep me busy for a while. I also have a Blue Moon celtic hut pack with civilians that I had bought. So that should be enough for raids on either side of Hadrian's Wall.

To expand the project, I would add some legionares. I am not 100% certain I would use them but they could be a nice addition. Most importantly, I need to get this game on the table a few times. I have not played a game for fun in a while. All my hobby time was spent playtesting scenrios. It will be good to try to get in and have fun again.

Reviewing Older Projects - Looking forward to Midgard

With the upcoming launch of Midgard Heroic Battles, it made me break out my miniatures from both Dux Britaniarum and Infamy, Infamy. Both projects I really loved but didn't get enough chances to play.

For Dux, I have three armies. A Romano-British, Early Saxon and a Pict force. The Picts are not even a complete base army. I have a base force for both the Romano-British and the Early Saxons. Most figures for all of these are Splintered Light. I have a few reinforcements that are needed still. The Romano-British do not have any heavy cavalry. I could use a few additional sections of warriors and levy to flesh them out as well. i will be fleshing these out with Splintered Light minis.

My understanding is that Midgard forces are larger than those for Dux and Infamy. So, i don't quite have enough to pull it off yet for the Dark Ages.

My Romans for Infamy are closer to being ready. I have five full groups of 8 Auxiliary Infantry ready to go. I started to work on some movement trays for them as well. I have 6 of 8 of a sixth Auxilia infantry group painted up. I have a group of archers as well. What I do have is additional Auxilia infantry that I bought off of eBay. These are based 4 to a base and are not the same as my other minis. I have enough for three and a half more groups. There is another lot that I bought that are based 3 to a base for a total of 48 more figures. They would need to be rebased. I can separate these and build out six more groups of Auxilia. I would want to repaint the shields on these to match my existing miniatures. Mostly as i was modeling a unit based on the Saalburg Cohort fort in Germany.

What I am lacking is Auxilia Cavalry to complete out the unit. I really don't want to paint up cavalry. I am too slow of a painter and horses take a long time for me. I am looking through the offerings on eBay and am thinking that I may end up just painting my own. Most have spagetti spears that look like they could break at any minute. I really like Rebel Minis figures. However, their command figures are not great. They have no cavalry command to speak of. Peter Pig is an option. Old Glory 15s and Khurasan are also options to look at. I will likely make Roman Auxilia Cavalry my next hobby purchase.

My Infamy Celts are another story. I have loads of figures. I purchased a few years ago a lot of celts that were painted. However, most are only partially painted. I rebased many of them. I am trying to get them sorted on movement trays. I have enough for a base force. I play on using them for both Gauls and Britons. The Chariots are in rough shape. Most have either broken or come apart. With some TLC, I should have a huge Celt army. I am missing some figures to complete out cavalry. Mostly a command element. I have tons of chariots that i could have enough for two groups of 10 chariots. If i can get the broken ones repaired. I did have some fun finishing a Celt light horseman last night. It was good to paint something other than a ship again.

So, what I know is, my armies are too small for Midgard. With painting time, I have a large enough Celt Army. I lack minis for all of my forces. I had purchased a set of armed Dark Age peasants for use with Dux but lacked stats with the rules to use them. I was planning on working on some anyway just beacause I think it would be fun to have some really bad troops on the field to defend a village or the like. I figure I can try to use them for Midgard.

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.

Scenario Sale - Postponed Birthday Sale

I was pushing to get my AWI supplement completed to do my annual birthday sale. I didn't finish it in time. While that was disapointing, it is now done. So I will be running a birthday sale a month late.

On my PayHip store, please use coupon code Birthday2024 to get 50% off anything on the site.

This will include all of the scenario books. The sale will run from now (10/28/2024) till November 28th, 2024.

Thank you for taking a look.

USS Albatross - East Coast Iron Clads

I am working on some ACW naval scenarios that take place before the Battle of Hampton Roads. This includes several vessels that fought in Hampton Roads and focuses on the North Carolina coast. Once action was an interesting one between the USS Albatross and the CSS Beaufort. While not a conclusive fight, it took place on either side of one of the North Carolina barrier islands. Both vessels lobbed shells at one another across the island until breaking off contact.

The Albatross did not have an existing model available to purchase that I could find. Wikipedia offers some basic information about the vessel and includes the following image drawn by a crew member.

While looking for something similar, I reached out to East Coast Ironclads who sell on Wargeming3d. They replied back and sent me the STL file! I was so excited. I managed to get the file printed. I need to replace the FEP on the printer and had some issues. The masts that came with the vessel failed to print. I made some out of small dowels and added them to the vessel. I am not a very good painter but I really like how this came out.

The model makers for 3D printing ships have proved over and over to be very approachable and helpful. I can't thank East Coast Ironclads enough. This was quite a treat.

Two if by Sea has launched

I have released Two if by Sea on my PayHip store. Two if by Sea is a set of scenarios to be used with the TwoFatLardies rules Kiss Me Hardy using the changes for ships under the rate from To Covet Glory. The book contains ship stats for a large number of vessels from large Ship Sloops to the smallest cutters and Bermuda Sloops used by the Royal Navy and the American Continental Navy and State Navies (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia).

The scenarios include twelve scenario sets. Each scenario set is one or more unique historical or fictional scenario from the American Revolution. The first scenario details the British Schooner Halifax in 1769 in an incident before the war started. The scenarios continue through July of 1781. There is also a guide on setting up convoy escorts or raids on the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Far East trade routes.

There are 59 pages of scenarios and 121 pages of ship lists. There is also a section noting the types of merchant vessels that were likely to be encountered on the waters of the Americas during the war. Lastly, there are notes on the available models in both 1/300 scale and 1/700th including links to the manufactures.

I will be releasing this on Wargame Vault as well and including it in the To Covet Glory bundle as well. I hope you will take a look.

New Product

I have uploaded some 1/700th flat boats to my PayHip store. https://payhip.com/b/c4jzL Flatboats were a common sight from the founding of the United States through the ACW. There are four variants. One is armed. Two have cargo loads and another has a tent. This represents many of the types that could be encountered from the South Carolina rivers in 1780 or along the Mississippi in 1862.

These were made to support a scenario for the Two if by Sea supplement for the AWI that I am getting ready to release. The scenario features the last vestiges of the Georgia State Navy coming across some loyalist shore batteries supported by an armed flat boat.

The other ones could be useful scatter terain in any naval game taking place close to the shore.

Finished! Well Mostly

The AWi Supplement is finally done. There are eleven battles, some with multiple scenarios, and a scenario generator for convoy raids across North American, Carribean and Far East Waters. Also included are 121 pages of ship stats for Ship sloops to cutters of the Royal Navy and the Continental and State Navies of the American Revolution. The book spans most of the war where small vessels made their presence known. The commerce raiding, attacks against Nova Scotia fisheries and privateers are represented within.

I am hoping to have a final review completed this week and publish it. I also included some notes on where to get some miniatures for the game. With the wide variety of 3D printed items available, the oportunities of some unique vessels for your table are nearly limitless.

Below is the current cover that I am working with. This still could change.

Progress At Last: ACW and AWI Naval

It was a good weekend for getting stuff done. I managed to paint a few ships for the ACW. I am only missing two vessels for the Battle of Hampton Roads. I need to print and paint the Jamestown for the Confederacy and the St Lawrence for the Union. As has been my norm lately, I had a painted version of the Jamestown and managed to completely smash it to bits by setting the cover of my 3d printer down on it accidentallty. Anyway, I did get a number of models painted up.

I still have to paint the shore batteries. I started on this task but the primer started coming off the models as I tried to paint them. I did something wrong with priming them. I will have to readdress this.

AWI Supplement

As to my To Covet Glory supplement, it made significant progress over the weekend. I was able to get in a number of games. I played with both 1/300th and 1/700th miniatures. They both worked well. There are eight more scenarios to work through. I am really happy with the progress that was made this weekend. If I can get any more time to work on it, I should be able to wrap it up in November. As soon as it is complete, I will be getting it uploaded to the PayHip site first and then to Wargame Vault. It will become part of the To Covet Glory bundle on both.

Painting Boats

I managed to finish two more of the Hagen Miniatures boats that I had purchased. One is a small sloop that still needs paper sails. The other is a small gun boat with a gaff sail. These came out well. I also managed to dinish the repairs on the two damaged ship-sloops that I broke trying to move them. According to USPS, I might get my clear bases today. I will need to figure out what the right glue is to use on these. I will be basing all of my 1/700th ships from now on. The bases from Litko arrived. I think they are large enough for most of my 1/700 vessels. Some of the larger ones would not fit.

Current State of the AWI Supplement

I was able to get some writing and editing done yesterday. I changed around the headings and now have it trimmed down to 187 pages. There is still significant work needed for the Virgina State Navy section that is left. I have names of ships and that is about it. I decided to limit the work to not include the vessels of the Northern Colonies at this point in time. I will probably pick back up with that with another supplement. I keep finding more scenarios that interest me and need to hold off on expanding this any more.

As far as ships go, I am not doing badly. I am experimenting with printing to try to get the masts to fit better in the mast holes without significant drilling being needed. Hopefully that will help. My printer needs a new sheet of FEB for the printer tub and I am looking to get a magnetic flexible print platform to make removing prints easier. I have them in my Amazon cart and am waiting to place the order.

This puts me at a place where I am getting pretty close to being ready. I will work on some more terrain items to complete some scenarios. I need scale trees. The nice part is that these can be shrubs for my other miniatures (15mm). I am still looking to use a layered approach for naval terrain. A blue felt sheet for the bottom layer. Some sandy patches to lay on top for sand bars. A clear plastic sheet for the surface and then other terrain on top of that for islands, rocks and the like. It should work well.

I can use this with both my 1/300 miniatures and the 1/650 or 1/700 scale minis. For ships that I print, I am liking the 1/650 more and more. They are chunkier but easy to print and paint.

I still have to finish the repairs on the ships I shattered. As you can see from the picture, The masts didn't fair well in the fall. I have some clamps that will help but I am not sure how much longer this will take.

I did get a shore battery completed recently. It came out OK. I also painted up a sinking 3rd rate. Both of these were from Hagen Miniatures. I really like these models. I painted up a Lugger from their line as well but I need sails and rigging as they do not come with it. I will probably do paper sails.

Here is the fleet thus far, minus the two shattered vessels.

You can see the sinking third rate and the shore battery in this shot as well as the lugger in the bottom right corner. These are Hagen Miniatures. The flatboats are ones I created in tinkercad. i will put them up on my PayHip for free. The three bomb vessels on the bottom left are all Saturnalia miniatures. The Cutter in the center is from Daitra productions. I may have that spelled wrong. The small bermuda sloop is one I created from a 28mm miniature that I shrunk down. The sails are paper. In the top center are more Saturnalia brigs and to the right of them are a pair of Black seas schooners.

Everything needs more work. I need rigging for the most part. But at least it feels like it is coming together. I have plans to print a few more ships and they I will look to print some ratlines for the vessels that I have.