First Experimental Battles - Triremes

Ok the kit (or certainly enough kit) has been painted and placed on the table = but how to play? (see below, "Red" Spartan triremes face-off against "Blue" Athenian .. as they represent ships, not squadrons, .. I think I will need more "space"): 

The "dice have it" .. coloured dice to represent hit points of damage .. six hits and you are dead. Double attacks from flank and rear. Working on the principle of one ship per model (aka "not squadrons") there  is a maelstrom of ramming and mad manoeuvre (see below, this Athenian started the day extremely confident but ended the day clinging to the wreck of his trireme with his gloating Spartan son sailing on - the Fates are extremely fickle):   

Seeking easier prey, I called on my friend, we'll call him "Dave" - who always loses in the most sportsmanlike way, so I laid a trap for him (see below, I gave him plenty of Spartan triremes to surround my defensive circle of Athenians in a prickly "kyklos" formation):  

All I had to do was survive for a set number of turns until the rest of the Athenian fleet turned up and scared the Peloponnesians away, simple. As the unwary Spartans approached I decided I would sprint out at them, like a released coiled spring (see below, unleash watery hell!): 

Except Dave had not read the script and biffed me up before the rest of the Athenians had time to turn up. Perhaps I should have waited more patiently for the attack to bounce off my prows and then I could have taken the unwary Peloponnesians in the flank or rear quarter as they drifted past in disarray (see below, as it was I traded blows and came off far worst, swimming home again): 

Sigh, I retain my 100% ancient naval record, the only way now being up. All hail to Dave the Navarch, I now tremble in your wake or rather swim pathetically!

Rules: Er, yes, there were some, sort of. I was going to play using a set called "One Hour Ancient Naval" (by "somebody" - Update [12-1-2022]: please see comments by Simon for clarification on this) whose name escapes me. However I had to roughly translate the movement in inches to hexes and related the up to 45 degree turns into a number of hex sides. I then slimmed everything down to do triremes only (Romans really liked boarding and shooting a lot), so the rules were a back of the fag packet and a bit in my head, so yes I kludged them together and called them in as I saw fit. The result being I pulled in rules from of things I had read historically or I think were in one of the many other ancient trireme rule sets I have previously read ... and so, the result was that I still lost, if I may say so in the finest of style and Dave managed his fourteenth game in a month ;) 

1/1200 Navwar Triremes - Greece in Peril [Again]

I tend to cycle round in my 'catholic' (as in disparate and varied rather than religious) wargaming interests and it is about time I revisited my 'old' (as in unfinished) ancient naval collection of triremes from the "Greece in Peril" period (see below, despite being 1/1200 you can get some nice detail on these Navwar miniatures - Themistocles to the front!): 

As one swallow does not make a summer, then one trireme clearly does not make a fleet (see below, the complete [or first stage] collection of Greek triremes, the two square bases were just products of experimentation to see what works, but they may also have a use representing a Navarch):  

This is "my starter for ten" Greek fleet with three squadrons on ten each, plus two command ships - or a left, middle and right of the fleet if I put the individual ships into sabots of bigger bases. Nothing deciding bar the need for flexibility of thought. As for the rules to use .. plenty of options, watch this space in due course ;)  

Footnote: It is sobering to reflect that I started this project in 2012! What a different world that was! For instructions on how I based and painted the above please see link below and keep scrolling down: 

Geordie's Big Battles: trireme (exiledfog.blogspot.com)

Ancient Naval Siege - Syracuse 414BC

I seem to be on a Worthington's Games blast at the moment. If it is not the addictive solitaire books then it is their delightful titles such as Syracuse 414BC - the tragedy of all Greek tragedies. When Athens went mad, after going bad n an "imperial" way (see below, the epic sight of a trireme beached on shore with hoplites):

This one again came from Second Chance Games (www.secondchancegames.com) and I thank them for their services to wargaming .. although this was a slightly heavier hit on the wallet being a bookcase game. I am looking forward to it, particularly as it promises to "play quick". Note: there is a two player variant but it is being sold on the solitaire slant!

Board Game Geek reference: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/336403/414-bc-siege-syracuse

What sold me was this review - I was struck down and sunk after hearing it :) 

https://boardgamegeek.com/video/389211/414-bc-siege-syracuse/discriminating-gamer-414-bc-siege-syracuse

Discoveries in a Bookshop - British Recognition Plates (late 19th Century to WWII) and a Trireme Book

There is always something to be found in a bookshop, the more rambling the better and I particularly like the buzz you can get when you comes across something you thought could not possible exist. Hence the sheer joy I felt when touching a physical book like this one (see below, spoiler alert I could not justify the purchase, but I still love the thought that this book collection exists):

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Richard-Perkins/a/2685

Seven volumes of illustrated warship plates exist (gulp which comprise Richard Perkins life's work). Something to compliment [perhaps dwarf would be be better phrased] my trio "Janes" [two volumes], "Conway" [three out of four volumes] and "Brown" [two volumes] warship collections - but ultra specific to the RN. In the (physical, sigh) book shop there were only three out of the seven volumes (but priced at £19.99 each which was so, so tempting). Back home, shopping around on Amazon and the like, I see you can get them cheaper than the Pen and Sword (even with there current discounted prices [approx £50]) but I think it might take some creative search energy to get the complete set. I was almost crying (inside, not in front of the children) leaving the store .. but hid it well. It was that "buy the set or nothing" moment.

There was a brighter note as I did purchase "something interesting" from the store, something pre "age of sail", back to those Greek trireme rowing days (see below, the selling factor being, albeit crude, the maps included inside - suitable for a stab at scenario creation or two): 

Something of an excuse or incentive for my 1/1200 Navwar trireme collection to come out to play sometime later this year or early next.  

This is where my "love" of Naval Started, blame it on Paul Hague

Take me back thirty eight years to the tender age of 13 or 14 and I read this book from my local library cover to cover several times over. It therefore seemed apt and fitting to buy a second hand ex-library book (see below, the hallowed tome of infamy):

In fact with the ticket sheet intact in the front of the book, the first date in it [9 May 1983] bears a striking similarity to when I first would have read (a different copy of) it. Spooky to think "another wargaming soul" (albeit a Londoner .. as opposed to his opposite in the North)  would have been going through similar deliberations (such as how do I get my hands on an average dice and a d10?). It seems to have been well read until June 1994, an eleven year tour of duty before "retirement" (see below, badges on honour and a passage through many wargamers hands - spooky if anybody who had took this book out was actually reading this post):

This was the reason why my parents "worried so much about what I was doing in my bedroom with balsa wood, a modelling knife, strong smelling balsa glue, Cornflakes cereal packets (used for bases), matchsticks and Tamiya paints [Grey, Blue and White]". Did they not realise I was creating the Grand Fleet and German High Seas Fleet in miniature? I also have Paul Hague's later book which I found "good" too but 'wanting' in childhood memory first love sense (see below, submarines, aircraft carriers and WW2 battleships):

2020 could see the recreation of the four classic "sea battles" contained in "Sea Battles in Miniature: A Guide to Naval Wargaming". A definitive counter-point to Fletcher Pratt which has to be done in 2020 (maybe at CoW 2020?).

Ancient Naval Musings: Academic Trireme Simulation Proposal

This blew my tiny little mind from the Rams Ravens and Wrecks blog:
http://ramsravensandwrecks.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/research-proposal-digital-simulation-of.html

A link to an interesting PowerPoint presentation:
https://www.slideshare.net/dcsb/dcsb-jorit-wintjes-university-of-wrzburg-diekplous-understanding-ancient-naval-warfare-through-simulations

The "White Fleet" of Corinth

Keeping forward momentum going on this project, a fresh order of Navwar triremes are being fitted out. Nomiated as the "White Fleet" what better Greek City State than Corinth to select (see below, filed, washed and cleaned up, UHU affixed to their bases and "gap filler" as a textured wave base):

I won't keep such a meticulous posting trail but I plan to try and do "a little bit per night". I was hoping to put down some Phoneticians but I had a slight issue with my order Navwar are currently sorting out.

Trireme XI ... Varnish .. and finished (or am I?)

Protection, Protection, Protection! A shiny Humbrol "Gloss Cote" is applied (see below):

Protected but I would clearly say too shiny, time to dull it down with a (Humbrol) matte varnish (see below, aerial fleet versus fleet view [before they start closing]):

A close-up, Greek trireme coming out of the sun (see below, an individual ship view - comes up rather nice I think):

I am foreseeing one small problem, namely that of Greek Admiral's identification of "friend versus foe" without looking at the bottom of the bases (see below as the Red fleet extends around the more condensed Blue fleet, this would have been a historical issue too, as soon as the flanks are turned or the melee gets intermingled):

I shall leave you with image of a "sultry trireme" sailing on "the sea of wine" which was the cradle of civilisation the merry Mediterranean (see below):

Note: Yes, the next batch of triremes has been already ordered from Navwar ()including some Phoneticians and who knows by the time you are reading this, they may well be even in my sweaty, clammy hands! '

You know, I think I have caught the ancient trireme bug! How many do I need for Salamis?

Trireme X ... WIP ... Oar and Bow/Stern white-tips

All ship, boats and even rafts make wave crests or white-tops, a touch of Vallejo Game Colour Off-White serves to so the trick (see below):

Close-up. Nothing wild and exciting, just some dabs of white along the oar banks and bow/stern (see below):

Overall I like the effect, however I need to think pragmatically with respect to "wargaming handling" these pieces will get shuffled around quite a lot, so I need to pay a bit of protection money to keep my hard one paint job together, aka a two coat varnish (gloss followed by a matte/satin).

Next: Varnish

Trireme IX ... WIP ... Sea and Wavetops

The sea base has already been primed in "shade" of Vallejo Game Colour Imperial Blue (72020). To this a wet-brushed "base" of Vallejo Game Colour Magic Blue (72021) for a bit of variation. However the blue colour though nice is IMHO coming through a tad (Yorkshire for a little) too strong (see below):

Next step .. dull down those waves with a Vallejo Green Wash and help retire the "blue" to teh background (see below):

Next step take two .. add a partial (as in I do not have to cover every mm of the base) Vallejo Blue Wash over the sea areas (see below):

The "final" sea touch is to add back the wave tops with a delicate barely wet-brush highlight of Vallejo Game Colour Electric Blue (72023) which serves to suggest something 'wavy' going on (see below):

Next: Add some white-water oar and bow splashes.

Trireme VIII ... WIP ... The "Blue" Fleet of Athens

To combat Sparta's "Red" Fleet the Athenian naval prowess is shown in the "Blue" Fleet of Imperial Athens (see below):

Twenty triremes to do battle with.This should allow the small scale wargaming to start as soon as I "paint the sea bases",

Next: All at sea painting it many shades of blue and gren

Triremes VII ... WIP ... The "Red" Fleet of Sparta

The plan is to initially compose two fleets of ten triremes apiece to test out the various rule systems I have accumulated, starting out with simple scenarios and building up to small fleet actions. As per the tradition of wargaming I shall nominate them the "blue" and the "red" teams. It also seems natural to just forwards to the Peloponnesian War and nominate these test fleets as Sparta (Red) and Athens (Blue). To assist the tabletop gaming each of my squadrons will get a "colour" decoration (see below, the Spartan "Red" fleet/squadron):

Note: I have two types of Navwar trireme shown in the above photograph, the six to the top left of the photograph have no distinction "bow" and "stern" sections and have a continuous wall along the length, the remaining four are the more traditional trireme. The only difference appears to me being the opportunity to get more "red paint" (Vallejo Game Colour Scarlet Red, highlighted with Vallejo Game Colour Bloody Red) onto the models. To cover up any sloppiness I added a Vallejo Flesh Wash to the sides of the trireme.  

Next: The "Blue" Fleet of Athens

Triremes VI ... WIP ... "The Eyes Have It"

Am I crazy, paint "eyes" on a 1/1200 scale trireme, well they are distinctive but "blow me" they are small ... from six foot away (wargaming distance) would you even notice? The more I looked at pictures of old triremes the more I knew I had to do it (see below):

A close-up (see below, a white dab either side of the bow [trying to keep them level] the black dot the middle and underline top and bottom with a black line):

Sigh of relief, thirty six small eyes dotted .. job done. If I was trying to be fancy I could have given them different coloured pupils, but I am not that insane (for this batch at least).

Next: Fleet Colours

Triremes V ... WIP ... Last Wood Highlight

Last Highlights: Vallejo Game Colour Plague Brown mixed with Vallejo Game Colour Off-White, then with a final sparing touch of Off-White (see below):

Close-up detail of an individual ship (see below):

There is an old saying that "less is more" and that seems to run true for highlighting ;)

Next: Ship markings .. the "eyes" have it!

Trireme's IV ... WIP ... "Brown Washed"

The Vallejo Game Colour Plague Brown paint was barely dry before the Vallejo Burnt Umber Wash hit these Greek wooden walls. It may seem a perverse "dampening down" step but the Brown Wash calms down the base brown for a sensible highlight stage (see below):

Next Stage: Final Wood Highlight

Trireme III ... WIP ... Base "Highlighting" (Plague Brown) Complete

Now the fleet is looking a little bit more uniform (see below):

Next Step: Needs a "brown wash" to calm things (aka the wood) down.

Forward Progress II .. Ancient Triremes Continued

Carrying on with the good work, just twenty minutes before bedtime and I got another five triremes done on the "Plague Brown" wet-brush (see below):

Next: Six wee triremes sitting on the wall ;)

Forward progress with the Ancient Triremes

I am going to push forward this project "a little bit a day" until it is finished. Finished ships to the left hand side, ships through the next phase to the top and those to be "processed" on the bottom (see below):

Note to self: My Trireme Recipe:

• Clean up the metal
• Glue (UHU) ship to "washer"
• Undercoat Airfix Acrylic primer (01)
• Smear DIY filler (the cheaper the better) as "sea" on base
• Let dry
• Paint rest of base Airfix Grey Primer (01)
• Let dry (dries really quick)
• Vallejo Umber wash the whole thing to pick out the detail
• Vallejo Game Colour Charred/Burnt Brown shade layer (covers all the "wash" from the above previous step but we are sealing the model)
• Vallejo Game Colour Bestial Brown as the mid-tome colour, leaving recesses Charred brown
• Vallejo Game Colour Imperial Blue as shade sea area
• Vallejo Game Colour Plague Brown as deck colour (as per bottom triremes in the above picture)
• Vallejo Game colour Plague Brown "wet brush" highlights of the 'oars" (as per the penultimate top triremes of the above picture)
• Paint "ram" and "raised stern" Vallejo Gun Metal
• Paint "ram" and  "raised stern" Anita's Acrylic Bronze  
• Another Vallejo Burnt Umber Wash for "God luck"
• Mix in some Vallejo Game Colour Off White into Plague Brown for "wet-brush" highlight of deck and oars (see above top left two triremes) 
• Paint "eye" (white/black) [to do]
• Paint "coloration" to bow/stern decoration [to do] base and highlight
• Paint "sea" a "base colour" over shade [to do]
• Paint "wake and oar splash" white [to do]
• Apply Vallejo "blue wash" [to do]
• Highlight white "wave-tops" [to do]  

Every little step helps work towards the finished product ;)

Ancient Naval Rules circa Salamis .. "Bring out your triremes"

Drawn by a long, long term interest in replaying the Battle of Salamis and a fifteen year unfinished project of wargaming "The Greeks in Peril" DBA 15mm campaign (including the naval side of things) I gathered my things "old and new" to hand regarding ancient naval (see below, something old, something new, something borrowed something blue):

Listed out:

• Naval Wargames Rules Fleet Actions by Richard Nelson (War Games Research Group 1973)
• Poseidon's Warriors Classical Naval Warfare 480BC-31BC by John Lambshead (Osprey Wargames 2015)
• Naval Wargaming From Ancient Galleys to Modern U-Boats by Paul Hague (Patrick Stephens Limited PSL 1992)
• Trireme Tactical Game of Ancient Naval Warfare 494BC-370AD bt Ed Smith (Avalon Hill 1970)
• Salamis 480BC The naval campaign that saved Greece by Willian Shepherd (Osprey 2010) for background reference [yes there is ton's of other stuff too]
• And somewhere is a dusty draw there is a copy of David Manly's "Greek Fire and Roman Fury" to tinker about with
• Addendum to when the above photograph was taken: Also of interest see: http://www.rodlangton.com/ancient/ancframe.htm, Ancient Naval Wargame Rules by Martin Johncock and Rob Langton (published by Langton Miniatures 1998)

Or rather for me, something very old and borrowed, something new, something old, something very old again and something relatively new'ish. Having said this it does not appear to be a "in vogue" period, more something people try once or twice, but perhaps I am currently wearing "Greek coloured glasses". The little models are "something old and bestowed from a friend" too, Navwar 1:1200 triremes (see below, they were lurking unpainted in a friend's "lead mountain"):

They do look cute if I do say so myself and then being happy I started to "border on madness" when I decided to 'dot the whites of their eyes' and give them a traditional "Greek Eye" (see below, you may have to 'click on the picture for a close-up look to even see it .. albeit rather blurred):

Cannot see it it? Neither can I, let's try another go (see below, er perfectly visible from six foot away .. why am I bothering, I guess because "It is there!"):

The "painting tray" is currently filled up with my "first fleet" (see below, note I have moved onto "circular disks" as they are (a) more practical .. they fit onto small hexagon battle sheets better and (b) less "sea-scaping" required .. something that always drives me bonkers .. aka I never think I am doing it right):

At least "these" (see above) should provide a means of testing out the rules mentioned above ('when finished' so don't lose that momentum). I know there are alternatives larger (1/300 and 1/3600), smaller [representing squadrons better] and some rather more expensive (see below, Outpost Wargames Services, http://www.outpostwargameservices.co.uk/ from their 1/3600 range, which I like but I seemed to be doing more "sea" than boat and these may suit David Manley's rules better):

Watch this space in 2017 lovers of Greek rowers and trireme rams ;)

Extra bit: Inspiration found on the web http://wabcorner.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Galleys%2FLongships%2FWatercraft

Thoughts on Naval Map Moves

I am still reading Peter Perla's "Art of Wargaming" (slow but enjoyable progress as I generally get to read only five mins in the morning before I go to work) and I have got to the point in his book where he mentions a pivotal point in wargaming 'folklore' as in "the history of".

The advent of the true hobbyist use computers occurred as reported in Avalon Hill's The General magazine. This "shot that was (not) heard around the word (but set technology on a trajectory of what would surely follow)". The "What" in fact was  a modest garage 'crocodile-clip-battery-lamp' contraption "Heath-Robinson'ed" up to assist the 'Human Interactio'n of naval search grid for Avalon Hill's "Sink the Bismarck" board game.

This allowed a novel "gotcha" form in real-time playing double blind. Indeed the naval side of warfare and wargaming has lead innovation through "the mother of invention - necessity". This got me thinking of how I could network or link (in a manual sense) a collection of ships/task forces simply for a "Fog of War" naval chase (see below, the player's ship is in the central hex):

The threat detection should span outwards with a direction (aka the Compass Rose) and perhaps a distance, plus mode of detection (and time of spotting), Reinventing the wheel but interested to see if I come out with the same answers as I would have before I had read Perla's book! (If that logic makes sense). Watch this space,

I was thinking a "Sink the Bismarck" style of game in the near future although the Napoleonic or Ancient period might be a less challenging start.