Review:Tumbling Dice Pe-Dreadnoughts

Scale Shot Against A 10p Coin of The Realm

Pre-Dreadnoughts have always fascinated me. They existed in a brief slice of historical time between the iron clads and true battleships when naval architects were still experimenting with how best to mate steam power, steel armoured ships and long range shell firing guns into the optimum package.

Unfortunately, sources of models are limited.  I had even half convinced myself to buy the large 1:350 display models before sanity intervened.

Over at Cavalier, I happened to see a display of Tumbling Dice's Tsushima starter pack range of miniatures. I had previously rejected these because they seemed so small at 1:2400 scale but, on seeing them painted up in the, ah, pewter; well, they looked great.

And this  from a person who declines to buy and paint any model smaller than 20mm owing to fading eyesight and unsure hands.

The Doomed

The detail in these little ships is excellent. And they are beautifully sculpted and very hard edged making them dead easy to paint. They take washes and highlighting easily. There is absolutely no problem of distinguishing different classes of similar ships.

Togo's Tigers

Tiny little ships, like torpedo boats, come attached to sea bases. I am not sure whether I will bother to base their larger cousins. They look good as they are and, with a hard gloss varnish finish, should be reasonably robust to paint wear.

TD have many  models in their 'Age of Battleships' range with even more planned.

I can see myself collecting all Paul Sulley's Pre-Dreadnoughts.

Highly Recommended.

Lookee, lookee, lookee!

A very nice chap who has a terrain company sent me this photo of an as yet unreleased lasercut model. There are a few bugs to be ironed out but then it will be on the web for retail.

I feel a First Punic war coming on....

Review: Original Laser Designs - Dark Age Longship

While at Cavalier, I came across a new laser-cut woodkit manufacturer -  new to me, anyway - with lots of goodies on show. I was particularly taken with the 28mm Dark Age Longships as I am currently working on a Dark Age contract.

Here's a closer shot of one of the two ships on offer for the princely sum of £25.

Obviously, I had to purchase one for, err, review purposes. The above picture shows what you get in the box: a preformed hull and decking with various optional accouterments such as shields, benches, oars etc.

The hull is incredibly strong, the photo shows the bottom, with the sides already prebent (by steaming?) and stuck fast to the main base.

The great thing about this ship is that you could use it straight out of the box. The flat wide deck is perfect for standing models upon so it is more than just a scenery piece: the ship could be used for skirmish naval battles.

This photo shows what the ship looks like if you add the interior bits and pieces that you get with the kit.

And this one what can be achieved with a lick of paint in useful places.

Highly recommended and two shapes means that you can have two fleets: Vikings versus Alfred's navy, anyone?

You can buy the kits here.

Poseidon's Warriors

Out in Summer 2016.

Elven Dreadfleet Dragonship

I think I am getting the hang of seawater.

I crossed my fingers and tried a silver and white colour scheme. I have tried this before with consistent results - consistently awful. But, once more into the fray dear friends and if at first you don't succeed throw teddy all round the cot.

I think this has worked out a bit better. What do you think?

Undead Skaven Leviathan - Dreadfleet

 Undead Skaven sail the foamy brine in an undead dee-sea leviathan. I elected to paint the leviathan red because it reminded me of a deep-sea angler fish. Red is a good camo-colour for deep-sea animals as seawater absorbs red light.

Nessie Rules

This is a 28mm Plesiosaur that I picked up at SELWG. I sprayed it gey and layered grey green over the top. The red flashes are mating markers. It seems to have taken a shine to a 1:600 Dragonlord Cruiser.

Dwarf Bronzeclad

Dwarf Bronzeclad Battleship sails the Sea of Claws. It has launched one dirigible and a scoutboat and is preparing a second dirigible.

Dreadfleet Monsters and Cog

An undead sea dragon, a water monster and a cog. For some reason, ships boats are called auxilliaries in Dreadfleet and some are called cogs and modelled on same. It's a nice model but an oared cog with a single square sail was an early medieval coastal merchantman used in places like the Baltic. It's al very confusing. Nice models though.

The Death Galley of Queen Nefertiti

The Queen of the Nile.

Sunrise finds Queen Nefertiti prowling the Sea of Bones.

'Tis The Wraithship

'Oohh, aarrr, me 'earties. Shiver me timbers and splice the mainbrace.

The Swordfish

I have painted the first of my Dreadfleet, the pirate vessel swordfish.

The model behind is a cruiser from the Spartan Games Uncharted Seas. the scale, as you can see, is more or less the same, which is useful.

Dreadfleet is very good value. So far I am impressed.

Uncharted Seas - Spartan Games

Spartan Games' Uncharted Seas Fantasy ships are on special offer from Wayland as the game is to be relaunched. I could not resist buying a few. The ship hulls are one piece resin casting - and to a very high quality. Metal bits are used to customise and add weapons etc. This battleship is about 13cm long so the size is a good compromise between modelling and playability. This makes a great Plagueship.
 

Cruiser sized plague ships.

 A cannon-armed ironclad battleship.
 

 Ironclad cruisers and frigates.
 

Zombie Orcas raised from the dead by foul magics.

I am not so enamoured of the official rules which seem a bit finicky for fleet actions with record cards, critical hits, etc, so I will probably use my own rules. I am far too old and senile to pore over record cards when I fancy a game.

So What's This

So what do you think this is and what was it used for?

Clue: It is currently on display in Chatham Dockyard.