Cruel Seas: Scratch Building The Siebel Ferry (Siebelfähre)

Scratch Built Siebel Ferry, Bow To The Left

This is a scratch-built Siebel Ferry flak lighter made by an expert modeller (not me) in large scale.

The ferry has four flak 88mm cannon and two 40mm autocannon. Boats like these escorted convoys and acted as flak batteries, for example during the German withdrawal from Sicily across the Straits of Messina.

WWII Photo

Here is a photo of a real one with four 88s and two quad 20mm flak guns. We are looking at the back.

Luftwaffe Sea Lion Ferry, Rear View

The story of the Siebel starts with Operation Sea Lion. The Kriegsmarine pointed out that they lacked the lift to move anything like the army's requirement for the first wave across the Channel. So the Luftwaffe asked Aircraft Designer Fritz Siebel if he could make rafts from oil drums to be powered by spare French aero engines. The German Army was to cross the Channel on Boy Scout rafts. Of course they fell apart microseconds after hitting the surf.

Siebel had the idea of taking two pontoon bridge floats and bolting a flat deck over them. Actually this worked quite well but the Wehrmacht showed a marked reluctance to a sea voyage lasting four or five hours of bracing themselves to avoid being sucked into a mincing machine. Aircraft engines and air propellers are also thirstier than a drunk waiting for opening time and there was some doubt whether the craft could carry enough fuel to get itself over England's anti-tank Ditch, never mind with a payload.

Fritz Herbert, an Austrian engineer, arrived at the final design which had propellers and diesel engines.

Each ferry would have carried a single 88 and two 20mm flak with their trolleys and prime movers. With this they were intended to guard the flank of the barge convoys and see off Royal Navy Cruisers and Destroyers..........[Facepalm]

According to Peter Schenk, 'the Army rather disingenuously referred to the Siebel ferries as “destroyer substitutes”'......yeeesss, that would be chocolate soldier.

Any that reached Kent were to unload and then act as ship to shore lighters.

Okay, Sea Lion was a dead duck that never tried to swim but the Siebel became one of the most useful coastal boats in the Kriegmarine's inventory. They were used as ferries, escorts, flak batteries and mine-layers. A Siebel could carry a Tiger Tank.

Basic Requirements

This is a really easy model to scratchbuild in 1:300 as it is all straight lines. I used three strips of balsa wood for the hull.

Completed Hull

A bit of sanding and a few simple additions in balsa and plasticard and I had a basic outline. Note that the conning tower could be placed in the middle for use as a flak battery or at the back to allow as much space as possible for vehicles. So feel free to move things around.

Seeing Double

I usually build two so if I screw up one, I still have the other.

Completed Flak Battery

And here is a completed model. I added four 88s, their trolleys, and two 40mm flak sourced from Heroics & Ross: using their German artillery men for the boat crew.

Second Siebel

Both models survived my primitive modelling skills. The second model has two 88s in the bows and two quod 20mm on towers at the rear, with a couple of prime movers.

The Deck

Flat balsa surfaces painted with normal acrylic can look like, well, painted wood - so I used a thick Tamiya textured 'concrete' paint to take out the wood appearance. It looks as if the horizontal surfaces of the ferry have been painted with anti-slip.

Scale Photo

This piccy shows the Siebels alongside a Warlord Games S-Boot and some scratch built I-Lighters.

These things were BIG and they packed a hell of a punch. They were also difficult to torpedo as they had a shallow draught.

Remains Of A Siebel

As far as I know, the only Siebels left are wrecks but, in their time, they gave good service for a quick bodge job.

Cruel Seas: Mirage Hobbies HMS Montgomery

HMS Montgomery

Mongomery was a Town Class Destroyer. These were old USN WWI designed destroyers roughly equivalent to the Royal Navy's W/V class. Britain exchanged a number of strategic bases for a number of these in storage. It was a terrible deal as the ships weren't very good and were often in terrible condition. On the other hand the RN needed escorts.

Mirage Kit 1:400


The model shows Montgomery, aka USS Wickes, as she had been rebuilt in 1942 as an escort frigate. The ship sank an Italian submarine and survived the war.

The model is not easy to make as it has lots of little bits that are almost impossible to get off the sprue. Wargamers are best advised to leave off much of this detail. You will spend hours fitting these bits only to have them fall off anyway. You also have to cut down the hull to make it waterline.

On the other hand the kits are extremely good value and feature unusual vessels.

Crew Added to Bridge and Bow

As usual I added Heroics & Ross artillerymen as ship's crew.

Gunners

And the same for the various guns.

Scale Photo

Montgomery, 1:400, against Warlord Games 1:300 models.

Scale Photo

Montgomery against a Heller M35 Minesweeper, 1:400.

HMS Campbeltown

Mirage make a number of different variants of this kit including Campbeltown disguised as a German destroyer for the raid on St Nazaire.

P-102

One of these destroyers was captured by the Japanese and rebuilt as a patrol boat/escort. This is a very usual addition to a Cruel Seas Japanese fleet.

Review: Warlord Games Cruel Seas Merchant Tanker

Completed Model

A merchant ship with a resin hull and metal additional components is available from the Warlord Games site for the sum of 18 of our Brexit £.

The hull is very thin between the raised fo'c'sle and quarterdeck (go one, admit you're impressed by my grasp of Jolly Jack Tar lingo) and was a little warped in my case. Boiling water treatment on a flat surface soon sorted out - in fact I almost overdid it. The resin is quite thin.

The metal parts have little flash and were no problem at all to fit - apart from my allergy to superglue setting of my sinuses - how I suffer for my art.

The model paints up really well - the resin comes very clean. I used Humbrol grey  spray to coat the model before painting.

Quarterdeck

A metal kit of a cannon and crew is supplied so you can arm the vessel by fitting a quarterdeck gun if required.

Fo'c'sle

A generous supply of naval figures in three man groups come with the kit. I also added some Heroic & Ross British standing artillery crew figures so I could have some individuals on the boat. At 1:300 scale they look fine when painted as seamen.

Bridge

More of the H&R figs on the bridge wings.

Scale Photo

The 1:300 coaster model by the side of a Warlord Games 1:300 S-Boat.

Scale Photo

And beside the lasercut merchant ships I posted earlier

This is a great model offered at a good price.

Recommended

Cruel Seas: Laser-Cut Merchant Shipping Kits

Coastal Oiler

I purchased a couple of laser cut kits off eBay for the princely sum of £8.50 for the pair.This is the tanker. It also doubles as Komet, a German armed merchant raider with a broadside of four 6" guns and three torpedoes.

 Another View

I pretty well made it as is, after plenty of sanding, except for adding a gun from Mirage on the rear Deck manned by a trio of Warlord Games sailors...and a couple of vent port thingies (no doubt those of a nautical persuasion have a special name for them) also from Mirage.

The Stern Gun

"I say, Perkins, are they the evil bosche or our brave lads of the RAF?"
"No idea, sir. Let's give 'em a couple of rounds anyway."

Coastal Tramp

I made a bit of a bog of this one by trying to sand it with a large file. Bad move. The MDF started to shred but a bit of sanding and slapped on rust covered it up.

You'd be pretty rusty if you spent a couple of decades going up and down the North Sea.

For Scale Purposes

The cargo ships alongside a Heller 1:400 M35 Minesweeper.

Ditto

And alongside a Warlord Games 1:300 S-Boat.

The Assembled Kits

They do need some sanding down to take the sharp edges and vertical lines off what should be curved surfaces. But.....£8.50 the pair! And all you are going to do is fire torpedoes at them.

Highly recommended!

Bloggers And other Reviews of One Hour Skirmish Wargaming

Derek C. has very kindly sent me links to blogs about OHSW.

I relist them here:

Grid Based Wargaming - Some One Hour Skirmish Wargaming

Dale's Wargames - part 1

Dale's Wargames - part 2

Dale's Wargames - follow up with author :)
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Amazon reviews:

5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant refreshing game system

29 October 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A wargame without dice! That’s going to put a lot of people off, BUT the system using playing cards to generate a means of controlling movement and fire is brilliantly simple. The games are very fast moving, full of action very very entertaining and enjoyable. I have resisted skirmish games for years on the basis of detailed actions and micro management, but this book prompted a rethink and as the author clearly sets out in his design brief it all makes perfect sense. Well worth a try

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat game mechanics and a good read

28 October 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If like me you like to dabble in 101 different skirmish era's then this is the book for you. I must admit I was a bit disappointed after reading the core mechanics as they seemed just too simplistic and without dice. However I then tried a little game and saw how it all comes together into a full skirmish game, with the slickest system possible. The scenario and era specific rules show the versatility possible and yet everything plays super fast with minimal preparation. Highly recommended!

5.0 out of 5 starsDoes What It Promises

31 December 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

An excellent book that does exactly what it promises. The authors style is funny and relaxed and the diceless system is really interesting - a contender alternative system for my heroclix minis. The layout is very clear and easy to read with lots of practical technical information. The length is just right - anything more would feel a bit much for one hour games.

3.0 out of 5 starsFast and playable but overall a bit disappointing

26 November 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

These rules are quick to learn and they do give a fast and easy game as intended. However, playing still brings up the occasional "how should I do this?" - easy enough to make up something but annoying omissions as the rules are so brief. Although a lot of periods are covered, there's a lack of depth to the rules which make them feel very similar. Scenarios obviously help to add variety, but only a few are included (none generic) and no mechanisms to create more (plenty of empty pages for this ....) These rules would be excellent for short participation games at shows or for introducing new/young players into the hobby. Unfortunately, they do feel a bit bland after a couple of games, with a quite a heavy random element and little depth - probably not suited to heavy use by experienced gamers

1.0 out of 5 starsNot a book but a footnote

6 November 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Even if this book had nothing but one star reviews I would probably buy it because the topic interests me so much. But, having read it, last night, in about half an hour, I had to wonder who on earth it was aimed at. You could find a better and more detailed set of rules in an article in any wargames magazine in any given year. Anyone who owns enough figures and terrain to stage one of these skirmish games must already own at least a dozen sets of rules that are either more realistic or more fun. The book doesn't cover the pre-musket era. This is sheer laziness. The book is only 95 pages and the writing, such as it is, takes up hardly any room on the page. Quite a few pages are blank. There are only five or six scenarios. The author acknowledges that scenarios are the heart and soul of skirmish games and then completely neglects them. He pays tribute to One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas and tries to explain what made that book so good but he completely misses the point. What made that book so good is that it had at least thirty highly charged scenarios that were playable in any era; and very compact but appropriate rules for every era from ancient to the modern day. That book is the distillation of years of experience and you can tell. This 'sequel', in contrast, reads like it was dashed off in an afternoon by someone who had better things to do. I don't doubt the author's pedigree but the book is simply too casual and too thoughtless. I could explain my reservations about the rules but my review is already longer than the book's introduction, which was going in an interesting direction and then just stopped.

Good Reads

Sep 24, 2018Ted Williams rated it it was amazing

Marvellous set of 'toolbox' rules, which seems to cover most of the periods I am interested in dabbling with.
Everything works though a deck of normal playing cards, and whilst the rules are simple, they are comprehensive enough to cover most things you would need in an average game.

The way the rules are structured and how the cards are used also make it easy to add in any extra bits you might feel are essential .

I really, really like these rules, they might not suit the 'rivet-counters' as there are no extensive tables, wacky dice, or enormous army lists to digest, however they do give a crackingly good game

I also understand there is a stinker of a review of Miniature Wargames by a wargamer who is very dischuffed with me. :)

Probably worth a read before you spend your money. Sometimes, you can learn more about a piece of art from those who hate it than from those who love it.....although the latter is good for writer's egos.

Ah well, one can't be all things to all people.
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Good Reads Review

 5.00  ·  Rating details ·  2 ratings  ·  1 review
Many wargamers enjoy the challenge of skirmish games where, instead of the strategy of vast armies portrayed by traditional wargames, the focus is on the tactics of a small unit. However, skirmish rules are often so complex that it can take hours of rolling dice, consulting tables and recording data to recreate what would in reality be a fast and furious firefight lasting just minutes. Now these new rules make it possible to recapture the speed and intensity of these actions where every man, and every second, counts. The basic rules are supported by sections which give special rules and scenarios to capture the flavor of a range of different periods, from Napoleonic to Modern Warfare and beyond with Sci-Fi. From the 95th Rifles scouting for Wellington, Western gunfights and WWI trench raids, through WW2 parachute assaults or Special Forces strikes in Afghanistan, or even Space Marines storming a space station, Squad Firefights elegantly simple system allows you to focus on proper tactical decisions rather than rolling buckets of dice or calculating masses of modifiers.
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I have noticed that if an author does something new and different you get either 5 stars, from people who like novelty, and one star, from people who equate it with heresy. I like to strip down systems to their core and scrape the barnacles off and then see what you have left.

One little note. This system took rather longer than an afternoon to develop - ten years in fact. It is a counter-intuitive fact that a simple game takes longer to develop than a complex one. Complexity hides what doesn't work but every single blemish stands out in a simple system.

"Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le
loisir de la faire plus courte." Blaise Pascal, 1657

I remember Fall of the West provoking the same response.

A happy New Year to all - even those who loathe my books.

John Lambshead

Infantrielandungsboot or I-Lighter

I-LIGHTER

The Germans used a small flat-bottomed motorised lighter or boat to move men and supplies around calmish waters - rivers, estuaries, the Baltic and Mediterranean. I-Lighters were particularly active around the Greek Islands.

I modelled these mostly using balsa wood. The original boats were around 15-18 m long so these are small models. They have a small one-barrelled automatic gun, an MG or 20mm cannon, on a mount near the bow.

I-LIGHTER Photo

This is the photo I used as  a template .

These boats were involved in combat with British coastal craft in the Med.

Dutch Plan

I-Lighters were built all over Europe so they probably varied a bit. These plans are from a Dutch workshop. Note the association with Siebel.

3D image

Another take on an I-Lighter.

Underwater Wreck

A wrecked I-Lighter found by divers off Croatia. This photo shows the stem.

The Helm Position

The View Aft

The Bow

Note that the bow is detached from the rest of the hull. Apparently I-Lighters could be disassembled for transport on trains.

You can read more on the Axis History Forum.

Lake Ladoga Patrol Boat

The last I-Lighters were used by the Finns on Lake Ladoga as gun boats with a 57mm gun fitted centrally .



Finnish Gunboat Underway

Out Of The Water

Again, these photos are derived from the Axis History Forum, which is a mine of expert opinion.

Size Comparison

To show how small these craft were, here is one of my scratchbuilt models alongside an S-Boot. Both are 1:300 scale .

Cruel Seas: Kriegsmarine M35 Minelayer

Hellar 1:400 M35/40/43 Minesweepers

The M35 minesweeper was one of the most successful of the Kriegmarine's coastal ships. They were designed to supplement the older minelayers that had soldiered on since WWI. The M40 was a simplified mass production version and the M43 an improved larger vessel. Two hundred and eighteen were launched, of which around 100 were lost in combat.

They were equipped with two 105mm (4") cannon, three AA mountings (one on each side of the bridge and one in the X turret position, minesweeping gear or mines. I chose to equip mine with a typical load out of two 20mm autocannon and one twin 37mm.

The ships were used for minesweeping (duh!), minelaying, convoy escorts, sub-chasers, torpedo boats (M43) and as patrol boats.

Size Comparison


The Heller 1:400 model alongside a Warlord Games 1:300 S-Boat.

The Fleet

My Kriegsmarine collection in 1:300 to 1:400 grows: eat lead, Tommy!