"Lepanto in 15mm" Topic

So I am embarking on my next big project, that of Lepanto in 15mm. I prefer the scale as you can actually tell what the ship is from across the table and it has a skirmish game feel a la "Slimeys and Limeys." Scaling the battle to 1:20 ratio gives it 10 galleys and 1 galleass for the Holy League against 11 galleys and 3 galiots for the Ottomans, with each player/commander having 3-5 galleys. This seems manageable for a 6' x 8' table.

I have ordered Old Glory shipyard 15mm ships and expect to do some major modifications. I already plan on adding oars, sails, and paper flags. Is there anyone who can share photos of their assembled 15mm galleys, ideas or recommend modifications?

Personally I think that it's silly to call a game with a couple dozen galleys and one galleass "Lepanto". Lepanto is a candidate for Largest Naval Battle in History, and and handful 15mm ships full of 15mm figures will introduce so much scale distortion it will destroy the illusion.

Having said that: most galley actions of the 16th and 17th centuries had only a handful of galleys anyway, so I recommend you take advantage of the large (for a naval game) scale to play skirmishy naval games and have a great time rowing, boarding, and blasting each other with those big-ass bow guns. Typical scenarios would be amphibious raids, interceptions of raids, attempts to sneak supplies into a besieged city, attacks on merchant convoys, etc., all superb candidates for really fun games with the miniatures you've outlined above. With individual figures you can emphasize the fighting styles of the different nations: Turks with bows, Christians with arquebuses, Spaniards with big boarding crews of professional soldiers, Venetians with rowing gangs of freemen who join in the fight, Knights of Malta wearing full plate armor, etc. There's also a huge potential for a semi-role-playing element, with players competing to collect loot, ransom hostages, and capture vessels over the course of several games. In between games you can have some simple rules for replenishing and augmenting crews. Of course, the typical way to replenish a ciurma (rowing gang) was to raid an enemy coast and enslave a bunch of men, which leads to yet more games… the potential for a repeating cycle of fun games is infinite.

If you hadn't ordered already, I would also recommend you consider using 6mm instead. You can get galleys and round ships from Old Glory Shipyard and Shapeways, and soon from Tom Foss at Skull and Crown, who is working out how to mass produce laser-cut 1/300 scale wooden galleys that will look like this). I think 1/300 scale offers a much better variety of vessels, shore terrain, and scenario types for Renaissance Mediterranean naval gaming. OTOH, 15mm crew figures can be more unique and capable of more independent actions than 6mm figures, so take advantage of that too as long as you're at it.

- Ix

Good points, Yellow Admiral. wisercj, I am considering the same project and purchasing Old Glory 15's, too. The starter packs are very good value. Please keep posting your progress since, skewed or not, the 15mm scale will allow the ship boarding actions I want. Imagination will fill in the gaps and create the enormity of Lepanto.

Well it might not be Lepanto in terms of numer of ships but in 15mm it will look splendid and crowded enough to look like a huge sea battle.15mm? Yep, go for it.

Thanks for all the responses.

@Yellow Admiral I agree with your comments, and the 1/300 Galleys looked like a nice option. But I'm more interested in the skirmish feel. If I wanted to do the big battle in a smaller scale, I would probably just use counters.

@Condotta Will do. Please do the same.

But I'm more interested in the skirmish feel.

I'm glad somebody is. This is a neglected aspect of Renaissance gaming that has a lot of potential.

If I wanted to do the big battle in a smaller scale, I would probably just use counters.

Heh. That would probably work better… Lepanto was HUGE. OTOH, you can't festoon counters with flags…

Do those Old Glory models come with the masts, or are you expected to craft those yourself?

A guy here made a deployed sail for the Skull and Crown galley he painted for playtesting, and it looked great. He cut out a piece of white cloth (probably a sheet or pillowcase), painted it with stripes, and sewed it onto a dowel or other wooden rod that looked like a spar. He added a hook to his mast and an eyelet in the center of the spar so he could remove the sail at will and hang a spar with no sail. It was brilliant, and I intend to do the same thing with my own Skull and Crown galleys. That idea ought to also work on 15mm galleys.

I notice the masts on the Old Glory galleys don't have a crow's nest, and they really should. I haven't had any (easy) ideas that would work, and especially not one that would fit a 15mm miniature with a base. The crow's nests of the period look like wicker baskets in some pictures. Maybe a painted thimble would work…?

-Ix

@Yellow Admiral
It appears that the Old Glory ones are very basic and just have a few dowels for the rigging. I have done 15mm Viking Longships with removable masts with Sails using patterns printed on heavy card stock then curved and glued to a spar, so I will probably do something similar for the Renaissance Galleys.

I have looked at the crows nest as well and am thinking of creating one that will hold one figure, then casting it and gluing it on top of the main mast. I am more concerned with the arrumbada which appear to be crudely done representations on the Old Glory models. Its too bad that the detail on the smaller Langton and Skull and Crown models are much better, but since they are all just representations in the end I will try not to get too upset.

You'll have to see if it's possible to cut off the existing arrumbada. If so, a replacement arrumbada should be pretty easy to fashion – just a rectangle with sloped sides and some pillars underneath. A little cutting and gluing of scribed styrene or dollhouse wood, no sweat.

- Ix

WiserJC- Sounds like an awesome endeavor. I decided 6mm as I can still have lots of ships maneuver, ranges of guns matter and boarding actions still occur.

If you are interested, I can send you a beta copy of my rules that cover this, and can make my galleys in 15mm scale as well. PM me, or contact me at foss1066@yahoo.com

Regards, (and thanks to Yellow Admiral for the plug!)
Thomas Foss

Thomas @Skull and Crown
I have seen several photos of your ships and they look very nice. Although when I went to your website I did not see them available for sale. If I was to go with smaller ships I would probably go that route. I am not sure that they would transfer that well in a larger scale, straight sided cuts versus curved ship. Would be interested in your rules, although I have already written a set myself.
Regards,

WiserCJ- Thanks for your kind words. Ships won't be available till the end of the month- still getting artwork for flags, awnings, bulwarks etc set up. I'll make an announcement on TMP front page as it gets closer to launch.

Rules will be hot on the tail of the ships.

Cheers
Ths