"AAR: Denmark Strait; 1:6000 and Battlestations!" Topic

Young Henry and I tried something new this weekend; a new set of rules and a new scale of miniatures. I thought you might like to hear how we got on and some thoughts on both the Hallmark minis and the rules.

First the minis; I was quite intimidated when I got these, thinking them far too small to paint up effectively. But I was wrong; the castings are so crisp and the detail so well defined that they have proved an absolute delight.

Here's the Bismarck, alongside a British penny for scale (a British penny is 20mm, or 4/5ths of an inch in diameter):

Maybe a more universal size comparison is a standard yale key, so here's HMS Hood next to one:

As you can see they are wonderfully detailed and they take a coat of paint nicely. En masse they would look very effective so when I start looking at WW1 (a future project) this will definitely be the scale of choice for actions involving several squadrons.

So, on to the action…

We set up using the standard scenario included in the rules. I took on the role of Lancelot Holland, Young Henry played the part of Lutjens.

The Royal Navy steaming into action; HMS Hood leading HMS Prince of Wales:

The Germans – Prinz Eugen and Bismarck. I know Bismarck had lost the 'Baltic' camouflage by the time of the breakout into the Atlantic, but it's such an iconic paint scheme I couldn't resist…

It wasn't long before Young Henry was making life uncomfortable for my flagship…

By the end of the 0530 turn Hood had received 'Level 1' damage.

In 'B!B!' there are 4 'damage levels' which are marked by counters to reduce paperwork. Each ship scores 'hits' which I mark with shell splash markers; at the end of the turn the ship under fire gets the chance to remove these using damage control throws. Any which it fails to remove translate into permanent damage.

Using 1:6000 minis I did like the distance effect achieved, even at a scale of 1"=1000 yds.

My dice rolling was really poor in this action, although I did manage to get some hits on Bismarck…

Which did actually translate into damage…

During the encounter Young Henry moved in a wide arc to the south. I tried to maintain a range of around 18,000 to 19,000 yards so was also pushed towards the south. Henry's reasoning was that he wanted to put as much distance between the action and the entry point of the reinforcements, the 8" cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk, due to arrive on move 4.

He completely achieved this objective, leading me to the south so I never got a chance to bring them into action. Dice rolls went in Young Henry's favour and I became increasingly discomforted until it became too much…

Hood went down and my morale was completely shattered, forcing the Prince of Wales to withdraw. This photo of the PoW retiring and a big plume of smoke and steam where Hood had once been is strangely reminiscent of the 'Prinz Eugen film'…

Another good game and an enjoyable set of rules. With small actions like this luck might play too big apart – half an hour's firing is summed up with just one die. With a larger action, with more ships to average things out, I think these will be an excellent set so I definitely intend to use them for our Mediterranean battles.

I was again impressed by Young Henry's tactical thinking – avoiding being 'doubled up' by keeping clear of Norfolk and Suffolk was a sound plan and I had really wanted to bring them in to distract Prinz Eugen while Hood and Prince of Wales took care of Bismarck.

I have beaten him once, but I've lost track of how many victories he's notched up!

Nick

Nice paint jobs on the ships. Also like your splash markers.

1/6000 is definitely the way to go. Nice AAR. I quite like your playing surface, what is it please?

Thanks guys, it was a fun action. For info the splash markers are made with cigarette filters -

TMP link

And the playing surface is a sort of blue leatherette vynil from a home furnishings shop (Dunhelm Mills, if you live in the UK)

Cheers Boz, your painting is excellent, by the way. I've found the easiest way to paint large numbers is by squadron or class. Mount them on a sheet of cardboard, about an inch apart, using mounting foam pads (sticky both sides) obtained from your local pound shop, and cut to be about half the size of the ship bases. I use card about 2-3" square, which gives you handling control while painting. The ships are easily peeled off after varnishing. I recommend the WWI fleets, which are excellent.

Nice looking game, and very nice paint jobs. In particular, you are the only one I have seen who has gotten away with "highlighting" 1/6000, without making them look sloppy. Maybe it's the side lighting in your photography?

A minor thing is that, to my eye, your formations are too compact. In my 1/6000 games, ships (hulls) need to be at least 1" apart, or you roll for collision.

Mark H.

Thanks Mark. The highlighting did come out well, though heavier than I intended. Photos are pretty true to life as lighting was natural.

The formations are base to base as this is specified in the rules; they don't have to be but they get some benefits if they are. Battle stations! Battle stations! Is also unusual in having morale rules.

Jarro – brilliant! I use PVA which is too much: I'll nip down to Boyes when I get chance and get some pads

I normally just do hulls, decks, upper works and ships boats, green/blue sea with white wave tops and wash, then I wash the whole thing with matt varnish with some matt black mixed.

For recognition I use different colour paper for each navy, and print the ships' ID in a suitably small font. This then cut out and glued on the ID tab at the ships' stern before varnishing. I've found with WWI ships that the easiest ship ID is that of the Figurehead pack code. So, for instance HMS Dreadnought comes from pack 1B21, so its code would be BB21a,Bellerophon from the same pack would be BB21b etc. In addition I print the ships' full name 'HMS Dreadnought' in capitals on the correct colour fleet paper and glue it to the underside of the ships base. This too gets a coat of varnish before use to protect it and make in easier to move on the tapletop. It works for me.

The 1/6000 does indeed look great. I still occasionally regret settling on 1/2400 and spreads like yours reignite that. I love the way they make the distance more apparent. And they are indeed very nicely painted.

SP – thank you :)

I have more scales at the moment than a pre-dreadnought has calibres!

To get back into wargaming after many years away I bought some Navwar suitable for the Med; here's HMS Valiant…

Nice and cheap and still nice castings. I got enough Italians and Brits to try something resembling every surface engagement for around £30.00 GBP (or $20 USD-$25?).

As a test purchase I tried the 1:6000 Hallmark minis which I'm really pleased with. I can see this scale sticking for my future WW1 project and maybe for the Pacific War (especially with the nice deck decals for the carriers you can get).

But I'm really drawn to 1:2400 for smaller engagements, so I'm looking at building up forces for the Arctic campaigns in that scale. I also have some 1:2400 ironclads which I have to paint up.

All told I think we can justify two scales – one for large fleet actions (i.e. Pacific War and WW1) and one for smaller destroyer/cruiser battles (like the Arctic).

But then I look at those 1:600 trawlers and e-boats… hmmm… maybe just one more scale…?

*Bozkashi Jones

They look great. I have a 'few' 1/6000, from Figure Head. For WW II I kind of like this scale, however only for battleships and battlecruisers. Personally if playing 'cruiser' actions, I prefer at least 2400.

Ironically, I love playing Predred period, but would not think of doing so with 6000 scale. Just too small.

The.. 8th? pic down is outstanding. Gives you great appreciation for range and realistic image.

I have a fair number of 1/6000th scale minis first off I have the entire Fleets of Germany,Japan and Italy in WWII along with neverbuilt ships in addition I have some US,British,French and Dutch ships as well.

But I do have other scales as well that I game in.

I have 1/2400th scale mostly Japanese with some other Nations ships.

I have a fair number of 1/3000th scale including all the ships for the Russo-Japanese War as well as US,France,Great Britain,Germany,Austria,Italy and Spain.

I have a small number of 1/1200th and 1/1250th minis as well mainly Russo-Japanese War and a few WWII.

It's a toss up between 1/2400th and 1/3000th as my favorite scale for gaming.

I almost forgot I also have a small number of 1/1200th scale Ancient Naval ships as well.

My favorite Naval period is the Pre-Dreadnought period which includes the Spanish-America War and the Russo-Japanese War.

Lots of people love 1/6000 here and the pictures look great, but my eyeballs don't have telephoto lens and on the table I've found them too small to be uniquely identifiable. I'll stick with 1/2400.

Murvihill I understand what you're saying but one thing I can tell you that many of the ships(Battleships,Carriers and most Cruisers) are easy to identify but the smaller Cruisers and DD's are somewhat hard to identify.

But one of the things that I like about using 1/6000th scale ships is that you can do most Naval Battles on a single table.

I know what you're saying chaps; 1:6k is jolly small, especially when it comes to DDs.

If going to use 1:6k then I think basing is the key. A decent base allows the 'piece' to be a manageable size – I now use 3mm thick MDF bases which make the ships more like gaming pieces. Below are some photos of my WW1 collection, but I intend to make this default for all my tiny stuff.

I mount DDs two to a base so the bases aren't too small. There's enough room on the base to put a name, though as can be seen below I have identified the British BCs by a diptych.

TBDs:

A CL (note that a British 5p coin is 18mm or about 3/4"). The detail is truly incredible:

British BCs showing the use of diptychs (Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary and Tiger):

Nick

Lovely painting mate and cheers for the comparison with coins.

Making it hard for me to choose a scale.

I had a shed load of 1/3000 but had to sell it if when I needed some cash.

Some people say the 1/6000 stuff has as much detail as the 1/3000. What do you think?

Hi Young Guard,

Thanks for the comments!

I have quite a lot of 1:3000 and I'm sentimentally attached to it.

I would agree that the detail on 1:6000 is certainly equal to 1:3000, which makes them look very impressive. The advantages of 1:3000 are:

(a) cost – cheap as chips!
(b) range – pretty much anything you want from the late Victorian period to the present day, including plenty of stuff for minor navies
(c) size and strength – they are quite sturdy gaming pieces; big enough to not get lost and not at all fragile

For 1:6000 the advantages are:

(a) ranges look better
(b) detail looks more impressive

To aid comparison here's Bismarck in 1:6000 (sorry it's slightly out of focus):

Whereas here is Warspite in 1:3000:

Personally I don't think there's much in it, but I prefer 1:6k nowadays as I like the feeling of space (and I only have a 5' by 3' table!)

Nick