| Kevin C | 30 Mar 2016 3:57 p.m. PST |
I have been interested in gaming with some of Old Glory's 1/600 ships. These models represent ships from various navies between the years 1880 to 1905. I am particularly interested in setting up "what if" in the 1880s and 1890s. Does anyone have any suggestions? Remember the ships are 1/600 scale. Thank you for any input that you can provide. Kevin |
| Kevin C | 30 Mar 2016 4:03 p.m. PST |
I have been interested in gaming with some of Old Glory's 1/600 ships. These models represent ships from various navies between the years 1880 to 1905. I am particularly interested in setting up "what if" in the 1880s and 1890s. Does anyone have any suggestions? Remember the ships are 1/600 scale. Thank you for any input that you can provide. Kevin |
| D6 Junkie | 30 Mar 2016 4:17 p.m. PST |
Hey Kevin,
I'll be interested in what comments you get,
I just got one of the Russian battleships from Old Glory.
Working up the nerve to put it together, no instructions it seems. But looks nice. |
Bill Rosser  | 30 Mar 2016 5:17 p.m. PST |
Hi Kevin and Mike, Just purchased a bunch of 1/1250 scale ships myself, same time period. Send me a private message and I'll send some stuff I have been putting together for the time period. Very rough, but might help you out.
Bill |
 Yellow Admiral | 30 Mar 2016 7:28 p.m. PST |
I've looked at the Old Glory 1/600 models many times, but I haven't bought any because I can't figure out how to game with them. I think 1/600 would be a fine scale for most of the ships in the "late ironclad" transitional period up to about 1890, because it would really show off all the unique designs in their weird glory. Unfortunately, most of the Old Glory models are for the pre-dreadnought period after 1890, when the ranges got longer, the speeds got higher, and the battles needed ever increasing amounts of sea room. The models look gorgeous if done well, but games with oversized miniatures look gamey and anacrhonistic because the scale distortion is so heinous. For the pre-1890 period I decided instead to invest in the old Houston's ships, which are smaller (approx 1/1000 scale), and still available from Great Endeavors. (FWIW, I think the models look way better in person than they do in the Great Endeavors site photos.) These are actually delightful little artistic renderings of the ships they depict, and most of the major units fall into that "sweet spot" for naval gaming pieces, big enough (3"-5" long) to hit gamers right in the "toy lust" center of the brain but small enough to still fit onto real tables. As for rules:
For 1860s gaming I like Sail and Steam Navies and I think with custom ship rosters and weapons stats, it could be adapted to the 1870s and 1880s. I also like the look of David Manley's Iron and Fire, which will handle actions up to about 1880 as written. For post-1880 pre-dreadnought gaming on a small to medium scale (a few ships per player) my favorite rules so far are Fire When Ready, also by David Manley. I've played entire RJW fleet actions with these, but found them a bit slow for that scale of gaming. For genuine fleet-scale pre-dreadnought fights, do a Google search for TMP pre-dreadnought rules to find previous discussions on TMP about that topic, some of them very recent. No sense repeating them here, especially since you can't fit a full-sized RJW or SAW battle on a table in 1/600.  - Ix |
| The Beast Rampant | 30 Mar 2016 10:31 p.m. PST |
big enough (3"-5" long) to hit gamers right in the "toy lust" center of the brain My sentiments exactly! |
 Extra Crispy  | 30 Mar 2016 11:53 p.m. PST |
The Ben Kibg rules are fadt and fun. And easy to write stats for too. |
| valerio | 30 Mar 2016 11:55 p.m. PST |
Fire when ready is cool, cheap, come as a pdf and has the adantage you can choose to play either ship-to-ship actions (which is what you want) and fleet actions |
| A C London | 31 Mar 2016 5:27 a.m. PST |
If you haven't bought the 1/600 models yet then I would join with others in recommending that you go smaller for this late ironclad period. 600 scale works well for the Civil War, where ranges were very low and often movement was restricted by shoal water. By the 1880s and 90s the range at which guns were practiced had begun to increase and battles were more likely to take place on the high seas. So the (widely available) small models are more practical. If you've already bought the large models, tho, don't despair. Most rules (inc mine) will contain fixes that allow you to use considerably over-scale models. Even tho the models will occupy more sea-space than they shd, it is worth remembering that doctrine at the time required that a lot of space shd be left between ships. Wargamers tend to pile their models nose to tail in a way that would have proved calamitous in reality, and which not all rule sets punish sufficiently. So over-scale models might not necessarily give you a less realistic battle. |
| 138SquadronRAF | 31 Mar 2016 2:48 p.m. PST |
Not sure that 1/600 is the right scale for this period because of the ranges – unless you've plenty of space. 1/1200 or 1/1250 would work. Still think this is better with 1/2400 or 1/3000 scale. As to rules, for this period you can't beat "Fire When Ready" by David Manley. ("Devil at the Helm" would work well too but they're out of print.) |
| 10mm Wargaming | 01 Apr 2016 4:36 a.m. PST |
Here's my list of Naval Rules please note its a work in progress Take care Andy |
's first experience with 1:4800 scale naval models.
