 War Artisan  | 09 Apr 2018 11:04 a.m. PST |
This year's convention was held over the past weekend, 5th through 7th of April. After running a couple little frigate actions in the morning, in the afternoon I presented a re-creation of the Battle of the Virginia Capes featuring 50 1:900 scale cardstock model warships.
The action was fought out by six players, each taking a squadron of 7 to 9 ships, using my rules "Admirals". We played out 13 turns in a little under four hours, ending with a very different result than that of the historical battle. You can see the photos here; link And, if you're interested, a photo tour of most of the other games at the convention is here: link Enjoy, and thanks for taking a look, Jeff |
Frederick  | 09 Apr 2018 11:18 a.m. PST |
Very nice! I take it that the Revolutionary Cause had a bad day! |
| War Artisan | 09 Apr 2018 11:23 a.m. PST |
Well, with five ships of line hauling down their colors and only about a half hour of daylight left, De Grasse chose the better part of valor and slipped away in the darkness, leaving the British in control of Chesapeake Bay . . . a tactical victory for Graves. This didn't necessarily mean that Yorktown wouldn't eventually yield, but it did mean that it was going to take a bit longer. |
| Ceterman | 09 Apr 2018 11:28 a.m. PST |
NICE!!! Thanks for posting! Who makes the ships? They are really nice. Did you do all that rigging?! |
| War Artisan | 09 Apr 2018 11:35 a.m. PST |
Who makes the ships? Those are my own, Ceterman: link Did you do all that rigging?! Of course. There's about 60 pieces of rigging on each model (x50 ships is about 3000 pieces of rigging for those two fleets). They take about a half hour each. |
| jurgenation | 09 Apr 2018 12:39 p.m. PST |
|
| Jcfrog | 09 Apr 2018 2:25 p.m. PST |
Htruly magnificent.
All games on the pics are too. Perhaps the thing should be called 18th Century rather than 7yw;) |
| War Artisan | 09 Apr 2018 2:33 p.m. PST |
Perhaps the thing should be called 18th Century rather than 7yw;) Well, it's still the Seven Years War Association, even if the members' interests extend to both ends of the "long" eighteenth century. They're willing to be a little flexible with the subjects of games, but they're quite aware of the negative consequences of losing focus. |
| Oberlindes Sol LIC | 09 Apr 2018 7:57 p.m. PST |
Wonderful. Thanks for posting. |
| DeRuyter | 10 Apr 2018 11:12 a.m. PST |
Looks great! Like the use of the floor tiles as a sea mat. Did you get them in that color or did you paint them? |
| War Artisan | 10 Apr 2018 11:32 a.m. PST |
Did you get them in that color or did you paint them? They're painted. There's a tutorial here: PDF link |
| Stew art | 10 Apr 2018 3:44 p.m. PST |
Great looking pictures! Glad you had a good time. |
| Fitzovich | 11 Apr 2018 4:18 a.m. PST |
Looks great! I'll be using your 1/300 scale at Little Wars in a couple of weeks. |
| ScottWashburn | 19 Apr 2018 4:47 a.m. PST |
Fantastic! Very well done! |
 Sgt Slag | 19 Apr 2018 2:11 p.m. PST |
About the interlocking foam mats: 1) What type -- Harbor Freight, or other? 2) What type of paint did you use -- latex house paint/emulsion; acrylic; or other? 3) Application techniques -- wet, natural sponge; brush; etc.? 4) Did you seal the paint? It looks rather glossy. Wondering what, and how well it works, long-term, connecting/peeling the mats apart. I have had great success using acrylic, crafting paints, with a wet sponge applicator, wet-blending the colors. When I made some ice fields on non-HF foam mats, the latex won't stick, it peels very easily… Ships look fantastic! So do the foam mats. Been toying with making a seascape using HF foam mats. After the latex debacle (on non-HF mats), I want to use acrylic paints, in the hopes that this will alleviate the peeling problems. Cheers! |
| War Artisan | 20 Apr 2018 10:47 a.m. PST |
Sgt. Slag: Your peeling problem was more likely the mats than the paint. See the tutorial linked above. |
| Sgt Slag | 22 Apr 2018 5:51 p.m. PST |
I agree. I suspected the non-HF mats, which came pre-painted with a woodgrain pattern, had peeling Latex due to the existing paint not allowing the Latex to bond properly. Your results are fantastic. Would love to make ocean/water tiles. Need to make certain I will use them enough, before I invest in more foam tiles, though. I have created brownish tiles for rocky caverns, and gray tiles, for dungeon floors; I set modular terrain atop the mats, forming the pathways needed. Thought about making green for grassy fields, but I've already got patternless indoor/outdoor carpet for that, which works well, and it will last a couple of lifetimes… I think I will put the pre-painted mats out in the trash, as they will continue to peel until there is no Latex paint left on them -- makes a terrible mess. The HF mats are fantastic to work with, and affordable: with a coupon, I can get four sections for $8. USD Can't argue with that, really. Thank you for the tutorial, and your input! Cheers! |
experiments with Finger Drills.