Cruiser Modification and Other Things.

I recently got some new ships for my next game of Shipwreck and just finished painting them. There was a little modification involved with this group. I had ordered the Skytrex Galveston class cruiser. Unfortunately the Skytrex Galveston was the regular missile cruiser version, not the flag ship version I needed. So I had to modify it to make it look like the flag ship I need. I didn't take a picture of the model before I started cutting it up, but here's what it looked like before.

USS Galveston cruiser of which only one was modified.

 Here's what I needed.

USS Oklahoma City, 6th Fleet flagship.

 Now, behold the butchery!

I would later realize that I glued the 5" turret on its side.

 And now the final product, which doesn't look too bad.

I'll probably end up repainting the top of the command center.

Now for the rest of the ships.

Here we have the Belknap CG USS Sterett.

Two Gearing class destroyers. Built at the end of WWII and modified with helipads and ASROC launchers, the Gearings were a workhorse of the throughout the Cold War until they were replaced by the Spruance class in the Mid 70s. They went on to serve in many allied navies including: Greece, Turkey, Pakistan, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Finally I decided to expand my Vietnamese navy for some early cold war action with 3 P-6 PT Boats and a Komar PTM. The Komar is just an Osa I cut in half, which is pretty much what the real one is.

Anyway those are the new ships. I hope to use them in a Vietnam scenario soon.

Finnish Megablitz Unit

I just finished painting my latest Megablitz unit last night. I've decided that the next game will be on the east front, so I decided to start with the Finnish 6th Infantry Division. Here's how it came out.

First up we have the 12th, 33rd , and 54th Infantry Regiments. I decided to use H&R WWI Germans for the infantry.

Next up we have the division support units. On the top row we have the 3rd Light Infantry Battalion, 14th Artillery Regiment, and 36th Engineer Battalion. On the bottom row we have COL Viikla the divsion commander, the 35th Signal company, and the 6th Supply Company.

Here's the unit all together, ready to take on the Soviets in the Northern front. I thinking of maybe adding an attached StuG III for anti-tank support later.

That's the new unit. I'm still waiting for my new ships to come in. If they don't arrive soon I'll start on something else for Megablitz.

Check Your Six: Jet Age

Last Sunday me, Christian, and Ziggy played a game of Check you're six. I've been curious about the rules so decided to try them out. The scenario was Vietnam with 4 F-4 Phantoms verses 3 MiG-21s. I ended up controlling two of the F-4s Basco 3 and 4. Here are the pictures of the game.

My planes the red based Basco 4 and the more experienced white based Basco 3.

The game table. The white felt pieces represented clouds. In the for ground you can see my planes. One the right side of the table you can see Christians planes Bosco 1 & 2. On the right side of the last cloud you can see two of the MiGs controlled by Ziggy. Unseen is another Veteran MiG that was hidden.

Ziggy's Pink Based MiG turns to Basco 1 & 2.

Suddenly the Veteran MiG-21 appears right behind me and takes a pot shot at Basco 4. Luckily I suffer little damage.

Basco 3 does a Split-S to engage the Veteran MiG.

One of Christian's F-4s was then hit with an AA-2 and destroyed.

Another missile was fired at Christians Green based plane, but it only damaged him. The Pink based MiG-21 then fled off board having shot all his missiles.

I fired a
I fired an AIM-7E at the Yellow based MiG-21 but I missed.

Basco 4 fires again this time at the Veteran MiG-21 but once again misses.

Basco 3 fires his last AIM-9 Sidewinder at the Veteran MiG only to miss once again. What really angered me was that every roll a missed, I missed by 1.

After we had used up most of our missiles, we decided to call it with Ziggy as the winner. I really enjoy the game and my try to some more later. On my end I've order some new ships for an up coming game of shipwreck. This time it will be an historical scenario. I'm also almost painting my next Megablitz unit. I should have pictures of it up next.

Latorial Warfare in the Fake Strait

   Yesterday me and Christain played a game of Shipwreck. I wanted to use my new LCSs so I made a cut down version of Harpoons Streetfighter scenario. Christian was playing the US forces helping the factious state of Greyback. While I was playing the guard gorillas who were supported by naval and air forces of Red Bamboo. The US had 2 LCS and also had 2 Greyback patrol boats. Their mission was to insure safe transit for merchant ships in the strait.
   I was controlling the Red Guard with 1 armed trawler, 4 armed motorboats, and 2 suicide boats with big bombs on them. Supporting the Red Guard were the naval forces of Red Bamboo with 2 Tarantul I missile boats, 2 Natya I minesweepers, and 1 Mi-24  Hind D. I also had four minefields set up in the strait and a few more on the minesweepers and trawlers I could maybe deploy later.
    The Red Guard had free pass to attack anything. Both the US and Red Bamboo had strict rules of engagement. The US could attack identified Red Guard freely, but could not attack Red Bamboo units unless they were seen attacking US or Merchant ships. Like wise the Red Bamboo units could attack civilian shipping (as long as no one saw them do it) but could only attack US units if attacked.

Here's a picture of the table, all the ships started hidden with the US player having 2 helicopters in the air. He couldn't deploy more until he detected enemy units. I borrowed Christain's Heroscape to make up the shore lines.

Turn 1: The LCS Fort Worth nearly hits a mine and is spotted by the Red Bamboo Mi-24. The US pilots had trouble telling the neutral ships from the red guard. They did identify 1 of the tarantuls.

Fort Worth steering clear of a mine as the Mi-24 flies past.

US MH-60 flying close to aTarantul I missile boat.

Turn 2: In turn 2 more ships entered the board. All the Red Guard boats started moving into the strait. I knew my little boats wouldn't stand a chance against the US ships so I was going to have them concentrate on the civilian ships that the Mi-24 spotted.

A MH-60 harassing the trawler L.J. Silver.

Turn 3: The US pilots finally identified one of my attack boats and sunk it with a hellfire missile.

One of my boats being destroyed by a hellfire fired from a MH-60.

 Turn 4: Not much happened

Turn 5: I had a huge stroke of luck as the LCS Independence struck a mine. The explosion crippled the ship which was ironically the US minesweeper. Unfortunately one of my bomb boats were discovered by a MH-60 and destroyed with a hellfire missile. Then an ecological disaster happened when the Exxon Hazelwood came under a "mysterious" missile attack and was heavily damage spieling oil into the strait.

Independence burns after striking a mine.

When the US accused Red Bamboo of firing SS-N-2 missiles that started the ecological disaster, the Central Committee stated that the US couldn't provide any prof that it was their missiles that hit the tanker. That and it all bunch of tree hugging hippie crap anyway.

 Turn 6: The US player spots two of my attack boats firing on the merchants. Both are heavily damaged; one by 57mm gunfire from Fort Worth and one by hellfire from an MH-60.

Turn 7: The Independence can't control the fires and sinks. In retaliation the US sinks one of my damaged attack boats with more 57mm fire. Fort Worth also launches the MQ-1B firescout which with the MH-60 spots one of my Natya I minesweeper and another neutral trawler. Finally the captain of the SS Gas Can reported that he was under attack by a sea borne VBIED, but it turned out that the boat driver was drunk.

Independence goes under as the SS Big Oil and Capt Dee watch.



US helicopters observing one of my Natya I minesweeper and Lucky Dragon #5.

Not a terrorist.

Turn 8: Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures for turn 8. My last bomb boat made an attempt on the container ship MSC Shanghai. Although the bomb went off without a hitch, it little damage to the large ship. I decided to call it then as I had to get some sleep before I went to work.
     I didn't do as much damage as I had hoped to. I wanted to inflect damage on some of the smaller merchants. Still I did manage to sink a US warship so that is something.

    Next week I'm hoping to try out Check Your Six: Jet Age.

The Latest Ships

I got my new ships painted over the weekend. Here's the pictures.

First up is the new additions to my American fleet. Both a Freedom and Independence class LCS. The Freedom class in done in a camouflage pattern that was recently used. On the left is a Hamilton class Coast Guard cutter. Of course having a USCG cutter, I had to repaint one of my Seahawks, making it a Jayhawk.

I painted the Perchim FFL I had bought into as a Koni FFL and used it as the base for my new Cuban fleet. The fleet includes (left to right) a Koni FFL, a Pauk PC, and 2 Osa II PTM. I hope to use these and the cutter for some Caribbean scenarios.

The next ship is a fine addition to my merchant fleet. The Xiamen container ship. I really like how this turned out. 

Last but not least, I also bought some of Shapways awesome missile markers. I'm definitely looking forward to using these.

Anyway that's the new sea gear. Me and Christian will be playing a Shipwreck game this Saturday, and I'll be using some of these very units.

New Minitures

    I just received an order of new miniatures. This time I've decided to give Shapways a try, ordering several units I have been wanting. I ordered the miniatures in strong white flexible which is fairly cheap. While the ships did have a slightly grainy feel to them, the detail is still very good.



Here's how they arrived. They certainly came in a big enough box. (Usually I get minis in a padded envelope).



Like last time, I've decided to paint them all at once. Here they are being attached to their stands, along with a few rebases.

I hope to have these painted next weekend and to show the pictures next week. Saturday the 24th is supposed to be a ship based game day at Morning Star. I might try to get a game of a shipwreck together that week.

Ships of the Sea Museum

A few days ago I decided to go to the Ships of the Sea Museum here in Savannah. As one can guess this a museum on ships and features some very nice models. The last time I was at this museum was over twenty years ago when it was still on River Street. I didn't get any pictures back then, but I did now.

First room of the Museum

The steam liner Pulaski. Over 290 people were killed when the boiler of this ship exploded and broke the it into 3 pieces.

One of the Ironclad models.

Another Ironclad model. This one of the CSA Savannah.

On the bottom floor there is a display dedicated to ships in bottles.

More ships in bottles.

The Titanic

Another model I found interesting.

At the time I visited, the museum was hosting an art exhibit dedicated to the Savannah River. One the artist made artwork only from trash he had found along the river's bank. Here we have the lighter fish.

In installation made with more junk.

An early doctors surgical kit.

A whale died to give you this politically incorrect ship model.

A model of a WWII tanker.

Just down from the tanker was this model of a Liberty ship. Below it you can see a model of the nuclear powered merchant ship Savannah.

On of the highlights of the trip was this very large model of the cruiser USS Savannah. The Savannah had a little fame having survive a hit from a radio controled glide bomb during the Salerno landings.

Here's a picture of the ships aft.

In the last room I visited was this large and lite model of the Titanic sinking.

Overall a nice way to waste a couple of hours. Now for some gaming news. I've still got a number of scenarios ready for Shipwreck. I'm hoping to do one of them sometime in the next month. I'm also very close to finishing my HOTT army. After that I'm planning to make some more Megablitz units.