NQSYW - Artillery Battery

I recently finished an artillery battery for the Grand Duchy of Waldo's army.  That brings me to 2 companies of line infantry, a company of grenadiers, and an artillery battery.  I need to finish out one more company of line infantry, some light infantry, and some cavalry.  I recently got a new cavalry mold, and I have a second mold of my main infantryman on the way.

Small Ships

Last week at our regular game, Jaye started talking about doing small ship battles using rules in Rockets Red Glare, a set of rules for the War of 1812.

One thing holding us back from this is that we don't have any ships.  There are commercial ships available, but they tend to be a bit pricey, and a more toward the larger side than we need.

I thought I would make an attempt to scratch build something that would work.

This is my first attempt.  Its a bit rough.  I made the sides too high, and had to trim them off with scissors.  They are just made of cardboard.  I think it will look better with some cannons and some 15mm crew.  For scale, its about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide.  I also need to do something about sails.

As for cost, most of it was stuff I had.  There is a layer of balsa and a layer of 3mm light ply.  The masts and spars are dowels.  All in all, its less than $3 of materials.

I have 2 more cut out and waiting to be built.  Another one this size, and a larger ship about 10 inches long that will be a brig with about 5 guns per side.

If the guys think that this will be acceptable, I will go into production mode and make about a dozen in various sizes.

A Morning Spent Casting

I recently got a cannon mold and 2 molds of artillerists for my NQSYW project.  I also got an order of metal in from Rotometals.  It was supposed to be in the mid-70s until around 11, so I decided to take advantage of the good weather and see if I could get a battery done.

Casting brand new molds always is a problem, but I got them to cast after some careful venting.  The cannon mold was used, and cast pretty well once it got warmed up.

So now I have enough for a battery for my Grand Duchy of Waldo force.

More Progress, NQSYW

I recently finished the second company of my regiment, leaving only one to go.  The figures in the background are my company of Grenadiers.

My immediate goal is another company of line infantry to make up the regiment, a company of light infantry, an artillery battery and 2 squadrons of hussars.

The figures are fun to paint, and large enough that with the optivisor they go pretty quickly.

As many have mentioned today, Don Featherstone has passed.  He was an inspiration in my wargaming, as I am sure he was to many other people.  The first Historicon my friend Darryl and I went to, we were sitting at the bar and Don came up and sat down and started chatting with us.  Its about the only time Darryl and I have been at a loss for words.