Steaming towards the Denmark Strait

My 1/2000 scale HMS Hood is now complete and joins the Prince of Wales to hunt for the Bismarck.

Since posting the WIP picture I added the AA suite on the main deck as it was quite featureless.

The paint job is based on the information available on the HMS Hood Association website and is mostly matching her last description before the battle. Maybe I should have added the reddish brown linoleum to the grey parts of the top deck, I'm not sure.

All I have to do is actually build the Bismarck so they could find her...

Trashy Fleets - When Life Gives You Lemnos...

I started working on the USS Mississippi-class pre-dreadnought battleship that later became the RHN Lemnos a while before the Hood and I managed to complete both at about the same time.

My main concern with US-made warships was, of course, modelling the lattice masts. This is not a problem at smaller scales as I just make a tapered conical rod and paint on the detail. However, in 1/1000 scale this was not feasible.

Delving into the internet somebody on some forum mentioned plastic nets in which they stored fruit in supermarkets as lattice mast material, so I first got some oranges and tried to use the net they were stored in, but it proved too big. Next I bought some garlic in a similar package albeit with smaller gaps in the netting, and it worked just fine!

So I know technically the Lemnos had her main mast switched to a traditional battle mast later, but for experimental purposes (and to make the pun in the title) I had mine retain both.

Battle Brother Captain Solidus Mercesius and Venerable Dreadnought Ladislaus Crassus

I finished two more of my salvaged Space Marines, bought used from the Troll Trader. They spent a few months in the stripping tub and turned out quite okay after the painting process.

They join my Turul Rangers custom chapter. I know technically the terminator guy is a lieutenant, not a captain, but he's humble enough.

The Last Knight Ep. 1. - Red Fox in the Sheep's Pen

This month I promised myself to play at least one game. Naval and sci-fi games are preferred because they require less prep work and fewer models!

On my Battle Campaigns blog I wrote a small summary for a sci-fi space battle campaign featuring the forces of rebellious Mars against the oppressive Earth Government. Thus the time has come to launch that campaign.

In this first scenario, the squadron conisisting of MSS Phoibos (Cmdr. Ian C. Nisom commanding), MSS Sub Rosa and MSS Walkyr, without fighter support, arrive at a junction point in dead space where they expect much EarthGov civilian traffic. Their goal is to hurt EarthGov shipping as much as they can, without risking their own skins.

The theme of the entire campaign is asymmetrical warfare: the Martian Sphere squadron does not get replenishments and any damage made against them is permanent. EarthGov forces are dispersed but get a lot more reinforcements during the campaign.

I use pre-made Lego ships which I built from scrap parts of multiple sets, including Star Wars ones.

I set up a simple entry/exit point system: the MS squadron enters the table first, and then each turn a new ship arrives until I exhausted my current stock. I just set my existing models in a row and picked them up in a sequence for their order of entry. There are no EarthGov capital ships in this scenario. 

The entry points are numbered one to six, starting from the bottom right corner and moving clockwise. I roll a d6 for each ship's entry point. A civilian vessel may exit the table safely by moving to the opposite entry point (so 3 to 6, 1 to 4, 2 to 5 etc.). An EarthGov Navy ship may exit via the opposite point or its point of entry. MS ships entered the table at point 6 so that's their extrication point as well.

Let's see how the scenario goes!

The High and the Mighty

I missed the date for the Battle of the Denmark Strait with my scratchbuilt 1/2000 project, mainly because I have been working on other things.

However I just managed to complete the build for my version of the HMS Hood, and when I showed the Prince of Wales in its unpainted state the last time it gathered some interest, so here's the model before any primer is being added.

This time instead of PVA I used successive layers of acrylic paste and paint to make surfaces smooth. The ship is mainly built out of balsa and plasticard, and then some bamboo skewers, paperclips, broom bristles and Magic Sculpt. I also found a small decorative rubber ring that is just the right size for the turret rings.

I think most people know the story of the Hood, so I won't bother anyone with that. I won't say anything more than I just like the design.

 Off she sails to the painting table and then to join the already completed PoW.

'Red Contingent' for Gudugan Pudugan

I continue churning out painted 6mm lasercut figures from Commission Figurines, for my Gudugan Pudugan (that is Ancients era) project. I plan to have enough figures to field large battles.

I had to have some sort of organization system for the 500+ infantry and 200 cavalry, so I started colour coding them, this is the first batch completed, the part that is painted red.

Italian Wars - Milanese Horse and Landsknecht Arquebusiers

Continuing the Italian theme, this is the group of 28mm figures I managed to finish this month (including basing them): eight Warlord plastic Landsknecht shot and four Perry riders in Milanese livery.

Painting Tally May 2025

May has been rather productive despite a five day trip abroad. I managed to gather enough motivation to paint a large batch of 6mm Commission Figurines ancient figs among other things.

Finished:

28mm

5x Landsknecht command (they lack bases)

8x Landsknecht shot

4x Perry mounted MAA

6mm Ancients:

91 infantry 

50 horse

3 command

2 chariots

1/350

a pair of Christian block galleys

1/1200

3 Warfare Miniatures ships

Painted (requires basing and varnish):

6mm

72x infantry

30x cavalry

Primed:

4x Perry mounted MAA

Assembled:

paper proxy ships and a KiK block proxy army for Maurice

Purchased:

Only the books in Milan.

This brings my total Painting Unit output to 1046, a lot more decent than previous month.

Northern Italy Tour May '25

 

My wife and I spent most of the previous week in Italy, with a hotel room booked in Milan. We flew there on the morning of the 11th and came back on the 15th.

On the first day, we landed at Malpensa Airport, took a train to the city, and had lunch near the central train station. Then we occupied our room, and walked a bit downtown, checking the Sempione park and Sforza castle.