INWarD2026 Preview: Battle of the Denmark Strait

All participants for my planned International Naval Wargaming Day game are ready for combat. I have also written a short set of rules, where players declare their intentions before moving (which hopefully would result in a more interesting gameplay than just the plain move-shoot routine). Also PoW has to roll for random critical damage at the beginning of the game. 

I'll write up the AAR next week, stay tuned until then!

Pride of a Nation, A Beast Made of Steel etc. etc.

 

I can't recall a more overdone topic in naval history circles than the Bismarck, both the ship and its operational history, even though I could recount, just on a whim, about ten different battleships that had a more interesting or successful career (including the Tirpitz and the Scharnhorst class [no, those were not battlecruisers]).

 

But there's no stopping the Bismarck fanboyism, and that may perhaps be one of the main reasons building her (yes it's a her) for my Battle of the Denmark Strait project took about two years. That's a lot of time for a 1/2000 model, even in scratchbuilding terms. 

Alas, taking some time off from the Aurora and managing a complete paintjob on a 1/700 interwar fit waterline Nagato, I took out the hulls of the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen (no, they are not DKM Bismarck and DKM Prinz Eugen), and built the superstructures.

When building such models, one must cut a lot of corners. Some of the details you simply won't see. Some have to look just about right from a distance. The main visual cues for the ships must be there, but otherwise it's more or less free reign. That's why I like WW1 era German battleships for instance: very little deck clutter, very effective, streamlined designs. I procrastinated with this project because I was overwhelmed with all the bits and bobs on a WW2 battleship's superstructure, so in the end I just went at it and made things on the go.

The ships' hulls and other larger pieces are made from 3mm and 2mm balsa (1mm on the top layers of the Prinz Eugen), and they are built using the layer or sandwich method, where I construct things from the waterline up. The balsa is stiffened and filled with liquid CA glue and acrylic paste. The turret rings on the Bismarck are small rubber rings bought at a craft store (apparently for making children's necklaces). The rest is placticard (0.5mm and 2mm), plastic bits from leftovers (such as a 28mm Mongol spear), paperclips, the cranes on the Bismarck are Perry sword sheaths and on the Prinz Eugen they are stolen from a 1/700 Derfflinger, and her floatplane is from an old plastic anchor.

Since taking the above photo I made the Bismarck's prow a bit more pointy (she resembled the Iowa class' crocodile prow a bit too much) and added the visually important large flying bridge. You will be able to see those when the models are painted and based.

The deadline for this project is InWarD 2026, as I missed the anniversary of the battle (again). Until then, it's peacetime readiness for the completed PoW and Hood.

Would you Duke it out with someone made of Iron?

(For the title I apologize to fans of the real Iron Duke.)

I painted these back in October 2025 but then just shelved the project, and only got to base them this weekend. They are 1/2000 scale scratchbuilt ships of the WW1 vintage Iron Duke class superdreadnoughts.

Construction, as per usual, was done with various thicknesses of balsa wood, plasticard, bamboo kebab sticks and toothpicks, and steel wire for the masts.

I don't know how long the revival of the project will last, but I aim to complete a few more hulls and play some games.

A Town House for 'Dark Nights in Trashburgh'

After having the bare cardboard sitting on my windowsill for months, in the end I completed a scratchbuilt 28mm town house piece for my 'Dark Nights in Trashburgh' 17th century urban skirmish project. It is mostly made from cardboard, balsa wood, plasticard and texture paste for the walls.

6mm Scenery

I'm in an odd situation where I actually managed to paint a lot of things, it's just that I either lack the motivation to take photos of them, or there isn't enough natural light to do so. This post was not made under natural lighting circumstances, but I thought it was time to do photos again.

Anyway, here's a small review of the 6mm terrain pieces I have been working on for my Schultze-Böhnstadt project. All of them are handmade on the cheap and are based on 2mm plasticard.

Ottoman Galiots (and Islands)

Originally I wanted to play the Battle of Denmark Strait on this year's International Naval Wargaming Day, but as usual, I got sidetracked and finished other ships instead. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen shall wait.

Instead, I've completed a pair of corsair galiots and four island sections, so the Mediterranean it shall be. I wrote a scenario to playtest my Block Galleys rules live for the first time. I'll play the game on the coming weekend and submit the AAR on the blog.

The Power of the Heimudbär

These four are Heimudbär-class sea-going monitors, in 1/1000 scale, and are mostly entirely fictional. I finished them a little after the Charles Martel / ZS Lakardo.

They are sort of inspired by Norwegian/Swedish traditional monitor warships of the ironclad age, continuing to serve in various capacities well into WW1. As you can see some of them are modernized, others are not.

The small fleet will be part of the Nordsburian Navy in my imagi-nations setting, an up and coming power in the far off colonies, away from any main conflict. Their primary adversary will be the Zinqaguri Navy. At the time when Nordsbur commences a campaign of agression on Zinqaguri merchant shipping, all they have are these, a few coastal defence ships and armored cruisers. The Zinqaguri have two very capable battleships, but as Cape Zinqagrech divides the waterways between two major oceans, they have to split their forces.

The models are just pieces of 2mm balsa sanded to shape, and coated in a dark grey. Various bits of plastic offcuts were used to create the minimalistic superstructures. Most of them have short-barreled big guns, but the pair in the middle has some more modern smaller bore pieces. Were they blessed with decent speed they could be used for commerce raiding - provided there is a flat calm sea.

Holy League Block Galley Flotilla

I managed to paint three more 1/350 scale galleys during the previous months. Being scratch-built they take a rather long time to assemble, but I think they were worth the wait. From left to right, they are: a standard Venetian galley with a single mast (sail furled), a Spanish lanterna (or the big 'un), a Maltese standard size galley.

I experimented more with colour printed decorative elements to save a bit of time on painting. Their masts, prow, forecastle and stern can all be removed from the models to show damage, so those pieces are painted in subassemblies. Making the masts removable helps with storage, too.

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.

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.

Additional Scatter

Here's some more terrain pieces finished. You can see smaller ones, like the hand carts I started building earlier, a few resin barrels from Green Stuff World; linear objects, two sections of different plastered walls and a fence; a group of stakes liberated from the Perry HYW infantry set; and then a gun emplacement of four gabions.

Besides the barrels everything is scratchbuilt.

 

The gabions are cloned with green stuff from a single master. I made a press mould of the master, but instead of using a two-piece mould, I cut the bottom off and made hollowed out casts from GS using the butt end of a brush to spread it inside the mould. The compression actually helps the green stuff cure to a very firm finish. Once cured I pop the cast out of the mold and that's it. It works well for cylindrical objects and saves you some resin.

I put some dirt and toothpicks on top and used successive layers of drybrush for the paintjob. The base is also raised a bit with pieces of corkboard so figures don't have to duck that much behind. 

I think they look banged up enough, unlike some pristine injection moulded gabions would. There is a recast Bloody Miniatures matchlock placed at the inside (you can see it on the first photo).

Down on the Farm

Let me present to you the large terrain project I've been working on. It's a rural farm complex with a bunch of buildings and greenery. I sort of made it up on the go, so things are of a bit mixed styles, but I think they look good together.

Whatever floats your boat.

This month has mainly been about terrain projects. I might have mentioned that I've got some pirate themed gaming in mind, and for that I needed a longboat at least. (A one-mast ship with four guns is a work in progress.)

It's made out of balsa wood, the outer planks were soaked then bent to shape as with a plank-on-frame model ship. It includes six oar benches and forks, some equipment for longer voyages, and a swivel gun at the bow.

The pair of random Bloody Miniatures figs are just there for scale. 

Block Galleys WIP

 

No posts in a while, but that's only because after last month's painting frenzy I took a step back and started focusing on smaller scratchbuilding projects, mainly revolving around terrain pieces.

I showed a completed 1/350 scale 'Block' galley a while back, these are the follow-ups on the slipway. I completed the main parts of the hulls and started adding the rowing benches. (They are called Block galleys because I would simulate damage to the ship by removing parts from the model during gameplay.)

The one in the middle is a large 15cm long Capitana or Lanterna, that is a flagship with more rowers and soldiers aboard. You can see one of my printed templates doing its job on the oar banks.

The last bunch of balsa I got is from a producer named Santiago, so obviously these are going to be Spanish...

2 Atak Kampanü, I Bertoldu Armored Battalion, 1st Independent Ebhardu Cavalry Brigade

This time a post with a picture. I made 1/32 versions of the same vehicle before, but now I completed an armored company with the G-93 Kontot Kombatot for my 1/72 collection.

There are four tanks in a Jazygian interwar armored company, but they are supplied with variants on a sort of ad-hoc basis. 2/I/1 Atak Kampanü has the following, from left to right:

G-93ac Ozmot "Rinokerüs" - An open top variant, with the HMG at the back of the vehicle, a 3pdr anti-tank gun on the right side of the chassis, and field modifications to break down hedges. The figures are HäT Prussians with modified caps.

G-93c Astaba with open turret and radio antenna - commander's version. Its frontal armor was strengthened by adding sandbags. The commander is a Zvezda Russian female soldier and she can be taken out of the vehicle.

G-93 reserve/engineering/close support vehicle - standard armament, but with a medium mortar bolted to the undercarriage, sort of a makeshift SPG. This one's got some Green Stuff World shrubbery glued to the front, and the figures are cheap Chinese knights with green stuff modifications.

G-93c Astaba, standard version, closed turret.

Soon the company will roll out on a policing action along the Ahbanian border, we shall see what comes out of that...

Worry not if you aren't the Duke of Porpoises...

 

... you can still be the Prince of Wales! (pun intended)

Here's a rare WIP shot of a 1/2000 scale scratchbuilt HMS Prince of Wales. I usually post completed products on the blog, but this one looked kind of nice the way it is, and it highlights some of the methods I use for tiny ships.

My main components for this build were: balsa wood, bamboo skewers, Magic Sculpt, 0.5mm plasticard, push pins and broom bristles. First I shaped the hull, and did the rest in five main sub-assemblies (that is the three turrets and two main parts of the superstructure).

Balsa wood has very large grain and soaks up paint/glue like a sponge, so I learned to harden its outer surface with either mopping on liquid superglue or acrylic medium, and then after many passes with sandpaper some PVA. For the quad turrets I also added some magic sculpt for detail.

I made an attempt to sculpt each of the quad barrels, but in the end I just went with my usual solution of using a single slab of bamboo and painting the detail on.

The occasion for this build is that I want to refight the Battle of the Denmark Strait in the near future, so after painting this one, next up is the Mighty Hood.

During the build I came to appreciate the no-nonsense approach of the King George V class design. Everything has its place and works, and that's about all a fighting ship needs. However, I anticipate building Hood for her excellent looks for a change.

Orks and Ork Accessories

I bought some used Ork Boyz a while ago, then stripped and painted them. A few of them were posted here before, but not the entire band. The rest are still available from the same place, so I might just buy more.

They also found a sort of VTOL ground attack craft and made it more orky.

The Mighty ZS Lakardo (Not Quite Charles Martel)

As part of my ongoing 1/1000 scale Trashy Fleets exploits, I'm finally done with the almost Charles Martel, she is joining the Zinqaguri Navy, a peripheral minor power in my world of imagi-nations. Being quite fancy AND a battleship, she is going to bear the fleet admiral's flag.

Steaming alongside the Charles Martel, or as she will be known in Zinqagur, the ZS Lakardo, is the small torpedo boat destroyer TB-1 Marsal, modelled after the real world Claymore-class French ship, so they are kind of matching.

The only ahistorical element of the battleship is the fact that I left a tier of the main deck out, so the fore and aft main turrets are on the same level, while in fact the rear one should be placed a bit lower.

The Berber War Galley 'Aga Pasha'

Soon after I built the 1/1200 scale galleys I started thinking about larger ships for the same period. My rule set 'Block Galleys' sort of counts on removable parts, and after some theoretical sketches I came up with a list with all the features required for my test model:

• avoid the 'blocky' look that some gaming pieces have (the model should preferably have the true proportions of a real galley)
• show the crew and not the bare decks (always found it weird at larger scales that the ship sails herself)
• preferably 1/300 to 1/350 scale, to go with Zvezda's 1/350 Armada offerings and Black Swan
• removable prow and forecastle
• removable aft structure
• same for masts and two sail options (to show sailing or using oars)
• and preferably a removable section of oar bank

Then I turned towards designing paper templates for quick construction, and soon I worked out the entire process, the result of which is the Barbary pirate galley, the flagship of the infamous Pasha Aga, you can see on the image above. Of course not all the desired features were executed, but that is why this was a test piece, to see which is feasible and which is not.