Chilean Steel

Here's the next bit in my 1/2000 scratchbuilding venture, the pair of the Almirante Latorre class. Pretty handy ships, and the first British-built SDs completed after the Orions waaaaay before. Unfortunately I could only paint the straw of the deck with a glossy piece of Heller acrylic paint, so it's not completely to my taste, but at 1/2000, no one should really care.

Commerce raidin'

Admiral Cristobal Hernandez a Tortuga had led a Tropezonian cruiser squadron to raid Ortosilian commerce routes. A suitable target was soon spotted on the narrows between the Isola del Muerte and the Ortosilian main coast: a large convoy of freighters with the annual cargo of bananas, to be delivered to the northern markets. 

Admiral Hernandez has ignored the warnings of the Tropezonian spy service, of a nearby large-scale naval exercise of the Imperial Ortosilian Navy. Now he had to act quickly, before the heavier ships of the enemy could sink his old cruisers.

This is how the Second Banana War (1918-9) broke out.

El Matador, Tropezonian armed freighter

Nothing too spectacular - a plastic drinking straw funnel, cardboard and 180g cardstock hull with some attachments. Four gunports were cut and four 50mm quick-firing guns were placed on deck - this way she can protect other ships from Ortosilian raiders.

USS St Louis (C-20) / OIS Debilitación

As I've said in the previous post, I'm back to building 1/600 scale warships (and might have a ruleset that suits them in mind, too): this is the protected cruiser St Louis, not so great, but very white.

Let me explain my prejudice against this particular model: while building and painting her, she fell off the table and was knocked over multiple times, and I had to reinstall the masts at least three or four times before the final coat of varnish was added. 

So the lore behind all of it is that after the class ceased its service in the US Navy, this particular ship was sold to Ortosilia, and became the flagship of the fleet. She was to be renamed OIS Debilitador, but during the ceremony, Prince Arturo of the House of Ortosilia made a mistake, and to cover it up, the ship became Debilitación.

Because I have also built a ship that was designed much later on (and has a strong relation to Hungarian history; people guessing right in the comments below will receive an online pat in the back), I have changed the dates a little, and instead of the late 1890s, the South American naval war would be set after the end of the Great War, so the belligerents could lay their hands on various vessels of the age at a discount. It is a much more glorious fate than being sold and scrapped.

La Gloria, Tropezonian warship

I forgot to post this steam and sail beast, a very outdated warship of the Tropezonian navy. Taking after, and named similarly, to the French warship Gloire, she will be used as a commerce raider as there is little fighting chance against a "modern" warship like the Cagafuego.

(3mm match stick troops added for scale)

I used a black wash after painting the colors and except the drybrush on the hull I left it so, the smoke from the engine and the negligence of the crew would result in the ship being so untidy.

Monitor Duel

The first encounter between the Ortosilian and Tropezonian navies occured at a river estuary. Two monitors spotted each other, and after some maneuvering and exchanges of fire, the Ortosilian ship was sunk. 

This was the first playtest of the 'Coal and Steel' rules. Both ships had the same attributes. One major point of the game is the unlimited range of fire and comparatively small movement allowance: however, a 12" movement for both ships meant they were in range all the time and closed in very quickly. From then on it was up to the luck of the dice.

A land battle will follow using match stick armies and One Hour Wargames, and Coal and Steel will be tested on a fleet encounter.

OIS Cagafuego, South American ironclad

This is the first post celebrating SYWPY2016, and I've added a label to denote this. 

By the 1880s the constant war between Tropezonia and Ortosilia has been affected by industrialization. Yet the two countries were poor compared to the real players - they had to use what they had. 

Similarly to the funds of the Ortosilian Imperial Navy, mine were limited to build this model. It is scratchbuilt from cardstock, cardboard, printing paper, broom bristles, match sticks and a plastic phone card I found. 

The idea is that a heavy duty cargo ship was converted to a warship, generously dubbed "battleship" by Emperor Alejandro VII. It is nonetheless the strongest man-o-war in the area with reinforced hull plating (a little crude solution), a 5" quick-firing barbette gun and four casemate 6" guns. 

The hull is actually hollow, its bottom two layers of cardboard and the top one, the space between them filled only with a few strips to hold the deck in place. I'd like to add some 3mm figures as crew at a later point. The funnel is paper soaked in PVA and rolled up. The rest of the build is quite ordinary, complete with a white primer, block, wash, highlight paint scheme.

The rest of the two navies will consist of armed cargo ships and older style broadside ironclads. There will only be a handful so I can start gaming sooner.

I'm also thinking of resolving conflicts on land using match stick armies and the One Hour Wargames rules. I'm not currently sure how many match sticks I have though!

Ortosilian Garda de Pie + Light infantry

And not that pie! These are Zvezda figures and an Italeri officer for the South American nation of Ortosilia. Inspired by the uniforms of Kleve-Berg, and you could see some snapshots in an earlier post, but here they are with complete bases, 20 figures plus command.

Painting diary XXXI.

I've done some work on the previous weekend but had not the time to complete the bases, so here's some stuff that marched off the painting desk:

The battle of Moonshine Ranch - A South American Sharp Practice AAR

The morning heat was already painful for the well-dressed men of the Ortosilian army as they climbed through the walls of Rancho de Santos near the Tropezonian border. As it goes with most hostilities, the Ortosilian leaders were convinced that the Tropezonian army started them and they were rightful in marching their freshly recruited troops against them near the border, as said in the Portadoro Daily, for 'drill and target practice'.

The ranch has been long abandoned. The de Santos family moved inside the nearest Tropezonian town, the women worked in the clothes manufactory and the head of the family bought some cattle kept in the outskirts. While they lived in the ranch Juan de Santos, son of old Juan, tried to achieve some profit for the place by distilling basically anything he could lay his hands on - and the ranch had enough grapes, peaches and wheat to make all sorts. When they left, quite hurriedly, some of this moonshine was left behind. Now both the Ortosilian and Tropezonian leaders found it would be great motivation for their men to loot this nectar.

South American reinforcements

Continuing with the repaint of the silly South-American nations, these are the 1st Tropezonian Rgt of Foot, the Royal Guard of Ortosilia, the Dragons Amarillos of Tropezonia and two Gribeuval guns plus some packhorses plus some generals for both sides.

Ortosilian 1st Foot Btn. and Foot Guard

First of the more numerous units for the South American Imagi-Nations. Twelve line infantry for the 1st Btn of Foot (Italeri/Esci Russians) and seven Guard Grenadiers (Italeri/Zvezda). Plus Monsieur Jules Descramps, the military advisor.