All tiny hands on deck

CONSIDERING SCALES, AGAIN

maybe a touch larger than 2mm...

The most common scales for model galleys are 1/600 and 1/1200.

1/600 ships can look very nice with the extra space for detail and one can put figure blocks on the decks to represent deck troops.

1/1200 ships are perfectly good but no longer have space enough to accommodate figures or even a marker on their decks.

In terms of table space 1/600 gives a c.1km table edge on the traditional 6x4 whilst 1/1200 gives c.2km.

A game with Athenians v Spartans

I decided that deck troops look good and wanted to use some figures. The only options are 1/300 – 6mm figures and Irregular's 2mm range.

6mm is out straight away for these smaller scales. They look like giants on 1/600 ships and collossi on 1/1200.

2mm being the only option it is immediately apparent that they are too small on the 1/600 ships and still too large to use on 1/1200. Basically, 1/1200 is a scale where one cannot use any kind of figures or markers on deck.

What is 2mm scale ? If we take a fighter as 5'8” to six feet tall in his boots and helmet then a 2mm figure is modelled at 1/900-1/800.

2mm deck fighters on 1/800 triereis

Now, to ground scale. A 40 metre 'Mark II' trieres at 1/1200 is 3.3cm long. At 1/600 this will be 6,6cm. I noticed that a nice, round,5cm lies between, at 1/800 – 40 metres divided by 5cm is 800. Lo and behold it is Irregular's scale....

The ground scale can be rounded to 1/1000 which gives a table side of 1.8km and makes translations from maps easier.

But ships !? It is necessary to produce one's own for this scale. However, this is not so bad as it seems because they are not so fiddly as 1/1200 and not so detail-demanding as 1/600. Maybe I will cast some in lead eventually but until now they can be built from card, plastic and paper – and plenty of glue and paint.

2mm deck fighters ready for action

BIG MEN ON BIG SHIPS

Wargamer Tom Young has some fine photos of a whole fleet of Trieres in 28mm?scale on his blog 'Tides of War'. He has done a scenario based on the battle of Notium in 407BC - the one where the orders 'Do nothing' got reinterpreted as 'Here's the fleet, have fun while I'm away'.

Nice photos of very nice painted epibatai and a small horde of ships.

Click to go there.

I recommend a browse around Tom's blog to make you jealous of his painting and scenery.
He has a wife and kids and still has time to do all that.....hat off!

Exceedingly small irritations

Having taken the plunge, received a flock of minute trieres from Outpost Wargame Services.

The initial impression was that I had given up detailed card models for something that was really a marker rather than a model. Closer inspection proved this to be a false impression.
(Note to card/paper wargaming skeptics : I am still determined to produce the card models for larger scale gaming !)

The whole fleet of 150 trieres cost a satisyingly slight 300 Kr - 28 pounds.

Outpost fleet of 150 trieres.

 Under examination by eye I still thought the detail was slight and these would be little better than counters.

 I undercoated them with a thin wash of acrylic white with a touch of brown. Then looked agian.
This time the details hidden by the metallic sheen were clear. Suprisingly much detail !
 Each ship is  12mm long and so in terms of scale  1/3066 if the miniature is taken from Olympias, which it appears to be , but no problem for the nominal  scale 1/3600.

You can see below how much detail they have managed to put onto this small miniature.

 

I painted them with acrylics and a size 1 brush, using a magnifier. Maybe smaller brushes would allow more detail but I want to paint a load quickly. It is also difficult to see very small details on the finished item - especially with my eyes - so excessive detailing is wasted.

Only 9  passes painted 20 in a couple of hours.

undercoat of light wood
a dark line either side of upper hull.
bow and stern in burnt sienna
deck level in darker wood
ram flecked in with gold
sea base is white with cobalt blue swirled into it.
white oar tracks - not so realistic but give impression of movement and point to rear, helpfully.
whole gloss varnished
washed with black ink diluted 66% with water

The results are fine. Individual ships may not bear close inspection, but not many play a game with magnifying spectacles on !

 En masse they look great. I normally use bases of acetate. Thicker than a photocopy transparency but not as thick as perspex. When the light does not reflect too harshly they look fantastic, he said humbly.

Outpost's little model is great. I will be trying the others for the Hellenistic and Punic Wars battles.
Now I have admitted the scale of 1/3000 is necessary for doing 1:1 battle refights these miniature seem ideal. Others I will try are TUMBLING DICE with 1/2400 ships that may still fit on my bases and allow a more detailed paint job that is more visible.

Column versus Line 1/3000

Finally, 1:1 fleet battles almost at hand!

Wargame blogger STEEL ON SAND also has a review of more of Outpost's galleys.

SIZE MATTERS IN ANOTHER WAY

 

The rules for trieres battles I have been developing for some time have a horrible tendency to lead themselves over a cliff now and again. Some logical progression results in undermining the basic principles they are built upon.
 
From the beginning I was using Hotz models at circa 1/300 scale. This resulted in problems with time and space which were unsurmountable. It is ok to fight a skirmish with a handful of Roman liburnæ versus a handful of 'Saxon'pirates. A full fleet action with fifty or more ships becomes impossible, however.

Congestion

This is a problem for other sets of rules too, for example 'Naumachia'. Some rules go for allowing large numbers of ships from the start , such as 'Corvus' but the problem one then hits is that the colour and atmosphere of the game is somewhat bleached out.

I think I have a good handle on what trieres combat was all about and one thing it requires is space. Even with my card models at 1/400 down to 1/500 they struggle to allow large numbers on the table without a whole set of special provisions for leaving and reentering the area of combat.
 

Where will it end ?

This problem of space applies only to the golden age of the trieres. Many battle even at this time and most later, took place in restricted areas or even harbours with a style of combat which hinged on deck combat or involved fewer ships-often larger but
triereis need space !

A concomitant problem is the length of the rule book. My brain rebels at the sight of long chapters on each aspect of how to have a game just as much as my wallet rebels against buying tomes including a lot of padding and data I can get un-pre-digested from original sources. Before I become guilty of the same sins it is time to slash and burn.

 My decision over the last months has been to extract the key concepts and rules and produce a new one. But not to throw the old one away. Frustratingly, the decision to acknowledge that trieres warfare was very special also forces acknowledgement of the need to make a very special rules set for them. This does not mean the two sets would be totally distinct. The trieres rules should be a basis for the others which also include more detail, suitable for the later battles. 

Size became an issue again. Larger trieres battles cannot be fought at scales below about 1/3000 I have decided. Smaller tabletops result in very short game turn durations and limited manoeuvre room. I needed 5 minute turns and space for fleets to make their evolutions. In addition, the usual problem of having to scale the numbers involved down can give way to the possibility at this scale for representing every vessel !
 




I now have 'Triereis of the Gods' for 1/3000 games and 'Blood-Dark Sea' for 1/450.





As a start I have made some attempts at models in this scale.

1/3000 triereis, 6mm Perians, Top-Down Squadron 1/6000(!)

 Outpost Wargame Services also have models available at 1/3600 which look suitable.

In the meantime, top-down prints and matchsticks are standing-in.

Frustration at diverting again from my original aim to field lots of card models is not total, though. A good realistic triereis battle will be something novel and a good game I think. And, a set of rules for using the card ships in moderate numbers in dense ship melees will also be fun!.

ad infinitum?