SYRAKOUSIA VIII : TIPPING THE SCALES

Syrakousia is not forgotten......a word about scale choices.

The common scales for tabletop model ships are 1/1200 1/600 and possible 1/2400.

My idea is to base a game on attacking Syrakousia as she crosses the table to safety. The attackers being a motley crew of pirates on variously sized vessels. Or a Baddies naval flotilla.

Exactly what scale this should take place in is a question to be answered.

Syrakousia is relatively large but we also need to represent the attackers adequately on their smaller vessels. If we take a pentekonter as the typical pirate vessel we can see how big a model will be at various scales.

A 30m pentekonter would be ..so big.. at the various scales...

• 1/2400        12,5mm
• 1/1200        25mm
• 1/600          50mm

These are not very large models, and if we want to represent men...they will be tiny.

Left to Right : 10mm, 6mm, 4mm, 2mm

The only option is to go up a level of magnitude to useable figure scales. 6mm is possible - but still rather fiddly. This is usually accepted as 1/300 scale which gets our pentekonter up to 100mm long. The ship is now a nice size and the figures can be handled but when considering the details of Syrakousia not big enough. Syrakousia at this scale is 65m /300 = 21.6cm. Not a lot of space for detail nor for figures.

4mm scale trieres with
MM 4mm figs

10mm scale is the only solution. And a table larger than a playing card.

10mm is nominally 1/183.. This makes Syrakousia 35cm long. Now that is something you can get your hands on to model. Small details like the cranes and turrets can be done without requiring watchmaker's spectacles. Attacking pentekonters will be 16cm long - and can also be modelled well.

Front to Back :1/1000, Hotz 1/300, 10mm trieres and Syrakousia mock-up in 10mm

I am not getting younger, my hands and eyesight do not improve with the years. The argument for 10mm is irrefutable. Syrakousia will sail on a 10mm seascape.

Jollity for June : The Ides of March

Lurcio becomes Caesar ! Try to spot the difference ! A natural patrician..

Raunchy chariot racing, costume changes,  confusion and comicry. Farsicus Maximus.

Shipyards on Overtime

I got the models made and cast off a bunch of ships for the Salamis project.

These are 1/1000 scale - which actually go well with others which are nominally 1/1200.

First my insect collection !

No it is actually a bunch of deck fighter units. I have two sizes so there can be a step reduction for hits.

They are taken off Irregular miniatures 2mm strips. Irregular have many different HERE

Small and very imperfectly formed. But they do the job. I made some small plastic pincers to move them around.

The ships are cast in urethane resin.  Light and easy to cut. I did discover that it needs mega-washing to get rid of the mould-release agent. I think I will go back to vegetable oil ........

This is how 3 days can disappear....

 
The Greeks.. 5 different.

Note the trieres in the foreground, Andrew....

The deck fighters do the job...

 Here are the Persians. 5 different. As with mature wargamers, close-ups can be cruel. But these are painted for mass production. Actually the shields need painting..oops.

And some wreck markers in case the worst happens ...
Some for each side. Plus men in the water !
Any mis-casts can also be used for these.

So that was how the holiday weekend vanished in the shed ! It's like a Tardis.

Jeux avec des galères anciennes

A great series of battle reports with a variety of scenarios can be found on the blog of the Brest Historical Games Club  JHP.- Jeux d'Histoire du Ponant.

Battle of Tauris Island HERE

 Not only do they have nice ships, they have nice scenery. (Which ship models ? Ed.)

Nice ripply tabletop.

Still an annoying tendency to throw wierd markers over a nicely made game but.......

Battle of Sybota HERE

The rules used are a modified versionof a set published in Vae Victis magazine in 1996  and Poseidon' Warriors - reviewed HERE.

Battle of Chios HERE

Very nice models and scenery used in varied scenarios to game the best type of wargame!

(Of course the blog is in French. Use Google Translate)

SALAMIS 10mm New Recruits

I got the troops for my 10mm Phoenician triereis today.

Some Immortals..

 And some average 'Eastern spearmen'..

And Immortals again..

I plan to do some small episodes from Salamis..

Great deal from Wild Duck Trading.  I'll get some on the table for a game and post photos later.

SALAMIS SHIPS 3 - OFF THE SLIPWAY

I threw some paint on the ship prototypes.

 They dont look too bad.

The idea is to paint a lot quickly, so I cannot afford to be too fussy (or be a better painter? Ed.).

They will do the job methinks. I am now constructing a mould for 10 ships. I cannot wait to see many war-galleys lined up against each other. Hundreds, even !

Excuse the execrable background art.

SALAMIS SHIPS IN THE DOCKYARD 2

I got round to casting off some of my Salamis 1/1000 triereis.

1/3600 fortification and 4 frech triereis

 
They are quite satisfactory with no high tech equipment necessary - just 21st century chemistry!
 

No bubbles to speak of, nice detail.

Now I will make another 6 prototypes and mould them so I can cast 10 at a time....

Umber wash to see better...

 If this is too time-consuming or expensive I will switch to glue-gun glue or  air-drying clay.

It will take about a day to cast 100 of these...allowing time for coffee and other things...