HMS Victory: the Master Modeler's Art

Julián Fernández de Sevilla Campos of ModelJShip has just shared with me his conversion of the new HMS Victory by Ares Games. This particular model was not built for me, regrettably, but for Julián's personal collection. However I think the craftsmanship is outstanding and he has given permission for me to feature the finished conversion on my Blog.

First, the out-of -the-box model:

And now, the definitive HMS Victory in 1:1000 scale.

1:1200 vs 1:1000 Scale Model Ships

I have been comparing Rod Langton's 1:1200 metal ships, here represented by the 36-gun Apollo Class frigate HM Euryalus (1803) and the 1:1000 plastic ships by Ares, shown here by the 32-gun Concorde Class frigate, Hermoine (1779). I think they can be used together or as substitutes.

They will of course need common bases. I intend to make a Sails of Glory base and card for HMS Euryalus.

HMS Pickle (1799)

Here is my new Langton Miniatures 1:1200 scale model of the Tops'l Schooner HMS Pickle. She carried 8 x 12 pounder carronades and a crew of 40. I have converted the model for use in "Sails of Glory" to carry dispatches, transfer the Admiral's flag, etc. 

Under the command of Lt. John Richards Lapenotière, Pickle performed valuable tasks at Trafalgar, not possible for the much larger Ships of the Line. 

She rescued survivors, towed dismasted vessels and was selected to take the dispatches: “Sir, we have gained a great victory. But we have lost Lord Nelson.”

This model was painted and lightly rigged by myself. I'm no Master Modeler and rarely show images of any of my own work. However, encouraged by my friend Jeff Lower (a real artist) I was encouraged to show what I have been able to do.

Here Pickle is compared with much larger rated vessels in the Ares Sails of Glory fleet.

I hope this shows that Langton 1:1200 models, at least the smaller unrated vessels, can be used alongside the 1:1000 scale SOG models. This opens lots of possibilities for customizing the fleet.

My next experiment in, terms of SOG compatibility, will be to see what can be done with Langton frigates, next time by a real Master.

Sails of Glory: The Great Arms Race

Ares: Sails of Glory

This is the current state of my "Sails of Glory" collection. That is, before the Wave 2 series becomes available in May!

Some thoughts:

1. This is an excellent game, as much fun as Wings of Glory has proven to be for WW1 and WW2 aerial warfare.

2. The models are robust, pleasant to look at and game, cards, mats and boards are all of good quality.

3. The Anchorage is working hard to release brass ratlines/shrouds to improve the appearance of the models. Order them as soon as they go on preorder.

4. After a very successful Kickstarter launch, the production models quickly sold out and and are very hard to find anywhere. I did not subscribe to Kickstarter, a mistake I don't plan to repeat. I have been lucky to find the Kickstarter special models, notably HMS Bellerophon and Fougueux, on eBay for $75-80 per model (thank you 12-7 games!).

5. Order the complete Wave 2 series from the Anchorage store before you go to bed tonight. These are HOTCAKES!

6. Invest in 2 or 3 playmats. They make the game play so much more enjoyable. Also don't forget to order your additional ship mats since these only come with the Starter Set (unless you wisely ordered from Kickstarter). Keith at Aerodrome/Anchorage is a real hero of the hobby with the best customer service. Order from him without concern.


And keep supporting Wings of Glory. Can't wait to see what Ares does next...

Sails of Glory

Today I took the plunge into uncharted waters. Inspired by my very recent forays into Wings of Glory/War I decided to pre-order the about to be released follow-on game from Ares Games: Sails of Glory.

Like Wings, Sails uses a card system and a "dash board" to run the game with little reference to rules and no dice. It looks good. Let's see how it plays.

Good bad or ugly, Ares does a great job marketing its product. Simple miniatures manufactured in China and packaged and marketed by a company in Italy never looked so compelling! I have a feeling this is going to be the way of the future for many mainstream board games and miniatures.

A far cry from the brown cardboard boxes and sawdust packing material of my youth. However the core of this game as with Wings is a very clever card-based playing system that allows quick but fairly realistic play without the usual assembling, painting and rules-studying that was the prerequisite for most miniature based wargames in the past.