"Form Line of Battle" : Napoleonic Naval Small Squadron Action

A small Royal Navy squadron of HMS Thunderer (74) and HMS Canopus (80) spots a suspicious pair of sails on the distant horizon (see below):

The sails turn out to be a small French squadron of two ships Le Franklin (74) and the Commerce de Marseilles (120) obviously intent on conducting a secret mission for the Emperor (see below):

Despite being out gunned the Royal Navy commander decides on a aggressive strategy of cutting the enemy (French) line, so the fittingly named HMS Thunderer leads the charge. HMS Canopus and the Commerce de Marseilles have exchanged fire resulting in "sail and mast" damage to both. As HMS Thunderer blocks HMS Canopus' line of sight to the French flagship Canopus turns her attention to the Le Franklin (see below, British squadron at top of photograph, French bottom):

The ambitious "breaking the line" manoeuvre goes somewhat awry as the captain of HMS Thunderer miscalculates the relative speeds of the two ships and impales herself on a ship twice her size (a crew of over a thousand Frenchmen compared to under five hundred British sailors). This meant interested reading and re-reading of the collision rules (see below):

As a wargame the battle had to be left unfinished, in rather a shambolic state, with the French flagship being entangled with the small British 74 (HMS Thundered). HMS Canopus and Le Franklin meanwhile continued their exchanges of broadside upon broadside, leaving both in a state of mutual "de-sailing and de-masting" (see below):

Chances are the Le Franklin will succumb to the continued attention of HMS Canopus as both ships become static floating fortresses, the rate of fire from the British being better. However if HMS Thunderer cannot untangle herself from the French flagship ultimately the battle will be lost to the French.

A 60:40 probability to the French methinks ;)

How to build the "Commerce de Marsailles" (Part 2 of2) 1/1200 Nap Naval

The last bit of painting before the rigging (gasp, intake of breath and sweaty forehead) saw white highlights on the gun ports (see below):

A final reddening of the interior bulwarks then push the paintbrush to the side and out with the black cotton thread. Starting at the front of the ship and the crazy polygon of the bow sprit, a ting knot at the front and a circuit of the sails, dabbing super glue as I go  (see below):

Then near vertical (well 60 degrees) thread lines are dropped from sails as I work towards the back of the ship adding the last two masts (see below):

"Secret Weapon 47" a cunning new Napoleonic shipbuilding resource. A ridiculously cheap, pink plastic brush than is "de-toothed" and its bristles used for rigging lines (see below):

These rigging lines are used for the previously impossible mast-to-mast diagonal rigging lines where "thread simply could not reach" (see below):

Sadly the brush I have is not long enough to replace ALL the cotton thread too, so I will have to keep my eye out for a longer haired (cheap) brush, but it seems to work (see below):

The final cut does not look too bad IMHO (see below):

This means I will have to revisit the Royal Navy squadron of 74's and do their "interior diagonals" too. Then sorts the "interior rigging" puzzle, still outstanding are the rat-lines I need to run up each mast (which perhaps the plastic brush may assist with) and the authentic sea basing which should cut down on "rough handling". I am keen to start experimenting with a strange jar of "Artist's medium" that apparently I have to mix into paint to make it a quick setting jelly, perfect for faking the 'sea effect'.  

How to build the "Commerce de Marsailles" (Part 1 of 2) 1/1200 Nap Naval

French Shipbuilding Program: 

As the French Navy are in dire need of reinforcements I decided to assemble the "Commerce de Marsailles" a huge 120 gunner (1st Rate of the Ocean class). Her sister was the Orient, the French flagship at The Battle of the Nile. The "Commerce de Marsailles" was yet another French Navy ship captured and used against her former owners, but after being damaged in a storm early in her RN career she became a long term "hulk" in Portsmouth.

From the black undercoat the sails and deck were painted (see below):

A quick dry run run through is always worth it (see below, note the dangerous RN squadron in the background):

After a 360 degree review (aided with a cup of tea to hand) and more than one look at the painting notes, I decided the deck was far too light for the French Navy "teak" so I repaint the the deck using Vallejo, Game Colour, Dark Flesh (see below):

Pressing on I browned up the hull and highlighted the ships boats (see below):

I gave the deck a weak black wash (using Tamiya XF1 Matte Black) to calm things down (see below):

Then I started the "yellow striping" process along the sides of the hull, with a dark yellow/brown (Vallejo, Came Colour, Plague Brown) shade colour (see below):

Then I started lightening up the yellow with a Golden Yellow (Vallejo, Game Colour again), adding a dash of white to lighten in further (see below):

The whole thing is a slow process which cannot be rushed. I have heard it described as 'Zen-like' but I am always on the fraught edge of thinking I am going to ruin it until the rigging is done and dusted (where deadly slips and fumbling falls cam occur in 'manual handling').

Something French (with a little bit of German on the side) on the Painting Table

Modelling Projects: 

Next up, on the "Napoleonic Ship" modelling front (or should I simply say "shipyard") is the first of the French "Commerce de Marsailles" a 120 gun 'monster' (though even she was again used against her original owners after again being captured by the British, but Navwar lists her as a French ship). 

The rationale of my choice being that my collection of Napoleonic 74's (bar HMS Thunderer) are really capable as serving as "dual nationality" (especially as I have not put any flags on any of them). Two out of three of them started life with the French Navy and also had 'other' French sisters of the same type. Therefore a big nasty "120 gunner" with a "74 gunner" companion in French colours should put up a decent fight against two British "74 gunners". Does it make sense to you? I hope so! 

The "Commerce de Marsailles" is shown belwo in her naked metal under construction (see below):  

As I was painting her an undercoat of aTmiya XF1 black I decided to catch up with undercoating the French D2 Infantry Tank, a 1/72 SHQ model I had assembled a while back (see below):

If there is one thing that annoys me about those "rare" metal tanks you have to buy to make up your OoB (apart from the hefty price) is the fact that to avoid casting a hell of a lot of wasted lead, the model is always artificially hollowed out without being provided with a flush bottom. 

Perhaps a small and petty thing to others, but to me it is an annoyance as it makes the kit unnatural to pick up and silly if viewed from the wrong angle. Seeing as it was only me that had this problem, rather than start a petition to the Prime Minister , I decided to add a plasticard bottom to the D2 (see below):

It worked so well (IMHO) I decided to add it to the German Propaganda Tank too (see below):

The two metal early war tanks (with 'plasticard' bottoms), the black undercoated 1/72 SHQ beasts parade their wares (see below):

Their camouflage paint jobs will have to come at a later time as "other projects" are crying out for my time. Priority goes to stuff that is needed for war games .