WW1 Naval Project Pick Up

It's been absolutely nuts since coming back from Brittany, with a funeral in Bath, a day trip down to Plymouth to pick up stuff from the boy's flat and even a missing person man hunt for a friend's elderly relative, who wandered off from his sheltered housing and got lost overnight.

This means I've not had time for anything remotely wargaming related, so instead I've set out what I'm going to do for the rest of the month, prior to starting a new project in September.  

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2025/06/summer-naval-project-ww1.html

I have been focusing on the First World War this year including the naval campaign in the Black Sea and the hint for the Goeben, with a Turkish fleet ready for painting, so this will be my focus for the rest of the month. 

I may also tinker with a few other things of a naval persuasion, such as rebasing the 1/600th War of the Pacific stuff and perhaps even refurbishing the 1/1200th scale models I was given, but nothing too much as I just won't get it done otherwise!

1/2400th Scale WW1 RN Destroyers

I needed some 1/2400th scale destroyers for my 'Get The Goeben!' naval project, ideally Beagle or 'G' class DD's to be based in Malta for the solo campaign, but Tumbling Dice don't have any and GHQ are not available any more in the UK (I don't think they have any either). I have found some 3D printed 'L' Class destroyer models on eBay, which are three to a pack for four quid, so took a punt and ordered some. They are nicely detailed and could even pass for 'G' class DD's with a bit of light surgery but, as with most 3D printed ships in smaller scales, they do suffer from bendy hulls and are a bit fragile if you try to un-banana them with too much enthusiasm. They'll do for the moment but I think I might scratch build some ships out of plastic card in the long run.

Get the Goeben!

Righto. The Plan B for my WW1 naval project this year is to set up and run a solo mini-campaign based on the Catch the Goeben campaign in the Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnought Far Flung Seas supplement. As I already have the two German warships assembled and ready to paint, I thought it would be a shame not to use them for another one of my solo campaigns.

By happen chance, I also have most of the Royal Navy warships required for the campaign, give or take, as a result of acquiring a bundle of Tumbling Dice models a while back. I will need to splash out on the French and Austro Hungarian warships, however, but these are in reasonable numbers so not too much of a hit on the pocket money. 

I think this will be a lot of fun and with good replay value, especially if I use a range of different rules for variety. There's obviously the Age of Dreadnought rules to start with but this campaign would also be perfect for Si Vis Pacem, for example. The plan now is to order the models in time for the holidays, during which I can assemble, base and paint them, ready for a kick off in the autumn.