The Hun The Frog & The Lion - 3

                          The Hun The Frog & The Lion - 3: The Boats

The Series continues about this scenario I ran at Recon and will be running again at Hurricon with the naval portion of this battle. The scenario specs called for a civilian transport with a low draft to be converted into an armed steamer to bring the western troops to Mogadir. The French chose the civilian ship the Cite De La Meers. For this boat I used an awesome model made by my friend Last Stand Dan. He calls this boat the "R" Class Steamer and fits the bill perfectly. Dan hides magnets under the decks and glues matching magnets to the underside of the desired armament to keep them in place during games.


                                 French Gunboat: Cite De La Meers

The crew is French but the gunners are all German, as negotiated by their respective nations prior to the raid.

Native Dhows

The scenario calls for the possible arrival of (2) armed dhows fully crewed by veteran sailors and troops returning to Mogadir from pillaging the coast and any targets of opportunity.

Once again I turned to my buddy "Last Stand Dan" for a boat. The one pictured above with grey trim is a two masted dhow that he had made for me. It's another excellent model. All of Dan's boats are exceptional. He builds and sells many varieties of boats to choose from. He makes boats in 25mm as well as 15mm scales.

The Xebec with the green trim was made by the well known ship builder Richard Huston. I bought this boat well over ten year ago from my friend Patrick Wilson of TVAG. He sells Richard's boats as well as all sorts of other cool wargaming stuff.

Landing Craft

The troops need a conveyance to get them to their destination. I've used landing boats purchased at flea markets, ebay, and most recently from a new company based in Miami, Fl. Firelock Games who produce a pirate game supported by figs, ships, rules, etc. Their "row" boat is the perfect size and scale for my colonial games and works perfectly fitting 10-12, 25mm figs on small 3/4 x3/4 magnetized bases. I get all my magnetized bases from my buddy ACW Bill of Good Ground Miniatures, maker of the best 10mm ACW figs around. He sells all sizes of magnetized bases.

The rowboat to the left is the one from Firelock Games.

Next up: Post -4: Meet The Hun The Frog & The Lion.

Here's a list of the boat vendors of toys used in this post.

Last Stand Dan: http://laststanddan.blogspot.com/

TVAG - The Virtual Armchair General: http://thevirtualarmchairgeneral.com/

Firelock Games: http://www.firelockgames.com/

Figure bases, Good Ground Miniatures: http://crackerlineminis.com/

http://www.hmgs-south.com/

The Congo Boats have arrived!!!

The Congo Boats have arrived!!!

My new custom made Congo / Darkest Africa boats have arrived from the “Last Stand Dan’s Boatyard”.

With all the hubbub about the new rules set “Congo” visions of river excursions, dense jungles, ancient ruins, angry natives, and evil slavers danced in my head fueling multiple scenarios. So I decided to ask my buddy Dan to make me some Congo style boats, and boy he didn’t disappoint! He makes all sorts of colonial vessels, gunboats, stern wheel and side wheel steamers, dhows, junks, etc. Check out his blog for pics, WIP’s, details, and prices (which are VERY reasonable by the way!).

http://laststanddan.blogspot.com/

Here is his prototype “Congo” steamer. Simple, effective, designed for gaming, sleek, and elegant! I especially like the paddle wheel assembly and the decks. One look at this boat and I immediately envision it steaming down the Congo delivering trade goods, transporting adventurers, packed with archeologists, or troops and supplies to assist a beleaguered mosquito infested garrison.

 

Dan has added steel hidden under the decking in the bow and stern to accommodate guns with small magnets added to their bases to easily change the boats armament or have it unarmed without spoiling the look of the deck.

With a quick change of a flag inserted in the attached rod these boats can fly anyone’s colors. Dan will also be supplying various nation’s flags for us to choose from and possibly even various types of armaments.

No Congo or DA game would be complete without Dhows! Picture the evil Slavers prowling the rivers, supplies being ferried up and down river, natives fishing, etc. These boats are at home on the Blue Nile as well as the White Nile River, carrying Dervish tribesmen, armed with cannons, attacking paddle steamers and gunboats!  These boats are once again VERY user friendly and designed for gamers.

this Dhow actually does double duty as a Chinese Junk. With the removal of the single sail and the addition of bow and stern pieces plus two masts this Dhow can be a junk in under a minute! Dan used the same hasp type hardware and thick fabric masts to make this cool Junk.

The Dhow came packed with the mast down and lying flat in the boat. I easily inserted the mast, clipped the (2) rigging hasps, clipped the (1) hasp for the sail, placed the sail line magnet on the hidden steel, inserted the front sail line in the small hole in the bow of the deck and it was ready for the game in under a minute. The mast comes out without having to remove the rigging as the rear is permanently attached and the front lines use hasps to secure it. This is a perfect Dhow for 25/28mm figs. I fit a full 20 man TSATF unit in the rear and a gun with crew in the bow with space to spare.

These boats will look stunning on Dwight’s tables at Hurricon and Recon in Orlando, Florida and Rapier Con in Jacksonville, Florida, where he runs his Darkest Africa games. We use the rules set “The Sword In Africa”. It’s a Darkest Africa rules set from Sgt’s 3 that are in the same rules book as “The Sword And The Flame”. This is our preferred rules set, which we play as often as possible. We usually play in (2) TSIA games at each of our South Florida cons. These games are HUGE FUN and The Sword In Africa is an excellent set of rules for this period and theatre. I may be biased, but I think Dan’s boats are a beautiful addition to anyone Congo, Darkest Africa, or Colonial collections! Dan’s customer service and communication are excellent as well. If you are lucky you may see Dan and his boats at a con anywhere from Colorado to Florida.

A fully loaded and armed Dhow.....

I may be biased, but I think Dan’s boats are a beautiful addition to anyone Congo, Darkest Africa, or Colonial collections! Dan’s customer service and communication are excellent as well. If you are lucky you may see Dan and his boats at a con anywhere from Colorado to Florida.

Here's the link for the local Florida chapter of HMGS-South and the (2) conventions a year that we run as well as the other awesome Florida con, Rapier Con that the Jacksonville Garrison runs each year.

www.hmgs-south.com  &  http://www.rapiercon.com/

Cheers,

JB