Another Day, Another Diversion

A chance comment at a meeting and a post on an internet forum and I'm off on another diversion. This time it is the resurrection of my Ancient and Renaissance fleet action rules. To be precise, its me getting diverted in generating a set of ship bases that I can print out and use with the rules (since I've been working on updated versions of the rules for a while now). The models are roughly 1/2400 scale and fit two or three ships on a base (although the Galleass for the Renaissance set will probably be an individual model).

 These are the first test prints I've completed. I tried texturing the bases but they looked pretty awful so I'm sticking with plain bases so I'm assuming the battle is fought in calm seas :)  I need to have a think about paint schemes as well. These look OK but I'd like to make the ensemble a but more striking. (any ideas?)

The parent model is a galley model made by Captain_Ahab_62 on Thingiverse. I've amended the model here to make a cataphract version, and additional versions with towers. 

The original model can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3057533

I've also used the basic model to make a small set of Renaissance galleys. I'll be aiming to print off a test set tomorrow.

Conn....Sonar

Some time ago I joined the Conn...Sonar FB group and downloaded the rules. For those that don't know, CS is a fun set of submarine vs submarine wargame rules (there are later additions that bring in ships and aircraft, but at its heart it is sub vs sub). I have a load of 1/700 models - and I keep finding odd ones that I never finished; a 688 was unearthed in my spares box yesterday. However, 1/700 models look way too big on the table. They would be ideal for a demo or parti game at a show but unless the "ground" scale was stretched in a regular game the models would look quite cramped.

Fortunately, Thingiverse and the Photon have come to the rescue. After a few searches, some downloading and a series of mostly successful prints I have a small collection of 1/2400 models. Some more hunting got me a few more designs which I printed out yesterday, so now I just need to sort out sets of control cards for the boats and I should be ready to go :)