Small Victories at Sea

The Regio Marina

The Regio Marina got it's first outings yesterday against bloggers Tank and Pooch, sailing the Royal Navy and the US Navy respectively. Without going into a blow-by-blow, the two games were really interesting.

In both games, the Vittorio Veneto did a lot of heavy lifting, sinking the HMS Belfast and the HMS Warspite before being gunned down HMS Hood against Tank and destroying basically the entire US fleet, less the USS Sangamon and a crippled USS West Virginia solo before being sunk. The challenge for me was learning where to place my ships and how to get my most effective weapons to be most effective. I outranged both fleets with my battleships but spent too much time closing with them, which was probably not a great plan, instead of trying to keep them at arm's length. 

Some highlights:

In which the RM Vittorio Veneto lines up HMS Warspite and HMS Belfast

In which I miss the USS Northampton with MAS Boats

In which Dauntlesses finish off the Vittorio Veneto before she can sink the USS West Virginia

I learned what happens when a US Cruiser takes a full broadside from a modern battleship and we learned that we've been getting the Devastating rules wrong and they are in fact devastating. I also learned that MAS Boats are neat and overall that my fleet, with all it's frustrating as hell candy stripes, looks pretty cool on table.

In conclusion, the Conte di Cavour and the Vittorio Veneto are both fine ships and will serve me well and I suspect that the Luigi Cadorna is in the same class, although taking a dive bomber to the deck put paid to my finding out. A look through the list after the game also suggests that the Duca d'Aosta, which is on the release schedule, is a good looking ship on paper and in model form, so we'll be all in there.

I'm less convinced as to why I'm paying 60 points for the Etna, a vessel that for 10 points more could be replaced with two Navigatori-class destroyers who have fewer hull points but are a) destroyers, b) fast and c) have torpedoes.

I also feel like I validated my general feeling that I should field fighter escorts as most of my ships don't have enough AA or, in some cases, no DP guns.

Next Stage Catalina

So I've finished the assembly, bar the clear plastic parts, and have put on a base coat of Luftwaffe Grey, as it's the nicest blue-grey I have, to see where else I need to fill. I love using Vallejo plastic putty as a gap filler but it shrinks as it dries so some gaps need a couple of fills and I've found that painting them does tend to help find the things that need doing.

Wonky Catalina is wonky

 A close look will also tell you that the top wing is slightly off level and yet the top of the hull is snugly fit into the recess on the wing underside. I discovered this when I fitted the struts under the wings and had to clip maybe 0.5mm off the ends to make the struts fit. Honestly, that's kind of just how this kit has panned out. I had similar experiences with the AC-130 but this kit has vexed me somewhat more. 

So now there's some more filling to do, some new transfers to order and then I can do the paint and fit the clear windshields and the nose turret. I suspect she'll get done in a couple of weeks.

L'Art de la Guerre

Also known as the rebasening. I spent a chunk of the weekend tearing all my old Byzantines off their bases, finding all the missing spears (none, I think!) and getting the most complex basing effort done first. With that, I give you what Blogger Tank described as a clown car:

CLOWN CAR!

Byzantine Kataphraktoi! A trotting, stabbing, pew-pewing clown car, but a clown car nonetheless. Honestly, I had 8 models and Cataphracts should be 4 per base because reasons. So much knurdling and finangling now I have two bases that can go edge to edge in either direction. They cannot column, ever. I still need to get the razor saw out and take a bit of material off those bases overhanging the base but that's no drama.

Next Time

Some things from the queue. I haven't really felt that inclined to paint at the mo, so I've been working on other productive projects. Getting the next two of my DnD models done and maybe knocking the Necromunda gangers on the head will be a plan...