It’s the dog days of Summer, and Greg and Andy are back with another hot episode! First up, they interview Rory Crabb, the designer of Naval Command and other games. Then, they discuss Andy’s modern naval miniatures project, including he pros and cons of scale selection and what pieces are needed to play a variety of scenarios.
Rory Crab Interview: 32 Min
Modern Naval Minis: 1 Hr 4 Min
Links Discussed in the Show:
Naval Command Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/300684510519557
Rory’s Blog: https://rorycrabb.wordpress.com/blog/
Thanks for the podcast on modern naval miniature wargames and Rory Crabb’s Naval Command. It has been on my list to play and the new version looks like the one to try.
Thanks also for mentioning XP Forge’s line of naval miniatures. Nice to find another vendor to add to Stephen Jolly’s 1/2400 Modern Naval Miniatures spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11-nDmSG2pipxO3QfPD77jsu1OHfhyoh6is3t5LWjIus/edit?usp=sharing). Good to see they have a number of miniatures not (or sparsely) covered by others. Really nice to see four different types of Tarantul/Pauk Class corvettes!
A few (metal) vendors you left out who have a lot of ship types, some quite detailed:
* Viking Forge (http://thevikingforge.net/1-2400-minifleet.html) has a moderns from nine countries. Mostly cold war ships, but there are newer ships from China, Taiwan, France and Germany. There are even a number of small missile boats. The Sea Battle line are very good and Viking Forge is very inexpensive for the quality. They also have a number of support ships such as US Navy oilers and dry cargo/ammunition ships. Many are Cold War era.
* Legions IV Hire (https://www.legionsivhire.ca/index.php?id_category=120&controller=category) produces the PFC CinC ships, mostly US/Soviet ships from the mid-late Cold War.
* Alnavco produces the Superior line of ships (http://alnavco.com/2400SUPMOD.asp). It includes mostly Cold War era ships from six countries. Most inexpensive, but the least detailed.
For civilian ships, Stephen Jolly’s 1/2400 Modern Naval Miniatures spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11-nDmSG2pipxO3QfPD77jsu1OHfhyoh6is3t5LWjIus/edit?usp=sharing) has a number of them at the bottom including bulk carriers, LNG tankers, oil rigs, container ships and even the Maersk Tripple E. Most of these are Shapeways ships. The Sea Battle/Viking Forge AOT-128 Sealift Pacific transport oiler is a good oil tanker, though if you want big, Alnavco/Superior has a ESSO ATLANTIC Super Tanker. For fishing boats, the Viking Forge WWI-era Trawlers are very inexpensive and the Sea Wulf Farnella Class MCMV’s pass as more modern trawlers.
If the manufacturer doesn’t have pictures, I might. Check out https://www.jamesokeefe.org/category/when-imagination-fails/ and https://whenimaginationfails.org/images/Naval/.
The nice thing about 1/2400 as a modern naval scale is its flexibility. You can run a no holds bared fleet action or Persian Gulf tussle. Missile boats aren’t microscopic and carriers don’t take up 1/6th of the table. Speaking of missile boats, you should take a look at David Manley’s Bulldogs Away (https://www.wargamevault.com/product/276221/Bulldogs-Away-2nd-Edition). He has also written quite a lot of naval miniature wargame rules and would be good to have on your podcast.
Finally, I’ll make a plug for 1/1200 scale air craft such the Cap Aero line as those at Last Square (lastsquare.com) and elsewhere. Large enough that you won’t lose your helicopters on the table, but small enough that your Backfires, Bears and B-52s don’t rival your cruisers.
Thanks again for the podcast. Hope I provided some useful info for your and others gaming needs.
Thank you very much for the informative post! I apologize for missing out on mentioning some of the manufacturers you listed.