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Monday 6 September 2010

Large-scale naval wargames?

Yesterday's blog entry seems to have generated a few comments ... and made me realise how many model ship plans with wargaming potential I had in my archive.

Now for many years I have wanted to stage a Pacific War island-hopping game, but never thought that it was possible ... but I now realise that I have plans of several of the ships that I would need (an Escort Carrier, a couple of US Navy Destroyers, and a PCE [Patrol Craft Escort]) as well a plans of other warships that I could adapt.

I also have a possible time and location where the lawn is big enough to stage such a large-scale naval wargame.

Now what I don't need at the moment is yet another project ... but building a couple of prototypes might not be a bad idea. I have the necessary wood in my modelling store, and it should only take a few hours to 'knock up' something that I can use ...

Oh dear! Perhaps I should never have bought that magazine ...

5 comments:

  1. Model Boats had earlier this year another plan for a Destroyer by Glynn Guest, the USS Ripley. I also have his plans for a German destroyer. I just wish he made more Axis ship plans.
    I also have an old copy of Practical Wargamer that has an article of someone who has build countries throughout his yard, and I believe his lawn areas represent the sea. I dream of doing that, but my wife and dog wouldn't approve.

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  2. Jhnptrqn,

    I missed both those sets of plans ... but now I know that they exist I will look out for the back issues they were in, and see if I can order them.

    I think that the man who ran wargames in his back garden was called John Ruddle, and that he is/was a member of the BMSS (British Model Soldier Society). The idea appeals to me as well ... but the 1 in 10 slope of my current garden makes it somewhat difficult to do!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  3. Jhnptrqn,

    I have just checked, and the chap who ran wargames in his garden was John Ruddle. (See here and here for some pictures of his wargames setup.)

    All the best,

    Bob

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  4. Unfortunately the German Destroyer plan was in a Model Boat from the 70's (I found a large collection of old Model Boats in a used bookstore). I do believe the plans are still available on the Model Boats website. The old Model Boats also had a section called Fleets in Miniature which gave diagrams of 20th century warships in I believe 1/1200 scale; great for wargaming.
    John Ruddle is who I was thinking of. I just wish there was more on his little world.

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  5. Jhnptrqn,

    I paid a visit to the magazines website ... and found that the price of the plans when bought separate from the magazine was nearly £10.00!

    I have some more photos of John Ruddle's garden wargames somewhere. If I find them I might write a blog entry about them.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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