I have been to … Tórshavn Large Fort, Faroe Islands

During our recent cruise to Tórshavn we had the opportunity to visit the small fort that was built in the 1630s after a raid by Turkish pirates on Tórshavn. The location selected was the promontory known as Stangarnes, and the fort was one of several built to protect the town from future attacks.

The fort was known as Stóri Skansi (Large Fort), and it was armed with four bronze cannons. The original fort was rebuilt in the 1780s and was garrisoned by 35 to 40 soldiers. It remained a military post until 1865, at which point it was dismantled and the garrison became the local police force.

The Stóri Skansi from the landside.

The Stóri Skansi from the sea.

The Stóri Skansi from above.

We approached the fort up a long slope …

… and then turned left to walk around the lower level of the fort.

We entered the lower level of the fortress via an open gateway …

… where we saw a small stone-built building with a turf roof.

We then made our way around the walls …

… and along the side of the fort facing the sea.

Atop the upper level of the fort is a small lighthouse.

We then made our way up to the upper level of the fort via another gateway.

Four bronze cannons dating from the 1750s were on display on the seaward rampart of the upper level of the fort.

From the upper level we could see two much newer artillery pieces on the lowest level of the fort.

We then made our way down to these guns in order to examine them in greater detail.

Closer examination of one of these two guns showed that it was a 5.5-inch 50 calibre Breech-loading gun that was built by the Coventry Ordnance Works (COW) in 1916.

It is likely – therefore – that they were built to be the secondary armament of HMS Hood or the main armament of the cruisers HMS Chester or HMS Birkenhead, and were installed during the Allied occupation of the Faroe Islands during the Second World War.

Painting figures: Another experiment ... and some related thoughts

Since returning from our recent cruise I have been experimenting with the use of cheap acrylic craft paints to paint figures ... and I am very pleased with the results.

Other than the primer, the following figure was painted using nothing but acrylic craft paint.

I decided not to use Nut Brown India Ink to 'shade' the figure ... and I don't think the figure looks any the worse for it ... as the following comparison shows.

I am now thinking about using this simple technique to paint some more 20mm-scale figures.

---

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about my Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War campaign project ... and I began to come to the following conclusions.

• I was going to have to 'bath-tub' the whole thing if I was ever going to be able to stop it becoming a monster ... and that was a compromise that I was unsure about making.
• In order to stop the cost of the project from escalating to a level I could not justify, I was going to use as much of what I already had in terms of figures and vehicles rather than start from scratch.

In the end I decided that realistically I was unlikely to ever fulfil my dreams of a full-blown Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War campaign, and that I had to rethink the whole thing.

At this point in my thinking I was reading through some of my old blog entries, particularly the play-test battles that I fought between Morschauserland and Eastland ... and it made me wonder if I should consider rejigging the whole thing along similar imagi-nation lines. The pluses in favour of this are:

• I already have an imagi-world with suitable imagi-nations. (This would enable me to avoid the ethical conundrum I would otherwise have to face regarding whether or not to wargame the politically/racially-motivated excesses committed by both sides during the real war.)
• I would not be restricted to using specific model vehicles, aircraft, ships, figures, and even uniforms for my imagi-world version of the Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War. (I recently 'found' a large number of Spanish Civil War figures that I could use for smaller allied contingents and/or militia.)
• I could use one or more of the sets of wargame rules that I already have to hand including:
• MEMOIR '44
• MEMOIR OF MODERN BATTLE (MOMBAT)
• THE PORTABLE WARGAME: MODERN
• MORSCHAUSER'S MODERN RULES (adapted for a grid)
• RED FLAGS AND IRON CROSSES (both the original and the TARRED AND FEATHERSTONED versions)

The negatives are:

• That I doubt that I could find a regular opponent to control one of the two sides ... but as most of my wargaming is done solo, this is not a major consideration.
• That it might not be seen as 'proper' wargaming by some people within the hobby ... but I have been around long enough not to worry too much about what those sort of people think any more.

I am not fully committed to this course of action as yet ... but the more I think about it, the more attractive it becomes.

I have been to … Isafjordur Maritime Museum, Iceland

During our recent visit to Iceland we spent some time looking around the Maritime Museum in Isafjordur.

Close to the entrance to the Museum was a somewhat rusty example of a 3pdr Hotchkiss QF Gun. There was no explanation why it was there, but it may well have been left there as a result of the American and British 'occupation' or it may have been the armament from a former Icelandic fisheries protection vessel.

The mounting still had its original recoil maintenance and makers plates on it, and these indicate that it was built by the Royal Carriage Works in Woolwich in 1894 and was allocated Admiralty number 1324.

The Museum is housed in a former fishing hut of the sort used to store the equipment used by fishermen.

Next to the entrance are two reminders of the sort of fishing formerly undertaken by the Icelanders, a harpoon …

… and a pile of dried fish.

The main displays are on the ground floor …

… although there are further displays – including a collection of accordions used by fishermen to amused themselves whilst the were at sea – on the first floor.

To one side of the main building there were examples of locally built small boats, and it was interesting to note that they were built using he same basic design and construction methods used by the first Viking settlers on Iceland.

---

Inside the Museum were a large number of models of local fishing vessels.

Hrímnir

Isborg

Valbjörn

Gudný

Ásúlfur

Guđbjörg

Emma

Páll Pálsson

There were also a number of models whose names were obscured or unreadable.

Warship 2014

Whilst I was away on our recent cruise, the latest copy of WARSHIP was delivered. This is Volume XXXVI of this annual publication and it is edited by John Jordan and published by Conway (ISBN 978 1 5911 4923 1).

This edition includes:

• Editorial by John Jordan
• The Armoured Cruisers of the Amiral Charner Class by Luc Feron
• CVA-01: Portrait of a Missing Link by Ian Sturton
• The Last of the Line: The German Battleships of the Braunschweig and Deutschland Classes by Aidan Dodson
• Armoured Cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy by Kathrin Milanovich
• Cavour: A Multi-role Aircraft Carrier for the Italian Navy by Michele Cosentino
• The Turret Frigates of the Admiral Lazarev and Admiral Spiridov Classes by Stephen McLaughlin
• The IJN Light Carrier Ryûjô by Hans Lengerer
• Post-war Fire Control in the Royal Navy by Peter Marland
• The Escape of the Jean Bart by John Jordan
• Warship Notes
• Naval Books of the Year
• Warship Gallery

I am particularly looking forward to reading the articles about the Ryûjô (a ship that has always interested me), the battleships of the Braunschweig and Deutschland classes, and the Russian turret ships of the Admiral Lazarev and Admiral Spiridov classes.