Tuesday, March 28, 2017

U.S. Ships for Enfilade Game

I'm continuing to work on my Enfilade 2017 projects. This week I completed the 1/6000 scale American ships for the Captain’s Edition Harpoon game.

The US ships came together and painted up quickly (I know it isn’t really that hard to paint dark gray on light gray, but it does take time). So, as of right now, I would say the project is ahead of schedule.

I painted up a couple Nimitz class carriers, some modernized Iowa class battleships, some amphibious ships, along with lots of escorting cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. I painted up all the ships in the packs, even though most won't make it into the game, which works out to 2 carriers, 40 other ships, and 8 subs. After taking the photos, I realize that I need to improve my camera work, since I was having a little trouble getting the camera to focus in on the ships. Here are a few photos of the different task groups.
A Nimitz class carrier (center) with (from left around the top in a circle) a Spruance class destroyer, Bunker Hill class cruiser, Knox class frigate, O.H. Perry class frigate, and A Burke destroyer
A Surface Action Group with an Iowa class battleship, a cruiser, destroyer and pair of frigates
The Amphibious Group with two Whidbey Island class LSDs and a couple Newport class LSTs with destroyer and frigate escorts.
U.S. subs to round out the force
I also painted up some air bases for the operational-level map. These are 2 inch modern airfields from Fight’s On.
Fight's On Modern Airfields

Next up is work on the task force, aircraft, and missile markers.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

More Soviet Ships

Work on my Enfilade 2017 games continues with the completion of the Soviet ships for the Captain’s Edition Harpoon game.

Since my last post, I completed the Kiev and Kirov classes, along with completing the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, some Ivan Rogov amphibious ships, and a lot of escorting cruisers, destroyers, and frigates.
Here are some photos of the projected Soviet battlegroups for the game.
Kuznetsov battlegroup
With a penny for size comparison
Kiev battlegroup with a Slava cruiser
Kirov battlegroup with a Udaloy DD (right), Sovremennyy DDG (left) and Krivak II frigate (forward)
Amphibious battlegroup with a couple Ivan Rogov LSDs (center and rear), led by a Krivak I frigate (forward) and escorted by two Kresta I cruisers.
The 1/6000 Figurehead carrier pack with Admiral Kuznetsov comes with two carriers. But since the Soviets/Russians only finished one, I’ll follow their lead and convert the other into the Chinese carrier Liaoning.

I also painted up some Soviet subs, but the black on ocean blue just isn’t that impressive to look at.
Silent (and hard to see) but deadly
With the Soviets done, I’ll move on to working on the Americans next. I’m also working on some terrain for the operational-level map (airbases and coastlines) and thinking about how to work with the aircraft needed for the game. There will be a few other odds and ends for this game, but everything seems to be coming along.