The Last Stand Boat Yard

Well its been a while since I have had a chance to blog out to you.  Got a little sick there for about a month but I am back!  lol.

I wanted to let you know what I have been up to preparing to go to Recon in Orlando next week.  This will be my first time and thought it a good idea to build some boats to take with me in case anyone was interested in one.

So these new Dhows that I have built from the ground up I think you will find interesting.  I don't boast that these are "scale" models at all.  These are built by a Wargamer for Wargamer's so I really simplified the design.  Meaning that when using boats in any game rules you usually have to tack and jibe your boats taking into consideration wind direction and current.  So you will see in the pictures below how I handled tacking a lateen sail.

Additionally, the boats you see here are all pretty much my prototypes.  They are primarily basswood but used various thicknesses.  I have decided after all these builds that the thicker wood works best for the rails and structures and the thin pieces for the decks.  You might notice that the Dhow sail plans are all a little bit different.  A little longer, some fuller, one even has a different cut completely. So I think I like that because these boats were built with many different methods.  I will keep to a basic design and let imperfections remain as in any hand built project.  I will get better at this.

I hope you enjoy the blog,  I will report on Recon 2016 in a couple of weeks.  Mr. Bill Daniel (Bill's Gamer Garage) and I are driving down from Denver.

Can't wait, hope to see you there, it's going to be fun.

Last Stand Dan

Fourth Battle on the Nile

So this last weekend's Club meeting I put on another Gunboat battle for the members that didn't get a chance to play in the last three.  I mixed it up and changed it a little.  The battle got a little crowded with boats but only because Mr. Bill Daniel delivered an awesome Mud Fortress terrain piece.  It was beautiful at over 3 feet wide and about 20" deep.  I had to put it out there!  It worked out pretty well and of course next time I will provide a little more maneuvering room...or not.  So here is a short  AAR from the battle yesterday at the Colorado Military Historian club meeting.

The Battle

The background is that the last battles had the British retreating and the Dervish advancing slowly downriver toward Khartoum.  So at this point, at an intersection of a tributary running into the Nile is where this one is set.  The British are raiding the area and are at their deployment areas.  Unknowing to all was a lost company of Camel Corps who have made their way here hoping to be rescued.  But that was just a side show the battle raging on the North Point and on the water.  Well it didn't seem like a side show to Major Roberts of the Camel Corps.  Let the battle begin.

Thanks

I wanted to thanks all the players who played in the battle.  Special thanks to Bill Daniel who makes all of my terrain including that new mud fortress in this AAR.  And thanks to Dwight for the flicker candle fire marker idea.  He used one at Colonial Barracks and thought wow, its the little things that can bring some realism into your tabletop battles.  

Third Battle on the Nile (Sudan Gunboat battle)

So I have to say that the last two gunboat battles were a lot of fun.  Both Colonial Barracks V and at our Colorado Military Historian (CMH) club meeting a week ago I can say that everyone again had a great time.  As we local's know our CMH President Doug Wildfong had some very serious surgery a few weeks ago.  I am not sure if they let him out or he escaped the hospital but he can be seen moving around pretty good these last few days.

Doug was also hosting his very good friend and long time wargamer Larry Armin.  Larry was on his last days of visiting Doug here in Denver so I thought he would enjoy playing in a gunboat battle.  The same for Doug who missed Colonial Barracks and our last club meeting.  So without missing a beat I setup a slightly smaller but action packed scenario which resembles the CBV and CMH battles.

In this battle, the sister boats of the Kadesh and the Giza are both present in the British force.   The scenario has the British going after the Pointe again.  The same objectives to destroy the mud forts and occupy the Pointe were in effect.  So this time the Grenadier Guards have been disembarked onshore and the Camel Corps along with a Screw gun battery making a flank move inland who will join the battle a little later.

We used the old school TSAF (Brom) rules alongside Boilers and Breechloaders (Wilson).  This should be interesting.  This battle flowed very well with all players playing TSAF before.

And back in Wadi Halfa Capt. Lucas (ex-Giza I Capt.) of the Giza incident, is still awaiting his court martial and the proceedings should be starting very soon.  He has been seen hanging around the boatyard, head down in deep thought.

Colonial Times announcing the Giza incident

In other parts of the Southern Sudan, the word is that the dervish warlords are rattling their sabers and calling for another holy war.  So far the hostilities have been focused in this area but a breakout is inevitable.  Outside of this battle area down stream British and Egyptian Command are mobilizing Egyptian forces into the region to protect many of the towns and villages so hard fought for in the last campaign.  The British have taken a support role at this point.  Stay tuned.

Last Stand Dan's Project table
I am starting to build out my Egyptian forces along with some cavalry units.  In fact, cavalry units on both sides will come into play in the next Sudan campaign (2016).  The next campaign will be similar to the Khartoum River dash or Nile campaign but in southern Sudan.  So that means new gunboats and dhows to be built. And I also have some requests to build a couple of boats for some gamers out there.   I better get to work.  More on this later.

Well back to the battle, enjoy the pictures and embedded AAR.

Last Stand Dan