Ramshackle World

It isn't often that I get the chance to review relatively new sicence-fiction miniatures. I live in a quiet, though comfortable Midwestern backwater. (Though I do travel extensively and even here we have computers, as you can see.) For a number of years the local market has been rather . . . static, shall we say? But Victorian Sci-Fi and the Space Western are both enjoying something of a Renaissance and I've been digging around looking for new toys, and it seems these are genuinely new. Not unknown and unreviewed, but still new, so I'll put in my two cents worth.

Ramshackle Games appears to be one of a small host of new miniatures companies that's cropped up in recent years. The primary mover and shaker behind this splendid endeavor would appear to be a sculptor named Curtis Fell, and I must say that he is an ambitious and talented guy. His work is still a little rough around the edges, lacking the polish and absolute consistency of more established companies, but the art is quite incredible. Let me introduce you to a few of the pieces I picked up . . . 

Ramshackle calls this next figure "El Honcho."

I've put him with the Last Chancer sniper (whom I think I will name Kate MacLeod) for scale. Ramshackle clearly had a more Latin theme in mind, but I saw him as a sort of western strong-man. I simply call him "The Boss." He's cast in a hard grey resin. It takes detail well, but it's brittle and seems prone to flash, so have a care as you clean it.

At a rather different extreme is a model Mr. Fell calls "Archibald Trumpton." I named mine Arthur Zanizibar Rex-Avis in honor of a friend with a slightly related name.

You can see him above and below in the company of assorted Citadel and Ravenclaw models. He's . . . a little vertically challenged. But he is a positively GENIUS miniature. He will make a great mastermind for one side or the other in the coming rebellion against the dead imperial husk.

Of course what would life be without an invading bike gang?

This is but one miniature out of a gang I bought. These guys feel to me as though someone shrank the Road Warrior and his enemies, though not quite enough. Mr. Alex Alexander here, in danger of finding out what Kate MacLeod is made of, is a little on the large side for a 28 mm miniature. A lot really. Scale control is something that needs a little work at Ramshackle. But with this much cool, who needs scale? I got seven quite distinct bikes (all at least as interesting as that one) in my little gang of eight. And Alex is far from the most interesting character in the bunch. These are challenging miniatures, but they will reward the hell out of the experienced modeler. The bike gangs of Logan's World featured rather prominently in 40K's earliest fluff. We finally have miniatures worthy of the setting. Thank you Mr. Fell. Further, the miniatures come with several arms and weapons each, so you end up with a healthy bunch of spares.

But perhaps the single greatest strength of Ramshackle is their fantastic selection of vehicles . . .

This dainty little tank, the "vole light tank," is one of their more recent offerings. It's quite small next to a predator, but it has a LOT of character. I figure it's the private tank of some tinpot planetary governor our heroes will need to confront. Along with the Vole are a host of tanks, trucks, halftracks, APCs, tractors, farm implements, and improvised transports. These guys will look absolutely RIGHT at home in your favorite post-apocalyptic or dark future setting. They will add a lot of flexibility to your scenarios and maybe even your armies. (Did I mention that several of the "tanks" make logical sense together? Like an actual family of fighting vehicles? Check out the Rhebok/Gnu family, the Toad, and . . . well . . . just check out the vehicles section. I'll miss something otherwise.)

Like Kate looking into the distance below, I want to get out and see what these things can do.

These are a great bunch of models. They really remind me of a time when dark sci-fi was young and interesting. They're challenging pieces, not for the faint of heart. The resin doesn't glue easily with CA, and many parts take some real work to clean and fit, but they are brilliant! You will want them for your pulp future, I assure you. You will.

If you like what you see or are curious about tanks and bikes and space-guys in pinstripes check back. There is more on the workbench and I'm sure I will order more soon.

Thank you Mr. Fell. And thank you my friends for listening. I hope my small contribution brings you some amusement and maybe even some inspiration.

Sincerely,
The Composer

Grim-dark Titans of the Vintage Future! Now with More Ed!

A few days back I got a request on TMP for more pictures of my little friend Eddie. I hate to disappoint, so I have taken a few more photos of the vinyl warrior in question. This is a very old model and the photos are quite plain, but they do give you an idea of what a simple conversion of an old toy can do for your gaming table with but the crudest application of sponge paint. (Yep. I sponge painted him. I was . . . 17? More or less? Long time ago. Sponge paint and some drybrushing.)

First off, here's a pair of full frontal shots with some older Citadel miniatures for scale comparison: some converted Space Wolves and a Whirlwind.

Next we have a detail shot of "Tom." You get a glimpse into the cockpit on this one. Tom is a piece of electrical conduit and a pair of sections of wood dowel. (I should really have drilled those out, but hey, hindsight is 20/20.)

"Tom" is, of course, good friends with "Dick" and "Harry." Harry is more electrical conduit. Dick is a G I Joe toy acquired from a friend for the purpose. (Likewise the two dual laser turrets and the radar dish.) 

Of course Tom has a friend slowly bleeding out. The chaos trooper seems to have lost a few of his nails, but these can be replaced. Surprising that he hasn't completely bled to death in . . . twenty some odd years, but the blood is still fresh and red. Still hanging in there, it seems. Ah what you could do with a beaky. (Several beakies were sacrificed to the greater glory of Ed. Crunch all you want. I have plenty more. Even now. Sad that no one makes them these days.)

Of course this is perhaps about the view that Mr. Chaos had before being crucified alive. If you look VERY closely you can even see the access hatch that I added to the underside of the hips. (How the heck is this thing suppose to balance and move, exactly with two legs that far apart? And why am I asking space fantasy to be constrained by physics?)

Our increasingly late chaos warrior would no doubt rather have had this view. The exhaust ports were the original guns, lovingly removed with a razor saw to be replaced with a larger and gaudier arsenal.  Nothing in the GW universe could possibly have too many or too large guns.

Wanting more Sc-Fi clutter I added ammo boxes, wheels, drop tanks, and what have you to the already beefy droid. Busier is better in Sci-Fi.

Here's an overhead with the Whirlwind for comparison.

Finally, here's another look inside the cockpit. The glass has fogged over the years, but you can see two crew positions for the half dozen or so folks that might have fought aboard this awkward land leviathan. The pilot would occupy the position on top and the commander that below. Elsewhere would be several gunners, an engineer, and perhaps a communications officer. The consoles and controls are generally from 1/48 aircraft, mostly a battered B-29 bought for parts as I recall. The cockpit itself is from an A-10 also bought for parts. The drop tanks, airscoops, ammo lockers, motors, and so forth visible elsewhere are from assorted aircraft, tanks, and artillery models. (I had a lot of models and thus a fairly large supply of spare parts. Monogram kits always came with extra options and I sacrificed one or two kits over the years to the Warhammer gods.) 

Scrap Iron Heroes

It probably won't surprise anyone to hear that I have a soft spot for small quirky ships. The Scrap Iron Flotilla is a classic example of such:

These five hand-me-down destroyers served in the Australian Navy. They were a little like the naval equivalent of the comfortable old pants that weren't quite in style anymore that you found at the Salvation Army. They were warm, the price was right, and you needed winter clothes, so you bought them only to have the fashionable rich prick with the next locker over deride you for it.  In this case the fashionable prick was the Nazi propaganda machine, which bequeathed the moniker "Scrap Iron Flotilla" on these fine destroyers. They served with distinction through the arduous early war, initially in the Mediterranean, where Waterhen was lost supplying Tobruk, and later in the Pacific, where Vampire and Voyager met their fate at the hands of Japanese bombers. At left in the photograph is flotilla leader HMAS Stuart, followed by Waterhen, Voyager, Vampire, and Vendetta. Below is a second picture with the four V class destoyers (don't ask me why Waterhen is a V. Maybe she's a double V) along with HMNZS Achilles of River Plate fame. Vendetta is now in the foreground with Vampire, Voyager, and Waterhen behind her.

The next ship didn't start out as scrap iron, but sadly became so when it found its way to the bottom of Savo Sound. It was quite a new ship at time of loss, actually, but her history makes her almost as quirky as the five tin cans above. Her fate is particularly tragic since she had perhaps the best picture of the situation, having a newer radar set than her teammates. But perhaps because of her diminutive size the admiral in tactical command broke his flag aboard San Francisco. Quite ironically, Rear Admiral Norman Scott had gotten himself rather lost aboard San Francisco several weeks earlier in a crazed melee that turned out rather well for the Americans. At the reprise things went more poorly and Scott paid with his life. (As did the OTC, Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan.) Not only did two different American admirals die that night, (one aboard our subject) but the five Sullivan brothers died aboard or in the water awaiting rescue after the fight.

The ship is, of course, USS Juneau. I typically try to paint my ships in a mid 1942 scheme, and Juneau is no exception. (I target a date in June of 1942 as closely as possible. Not really sure why, mind you. And if you believe that . . . ) While I admit I'm happy about my choice, I might well have broken it if Juneau had ended up in these duds any later. This oddball hybrid scheme amuses me so greatly I might have chosen it had it been applied in 1943. (Which isn't possible, of course, as paint doesn't really dry well underwater.) However, the fact that this is both the paint she wore at miraculous mid-year and on the date she met her tragic fate makes it an absolutely sure thing. No other scheme would suffice. For the curious, the model is an older Superior casting of a first run Atlanta.

So here's to the men who served aboard the scrap-iron, those who lived to tell the tale and those who paid the ultimate price for what they believed in; defending their families and countries and ways of life. Here's to the scrap iron heroes. You did what needed doing.

Large, Small, and Buggy . . .

I hope you will bear with me as I take a brief detour into the darkness of the far future as envisioned by the likes of Rick Priestly and Jervis Johnson. Today I want to talk about figures new and old, large and small . . .

'Bout that large and small . . . I finally got my hands on one of the classic era Ogryn models. Like all the casts from that period the fit was imperfect, but the style was impeccable. These were dark, lovely models. I love the crooked smile. Next to him is a very early halfling "adventurer", though he's kitted out more or less with standard issue Imperial Army equipment of the day. Obviously these are "old." Now lets take a look at some "new."

I don't generally have much temptation to buy contemporary 40K miniatures, and while these two ladies are both now out of print they're recent enough that they should be off my radar, but they're both quirky and well sculpted. These two in particular seem to hearken back to the pulp roots of Warhammer 40K and fit in well with a Rogue Trader era collection. The Last Chancers seem a clear reference to the likes of the Dirty Dozen and the fine lady in the kilt would fit in fine in Mad Max or Tank Girl. In point of fact, I've painted her up in Clan MacLeod colors. (Approximately the "hunting tartan." The "clan tartan" was too yellow for my taste.) More pulp has been wrought in the name MacLeod than could possibly fit in this blog, and I'd bet more than either you or I realize. (Maybe between us we can come up with a more complete set, but by the Faerie Flag I doubt we'll get them all.)

Gaunt's Ghosts, from whence the lady in khakis and cape originates, also feels like a very nice movie reference. There's a gritty feel to the models from that line that is strangely absent from too much of 40K these days. Since she seems so very competent and we're on a desert world I gave her decent desert garb, though she's stuck with a green autogun she picked up somewhere. (Must be an autogun. Lasguns don't need clips.)

And back tot he old . . .

These three fellows are an interesting mix of Bob Oley pirates failing to follow the lead of a "Confrontation Tech Gang Leader." Confrontation was a predecessor to Necromunda that came out in the pages of White Dwarf. I got this miniature in a mixed batch of pirates and wasn't initially sure what he was. Turns out he was probably the rarest miniature in the box.

Of course as an Old lead fan, I have been slowly attempting to collect the "adventurers." These fellows are all Imperial servants of one sort or another. The angry bossy man in blue was simply called an "official." I take him to be a sort of spoiled planetary governor. The minor nobility of the 40K universe, if you will. Accompanying him are a pair of priests. The gentleman in green was initially billed as an imperial psyker and later became Astropath Yerl. The fellow in white is named Techpriest Schlan. Between the two clergy, suffering the wrath of the rotten tongue, is Pilot Lorgar.

The trouble with the Imperium of Man is that there are so many . . . well . . . not men exactly. Surely not human . . . so many bugs in the system. 

Of course the bugs tend to become more human over time . . .

This fellow was apparently an Imperial Army trooper . . .

But he seems to have gotten lost and joined the cult. (Along with the space eunuch.)

Of course, at that time, where there were Gene Stealers there were often Zoats. I figure they're the brains of the operation. More will follow.

But Inquisitor Augustus can clean it all up . . . with a little help from his friend Ed.

Ed has popped up here in the past. He's a heavily converted vinyl E.D. 209 in need of some love and care, but if something needs cleaning he's your man. I figure one of these days he'll be a very nice objective marker. 

(Incidentally, what idiot decided that hacking up kits and putting them back together backwards with parts from ten other kits mashed in was "scratchbuilding"? It's not. It's kitbashing. Scratchbuilding works from raw materials up, which is to say no kits are harmed in the making of a scratchbuilt thing. Ed here would be misnomed "scratchbuilt" on many 40K pages. He is in fact kitbashed.)

. . . 

But I digress. I hope you enjoy this little bit of stuff and nonsense. I will return you to the wonderful world of Naval Wargaming in the next post, but stay tuned. More Rogue Trader era 40K will pop up from time to time. Maybe I'll even get a game going. Seems to be the thing to do these days and I've had it in the back of my head for some time. (Even ran a one-off where a group of plucky adventurers cleaned up a whole batch of greenskins and stole their wagon to boot. "We got a mule!" said the band's tough, referring to the ATV cum pick-up from Firefly. Indeed they did. No more appropriate vehicle was ever called a mule.)

Thanks for listening space-fans. Talk to you again soon.

Sincerely,

The Composer.

To War on a Japanese Liner

Just prior to WWII Japan had one of the largest and most modern merchant marines in the world. Military subsidies and government support kept the major ship-builders busy constructing fast new liners and tankers by the score. During the war most of this shipping was taken over by the military and subsequently sunk. If you want to game WWII it's instructive to examine the brief but interesting period between impressment and loss. Several of my newest endeavors have been of this sort, including two ships bought from Viking Forge: Asama Maru and Hikawa Maru.

These are two of the ships Viking Forge casts for the Seabattles line; a very nice line of well sculpted models of generally smaller warships, merchants, and auxiliaries. Hikawa Maru is particularly interesting, as she is one of the very very few Japanese merchant ships to survive the war (the large red crosses no doubt helped) and one of the only Japanese ships of that vintage (merchant or otherwise) still afloat today. She's now a museum ship, which is a rare enough state. It's particularly nice to see a ship more typical (and less glamorous) than the Missouri or Queen Mary preserved and open to the public.

The variety of both generic and specifically Japanese merchant ships available in 1/2400 is impressive. With some careful conversion it can be made even larger. To wit, let's look at three merchant ships from as many suppliers:

In the above photo the two models in front of the pier depict OSK liner Buenos Aires Maru (in civilian colors) and NYK liner Asama Maru (in two-tone grey.) Behind the pier is a model of another NYK liner, Hakusan Maru. The three ships are from Panzerschiffe, Viking Forge/Seabattles, and GHQ respectively. I invested a similar amount of work in all three, building masts and adding details to each. (Even the GHQ ship). Each has advantages and disadvantages, but to my mind all three look pretty good together. For the price, Panzerschiffe is the only way to go, but their variety of available merchant ships is not endless, so if you want a more colorful fleet without scratchbuilding it other suppliers are also useful. Typical Panzerschiffe merchants run $3-4. Viking Forge merchants usually run about twice that, with larger ships costing somewhat more. GHQ merchants run anywhere from four to six times the price of Panzerschiffe, thus making up the smallest percentage of my collection. Even so, some of their ships are quite pretty and I'm willing to shell out every once in a while.

In addition to the companies above, C in C also casts some fine merchants and Viking Forge has some in house sculpts, which you can see below compared to one of the Seabattles ships and a different Panzerschiffe liner.

The two tankers at the left are the Viking Forge and C in C models. Both depict "Kawasaki" type tankers taken over as fleet oilers. Both have had masts added. The Viking Forge model (in the rear) has also bee armed and generally militarized. The Panzerschiffe model, foreground on the right, is older work which I did more quickly and with less research or detail, but even so I think it makes a nice addition to a convoy. The escort in the foreground, sold as an "Etorofu" type escort, is another Viking Forge house sculpt, though a much more recent one than the tanker. Their new work is really quite good, fully up to the standards of C in C or GHQ.  The masts are added, but it's a nice little model even without them. The detail is crisp and the casting is clean. (Cleaner, in fact, than most of their Seabattles casts.)

One final option for 1/2400 merchant ships is available through Panzerschiffe. In addition to the ships in their general catalog they sell a number of "merchant groups." This is a sort of "budget" line that seems to be specifically aimed at convoy gaming. Where a typical merchant might run $3, these generally run a little less than half that, though you must buy them by the group. Each group is $20 and most contain about eight ships. (A few have more and one has seven.) Below are two ships from MG-7 next to the VF/SB Hikawa Maru.  These are less detailed ships (and I have added less detail) but even so, they can serve to flesh out a convoy nicely. (And I think if I invested the time they could look quite nice.) And if you want simple markers in which you don't need to invest the effort of painting, these little merchies, like all Panzerschiffe, are cast in grey and could be used for a game straight out of the box.

If you want to specifically model merchants and auxiliaries 1/1200 might possibly serve you better, but for wargaming the variety of models available in 1/2400 is, I think, quite suitable. There's a little something for every budget and every skill.

Winning the War on a Tide of American Oil

Whatever your politics or the state of your scientific literacy it's fairly easy to see WWII as an "oil" war. Suddenly everything was mechanized and everywhere you went everyone wanted a little slice of the oil-pie. It was a war about burning gas: tanks, airplanes, trucks, diesels, ships with bunkers full of unrefined sweet Java crude . . .

Somewhere someone once said that the Allies "floated to victory on a tide of American oil." I've heard it attributed to Churchill, but googling about isn't really helping much here, so I won't worry so much about who said it. The truth of the matter  is, I think, more or less self-evident.

But getting that Texas, Pennsylvania, or California distilate to the fronts where it was needed was a a complex matter, and that's where tankers and oilers come in. Some of the first merchant ships I bought were oilers: a pair of German tankers repurposed to serve as Cimarrons and two Shiretokos, one of which was apparently converted into a seaplane tender (the subject for a future conversion, no doubt.) But these early efforts were remarkably crude and unsophisticated. (And the "Cimarrons" were later rebuilt into civilian tankers.) I've gotten a little better at the game since.

Like most naval developments of the twentieth century, fleet oilers found their genesis in the Royal Navy and matured rapidly in the U.S. Navy. One of the earliest U.S. offerings was a class of oilers named after rivers (as would become standard practice) called the Kanawha class. I've chosen to depict USS Maumee, AO-2.

AO-2 differs identifiably from AO-1 in engineering plant, among other things. Where Kanawha was a conventional steamship of her age, AO-2 Maumee was one of the first U.S. ships of her size fitted with diesels. Not surprisingly, the funnel arrangements of the two ships are visibly different. Maumee carries hers farther aft. More about Maumee later.

Next up we have a trio of Cimarron class oilers from as many sculptors. The farthest, Kaskaskia, is from Viking Forge, though with considerable interference by yours truly. This is an older model that I include only for comparison. Second from the front is Platte, from a casting of a Seabattles original. In front is the GHQ model I used for Cimarron herself. The front two are a little closer to manufacturer's original, but both have aftermarket booms and radars, and the GHQ ship also has new masts. 

If you've spent much time studying auxiliaries, you'll no doubt have noticed that the armament was both inconsistent across classes and quite flexible over time. The Cimarron class is a nice example. Encyclopedia articles will tell you the "class" sported four 5"/38 DP rifles and a Mk 33 FC director. On paper the US Navy wished this to be true. In reality the armament varied considerably and tended to consist of whatever was available and more or less appropriate at the yard when the ships were taken over. (Though I suspect they all did have the FC set.) The careful viewer will note that all four of these are different. The REALLY careful viewer will say that this is quite appropriate. The EXTREMELY careful viewer will tell me where I have screwed up and exactly what each ship ACTUALLY sported in mid-1942. I hope that this viewer is an ordinance officer from the USN in 1942, which means, sadly, that he probably can't correct me anymore. (Which isn't to say I don't make mistakes, just that I hope they're pretty small.) If corrected I will GLADLY fix my mistakes. (Very gladly for vets of the ships depicted.) In the meantime, I'm doing my best. Please forgive any mistakes you see and feel free to offer corrections (with footnotes please). I want them to be right, but I will accept "close enough." (And I confess to certain artistic liberties to make them look better from a scale mile away.)

Anyway, in spite of their varried and colorful origins, I think they make a fairly convincing class. The forward two are beamier and more detailed, but not beyond comparison with the other (after appropriate refitting).

Of course in reality, much more crude traveled in civilian bottoms. Below are two that flew the red ensign.

Well, more or less. To starboard (from the ships' perspective, of course) is a ship I'm calling Inverarder. In reality this was a demilitarized version of an oiler ordered by the RN and intended to be War Hagara that British Mexican Petroleum was using as a tanker. Trouble is, while the model is about the right size and apparent age (it was a Viking Forge collier Mars) the arrangement of the War class oilers appears to have been quite unusual: engines amidships in a three island structure, much like a conventional freighter and not at all like an engines aft tanker. (Or collier.) Oops. Well, ignore that. I was having a devil of a time finding a tanker of about the right size and age still in service in Britain by 1941 (searching the 1942 E. B. Talbot-Booth, Roger Jordan's The World's Merchant Ships: 1939, and sundry places online), so let's just play pretend and ignore the defects on that one.

The ship to port is perhaps closer, but also rather fanciful. She's meant to depict (approximately) a British coastal tanker called Lunula operated by Moss and Co. I was able to find one picture of her online . . . afire and sinking after striking a mine in the Thames. The ship was already awash amidships and going down by the bow, so everything forward of the mainmast is pure speculation. (Given that there was no foremast sticking out of the water I assume she had none, but even that is far from a safe bet.) Still, the funnel colors are correct, and the hull was at the least dark. (Though many things look dark when below clouds of roiling black smoke.)

Where the two ladies above both sank, both the girls below took torpedoes and lived to tell the tale. These are somewhat better depictions of two tankers from one piece of the grandly dismembered Standard Oil, Standard Oil of New Jersey or Esso.

The rear ship, a C in C T-2, depicts a ship called Esso Bolivar operated by an offshore subsidiary called the Panama Transport Company. That in the foreground approximates John Worthington, which served Esso directly. Esso Bolivar took a torpedo in the early days of the war while carrying a shipment of water, which may well have saved her from a firey death. After being hit she apparently soldiered on towards Guantanamo, suffering the indignity of continued shelling until the captain ordered her abandoned. Fortunately, the cavalry had heard her distress signal before the radio was shot out. A minesweeper found the U-boat still shelling the abandoned ship and scared her off before picking up the crew. The next day a rescue party went aboard, restored power, and sailed the ship to Gitmo.

John Worthington was slightly less lucky. She survived the attack, off the coast of Brazil, put in to Trinidad for temporary repairs, and ultimately made Galveston for overhaul, but the damage was deemed to great for economic repair. She was ultimately abandoned and sank in shallow water where she lies to this day.

Thus concludes the present edition of the NIFTI miniature naval gazette. We'll talk more about building Maumee, transporting dry(ish) goods, and escorting these large floating targets through sub-infested waters in the next issue. As always, thank you for your indulgence.

5th Annual NIFTI Fleet Review

Well, it's that time again. Actually, it's well past that time. In point of fact the fleet review has been ongoing now for more than a month, and I'm only now getting around to writing about it. While this is no excuse, life has been busy in NIFTI. Still, without further ado, the Review . . . 

Reviewing the Imperial Japanese section of the fleet.

New Cai Lay Harbor looking south from Bean Hill

Three Flowers steam around the North side of Soeur Trois in the West Bay

A pair of Secrataries patrol the East Bay

I won't spend a lot of time belaboring it, because I want to get down to reviews of new models in the near future, but I want to at least mention it and point you to the new review video:

I tried some new animation tricks in there. All very quick work. Haven't gotten so elaborate as smoke, wakes, or shell splashes yet. These will come another time. But I'm reasonably pleased with the results as experiments go. The animation begins about halfway in. Lots of slow pans of the fleet first. If you are curious, the pieces are my own "Fanfare and Fugue" and "March of the Robot Monster" as performed by some friends and acquaintances of mine. I anxiously await your thoughts.

Sincerely,

The Composer.