Preparing for a cheap and cheerful Naval Wargame

While sorting through and tidying up various free rule sets I have downloaded over the years to my computer, I came across a set of Napoleonic naval wargame rules. With the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) next week, it seemed like a good idea to get my scratch built semi-flat Napoleonic ships out of their storage box and onto the tabletop for a game.

I made these ships back in 2018 using 3mm MDF and card. However, they have rarely seen any action since. For those interested, the original post with details on how I built them can be found here.

My scratch built ships in action.

One thing I never finished at the time was adding flags to distinguish the ships of each side. So this weekend I set about remedying that by making some simple flags using nails and masking tape. The flags will slot into small holes drilled into the stern of each model ship. That way it gives me flexibility to use the ships for other nationalities.

Masking tape is attached to the small nails.

 

Holes are drilled into the stern of the model ships.

The flags are painted and await a coat of PVA to seal them.

The flags added to the French fleet.

With the ships now flying their flags, I set up the tabletop using a blue felt cloth which on one side is marked out in hexes. Each hex corner (or vertex - I had to look that up) has a small dab of whitish paint to suggest waves, and the entire cloth is covered with a clear plastic sheet, which helps give a wet and watery look.

The dabs of paint mark out the hexes. I have drawn out a hex to give an idea of a hex.

Another missing element was a way to track hits. In my first test game, I used dice, but they looked rather out of place on the table trailing behind the ships. To improve on this, I cut some small square counters from 3mm MDF to record damage. Each counter has its sides numbered and is placed beside the ship to show the hits it has taken. Originally, the tokens were simply painted blue, but before adding the numbers with a marker I added a couple of washes and dabbed the surface to create a dappled effect. This helps to break up the flat colour.

The square counters. One counter as 1-4 on one side and 5-8 on the other. The second counter has 9-12 on one side and 13-16 on the other. This way I can if needs be track up to 16 hits.

The ship in the foreground has taken 7 hits and the one in the background has 3 hits.

All being well my next post will cover the game and rules for a small Napoleonic Naval engagement.