Naval games at Hotlead 2011

Next up, the other relatively easy category to post, naval games. Naval games saw some growth at Hotlead, with sail powered Men o' war, ironclads and dreadnoughts all battling for maritime power.

Brian ran a couple of age of sail games using his rather large fleets of 1/2400th scale ships and some rules he and Floyd developed about 20 years ago when we had a pretty active club in the back room of the local hobby store. 

Line of battle

Kickin' it old skool with handmade templates!

A 74 and an 80 gun SOL in the foreground.

The action gets brisk.

I think any semblance of order has been lost now.

Glenn brought his ACW ironclads for a battle on the Mississippi. All 1/600th scale Thoroughbred Miniatures.

Confederate flotilla

Union flotilla

I think the Rebs were trying to break a Union blockade using these burning barges

Another longtime Hotlead GM, Ian, always brings pretty sumptuous and elaborate games. This year dreadnoughts have taken his fancy and he ran several games set around the Battle of Dogger Bank in WW1. I'm not sure who is who in these pictures, but the mat he used is pretty effective at portraying the waves on the dark grey North Sea instead of the usual flat bright blue cloth.

Last up more of the 15mm War of  1812 lake action run by Rob and Terry. Gorgeous models. I wish I had played in this one. Mike wants to do something like this too, but his short attention span keeps diverting him. I think the rigging will drive him mad anyway, I know it would me.

Sloops, brigs and gunboats. I think the largest ship might be a 20 gun frigate. Plus it's local history too, which is pretty cool.