Mini Monday- Ships

A note before I begin, Mini Monday was a post that my friend Stelios started doing a few years ago.  Every Monday, for over a year, I started the day with a warm cup of joe and Mini Monday on my screen. Sometimes it was about the weekends miniatures battle, sometimes about how to paint or about some toys that could easily be converted into nice models for the table other times he questions if we should be painting orcs green or brown. Whatever it was, it was always interesting and fun to read. So recently to pursue his writing career with great passion, Stelios has put aside distractions. So Mini Monday would have been abandoned, but with Stelios' consent I've decided to keep up the tradition till some true wordsmith comes along or hint, hint, returns.

15mm American Civil War Ships from Old Glory

So Mini Monday- Ships. Whether they are propelled by oars, sail, steam along or even fly they are a joy to bring to the game table. In many miniature battles it can often be quite a chore to bring all the terrain and miniatures for a game. 100's of figs, scores of trees, hills and buildings all for that one battle are lugged along in big plastic containers that fill the trunk of your car, It takes time to set up and to take down. But this is often not true of ship games.

Yesterday I ran a renaissance naval game with galleys. I had a box of 60 1/1200 ships, one ocean mat and one hill to represent the coast. Set up time 10 min, game time 2 hours takedown time 10min.Done. It always seems that with the naval games we always have plenty of time to chat after the game,  

60 galleys at 1/1200 scale

Same period as above but in 15mm scale.

Now as I stated above ship battles can come in all forms and sizes, so there is usually something to tickle your fancy.  Ancient oared vessels that become landbattles at sea, Age of Sail where you manuever cunningly to with the wind to pepper your opponent with your broadsides. Age of Steam and Iron, battling with unique designs of ships for supremacy on ACW rivers and the high seas. And of course WWI with battleships and WWII with airpower. But there is also  Victorian Steampunk and battles in the depths of space, ie Dystopian Wars and X-Wing. Throw down that sea or space sheet set out some ships and you're ready to go.
The figure count is usually low so less time painting and the terrain is almost non existent. Not that you can't have terrain but no one really expects it either.

Steam punk Japanese navy