Trafalgar - learning the rules and first game

I have had the rules "Trafalgar" since they came out - I ordered them with a fleet deal that gave me enough ships to get a game up and running, but other projects got in the way, so they sat there collecting dust.

 As I mentioned in other posts I have dusted off the ships and the rules, including even painting some of the ships, and last night we gave them a go.

Despite reading other peoples' comments on TMP I chose to play the rules exactly as they are and then see what was what and make any changes if needed.

 The good thing about forums is that every person will have their own opinion which, gasp, sometimes isn't that accurate due to bias for or against a company or a set of rules. I am like this about several rules myself.

 So last night I laid down my 'sea sheet' on the gaming table and we took one ship each to put them through their paces as we learnt the rules, going through each step slowly, practicing what we just learnt and then moving on to the next phase.

After a bit of manoeuvring around 'the ocean' (which gave us plenty of time to practice the turn segments and actual movement and turning the ships) we managed to get in a broadside or two before time ran out for the night.

 Having played the rules I can't see the big problem people have with these rules. I not a big fan of the  Warhammer rules myself, but the Trafalgar rules don't have the same stats and combat charts like the other Warhammer rules.

 I would probably use the house rules David Manley wrote for Wargames Illustrated issue 260 (of which my friend had a copy), and we agreed that if we were to write orders for each turn it would stop foresight by other players that give them the edge over their opponent.

 Next time we play we will use more ships and try out writing down our orders for the turn.

 I also hope to include some photos the next time I post about playing a game of Trafalgar

Painting Napoleonic ships - take two

After my self flagellation over the bad painting efforts on my Napoleonic ships I went and did something else before becoming inspired and giving it a second go.

 I think the main problem I had was that I was trying to paint 1:2400 scale based on the eye candy I had seen in rule books and on other people's blogs.

 That and the fact I didn't really have the right colours needed (and I still don't) and that the detail is so fine my hand - eye coordination is more used to painting 28mm figures and not something so small as these ships.

So, my moment of inspiration was to reverse what I was trying to paint.

  In my first attempt I was painting the ships according to the 'how to' in the Trafalgar rule book. This didn't work for me.

 What I did instead was to paint the entire hull black and then paint the gun ports in the yellowish colour the British ships had, and to my delight it appeared that I had painted the hull the yellowish colour and that it was the gun ports that were black.

 With the small scale of the ships it actually came out ok. I painted up a second ship to see if it was a fluke, and this ship came out even better.

 Encouraged by my attempts I then painted up a French/Spanish ship and that too looks ok.

There are twenty two ships in total for me to paint, and I will have to do them in dribs and drabs as it actually hurts my eyes to paint them. I might have to invest in a magnifying glass.

This is the first ship I painted after a repaint 

The second ship I painted once I figured out what I was doing

 My first attempt at a French/Spanish ship

The camera shows up some flaws, but I am happy with the way they came out, and you can't see the flaws so easily when you are playing a game.

Ship painting epic fail

I tried painting one of my Napoleonic ships today and to accurately describe what it looks like will no doubt offend a lot of readers.

 It was so bad that I would proudly game with unpainted figures rather than show a single person what the mess I made of the ship looks like.

 I didn't quite have the right hull colour that is recommended for painting these ships, so I might be tempted to give it another go if I can find said suggested paint, but until then these figures will remain unpainted.

 If I thought I could ship the figures safely to a figure painter I would do so, but the 1:2400 scale is a bit fragile for popping in the post.

 I will still play games of Trafalgar with the minis, but it might be a long time before they are painted :-(

Trafalgar

 Avast ye land lubbers!  If all goes well I will be playing my first game of "Trafalgar" tonight.  I also have the "Kiss Me Hardy" rules, but thought I would try the Warhammer Historical rules first.

I have enough ships for 11 per side, but as my mate and I will be learning the rules we will start off with one ship each as we go through the rules and then add more ships once we know enough to play an actual game.

Having not played the game (which I bought as a pre-order when it was due for release) I have read a bit about what other's think of the game on a few forums, but I will play the game as is initially and see what I think of the rules as is.

  I have read a few complains that the rules are a typical warhammer deal, I go you go, min max and so on, but having played a number of "Victory at Sea" games I can't see much difference in the play sequence.

 I will post my thoughts on the game and how the game played tomorrow, assuming I will be playing.

Edit: no game tonight - as usually happens when I do a lot of prep work the game night gets cancelled, so hopefully I will get to play next week.  I might even attempt to paint one (or more) of the tiny ships before then.