Canada's only Washington Treaty Combat club had it's first battle on Sunday, making this an international group. Six of 9 club members were present with 5 ships, but due to technical problems only 3 made it into action. A good time was had with NJ battling Von der Tann and Minotaur, losing by less than 200 ponts. There were no sinks other than NJ, which survived its 5 minute call but was allowed to go under while being videotaped. Black Prince and Konig will have their faults repaired in a few days and will join HMS Abdiel in the next battle. The captains of the USS Washington and HMCS Ontario should have their models ready to battle later in September. There was a lot of discussion about the merits of different types of ships. It seems most of the captains are getting away from large models. There's a clear preference for WWI era ships which are generally smaller, more maneuverable and easier to transport. Bob
The Baden,Molkey and Mark-Graff would be all you would ever need or want . The allied have the invincible,Dreadnaught and many other s which cant turn with the germans but can fight. I have always want to do a Jutland scenario,or dogger bank nothing later than 1922.
I agree with the conclusions that you guys have come to Bob. I think I'm really going to be hard pressed to find something I like more then my Invincible.
Mike, I have to say that is a nice little boat. I just can't figure why I won't take a hard look at some of the small, easy to carry boats.
I had planned on building something smaller also, but will give it more thought after the Hood comes on-line. I am leaning towards a New Zealand. Well done with getting the Treaty group going up there. That is exciting indeed. Mikey
I just hope that everyone had a good time. Thanks for your work. So Bob, you like having to think when you are running a boat? I actually aim shots!
Guys, It was a big change to have targets moving slowly enough to plan exactly where you were going to hit them. Also, there were only two rams. Both captains saw them coming and were able to react in time to reduce them to mere taps. The battle looked much better without battleships zooming around like speed boats. There was discussion about not building any models of ships laid down post-1921, but grandfathering later models already built or under construction. The majority prefer WWI era ships. I'm thinking of abandoning my Rodney and Vanguard projects for Treaty, maybe building one of them for IRCWCC. Work will resume on the 1920s Russian CL Profintern shortly, and I'm building the Indefatigable to replace the armored cruiser Black Prince. Can't go wrong with a small battlecruiser in this game. Bob
I like the balance between speed, firepower and maneuverability in my WW1 ships. I'm a big fan of ww2 cruisers but really have no interest at all in the big battleships. It's just a lot more work to maintain and patch them, let alone transport and carry them.
Mike, You're right about the big models. This gives me second thoughts about the HMS Furious, which is nearly as long a model as the Vanguard and will probably take a lot of damage. It's only advantage in Treaty is the high speed. The Indefatigable should be a more effective combatant. Bob
After running the Courageous at NATS this year, I concur. I found that my speed wasn't as much of an advantage as I expected because nobody could catch up to play with me. Once I went on the attack, things got a little bit frustrating. I'm looking forward to a smaller BC next year with a cruiser as a back up/loaner. Which BC will depend on how motivated I am on the Queen Mary. I'll probably end up getting the Invincible ready, so I can spend time working on the myriad number of cruisers I want. Queen Mary will need a lot more work.
Mike, What size props and drag discs are you running the Furious on? I know you've still got the 2 x 550 motors running though the Olympus 2.3/1.0 belt drives. I need to copy the set up for HMS Furious. Decided I'll go ahead and build it as the hybrid BC/CV - I found 1/144 Skytrex models for the different types of biplanes it carried (Sopwith Pup, Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, Sopwith Camel). These models are suitable for use on the turret 'flying off platforms' used in 1917-1918 by most British battlecruisers. From photos it seems the Camel was used most often. Bob
I had the same props and drag disks that were on it when I got it; I assume they are the ones you had put on. Perhaps some more work with the props and disks would have helped her accelleration and deceleration which were terrible. Mikey Deskin has the ship now, I wanted to clear out a little bit of space for some other projects, and that was the biggest ship I had.
The thing I like about the WWI ships is their history. I like the fact that they actually fired on each other. Surface to surface combat. While you can find it in WWII it just did not happen as much. I was all for doing just WWI when this thing got started.
Actually, it happened far more in WW2 then in WW1. It's just that it was cruisers. There were a heck of a lot more cruiser surface battles then there were capital ship battles in WW1. You can make a solid case that there were more battleship actions in WW2 as well. For the WW1 ships there was pretty much Jutland. The battlecruisers get to add a few more fights, but that's pretty much it. All in all, WW1 ships spent most of the war anchored or on patrol.
And no one mentioned the VU, one of the best turning ships out there for her size. I think she will be a great treaty ship. We will see next year, I plan on coming up for a battle late next year.
Bob, Are there any pictures from the event? If so, when do you think you'll posted them? I'm very curious about the armored cruisers... Eric
Boatmeister, Ralph Coles took some digital shots and Jason videoed the NJ sinking with Minotaur next to it. Don't know if they're going to post anything. If not I'll post some photos of the 2 armoured cruisers after Labour Day weekend. Bob
