GHQ GHQ produces a full range of 1:1200 scale Age of Sail vessels, called MICRONAUTS, ranging from 18-gun brigs all the way to 120-gun sail of the line. The casting is excellent and free of flash, with niceties of detail that include gunports, channels, guns, and so on. Items requiring extra detail, such as quarter galleries and boats, are cast separately (allowing a gamer to maintain a stockpile of these boats to fight those all-important landing actions and cutting-out parties). The masts and sails are cast separately. The sails are nicely detailed, including reef points, buntlines, and so forth; but of course the cast sails are far too thick for this scale. Intrepid modelers may wish to make their own sails out of glue-stiffened paper. The MICRONAUTS are"generic" sailing ships -- the 120-gun liner will have to stand in for the Santissima Trinidada, Commerce du Marseilles, and Brittania, but a lot of "personality" can be added to these models in painting. MICRONAUTS are manufactured and sold in the US by GHQ 2364 Bryant Ave. South Minneapolis, MN 55408 Prices vary, depending on size of ship. NAVWAR NAVWAR produces what is probably the largest variety of 1:1200 age-of- sail models, including 13 different British ships, 5 French, 3 Dutch, 6 Spanish, 3 Spaniards, 3 Danes, 3 Americans, and two generic merchant ships (according to the latest ad -- there may be more that I haven't heard of). The variety is definitely a plus for this line: the 80-gun Hoche is quite different from the 80-gun Christian VIII. The Danish ships all have the distinct rounded stern, the French are longer and narrower than their British equivalents, the Spaniards have an authentically "chunky" look. A brief history of each ship is included with the package, including details of armament. The casting, unfortunately, is not as detailed as the MICRO NAUTS: the boats lack thwarts (perhaps they're meant to be inverted on the decks), reef points are left off the sails, and the sails are cast in one piece with the masts, making both too thick. When painted, these ships have a definite "funkier" feel to them than the MICRONAUTS, and may be taken to represent the more individual flavor of the ships designed in the 18th Century, while the MICRONAUTS seem to favor the sleeker ship design that came into existence after Trafalgar. NAVWAR figures are available in the US from The Ship Shop 75 Maryland Ave. Annapolis, Maryland 21401 from Enola Games P.O. Box 1900 Brooklyn, NY 11201 and in the UK from the Naval Wargamers Association 11 Queen Hill Rd. Selsdon, S. Croydon, CR28D4 (last available address). SKYTREX SKYTREX produces the Triton line of ships, of which this reviewer has seen only one. (Though its number, N541, leads one to hope that there are at least 40 other ships in the line.) Mine is the Spanish Salvador del Mundo, and it's a beaut! Also in 1:1200, the casting is very fine, including excellent detailing on the quarter galleries, sails (including those necessary reef points and buntlines!), and boats. Masts and sails are cast separately. A sheet is included with details of armament. It would well be worth a query to the distributor to see what else might be available. They are sold in the US by Modeler's Mart 2071 Range Rd. Clearwater, FL 33575 and in England by DAVCO 28 Brook St. Wymeswold, Leicestershire, England The Salvador sells for $4.75. GALLIA REPRODUCTIONS I don't know what scale these GALLIA models are in, but with a 74-gun sail of the line being only 1.5mm in length, these guys are TINY [ED NOTE: They are 3000:1]. The line includes ships with 120, 100, and 74 guns, "generic" frigates, "generic" brigs, and (for a nice change), medieval cogs, complete with fore- and sterncastles! The packages come in plastic bags, with from 2 to 8 ships per bag, depending on size. The ship, masts, and sails are cast in one piece, and a good deal of flash may have to be cleared from the masts before they'll look right. Each ship has a base, cast separately, and textured to look like the sea. In this scale, detailing is just about nonexistent, and gunports and so on will have to be added by the painter. If you want to fight VERY LARGE battles and have only a VERY SMALL table, this is the line for you! They are available from Modelers Mart (see address above) and from: Gallia Reproductions 21/23 Boston Road Holbeach, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12 7LR GREENFIELD Sea battles in 25mm? You must be mad! But here's the evidence of someone's lunacy; a 10-gun sloop in 25mm, produced by Greenfield Hobbies. I'm told the sloop is meant to be a "generic" model for use in skirmish gaming on the Great Lakes, inland rivers, and harbors of North America. (I'm also told there is a rulebook for such gaming, available from MiniFigs called Limies and Slimies, but there's a limit as to how much Dick Bryant can put me on. (ED NOTE: Not a put-on; Steve Carpenter and Bill Abrams of Minifigs ran several very popular demos of the rules at Origins '85.) The roleplaying rules for Privateers and Gentlemen can also be adapted for skirmish gaming in this period.) The finished model is a little over a foot long. The hull is cast out of some strange latex-like substance, which when painted actually looked fairly close to wood. Any fine detailing -- hatchways, planking, and whatnot -- will have to be added by the painter. A sail will have to be cut from, you should forgive the expression, whole cloth. Cannons and crew do not come with the model, and must be purchased separately. An 8-gun sloop is also available. The 10-gun sloop is available for $7.50 from: Greenfield 2350 Burdette Ferndale, MI 48220 FRYING PAN AND BLANKET Here's another entry in the marine skirmish game sweepstakes, FRYING PAN AND BLANKET's 15mm 10-gun sloop, also created for action on the Great Lakes or wherever. The hull and poop deck are made of wood, with the bulwarks, catheads, chains, hatches, stern windows, and affrail all cast in metal. The result is a topheavy construction which, because of the mixture of textures, just doesn't feel right, but which looks well enough. The wood hull has no detail on it -- any planking, sheer lines, or whatever will have to be added by the modeler -- but the metal bulwarks are fully detailed, and include racks of cutlasses and boarding axes. The lower level has no detail at all, and there's quite a bit just above -- the effect is quite odd. Unlike the Greenfield sloop, cast metal guns are included, as well as anchors, but you'll still have to provide your own crew. Available from: Frying Pan and Blanket 2283 Apache St. Mendota Heights, MN 55120 OTHER AGE OF SAIL MODELS? Other age of sail models are said to have been available at one time or another from the following addresses: Tortuga, 206 Downes Rd., Greensburg PA, and Micromatic, 1 Crookston Rd., Eltham, London, England. These addresses might not be current, so Our Editor's advice is to query before sending orders. Related American Duels: Ship Actions (American Revolution, Tripoli, War of 1812 Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VI No. 6 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1986 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com