Bay Area Yards and Thoroughbred

It's been a busy world since our last installment. New castings have left slid down the ways for several manufacturers. Most of the activity has been with the new kid on the block, Bay Area Yards. However, Thoroughbred miniatures - the "Jedi Master" of 1/600 ACW naval - has a new release to add to their formidable line of vessels.

Bay Area Yards has added six new ACW naval castings to their line of hulls. These are the Union vessels Pennsylvania, St. Lawrence, Wampanoag, Conemaugh and Lancaster as well as the Confederate raider Chickamauga. Most saw service in the ACW, except Wampanoag, which was not completed until after the war.

These kits continue to be offered as resin cast hulls with no guns, boats, masts or other fittings beyond a styrene stack. They take a little work, but the return is worth the variety and flexibility the line provides. Bay Area Yards new sculptor, Larry Enoch of virtualscratchbuilder.com fame, created the masters of several of the new castings including the side-wheeler Conemaugh and Wampanoag. In addition to the ACW ships, Bay Area Yards offers ships of the following navies: Austria, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, Peru, The Ottoman Empire (1 ship), Spain and a few generic frigates.

Thoroughbred Miniatures has added one new casting to their line, the side-wheel casemate ironclad CSS Nashville. It's really big. The casting is nicely done with the detail we've come to expect from Thoroughbred. (Did I mention that it's really big?). This kit competes with the CSS Nashville done by Peter Pig, but a cursory inspection of the two kits has Thoroughbred winning the style and functionality awards. Matt Davidson is working on a comparative review of the two kits for a future issue, so I'll leave the details to him.

Lastly, a plug for a new product - an ACW naval campaign game called Anaconda. Okay, okay, I wrote it! My opinion is obviously biased. As such, I'll leave the review to someone else. In a nutshell, it's a campaign game for the Mississippi river and Gulf Coast designed to crank out battles and explain why you are fighting the other guy. The game is available from warweb.com. If you are interested, drop me a line and I can answer any questions.