Rule, Britannia!

Ian's comment on my previous post touched upon the subject of the Royal Navy. As it happens I do have a project in mind. After all, what Colonial campaign would be complete without the presence of a gunboat, ready to throw a naval landing party ashore and be ready to provide fire support?

Here are three photos of ships which caught my eye. The first two show HMS Royal Albert, a gunboat which came into service in the 1870's. She's a trim little vessel, of just the right size for a gaming model, but I've only been able to gather a little information about her. (My Google-fu is weak. I'm sure there must be more out there). She did see service mainly as a hydrographical survey vessel, working in the Far East and Australia for a time, and I believe parts of Africa. Does anyone know what armament she carried?

HMS Royal Albert in dry dock, sheers deployed to keep her upright. An officer stands upon her bridge. Is that a Nordenfelt gun mounting to his right?

In her natural environment - and a different paint scheme. Taken off Portsmouth. She has quite a low freeboard for'ard.

The second ship may not need an introduction. She's HMS Calliope, a famous vessel in her day. Through a sterling act of seamanship, her crew won clear of a harbor in Samoa in the teeth of a vicious typhoon that laid waste to every other vessel in the area. She was a typical gunboat, one of a class sent to far-flung destination whenever someone upset the Pax Britannica. Another candidate for a wargames model - perhaps in a condensed form.

In his book Fighting the Fuzzy-Wuzzy, Captain E. A. de Cosson records a great wealth of detail about General Graham's Sudan campaign. The army's base was in the town of Suakin, on the Red Sea littoral. de Cosson relates how the searchlights of gunboats moored offshore swept the area around the town at night to prevent sneak attacks by Osman Digna's Mahdists. Any such attack would invite almost instant retribution from the navy's guns.

Isn't that an evocative image? Just the thing I want in my games. Picture the tension of a shore party, encamped at the edge of the Dark Continent. The night is full of strange noises, and hostile natives could lurk in the shadows, ready at any moment to sweep down on the camp with fire and sword... But offshore is the steady presence of a gunboat, her searchlight crew dilligently sweeping the area, her gun crews closed-up, ready to fire in support of their mates ashore.

So, back to the modelling ideas. I have some 28mm gunboat weapons from the sadly-defunct London War Rooms just begging to be used. One 60 pdr, one 3-inch, a couple of 12 pdrs, and two Hotchkiss 37mm revolving cannon. Oh, and a Nordenfelt.

The Major-General recommends that gaming model ships shouldn't be longer than 9 inches or so. Anything larger takes up too much space on the table. I'm thinking of pushing the boat out (deliberate pun) and making a model around 12 inches long by 3 wide, based on the Royal Albert. It makes for a model large enough to stand figures around the weapons, on the bridge and in the superstructure. 

Evilcartoonist over at the Lead Adventurers' Forum made a superb tramp steamer model for Pulp games. If I could make something even half as good in detail as his, I'll be a very happy man!

As usual, any thoughts or comments are welcome.