Minifigs Ships: Republic of Risorgimentia

Without further ado then, let's move on to the great adversary of the Bostro-Danubians, in the person of the Republic of Risorgimentia, and their respective naval forces represented by Minifigs ships.

For generations, the great peninsula dominating the northern Mediterranean was a maelstrom of competing petty monarchies, foreign-supported fiefdoms and vaguely defined territories, that vacillated between being the pawns of greater powers or hardly registering in international affairs by dint of the chaos which seemed to reign overall.
This was all to change, however, in the late nineteenth century, when individuals who had been instrumental in the republican and independence movements of key South American nations found a willing audience amongst the middle classes of this land known generically as Adriatica.
A surge of political awareness saw conflict erupt throughout the many principalities, as one by one the notion of a nation state, independent and free of old prejudices and feudalisms took hold, and civil wars gave way to the birth of a nation: The Republic of Risorgimentia.

The military forces of the new republic were in a parlous state at the end of the unification struggle, and indeed, the naval ships of the larger territories were to begin with dated and focussed mainly on limited aspirations of defence; coastal monitors or gunboats that could barely police an area a few miles offshore from the extensive coastline.
Guiseppe Biscotti, the first president of the Republic, however, had aspirations to exert influence over a wider area, and restore the imbalances in trade that had helped to keep the country at the mercy of foreign powers, and he saw the ability to project military power beyond his own shore as key to this policy.
Financial crises amongst the very South American nations that had initially spawned the republican movement, saw them offering warships that they had bought from Britain at second-hand prices, and Biscotti garnered all he could from his former revolutionary comrades, in return for hard cash, and began to build a modern navy.

From Chile, Risorgimentia took on two Lord Nelson class battleships, that had never even seen the native shores of their putative owners before they had had to put them up for sale; at one fell swoop the new republic had two powerful and modern contenders in the battle for naval supremacy - the 'Giustizia' and the 'Liberta':

(In the foreground, a BMC style hollow casting marked as B4 at the stern, and at rear, a new Minifigs sculpt, numbered '1')

The acquisition of these ships had initially somewhat alarmed the British, however when it became probable that Risorgimentia might turn next to their rivals France for a complement of cruisers, Her Majesty's Government was only too happy to offer a pair of Drake class armoured examples at a very reasonable price; the 'Regina Elisabetta' and the 'Londra':

(New Minifigs sculpts numbered '7')

These were further augmented by a single Devonshire class ship from the Argentinians, named the 'San Martin':

(New Minifigs sculpt numbered '8')

Unfortunately for Biscotti, these purchases all but drained his exchequer, and his vision of a larger fleet had to be somewhat tempered by financial prudence; his admirals knew that they might never challenge the battle line of their near rivals in terms of tonnage alone, however they were quick to adapt to the emerging technologies of torpedo and light craft that could punch above their weight:

(Two new Minifigs sculpts numbered '24', and closest to the camera, a single '19')

Indeed, within a few years, the Republic's torpedo boats and destroyers had become a byword for innovative and effective tactics, hunting in packs that had a lot of their competitors' captains nervous, even if they would not admit it openly:

(New Minifigs sculpts numbered '24')

This thirst for innovation to balance numbers also saw the deployment of some basic submarines; although in 1910 these were seen as more an asset in terms of reconnaissance rather than a destructive arm:

(Two BMC style castings that are unmarked, and in the middle, a new Minifigs sculpt, numbered '25')

The Republic's main battlefleet might be small, but they pack a powerful punch:

Minifigs Ships: The Fleet of Bostro-Danubia

A look now at the first part of the Minifigs 'Imagination' fleets, here in the person of the Empire of Bostro-Danubia.
In 1910 or thereabouts, this ancient monarchy is located either side of the Danube, and was once the bulwark between the West and the Oriental expansionism of the Ottomans. However, these old glories have tended to fade of late, to be replaced by the inertia and inefficiency characteristic of late nineteenth century bureaucratic states.
In spite of this, the shrewd political decision to fully support British colonial adventures in Egypt and the southern Mediterranean was rewarded by a beneficial Naval Treaty, the Anglo-Bostro-Danubian Pact. The outcome is that soon the concentrated output of such firms as Armstrong Whitworths and Yarrow is pouring into the naval inventory in the form of modern warships and technical expertise.

(At least that is how I am rationalising the heavily British bias in the BMC/Minifigs inventory....)

Whether of course such innovation and development will sit well alongside centuries of autocratic and conservative military practices remains to be seen, particularly in the context of growing rivalry with their nearest neighbours, the Republic of Risorgimentia...

Above we see the Canopus class battleship that has been adopted as the flagship of the reinvigorated Kaiserliche Marine, and named the 'Graf Rudolf'.

(BMC style hollow casting marked as B1 at the stern)

This ship is now ably supported by a pair of Swiftshure class battleships, the 'Kaiser und Konigin Elisabet Marie' and the 'Kronprinz Radetsky'.

(Two further BMC style hollow casts marked B2 at the stern)

Moving away from the main battleline, we see a pair of Town class protected cruisers, the 'Huszar' and the 'Pandur'. These vessels are of note in that they can be seen wearing the most recently innovated light grey colour schemes alongside the older "Montecoccolin Green", which had a brief flowering after many years of the typical peace-time pre-dreadnought black and white.

(New Minifigs solid sculpts, minus their integral masts, marked '10' underneath)

These lighter warships have been augmented by a trio of Highflyer light cruisers, whose colours cover the whole gamut from the dusk of the nineteenth century to the dawn of the first decade of the twentieth; the 'Admiral von Trapp', the 'Esterhaz von Esterhazy', and finally the 'Cattaro':

(New Minifigs solid sculpts, minus their integral masts, marked '13' underneath)

Bostro-Danubia has been somewhat slow in introducing modern Torpedo Boat Destroyers, and these next craft were added via German shipyards as part of an experimental trial - there is something far too underhand about all this whizzing underwater exploding silver cigar business....

(New Minifigs solid sculpts, minus their integral masts, marked '20' underneath)

That is not to say, however, that the Danubian flotilla would pass up the chance to own some of the fastest small craft currently produced by Britain, particularly as these were a gift from interested parties that were keen to stay one step ahead of their competitors - it is rumoured that these ships run all the faster for not having any of those unsporting torpedos aboard!

(New Minifigs solid sculpts, minus their integral masts, marked '21' underneath)

Finally, and somewhat counter-intuitively, the twin monarchy is also the proud owner of U3 and U4, modern unterseebooten of German pedigree, which are tolerated by the Naval staff because allegedly the young Kronprinz won them in a wager with his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm, and to refuse their deployment would be taken as a personal insult and career suicide...

(New Minifigs solid sculpts, marked '26' underneath)

So there we have it for part one of the 'Imaginations' - these all need basing of course, but a disastrous attempt at scoring and snapping perspex for bases has caused some delays, so they remain a work in progress.

I'll end with a view of the cruisers en masse, and also a couple of useful links, one a discussion on the use of a distinctive green colour scheme by a country not a million miles away from Bostro-Danubia:

http://smmlonline.com/articles/austrohungarariancamo/ahcamo.html

and finally an informative and detailed post regarding the pedigree of these enigmatic and characterful warship sculpts:

http://bmcfan.blogspot.co.uk/

Well worth a read, following on from the detective work done by Steve Cady at Castles of Tin, and David Crook of AWargaming Oddysey.

Next post: The ships of the Republic of Risorgimentia!

Minifigs Ships: Work-in-Progress shots

A quick look at the Minifigs ships currently on the Workbench; some simple blocked colours, and not much in the way of detailing; I could say that this is to compliment the 'toy' style sculpting, but has more to do with the limitations of my painting skills!

They've been great fun to have a go at, and begin to ooze character and charm as they emerge from their metallic state and begin to take on an identity....

So far just generic colour schemes pertinent to the period 1906 onwards, with a view to having a range of appearances that will suit them flying the flags of many nations, depending on what takes my fancy!

The Transport ship you'll spot has been pressed into service as a Hospital ship, and the Torpedo Boat destroyers and submarines are quite plain at the moment - I think given the size of the minis, they would actually stand quite a lot of detailing, should one wish to go down that route, certainly the addition of masts as done by Steve over at the 'Castles of Tin' Blog really make them look smart - not sure if I will attempt this though - I'm a bit too ham fisted for such delicate work.

Favourite so far, I think, is the Lord Nelson Class Battleship - a really meaty looking fellow - haven't thought much about a basing scheme as yet - have to give these an ink wash and a varnish first, and then I'll probably rush headlong into expanding the Fleet!

I've also put some thought as to their employment as 'Imaginations' navies, so keep on the look-out for some posts detailing the background fluff.

The Minifigs Ship Repository

After too long away from both the activity of modelling and gaming, as well as the all-important wittering on about same in the pages of this Blog, I've blown the dust off the laptop and am making a small return with news of projects, both old and new, beginning with the arrival of some heavy-weight and historic larger scale warships.

I am sure a lot of you will have been following the saga of the Minifigs ships as it played out over at David Crook's Blog, 'A Wargaming Oddyssey', that finally resulted in the re-introduction of the range of early twentieth century pre- and dreadnought vessels to production:

http://awargamingodyssey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/minifigs-and-others-warship-models.html

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Catalogue.aspx?ScaleID=12&CategoryID=43&SubCategoryID=233

A fascinating tale of detective work, co-operation with fellow enthusiasts, and blood sweat and tears that saw the Minifigs ships rise phoenix-like from relative obscurity and the pages of an occasional Ebay auction to full availability once more.

Like many others, I had followed this progress avidly, and whilst I had concentrated mainly on 1/3000th navies in the past, I couldn't really resist the charismatic lines of the Minifigs warships themselves, so evocative of both the era in which they were originally designed and produced and also of the early days of the Hobby itself; Fletcher Pratt et al crouching on the floor pushing their like around, and launching the popular phenomena of Naval Wargaming.

I had numerous discussions on the subject with David, and after he made the difficult decision that he would be unable to push the project of his collection of ships forward, as he wanted to concentrate on other scales, I was overwhelmed when in an incredible act of generosity, he gifted me the balance of the flotilla.

The story of the Minifigs line and its earlier incarnation, of course has been ably chronicled by the excellent work done by Steve Cady over at the 'Castles of Tin Blog', where, with a similar sense of commitment to these charming sculpts of yesteryear, he has not only shone a light on the original history of the ships, but also produced some amazing completed examples, definitely in the eye-candy class:

http://castlesoftin.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/minifigs-chronicles-part-1.html

http://castlesoftin.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/minifigs-chronicles-part-3.html

I will truly be standing on the shoulders of giants in taking over the baton of David's collection, and moving the painting and basing forward in whatever way I can.

So, I've been lucky enough to be handed the raw materials of a new project very much on a plate, and hopefully will be talking through it all as it progresses here at the Blog; thanks to David Crook, the hard work is done, and all I need to do is to throw some paint in their direction in order to get things moving.

My initial thoughts, given that the sculpts seem to have been based in a generic way around the ship inventory of the Royal Navy in the period of 1906 and thereafter, is to use them as the vessels for a pair of 'Imagi-Nations', namely the Empire of Bostro-Danubia and the Republic of Risorgimentia.

There is more on of all of this to come, and as the repository for David's collection, I hope that in the near future this Blog will see plenty of Minifigs ships in action!