W is for War-gaming on the Waves

A couple of comments on older vessel posts the other day reminded me I had these in Brian B (Terranova)'s folder (there's lot of good stuff in there, I will try to post more of it), and as we don't have much war gaming stuff on here; it's time to look at this interesting exhibition, which he ran into on a visit to the Grolier Society, where a member had this little display; I will be pulling the biographical details from the wall-cards Brian also kindly photographed.

I know this is the 'Holy Grail' if you happen to be a fan of naval war gaming; Fletcher Pratt's original 1940 wire-bound, manuscript-publishing of the - by then - well play-tested rule set. Illustrated by his wife Inga Pratt throughout, this copy actually carries the bookplate of his close friend John D. Clark.

As well as military and Naval history, Fletcher Pratt (1897-1956) was also one of the early 'pulp' science-fiction writers and Dean of non-fiction at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont (not as odd as it sounds). The Pratt's organised naval war gaming began in 1926, the games being played in their apartment in New York.

The 10th of October issue of Life Magazine in 1938 carried an article "Life Plays the War Game" on the Pratt's and the popularity of the gaming which - as can be seen - had spread to the military - which had bigger floors! The same issue carried an article on the Munich Conference entitled "Hitler listens to Reason", so it wasn't just Chamberlin!

The really interesting thing here, apart from getting across the grandeur of the old Naval Reviews, is; no flat-tops? I think there are 184 vessels, or part-vessels in the shot but nothing which looks like an aircraft carrier? The two long, dark ones toward the back may be, but they look like capital ships/battleships to me?

I love that there's a huge 'NORTH' posted on the mezzanine walkway to remind everyone - at a glance - where they are, and where they are supposed to be sailing/shooting! Note also - civilians roll in the dust; senior naval officer's squat - stiffly!

I have no idea . . . well 'some' idea as to who made the model ships, in that it's probably safe to assume they are Comet? Although the exhibition seems to suggest some were home-made by the Pratt's - highly likely as they 'invented' the genre!

But there were other quantity, lead/whitemetal, model-ship makers; Wiking in Germany have a reasonable list and a Trafalgar in Britain; although I'm not sure if Wiking were that early and my early-photocopy/roneo'd catalogues (possibly from the 1950's) for both all three companies are in storage (they will all end-up on the A-Z pages). Also the Trafalgar lists may be imported Comet or Wiking?

I do know that Comet and Comet-Authenticast produced Naval Vessels in 1:1200th (280+ models representing many more actual vessels - within 'classes'), 1:500th (25-odd US military vessels), and desk-top/promotional models from 1:100th scale to 50-feet long (by commission), so I would imagine that the former (1:1200th)'s what we're looking at in these shots. Indeed - Comet originally supplied models to the US military to use as recognition aids, so the naval ones will almost certainly be Comet.

However, there are always smaller makers and home-casting to consider! Thanks - as always - Terranova, another treat to post.

S is for Ships (and other vessels); Part 2 - Bath toys and 'boxed'

These are my favourites of all the Hong Kong ship sets, they have a toy charm that you can't put your finger on, they seem to be original designs not piracies, they are 'pretty colours' - what's not to like!

Invasion Fleet - because everybody's LCT's are the same size as their carriers, aren't they!, these are probably meant to be bath toys despite the inclusion of the figure blister, there are no sharp edges or small pieces to brake or get lost.

A close-up of the carded set, when you scroll to the Submarines (two posts below) you'll see a note next to the Missile-armed one suggesting it belongs to a set like this, and you can see from the sub. included in this set what I mean.

A loose carrier of 10cm in length, I love the rakish flight-line in bright vermilion strokes and the hull-sculpting, I'm sure you're meant to float it!

They also appear in the non-carded bags, probably from confectionery 'lucky-bags', Christmas crackers or bulk-bags of party favours. Along with copies of first version Airfix figures and an MPC 'Mini's' aeroplane.

This Woolbro set has appeared here before, these are similar to the Lucky Toys vessels in Part 1 (above), but much smaller at 70mm. If you remove the hull though you get a good warship around 1:1200?...ish! Both these sets have polystyrene ships, with other accessories in soft plastic.

S is for Ships (and other vessels); Part 3 - Common or garden!

This set/range is by far the commonest of the Hong Kong stuff, not least because being made of polyethylene is relatively indestructible, albeit; prone to losing the small parts that plug-in.

Limited to five vessels which will be copies of something better issued previously in the West (Tri-ang Minic?) the range included two liners; one large and converted into a hospital-ship with a crude cross carved into the mould, the other small; a carrier with various aircraft and two warships; one battleship/cruiser type thing and a smaller vessel.

Two more carded sets, these all have copies of the old Monogram/Revell GI's, and a couple have the mini-truck copies of Dinky's Humber 1-t0n. Sizes are;

Carrier - 18cm
Battleship/Cruiser - 14cm
Hospital Ship - 14cm
Small Liner - 11cm
Frigate/Destroyer - 92mm

They are about the size of the Airfix waterline series, or at least the small fighting vessel looks a bit like my memories of a Tribal Class Destroyer twin-pack I once made a complete mess of!

Some close-ups of the various vessels abroad, the green is usually reserved for the carrier, but as you can see a green Frigate/destroyer has turned up. Also the silver varies from a pale grey through to a gun-metal colour.