1/1200th Scale Ships for the 2nd Anglo Dutch War

Sea spray and salt air mix with the smell of black powder as these 17th-century warships try to chase down their enemies in the Anglo-Dutch War. These 1/1200th scale models are by Ark Royal Miniatures and are based for use with the Mad for War rules, written by Barry Hilton (of League of Augsburg fame)

My group, Posties Rejects had the great honour of refighting the Dutch Raid on Chatham using these rules, inside the target of the attack, Chatham Dockyard. We had two days of intense fighting as we recreated the battle and at the end, we all had such a good time we bought copies of the rulebook and a load of ships. I’ve already completed three of the ships from my British Squadron, these four are the remainder.

When we started these models we all agreed not to bother with the rigging…and then one person relented and now we all have to follow! The plan was to use plastic bristles from a brush but fixing these to the top of the masts drove me nearly insane. So I switched to using black cotton and doing the whole line in one piece. I glued the 'rope' to the front mast, waited for the super glue to set then pulled it tight across the other masts and dabbed glue on each spot where it touched. I did use the bristles for the support ropes on the main masts though. 

I could have done a lot more but I'm not sure my nerves could have taken any more. Rigging ships this big turned me into a proper sailor because I can honestly say I have never sworn so much in my entire life!!! 

UPDATE: 

Since writing this post I have named my ships with the help of Ray. And, inspired by Richard, I have now added name flags to the rear of each base.