Brigade Models

First up, a reminder to get your orders in for collection at Hammerhead, which is coming up on the first of March. And secondly, a reminder that we’re also at Cavalier in Tonbridge this coming Sunday (although it’s too late for any more orders for that now).

On Sunday we’ll have these two additions to the British Imperial Skies fleet. The first is a new version of an old favourite, the Engadine dirigible Heavy Cruiser. This new design is a one-piece resin casting which replaces the old metal model. The Engadine class does sterling work in the Home Fleet serving as command vessels for patrol groups of dirigibles which monitor the dark seas and skies over the North and Norwegian Seas. They’re ideally suited for this work because of their long range and ability to stay on station for extended periods with minimal support. The contents of the British Patrol Fleet pack has been updated to contain an Engadine alongside several other dirigibles and an Ark Royal tender.

The second new vessel is the Duke of York class Battleship, several examples of which are already in service with the Grand Fleet. This new class has a lighter main battery but with extensive medium- and light-calibre weapons for combating cruiser and smaller sized vessels.

VAN-116 – Engadine class Dirigible Cruiser – £6.00
VAN-136 – Duke of York class Battleship – £8.00
VANFP-107 – British Patrol Fleet – £24.00

Today we’re continuing to look at developments in European aerial warship design. The two biggest powers in Eastern Europe are the empires of Austria-Hungary and Russia, and both continue to develop their substantial air fleets. Following some severe reverses against the Japanese in the Far East, Russia has been putting significant resources into building up its battleship squadrons with newer vessels, and one of the results has been the Evstafi class of dreadnoughts. Unlike some of Russia’s earlier classes the Evstafis have significant secondary armament in fully rotating turrets; previous vessels have their secondary armament in casemates with limited traverse. Another weakness in the Russian fleet is a lack of scouting and communications ability, so the vessels were lengthened compared to the previous Borodinos to accommodate an aircraft catapult amidships. Room has also been found for a small maintenance workshop ahead of the aft pair of funnels.

It is not believed that any Evstafis have yet joined the southern fleets; most have been sent to the Far East with the others retained in the home fleets in the west of the country. So they have yet to encounter the new Austrian Vielfrass (Wolverine) class of dreadnoughts currently entering service. Different in design to other Austro-Hungarian capital ships, the Vielfrass class has an arrow-head profile that allows all of the ship’s main armament to fire directly forward in a head-on encounter. The widely separated steering vanes and powerful engines also give them a good degree of manoeuvrability.

VAN-518 – Evstafi class Dreadnought – £8.00
VAN-717 – Vielfrass class Dreadnought – £8.00

We’re starting the year off with a pair of battleships for Imperial Skies. While we’ve been off playing in South America, the rest of the world hasn’t stood still. Other nations have continued to develop bigger and better warships to try and wrest mastery of the skies from their neighbours, and we’ll be releasing a number of these over the coming months.

Today sees the arrival of the Spanish battleship Pelayo and the Italian Da Vinci-class Dreadnought. These Mediterranean states have some of the more powerful fleets in Europe after the dominant triumvirate of Britain, Germany and France, and a number of their larger vessels can match those of the Great Powers.

The Pelayo, named for a Visigoth nobleman of the seventh century, follows the standard Spanish armament doctrine of large numbers of heavy guns but with no significant secondary battery apart from a few anti-fighter guns. The five triple turrets are arrayed to allow at least three to fire in any direction in its forward 270° arc, although there is little to protect it from the rear. The vessel has very clean lines with the three square funnels giving it a distinctive and recognisable profile.

The Da Vinci class is the largest vessel to join the Royal Italian Air Navy, and the first capital ship to be equipped with secondary armament in turrets. The two primary turrets at A and Y positions are fitted with a single huge cannon, certainly the largest currently in service with the Italians, while the Q turret has a pair of slightly smaller cannon, although its field of fire forward is somewhat obstructed either side by the upper secondary turrets.

VAN-1712 – Pelayo class Battleship – £8.00
VAN-1813 – Da Vinci class Dreadnought – £8.50