The Army Needs a Navy

This is a Matchbox / Revell Flower Class Corvette in 1/72nd scale. I converted it into a waterline merchant vessel.
















I built it so that the hull hatches can be removed. A merchant ship can be a great addition to a wargame army. When playing an amphibious invasion game, it gives the beach defenses a nice fat juicy target. It also gives a good starting place for the invasion force. It also works even better for medium size commando raids. I have used this ship as the centerpiece of a game, with much of the action taking place on the deck. The ship is configured so that it can accept a variety of armaments.


A generic type cargo ship will work from nearly all the 20th Century, that's two World Wars and many smaller conflicts. The ship can also be moored alongside a dock and the goal of the game can be to evacuate civilians as in the Fall of Saigon, or to evacuate the army as in Dunkirk. Ships like this can be Naval vessels, civilian, under contract to the military, and the US Army has operated similar ships for many years. Go buy your army a navy.

Flowers for Mothers Day

This is my model of the Matchbox/ Revell Flower Class Corvette in 1/72nd scale. It is a great kit, with over 1,000 parts, most of them are really small. The kit was modified by the addition of metal US weapons made by HR Models. I also built the kit according to the directions for a US Naval version and finally waterlined the model for wargame use.

Have you added a navy to your wargame army? It adds another dimension, not unlike adding aircraft. It makes your wargame opponent think about the possibility of a seaborne attack on your beaches, or even naval gunfire attacks if you are within twenty miles of shore. Late night commando raids, UDT teams coming to shore to clear obstacles, even full scale invasions are all scenarios that you can use, if you have a navy.

My plan is to build some of those Revell Type VII U-Boats in 1/72nd scale and play convoy vs submarine games. I have already built a second Flower Class Corvette as a merchant ship. That will be the main part of my convoy. I am continuing to look for more ships to add to it.

There was a tremendous amount of surface warfare in the English Channel during WWII. Britannia Miniatures makes a really nice armed trawler in 20mm scale. I got one of those and several of their other smaller boats. A Flower Class Corvette is a small ship, but up against an Airfix E-Boat and an armed trawler it can be very formidable.

Once I get a couple of U-Boats completed, it will be time to build a U-Boat pen. That means more reasons for commando raids. It is also a good defense point when planning air raids. I have a nice collection of various B-17's and they will look good over the U-Boat pen. And you know the Bunkermeister never misses a bunker opportunity!