Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Dystopian Wars - Britannian Fleet with some 'Razzle Dazzle'


(Originally posted on the Home Page, Sept 18, 2011)
For the British fleet I thought I'd do something completely different from the Japanese I had done. I wanted the British ships to reflect England's cutting-edge industrial nature, but with a little dash of Victorian pomp and ceremony for good measure. So I went with a variation of the 'Dazzle' camouflage pattern first used by the Brits late in WWI.

HMS Argus, ca 1918.

Ok, a little background history: First developed in 1917 by British maritime artist Norman Wilkinson, 'Dazzle' painting is technically not a camouflage (a pattern designed to hide), but was instead created to disrupt the observer's perception of the silhouette, size and heading of the dazzle-painted subject. It was primarily developed to fool torpedo range-finding optics and surface rangefinders. It was really never proven how effective dazzle painting was but it was often seen to boost ships' morale, as the crews believed it gave them an edge in combat.

A squadron of frigates (3 of 10).
A trio of cruisers.
A Battleship

An Aircraft Carrier.
In typical British fashion, the Carrier is bodged from two battleship hulls.
The crap decals are Flames of War leftovers...
The Big Bad Boy: The Dreadnought.

Two Heavy Bombers.
The Fleet steaming out to enlighten the world in British glory (and the Anglo Free Market).
Next up are the Prussians, which, characteristically German, will be a little more straightforward to get on the table...

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