Well, finally got my butt in gear re updating this blog. Since the last time I posted, 48 galleys and 8 galiots arrived from Navwar. They joined the massive painting backlog I’ve accumulated (but then again, find me a gamer who doesn’t have a backlog). Once they are painted and finished, I should be able to field some reasonable sized fleets. My plan is for a Holy League force (Venetian, Spanish, Papal and Genoese) of around 34 galleys against a Turkish/Barbary force of 33 galleys plus about 20 galiots. I chose Navwar over Langton miniatures mainly on grounds of cost. As well as the galleys, I acquired some 14 carracks and caravels, and 20+ bergantinas to ferry troops around the fleets. The Langton miniatures models are much nicer and more detailed, however, they are much more expensive – about three times the price. The Navwar models are more basic, but they are relatively easy to paint, and look fine once they have some colour on them. At the West Tokyo club, Giovanni brought his Knights of St.John squadron down a while ago. The paint job impressed me so much that I’m looking at repainting all my existing ships to a similar standard. Also, I already had some Navwar models, so I knew what I was getting. Finally, last month's purchase of a new printer means I can at last produce some flag sheets. When the painting is finished, I should be able to produce two fleets for games of up to 50 vessels a side, which would allow me to think about recreating most of the actions in the Mediterranean bar Lepanto. That'll just have to wait until I win the lottery.