WW1 naval fever & childhood nostalgia

Chas Stadden 30mm WW1 

Early German Infantryman.

Admittedly the last months of painting output and quite a few of my recent blog posts have been circling around the Scanian War and the showcasing of the Battle of Lund 1676 at the coming gaming convention in Copenhagen in a week's time from now. 

In need of a change and inspired by fellow blogger Jonathan’s post on his first wargaming memories, I decided it was time to go up to the attic, and break out some of the boxes with my childhood hobby collection.

Chas Stadden 30mm WW1

Early French Infantryman.

So with autumn holding a firm grip on a yellow and red-leafed Stockholm, I found myself up under the roof, surrounded by a mountain of old books and 1/72 Seven Year’s War boxes, flipping through the very same 1994 Revell catalogue that I used to study for hours without end as a kid, planning my next purchase (Dare I say some things stay the same – the internet have not made that less of a habit). I used to paint a lot of these small soft plastics when I first got into the hobby. Revell was the brand of choice then. Loved those figures and still do. There is actually a really nice 1/72 plastics site here for those interested.

1/72 Revell Seven Year's War Prussian Infantry.

At the bottom of one box I found an old cigar box with a few metal figures inside.

I had completely forgotten about these, but as I picked them up, I remembered it all again. I had been given these miniatures by my father when accompanying him to Copenhagen on a business trip in the early 90ies. Apparently his meetings went well, because I remember he wanted to get me something, and took me to the very best hobby shop Copenhagen had back then – Smith’s Hobby in Kompagnistræde. 

Charles "Chas" Stadden 1919 - 2002.

Sculpter, painter and collector.

It was a small crammed basement shop, with expo windows glittering of glossy Tradition and Stadden metal figures. I got a 54mm Frederic the Great by Tradition and a bunch of beautiful 30mm Chas Stadden WW1 figures.

The 30mm Stadden minis are very nice sculpts indeed.

Beautifully proportioned and with a good level of details.

As I already had a healthy sized lead (or rather plastic) pile back then, the Stadden figures went into oblivion after a while. Now, almost like time transported, they came out of a cigar box in an attic in Stockholm some 22 years later. After a closer study, realizing the top quality of the sculpting, and admitting to a small smite of WW1 fever, I decided these minis had to go directly to the painting table.

Found this old classic in the attic as well.

Following the Chas Stadden figures down from the attic came an old book that John, my scale model-interested uncle, once gave me for Christmas. It’s an amazing resource on the WW1 navies. Battleships of World War I by Antony Preston, published by Galahad Book New York in 1972. Each country’s fleet, the commanders and naval traditions are described along with the main ship building wharfs. Then follows a complete run through of every important ship-class of every mayor navy participating in WW1. 

The Preston book contains beautiful and detailed

technical drawings of each ship-class.

This childhood reminder of my love for WW1 naval warfare and dreadnoughts (I’m born and raised in Jutland) quickly got me searching for suitable models and rules for a WW1 naval project. 

The Battle of Jutland 1916.

The Royal Navy's Grand Fleet clash with the Kaiserliche Kriegsmarine.

I settled on GHQ and their 1/2400 WW1 range – which to me has the level of details suited to a painting style using washes and high lighting. Fellow blogger and Stockholm wargaming club member, Mark, recommended the Naval Thunder rules which he has for WW2. Thus the “Clash of Dreadnoughts” variation of Naval Thunder was subsequently purchased along with some “Kaiser-class” and “Iron-Duke-Class” (God I love those names) ships from GHQ, now presumably crossing the Atlantic on their journey to my painting table. Can’t wait to get started on these.

Thank you very much for reading!