OK, it had to happen finally - I managed to win a game of War of the Ring!
We played a 1000 point game, on a 6 x 4 table. I deliberately restricted the game to this size board as I wanted to see if that was part of the issue.
The only house rule restriction we imposed was One Epic hero per side.
Armies
I played my Mordor force, led this time by Khamul the wraith. I had heard how wonderful he was so thought I would try and see for myself. (As it turned out this proved to be a zero factor as when I got him into a fight, I forgot completely about his special ability! Although had I remembered it may well have made the fights easier)
I took
6 x Mordor orcs with 2HW and captain.
3 x Corsair raiding party with shields and captain. (these were intended to be the screen for the orcs )
3 x Morgul Knights with captain
6 x Warg Riders with captain
Troll Chieftan
Khamul
Chris took
Boromir with standard
2 x Warriors of Minas Tirth with banner captain and musician
2 x Warriors of Minas Tirth archers with captain
3 x Knights of Minas Tirth with Hornblower and shields
3 x Rangers of Gondor with captain
1 x Warriors of the Dead with captain and banner
1 x Trebuchet
1 x Fortune (Fortification bonus)
At this point Roly turned up and helped us set up terrain, scenario and deployment.
Deployment & Scenario
We ended up with Shield-walls and High Ground, which turned out to be a hill just in my deployment area.
The terrain consisted a small wood, a large ruin, a small farm, a barrow, the hill, and a stream (difficult ground) across board separating the two armies.
Chris deployed first placing his trebuchet on Barrow on left of his deployment zone which had clear line of sight of most of battlefield including the target high ground in my deployment area.
His rangers went in the ruin in centre of his deployment zone. Boromir and the knights were between these two features, facing the farm just in front of right of my deployment zone.
His warriors, archers and Ghosts took the right of his deployment zone defending the stream.
This really wasn't how I expected tonight's game to go. My army was designed to attack yet I found myself having to defend a hill. Chris's army was arguably more defensive in nature, yet he really had to attack.
I saw no point in sitting on the hill and getting pummeled by his trebuchet, so I decided to attack anyway, as if I managed to defeat him, he wouldn't be able to take the hill...
I placed my warg riders on my left flank, aiming to go round side of woods and head for his Warriors of Minas Tirth archers. The Corsairs led by Khamul screened the orcs as intended and they both intended to set off in support of the warg riders by circling the other side of the wood.
My Knights hid behind the hill, while the troll chieftain deployed behind the farm.
Turn 1
Chris got first go and set off. He sent Boromir and his Knights off across stream to left of battlefield, intending to round the farm, and head off the Troll on its way to the Trebuchet. The archers advanced slightly into stream ready to fire. The Warriors of Minas Tirth moved up in support and the ghosts crossed the stream and entered the wood.
I advanced the warg riders in column past the wood towards archers, Khamul moved the corsairs forward but failed his ATD roll, but was just in range to pall of night the rangers in the ruin. He then followed this up with sunder spirit and visions of woe upon the ghosts, but they made an excellent courage save and took no hits. The orcs moved up directly behind the corsairs.
The Morgul Knights crossed the hill, heading towards the flank of Boromirs knights, and the Troll rounded the farm moving into rock throwing range of the front of Boromirs knights.
The rangers fired first killing 3 corsairs. The trubuchet crew looked interestedly at the Morgul knights but couldn't resist the big block of orcs and sent a stone thumping into them killing 6. The Warriors of Minas Tirth archers fired on the close approaching wargs killing 2 and driving them back slightly.
The troll hurled a rock at Boromirs knights killing one.
In the charge phase after some heroics and roll offs, Boromirs knights charged the troll and Epic Duelled him with Epic Strike. Chris rolled a 5 or 6 I think and I a 1, and I sensed a dead troll, but Chris only got one hit on the Troll on the duel table after all rolls were resolved. Boromirs mighty blow made this a roll on the VHTK table which came up with one wound on the troll. I think I dodged a bullet there...
In the ensuing combat the troll killed 2 knights for no further injury, so won the fight. Chris unluckily rolled snake eyes for the courage test and lost another knight, leaving Boromir looking in danger...
The warg riders charged the Warriors of Minas Tirth archers, and killed 10. The corsairs charged the ghosts in the wood, and killed 2 for the loss of 4 (this is where I forgot Khamul's ability.)
The corsairs were beaten back and disordered.
Turn 2.
Chris won priority. Seeing Boromir was now over extended, facing an angry troll and closing Morgul Knights, he wisely 'summoned' the rangers out of their ruin, which meant he was just in range to move to their formation, leaving the knights to their fate. They retreated in the face of the troll, back over the stream.
The archers recovered their disorder and held firm in front of the warg riders. The Warriors of Minas Tirth crossed the stream and swung round to threaten the flank of the warg riders. The Ghosts left the wood appearing behind the wargs. It was not looking good for the warg riders!
What to do I thought.
First up I need to help those warg riders, so I managed to rally the corsairs with the wraith but this meant he couldn't move to the orcs as was my earlier intention. So he cast Wings of Terror on the corsairs, and they moved round the wood, with an ATD roll, and got behind the ghosts. The orcs moved up with an ATD roll to threaten the flank of the now exposed Warriors of Minas Tirth.
The troll chased down the the last of the Knights, crossing the stream. If he could kill them, he could then hopefully attack the trebuchet next turn.
The morgul knights seeing lightly armoured rangers just across the stream couldn't resist, and lowered their lances but had to negotiate the stream first. This slowed them appreciably, but they would be in range for a charge, but sadly so were the rangers themselves.
The only shooting this turn was a another thumping great rock from the trebuchet which flattened another 6 orcs and pushed them back a little.
In the ensuing charge phase after a few more heroics, the corsairs caught the ghosts in the rear before they could charge the warg riders. The Warriors of Minas Tirth archers failed their charge roll in the face of the warg riders and stood still in the stream. But the Warriors of Minas Tirth on the flank came to the rescue and charged the flank of the warg riders.
However the orcs had not been deterred by large lumps of masonry falling from the sky and charged in against the now exposed flank of Warriors of Minas Tirth who had just charged the warg riders.
The troll chieftain charged the last of the knights.
Boromir and his rangers got the jump on the Morgul knights crossing the stream, and charged them!
As the fights played out, Khamul, who now realized he had forgotten 2 chances to cast more spells after successfully using wings of terror to get into position behind the ghosts, made up for it by killing them, for one dead corsair (again forgot to try and bounce this hit).
The warg riders and orcs with 2HW utterly destroyed the the Warriors of Minas Tirth for the loss of several orcs.
The troll killed the last of the knights, freeing him to charge the trebuchet next turn.
Boromir, Epic duelled the Morgul Knight commander killing him easily. The rest of his knights stunned at this attack upon them in the stream were so disordered they failed to get a single hit against the rangers, who finished them off. (shades of the battle of Stirling Bridge there methinks!)
However after his heroic defense of the stream in the centre by Boromir and the rangers, who had by now blown 5 of his 6 might points, the Gondorians, only had their rangers, trebuchet and a depleted company of archers left, in the face of Corsairs, Orcs, Warg Riders and the Troll Chieftain.
Chris conceded he had little lost more than 50% of his army and had little chance of getting to and holding the hill.
A victory to me - finally, after over a year of constant defeats! So please forgive this somewhat jubilant write up of the report.
I must apologize for the fact there are no pictures to accompany the battle report, but there were several unpainted units on the table and I was determined to try and concentrate on the game and not get distracted by taking pictures.
Next time I promise I'll do a better report.
Thoughts and lessons learned.
The troll chieftain was definitely more useful than a regular troll being able to ATD.
My Morgul Knights as usual promise much but fail to deliver. I never seem to be able to get the best out of these guys.
The orcs with 2HW, didn't fair too badly for not having shields and their 2HW took a heavy toll of the Warriors of Minas Tirth, especially in the flank.
Chris admitted he made bad moves to start with which set things up poorly for him on the whole.
I also think he could have spent less points on some of his command choices to take a few more companies, most of his formations seemed a little brittle.
The smaller board size definitely made a difference as we got to grips quickly.
So a 1000 point game played in a couple of hours at most, and finished in 2 turns. Whilst fun and interesting, I think the game is still pretty much small beer, at this scale of game. Certainly good for learning the rules, and see what the differing units and characters can do, but I feel this is just a springboard for larger games.
We only had about 5-6 units each, which if you compare to other rules, like say Black Powder or Hail Caesar, this would really comprise one to one and half 'brigades'. I would really like to see 3 'brigades' on the table for each army. Then I think we will get a thrilling game, that may go the distance: The game is after all designed to be played up to 8 turns each. And it will not then be 'over' after the first couple of charges go in...
Now I am looking forward to the next game, and the LOTR lead/plastic mountain is smiling at me again. However I am still trying to complete my pirate world, so will hopefully press on with that this wet weekend. Sometimes its nice if its raining ;-)
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
RANT! GW LOTR
Rant!
After yet another humiliating destruction of my Mordor forces in GW’s War of the Ring, I have reached some harsh conclusions…
Here spews forth some vitriolic rambling frustrations in no particular order…
Lord of the Rings – Story & Movies I love them both. A few bits in the movies I didn’t like, but I can live with…
Lord of the Rings – the miniatures games – Arrgh!
Strategy Battle Game: A fun skirmish game with a few figures, but in scenario play it just seems to be line up the cannon fodder bad guys and let the heroes romp through most of them until they run out Might or Fate. And pray the scenario doesn’t call for hills or the figures just keep falling over.
Outside of this, to me Lord of the Rings should be about huge forces clashing, and the Skirmish game never looks right with too few models on the table.
If you DO put enough models on the table for a big battle it just gets so fiddly and time consuming moving all the single figures, it then takes an absolute age to play…
Which brings us to the War of the Ring game.
I had high hopes for this when it came out.
Huge forces clashing together, yippee!
A beautiful glossy eye-candy rich spectacle, and a rarity for GW – all the armies in one book with the rules. So no need to buy more expensive supplements, and have these suffer the dreaded ‘codex creep’.
The game also seemed simple, and quick to resolve and uncomplicated, with enough subtle twist thrown in to make heroes interesting and add an extra exciting dimension to games.
But after many games the reality has sunk in… If this was a computer game it would be called ‘buggy as hell’.
There have been quite a number of discussions on the online forum boards about the rules regarding terrain. What seemed an easy way to handle rules regarding terrain has turned into a mixed up farce with many house ruled interpretations having to be made. Not good.
After this, we have several charismatic units within the game, that due to its mechanics, are relegated to almost zero use. Here I talk about trolls, and other single company restricted formations that simply cannot keep up with the rest of the army as it moves.
And then we have the Epic Heroes and Spells. I hoped these would add some colour and flare to the game without being over powering or unbalancing, yet again there is endless discussion on the forum boards about game balance.
GW’s other games were often referred to as “HeroHammer”, and I fear that is how War of the Rings is taking shape.
If you freely allow army construction as the rules suggest you can cram in every knarly hero possible, with free use of similar heroes from other allied lists, to create an almighty Might and Spell slugfest, which utterly bogs down the game, or pretty much seems to dump it into the Paper Scissors Rock category of gaming.
Indeed, when I mentioned concerns at not being able to defeat an elven force, with a ‘themed’ Mordor force, I was advised to take several blocks of Morannon orcs with Gothmog, Khamul and any other wraiths I wanted to chip into the mix. ‘The elves would be dead by turn 4…’
The other uber Mordor list seems to be euphemistically known as the ’Mordor Royal Airforce’; named as you take as many mounted Wraiths on Fellbeasts as you can manage.
But this all smacks of Power-gaming and that’s the one thing I have always tried to steer clear from.
A game should be playable and enjoyable for both sides with balanced forces. Not creating uber lists to hopefully crush your opponent on turn 1.
That kind of gaming reminds me too much of earlier ‘Herohammer in space’ games back in the 80’s, where everything deployed in cover, and either the first person to move out got wiped out, or with sufficient special rules and gizmo’s moved and ‘vaped’ their opponent in turn 1. I don’t call that a game, it’s just an exercise in throwing dice. I haven’t played Herohammer or FordyKay since…
Yet singly, mounted wraiths die easily and again I wonder if they are worth taking?
So this led to several house ruled games trying to limit the excesses of Heroes, to One Epic per 1000 points, which seemed to help some of the issues raised, and yet it all then depends which Hero you take, and if they are the Paper Scissors Rock to your opponents force.
Being a Mordor player generally, I have a bunch of Wraiths to try, but singly they are not terribly effective, and against an angry rampaging Boromir, stand little chance. So am I forced to take Gothmog, or ally in Suladan into every game? Not much variation in your games then eh?
Gah! What to do. I feel like giving up on the whole thing, yet I have devoted several years of time collecting and painting these forces and making terrain for them, not to mention the cost spent, and the Lead-and-Plastic-mountain-beastie that still pokes its head out from games room and painting table cupboards…
Do I wait till they re-do the War of the Ring rulebook? Will I feel like shelling out over $100 for another rulebook??? Time will tell...
And yet another dimension to the overall mix, is GWs recent 2 pronged attack to try and kill off gaming: The so-called super duper Finecast resin/plastic range – at an extortionate price, coupled with their decision to try and restrict online sale by discounting independent retailers (God bless Maelstromgames and others) to overseas markets, where prices are so high compared to ‘home’ UK stores, it is just a joke! Even when you consider current currency exchange rates!
The Finecast I have yet to inspect myself, but many figures appear to have a ton of flash and mould lines to remove (at a potential medical dust hazard from inhalation apparently), and issues with bubble holes in the figures that need a fair bit of green-stuff repair. So I don’t get the “improvement”, and certainly not the new price, resin being cheaper than metal, or so I have read.
And generally I don’t see any great difference in quality of the casts between the Finecast and regular metal figures, from what I have seen from online image comparisons…
Perhaps this is simply my time to completely withdraw from the GW world of gaming? I only hung on to their Lord of the Rings game for a love of the ‘setting’, but the games are somewhat lacking as I have described above, so there you or I have it.
The one good thing to come out of the Lord of the Rings gaming stable, is the ‘Legends’ series of skirmish games, based closely on the Lord of the Rings Skirmish Game.
I have a growing fondness for their Legends of the High Seas - a Pirate skirmish game where the setting suits and looks right with a handful of figures, some fun themed games can be had over several scenarios and if things are not taken too seriously I hope a lot of fun can be had. Watch this space for more…
After yet another humiliating destruction of my Mordor forces in GW’s War of the Ring, I have reached some harsh conclusions…
Here spews forth some vitriolic rambling frustrations in no particular order…
Lord of the Rings – Story & Movies I love them both. A few bits in the movies I didn’t like, but I can live with…
Lord of the Rings – the miniatures games – Arrgh!
Strategy Battle Game: A fun skirmish game with a few figures, but in scenario play it just seems to be line up the cannon fodder bad guys and let the heroes romp through most of them until they run out Might or Fate. And pray the scenario doesn’t call for hills or the figures just keep falling over.
Outside of this, to me Lord of the Rings should be about huge forces clashing, and the Skirmish game never looks right with too few models on the table.
If you DO put enough models on the table for a big battle it just gets so fiddly and time consuming moving all the single figures, it then takes an absolute age to play…
Which brings us to the War of the Ring game.
I had high hopes for this when it came out.
Huge forces clashing together, yippee!
A beautiful glossy eye-candy rich spectacle, and a rarity for GW – all the armies in one book with the rules. So no need to buy more expensive supplements, and have these suffer the dreaded ‘codex creep’.
The game also seemed simple, and quick to resolve and uncomplicated, with enough subtle twist thrown in to make heroes interesting and add an extra exciting dimension to games.
But after many games the reality has sunk in… If this was a computer game it would be called ‘buggy as hell’.
There have been quite a number of discussions on the online forum boards about the rules regarding terrain. What seemed an easy way to handle rules regarding terrain has turned into a mixed up farce with many house ruled interpretations having to be made. Not good.
After this, we have several charismatic units within the game, that due to its mechanics, are relegated to almost zero use. Here I talk about trolls, and other single company restricted formations that simply cannot keep up with the rest of the army as it moves.
And then we have the Epic Heroes and Spells. I hoped these would add some colour and flare to the game without being over powering or unbalancing, yet again there is endless discussion on the forum boards about game balance.
GW’s other games were often referred to as “HeroHammer”, and I fear that is how War of the Rings is taking shape.
If you freely allow army construction as the rules suggest you can cram in every knarly hero possible, with free use of similar heroes from other allied lists, to create an almighty Might and Spell slugfest, which utterly bogs down the game, or pretty much seems to dump it into the Paper Scissors Rock category of gaming.
Indeed, when I mentioned concerns at not being able to defeat an elven force, with a ‘themed’ Mordor force, I was advised to take several blocks of Morannon orcs with Gothmog, Khamul and any other wraiths I wanted to chip into the mix. ‘The elves would be dead by turn 4…’
The other uber Mordor list seems to be euphemistically known as the ’Mordor Royal Airforce’; named as you take as many mounted Wraiths on Fellbeasts as you can manage.
But this all smacks of Power-gaming and that’s the one thing I have always tried to steer clear from.
A game should be playable and enjoyable for both sides with balanced forces. Not creating uber lists to hopefully crush your opponent on turn 1.
That kind of gaming reminds me too much of earlier ‘Herohammer in space’ games back in the 80’s, where everything deployed in cover, and either the first person to move out got wiped out, or with sufficient special rules and gizmo’s moved and ‘vaped’ their opponent in turn 1. I don’t call that a game, it’s just an exercise in throwing dice. I haven’t played Herohammer or FordyKay since…
Yet singly, mounted wraiths die easily and again I wonder if they are worth taking?
So this led to several house ruled games trying to limit the excesses of Heroes, to One Epic per 1000 points, which seemed to help some of the issues raised, and yet it all then depends which Hero you take, and if they are the Paper Scissors Rock to your opponents force.
Being a Mordor player generally, I have a bunch of Wraiths to try, but singly they are not terribly effective, and against an angry rampaging Boromir, stand little chance. So am I forced to take Gothmog, or ally in Suladan into every game? Not much variation in your games then eh?
Gah! What to do. I feel like giving up on the whole thing, yet I have devoted several years of time collecting and painting these forces and making terrain for them, not to mention the cost spent, and the Lead-and-Plastic-mountain-beastie that still pokes its head out from games room and painting table cupboards…
Do I wait till they re-do the War of the Ring rulebook? Will I feel like shelling out over $100 for another rulebook??? Time will tell...
And yet another dimension to the overall mix, is GWs recent 2 pronged attack to try and kill off gaming: The so-called super duper Finecast resin/plastic range – at an extortionate price, coupled with their decision to try and restrict online sale by discounting independent retailers (God bless Maelstromgames and others) to overseas markets, where prices are so high compared to ‘home’ UK stores, it is just a joke! Even when you consider current currency exchange rates!
The Finecast I have yet to inspect myself, but many figures appear to have a ton of flash and mould lines to remove (at a potential medical dust hazard from inhalation apparently), and issues with bubble holes in the figures that need a fair bit of green-stuff repair. So I don’t get the “improvement”, and certainly not the new price, resin being cheaper than metal, or so I have read.
And generally I don’t see any great difference in quality of the casts between the Finecast and regular metal figures, from what I have seen from online image comparisons…
Perhaps this is simply my time to completely withdraw from the GW world of gaming? I only hung on to their Lord of the Rings game for a love of the ‘setting’, but the games are somewhat lacking as I have described above, so there you or I have it.
The one good thing to come out of the Lord of the Rings gaming stable, is the ‘Legends’ series of skirmish games, based closely on the Lord of the Rings Skirmish Game.
I have a growing fondness for their Legends of the High Seas - a Pirate skirmish game where the setting suits and looks right with a handful of figures, some fun themed games can be had over several scenarios and if things are not taken too seriously I hope a lot of fun can be had. Watch this space for more…
More Port Town work
Whilst awaiting more hobby supplies to continue work with my ship, I pressed on with a couple more buildings and managed to finish off two more dock warehouse buildings.
I also managed to make a start on a 'Governors Mansion' - a suitable place to kidnap a Governors Daughter from of course!
I am using some images of Governor Weatherby Swann's Mansion, from the internet, I believe come from Disney's series of Pirates of the Caribbean video/computer games, as a source of inspiration:
Here's what I have managed to get done by end of today.
I know its perhaps a little more resembling 'Colditz' castle at the moment, that's probably down to it's shape and the black foam-card. Hopefully once the grandiose entrance is added and its gets its white paint job and terracotta roof tiles it will look the part.
And yes, its got the same number on windows on the other side, 52 in total! Argh, it was a mission alright, and I'm dreading adding all the roof tiles - it will probably take me a whole weekend!
Blog post update - 7/6/11.
Hmmm, after a chance to look at the images again, I am beginning to wonder at the 'suitableness' of this building I have made to be the governors mansion?
Looking more closely now, I glanced at it start with and thought, 'yeah easy', and set to as I have done with my other buildings..., I have notice that the roof angle is not the 45 degree pitch I have been making, it is a much shallower pitch, maybe ~22.5 degrees? Plus the wings in the image dont have gable ends as I have made..., and the centre section of the mansion is wider than the two wings...
So does this all matter, for my 'governors' mansion?
I am beginning to wonder along three lines of thought:
1) chop off roof, and add sections to centre block and one side wing to widen centre section and re-do roof as per Disney image.
Or
2) Leave structure as is, and since it already looks like 'Colditz', re-think it as a prison block / jail, so I could still use it in the game for the jail house / rescue scenarios. I'd just have to put a strong door on front, and add a perimeter wall and gatehouse, with gallows in courtyard.
Or
3) Leave as is and press on regardless, as presumeabley there would be some variation in mansions out there?
I'd be grateful for your thoughts!
I also managed to make a start on a 'Governors Mansion' - a suitable place to kidnap a Governors Daughter from of course!
I am using some images of Governor Weatherby Swann's Mansion, from the internet, I believe come from Disney's series of Pirates of the Caribbean video/computer games, as a source of inspiration:
Here's what I have managed to get done by end of today.
I know its perhaps a little more resembling 'Colditz' castle at the moment, that's probably down to it's shape and the black foam-card. Hopefully once the grandiose entrance is added and its gets its white paint job and terracotta roof tiles it will look the part.
And yes, its got the same number on windows on the other side, 52 in total! Argh, it was a mission alright, and I'm dreading adding all the roof tiles - it will probably take me a whole weekend!
Blog post update - 7/6/11.
Hmmm, after a chance to look at the images again, I am beginning to wonder at the 'suitableness' of this building I have made to be the governors mansion?
Looking more closely now, I glanced at it start with and thought, 'yeah easy', and set to as I have done with my other buildings..., I have notice that the roof angle is not the 45 degree pitch I have been making, it is a much shallower pitch, maybe ~22.5 degrees? Plus the wings in the image dont have gable ends as I have made..., and the centre section of the mansion is wider than the two wings...
So does this all matter, for my 'governors' mansion?
I am beginning to wonder along three lines of thought:
1) chop off roof, and add sections to centre block and one side wing to widen centre section and re-do roof as per Disney image.
Or
2) Leave structure as is, and since it already looks like 'Colditz', re-think it as a prison block / jail, so I could still use it in the game for the jail house / rescue scenarios. I'd just have to put a strong door on front, and add a perimeter wall and gatehouse, with gallows in courtyard.
Or
3) Leave as is and press on regardless, as presumeabley there would be some variation in mansions out there?
I'd be grateful for your thoughts!
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Pirate Brig takes shape
I managed to get more work done on my Gary Chalk Pirate Brig over the weekend.
As you can see from last time I have added the Main and Foremasts, the fighting tops or 'crows nests', and also the cross spars for the main square sails, but an addition to the plan is the gaff-rigged rear booms towards the stern, which would signify the ship as a 'Brig'. And of course the bowsprit.
I must admit, the more I have got into making this ship, the more I have researched and looked at what type of ship a Brig is, but that has led me to look at what the 'other' named types of ship there were out there and what they looked like.
Being a self professed land-lumber this has all been quite fascinating. I recommend the Pirates Cove link in my links sidebar. This site was a wonderful source of info on ships and types.
I also found wikipedia very useful for its simple diagrammatic representations of these ships - in particular how the sails are supposed to go. However, this ship is to be a playable gaming model, not an accurate scale model, so there has to be some sense kept in all this. I will not be adding ALL the sails as show in the various pictures and diagrams, just enough to give it that 'Brig theme'.
I have placed an order with Laurie at Kapiti models (see link in link sidebar) for another ships Wheel, as per the smaller sloop previously seen in another blog post.
The only thing I am a little stuck for is a suitable looking anchor.
That, and I am awaiting an order for some hobby dark brown 'burnt umber' paint, so I can make a start on painting up my growing 'fleet' ;-)
Arr Arr, keep a weather-eye open , ship mates!
As you can see from last time I have added the Main and Foremasts, the fighting tops or 'crows nests', and also the cross spars for the main square sails, but an addition to the plan is the gaff-rigged rear booms towards the stern, which would signify the ship as a 'Brig'. And of course the bowsprit.
I must admit, the more I have got into making this ship, the more I have researched and looked at what type of ship a Brig is, but that has led me to look at what the 'other' named types of ship there were out there and what they looked like.
Being a self professed land-lumber this has all been quite fascinating. I recommend the Pirates Cove link in my links sidebar. This site was a wonderful source of info on ships and types.
I also found wikipedia very useful for its simple diagrammatic representations of these ships - in particular how the sails are supposed to go. However, this ship is to be a playable gaming model, not an accurate scale model, so there has to be some sense kept in all this. I will not be adding ALL the sails as show in the various pictures and diagrams, just enough to give it that 'Brig theme'.
I have placed an order with Laurie at Kapiti models (see link in link sidebar) for another ships Wheel, as per the smaller sloop previously seen in another blog post.
The only thing I am a little stuck for is a suitable looking anchor.
That, and I am awaiting an order for some hobby dark brown 'burnt umber' paint, so I can make a start on painting up my growing 'fleet' ;-)
Arr Arr, keep a weather-eye open , ship mates!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
New buildings finished for the growing Port
I finished painting my latest two buildings for my growing Port.
I played about with Photoshop to create a simple sign for my "Shoppe" deciding instead to turn it into a Chandler, named for my son.
And along side it the double door-ed dockside ware/store house.
The Quartermaster finds where he can find supplies.
And a few shots of my growing port town. Some of the buildings at the back are my earlier attempts at medieval buildings, so some have thatched roofs. They may be a bit out of place for the Caribbean, but I imagine might suit an English port of the period?
More to come...
I played about with Photoshop to create a simple sign for my "Shoppe" deciding instead to turn it into a Chandler, named for my son.
And along side it the double door-ed dockside ware/store house.
The Quartermaster finds where he can find supplies.
And a few shots of my growing port town. Some of the buildings at the back are my earlier attempts at medieval buildings, so some have thatched roofs. They may be a bit out of place for the Caribbean, but I imagine might suit an English port of the period?
More to come...
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Pyrates
The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser.
For those who love things of a pirate nature, this is a cracking read, and will have you in the mood for getting out those pirate models and rolling some dice. Well worth a look.
From the back of the book cover:-
"The Pyrates is all the swashbucklers that ever were, rolled onto one great Technicoloured pantomime - tall ships and desert islands, impossibly gallant adventurers and glamorous heroines, buried treasure and Black Spots, devilish Dons and ghastly dungeons, plots, duels, escapes, savage rituals, tender romance and steaming passion, all to the accompaniment of ringing steel, thunderous broadsides, sweeping film music, and the sound of cursing extras falling in the water and exchanging period dialogue. Even Hollywood buccaneers were never like this."
Firmly tongue in cheek stuff. Grab a copy if you can, you won't regret it.
Pirate progress pictures
Some more pictures of progress as promised after tonight's work:
The second small sloop, just showing the card sides being added, and then the balsa being added, strip by strip. Its actually thinner than I originally thought, it's 0.8mm thick, cut into roughly 5mm wide strips.
The Metal figure is just for scale - it is a LOTR dunlending 28mm. Still he looks wildly pirate like in his own way perhaps?
Here's the first small sloop, now pretty much finished, just awaiting painting. I cut the holes for the cannons, added the deck grate and pinned into position the wheel. I am probably going to leave the wheel removable to allow movement of figures on deck as it's quite a cramped little sloop. With the two cannon present I may struggle to stand 8 Pirate crew on deck.
Here's the Brig, starting to get decked out as it were. All interior planking done, ladders added, windows added, cannon holes cut, doors added, deck grate added. Just now awaiting the masts to be added.
I am sorry this shot is sideways on, I think blogger has had one of its 'moments' or perhaps my gimp software is playing up? Anyway you can see how the stern windows look for the captains quarters.
I'll try and continue work this week and get some more colourful shots up this weekend. Fingers crossed.
The second small sloop, just showing the card sides being added, and then the balsa being added, strip by strip. Its actually thinner than I originally thought, it's 0.8mm thick, cut into roughly 5mm wide strips.
The Metal figure is just for scale - it is a LOTR dunlending 28mm. Still he looks wildly pirate like in his own way perhaps?
Here's the first small sloop, now pretty much finished, just awaiting painting. I cut the holes for the cannons, added the deck grate and pinned into position the wheel. I am probably going to leave the wheel removable to allow movement of figures on deck as it's quite a cramped little sloop. With the two cannon present I may struggle to stand 8 Pirate crew on deck.
Here's the Brig, starting to get decked out as it were. All interior planking done, ladders added, windows added, cannon holes cut, doors added, deck grate added. Just now awaiting the masts to be added.
I am sorry this shot is sideways on, I think blogger has had one of its 'moments' or perhaps my gimp software is playing up? Anyway you can see how the stern windows look for the captains quarters.
I'll try and continue work this week and get some more colourful shots up this weekend. Fingers crossed.
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