“I wish to have
no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast for I intend to go in
harm's way.”
~ Capt. John Paul Jones, 1778
Greetings everyone! First off - I wanted to thank all of you
for visiting Skull and Crown. This week we hit over 65,000 visitors! I really
appreciate you stopping by, and love your comments so please keep them coming. Now,
on to this week's exciting skullbloggery!
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| Battleship and Cruiser bristling with guns! |
In The Navy!
As busy as I have been getting my web store running, the
rules updated for print and painting up a storm for the upcoming Pacificon, I
needed a change of pace - so, I built some ships. These
filled my artistic need to create, and create something not soldiers, not
to mention fulfilled a birthday present for a keen 6 year old boy, and helped
get me pics for another article for the Campaigner Magazine, this one under the
guise of "Gamer Dad". I'm
also building up a second fleet so I can start running games at my local club
and eventually conventions.
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| Two cruisers in the doc yards. I laser cut tops for the turrets. |
Cruisers
Here we have a couple of "cruisers". These fine ships are based upon dreadnaught era ships, which are just chock full of beautiful lines. It really was a time when killing was not the science it is now, and artistry lent itself to the "shock and awe" factor. Now my humble ships are just a ghost of that, but the inspiration, I hope you will agree, is there.
Here we have a couple of "cruisers". These fine ships are based upon dreadnaught era ships, which are just chock full of beautiful lines. It really was a time when killing was not the science it is now, and artistry lent itself to the "shock and awe" factor. Now my humble ships are just a ghost of that, but the inspiration, I hope you will agree, is there.
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| Inspiration |
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| Wooden Cruiser |
These are made of poplar, with wooden wheels as the base for
the turrets, and dowels for barrels. As a rule, my attitude to building the
ships is pretty "slapdash"; that is to say, part of the fun of making
these ships is that I more or less eyeball everything, so nothing is really
true, but it all seems to work. This
frees up my creativity, and I find I get some pleasing silhouettes over all.
Someday I may actually template the parts. I have a friend with a CnC cutter
who really wants some ships, so a deal may be in the making. In the mean time, I'll
be building two more similar to these, and then a battleship or two... and
possibly a carrier.
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| Fresh coats of paint and hunting the seas |
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| Fosswick's ship yards in full production! |
TaskForce - The Game
Those of you who have been following for a while know that
I've built up a fleet of wooden ships for my children over the years, some
which can be seen here. Being the game designer type that I am, I also
built a game which involves very open movement, using dice as the projectiles and...
MATH. I have a decent two page working
beta set of the rules, and once they get a couple more passes I'll toss them up
here as a PDF for those interested.
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| This picture sums up the game dynamics. Yes, that is a d20. |
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| Battle ship and cruiser. Each barrel (not turret) equals one shot. |
Seriously, Why Is Your Web Store Not Open!?
I know, I know... there
was a snafu with my rules, which is currently being cleared up. In the mean
time I am building up more stock and hoping to have a British-ish foot gunner
crew ready for "Launch". My
new battle cry is "Two more weeks!"
That being said, I will have a dealer's table at Pacificon,
so please drop by. I'll have lots of Napoleonics and some Queen Victoria's Robot Wars for sale!
Okay, off to paint and paint, oh... and paint. Chat with you soon!
Such fun! Love them.
ReplyDeleteNice robust models that look good too.
ReplyDeleteThanks gents. Dean- yes they are robust and can really take a beating from the 4-6 year old admirals.
ReplyDeletecheers
Will the ships have loose bits that can be taken off by the dice projectiles?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you could build ships* using your wooden flats placed on solid hulls. The flats could represent superstructures, guns, stacks, towers etc. And when certain parts are knocked down, that ship loses some ability.
I'd be interested in seeing your beta rules when they're ready- if only for curiosity's sake.
*Granted those ships shown here are for your kids and need to be built tough :)
Evil- The turrets do come of the ships, but only when a critical (a natural20 on a D20) happens. These toys and rules are different than Wooden Wars.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I have already prototyped naval carriges and guns, and have been playtesting Wooden Ships! which are in scale with my Wooden Wars soldiers. Masts, wheels, rudders, possibly gunwales are all ablative and "knockoverable" by cannon.
Beta rules will be featured in the next "the Campaigner" magazine.
More on this at a later date
cheers
Ths