Anglo Dutch Wars ship Prototypting

3rd rate Anglo Dutch Wars ship

 Meanwhile in Fosslington ship yards...

I've had some time this week to do more prototyping on a project I started last year- 1/300th scale (6mm-ish) Anglo Dutch Wars ships

 

larboard side showing parts

Starboard side and parts, as well as base

 My goal for this round of prototyping was to figure out how many parts the model will be, how they separate and assemble, and then the thing I've been kind of dreading, the masts and yard arms. 

I'm going to call this a half victory, as the masts are all in the wrong place, and the yard arms are not working the way I want, and would be quite fiddly and fragile.

After building this out, I've got a cunning plan to change them. I have some other projects that take priority, but it was great to get a day to keep pushing this idea. 

 

Painted Lady

Why make these ships? Two reasons- I've been working on rules for fighting this era, and they are basically giant floating bling cakes! So much fun to paint. Here's an example of the larboard and stern castle. 

Hey Sailor...

"There are three sorts of people; those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea."
                   - Old Capstan Chantey attributed to Anacharsis, 6th Century BC

Officers and crew hit the beach looking for buried Rum!

Wooden Wars Sailors

After getting the HMS Smeagol under way, I  had to crew her. So I set about getting some lines on paper to make some Sailors. This is something that has been on my mind for a long while, and after one long night at the drawing table, I had a good start at what I needed. 

Boarding party showing off variations with just two arms

Back view. jackets with and without cutlasses. 

Gun crew variations

Skip forward 3 weeks later, I had them vectorized, cut, and 20 of them painted and ready for action.  As Wooden Wars models go, the design is not that complicated (sailors are not hussars) , but then again, they don't need to be. With three head variations and 7 arm variations, you can get a pretty decent mix.  I'll no doubt add a few more scruffy headed variations to the roster at some point. 

Those look like Naval officers to me...

 Officers- Hollywood style

The one thing I don't have time for before the conventions upcoming  is designing Naval officers. So, in the best Hollywood traditions, I faked it. My officers are a French and British foot officer, painted all "Naval like".  I think without too many close ups and in the heat of action, and considering the average age of my players will be 12, I think they'll pass muster. 

Cutting out party launches

 

 

Wooden Wars: HMS Smeagol and Gun boats

"A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked, and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say, 'How to Build a Boat' !"
                                                               ~ Stephen Wright

Ms. P proudly shows off the scale of  HMS Smeagol

HMS Smeagol- out of Dry dock

 With a wee bottle of whiskey tapped gently across her bow (didn't want to spill it now) The HMS Smeagol was launched out of drydock and sent down the harbor, ready for sails and, erm, flags. You may have seen early tests of the model at Fossling proving grounds (see blog post here) and now she's ready for the real game.  Based upon a mashup of the HMS Beagle and the Lady Washington, she's kinda a Square rigged sloop/ brig thingy. Hey- it's Hollywood baby!

Note large base are for masts. This holds them up till they are struck

When working on a project such at building a ship model, especially one for gaming, you have to always consider what she'll be used for and how she's handled. I caught myself far too often wanting to add more details to this model, only to remind myself that she'd designed to have rubber balls hurled at her!  Is she true to scale for a crew of 80mm in height? Pretty close compared to some of the brigs and sloops I've had the honor of stepping aboard. 

 For game purposes, the Smeaol is designed such that the masts, bowsprit, wheel, and guns can all be knocked over. And of course, the crew. In retrospect, I wish I had built the ship either a bit wider, or waited till I was done before making the gun carriages. the biggest issue was how much space the bases for the masts needed to be, in order to keep them stable enough until well struck.  Later I'll re cut some slightly smaller gun carriages, and if (when) I make another ship, she'll be slightly wider as well. She needs a bit of a bow sprit too, which maybe I'll get to before the convention. Maybe...

From here that uniform looks the part

Concept art for Sailors with variations.

As for crew, I cheated on the Captain and first mate, using a British and French foot officer and painted them up to look Naval. I did    I'm currently working on Sailors to crew her. They'll pop up in an upcoming post.

Gun Boats

The scenario calls for gunboats to try and make it ashore and take outthe shore fort (and now capture sheep)  while the HMS Smeagol, the only ship light enough to get into shore close enough to protect them, gives covering fire. It will take 3- 4 turns for the gunboats to get to the beach, so I needed to make sure there was enough to actually succeed.

Gun boat full of marines is launched from the HMS Smeagol

 Each ship holds a unit of 10 crew plus an officer, and a gun, so they get to fire each turn as they row in. Odds are not high on these guys, but there will be more than the shore batteries can fire at each turn. And if the Smeagol does her job in taking out a few fort guns, the gunboat crews may stand a good chance.
I'm going to pass out rum flavored life savers candy to all the row boat crews before the game, to "steel" them for the upcoming task.

The business end

Each gunboat has a different color for easy player identification

I made these out of laser cutting 3mm birch ply for the bases, sterns and rudders, while the sides are heavy matt board that I got from dumpster diving local frame shops. Frame shops are a great resource for foam core and good matt board offcuts- I highly recommend you find your nearest ones and when they take out the recycling!
the bottoms are just painted to look like there are benches. Pretty happy with the results.

Behind the scenes- how the backdrop was created.