woensdag 6 juli 2016

I am sailing... (a.k.a. "Welp, that was unexpected!")

Well, as I said in an earlier post, I was working on a unit of Pavesiers for my Fantasy/Dungeoneering games. But last week Johan gave me the last missing component for my Man O'War Dwarf fleet. My original intention was to simply strip the paint off, and store it with my Man O'War stash until I could get around to it one day.
The Muse, apparently refreshed from her prolonged absence, thought otherwise...
Before I knew it, I had cleaned and assembled all the Dreadfleet terrain (yeah, I fell for the Man O'War nostalgia buy :/ ) , and was well underway assembling my Dwarf fleet:

The Dreadfleet Dwarf ship snuck into the assembly line as well. Might as well paint all the Dwarves in one go. And he may just be useful as a sorf of superheavy battleship? Missing from this picture is the second squadron of Monitors, and the other two Ironclads. I also have a second set of 3 Nautilii, but these can wait a bit, I fear 6 Nautilii may be a bit overkill...

Speaking of Nautilii, I want to do a bit more for the submerged option than just plonking down a "submerged" counter next to the model. I'd like to build proper submerged models and have been thinking/experimenting on how to best go about it:
From left to right:
    -A. My original idea of making a Natilus profile as a "submerged" marker.
    -B. A based, non-submerged Nautilus.
    -C. My second idea, of making an empty base, to serve as the "submerged" marker.
    -D. A still-unbased Nautilus, for comparison.
My intention is for both option A and C to have the chimney and banner still sticking out of the water. On option A I tried one of the ideas for doing water on the bases:
While I like the effect, I fear that doing all my fleets this way will simply take too much time/greenstuff. I will paint this one up, and try another one with acrylic gel, to see which I like best.

After that, insanity struck...

You see, somewhere in the past I had acquired a Heller 1/600 model of the Couronne with the intention of using it for Man O'War or Dreadfleet as a Bretonnian Galleon. Sadly it turned out to be way too large for either application. When I found it again in the stash, and having run out of momentum with the Dwarf fleet for a bit (I can't progress until I decide on basing), I decided to have a go at the build/conversion anyway, just for fun and possibly for display.

What can I say about the Heller model, it is rough, it really shows its age. But that is not a problem in this case, as its roughness released me from the need to be finicky and delicate with my alterations. :D
No expansive explanations or blow-by-blows for this build, just a few quick piccies:
She's a big one, isn't she?

Conversion in progress. Yes, that is a Trebuchet on the middle deck. This is a Bretonnian vessel after all! Brother Gunfondler has sauntered over to give an idea of size.

And the point at which I called her done, just as today's daylight started to fail. I replaced the rear flagpole (which didn't flow with the rest of the ship) with a nice, pompous armoured wheelhouse.

See you next time!

8 opmerkingen:

  1. I really like the submerged counter you made, and if you make it look sort of "bubbly" then you could say it has just submerged. Alternatively, you could do the rectangle, and then paint the outline of the ship on it, which might be faster/more in keeping with the other ships.

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    1. Yup, my thinking as well. I'm trying both to see which I like best. I like the outline one for it's looks, but rectangle with painted outline may be more practical from a gameplay point of view. We'll just have to see which one wins out.

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  2. I like the submerged counter as well.

    As for the base treatment, I had great luck with toilet tissue. I put a few posts about it on my blog. http://billwerks.blogspot.com/search/label/Uncharted%20Seas

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    1. Thank you.

      Hmmm, interesting, a sort of paper-maché approach. Hadn't thought of that.

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  3. My goodness, this looks like it could be great fun, love the ideas for the submerged Nautilus too.

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    1. Thanks! It is fun, I haven't played it often (yet), due to chronic lack of fleet, but Man O'War is a nice little game. Not so much of the careful thought and estimating odds that Battlefleet Gothic has. Man O'War is an unrepentant 90's style beer and pretzels, riot of colourful cardboard game!

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  4. The submerged marker looks great, very much in line with the dreadfleet ship bases.
    I look forward to see your painted fleet.

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    1. Thank you! That was the goal, to emulate the look of the Dreadfleet bases. I'm looking forward to the painted fleet as well. ;D

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