So the Warrior ships are coming along. I’ve finished stepping the masts and hoisting the sails. I’ve also put them on their basic bases. I will be trying to use some PVA-soaked black thread for rigging and then I’ll do some touch-ups and finish the bases. Having spent far too much time at sea, I think that the emphasis on some of the details in the sails in certain painted models is a bit much. I don’t mean to suggest that it is “BADWRONGFUN” but that from a mariners perspective, you only get hints of detail on sails until you’re close. I considered highlighting or washing some of the detail present on the sails before I thought of that; which not only makes me feel salty, it also saves me work! So here they are awaiting their standing rigging etc:
The first three roll off the waysIn line astern
I’m happy with how they are turning out and am looking forward to getting to the rest of the ships once I’ve finished my Fallschirmjagers.
Speaking of which, I sprayed the base-coat on some of my FJ supports this afternoon.
The help for the heer… well, almost.
Things are moving along, which is great. I’ve sidelined all of my medieval and fantasy miniatures and I’m going to make a concerted effort to get my FJs done in time for the Arnhem campaign. So I’m going to get the vehicles done, turn to the troops, and then work on bashing out some more terrain. We don’t have a firm date for what “in time for the Arnhem campaign” means, but we want it to be before August. There is much to be done.
It’s a quiet, grey Friday here on the Island, so here’s a WIP post. My Warrior ships are coming along. They do lack the detail of a Langton model, but some judicious paint has solved some of the problems. The gun carriages, for instance, aren’t distinct. I painted the whole mess red and then did some black over top to emulate the guns themselves. I also used a dark wash on the hulls, which I was nervous to do as I thought my decks may have been dark enough already. The results, however, have been pleasantly surprising. I am not only new to painting warships, I also happen to have only one fully functional arm as I wait for my next operation. Nonetheless, the results aren’t embarrassing.
After a dark wash
The picture isn’t the best, but the ships look like they’ve got some depth and are ready for some touch-ups and rigging. I did rig the British cutter (mis-ID’d in the other post as a corvette) and found that my superglue applicator has become, well, glued. Not to be deterred I found a way.
The British Cutter takes shape
Overall, I’m happy with how things are progressing. The yellow stripe on the British hull is distinct enough for identification at a distance, especially in comparison to the red French 2nd Rate. I’ll be trying to figure out how to base them over the next few days. Hopefully I’ll be able to post the first three finished ships at the end of next week.
BT
P.S. Note that I am using (and will continue to use) BT in the traditional naval sense, and not in any of the slang usage that may be found online or downtown.
Wanting to tryout naval wargame rules without a large expense, we turned to simple 2D print outs from the web.
Some of the 2D ships found on the web
As you can see – nothing special, but they worked! Looking at keeping the cost low, I came across War Artisan’s Workshop. It is stunning. So we made three models of a 64 gun ship to try them out. Please note that the picture below is not a good representation of what his ships normally look like! We wanted something robust and quick to get into action the next day. Instead of wire, we used toothpicks, and we weren’t concerned so much about making the ships look tiddly.
Modified War Artisan ships
We were hooked. The games were fun, and we have grand dreams of combining naval and land warfare for a Napoleonic campaign. Seeing that my lead pile had shrunk a bit, I decided to add to it and bought some metal 1:1200 ships. The scale allowed for a bit more room compared to the War Artisan ships. So I searched around and saw many expensive miniature warship manufacturers. I then came across Warrior Miniatures. They are a small company in Scotland who pride themselves on the pricing of their products. There are no pictures of their Napoleonic ships on their site (or weren’t when I was ordering), but other reviews showed them. I was a little worried about some of the pictures, as it seemed like there were some problems with a few of the moulds. Nevertheless, I decided to give them a shot and put an order in for 13 French and British warships and 2 merchant ships. The warships were mostly frigates, brigs, and schooners, but some larger vessels as well to round things out. The total cost with shipping was just over 40 pounds. Now, living on the Far Side of The World, shipping can be expensive, but when you factor it in to the cost per miniature Warrior is still far and away the least expensive 1:1200 manufacturer I’ve seen.
A few emails to arrange payment later (they do not use PayPal), and then my order was dispatched. I have had orders from the UK be delayed, (up to 3 months once for a Warbases order – though it was Canada customs and definitely not their fault) and wasn’t expecting the ships overly soon, but 3 weeks later they landed on my doorstep.
What the order looks like
As you can see, there’s a lot of ship for the money.
The starboard quarter of a 2nd Rate
The detail is quite good. I am not an expert on warship models, but I am happy to have this on my table.
The port side midships has taken some damage
The port side of the 2nd Rate sculpt needed some cleaning, but is not a lost cause by any stretch of the imagination.
A British frigate
The smaller ships are well detailed and seem to scale nicely against their heavier sisters.
Frigate sails
The sails come with some fine details and some more obvious. I am going to be careful priming the sails so I do not obscure the finer details. I can imagine that it is a trade off between realistic and visible detail for the sculptors, but I have no misgivings about these as nothing seems exaggerated or out of place.
Comparison of corvette, frigate, and 2nd Rate with some of the flags and pennants that came with the order
As you can see from the picture above, the ships scale nicely and are supplied with some nice paper flags and pennants. You can immediately tell a ship of the line from a 5th or 6th Rate, and the smaller combatants look quite fragile, which, to an extent, they were. I included the other 2nd Rate to the right so you can see the models as they come. There was really limited damage due to shipping, which was nice to see.
Overall, I’m very happy with Warrior Miniatures. They are friendly and prompt, and exceptionally well priced. Their product seems to be excellent for a wargamer’s table. I know that there are those in the community who love modeling every ratline and ensure that the anchors are properly catted, but much of my life I have lived with the various details of seamanship being of prime importance, so in my hobby time I’m not fussing about that. I’m hoping to paint these up and throw them into battle and pretend I’m Nelson, Cochrane, and Pellew all in one. Mind you, I’m supposed to be the French… In any event, I’m going to paint some of these up over the coming weeks and I’ll report back with either an After Action Review or a specific post on how I find them on the table.
