Enfilade 2014 Sky Galleons of Mars game

[DLIinVSF]

Well I didn't have any part of building these ships. They were all built by Gene, one of the group member who is a wizard at building terrain. He also built all the Chinese city walls we used in our Boxer rebellion game a couple of years ago & the Martians city wall we used in a game last year. They have a foam core body with wood plank pattern cloth starched over the body. He spent the last 11 months building the six Martian ships seen here. They are all based on the ships in the Sky Galleons & Cloudships rules. I will try to get together with Gene & get pictures of them all & post them. Will also try to get him to join us here & maybe do a tutorial. My own little skiff didn't make it to this battle though.

I'm sure we would all look forward to that Sir thank you 

[Ray Rivers]

Well I didn't have any part of building these ships. They were all built by Gene, one of the group member who is a wizard at building terrain.

Yea, no kidding!

Fantastic models! 

I will try to get together with Gene & get pictures of them all & post them. Will also try to get him to join us here & maybe do a tutorial.

That would be awesome.

Would love to see some closeups!

[DLIinVSF]

Too late! The virus caught me.

I'm attempting some of the smallest versions from the original source books. I can't wait(well I'll have to) to see the guides for these bigger beauties in your game  

http://dliworkshopinspace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/martian-cloudships.html

[Furt]

They have a foam core body with wood plank pattern cloth starched over the body.

That sounds like quite a clever idea.

[Tas]

What a smashing looking slouch!
Made my day that has, thanks for sharing

Making my long held desire to own a RNAS Gunboat stir indeed... 

yours in a white wine sauce,
Paul

[The_Beast]

Too late! The virus caught me.

I'm attempting some of the smallest versions from the original source books. I can't wait(well I'll have to) to see the guides for these bigger beauties in your game  

http://dliworkshopinspace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/martian-cloudships.html

Excellent start! Do keep us informed, and I'll suggest a link on the Aeronef et al sticky, as well! 

Doug

[Metternich]

The sky galleons were fantastic !!

[DLIinVSF]

Excellent start! Do keep us informed, and I'll suggest a link on the Aeronef et al sticky, as well! 

Doug

Your too kind Sir. I can feel the pressure building to finish them ahead of all the other outstanding projects 

[wrgmr1]

I saw those at the con, great looking game!!

[Skrapwelder]

I am giving serious thought to skipping Kublacon next year and making the drive up for this.

Great stuff.

[HerbyF]

@ Skrapwelder

Insert Quote

I am giving serious thought to skipping Kublacon next year and making the drive up for this.

Would look forward to seeing you here. I have really liked your posts here & thought it would be great to meet you sometime. Sinewgrab does a lot of stuff of similar feel to the kind of thing you do. He usually puts on game at Enfilade too.

[para176]

Hey Herby, I finally joined and figured out how to get into this string.

Thank you all for the many great comments.

Putting the wood pattern fabric over the foam core with fabric starch was my wife's idea! 

The deck plans all come from a two volumes in one book set, Sky Galleons of Mars and Cloudships and Gunboats.  The second title has the deck plans, the first one the rule set.  I finally settled on 1 inch equals 1 square in the diagrams.

I made all of the Martian ships.  Other friends lent their scratch built British and America ships.  My goal is to make some of my own British ships for next year at Enfilade.  A bigger table and a massive free-for-all might be a good game!

I cut out foam pieces (pink and purple foam works best) for each level of the decks in the diagrams.  Decks are 1 to 2 inches thick.  Once glued together with white glue, I would finish cutting the overall shape of the vessel.  If you make a mistake, glue another piece into place.  Once I had the basic shape I would sand the foam into the final shape with fine sand paper.  Little nicks and gouges won't be noticed when you put the fabric over the foam. 

I would cut out a piece of fabric and start on any high point of the foam, wet it down with the fabric starch and start smoothing it into the shape of the foam.  As bulges develop I would wet down the fabric, but not smooth it over the foam.  Once the starch dried it was easier to cut without too much fraying.  Then I would cut out a section and wet it down again, then smooth into the shape of the foam.  Little cuts at the top and bottom of the fabric made it lay down on the top and bottom of the foam easier.  Once dried I would glue on the deck cut from MDF and glue on MDF on the bottom, again with white glue. 

The sides with the lift panels are made of plasticard.  Coffee stirs cut to appropriate lengths make the liftwood panels on the plasticard.  All glued down with white glue.  (Plasticard on foam and stirs on plasticard.)

Sinewgrab had the Macefield.  That is the ship that made the power turn and blew everything up!  The Aphid is the center of the Earther ships (first picture).

The Martian fleet contains: 2 Hullcutters; an Endtime; a Skyrunner; a Small Bird; and my own version of a Martian scout ship.  The idea for the scout ship came from Cloud Captains of Mars.  All of these are screw galleys.  I want to make some kites and the Cloud Captain Black Dagger privateer.  The scout ship I call the flying bath tub due to the shape/design.

As with other GameMasters at Enfilade I wanted to keep the rules simple so reduced the Sky Galleons rules to 2 pages.  They seemed to work okay with only a few rules questions during play.  I had Staples make cards that could be written on with dry erase pens.  The images on the cards are from the rule books and sized on my home printer to a 5 X 8 card.

The bases for the ships are 1 X 4 cut into 2 pieces, each 8 inches long.  Painted red (2 coats) then sprayed with varnish.  Brass tubing was used for inserting plexiglass rod into the stand and the bottom of the ship.  Holes were drilled in one leg of the stand and cribbage pegs used to indicate the height of the airship.

And, yes, there was a boarding action, but I don't know if anybody got any pictures of that portion of the game.  It seemed that everyone had a lot of fun.

It was the first time I GM'd a game at a convention and the neat part, my oldest grandson got to play while attending his first convention!  Get the next generation hooked!

Please ask any questions I may not have covered.  Thanks again for the compliments.  Hope to see many of you at next year's Enfilade!

Gene

[Sinewgrab]

Good to see you here, Gene.  Now we just have to get good photos of everything.

[DLIinVSF]

Thanks for posting para176 very helpful  

[The_Beast]

Hey Herby, I finally joined and figured out how to get into this string.

Thank you all for the many great comments.

Putting the wood pattern fabric over the foam core with fabric starch was my wife's idea! 

Obviously a keeper! 

The deck plans all come from a two volumes in one book set, Sky Galleons of Mars and Cloudships and Gunboats.  The second title has the deck plans, the first one the rule set.  I finally settled on 1 inch equals 1 square in the diagrams.

I'm assuming the reprint by Heliograph, which is near and dear; the originals were box sets, with card deck plans in C & G, Sky Galleons have figs and AWESOME maps. However, the Heliograph has advantage portability!

I made all of the Martian ships.  Other friends lent their scratch built British and America ships.  My goal is to make some of my own British ships for next year at Enfilade.  A bigger table and a massive free-for-all might be a good game!

Make sure to have someone dedicated to photographs, please: an unrecorded boarding action... 

...assembly instructions to try another day...
Sinewgrab had the Macefield.  That is the ship that made the power turn and blew everything up!  The Aphid is the center of the Earther ships (first picture).

The Martian fleet contains: 2 Hullcutters; an Endtime; a Skyrunner; a Small Bird; and my own version of a Martian scout ship.  The idea for the scout ship came from Cloud Captains of Mars.  All of these are screw galleys.  I want to make some kites and the Cloud Captain Black Dagger privateer.  The scout ship I call the flying bath tub due to the shape/design.

All in the next convention? Make that two photographers, ALONG with everyone else at the table!

...further instructions awaiting evaluation... 

It was the first time I GM'd a game at a convention and the neat part, my oldest grandson got to play while attending his first convention!  Get the next generation hooked!

Please ask any questions I may not have covered.  Thanks again for the compliments.  Hope to see many of you at next year's Enfilade!

Gene

First time, and you knock it out of the park! 

I've taken my grandchildren to cons, and while they've enjoyed, grandfather has NEVER been this kewl! Welcome to my vaunted list of hated competence, with clusters, of my jealousy for scoring with the following generations! 

Doug