I'm on a boat! (Man O'War)

[Modhail]

I'm not exactly sure how/why it happened, but I suddenly found myself frenziedly assembling my little stash of Man O'War Dwarf figures...


Here's the fleet, still minus the last two Ironclads, the second squadron of Monitors and my final three Nautilii. I'm holding back a bit on those final three, as I feel 6 Nautilii may be a bit overkill. The Dreadfleet Dwarf ship snuck in there as well. Might as well paint all the stunties at once.

For the Nautilii, as they can submerge, I've been thinking about making proper submerged models, instead of just plonking down a cardboard chit next to them. I'm considering two options at the moment: Either make just the outline of the ship, with the smokestack and banner sticking out of the water. Or use a counter with the same size as my bases for the Nautilii, also with smokestack and banner, and try to paint in the outline of the submerged vessel:

I'll be building and painting both to see what I like best. This will also give me the chance to try out two different methods of making water for the bases: sculpted greenstuff and acrylic gel.
As I already have the greenstuff, I gave that a try:


In the meantime, I've also assembled and primered the Dreadfleet terrain pieces. (Dreadfleet, as a game, doesn't seem to be that spectacular, it's too closed and small a system and seems to have been made mainly to leech off Man O'War nostalgia. I fell for it... But the terrain is useful as a jumping-off point for Man O'War.) No pics, as black terrain on a black background doesn't look interesting at all!

If I get these done quickly enough, it will be on to the Empire fleet, but for that one I still need to acquire/convert/build a few squadrons of ships to make a "legal" fleet out of them.

[gnomehome]

I really like the Submerged Nautilus you've greenstuffed up. I might steal borrow that idea

In the meantime, I've also assembled and primered the Dreadfleet terrain pieces. (Dreadfleet, as a game, doesn't seem to be that spectacular, it's too closed and small a system and seems to have been made mainly to leech off Man O'War nostalgia. I fell for it... But the terrain is useful as a jumping-off point for Man O'War.) No pics, as black terrain on a black background doesn't look interesting at all!

Dreadfleet as a game is very, very random but - oh boy does it look great when it's all painted up.

Some pictures of my version in action

[OSHIROmodels]

Man 'O' War!!

Old school cool 

cheers

James

[Daeothar]

Cool stuff. Especially the submerged vessel rocks!

I've never gotten into Manowar, as that was basically over before I had any access to proper game stores. But I've always liked the idea.

And with a topic title like that, surely you'll be needing a Lonely Island?

[Sir_Theo]

Brilliant stuff, I love Man O War. Great idea for the submerged tokens, I'd steal the idea if I thought I could do as good a job as you!

I bought a mat from Deep Cut amd some resin islands from Combat zone to resurrect Mow myself, but I haven't got around to it yet!

[Humorous_Conclusion]

I love the submerged Nautilus, looking forward to seeing them all painted.

I had a decent sized Orc fleet for Man O'War, but, sadly, never collected a second fleet and it isn't exactly easy to find opponents these days.

[mister c]

Excellent work. 
I must dig out all my old Man o War stuff and try and get people playing it again.

[noigrim]

 
Interested in some seadrakes for a high elf fleet?

[stone-cold-lead]

Everybody look at me I'm on a... eh hem. I'll have that stupid song lyric stuck in my head for the rest of the day now!   

Nice idea with the submerged marker. Look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[Modhail]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you like these humble beginnings.
And yes, the fleet(s) will be exploring plenty of Lonely Islands. 

Gnomehome, your ships do look great! Steal...Borrow away for the markers!

Jimbibbly, yeah, it's a lovely old game, isn't it? I do believe your Japanese cliffs are partly to blame for this project... I've had an unfulfilled urge to build islands for the last few days now. Though I'd never dream of approaching your terrain prowess.

Sir_Theo, go for it! 

Humorous_Conclusion, yeah it's a shame, those that still love and own Man O'War are scattered thin these days. And with the Old World dead, the chances of it's return are absolutely zero. (And I dread to imagine what an Age Of Sigmar "re-imaging" of the game and ships might look like!)

Noigrim, sorry, but I have zero High Elf fleet, so I wouldn't have anything to add them to... I only have this Dwarf fleet, an Empire fleet missing its Wolfships and giant-cannon-boats (Hellhammers, I believe?) and a tiny fledgeling Dark Elf fleet.

Stone-cold-lead, sadly the effect works both ways, guess what I've found myself humming ever since I posted this topic? 

[Sir_Theo]

For cheap alternative ships he ones sold by Ral Partha Europe aren't too bad. They are a little smaller than the GW ones but not bad alternatives.  They sell buildings as well, good for islands.


http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/empiresthe-miniatures-boardgame-c-135/

[Modhail]

Thank you for that link, I never realised Ral Partha made ships as well. Their "Empire" range would make nice Bretonnian stand-ins.

[rob_the_robgoblin]

Love this so much, Man O War was one of my favourite GW games...

I really like the submerged sub!

[LordOdo]

Apart from the well chosen title (I'm on a boat, *********, don't you ever forget!), a really great thread. Need to look into boat wars aswell!

[Daeothar]

Sorry beforehand, but you know ...