Pirate Galley - Barbaroja

Arrgh! 'Tis time for another ship m' harties! Meet the beautiful Barbaroja (red beard). A light galley based of ancient designs she is designed to chase down and raid small merchant vessels. On her mast she carries a mighty sail that is the main form of propulsion. As such this model represents her in her sailing configuration with the benches and oars being stored below decks to enable free movement. On with the pics (which I edited due to lighting)

I forgot to mention that this fine lady is armoured! Yellow copper plates protect the front when ramming and the ram is copper too.

If you saw this coming at you (usually oars would be in use too) you should probably expect a good ramming!

Name plate - I went for a more rough and crude look for this name plaque. It suites this piratical vessel

Instead of a rudder she had rudder oars. Again mirroring ancient designs. They are also slightly harder to shoot off which cannon.

Close up of the bow. As you can see there is plenty of protection. Often small cannon would be kept behind here for use against shipping

And one of the Stern. Again there is a significant raise in the sides to provide protection to the crew

The jolly roger! Although not so jolly for any passing merchant ships.

So that is all for this ship and indeed for this year. I wish you all the best for the coming year, may it bring you joys. I for my part will try to bring you more adventures and stories of the little people of Oronegro. And I will enjoy seeing/hearing what you have to show. Have a good day/night! I will see you all again next year!

Odds and Ends - My work from 2016

Hi there everyone, as we count down the last few nights to Christmas I thought I'd show you what I have managed to paint this year while at university. There isn't really enough to warrant a post each so here is a post of all the things I painted while up there and a couple of small boats as well. Enjoy.

Slim pickings. I simply must stop playing video games while I am at uni at focus on the little ones!

First up a few militia figures led by the brave.... He has no name/story yet. Will think of one soon.

These are figures from the Imex Alamo Defenders set. A good set for militia and civilian fighters

A pair of conquistadors - I finished the one on the left earlier this year but now he has a friend.

ARRRR - Some pirates. Great little figures from Orion.

These are from the Caesar Samurai set. I tried to make it look like they are standing on a wooden floor.

NINJA! Again a little experimental base. This time it is a dirt path at night.

 And now for a couple of boats. These are quite simple and can be used for a variety of purposes. One is long and narrow and the other is short and wide. That's basically all they have to them.

The first boat, El Sol II, I used a nice light blue for this one.

The second boat. This has no name but can fit quite a few figures because of its width.

A shot from behind of the rudder. I went with a wood texture on this using dry brushing to get the texture.

And that is that. I hope you like them and I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. If all goes well I will have one final post to wrap up 2016 of the boat I am currently working on. (see the other blog)

But until then I wish you all a very good day/night. :-D

Estafanía - Dhow

Hi everyone I am back with a new vessel to show you all. This time round it is something more exotic: A Dhow. These vessels have been used since ancient times in the waters around the Arabian Peninsular and Indian Ocean. They can also be found in the Mediterranean which is how, via settlers, it ended up in Oronegro. Used by fishermen, traders, pirates and many others they are a much loved if rare vessel. Larger ones are employed by the Oronegrean navy from time to time. This one is not one of these vessels. It is more suited to fishing, trade and a wee bit of piracy.

A few pirates have managed to commandeer la Estafaía. They seem harmless enough right now.

I could probably have made the mast and sail a little bigger. And maybe raked the mast forward a bit more

close up of the bow.

Look over the stern

Name plate. I used a fine marker pen for this

And a close shot of the pirates

 Well that's it for today. I have another boat well on the way. It is a cross between a pirate ship and a Greco-Roman warship. It is quite strange but I think you'll like it. Anyway I have a few little things to show you before the year is out. The figures I painted while I was away (these pirates are included in that list).

But for now I wish you all a good day/night. Please comment and subscribe to my little blog. It's always nice to get feedback. :-D

San Fancisco, Naval ship

Kia Ora everyone. I have returned once more from university and have got something to show you all.This is the San Francisco. A small Oronegrean warship which mainly operates in coastal waters but can sail out into the open sea and up larger rivers. She has an armament of 8 cannon and swivel guns although both of these will be made and added later. (probably scratch built or I'll buy a set with some cannon, if you know how to get a set of cannon please let me know.) She is the largest of the Oronegrean naval vessels I have, as can be seen in the comparisons below. So on with the pics. For more information on Oronegrean patrol ships like this one click here.

After waiting for me to return from the city the San Francisco was completed.

Here is a comparison between the San Francisco, the Anne and the Carlos

Comparison from above

view of the starboard bow, the jib and flying job are my only real gripe with this model

The deck is a bit more crowded on this one, which makes figure placement more difficult

view of starboard side. I am very pleased with the prow on this ship

view of the stern, as you can see I added a name plate back here also.

view of the bow.

Bow detail, note the handwritten name plate and horizontal capstan.

stern. Note the grate in the deck, that took me ages to do but was so worth it.

stern detail. I tried to make the ships wheel as realistic as possible, I feel I did a decent job.

Of course she would not be complete without her colours. The Oronegrean flag flies proud

the roof to the cabin can be removed revealing a small room large enough for a few figs (and painting).

More shots of the bow. I really like the bowsprit as well. if only the jibs had worked out.

view from above. The San Francisco is quite narrow which again makes figure placement harder.

Now the Oronegreans have something capable of taking on the mighty Abigail.

Well that'll do for now. I hope you like the San Francisco. My next post will probably be of the few figures I painted while I was up at university. I also made a small boat so that will be shown as well. The next project I will work on will probably be a dhow that I started way back at the beginning of the year. Followed by a weird pirate ship my friend wanted then..... Well maybe something a bit different. Perhaps a design from the Orient? Finally I also reached my goal of doubling the size of my fleet from 4-8 ships/boats. So that's something to be happy about.

Anyway goodday/night everyone and I wish you all a great summer/winter and I will be back soon with more little treasures to show you.

Some exciting stuff. Lantern Festival and Scavenger Hunt

Well in a long tradition of posting some interesting things that I have been up to here are some pics of what I have been up to. First up the lantern festival. This took place in the Auckland domain this year and is a celebration of Chinese new year. It runs for several nights with fireworks on the final night. Sadly I didn't take to many photos as the crows were huge. The domain isn't small by any stretch of the imagination but the area with the lanterns was so packed that moving around was incredibly difficult let alone staying in a good spot to take pictures. I did get a few of the fireworks too although once again the spot wasn't the best.

[I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU RIGHT CLICK AND VIEW IMAGE AS THEY ARE BEST ENJOYED THAT WAY] especially the fireworks which should be zoomed in on.

Next up is the Scavenger hunt I went on. This is one of those silly activities you do at the start of the year at university accommodation where you generally make as much of a fool of yourself as possible. This year our team, Mercedes AGM (for our initials) won the competition which generally indicates that yes we were the biggest fools. These are some of the silly things we did or had to find around town.

Funniest thing on the Thai restaurant's menu - Check.

Chilling out in the university quad - Check

Selfie with the ducks - Check

Whatever this is supposed to be - Check.

Well that's about it guys. Hope you enjoy this post. I'm going tramping this weekend in the bush so hopefully I'll have another little adventure to share with you soon. Oh and yes figures are on the way.