Ship Building (4) - viking ship complete

I wanted to be able to remove the sail from a ship, to get at figures on deck while gaming, so needed some sort of 'clip-on' concept. Finally came up with using the plastic spiral document binders (used the 6mm ones). Cut of some of the tabs and shorted the remainder so there is a small gap to fit over the spar.

The 'clip-on' sail in place ....

Trial concept for a furled sail, using similar method ....

I gave the furled sail a wash of colour and tied the sail round at various points with brown thread, shown fitted to the ship...

The viking ship with its sail and a few shields - on its maiden voyage

---oXo---

 

next - finish off the Saxon ships and consider whether to have oars and oarsmen

Ship Building (3) - finishing the hulls

A trial fit of the masts to one of the saxon hulls and the viking hull...

The viking hull with its mast after its first coat of paint ...

I decided to add some curvature and shape to the stern and prow by adding on some suitably shaped thick  cardboard....

 

The saxon hulls get the same treatment ...

Next up adding the 'steering paddle', just a piece of cardboard cut to shape and stuck to the hull side ..

The viking ship gets another lick of paint and the stern and prow get a small paint job, coming along nicely compared to the Revell kit.

 

---oXo---

 

next time - finishing off the viking ship

Ship Building (2) - ships sides & preparation on masts

A quick shot of the 3 saxon decks now with their foamboard added, bringing them up to the same approximate height as the ship behind.

Now onto the sides, I spent a bit of time doing some measuring and came up with a simple side made from 2mm Daler mounting board for the viking deck first. A last check on it to see if it lines up ok ...

I then cut the other side out and used PVA wood glue to stick to the deck, it all needs clamping though to hold it together while the glue goes off..

While the sides are drying off I sorted out how to fit the spars to the masts - using picture wire and super glue to fix, shot of first one done ...

 

Next - repeat the above for the saxon ships, and trial fit the masts. Sorting out some 'carved' ends for the prow and stern needs a little thought.

Ship Building (1) - getting started

Afterthe last game, fired up with enthusiam I decided to get on and make some more ships. Aim was to maybe add another viking ship and three saxon ships - and without spending too much and using up what materials I had to hand.

 

First thing I did was to download the Wargames Illustrated deck plans from here, the saxon deck plan was a little narrow so I tweaked it by widening the image by 20%, it then checks out ok against my narrower ship used in the last game

Next was to source masts and spars - I found some nice childrens knitting needles (2 for £1.25 !), these are just right for the masts and for the spars some wooden hibachi skewers can be cut up.

A first cut of the decks for the ships was done from 3mm cardboard - one for a viking ship and three for saxon ships; the viking deck has the deck plan stuck onto it

The viking deck with some foamboard added to bring the height up..

I found the saxon deck plan a little light in colour and gave it wash of mid brown, then copied it to get three, first deck stuck onto the cardboard - foamboard to be added underneath and then the other two done.

 

Next - the sides of the ship hulls ...

Snorri Ragnarsen's Raid - Part 3 (of 3)

Meanwhile the saxon ship moves into the bay and maneouvres to grapple the viking ship....

The grapple was successful - but the vikings board the saxon ship after a fierce fight ....

 After a hard tussle the saxons get the upper hand and the vikings are either in the water or back on their own ship..

The more experienced vikings, although much reduced in numbers, manage to cut the grapple lines and the saxon ship drifts away, oars damaged and with many wounded on board ... 

Meanwhile on land the fyrd is putting pressure on the vikings, but not in the mood for another charge (there are more vikings left than saxons !)...

Out in the bay the saxon ship continues to drift out, as it tries to sort out the mess of broken oars and wounded men ... 

The vikings start to board their ships .... 

The vikings make their getaway, after losing a few men at the hand of the saxon fyrd who made a charge as they boarded their ships...the saxon ship is no fit state to deal with two viking ships and keeps out of the way...

 

---oXo---

A close run thing - the ship melee result meant the vikings were able to getaway with their booty- but they had more men left than the saxons. Any wounded vikings swept up on shore wouldn't survive long.

We'd been thinking about ship to ship fighting, but seeing the article in Wargames Illustrated 300th edition was shandy for some rules - so we used them as a framework.

After further discussions after the game we decided to try and get some more 'ships in the water', so maybe some more ship-to-ship fighting to come.  One thing - we need to have the sails on the ships furled or masts/spars removable as we had trouble handling the figures on the ships - (possibly maybe some representation of oars could be added ).

Snorri Ragnarsen's Raid - Part 2 (of 3)

The defenders of the town loose their bottle after heavy losses and run for it, while the vikings take a breather

The saxon ship is getting near, the viking lookout blows his horn to sound the alarm ...

The vikings form a shield wall to hold off the local fyrd, while they ransack the church and town ....

The fyrd moves up to engage the viking shield wall while the rest of the vikings take their booty back to the ships ...  

Crunch ! the fyrd charge home into the viking shield wall ...  

The saxon ship rounds the headland, while the vikings scramble to get their larger ship into the water and ready to engage the saxon ship .. 

The fyrd break the viking shield wall ....

The vikings retreat towards their ships, while the fyrd follow up rather slowly ... 

 

 ---oXo---

to be continued

 

 

Snorri Ragnarsen's Raid - Part 1 (of 3)

Along the coast a Saxon ship (part of Earldorman Rodor little navy) is on patrol and is trying to find out where the viking ships it spotted went ashore ...

Snorri Ragnarsen and his men go ashore,  a larger than usual ship guard has been left (as he saw the saxon ship a while back)

The men of the town prepare their defence

The vikings move up into the town

The two sides skirmish ....

The vikings make short work of the saxon skirmishers and move forward ...

The vikings charge the saxon shieldwall ...

The fighting is hard and the saxons are just holding off the vikings, in the distance the men from the nearby villages have gathered and are on their way to help  ....

 

---oXo---

 

to be continued....

The Vikings are raiding the saxon shore again ....

Snorri Ragnarsen and his warband have descended on the saxon shore....

game report coming soon ......