Hobby | Black Seas Merchant Vessel

As I mentioned in the last post, I've begun dabbling with the world of historical miniatures. And by dabble I mean buy way too many ships, but that is a problem for future me. Current me is proud of the first ship out of the shipyard, a large Merchant Vessel from Warlord Games Black Seas.

Ordinarily, when you start in a new game, the first place you'd look to begin is the starter set. Black Seas has one, titled Master & Commander, but my friendly local gaming store didn't have any in stock. I was impatient, so I took a gander at what they did have that wouldn't break the bank/be too much of a commitment to start. They had 2 boxes that matched what I wanted: Merchant Vessels and Schooners. So naturally I grabbed both. 

This is where this was probably not the best intro to the hobby-side of this game for me. You see, the starter set has all plastic models. These, however, were metal and resin. And not a strong metal, no. White metal. The bendiest metal known to mankind. And did they use this metal exclusively to the hull, where the shape lent strength to the model? In the case of the schooners, yes. But did they also use this metal for all of the masts? Also yes. 

And let me tell you, was it frustrating keeping those things straight, especially when it came to the rigging. You'd tie a knot on one side, lash it to the other, then get started elsewhere and realize that the mast has bent and the previously taught line has lost all tension. It was an exercise in frustration, more so since this was my first time ever rigging a ship model. 

The plastic models would have been a better intro here, so I would recommend that route for anyone interested in this game. Doubly so if you're new to the hobby as a whole. Regardless though, I had a wonderful time, and it was enjoyable to have such a hobby challenge. I learned a lot during the process and the following ships have been a little bit easier to work on. 

I didn't paint this model off of any specific historical reference, just a generic "looks right" for a ship of the era. I don't want to get too into the history weeds, I want to treat historicals more like an Age of Empires or Total War game, instead of fretting that the French never fought the Spanish at this location when painted in these colors. Speaking of colors, I gave the ship a Spanish merchant flag, but it can be used during any of the various scenarios that call for a merchant ship. I would love to figure out how to get a tiny name on the stern though, I doubt my fine painting skills are up to that task. 

Warlord Games also provides all the rigging, flags, masts, and ratlines that you need, so it was a very convenient package all around. I didn't have to go hunting elsewhere. Plus the sails make the ship look really good. The rigging and masts, once glued on, did help a lot with the rigidity of the white metal masts, but this thing ain't surviving a drop, so play with care. 

Out of curiosity, I lined the merchant ship up to a 10-mast junk from Pirates CSG. The hull sits much lower in the water than Pirates CSG ships, but the masts are so tall that they actually mesh fairly well scale-wise. So there can definitely be some overlap in the resources and accessories between both games ie terrain, treasure, mats, etc. That'll be convenient for me as any extra projects I do can work for both. Expect to see some more ships on here soon, and the next campaign for Mordheim will be beginning here shortly, so I'll have lots to cover in the near future. 

-The Space Dinosaur