Hobby | Black Seas HMS Indefatigable

It's been a wild time over at the Space Dino household, mostly because I actually own a house now. Lots of my time has been spent getting things moved over, but, for the first time in a very long time, I have an official hobby space and room to lay out my things. Which will make it a lot easier to access things in the future as I don't have to go looking for them in boxes. This has also been the reason I haven't been keeping up with everyone's blogs, but now that I don't have to spend every waking moment moving things and unpacking boxes and lifting furniture I have no business moving, things should get into a groove again. So, for the first post of the year, I have HMS Indefatigable, a ship famous for her duel against a much larger ship than herself. 

 

Project | Battle of Lake Erie (Part 6)

Well, that's it, I've done it. I started this whole thing back in March, and after a total of 6 posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5), the Battle of Lake Erie project is finished, at least from the hobby side of things. I haven't had the chance yet to play out the battle, which would require me to either find a pre-made scenario online or scrape together one myself. The version provided in the Hold Fast supplement is woefully inadequate. That may be the subject of a future post in this series, but for now lets get to some pretty pictures of boats in their natural habitat. 

Project | Battle of Lake Erie (Part 4)

Large amounts of overtime work have kept me fairly busy and away from the hobby (one of them at least). To make sure stuff still gets done, I try to do at least one thing a night, even if it's rigging a single thread. It's paid off, even if it can be quite slow at times. I've got two more schooners done for the United States, and the last sloop-of-war for the British, which also happens to be the last square-rigged ship in this project. 

Project | Battle of Lake Erie (Part 3)

I've gone and painted perhaps the most famous participant of the whole battle, the brig Niagara. Depending on where you fall in the Ship of Theseus philosophical conundrum, she can still be found docked at the Erie Maritime Museum in Pennsylvania. That's the particular look I went with here, mostly because examples were readily available, and a small part because painting a black ship with white stripes gets repetitive after a time. Not to be completely forgotten, I also painted a schooner for the Royal Navy side of the conflict, and a little longboat, because you kinda need one if you're doing this battle. 

Project | Battle of Lake Erie (Part 2)

Well, progress has been slower than I would like, on account of having a kid and all, but I've managed to steal away some minutes here and there. Mostly more Black Seas work, although the new skirmish game Port Royal from Firelock Games has piqued my group's interest, so I've been doing a smidgen of dabbling in 28 mm piracy. More on that in some future post. Back to the Battle of Lake Erie. In the last project post, I was firmly in the planning phase, but now I've got some fruit to show for my efforts. One completed ship, the Caledonia, and some major work done on the Niagara and Queen Charlotte. 

Project | Battle of Lake Erie (Part 1)

As I'm sure you all can see, I've been obsessed with little ships lately. When it comes to painting, I've just been going along, painting an English ship, then a French, a Spanish, an American, and then a grab bag. Not that there's anything wrong with that style, per se, but I wanted to try something a little different. I took some inspiration from JJ over at JJ's Wargames, where he picks a particular battle, then gathers all of the ships involved, models and paints them, and finally creates a suitable scenario.

The last project he chose was the Battle of Camperdown, which is a sizable battle. I, however, am a simple minded man with not enough patience for that (yet). So I've decided to go small-er. Not so small as single ship actions, mind, because that's way too easy to do. Instead I'm taking a look at the War of 1812, specifically the Battle of Lake Erie.

Tutorial | Sloop-of-War Conversion

This post is a sort of part 2 to the Converting a Brigantine post I made not too long ago. But, in the interest of each post being a complete bit of content in case this is the first one that you encounter, there'll be some repeat photos. The beginning steps are the same as you produce hulls for each ship type. 

Hobby | Black Seas HM Brig Speedy

Because being technically right is the best kind of right, Speedy does not get the designation HMS, as she is not a ship, as she does not have 3 square rigged masts. So she is His Majesty's Brig Speedy. This ship, and her captain, are famous for punching way above their weight class. Which is ironic, as Warlord Games decided to cast this in all metal, making her incredibly heavy for her size when compared with the other ships I've painted so far. So an extra coating of matte varnish to keep from chipping. 

Hobby | Funboat Gunboat (Season of Scenery 2024)

We now return from outer space, away from the high tech past into our much lower tech past with some gunboats for Black Seas. The name makes them sound more threatening than they are, but if enough of them get into your face you can be in a world of pain. 

Hobby | Black Seas 38-gun Frigate (Season of Scenery 2024)

Back from space ships to sea ships, I have another Black Seas model completed, also in Royal Navy colors. This time it's a 38-gun frigate, one of their models from the plastic range and provided in the starter set. 

Hobby | Black Seas Brig (Season of Scenery 2024)

With the Mordheim campaign in full swing now, Black Seas is taking a pause, but not before I finished painting one of their plastic ships, the dimunutive brig, this one in Royal Navy colors.