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 5)

Ordinarily, I'd get a little bit more done before posting about this project, but I wanted to share this little American on the 4th of July. This is a cutter, the second I've done for this project. She'll be used to model the Trippe, the smallest ship present at the battle. 

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. 

Hobby | Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XV Wrap Up

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is done and dusted, and I was able to hit my goal with exclusively Black Seas models. Turns out you get a lot of points for submitting naval miniatures on account of all the extra stuff you have to do. For my last post, I took some glamor photos, and well I enjoyed them so much that I wanted them to be here on my own blog as well. 

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.

Review | Warlord Games Black Seas USS Constitution

The one that started it all. Old Ironsides herself. Yes, I finally got around to the USS Constitution, my favorite ship in history, and fiction for that matter. This particular rendition is a resin and metal model from Warlord Games Black Seas. Let's see how the model holds up. 

Paint Recipe | Black Seas United States Navy

Last post, I painted up an American brig using more generic ship colors. That wouldn't do for the USS President, one of the famous six US frigates. I went for the classic black hull with white stripe that you can currently see on the USS Constitution in Boston harbor. I visited that ship earlier this year, and what I saw informed a lot of the decisions I made. 

Hobby | Black Seas American Brig

With the Necromunda campaign wrapping up soon and a lull in the action as we look towards another Mordheim campaign, I’ve been venturing back into the world of Black Seas. I have another brig painted up, this time for the American side of things. However, I didn’t paint this up in the “official” US Navy color scheme, instead opting for a more generic look befitting a privateer or a merchant ship pressed into service with the fledgling navy.