This Looks Fun, Arrrr., Gonna Build me a Ship

So anyone who's been around the animosity campaigns knows something about my Bretonnian Git self... they also know that sea battles have become a nice and large part of those Animosity campaigns. So I took a look at sea themed battles, some Man of War... and I have to say, Seahammer in its incarnations got my attention.

You gotta have a ship first...

My first thought was of course to do a Bretonnian Warship of some type... until I realized my hard core fluff self would have 8 kinds of fits about Bretonnians using cannon. In the midst of this Fluff impasse I realized that I had about 1,000 points of dwarves doing nothing but looking short next to my knights, and collecting dust.

Problem solved, bring on the guns, and the ALE!...

In doing the research for this project I got MOTIVATED to turn this into more than just a passing fancy average model, but to throw out the stops and have some serious fun.

I decided early on that I didn't want a Dwarven Ironclad... Steampunk rocks, but its really not my thing. So I focused upon early Renaissance style sailing ships and found a few designs I really liked.

But... what about the Fluff?

Simple... Ranger Ship. Ironclads are about a sea worthy as a cement block, and can't venture to far into trouble waters... besides they'd run out of fuel right quick... far better for the rust buckets to stay close to home and do their dirty work keeping the hold safe. Sailing ships however, have near infinite endurance, can get supplies just about anywhere in the old world, and repairing a wooden vessel is as easy as finding the nearest grove of tall trees and having a few axes about.

"Old Iron Amber" is thusly born...

The Cannon are ordered, the old dwarves dusted off, fresh cold beer opened, and my local supply shop is running low on balsa wood... Time to build.

Oh the AUDACITY! Can't wait to see this, it's a really nice idea. I'm guessing she'll be built for speed and a fast strike rather than the usual Dwarven approach. How big are you thinking?

Bretonnian ships are difficult, no doubt about it. Using cannon is wildly against WH fluff, like you say, but the Man O War ships have batteries of the things. Seahammer is a bit of a different beast though. I see it as a bit of a derivation from Warhammer in some ways. Yes it's the same world, but there are different rules. Lots of people here play Orc Pirates, with cannon, mainly as it's just pretty standard fare. Still, the Orc ships in Man O War have chukkas so it is doable.

I'm hoping to build one myself this year, based around a Man O War Hulk, but it's definately on the back burner until the army is done!

A Dwarf Ranger sailing ship is a very interesting idea! I like your thought process here Sir Cai Leonas!

I'm really looking forward this following the project.

slayer rangers?

I fear that my dwarf army doesn't have any slayers, though I may add a few as "marines" but first... before I start on crew, I need to see how the ship comes out.

Bretonnians and Cannon

The logic fail there is the fact that Bretonnia doesn't make cannon, they grudgingly make Trebs and even then its peasant built (quality you KNOW you can trust). The only major foundries in the old world that come to mind are the Empire's Engineer's guild, and the Dwarf Holds. To equip an entire fleet with cannon requires a serious investment, and to buy cannon from the empire or dwarves seems extraordinarily costly, and somehow I don't see either the Empire or Dwarves selling THAT many cannon to a major seaborne rival...

The orcs have that lovely characteristic of looting whatever is needed for their ships, and it makes perfect sense.

Bah with semantics, back to da SHIP!



This Real life ship is called the Kalmar Nyckel, and she's a beauty. She has the lines I want. I managed to find a good rigging and side profile schematic



Now for the fun...



I sketched out a top view of the lines I wanted, taking into account the gun battery she would need, and the miniatures I would be using for her crew. It took a while to get the spacing right for the horizontal "rib" spars that I could slide cannon perfectly between main joists, and have enough to properly plank the hull.

She started off with a 17inch keel, and the keel you see laid down and marked off in the photo is 21 inches. I did lay in some fudge room on either end of the Keel to make sure I had plenty of room to work with. She'll prolly end up between 19-20 inches along the Keel.

The stack of wood in the top left are the first cut ribbing planks.

The thought was indeed to have her built for speed and firepower in the classic 1797 American Frigate mindset of "Outfight what you can't outrun and outrun what you can't outfight." But she's turning out to be more Ship of the Line than Super Frigate... not that I mind..



Her main battery will consist of 10 cannon arranged in broadsides of 5. I found some of the Skull Pass dwarf cannon and crew on ebay that are the perfect look for a naval cannon, and a nice price.

Her secondary battery is still in flux, as I want to see how the lay of the ship starts to develop.

Some thoughts I had were :

1. Historical: Bow and Stern Chase cannon with a number of "swivel guns" possible a "long tom" pivot gun on the second deck behind the main-mast.

2. Dwarf war machine fun: Organ Guns.

3. Ranger Dwarf tactics; Blackpowder cannon makes a lot of noise... Bolt Throwers don't.


I have to say that I am leaning towards the Organ guns atm, they will fit better on the secondary deck and Forecastle, and can be obtained economically. Plus the new plastic models just look cool

This post has been edited by Sir Cai Leonas on Feb 23 2010, 08:40 AM

Whatever configuration of artillery you go for I would recommend having four or fewer pieces that can fire in any given direction. The weight of metal that too many guns can throw out will shorten games to a really disappointing and unsatisfying single broadside!

Even with this limit we have doubled the number of hull points listed in the General's Compendium rules in order to allow proper slugging matches and some boarding actions before a game ends!



Looking good so far though matey!

The Irony of this whole build comes now to the fact I was looking to build a mid-range ship, thinking that a 5 gun broadside would be "smaller"

It may actually work out better modeling wise if I make it a 4 gun broadside, means I can ensure she drops back to being a 17 inch keel.

Everyone loves a picture




Final plans are drawn out, sparring is set, keel is locked in at a robust 17.5 inches, her beam is at 6.5 inches, which by one father Fernando Oliveira, ( http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/Oliveira.htm ) is perfect for a ship of my size and in line with historical building practices.

The C's denote approximate Cannon Positions, the lovely Longbeard Champion (One of my few other fully painted models) is there for size comparison.

The fore and aft main posts are up, giving an approximate height for the forecastle, and aftcastle decks.

Further construction is on hold until the cannon arrive (got the notice they have been shipped out (hur hur hur) and will be here in 2-5 days). once they arrive I can gauge height for them and their crews so I know how tall... err..... short to cut the decks. Once I know that, I can start knocking down the spars.



I also took an inventory of my dwarf miniatures and decided I needed to augment for this build. I got a box of miners, as I really liked their accessories, their general armored look, and that they are ready to weild great weapons. Perfect Convert to Ranger Fodder in my book... I just forgot to get the green stuff I will need to make their helms more seaworthy (hur hur hur)

I also did some further reading into Dwarven Rangerdom and it struck me that a ship of this size could be a "mobile hold" for an entire small ranger clan. Which started giving me my first truely grand ideas for how to detail this thing, including a small forge and anvil (Anvil of doom set perhaps....) tucked away on one of the decks.

This post has been edited by Sir Cai Leonas on Feb 23 2010, 08:40 AM

I can't wait to see this complete mate. Looks like it's going to be good! Let me know if you need any spare dwarf parts, I have a ton sitting around.

Great thread Sir Cai! Glad to see another shipyard.

Which Seahammer rules set are you planning on using?

For ships of the size you are building I really like the General's Compendium (because I like big crews). Of course we upped the number of cannon available...

I am trying to get my hands on a G.C. to actually read the rules so described, but the prices out on Ebay are abit much, and I haven't finished scavenging the used book stores in town yet.

I am also waiting for the Warhammer Ahoy site to come back online. Truth be told, I am leaping before I look in this build and trusting to the fact that the ship I am building will be adaptable to whichever game system I do end up using.



Build news:

Cannon should arrive tomorrow. (Monday)

Frame spars are being built, two part process. Involving bending 1/4 inch square balsa wood to set curve and then gluing the curved timber to the framing spar. This adds both shape and superior strength to the sparring. (soon as I knock out a few more I will post a pic.)

I have only managed to super glue my fingers together twice so far!

Looks great mate. Can't wait to see how it progresses....

We've always tried to fit the rules to whatever ships people have built - after all it's a lot of investment of time and effort just to be told you have the wrong number of masts or something!

You can always leave a gun off or add a gun on deck to balance things out.

Just a thought, is it possible to pin, rather than glue, the masts? You could use heavy duty magnets and maybe make covers for the canon as well. That way the same ship can represent several different confugurations with a little swapping. Probably wouldn't work but my brain always suggests things like this!

Not a bad thought actually Draig!

My masts (and Goomb's too I think) are removable - a length of plastic tube (just bigger than the mast dowling) fixed flush with the deck works quite well.