Monday 29 December 2014

Galleys & Galleons: the fleets assemble

My first batch of ships for Galleys & Galleons is now based and primed. The ships are to some extent interchangeable but these photos represent my first thoughts.


The Merchants. From back to front: Peter Pig Large Merchantman, Fluyt, and Small Merchantman. The Dhow (foreground) is a 1/300 Grumpy model with the original crew removed, and Peter Pig crew and guns substituted. I also replaced the supplied but rather vulnerable mast with a stout dressmaking pin. This made it harder to superglue the sail on, but I'd rather cope with a detached sail than a wonky or broken mast.


The Pirates. From back to front: Peter Pig Brig, RPE pinnace conversion, Peter Pig Schooner and Boats. I'm not entirely happy with the pinnace in the game as the much larger sloop and schooner share the same factors but dwarf it. More on that below.


The Royal Navy. Peter Pig Large Warship and Sloop. The 'Large Warship' is not really large enough to represent a frigate, more a 'sloop of war' - a catch-all term for lesser warships not to be confused with an 'ordinary' sloop, which is the model below it.

The rules are extremely flexible in allowing you to customise your own ship profiles. I'm therefore inclined to use the large merchant as a frigate with a combat value of 5, and 'recalibrate' the other ships accordingly.

In Dutch service, at least, Indiamen were designed to be pressed into service in wartime, though their lines were not as fine as purpose-built warships. Nevertheless, of the Peter Pig ships available, the Large Merchantman gives the closest impression of a frigate simply because of its size. I also think that 'frigates' of this period were not as sleek as their Napoleonic descendants.

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