From RaulM: Black Seas Cutter and Schooner (20 points)

Life has been particularly busy for me as I just became a new dad, so this will more than likely be my last post for this year's hobby challenge. I was working on a Battle of Lake Erie project, and as part of that I have these two vessels: a cutter and a schooner. 

Both are metal models from Warlord Games Black Seas, although I do think that the schooner comes with resin hulls nowadays. They're fairly simple to build and paint as the sails are sculpted onto the masts, which eliminates a step when compared to the standard Black Seas models. 

The cutter comes in two varieties, an armed and unarmed version. I used the unarmed version, but added a 12-pdr gun to the fore and aft, run out on opposite sides. I based the look off of the HMS Little Belt, that itself was actually the Friends Good Will, of which a replica can be found at the Michigan Maritime Museum. It was fun to use some different colors than yellow and black. 

The schooner got the standard US Navy colours that I've established thus far. It has a little bit of stern detailing, that I embellished with a metallic gold paint. 

These are both planned for a Battle of Lake Erie scenario at some future time. 

As for points, they're both quite small, so I'm taking 5 points each for a total of 10 points. 

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I must admit to getting a bit excited each week when I see that Raul has a post ready for Minioning :-)

And this week's entry is no disappointment either! Two more lovely additions to your Fleets and the great lakes are a wonderful place to sail the lighter hulls. I really like the darker stains on the canvas on the Yankee Schooner too - reminds me of the effect sails get when furled not quite dry.

Lovely work as ever on all the details - worth 10 points each at least!

Most importantly though - hearty congratulations on becoming a Father!!! I'm thrilled for you, as I'm sure everyone else here is too. And you thought Wargaming was expensive.... :-)

- Paul

From RaulM: Black Seas USS Constitution (50 Points) (Lust)

She was lusted after by Paul in my last post, and so I have delivered in the first ring of the Abyss. I've painted Old Ironsides, or USS Constitution, a resin and metal model from Warlord Games Black Seas. 

This ship is the reason I got into Black Seas, as upon my visit I was enthralled and needed to get into some kind of naval wargame where I could use this model. I believe it's one of the earlier Black Seas resin models to be made, as some of the details are quite chunky when compared to the latest releases. All the same though, I like the look of this model. 

I kept the metal masts this time around, as they were thick enough to withstand some touching. With all of the rigging and sails in place they're quite solid. The kit came with a stern davit, but it covered all of the beautiful stern detailing, and I couldn't bring myself to the do that to the model. Instead, I stole the quarter-davit boats from the USS United States model, and I think it nails that iconic look of the Humphrey's frigates without obscuring any critical details. 

I do think the bow railing is a tad chunky, but I think that was a limitation of the casting, as otherwise all of this detail would have been too difficult to cast. I think the Black Seas ships are a "heroic" scale for naval miniatures, as details like figureheads and stern galleries are larger than they should be just so that you can actually read what's going on. And I'm totally ok with that and actually prefer it. 

Based on ratings I've done for previous ships, I'll score this at 20 points, as it's larger than a standard frigate, almost about the same size as a 3rd rate. I've claimed the Lust bonus for this one as Paul wanted to see this model before the challenge was up, and I also have really wanted to point this one. That gives me 40 points total for the post. 

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A fabulous beauty she is too Raul, well worth waiting for! As ever, your work on the rigging, sails, pennants and flags is top notch and worth some bonus points too. 

Thanks indeed for prioritising "Old Ironsides" - thats made my week!

- Paul

From RaulM: Black Seas USS Constellation, Sloop-of-War, and Bomb Ketch (80 Points)

Yup, you guessed it. More Black Seas. I've got another 3 ships done. The USS Constellation from 1854, a British ship-rigged sloop-of-war, and finally a a generic bomb ketch. 

The USS Constellation is one of the named ships that comes in the US Navy starter fleet from Warlord Games. The intent was for it to be one of the original six frigates of the US Navy, but the supplied bits were for the later version from 1854. I did a fair amount of conversion work to the stern to integrate that piece, as Warlord does not make a frigate with a rounded stern. 

This Sloop-of-war is an even heavier conversion, albeit a common one in the Black Seas space. I fused two of the smaller brigs together to make this 3-mast ship. I also took a plastic stern plate from the frigate, and molded it to the back. Finally, I raised the stern deck to create a raised quarterdeck. I did all of this conversion work a long time ago, and I finally decided to paint it so that'll be my exit from Limbo and into the larger world of Dante's Inferno. 

Finally, the Bomb Ketch. Nothing special was done to this vessel, other than that I didn't give it a nationality. I only have 3 of these, and instead of limiting each one to a nation, I decided to keep it generic so I can use it with any fleet in any scenario. 

 For the final points tally, I have:

USS Constellation: 15 points

Sloop-of-War: 15 points + Limbo 20 points

Bomb Ketch: 10 points

For a total of 60 points. 

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What a treat you've sailed in again Raul! You are really doing some fantastic work with these Black Sea ships. The rigging, rat lines, sails and pennants really are top notch. Please take a bunch of bonus points for the great eye for detail in your modelling

I'm hoping you do a USS Constitution during the challenge too: I've been aboard 'Old Ironsides' on three occasions including being "rung aboard" formally, and my name is inscribed on the protective copper hull sheeting under the waterline :-)

- Paul

From ScottM: 54mm War of 1812 U.S. Units (220 pts)

Merry Christmas all! My first entry for this years' challenge is a pair of 54mm War of 1812 units. These two units are the last unpainted units for this project. These figs are 54mm metal figs from the sadly now-closed All The King's Men. Both units are done up for the U.S. side. First up is a unit of infantry.

Next is an artillery unit with a small gun.

As this completes my War of 1812 project, I thought I'd post up a group photo of the whole lot. First pic is the U.S. forces and the second is the British/Canadian/First Nation forces.

So that should be:

20 - 54mm foot figs = 200 points

1 - 54mm artillery piece = 20 points

Total = 220 points

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Wow! Here we're treated to a wonderful paint bomb, for sure! You've been a busy lad, Scott!

I love the old school toy-soldier look to these. Our local sculptor/caster JohnB will be quite chuffed to see these. I particularly like the group shot with all the forces arrayed on the tabletop. Fantastic stuff Scott - you streak to the top of the roster with this group, well done!

- Curt