French 80 and British 74 Ships

After the marathon game of Post Captain last January I was reminded that there were more ships to paint.... and now they're finished!

What a story!  what a twist ending!  What an obvious conclusion! 


Or is it....

Paint What You Want Play (Or Alternatively: The Stronger motivation)

In general, the best way to motivate painting is to play games.  I know for myself the more games played means the more painting done.  This is because I'm a 'paint to play' gamer.  I've never bought or painted a figure just cause I thought it was cool and be fun to paint.  Each figure is meant for the game table to be gamed with (no matter how long that may take...sometimes a looong while. lol).



After the Gaming Weekend (as posted in Jan) of AoS and ACW, while motivation was high for those genres some ACW infantry and  ships were placed on the paint table.  Speaking for myself, this is something that often happens, that the selection of hobby projects is influenced by what I played last.  However, sometimes momentum for these projects can sag when the mind starts to look forward to the next game.  I get some cognitive dissonance if I am painting for one genre while planning to play another.  I'm excited for the next thing and want to prepare for that.  I also think that this happens to a lot of wargamers, which is why so many miniature projects get half started or languish in varies stages of completion.  Wargamers get distracted by the next thing on the horizon and don't finish what they start.  because we are bad people.  No, it's that:


We are more motivated to paint for future games than from past ones.
 
Just something that I noticed.

So it took a little self discipline to finish these ships as I was thinking about other things, mainly Lord of the Rings, but more on that in a future post.  Try not to hold your breath in anticipation.  But I am glad that I stuck to it because now the fleet has grown by 2 more ships.  And I have that sense of completion of a project finished.  Cue the contented sigh.


Plus, I really like the way they came out. 

French 80 gun SOL

First up, I present to you a French 80 gun Ship of the Line.  I've been needing one these for awhile. 
This ship would represent the Bucentaure, which was the same design as the French Formidable, which is the French Admiral's Flagship in the Battle of Cape Ortegal Scenario.
The future scenario can be seen in a past blog post HERE.  (how was that for a mind bender?)

A very proud pennant in this pic! 

I think the more correct paint scheme for the Bucentaure would be just plain yellow sides, but honestly there is just so little info on how the ships were actually painted. It just doesn't seem to be a thing that mattered much.  I can kinda understand, as it's not like a ships color mattered in her identification.  And as I tend to use the ships interchangeably (unless it's a specific model of a famous ship), I tend to just go for nice looking paint schemes. 

it's required that at least one photo has my fingers in it, just to show the scale. 

The Stern came out looking pretty.

For this ship I added some Red on the gunwale and upper deck. 

British 74 gun SOL

Adding to the numbers of the British, here is another 74 gun 3rd rate.  The backbone and work horse of any Napoleonic Age of Sail fleet. 

A blue strip on this one, just because it looks sexy.

This ship was not made to model any ship in particular, just a generic 74.

Rigging everywhere! 

Now sail off to the world at large!  Or at least into the storage bin.


Last year's goal for AoS was to have 8 ships, and now that goal is reached albeit 3 months late.  There will certainly be more ships in the future.  For now, 4 ships a side is a good amount for a 4 player game using Post Captain (2 ships each).  Goal achieved!

I award myself the "yay me" for achieving the goal
and for my self discipline.

Aftermath and Future Seeing.

Unlike my usual habit of being focuses on a few projects, lately I've been doing a little bit on several fronts at once.  This has left me feeling a little scattered and disorganized, and the current state of the hobby desk reflects this...

What a mess! 

Time to organize!  Recent purchases have to found a home, paints put in the rack, game supplies back on the shelves, vacuum the floor to get all the little bits and pieces that have fallen like snowflakes before Son #2 (now almost a year old) finds them and puts them in his mouth.  Maybe a little soap and water to combat the smell. 

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this blog.  Be back soon.