Minis & Modeling Monday - Ships for Minis

Over on 9gag.com, "A guy made a Dungeons & Dragons pirate ship" here.

Also, on imgur.com, check out what happens "When [an] experienced prop maker becomes a Dungeon Master" here.

Finally, on the EonsOfBattle YouTube channel, this video doesn't show making full ships but rather "How to Create a Pirate Ship Base."  Enjoy!

Minis & Modeling Monday on MFWARS.com 

A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Naval Wargaming

If you're going to approach naval wargaming intent on adding it to your hobby gaming, do check out an article on beastsofwar.com titled "Naval Wargaming – An Introduction To Battles At Sea & Beyond" here.  You might also look over "Top rated naval wargames on BGG (Board Game Geek)" here.

Also, on usnwc.edu, the "Naval War College reenacts Jutland wargame" here.

Finally, on fencingfrog.blogspot.com, Adam has used the General Quarters rules to run the "Battle of the Dragon Islands" here.

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Minis & Modeling Monday - Boats for D&D

Over on theDMsCraft YouTube channel, DM Scotty gave us a video on "Easy to craft boat for D&D or Pathfinder (the DM's Craft, Ep 4, p1)."  Enjoy!

Also, on DnD5eTV YouTube channel, we're shown a "Polystyrene Foam Ship Build."  Cool!

Finally, on Black Magic Craft YouTube channel, a recent video shows a "Longboat (Ship) For D&D Tutorial (Episode 08)."  Nifty!

Minis & Modeling Monday on MFWARS.com 

A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop.

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Tabletopper Friday - Merchants & Marauders (2010)

After finally learning the game of Merchants & Marauders (2010) following nearly a year of trying to find the time and folks to play, I got a second chance soon after.  Both players were new.  They play together with me regularly and even play games like Firefly: The Game (2013) where we essentially play a similar game by somewhat different rules.  I'm still loving the map-board and components of this game.

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

Merchants & Marauders lets you live the life of an influential merchant or a dreaded pirate in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Seek your fortune through trade, rumor hunting, missions, and of course, plundering. Modify your ship, buy impressive vessels, load deadly special ammunition, and hire specialist crew members. Will your captain gain eternal glory and immense wealth - or find his wet grave under the stormy surface of the Caribbean Sea?

In Merchants and Marauders, players take on the role of a captain of a small vessel in the Caribbean. The goal is to be the first to achieve 10 "glory" points through performing daring deeds (through the completion of missions or rumors), crushing your enemies (through defeating opponents and NPCs in combat), amassing gold, performing an epic plunder or pulling off the trade of a lifetime, and buying a grand ship. While some points earned from performing various tasks are permanent, players earn points for amassing gold, which can be stolen or lost (or at least diminished) if their captain is killed. Points due to gold are hidden so there's some uncertainty about when the game will end.

A big component of the game is whether (or when) to turn "pirate" or remain as a trader or neutral party. Both careers are fraught with danger: pirates are hunted by NPCs (and other players) for their bounty and blocked to certain ports while traders are hunted by non-player pirates as well as their opponents and generally have to sacrifice combat capability for cargo capacity. Although players can kill each other, there is no player elimination as players may draw a new captain (with a penalty) so it's possible to come back from defeat.

Once again, I avoided piracy and acted the full game as merchantly as one can.  Despite my country of origin being at war from nearly the beginning of the game and through most of it, I managed to find plenty of ways to load up my ship and trade in three in-demand trade items almost every time.  I think this game needs to stress that allowing folks to simply merchant their way to victory is something to avoid.  It becomes a race without a lot of tension once you're about two-thirds of the way along.  Next time, I will pirate like it's 1699 and we'll see what that does for me.

Tabletopper Friday on MFWARS.com 

Mostly about card games and board games,
unless they have a decidedly wargamey feel.

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Systems Saturday - Merchants & Marauders (2010)

For quite some time, I've been trying to get a game of Merchants & Marauders (2010) going.  I've got a copy of the game and have explored the rules to some degree but hadn't been able to gather the players until recently.  It's a good looking game with a lot of nice components and a fine map.

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

Merchants & Marauders lets you live the life of an influential merchant or a dreaded pirate in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Seek your fortune through trade, rumor hunting, missions, and of course, plundering. Modify your ship, buy impressive vessels, load deadly special ammunition, and hire specialist crew members. Will your captain gain eternal glory and immense wealth - or find his wet grave under the stormy surface of the Caribbean Sea?

In Merchants and Marauders, players take on the role of a captain of a small vessel in the Caribbean. The goal is to be the first to achieve 10 "glory" points through performing daring deeds (through the completion of missions or rumors), crushing your enemies (through defeating opponents and NPCs in combat), amassing gold, performing an epic plunder or pulling off the trade of a lifetime, and buying a grand ship. While some points earned from performing various tasks are permanent, players earn points for amassing gold, which can be stolen or lost (or at least diminished) if their captain is killed. Points due to gold are hidden so there's some uncertainty about when the game will end.

A big component of the game is whether (or when) to turn "pirate" or remain as a trader or neutral party. Both careers are fraught with danger: pirates are hunted by NPCs (and other players) for their bounty and blocked to certain ports while traders are hunted by non-player pirates as well as their opponents and generally have to sacrifice combat capability for cargo capacity. Although players can kill each other, there is no player elimination as players may draw a new captain (with a penalty) so it's possible to come back from defeat.

One of the things that appealed to me initially about this game was knowing that there were any number of paths to victory.  While it is all about the VP (Glory Points), there are different ways to get them on both sides of the ampersand.  To feel the game out, I took this first time playing to avoid marauding and stick with being a regular merchant.  I did get involved in one big battle with an NPC but it was a pirate frigate and I was spoiling for trouble by steering near to it.  It's well worth keeping an eye on where one can upgrade and repair your ship cheaply or for free.  I don't think it is worth wasting too many actions buying and selling in ones and twos.  Selling three of a kind where they are in demand is so much more lucrative and good for the glory points that holding out until that is possible is worth the wait, or worth setting up to make it happen.  After I get another try at this game, I'll post some more about it with some new insights but that's really all I have so far.

Systems Saturday on MFWARS.com 

A look under the hood of various Games, Rules and Systems.

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Minis & Modeling Monday - Dry Mud, Miniature Rope, & Foam Ship Build

Over on the SolventAbuseUk YouTube channel, they show us "How To do Dry Mud on vehicles."  Nifty!

Also, on the Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic YouTube channel, he got a method for "How to Make Miniature Rope, Cable & Chain."  Watch and learn!

Finally, on the DnD5eTV YouTube channel, check out the "Polystyrene Foam Ship Build."  Enjoy!

Minis & Modeling Monday on MFWARS.com 

A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop.

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Systems Saturday - RPG Naval Combat, Sensory Heirarchy, & Old School Mechanics

Over on tribality.com, they take a stab at "Naval Combat Rules for D&D 5th Edition (Part 1)" here.

Also, on campaignmastery.com, they suggest you make sure you are "Taking advantage of the sensory heirarchy" here.

Finally, on Gaius Ludus, they venture a "Deep Analysis: Rpg mechanics model and the Old School effective range."  Check that out here.

Systems Saturday on MFWARS.com 

A look under the hood of various Games, Rules and Systems.

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Minis & Modeling Monday - Barns, Eyes, & Fleet in a Box

First up this week, UNIgames gives us Small Quick Foamcore Barns here.

Also, Arcane Paint Works tells us of "Six Easy Steps for Eyes" here.

Finally, visit Amber's Secret Cove on Etsy for a Fleet in a Box here.

Minis & Modeling Monday on MFWARS.com 

A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop..

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Minis & Modeling Monday - Andrew Taylor Painting, Paper Ships, & Reaper Bones Kobolds

There's a website worth bookmarking with fantastic photos called "Andrew Taylor Painting" that you can check out here.

Also, over on Facebook, take a look at the paper ships being constructed by Francis Lee here.

Finally, Engineer Jeff gives us some tips on "How to Paint Reaper Bones Kobolds."  Enjoy.

Minis & Modeling Monday on MFWARS.com 

A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop..

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Minis & Modeling Monday - Bits Boxes, Bases and Banners, & Battling Boats

James Wappel, on his Wappellious blog, recently reminded us to "Always eat your leftovers" as he showed us a way to make something from the bits box here.

Also, on the Fencing Frog blog, they treated us to a photo array of "Dark Age Bases and Banner."  See more here.

Finally, on the Monsieur le Rosbif & Johnny Frog blog, there are a boatload of photos from a recent wargaming naval battle from last month's "Against all Flags! - Pirates in September 2014 Event."  See more here.

Minis & Modeling Monday on MFWARS.com 

A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop..

Please Like, Share, Plus, Tweet, Follow, and Comment!

Wargaming Wednesday - Water Table at Nexus Game Fair

One of the highlights at the Nexus Game Fair was a wargaming water table.  This setup held actual water for naval wargaming battles.  Glenn Domingo who ran the event with his self-published rules, OTTOMH: Ancient Galley-Warfare, has set up his water table at a number of conventions and I don't doubt it will become a staple at many of them.  It was about an inch deep and a thick plastic sheet was held in place by large clamps and vices.  I helped break it down when they were done for the day and the construction was fairly straightforward.  My apologies for not getting more photos and the slight fuzziness of the ones I have.

The ships were held in place, as I recall, by two pics which pointed downward.  A base sat on the bottom of the water which had a magnet in it, attracting the ship and keeping them from floating away but allowing them to bob with the undulations of the water.  A nifty system.

I've seen a lot of wargaming setups, even many sand tables, but this was the first water table I had seen and I hope to get in a game on one someday.

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Sails of Glory Kickstarter Update

In case you missed the news, there has been a recent update regarding the shipping for the Sails of Glory Kickstarter.  See more here!

Dastardly Designed Water Effect

Rob Adams, of Dastardly Designed Games, has uploaded a new video to his YouTube channel showing how he set up a water effect for his tabletop game with a projector and an animated GIF.  Enjoy!

Queen Anne's Revenge in 1:48 Scale

My buddy David pointed me toward a fantastic sire with excellent pictures of a model of Queen Anne's Revenge in 1:48 scale.  See more here!

Roman Ship and Building Models from Hotz Artworks

Check out the Roman Ship and Building Models from Hotz Artworks.  They are part of their Roman Seas line and you can see more here!

TerranScapes Shore Boards

Over on the TerranScapes YouTube channel is a new video showing off the shore boards project with some good tips on pouring as well as some ideas to incorporate in future projects. Enjoy!

Pirate Ship Terrain with Dungeon Master Mark

Over on Dungeon Master Mark's YouTube channel is a cool conversion of a pirate ship "puzzle" to make a nifty bit of terrain.  Enjoy!

Ship Shape

While the "Play It Again, Sam" blog is not in English, it has a graphic showing a ship with all of the features labelled and lots of other great pictures of miniatures including some ships. Read and see more here!

Matchstick Fleet

You'll marvel at this Matchstick Fleet that has been painstakingly constructed over sixty years detailing ships of the British fleet from 1948 onward.  Amazing!

Terrainaholic "1:50 Scale Dwarf Ship Review"

Terrainaholic has added a new video detailing the 1:50 Scale Revell Viking Ship model which he is using to make a Dwarf warship.  Enjoy!