Can you ever have too much of a good thing? Well maybe. There was a craze went around the 'modelling' web a year of two ago for building space ships from clothes pegs... it eventually went quiet, but not before folk had demonstrated some wonderful creativity.
Having created three 'naval' elements for my HotT armies, I had the bug, but realised this was not something that could go on forever. However I wanted to create just one more.. a matter of indulging the creativity, and the old fashioned model building, rather than any necessary desire to create elements for the games, simply because I had enjoyed the process and the challenges so much. After all we have not yet trialled the 'naval' rules, so have no guarantee that this will actually work.
That said, as friend Jon and I have discussed, this is a hobby of multiple dimensions, one is the gaming, and another is the modelling. So .. given that in our 'mind's eyes' these naval elements are likened to airboats, it did seem reasonable that one of the elements should be some sort of 'VSF aircraft carrier'. Aren't airboats about projecting airpower? This is it.
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| The core of the ship based on a couple of shapes carved from core board. |
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| The core is 'clad' in light card. I wanted some sort of pseudo- carrier/dreadnought (a bit of a cliche, I guess), so it needed gun turrets down each side |
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| A flight deck is added |
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| A bit of a superstructure, and three funnels |
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| Based, and the water texturing added to the base |
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| Basic painting, some flight deck markings, and a base deep green applied to the 'water' |
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| Lighter blue water and white foam added around the ship |
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| I wanted some sort of 'flyer' on the flight deck, and it took four failed attempts before this came out .. a sort of gyrocopter.. far from perfect, but at arms length it looks okay, just don't peer too closely |
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| The finished product |
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| The final products, from left to right an orc ship, two VSF ships, and a VSF submarine |
This has been one of those projects that hasn't necessarily been 'gaming focussed, but a lot of fun. The project engaged some good old fashioned imagination, and model making skills, using spares, scraps, and recycled materials.. the sort of thing I love most. I am pleased with the final products, and am looking forward to seeing some of these on the table. Now I just hope we can generate some 'naval' rules that work. Watch this space.
