[COR - FB] HMS Green Dragon

[Tomsche]

Upon this glorious day of her Majesty the Queen, the HMS Green Dragon has sailed out of port in Arlinsport, and has taken to the wide oceans in search of new lands and civilisations.

The small but agile cutter, commandeered by Sir Thomas Smaugton, will travel first to pick up some researchers, before heading out and following a lead to some mysterious island, of which nothing more can be said for now, but expecting arrival at destination within two days.

The Green Dragon was selected for this as it sacrifices armament, consisting of two single swivel guns and a minimal Marine detachment, and cargo capacity.

This makes it highly suitable for transportation of highly ranked persons of intrest, as they are mostly outfitted to outrun rather then engage opposing ships of malicious intent.

[Maxim I]

Nice first ship :D

For future ships:

I would say make the transition between upperdeck and the rest of the ship smoother (only exception are cogs )

[TitusV]

Nice ship! I'd like to say something else, but I don't know anything about ships..

[Gideon]

Nice use of that Chima head

[Tomsche]

Twas the closest thing I had to a green draconicish head, unless I bolted on the old green dragon in it`s entirety.

Probably save that one up for the day i build a really big boat hehe

[Captain Dee]

This works well enough for a first ship. I think the basics are in place for what I liken to a pre-Age of Exploration vessel - small, single mast, single big sail. The figurehead is unique, and I like the fact that you tried to match it with the flag, but I think it would look better mounted low, just above the tip of the prow - like this it reminds me of Blackbeard's severed head. As already mentioned, the aftcastle is a bit abrupt, but for me the bigger issue is the color. I firmly believe it would look better if it matched the rest of the color scheme somehow, or if that color was used elsewhere on the ship. As shown it really stands out, and not really in a good way. You've done well to use the faction colors, and the overall form is pretty good for the narrow-hull prefabs. My mental ship index isn't working at the moment - did that hull come with the old Time Cruisers set? Anyway, this is a good start. Here's to a successful voyage!

[Tomsche]

Thanks for the comments Cap.

I opted for the tan hindcastle based on the old "vatican carracks" from the 1600s rennaisance, who usually had the hindsections painted up in a contrasting colours.

Set wise, the hull is from the 1993 set 6268 Renegade Runner

Edited January 8, 2016 by Tomsche

[Captain Dee]

Aha... so you had a reason for the different color on the stern. Good idea then. And I stand corrected on the hull. For some reason the Renegade Runner left very little impression on me; I'm more familiar with the tiny Cross Bone Clipper even though I believe the RR is the better of the two.

[Bregir]

Nice little ship, Tomsche!

A few suggestions: (I live in the illusion that I know a little bit about ships, so please indulge me... )

I would probably have lowered the figurehead (nice use of that chima head, btw) and included a proper bowsprit over it. That way, rigging could be made (or reasonably imagined) to support that mast, and allow for one or more jibs to be set for tacking against the wind.

Further, I would suggest adding a deck to the vessel to make it overall more level, instead of the steep rise and fall of its current deck. Maybe to the top of the lowest part of the prefab hulls. It would also give the impression of more cargo space (even if just for provisions and such, if it is not meant as a trading ship).

You would still have the elevated feel of the aftcastle to capture the overall look of the carracks, I think.

I think your thoughts on armament are great - these tier one (and to some degree tier two) seems to me not to be large ships with broadsides, but instead smaller vessels for trade, skirmishes, adventure and exploration.

I think it is a nice first ship, and will be looking forward to what adventures it will venture out on!

[Tomsche]

That`s a bit of the `problem` in sailing ship games (wargames and such), the Age of Discovery / sail had such big technical evolutions in a short 200 years.

At the battle of Lepanto, we had the galleys with oars and supporting masts (which is roughly the era the italian carracks hauled from as well), where the smaller ships usually had the one or two sails, but no `triangle front sails` as they where used primarily on the mediterrean, which is a relatively calm sea.

Hop 150 years forward to the War of 1812, and you had the majestic Ships of the Line like `Old Ironsides`, the USS Constitution, with the intricate rigging and massive masts and sails.

And somewhere in between, you had the Age of Piracy in the early 1600s (Pirates of the Carribean, Black Sails, etc etc), in which a bit of both was present, so I tried to make the HMS Green Dragon a bit of an `in between` from the oars to pure sail vessels.

[kabel]

a Bermuda sloop (something I'm building right now) might be the way to go though: