[CH2-B] Protecting Eslandola

[Franco Clarke]

Ship's log, Day 7

Whilst sailing in convoy with a couple of our merchant ships across the middle of the sea of storms, a pair of sails were spotted. As we drew closer, it became clear that the larger one was chasing the smaller one, and the sound of cannon fire served to back up this theory. Observing the ships, the larger was most certainly a pirate vessel, with a large black flag fluttering at the stern, and the crew appeared not to have noticed our arrival, since they were intent on catching the smaller vessel. Due to the smaller ship's green paintwork I reasoned that it was most likely an Eslandolan ship, and despite its success in evading the pirate vessel's fire, I feared that it was only going to be a matter of time before they were hit.

Since we are at peace, I decided to intervene and help the merchant ship. We altered course to intercept to two ships, signalling that the ships were escorting to follow about half a kilometre behind. As we drew close to the two ships, the larger pirate vessel pulled alongside the Eslandolan boat, and its crew prepared to board. Deciding that we couldn't afford to hold fire any longer and noticing that one of the crew appeared to have noticed our arrival we fired a shot, aiming for the raised rear deck of the pirate ship.

The shot fell short and luckily smashed their cannon. The pirates, surprised by the arrival of another ship began to panic, breaking off their attack on the merchantman and gunning for us. We continued to fire, putting shots through the hull just behind the centreline, and filling their sails with holes. The return fire was poorly aimed, and, since their cannon had been destroyed, lacked the weight to do any serious damage, apart from Private Collins, who received a splinter wound. Once our merchant ships came close enough to be spotted by the pirates, the large pirate ship, turned about and broke off from the engagement, obviously assuming the merchant ships were more warships entering the battle.

We came alongside the Eslandolan Merchantman to help repair the damage which they had sustained to enable them to complete their journey. As thanks for driving off the pirates, the Eslandolan captain gave us a barrel of rum which was much appreciated by the crew! We parted ways after that and completed the remainder of the voyage uneventfully.

The pirate ship comes alongside the Eslandolan Merchant ship.

The Pirates prepare to board the merchant vessel.

One of the pirates notices another ship has joined the battle.

Fire!

Edited January 19, 2016 by Franco Clarke

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Two small, but fine boats.

I like it.

[Tomsche]

Those are some fine small ships, very suitable to start the voyage on the brick seas

I kinda like the `chibi` look, wether intentional or not, of the Bluecoat vessel

[Captain Green Hair]

Those are fine ships to start with!

I don't get why you didn't get lanterns to fit on the back of your pirate ship? The old style ones made of palm tree top parts are quite small.

[Captain Dee]

Nice ships - and good idea to go small for a start. I can certainly see the connection to the ITP trading ship in the design of the two smaller ones. I like the story too, but a single barrel of rum seems like a paltry reward!

This Private Collins must be what you call "accident prone" or else he must just make an attractive target. First he takes an arrow to the elbow, now this... will he be one of those characters who gets shot/stabbed/maimed/etc in every episode of the story?

Good work and keep it up.

[TitusV]

Neat ships, you gave me some ideas (and I've never build a ship before, so that's a compliment ) great job protecting our mighty ships!

Don't forget to link IT to the challenge 2 thread!

Edited January 17, 2016 by TitusV

[Sir Stig]

Oh, this is fantastic! Struggling a bit with making my first boats, this helps a lot. These are perfect excamples of boats made by relatively basic bricks, likes of those readily available in most lego collections.

They have a great nostalgic aesthetic look :)

Edited January 17, 2016 by Sir Stig

[Tezclatipoca]

Nice little ships !

I like the way you made them based on official sets !

Oh ! And thank you to protect Eslandolan ships !

But, Erh... I think you didn't not recognise the beverage they gave to you... It could be cider instead of rum...

And poor Kenny...erh sorry... Private Collins, once again he got hurt ! Will he finish all the challenges without dying... I want to see that !

[Sir Stig]

It could have been calvados they got. ;)

[Gideon]

Nice ships, great with inspiration to not start out the shipbuilding here too big

I like the first closeup shot of the action quite a lot, but maybe a suggestion for presentation would be to put a blue cloth or a bunch of trans-blue round plates as water on the table?

[Sir Stig]

Would these fit into the class 2 vessels?

Like the green a cog, the blue a sloop, and the pirateship an armed sloop?

Or the green a cog, the blue a cutter, and the pirateship a sloop/armed sloop?

Edited January 17, 2016 by Sir Stig

[Bregir]

Nice vessels, Mr. Clarke!

I really like how you tell your story with a series of pictures showing the action going on!

Your ships all have some nice details, for instance the brick built cannon on your ship, or the ladders to the quarter deck of the pirate ships. Your posing and choice of figs is nice too.

I agree with Gideon that something to represent the water would improve the presentation a bit.

And it is really nice to see more of these smaller ships!

A note, though. There is a 6 picture limit for challenge 2 B. Maybe put them under a spoiler tag, or take the extra pictures of the ships out, and post them in a reply to this thread instead, so your entry will be accepted for the challenge!

Would these fit into the class 2 vessels?

Like the green a cog, the blue a sloop, and the pirateship an armed sloop?

Or the green a cog, the blue a cutter, and the pirateship a sloop/armed sloop?

Comparing these vessels to those already registered (see the index for an overview), I would say that the green one is a class 1 of some sort, and the pirate ship could be a class 2. (Probably not A, as it only has one gun, but maybe WR?) The blue one could probably be both 1 or 2. But of course, there is a pretty flexible creative license to the rating system..

So far, we have more or less established that the small prefab hulls (like the pirateship here) are class 2 (or 3 if they are long/large), while anything below that can be 1 or 2 depending on size and temperament of the builder. Class 0 is a simple rowboat/dingy/canoe, or a very small sailboat, so it does not take much to become class 1.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Bregir

[Maxim I]

Nice vessels, Mr. Clarke!

I really like how you tell your story with a series of pictures showing the action going on!

Your ships all have some nice details, for instance the brick built cannon on your ship, or the ladders to the quarter deck of the pirate ships. Your posing and choice of figs is nice too.

I agree with Gideon that something to represent the water would improve the presentation a bit.

And it is really nice to see more of these smaller ships!

A note, though. There is a 6 picture limit for challenge 2 B. Maybe put them under a spoiler tag, or take the extra pictures of the ships out, and post them in a reply to this thread instead, so your entry will be accepted for the challenge!

Comparing these vessels to those already registered (see the index for an overview), I would say that the green one is a class 1 of some sort, and the pirate ship could be a class 2. (Probably not A, as it only has one gun, but maybe WR?) The blue one could probably be both 1 or 2. But of course, there is a pretty flexible creative license to the rating system..

So far, we have more or less established that the small prefab hulls (like the pirateship here) are class 2 (or 3 if they are long/large), while anything below that can be 1 or 2 depending on size and temperament of the builder. Class 0 is a simple rowboat/dingy/canoe, or a very small sailboat, so it does not take much to become class 1.

I indexed all 3 ships:

The Rana & The Haring as Class 1 WR (small sloops)

The Dark Wolf as Class 2 WR (it fitted most as sloop)

To Franco Clarke: the Haring, will that be your licenced ship? And if yes, what will be the name of the captain?

Also, if interested, you can put the Eslandolan & Pirate ship on sale, so a BOBS-member who doesn't like building ships can buy it and licence it :)

[Garmadon]

Very nice ships Franko Clarke, the pirate probably being my favorite - though the Eslandolan one clearly has the coolest color-scheme!

[Sir Stig]

I indexed all 3 ships:

The Rana & The Haring as Class 1 WR (small sloops)

The Dark Wolf as Class 2 WR (it fitted most as sloop)

...

Also, if interested, you can put the Eslandolan & Pirate ship on sale, so a BOBS-member who doesn't like building ships can buy it and licence it :)

Perhaps using the statistic in the ship list to decide rather than the example boats style is a better way to classify ships. Combined with looking at their design and how it fit with the story. In that case I would say the green one is a class 1T. The blue a 1F, since it easily caught up with the ships in the story. The index is very nice to have, but I feel some of the ships are a bit large for their class. So the creative leeway is good to have.

I must admit that I have been a little stuck on my first four ship ever WIP, because they turned out another class than what I want as my first ship according to the examples. But if I look at statistics and what they are designed for to decide class, I can get them done mostly as they are. Selling ship designs is a great idea. Then people with small lego collections can participate with ships, even if they may have the bricks, desire or knowledge to build their own yet.

[Bregir]

Perhaps using the statistic in the ship list to decide rather than the example boats style is a better way to classify ships. Combined with looking at their design and how it fit with the story. In that case I would say the green one is a class 1T. The blue a 1F, since it easily caught up with the ships in the story. The index is very nice to have, but I feel some of the ships are a bit large for their class. So the creative leeway is good to have.

I must admit that I have been a little stuck on my first four ship ever WIP, because they turned out another class than what I want as my first ship according to the examples. But if I look at statistics and what they are designed for to decide class, I can get them done mostly as they are. Selling ship designs is a great idea. Then people with small lego collections can participate with ships, even if they may have the bricks, desire or knowledge to build their own yet.

I completely agree with you, Sir Stig. The last column in the ship chart gives examples of what could be in that class, but really, most types could fit in several classes. The designation "Sloop" for instance is in itself a ambiguous term, as it can both refer to a class of vessel (something below the rating system, e.i. smaller than a frigate) or to the construction and rigging (e.i. fore and aft rig with the mast further forward and fewer jibs than a cutter). Thus, even a very small boat can be a sloop (class 0, basicly), as can something just short of a frigate (which would probably be class 6 or more!).

If we limit ourselves to "sloop" as a designation for a type of rigging, it can be anything from a class 1 to a class 3 or perhaps even 4 (for the very largest one masted vessels).

Therefore, a ships class should be decided based on its size and its statistics, not on the type of vessel.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Bregir

[Maxim I]

I completely agree with you, Sir Stig. The last column in the ship chart gives examples of what could be in that class, but really, most types could fit in several classes. The designation "Sloop" for instance is in itself a ambiguous term, as it can both refer to a class of vessel (something below the rating system, e.i. smaller than a frigate) or to the construction and rigging (e.i. fore and aft rig with the mast further forward and fewer jibs than a cutter). Thus, even a very small boat can be a sloop (class 0, basicly), as can something just short of a frigate (which would probably be class 6 or more!).

If we limit ourselves to "sloop" as a designation for a type of rigging, it can be anything from a class 1 to a class 3 or perhaps even 4 (for the very largest one masted vessels).

Therefore, a ships class should be decided based on its size and its statistics, not on the type of vessel.

I do agree it is simetimes hard to tell the difference. That's why I index the ships based on how they are licenced. The unlicenced ships are ofcourse harder to place in a category as I have to choose between kinda similar vessels. If Franci says he based the ships on the Imperial Trading posts, I categorize them as small sloops.

I agree with the original thought that a small sloop is more a well-rounded vessel then a small cog, which has clearly more space for tradewares. So that's why I follow the original classification.

I also look like how the lego ship is build and what the intention of the builder is. Does it has the intention to be a small sloop, I am pretty sure :)

Don't forget it is always possible to licence a ship in a lower class! My Knight of Stedor has 6 guns as it is based on existing examples in real life. So maybe a class 2 F is indeed too low for its stats and hull length and in the future I'll be able to purchase the upgrade to a Class 3 licence :)

[Franco Clarke]

a suggestion for presentation would be to put a blue cloth or a bunch of trans-blue round plates as water on the table?

That's a good idea, and I shall try and get some when I next compile a bricklink order!

I don't get why you didn't get lanterns to fit on the back of your pirate ship?

The problem was I wanted them to stick out sideways from the back like on the old Imperial Flagship, but they couldn't fit with the curved part

This Private Collins must be what you call "accident prone"

Indeed, his bad luck can't last forever.... can it?

A note, though. There is a 6 picture limit for challenge 2 B. Maybe put them under a spoiler tag, or take the extra pictures of the ships out, and post them in a reply to this thread instead, so your entry will be accepted for the challenge!

Oh sorry, I will rectify this at once!

I indexed all 3 ships:

The Rana & The Haring as Class 1 WR (small sloops)

The Dark Wolf as Class 2 WR (it fitted most as sloop)

To Franco Clarke: the Haring, will that be your licenced ship? And if yes, what will be the name of the captain?

Also, if interested, you can put the Eslandolan & Pirate ship on sale, so a BOBS-member who doesn't like building ships can buy it and licence it :)

Thanks for registering them for me, and yes the Hareng will be my licenced ship, but I understand I have to 'buy' it before I can licence it? If so I don't think I have any money...

As for selling other ships, I have plans for the other two in regards to stories, but some of the other ones which are under construction could be sold, or perhaps leased to other members.

Here is a more detailed look at the ships from the story.

The Rana

This model was based on the Imperial Trading post ship, one of my favourite of Lego's ships. It is a pretty basic design, in the style of a classic pirate set rather than a real historical ship.

The cargo deck with the cargo, mostly palm wood for the shipyards. The rear deck lifts up to reveal more stowage space.

The Hareng

Like the Rana, this boat was also based on the Imperial trading post ship. I added a cannon to give this one some teeth, although it lacks the 'cabin' at the back. I'm not entirely pleased with this one, especially the colours around the prow, but it'll do for as a basic ship.

The Dark Wolf

Finally the oppressor, the (comparatively) large pirate ship. Built on a set of renegades runner hulls, it is probably a slightly more original design. The stern was inspired by the old Flagship, although it was too small to fit lanterns back there.

A small hold/ access hatch at the front.

[Maxim I]

You dimon't have to buy ships you made yourself :D you can licence them directly :) you do have to buy a licence, but as the Herring is your first licenced ship, that licence is free :)

If someone sells their ship, you can buy (for ingame db) it from that person (for example because you don't have the time/bricks)

[SilentWolf]

I love the brick built ships. Great usage for the story line and the challenge. The second photo is one of my favorites as I stare straight down the barrel of the cannon firing at the green vessel.