"GHQ L' Ocean 120 Gun Ship of the Line " Topic

It's been a while since I've had any time for the hobby. But now it's winter and I have been able to finish GHQ's L' Ocean 120 gun ship I started last summer. She started out as Etats de Bourgogne and was renamed many times: becoming Côte d'Or in January 1793, Montagne in October 1793, Peuple on 17 May 1795, and a matter of weeks later again renamed, to Océan. She served until 1855.

The historical color scheme I found for the ship as Ocean was as follows:
Black hull, yellow stripes, red ports when open, inside bulwarks red.

More at volsminiatures.blogspot.com

Very cool Vol, awesome work! It looks like you've done a lot of work on that bowsprit. Is it entirely scratch built? You must have made the spritsail yourself, no? I also really like the look of the wake on the base. Very attractive.

The constant renaming of the ship is crazy, I'd never heard that! I wonder what was the motivation for all of that.

What is the design in the middle of the smaller flag on the driver sail?

- James

Very nice work! I really like your ocean base as well- gives the feeling that the ship is moving.

James,
Thanks buddy, I appreciate the comments. Still no where near as clean as yours though, in my opinion. Yes the bow sprit, boom, and striker are scratch built as well as the mainmast. The spritsail is from another GHQ model foretopgallant. The design on the lower flag is five stars for "Fleet Admiral".

Revolutionary France did a lot of ship renaming, at just about any whim that struck the political authority. The names stabilized somewhat after Napoleon took power. In striking contrast the Brittish almost never renamed a ship, usually keeping the French and Spanish names of the ships they captured.

Combat Colours,
Thank you for the kind comment on the base.

thats a good work! this is mine… link

That is very cool.

Nice job Vol! Thanks for sharing your photos with everyone.

Thank you Firemonkeyboy and GHQ.

As always Vol lovely ships, You must find someone outside your family to wargame with your fleets. I have 2 or 3 friends who are happy to play 4-5 games a year only. So its bad enough for me, you must be cimbing up the wall.
Rory

Rory,
Yeah, I can't play so I just keep building.

Excellent!

@Volunteer: She's a beauty!

I don't suppose you'd be willing to do commission work, would you?

Lion in the Stars,

What did you have in mind?

hi Vol,
Just been looking at your pics again! I so love your ships. But can ask! "the Mizzen mast looks short to me" Is this just me? or am I just being an "Anorak" or is it just so?
Be safe,
Rory

@Volunteer: I was wanting to start out slow, with a couple ships for duels in the War of 1812. Constitution versus Guerriere; and Chesapeake versus Shannon.

Eventually I'd like to have President versus Endymion, Pomone and Tenedos; with President flying all the sail she could carry.

Rory,
No you are correct. That is the way it came from GHQ. I guess I could have added a section, but I just didn't think about it.

Lion in the Stars,
I wanted to do the Chessapeake & Shannon also. GHQ makes a Shannon but no one I know makes a Chessapeake. So do you not have time to build and paint your own ships? It rally isn't that difficult and it is quite enjoyable. And there are folks on this board that are miles above my skill level, like whitejamest, his ships make mine look like wrecks.

Hi Vol,
Do not add a thing to it, Just call it battle or storm damage.
Be safe,
Rory

I just have too many projects on the burner, but I want to push some ships around. I've got 15mm scifi, moderns, WW2, Quar, Northwest Frontier, and a ginormous pile of Samurai.

Plus Infinity and Trollbloods, and all the terrain that implies.

Too many shinies, not enough time to work with them all.

Lion in the Stars,

Where are you located, US or UK? In the UK you have all sorts of ship resources: Rod Langton, NavWar, Ares. Ares is going to be issuing their new game Sails of Glory this coming July which will include a variety of prepainted ships, so if you can wait that long you won't have to assemble or paint anything. If you are in the states, then Rob Eubanks at Waterloo Miniatures is your man for Langton ships, and there is GHQ's Napoleonic 1:1200 line.

I'm stateside.

If Ares ever actually launches their Age of Sail game, I might jump in. I'm very tempted by the Langton models, I need to check the exchange rate again. At $1.50 USD per GBP, the Langton ships are actually cheaper than GHQ, and I really prefer the look of the etched-brass sails.

With only 2-4 ships at a time, I could definitely get them assembled, but the rigging frankly terrifies me.

Lion,
Get your Langtons here in the states from Waterloo Minis like I said. Rob is the absolute best to deal with. Rigging isn't so hard. Just do the standing rigging and skip the running rigging. They will look fine. The standing rigging will make the vessel sturdier for gaming. You really don't need the rest for that.

Hi Lion,
Vol is so right. it is not the same as doing a unit of soldiers or a tank (I have done both). It more like doing the bases. Langton's book on painting and rigging is a big help. It's the book I use the most. You go as far as you wish too. I would start with 1st to 3rd rate ships as they are bigger. Just take your time and drill your holes before you paint and open them with a pin as you paint . Good luck.
Be safe,
Rory

Rory,

So glad to see you over at SOG-A. The rest of the crew want to talk to you about your harbor and town.

Vol,
I thank I.T. land just hates me! After my frist posting on SOG-A I was blocked!!!!!!!! I've e-mail Keith,hope he can help me? I would love to show my ships/harbour on both sites,But I hit walls just putting the odd word or two on-line!!!!!
Be safe
Rory

Rory,
I'm really sorry to hear that. James is apparently having trouble as well. I'll PM the administrator to see if he can help.