The ship models are also very inexpensive. I have drawn three kinds of ships on a single sheet of paper. Just make photocopies to produce the ships you need. Color the water blue. Then color the flags. I use red and blue flags, but you can color in British and French flags if you prefer.
Write the name of each ship on the water at the top of the ship’s base. For firing markers, paint #8 washers blue and attach a pinch of cotton with Elmer’s Glue. You can usually get four pinches from a regular cotton ball. The weight of the washer holds the marker in place on the board and it is small enough not to get in the way of the game. The firing markers look like gunsmoke, and they help to remind the player which ships have fired during the phase. To make dead-in-the-water markers, paint the cotton black on a few of the markers. It gives the impression of fire and chaos in the stricken ship.
Instructions
1. Color the water blue up to the horizon above the folding line.
2. Use a dried up ballpoint pen and ruler to score the model on the three lines that will be folded.
3. Cut out the rectangle containing the two opposite pictures of the ship. Fold the rectangle in the middle so the pictures will line up evenly on the opposite sides. Fold out the bottom parts of the model so that the water will form a base for the ship. Apply rubber cement inside the model, press both sides together, and and wait a few seconds for it to dry. Do NOT put cement on the base.
4. Take a sharp pair of scissors and cut around the sails, leaving a fraction of an inch leeway. Cut the base at an angle near the bow so it will be easy to tell the ship's direction of movement.
Fighting Rules for Sailing Ships
Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 142
Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com