Man O'War - The Fleet Sets Sail

Eluf Gorebeard, Bloodfated, chosen of Khorne and Jarl of the Hversing clan strode along the deck of the bloodship World Eater with mounting impatience. He was man unused to answering the summons of another like some lackey, not even for one such as Aesir Vortag.

As Eluf approached the steps leading up to the immense black sterncastle he could hear the exhortations of a slaughterpriest addressing the faithful. The priest stood atop a high gantry which rose above one of the gigantic bronze vats that fed the bloodship's colossal greatcannon. He was loudly extolling those watching below to fight well in the coming battle. A captive lay kneeling before the priest, precariously balanced on the edge of the walkway, his eyes glazed with terror. As Eluf watched the priest raised his axe high, paused to give one final bellow to the crowd below and then effortlessly struck the head from the prisoner. The corpse collapsed forward before disappearing into the noxious gases rising from the bubbling inferno beneath. Eluf nodded curtly in approval at the perfection of the priest's killing stroke.

Turning away, Eluf took the steps up in a measured fashion. He would not be seen to hurry, especially not with Vortag's personal guard gazing impassively down at him from either side of the huge iron and oak doorway that led to his audience chambers. As he reached the head of the stair he could have sworn the guards took just a little too long to open the door to him. A measured insult he would take pains to remember. Grinding his teeth, he swept inside.

Rush hour can be murder.

At long last the Khorne fleet is complete! The bloodships Worldeater and Impetuous Glory take their place alongside the flagship, Guns of Anarchy. The fleet now numbers twelve ships. Along with the three Bloodships there are two squadrons of Ironsharks and a squadron of Death Galleys. That brings me up to around the thousand point mark.

It's been a fun project working on something new like a Man O'War fleet, but I am very happy it's complete. I took way, way too long on it. The ships are dainty things, so I spent a long time figuring out ways to make them a little more sturdy. Metal flagpoles, masts, heavy card sails and clear bases are all intended to give the models more endurance. I may add some adhesive magnets under the bases for transport a well. You don't want them banging about in a box. Gods no.

The fleet in it's entirety.

I had some nice new ship cards printed for the Khorne fleet, so I'm game ready. I may add a kraken or some other sea monster to the fleet, but for now the Bloodtide is ready to go a reaving! 

Man O'War - Khorne Ironsharks

When I first decided to build a Khorne fleet for Man O War, it was the Ironsharks that sealed the deal. How can a man be expected to resist a ship full of blood-crazed murderers that has a giant articulated metal shark's head at the front? Not this guy.

So I painted six of them, two squadrons. The first consists of The Gorger, Mercy of Iron and The Wrathful Tide. The second squadron is The Coward's Due, The Hateful Word and finally The Harmstead.  (The final ship named in honour of the mighty Captain Crooks who sorted me out with three of the Ironshark models in the first place.)

Khorne, master of tasteful understatement.

As with my death galleys I wrestled with some thirty year old transfers to add icons to the sails. After some initial failures I got the Microsol and Microset working and they smoothed the geriatric old transfers nice and flat. I think my decision to base them on clear bases was probably wise, as not basing would lead to chipping and I wasn't mad about sculpting waves and such, which is odd for me. I'm usually mad for going crazy on the basing.

Okay, here's the plan: we just brave the barrage of cannonfire and then bite them. Cool? Cool.

These fellows were on my painting desk for a very long time, so I'm super happy to have them finished. That's given me the mojo boost to tackle the last two ships in the fleet, two Bloodships, The Worldeater and the as yet un-named final ship. 

As the project has gone on I've decided to tailor my 28mm Khorne warband to work as the captains and crew of various ships from the fleet. It'll be a nice thematic tie-in, don't you think?

Like a floating death metal festival.

Man O'War - Khorne Bloodship

A Khorne Bloodship is a fearsome vessel to behold. It is a vast, towering war machine that grinds across the surface of the waves, its armoured prow snapping open and shut like some great beast's maw. The massed banks of its beaten bronze oars cut through the water at inhuman speed, and deep within its titanic hull great drums are beaten in incessant rhythms. As its jaw opens, whirling blades and pounding hammers spring forth, and great gouts of flame roar skywards.

The hull of a Bloodship bears the device of Khorne, the Blood God, on its bronze-plated hull. Ranks of Chaos Warriors cram the decks and boarding platforms, eager to rend the flesh of their enemies and bring skulls before their Lord. The coming of a Khorne Bloodship is a time of dread indeed.

The latest addition to my nascent Khorne fleet is my flagship, the HIM (His Infernal Majesty's) Guns of Anarchy. The Khorne is dialed up to eleven on this ship. Articulated skull faced prow for grabbing enemy ships, big flame cannons that fire napalm coated skulls and immense Khorne flags. Subtlety is an alien concept to Khorne.

I painted the bloodship in several sections. After reading up on some old pirate traditions I decided to give the Guns of Anarchy red banners rather than black. A red flag, or Bloody Red, as they were known, when flown by a pirate ship meant that their victims could expect no mercy. Not that you can expect any from a howling Khorne boarding party anyway, but making the right first impression is so important.

The banners are coloured card that I covered with some truly ancient transfers. A note to you all: be careful putting Daler Rowney matt varish on paper. I have noticed it can whiten in places when applied to paper. Such was the case with these flags, but nothing a little touch up couldn't fix.

The small but growing Khorne fleet.

The fleet is still tiny, numbering but four ships, but the chaos shipyards (imagine being the foreman there) are currently beavering away on a squadron of Ironsharks. If there's anything better than a big skull with clamping mandibles and a cannon mouth, it's a big iron shark head with snappy metal jaws.

Man O'War - Khorne Death Galley Squadron

There's a lot of love for Man O'War among my gaming buddies of late, so as is the way with these things I was soon swept up in the tidal wave of enthusiasm for this most excellent of Games Workshop games.

I always looked at Man O'War as a game I missed the boat on. I had none of the sets, no ships, no rules. There were those in my group that kept the faith (TheOttoVonBismark is a Man O'War fanatic) but I had enough going on. That was until the most recent tsunami of boat love coming primarily out of Sho3box. I resisted as long as I could, but it looked too much fun. With that, I threw my lot in with the forces of Khorne, and the HIM (His Infernal Majesty's) navy was born. Cheers for that one Sean.

Getting ships proved to be reasonable enough after I threw out my nets. Getting masts was another matter. I was initially perplexed as to how to approach assembling and painting the sails. I need a 3 beam? what's that? Triangular sails on the Ironsharks? What? This went on for a while and I badgered all around me for advice. I eventually secured enough mast parts to serve the fleet. The flag poles I made from florists' wire and some plastic rod. I managed to get a Khorne sail sheet, and made templates for all the sails I would need. I bought some coloured card to cut down on painting. With this scale I had to consciously pull back on texturing and weathering so as not to overwhelm the models. I did add glowing eyes to the skulls and a smouldering effect to the sails to add a little more visual interest.

I used some very old transfers on the sails. 26 years old. MicroSol and MicroSet saved the day here, softening the ancient transfers so they would sit nicely on the paper. A quick roll around a wooden dowel to curve the sails, some vanish and done. I attached the sails to the beams with Impact Contact adhesive, which worked like a dream.

My gaming pals gave me a ton of solid naming suggestions for the ships. All are crewed by Khornegor. So it was the HIM Bloodhound, Damnation and Brass Retriever were born, collectively the Cogs of War squadron.

Next up my flagship, the bloodship Guns of Anarchy.