Yet, another forecastle song

“It was one November—the second day—

The admiral he bore away,

Intending for his native shore.

The wind at sou’sou’west did roar;

There was likewise a terrible sky,

Which made the sea to run mountains high.


“The tide of ebb it was not done,

But fiercely to the west did run;

Which put us all in terrible fear,

Because there was not room for to veer.

The wind and weather increased sore,

And drove ten sail of us on shore.


“Ashore went the Northumberland,

The Harwich, and the Cumberland,

The Lion and the Warwick too;

But the Elizabeth had the most to rue—

She came stem on—her fore-foot broke.

And she sunk the Gloucester at one stroke.


“But now remains what is worse to tell,

The greatest ships had the greatest knell;

The brave C’ronation and all her men

Was lost and drowned every one,

Except the mate and eighteen more

What in the long boat com’d ashore.


“And thus they lost their precious lives;

But the greatest loss was to their wives,

Who, with their children left on shore,

Their husbands’ watery death deplore,

And wept their loss with many tears—

But grief endureth not for years.


“Now you who’ve a mind to go to sea,

Pray take a useful hint from me,

And live at home, and be content

With what kind Providence has sent;

For they were punish’d for their misdeeds,

In grumbling when they had no needs.


“Now God preserve our noble Queen,

Likewise her Ministers serene;

And may they ever steer a course

To make things better ’stead of worse,

And England’s flag triumphant fly,

The dread of hevery he-ne-my.”

Poor Jack, by Frederick Marryat, 1840

An Update to my Summer Reading List #2

1. Bohemians of the Latin Quarter, Henri Murger
The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter takes place in Paris and in the 1840s. It is a story of several artistic types: a poet, painter, musician, and philosopher who meet up by chance and create a little confederation between themselves. When one prospers, they all prosper, and they live recklessly and extravagantly. Instead of sticking a little of their good fortune away for a rainy day they spend all they have until they are once again destitute.

The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter tells of the artists affairs: their successes, their impoverished times, and of their mistresses.
Although there were a few times when the story seemed to drag on, all and all the story was interesting and entertaining.


2. Poor Jack, Frederick Marryat
   
   Poor Jack is a novel by the Frederick Marryat, and tells the story of Thomas Saunders, a sailor's son. Saunders is a neglected and mistreated by his mother and struggles to survive in Greenwich, London as a street urchin. He survives by doing odd menial jobs and begging.
   
   
   A pensioner takes the poor lad under his tutorage teaching him how to read. As the lad grows older he is recommended to an old friend of the pensioner and starts an apprenticeship to a river pilot. Thomas excels in his studies, passes his exams, and becomes a certified pilot.
   
   
   The book mentions many adventures. I have skipped a lot of the details, but the lad is very helpful to those around him and makes many friends. Let it be said the boy might have started off poor but ends up becoming very wealthy.
   
   
3. The Arabian Nights, Andrew Lang
4. The Blazing World, Margaret Cavendish
5. The Missing Merchantman, Harry Collingwood 
6. The Troll in the Garden and other Stories, Willa Cather
   The Troll in the Garden and other Stories is a collection of short stories by Willa Cather, which depict life in Nebraska, Kansas, and Montana, for the most part. Interesting frontier characters and a few cosmopolitans thrown in for a change of pace.

The Ghost of the Black Cat

“We heard what sounded like a loud melancholy miaw. We looked to where the sound had come and beheld the ghost of the black cat, so large, so black, with the broad moonlight shinning on it; and so thin, it was a skeleton of the cat, only it looked as black as ever; its back was humped up and its tail curved.”

Rustic Rails 1/85 Wagon Kit Instruction Sheet

I purchased a few wagon kits from Rustic Rails, a now defunct company, some time ago. These kits are molded in white metal. This same instruction sheet was included in all three of my kits. I suppose one instruction sheet fits all. Here are the relevant instructions for my Buckboard wagon:

1. Glue wagon seat in space at front of wagon
2. Glue pins on the wagon tongue in team shoulder holes
3. Glue front axle to pins on the bottom of wagon
1. Glue smaller set of wheels to front axle
4. Glue separate axle to the two pins on the rear of body
1. Glue larger set of wheels to rear axle
5. Glue farm couple to seat and wagon load to rear of wagon body

Another Forecastle Ditty

“It was one November—the second day— 

The admiral he bore away, 

Intending for his native shore. 

The wind at sou’sou’west did roar; 

There was likewise a terrible sky, 

Which made the sea to run mountains high. 

“The tide of ebb it was not done, 

But fiercely to the west did run; 

Which put us all in terrible fear, 

Because there was not room for to veer. 

The wind and weather increased sore, 

And drove ten sail of us on shore. 

“Ashore went the Northumberland, 

The Harwich, and the Cumberland, 

The Lion and the Warwick too; 

But the Elizabeth had the most to rue— 

She came stem on—her fore-foot broke. 

And she sunk the Gloucester at one stroke. 

“But now remains what is worse to tell, 

The greatest ships had the greatest knell; 

The brave C’ronation and all her men 

Was lost and drowned every one, 

Except the mate and eighteen more 

What in the long boat com’d ashore. 

“And thus they lost their precious lives; 

But the greatest loss was to their wives, 

Who, with their children left on shore, 

Their husbands’ watery death deplore, 

And wept their loss with many tears— 

But grief endureth not for years. 

“Now you who’ve a mind to go to sea, 

Pray take a useful hint from me, 

And live at home, and be content 

With what kind Providence has sent; 

For they were punish’d for their misdeeds, 

In grumbling when they had no needs. 

  

“Now God preserve our noble Queen, 

Likewise her Ministers serene; 

And may they ever steer a course 

To make things better ’stead of worse, 

And England’s flag triumphant fly, 

The dread of hevery he-ne-my.” 

Chapter 17, Poor Jack, by Frederick Marryat, 1840

Spanish Ladies, An Odle Forecastle Song

“Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies,

Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;

    For we have received orders

    For to sail to old England,

But we hope in a short time to see you again.”

“We’ll rant and we’ll roar, like true British sailors,

We’ll rant and we’ll roar across the salt seas;

    Until we strike soundings

    In the Channel of old England.

From Ushant to Scilly ’tis thirty-five leagues.

“Then we hove our ship to, with the wind at sou’west, my boys,

Then we hove our ship to, for to strike soundings clear;

    Then we filled the main topsail

    And bore right away, my boys,

And straight up the Channel of old England did steer.

“So the first land we made, it is called the Deadman,

Next Ram Head, off Plymouth, Start, Portland, and the Wight;

    We sail-ed by Beachy,

    By Fairly and Dungeness,

And then bore away for the South Forehand light.

“Now the signal it was made for the grand fleet to anchor,

All in the Downs that night for to meet;

    Then stand by your stoppers,

    See clear your shank painters,

Hawl all your clew garnets, stick out tacks and sheets.”

Chapter 17, Poor Jack, by Frederick Marryat, 1840

Components needed for a Simple Game

1. Playing Pieces for X-number of Combatants
I will be using the seven miniature dread fleet grand alliance ships and cogs for my main playing pieces. In addition, the dread fleet’s leech wyrm sea-monster will also be brought into play randomly.

2. Properties for Combatants
I had formally created properties for the leech wyrm sea-monster and need to come up with properties for the grand alliance and cogs.

3. Playing Area
I don’t know when I will get around to this playing component and may just play my first games on a table top, but it would be nice to have a playing surface that resembles an ocean surface. A 24 x 24 inch playing area should be about the right size for these miniatures.

4. Dice

Although having dice in multiple colors might be nice, I do have plenty of the dice on hand. I do need to work-up some properties for dice rolls for movement, offensive and defensive turns, and for the effects of weather.

A Revisit to My New Year’s Resolutions

It has been six months since I set my New Year’s Resolutions for 2015 and I thought it best to go back and assess how well I have been doing. First let’s take a look at what those resolutions were:

1. Back at least one KickStarter project. I will be looking to sponsor one new game this year.

2. Go through my labels to find topics I might want to expound on, delete labels and or posts that have become stagnate.

 a. Some topics I would like to give more "air-time" to:

  i. Dungeon crawl

  ii. Monsters

  iii. Reaper familiars

  iv. Evil toys

3. Games, game rules, and miniatures

4. Scenery and Scenic Pieces

5. Spend more time on forums

6. Learn more about the art of painting miniatures

Now let’s assess:

1. Back at least one KickStarter project. I will be looking to sponsor one new game this year.

I don’t know whether I will get to this resolution this year, unless of course I come into some wind fall.

2. Go through my labels to find topics I might want to expound on, delete labels and or posts that have become stagnate.

One change you might have noticed is that I have changed the name of this section from labels to collections. I thought collections better defined what I am trying to achieve through this blog. It may seem like I haven’t gotten too far in the way removing stagnate “labels”, but in fact I have removed a few labels. However, I have probably added twice as many “labels” to replace those that I removed.

 a. Some topics I would like to give more "air-time" to:

  i. Dungeon crawl

  ii. Monsters

  iii. Reaper familiars

  iv. Evil toys

Reaper familiars is the only collection that has been added to, so far, but I still do have plans on adding to “Monsters” and “Evil Toys”.

3. Games, game rules, and miniatures
I have added a few new games to our collection of board and card games.

4. Scenery and Scenic Pieces

Although I have made some head way here, I am still looking for more of these pieces to work into my inventory of “To complete a scene” props.

5. Spend more time on forums

I have completely forgotten about this one; shame on me.

6. Learn more about the art of painting miniatures

Although I have watched a couple of videos I have been very neglectful here.

Occupations Performed by Watermen

“Why, Jack, how many thousands get their living on this river! There are the Light Horsemen, those who make their living by plunder. Heavy Horsemen are those who do their work in the day time, when they go on board as lumpers (stevedores) to clear the ships. Then you have the Coopers and Bumboat men, the Rat catchers and the Scuffle Hunters, and the River Pirates and last of all the Mudlarkers.”, replied Old Grumble.

Poor Jack, Fredrick Marryat

Pirates of the Spanish Main Card Game Summary of Play

I took a screenshot of this summary of play for the POTSM card game some time ago and thought I would upload the screenshot before I forget about it again.

Pirates of the Spanish Main Card Game Movement Cards

There are 24 movement cards included in the Pirates of the Spanish Main card game and include 8 different scenarios.

Full Speed Ahead! (2)

The player chooses any ship and moves it 6 spaces forward.

Lost at Sea (3)

The player chooses any ship and move it 6 spaces backward

Temporary Alliance (4)

The player chooses any 2 adjacent ship cards and moves them both 3 spaces forward. These ships move as one unit.

Caught in a Rip (3)

The player chooses 2 adjacent ships and moves them both 3 spaces backward. These ships move as one unit.

English/Spanish/Dutch Advance (1 each)

The player moves all 3 ships with English/Spanish/Dutch flag 2 spaces forward in a row. The ships are moved 1 at a time starting with the ship furthest forward and moving back.

English/Spanish/Dutch Retreat (1 each)

The player moves all 3 ships with English/Spanish/Dutch flag 2 spaces backward in a row. The ships are moved 1 at a time starting with the ship furthest back and moving forward.

Sabotage! (5)

The player chooses any 1 undamaged ships card, and flips it to its damaged side.

There Be Fog Ahead! (1)

If this card is played, the current adventure card in not executed at the end of the players turn; the adventure card is simply discarded, and the players turn is over.

The Kraken Adventure Card

With its large and powerful tentacles it can crush smaller craft and easily capsize a ship. Any men who might fall overboard are fair game for the mighty Kraken.

There are two Kraken adventure cards included in the Pirates of the Spanish Main card game.

Quote from Fredrick Marryat's Poor Jack

"One lives and larns as long as one lives."

Chapter 6, PoorJack, Fredrick Marryat

Grand Alliance and Cog Ship Work Flow

     Start at the bottom and work your way up:

1. Paint waves a shade of blue; use something bright
2. Paint super structure and mast a dark brown color
3. Paint oars a light brown or tan color
4. Paint sails white or an off white color. Vary the colors a bit on the sails
5. To help identifying each vessel of the same type, paint banners different colors on each vessel
6. Go back and dry brush a contrasting color on waves
7. Using white add dry brushing to some of the waves crests 
8. Dry brush two shades of brown to add contrast to the ships super structure
9. Add some shading and highlights to the sails

An Update to my Summer Reading List

1. Bohemians of the Latin Quarter, Henri Murger
The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter takes place in Paris and in the 1840s. It is a story of several artistic types: a poet, painter, musician, and philosopher who meet up by chance and create a little confederation between themselves. When one prospers, they all prosper, and they live recklessly and extravagantly. Instead of sticking a little of their good fortune away for a rainy day they spend all they have until they are once again destitute.

The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter tells of the artists affairs: their successes, their impoverished times, and of their mistresses.
Although there were a few times when the story seemed to drag on, all and all the story was interesting and entertaining.


2. Poor Jack, Frederick Marryat
3. The Arabian Nights, Muhsin Mahdi
4. The Blazing World, Margaret Cavendish
5. The Missing Merchantman, Harry Collingwood 
6. The Troll in the Garden and other Stories, Willa Cather
   The Troll in the Garden and other Stories is a collection of short stories by Willa Cather, which depict life in Nebraska, Kansas, and Montana, for the most part. Interesting frontier characters and a few cosmopolitans thrown in for a change of pace.