Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

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The first time I viewed this video was in a surround sound movie theater where every creek and grown of the wooden ship was heard as if you were there on the ship. And the sound of cannon was deafening.

I have watched this video on two other occasions and now it is part of my collection. I have read the book by Patrick O'Brian-Master and Commander in which the movie was, in part, contrived. The video was adapted from three novels from the O’ Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series.

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“The film takes place in the spring of 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey of HMS Surprise has orders to pursue the French privateer Acheron, and "Sink, Burn, or take her as a Prize".

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Jack Aubrey the captain of the HMS Surprise, played by Russell Crowe, is depicted as an excellent navigator, a great leader, and a compassionate friend. Aubrey outwits his French opponent and takes the Acheron as a prize, only to find out that it is he who has been outwitted. The last scene finds the HMS Surprise beating to quarters and changing course to pursue the Acheron, with the idea of escorting the recently captured ship to port.

Further Reflections of Robinson Crusoe

“I saw the world busy around me: one part laboring for bread, another part squandering in vile excess or empty pleasures, but equally miserable because the end they proposed still fled from them; for the men of pleasure every day surfeited of their vice, and heaped up work for sorrow and repentance; and men of labor spent their strength in daily struggling for bread to maintain the vital strength they labored with: so living in a daily circulation of sorrow, living but to work, and working but to live, as if daily bread were the only end of wearisome life, and a wearisome life the only occasion of daily bread.”

A Host of Characters-Reaper 25mm Leprechaun and Owl

This is not my first Reaper miniature, but it is my first Leprechaun and owl with a rider.The Chronicles of Narnia’s The Silver Chair has a mention or two of talking owl’s carrying humans around on their backs. I will have to go back and pick out these occurrences.

When I was a child me Mum gave my sister and I a good talking about everything Irish and used to talk in her mother tongue often when my sister and I when we vexed her.

Leprechauns are mischievous and not to be trusted, but capturing a Leprechaun would allow you three wishes, the price for his freedom. At the end of the rainbow you might find the Leprechaun’s Pot of Gold.

Although this Leprechaun might have already had two sheets to the wind he has his pipe and his jug and is ready to take off to the great blue yonder.

An English Proverb

“In trouble to be troubled, is to have your trouble doubled.”

 The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

My Fall and Early Winter Reading List

It seems that I am to continue my reading of sea yarns and of pirates.  Within this list I have three novels by Captain Fredrick Marryat; two of those being sea yarns, and one being upon the War of Roses.  I have listed one title by Samuel Merwin, which tells a tale of the French and Indian War and one title by Brain Jacques, Mattimeo which I am looking forward to reading. It has been a while since I read anything in the Red Wall series.

Captain Marryat:

The Pirate

The Phantom Ship

The Children of the New Forest
It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth (War of the Roses).

Samuel Merwin:

The Road to Frontenac
A novel taking place during the French and Indian war. High adventure and intrigue.

Brian Jacques:

Mattimeo

Howard Pyle:

Book of Pirates (non fiction) (currently reading)

GearWorld the Borderlands Transport Phase

It has been a while since I made a post on this topic and have not got around to playing this game yet. The Transport Phase is the fourth phase a player may choose to perform during his or her turn. During this phase the player may move any number of resources or weapon tokens using one of the following transportation methods:

• Foot
• Horse
• Riverboat
• Ship

These transportation methods have the following movement points:

Method	Maximum Movement Points
Foot	1
Horse	2
Riverboat	8
Ship	10

A Host of Characters- Skaven with Poisoned Wind Mortar

A Host of Characters is a new project I have started. Toward the close of last year, I started to collect miniatures to use as characters in upcoming war game stories. One such miniature, obtained from Hoard O’ Bits, was a Warhammer Island of Blood, Poisoned Wind Mortar and Skaven crew set. The miniature came unassembled, included three parts and a slotted stand.  

Although I haven’t got around to painting this miniature I did assemble the piece. I am still questioning whether it was wise of me to glue one piece into place before painting the miniature. I might have a hard time painting different elements of the miniature, but what is done is done.

Create Rocks from Leftover Bits of Plaster

I created a scenery base for taking pictures and had some left over plaster, so I poured the leftover plaster into a rock mold. The rock mold gave me predictable result; four beautiful rocks.  Still having some leftover plaster I spooned it on a piece of wax paper into small piles. After the plaster had dried I took a chisel ended hobby knife and shaped the bits of plaster until I was happy with their shape. To color my rocks I used the following paint and colors:

• Model Master, Light Grey
• Pactra, Dark Gull Grey
• My Studios, Grey
• Folk Art, Medium Grey

I usually stated with a dark base color, followed by a dry brushing with two or three related lighter colors. I also tried reversing the process and used a light base color followed with a dry brushing of darker color. This technique does work if you apply the secondary colors sparingly. It is like you are trying to paint detail on the rock, like shadows for instance. Lastly, I applied a couple of good coats of black wash on the rock carvings. This flowed into the cracks and crevices and muted and fused the colors together.

What were the results? The results were that no two hand crafted rocks or boulders were the same. Although I did try to create several rocks that were similar in appearance, each rock is unique. I experimented with different techniques and processes on each rock. On one of the grey rocks I added grey chalk and some fine green turf material to represent moss. I added these components while the paint was still wet and gave the carving a good bath of black wash.

The picture does not do the carving too much justice and I feel that the rocks will look pretty good surrounded with landscaping material.  I use these rocks as small islands when I play the Pirates at Ocean’s Edge miniatures game.  Three dimensional islands are more realistic than the flat islands included with the other game pieces. 

The Reflections of Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe’s first dwelling place was not fit for his settlement and he contrived to find a more suitable place for his abode. Crusoe considered the following when searching for a proper dwelling place: 

1. Health and freshwater
2. Shelter from heat and sun
3. Security from ravenous creatures whether they be man or beast
4. A view to the sea, so that he might observe any passing ships

A Comparison of “Goods and Evils” by Robinson Crusoe

After his being ship wrecked on a deserted island Robinson Crusoe took stock of the Goods and Evils of his circumstances.

For a larger view, click on the image above.

Other Kits Available from Main Street Heritage Models

Mercer’s Dry Goods wasn’t the first Main Street Heritage model that I have built. Formally, I built Main Street Heritage’s The Weekly Record, which I re-purposed and renamed Billy’s Place. 

As you can see from the image Main Street Heritage Models offers other 1/87 structures. In addition other kits are featured at Main Street Heritage’s online catalog. Some of the structures featured here are the: River Road Surplus, Moffat's Bookstore, Strong's Mercantile, and the now retired the Soda Works.

Pirate Ditty Sung Aboard the Arabella

For we put her board and board,

and we put her to the sword,

and we sunk her in the deep blue sea.

So it’s high-ho, and heave-a-hoe!

Who’ll sail for the Main with me?

Chapter 22, Captain Blood

MDC Kit#1512, A Kit-basher’s Dream

This kit comes with a wealth of parts which includes a HO gauge 34’ Overton Coach and brick wall sections for a Power House. Like all of MDC’s 3-in1 kits, detail parts, scratch building supplies and parts from your scrap bin are required.

Like the other kits in this series, there are instructions for the basic assembly, inspirational images, and ideas for kit-bashing a cable car out of the 34’ Overton kit.

Ship Types Used by Pirates

Pirates usually carried out their trade by using ships they had captured on earlier raids. Some pirates might “upgrade” to the better ship after capturing a ship that was better suited for their purposes. Between the years 1710 and 1730 pirate attacks in the Caribbean and along the North American coast were made using the following types of vessels. By percentage: 55%-sloops, 45%-ships, 10%-brigs or brigantines, 5%-schooners, 3%-open boats, and 2%-snows.

Under the Black Flag, David Cordingly

Successful Pirate Captains and their Squadrons

If you are looking for characters for your skirmishes or war games that take place on the high seas, Bartholomew Richards and Black Beard are two characters that raised all kinds of havoc on the high seas during the 1700’s.

Back in 1721, Bartholomew Richards was a pirate captain reported to have taken over four hundred ships during his infamous career. Richards was a natural leader and he was not one to shy away from torture, and murder to achieve his goals.

At the height of his career he commanded a squadron of four vessels. Richards’s flagship was the Royal Fortune, a former French military ship, with forty-two guns. The other ships of his squadron were the Sea King, a thirty gun brigantine, another French ship, the Ranger, and a small sixteen gun ship.

Black Beard was another infamous pirate captain that commanded a squadron of up to four ships. Black Beards flagship was the 36 gun Major Bonnett, also contributing was a sloop with 12 guns and two other ships.

Under the Black Flag, David Cordingly