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My attempt to put together a possible Mordheim campaign set in and around Sartosa and the Pirate Coast of Araby has run into the slight snag that I can't seem to find any ships to use. I was apparently labouring under the false impression that plastic ship kits in this kind of scale were a thing, based on the very nice 1/50 Viking Longboat from Revell, but it seems that not only are plastic kits uncommon(read; apart from that one example I can't find any others), they're just uncommon full stop regardless of material - all I can turn up are stuff that's too small, too large, or hilariously intricate kits that cost a fortune and could never handle use on a gaming table. So I ask; do they even exist, and can you point me to them if so?

For reference, I'm most specifically interested in 15th & early 16th century ships of a modest size like a lateen-rigged caravel, a Chinese junk of a similar size, a Sambuk dhow, and at the top end of the size spectrum for practical table use, the larger Baghlah dhow and a two-masted square-rigged galleon with large fore and aft castles.

You don't want a display model kit, what you're looking for is getting into gaming terrain territory.

On one of these gaming forums, I've seen a blog about building an sailing ship from an MDF kit. Can't for the life of me remember which forum, or who the manufacturer is though...

Unless you absolutely require a 3-D ship, there are some fairly cheap ship layouts out and about by Gamemastery, and quite a few options for free.

I've seen MDF pirate ships designed for RPGs with grids on them and everything.

But I don't know who made them.


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Yeah I just check Squadron.com and there's nothing except that viking longboat you mentioned.

Maybe you can try 15mm or 10mm instead? 1/72 seems more common for ships.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
1/72 seems more common for ships.

Yeah, you won't see many ship models in a scale larger than 1/72.

Even small ships/boats are still pretty big so it's just not feasible to make them any larger.

here you go think this is what you are looking for

http://www.laserdreamworks.com./

lots of laser cut mdf models not cheap but will hold up ..and comes in 10mm/18mm/28mm sizes..

Was also about to link Laser Dreamworks, they do excellent ships, I think a few of our forum members have built one or two of them as well.

Lovely looking ships, those.

The problem is that boats are so big. Even something small like a Thames skiff can be 24 feet long which is 6 inches on table. Like Vulcan said, bigger ships like a brig or a frigate are starting to be more like terrain pieces than vehicles.

True enough, but that's mostly what they were intended for anyway - stuff to fight on and around, at Mordheim scale you're mostly dealing with fights at the docks or boarding actions anyway rather than proper ship-to-ship combat.

Laser Dreamworks have some nice models, the Dhow might work, but sadly most of them are either from periods before or after the one that best fits with Warhammer as a setting.

I'd take templates to be honest, a final result that matches what I have in my head is more important than the amount of time I'd have to spend doing it - if I had the knowledge to build them totally from scratch I would.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Lovely looking ships, those.

The problem is that boats are so big. Even something small like a Thames skiff can be 24 feet long which is 6 inches on table. Like Vulcan said, bigger ships like a brig or a frigate are starting to be more like terrain pieces than vehicles.

Yeah it would be like trying to integrate fighter jets and space ships into a 28mm skirmish game. It just can't work.

I think you'll want to look at Old Glory's Shipyard selection.
http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/categories.asp?cat=368

Ships for almsot any era, and all in glorious 25/28mm. There are some real huge kits, but also plenty of small ships that would look great in a Mordheim dockside layout and most of these are quite reasonably priced.

At Adepticon 2015 I participated in the "Fistful of Seamen" (I kid you not.) game. I think lots of their ships are from Old Glory.

Anisty also has some
http://ainstycastings.co.uk/index.php/cPath/63/osCsid/3a280fc4414c1d5d2b9dbb4e93562163

and you'll find some other ships here:
http://minimi.co.uk/pirates/index.htm

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Yeah it would be like trying to integrate fighter jets and space ships into a 28mm skirmish game. It just can't work.

It's actually surprisingly easy. Just increase the skirmish size and add titans.
If things get stale then just increase the model count further and add bigger killier faster stuff.
Be sure to make the changes gradually and keep the table the same size and no one really notices.
Works perfectly.

Fat Dragon Games have a PDF papercraft Cog if that helps. Available through Wargames Vault.

A cog is a good type of ship for the period.

You can make paper craft items more durable by pasting the sheets on to heavy card or foamcore board.

This would need quite a lot of conversion work, but it's cheap and of good size..

http://ttcombat.com/collections/just-in/products/cargo-ship

 Kilkrazy wrote:
A cog is a good type of ship for the period.

You can make paper craft items more durable by pasting the sheets on to heavy card or foamcore board.

Cogs are too early I'm afraid, except maybe as the coastal defence ship of a poor Bretonnian noble; most of the non-Tolkien seafaring races in WHF would have technology equivalent to Age of Discovery vessels like caravels, early galleons, a handful of big carracks, smaller xebecs & dhows, junks in the east, and some masted war galleys on large rivers & estuaries and the Tilean Sea. Cogs are more the sort of thing you'd have seen around the time of Emperor Mandred(Black Plague era).

I appreciate all the suggestions guys, but I think if I want those specific ships I'll have to find plans and build them myself.

Some Artesania Latina kits are beautiful, the scale is fine and they're not that expensive, given the quality...

Thinking about the Red Dragon, The Niña, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, or the Mayflower.

However, they may qualify as hilariously intricate, even without the rigging.

Not to mention you would probably be hung, drawn, quartered and incinerated by a mob of angry modellers if you cut the hull of any of these ships in two.

You can build your own ship out of Styrofoam board 1/2 - 1 inch thick, balsa wood, and ship sails out of paper, and dowel rods for the masts. and thread/ string if you so desire.

These ships are used in pirate games, and do well for what you need.

You don't need intricate, and you can go as deep as you want to. Start by building the ship hull, the decks, and then add what you want. I don't get into rigging, but it doesn't stop you if you want to.

Styro board goes well for islands, as well, or the "floating islands" based with a dowel rod, and base plate.