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So I managed to pick up a copy of Dreadfleet second hand which I am very excited about. I remember when the game first came out I thought it looked awesome, but for whatever reason I never got it and then GW swiftly killed it.

It seems in very good condition, the kids who owned it before me didn't seem to use it much I guess, many of the ships are still on the sprues, but many pieces are just flying about the inside of the box! Spent most of the last two hours organising the pieces, but did manage to build the two flagships. I must say I'm not a fan of the Bloody Reaver, all the sails don't line up very nicely at all despite my best efforts, but I am a huge fan of the Heldenhammer.

I think I plan to build all the components, then start the painting. I think I'll spend some time painting the ships individually, but the tokens, range rulers, and scenery Ill likely do very simply with a spray and drybrush.

As always, if anyone has any advice or criticisms along the way let me know! Anyway, here's some grey plastic.

I can't wait to see your progress. The ships can really paint up nicely.

I have yet to actually play the game, but between release and July 2018, I managed to get everything painted up. I look forward to seeing what you do with your set.

The models are fantastic, makes one really wish they had expanded it to be more similar to Battlefleet Gothic with full rosters, rather than just a single box

Boats! this is one of the many games i missed out on, it's a shame it didn't last because those figures are very nice

Looking forward to seeing your progress. I only finished the Heldenhammer and the Kraken ship. I got halfway done the Bloody Reaver, wasn't pleased with how it was going, and have yet to go back to it.
Someday, someday I'll manage to get to it.

 amazingturtles wrote:
Boats! this is one of the many games i missed out on, it's a shame it didn't last because those figures are very nice

I shelved mine years ago. I probably wouldn't mind just giving the game to you myself for free since we live in the same state. Dreadfleet tanked pretty hard and after building all the ships i just got bored immediately and didn't bother trying to play.

Fully assembled. A very daunting pile of grey!

I did set it up and have a quick practice run to see how the game works. I wasn't very impressed with the mechanics. It seemed very slow and it ended up as just a game of cat and mouse around the board. Perhaps that will improve with the addition of more ships? Either way, I'm more of a painter than a gamer anyway, so I fully anticipate painting everything up and then playing the game maybe once. But that's ok, I'm comfortable with that!

Now, to learn how to use the spray paints!

I had lots of fun painting this up. It's fun with the right crowd, and lots of folks. Like at a convention or something. And it does paint up really nicely.

Wow its been way too long since my first post!

I finally got the rocky terrain done. Initially, I decided I wanted to just do something quick and simple so I could get the terrain done and out the way so I could focus on the ships. Unfortunately... I am not so good at sticking to the plan and every time I sat down I had lots of ideas I wanted to play with! So I've ended up with a cool looking glow on the skull's eyes, stripes on the ship sails, and (for whatever reason) I used a green wash around the bottom of the rocks to make it look a bit slimy and seaweedy. Pretty happy with the outcome.

Ships bases are primed and ready for a few quick drybrushes. Hopefully I won't spend too long on those!

Very nice. I like the glowy eyes, but I wonder if the waves shouldn't be lighter-- they are hard to distinguish from the rocks.

It is a very realistic North Atlantic ocean colour though, that steel-blue-gray ocean water.

Excellent work on all of those, the turtle skeleton with the castle is probably my favorite

Terrain looks fantastic. Love the volcano and the glow around eyes. Can't wait to see the ships.

Bravo! The models for this game were so good. Shame the game was only just fair - good for a Convention game after a long day, over beers. Way too random to be taken seriously

JoshInJapan wrote:Very nice. I like the glowy eyes, but I wonder if the waves shouldn't be lighter-- they are hard to distinguish from the rocks.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:It is a very realistic North Atlantic ocean colour though, that steel-blue-gray ocean water.

Thanks! Good advice with respect to lightening up the waves a little. Adding contrast in that sense is always a good thing. In this case though I was kind of trying to have everything looks the same sort of washed out tone. The idea being that the terrain is a backdrop for the ships, not the main event. It also has the added benefit of being in keeping with the narrative. The graveyard is supposed to be very dangerous, and the rocks (in my mind) should be difficult to distinguish.

amazingturtles wrote:Excellent work on all of those, the turtle skeleton with the castle is probably my favorite

The turtle is definitely my favourite also!

youwashock wrote:Terrain looks fantastic. Love the volcano and the glow around eyes. Can't wait to see the ships.

Given how long you had to wait for the terrain I'm not sure how long the ships will be! But I'm excited to have a crack at them.

pancakeonions wrote:Bravo! The models for this game were so good. Shame the game was only just fair - good for a Convention game after a long day, over beers. Way too random to be taken seriously

Agreed on both counts. I had a quick look at the rules and the event cards and damage cards seem to me to be the main offenders. It's a shame, but this is more of a collectors/painting and modelling exercise anyway so I'm ok with it!

Cool models. Nice paint jobs.

Terrain looks great, can't wait to see the ships.

Got those bases finished. Very happy overall. I love the look of the dark blue ocean and the bright highlights on the waves. Gives them a very mysterious and magical effect.

I also had to make a couple of decisions on how to paint the ships. Specifically on the Skaven bloat fish thing, which I've decided to do in the classic pallid skin tone. Did a real rough job of it since most of it will be hidden under the main bulk of the model anyway.

Also had to paint up the tentacles on the Kraken, and again opted for the classic dull, dark steel look. I'm hoping that with the bright metals on the Dwarf ship.

Lastly went for a OSL glow effect on the ghost ship base. Looks very stark right now but I'm hoping it will look more subtle and plausible once the full ship is done.

Wow, you're being remarkable systematic about this project. I painted all of my ships individually, including bases, over a period of many years. At this rate, you'll be finished in no time at all.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Wow, you're being remarkable systematic about this project. I painted all of my ships individually, including bases, over a period of many years. At this rate, you'll be finished in no time at all.

Haha yes... That is partly in the pursuit of uniformity though. I wanted to make sure that all the terrain was painted in the same style, and all the bases looked the same to tie everything together. Since all the ships are unique in shape and colour image last thing I wanted was to inadvertently end up with 10 bases painted at different times which all look subtly different. This way I can avoid that!

The tokens and small monsters are all primed now and ready to go!

Rest assured though that I will be taking a lot more time over the ships. Want to try out some new things and take the time to make them really stand out.

It's been a while! Took a few weeks on a vacation and have been building and painting up a Kill Team for a new league I joined. Painted up these guys nice and quick between projects though. Nothing too fancy, just a quick base, shade, highlight situation.

Apologies for the blurry images... The models are just so small, especially the blimp thing!

Nifty. Dreadfleet is a project that seems to lend itself to taking a long time. I still have yet to play a single game...

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Nifty. Dreadfleet is a project that seems to lend itself to taking a long time. I still have yet to play a single game...

Haha! Yes, I was talking to a guy yesterday who agreed it's difficult sometimes to get in to the smaller GW games. It can be so difficult to find someone to play with...

Anyway, as I said before (I think) I'm in it more for the challenge of painting it than anything else. Maybe one day I'll end up playing at least one game.. but I've not heard great things about it so who knows...

A little more progress today! Pretty pleased with the results especially given I do not normally like painting with gold. I can never seem to get it right but I think it turned out well for me here. My only slight disappointment is with the sails on the purple boats. I wanted to paint the "bad guys" with the purple sails and the runes but I think I've accidentally done it to the "good guy" ships! May have to paint the Heldenhammer in purple now too to tie it together! At least that will provide for a more unique paint scheme than the traditional red and gold. Pretty happy with the effect though over all.

Just the monsters to go now and I can start on the ships!

Finished up those monsters and that marks the end of all the little pieces! Pretty happy with them. I've been trying to practice painting a little faster using some corner-cutting techniques. Took less than two hours from start to finish which I was happy with. The quality is obviously not fantastic but I am happy with the results nonetheless.

This means it's on the the ships! I've decided I want to try a new technique on each ship to help to improve my skills as a painter and to keep things a little more interesting. I think I want to try painting the woods on the larger ships using some underpainting (for the grain and knots in the wood) and then glaze over with a contrast paint or similar. Might end up looking a little funky given the scale on these ships but it'll be fun to try!

Going to try painting the undead floating ship using some OSL, still with a wood coloured base, but glowing green from within. Should be good.

If you have any other ideas on what I could try I would be very grateful!



(Trying a new method of taking pictures. Someone mentioned using a black background helps prevent overexposure. This one was a little shiny so I may get some matt black card to use in future instead!)

Looks great! Nice photo too. I've started using a non-white background too, for the same reason

Lovely critters and peripherals. Bring on the ships!

Nice work on the sea monsters. I remember their being fun to paint.

No black background this time, the ship was too big to fit! So I've made do with the table, apologies...

Painted up the undead ship, unfortunately I had fully glued the thing together so I was unable to make my plan of a green glow from the inside a reality. I did get to practice my OSL a little on the green fire. First real attempt at painting fire too, which I am pretty happy with overall. I got the contrast I wanted from the bright white interior to the black smokey extremities, just need to work on the blending I guess. Wasn't planning on the black sails, but after I painted the ship it just looked right to me. Came out with a Black Pearl kind of look that I am happy with.

C&C always greatly received, as well as any ideas for the other ships!