Black F@!#ing Seas!!...or why sailors swear.

It's a well known fact that throughout the ages sailors have been particularly good at swearing and now I know the reason why...rigging!

To be fair, the sailor I knew best was my father who was that classic stereotype... a Scottish ship's engineer.  I always hope that at some point while he was cruising up and down the coast of South America and the Caribbean, he got to tell the Captain that " the engines cannae take it!".  My dad never swore (maybe the odd 'flaming' or 'bloody' in a very heated moment) so maybe it's not all sailors that are especially fruity with their vocabulary but having spent some time rigging the Warlord Games Frigate and Brigs that came free with a recent Wargames Illustrated I've certainly developed a nautical turn of phrase.

I guess you don't have to add the rigging but it seems a shame not to add this as it's such as key feature of sailing ships.  Warlord Games helpfully have an online guide to rigging a frigate which runs to 7 steps and is actually pretty straightforward as long as you work through it methodically. You definitely need some tweezers and superglue to dab onto the knots or around the thread to secure it in place and a lot of patience.

This was a task that was definitely out of my comfort zone...I've never rigged up a model ship before and I'm not known for my patience with fiddly jobs like this.  I've also got a bit of a mental block when it comes to knots (one of many reasons why I was never in the Scouts)  My main difficulty (apart from getting glue in the wrong place or all over your fingers, or cutting the thread too short, or tying the thread in completely the wrong place!) is keeping the thread taut as it runs from mast to mast.  As you tighten one line it can pull the mast, slackening off another thread, and no one wants a saggy line (or is that a sheet?).  My efforts aren't perfect by any means, and there are a few lines in places where they probably shouldn't be but I was pleasantly surprised by the end result

The Frigate:

And the Brigs:

The models have reefed sails but I've seen photos of people playing games with these and it doesn't look right... I know ships tended to reduce sails in battle but i wanted the full dramatic effect. The starter set comes complete with sails, but as these were the freebies from WI I had to download a set of sails from the WI website.  I've read online about people struggling to get the 2 sides to align so I decided not to try and print it double sided but to cut the 2 sides out and stick them together (my experience with the Paper Soldiers armies came in handy!).  This also gave the advantage of making the sails a little thicker and more robust.

I applied these with PVA which seems to hold them in place pretty securely

Spot the saggy rigging!

I think the models would definitely need basing as the chances of the rigging or sails being damaged even when handled carefully are pretty high.  Black Seas uses a wake marker (same system as Cruel Seas which seems a little odd for an Age of Sail game) so some thought would need to be given to how this works with a base.  Some people also seem to be opting for a clear perspex base which might be a better idea,

Despite all my moaning and swearing over the last few days I'm pleased with how these turned out.  The rigging and sails definitely add a lot to the model and it's very satisfying once it's all done.