OSR B/X Character Sheet
Find more on my YouTube @mstephenjoy
A blank Hex Sheet For Your ttrpg
Find more on my YouTube @mstephenjoy
HMS Victory's gun ports, photo by Final Approach
A gun port is a square hole which is cut in the hull through which the cannons/ guns were fired. Each had its own port, and they lined the gun-decks at the height of the gun's muzzle, being closed with a port-lid, hinged on the top, when not in use.
Early gunports, placed directly below each other (e.g. on the galleon Great Harry of 1514). But depictions from the 1520s already show the staggered arrangement. This reduced the stress on the ship's hull caused by the recoil.
Until the Revolutionary War with France (1793–1801) the outside of the port-lid in the British Navy was painted the same colour as the outside of the ship; the inside was red, as also were the sides of the ship and, in a few cases, a strip of the gun-decks in the vicinity of the guns as well. The reason for this, it was said, was that any blood spilled in action would not show against the red paint and would therefore not have a depressing effect on the gun crews.
USS Constitution' s gun ports (x)
Later the fashion changed, and port-lids were painted in contrasting colours on the outside, usually black against white or yellow with the gun-decks. This was known in the British Navy as ‘Nelson chequer" , and was introduced around 1805 when Nelson fought the battle of Trafalgar. This gave the familiar chequer pattern of British ships of the line. At about the same time, the inside colour was changed to yellow. Since the War of 1812, the general ship colour scheme changed to black and white the colour scheme of American ships. And as paint became more and more expensive, the Royal Navy simply kept this colour scheme.
But beware not every gun port was a real one, especially larger merchant vessels like the India Companies painted gunports on their ships to suggest that it was a warship and not a merchant ship.
Model painting notes
Automobile Club De France, 1901
Georges Antoine Rochegrosse
Reminder to try printing a 2cm poster for a wall of 28mm scale terrain
Cut a Dido
HMS Dido was a swift, armed light frigate commissioned in the Royal Navy during the late 18th century.
Capture of La Minerve off Toulon, June 24th 1795, The scene depicts the capture of La Minerve by the British Dido and Lowestoffe off Toulon on 24th June 1795. The French L'Artemise was also involved in the action, by Thomas Sutherland, 1816 (x)
Apparently her captain and crew loved her to show off their ship, as well as their own prowess, by cruising smartly around other ships in the fleet. Having literally “ sailed rings around” them, HMS Dido then dropped anchor. When one cuts a Dido ashore, it means to create a sharp, dashing appearance.
A couple of frigates per side = the basis of a good basic wargame scenario
💎 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺!
Metallurgist’s Grip
Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement)
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This plated metal gauntlet extends up your arm. The armored plates are extensively corroded. If you’re missing a hand or arm, the item can function as a prosthesis for it. While you’re attuned to the gauntlet, it can’t be removed from you against your will, and you have resistance to acid damage.
While wearing the gauntlet or using it as a prosthesis, you gain the following properties.
𝘼𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙗 𝘼𝙘𝙞𝙙. You can use your reaction whenever you take acid damage to reduce the acid damage you take by 2d6 + 3. When you do, the next melee weapon attack you make before the end of your next turn deals extra acid damage equal to the acid damage it reduced.
𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚. You can use a bonus action to cast the “haste” spell from the gauntlet. When you do, the spell doesn’t require concentration, and you must roll a d6 at the end of each of your turns. You take acid damage equal to the result of the d6, which can’t be prevented or reduced in any way. On a 1, the spell ends. Once this property has been used, it can’t be used again until the next dawn.
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✨ Patrons get huge perks! Access this and hundreds of other item cards, art files, and compendium entries when you support The Griffon’s Saddlebag on Patreon for less than $10 a month!
xailigner asked:
have you done a d10 list of weird boats/ships before?
ladytabletop answered:
- There are rings for oars, you think, but no oars aboard. There is a mast for sails, you think, but no sails to be seen. Still, the ship seems to be propelled forward, guided by unseen force despite its bare decks, devoid of crew and cargo alike.
- The spiderwebbed rigging is the product of the arachnid that sits where you imagined the crow’s nest should be. “It’s her ship,” the crew whispers, “we go where she bids. Her brood is in the hold.”
- The whole thing is made of glass, from bow to stern. You can see straight through down to the water beneath the hull. It’s unsettling; moreso when you spot the shark-like creatures keeping pace with the vessel.
- It’s carved of teak, of all things. The shipwright was a demigod, they say, from a time when trees grew large enough for a ship to be carved whole from a branch - not even a trunk, a branch! No telling how long she’s been asea, but she never wants for crew. Many a sailor would give up their greatest treasures to sail on her decks.
- The flag it flies is known to no man. If you look away too long, its colors have changed again. It otherwise appears ordinary. But time goes a bit wobbly when that flag changes, the crew claims.
- The churning turbines on its underside were torn from conquered mills. They kick up the silty riverbottom and leave whirlpools in the ship’s wake. Its masts were the grists, the poles that did the turning, and its sails are flour sacks sewn together. What cause does a miller have to take to the water?
- You’d never met a ship with a mindwright before, but that’s what they seem to call the man in the brig. He could be sleeping, you think, but it is his will and his will alone tethering this ship to reality. By all rights it shouldn’t exist: a hulk of bone and rot from a creature long-dead. The brig is to keep things out, not to keep him in, for if he is disturbed, the whole vessel will go to the drown.
- Ebbs and flows, waves and still waters: the ship contains them all. You’re unsure of the magic animating it, but you can walk on the deck and pull a line and turn the wheel just as you would on a mundane boat, albeit with wet hands and feet. The dampness chills your very bones.
- Chains writhe around the hull with a horrible grinding cacophony. They crawl up the masts like ivy and weave in and out of portholes. That much weight might sink a ship, except the chain leviathan lurking beneath the waves holds it aloft. Those who set foot on its decks never see shore again.
- You watch, incredulous, as the paper unfolds, and again, and again and again and again, into a four-masted vessel with trimmed sails and an origami figurehead.
Frostgrave Diorama Charity Competition for Alzheimer’s Society
*sharing appreciated*
Paul Cooke – Pandaemonium Miniatures
I have created a special Frostgrave-themed diorama, ‘Yelen and Mirika Semova vs. the Necromancer’ to offer as the prize in a competition with all proceeds going to Alzheimer's Society in memory of my dad.
The diorama represents approximately 30 hours of planning, building and painting, and I am very pleased with it and very grateful for the support of those credited below.
I hope the diorama finds a new home with someone who will display it in pride-of-place.
To be in with a chance of winning, please make a donation of a minimum of £5 to the JustGiving page, include your name and contact information, and use the additional comments box on the JustGiving page to answer the following question:
Who is the author of Frostgrave?
Terms and conditions (also on JustGivingPage)
• Cost is £5 per answer attempt - if you wish to donate more, thank you for your generosity.
If you would like more chances to win, then please do so in separate transactions with separate guesses.
• Please only add your answer to the JustGiving comment box, do not answer the question on any of my social media posts as it won’t count.
• Please make sure you select to share your contact information so that I can contact you if you are the winner.
• Please do not select Gift Aid, as the donations are part of a competition and Gift Aid is not permitted.
• Open worldwide – I can cover UK postage but overseas entrants must be willing to cover the cost of shipping if they win
• Competition closes at midnight (UK time) on Friday 1st September 2023
• The winner will be selected at random from those who have answered correctly, and the winner will be announced on Sunday 3rd September 2023 via my social media accounts.
Credits for collaborations and sources of materials:
Photography: Dave Shipley
Miniatures from North Star Military Figures Frostgrave Range
Steps and summoning gate from Fenris Games
Walnut plinth by Tim Fitch of Miniature-Heroes
Inscription Plate by Versatile Terrain
Ladder from SPELLCROW
Ivy from Rival Crafts - Unique Gamer Scenics
Additional publicity: John Wombat (Shadows of Centralis Magazine), John Treadaway (Miniature Wargames Magazine), Nick Eyre (North Star Figures)
Windows: Fairy Bridge Woodcraft
Invaluable support from Zena Jones (Alzheimer’s Society)
Design, construction and painting: Paul Cooke (Pandaemonium Miniatures)
First £300 raised, still two weeks til close so plenty of time to enter! :)
