Saturday, October 25, 2014

1/1200th Tessarakonteres (from a 1/900th Deceres)

Finally managed to pick up a brush today - after several weeks of painting inactivity. This will be used in an Actium game as Cleopatra's command ship. It's a Valiant Ramming Speed 1/900th scale Deceres converted to be a 1/1200th scale Tessarakonteres; One of the largest of ships from Hellenistic times.
As the rest of the ships for this game are 1/1200th scale, this ship will be suitably large and identifiable as Cleopatra's. Here it is next to a Langton Quinquereme.

A view from the stern.
It is based upon this image of a Tessarakonteres.
The towers midship and fore were made from Green Stuff; the tent in the rear is made from spare plastic sprue. The three other ships will be painted up next as command ships belonging to Antony. They are a Langton Deceres and Octeres, as well well as another Ramming Speed Deceres.

24 comments:

  1. Great ships and conversion Dean! Cleopatra's ship looks suitably massive.

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  2. And if Cleopatra's ship had been smaller, would the course of history have been changed?
    ; )
    Great conversion, Dean, and an imposing flagship for the Ptolemaic fleet!

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  3. Nice work especially having to re-purpose the ship!

    I wonder if your brushes enjoyed the time off? Good to see works coming out of your shop again.

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  4. Wow, that's incredible detail on such tiny ships.

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  5. Thanks, Gents! Appreciate the continued visit and nice words. Warm Regards, Dean

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  6. Great conversion, a fabulous work!

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  7. Well I wasn't expecting these Dean, lovely work nonetheless and a smart conversion too.

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  8. Great work Dean, you've created a very striking looking vessel there :-)

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  9. Beautiful !!
    I suppose that at this scale, it is quite a small ship in "real" ?

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  10. Very nice! Would be awesome to read a battle report using those lovely ships...

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  11. Thanks for the visit and great comments, Gentlemen!

    @ Sam: just about 5.5cm from stem to stern.

    Warm Regards, Dean

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  12. Replies
    1. Thanks, Fran. Appreciate you dropping by and your kind words. Best, Dean

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  13. Fantastic, that is a heckuva big ship! I always get a bit blue when I get to reading the part where Antony & Cleopatra's combined fleets lose.

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    1. Thanks, Monty. Sadly, that was their destiny. Not to mention one of Antony's generals defecting the day before and disclosing the battle plan to Octavian and Agrippa. Regards, Dean

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  14. Great work on the conversions. I have also used the 1/900 ships as larger 1/1200s. Recently the 1/900 deceres were used as command ships in a Hail Agrippa game:
    http://ncc1717.wordpress.com/category/ancient-history/#jp-carousel-3829

    I would like to convert a couple of the deceres to siege ships based on Murray's book:
    http://www.amazon.com/The-Age-Titans-Hellenistic-Hellenic/dp/019538864X

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    1. Mark:

      Thank you very much for checking out the post and also for your kind comments! I picked up the WSS issue with your article as I wanted to see how you adapted Hail Caesar. I plan to use something similar or your excellent Delos rules - as I plan to run it at a convention. I will likely add towers to the other Valiant Deceres model - also sails as although likely not used in battle they ID the ships as command vessels. I'll be interested in seeing your siege ship conversions too. Warm regards, Dean

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  15. I didn't write the WSS article so I can't take credit for the Hail Agrippa rules. My club did seem to enjoy the game, and I'm working on a magnet basing system to allow more flexibility in using those rules as well as Delos with the same miniatures.

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    1. Oops, I thought it was yours - but I do like Delos ;)!

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  16. Dean, it is nice to see you doing some naval stuff. Maybe all my Naval Gazing posts are rubbing off.
    Dave

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    1. Thanks, Dave. Yessir, your site is always pleasant to visit - and your nautical knowledge is impressive. Best, Dean

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  17. I finally got around to finishing my siege ship based on old Valiant hulls:

    https://ncc1717.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/diadochi-era-siege-ship/

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    1. Cool! Checking it out right now. Thanks for the update. Dean

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