Battle of Lake Erie - Project Organization and Next Steps

I received my custom bases from Warbases some weeks ago. They did a fantastic job on creating a base for each ship. As mentioned in my previous post, I ordered clear acrylic 40mm by 20mm bases that will fit nicely on my Chessex sea mat.

A bit on organizing the project....

Using the Figurehead 1/2400 scale ships, here are the ships and the codes for each. Not perfect matches for each ship type, but as there are no manufacturers in any scale that cover each Lake Erie vessel perfectly, this list will have to do:

FN14 - 20 Gun Sloop:  Detroit and Queen Charlotte

FN15 - 18 Gun Brig: General Hunter, Niagara, Lawrence, and Caledonia

FN16 - Sloop:  Little Belt and Trippe

FN20 - Schooner:  Lady Prevost, Chippewa, Ariel, Scorpion, Tigress, Porcupine, and Somers

Some obvious issues arise:  The General Hunter and Caledonia, while of brig configuration, are certainly not brigs of the same size as the 18 gun brigs. Also, I am using cutters for the two small sloops.  

Next steps are priming then painting the ships, then finding some sort of glue that will not cause frosting on the plastic bases.

Battle of Lake Erie - More Thoughts

A few additional ramblings about the Lake Erie project....

Found a cheap copy of Wooden Ships & Iron Men on ebay today, so I will be set with the rules. I am hoping there is enough explanation of ships ratings that will allow me to extrapolate rigging, crew, and hull numbers, plus I needed a copy of the rules and charts anyway. I've always liked WS&IM, but for smaller ships it loses something, so changing the gun weight factor from 100 to 25 will give the smaller vessels at Lake Erie some representation.

Years ago I picked up a vinyl Chessex Megamat with 1" hexes for a low price. I've never used it, but now it will serve as a perfect gaming space. The Warbases tokens I have ordered for use as bases are 40mm in length, which will be ideal for the 1" hexes (two being 50mm), without cramming the ships together when they are at close quarters.

After years I am FINALLY getting this project moving forward!