Franco Clarke Posted April 12, 2016 Ship's Log day 6 The convoy was making good progress, and we were on course to complete our journey on schedule. We would have been able to complete the journey in half the time too, if it were not for the Saler, waddling along at the tail of the flotilla, since she was not the fastest of ships. However, her big cannon would hopefully prove its worth against any opposition, especially in the rush to get an escort for this convoy we had yet to be issued any guns for the Vif, except Private Collins and his musket. I dreaded to think what would happen if we met a larger raider, since the Saler's slow speed would mean that we wouldn't have a hope of outrunning them. We would have to turn and fight, which would be interesting without any guns... At that point I was informed that the Rana had spotted a sail off our port side. 'Take her about, and put us on an intercept course with whoever it is, I want to check them out before they can get at the merchantmen. Signal the Saler to prepare to support when ready' The ship turned in a wide radius and came around until it was railing towards them. Soon it became apparent that whoever it was, their ship was little more than a large dinghy with a sail. The small vessel was most certainly not friendly, no fishermen flew the jolly roger. 'Signal Saler to continue escorting the convoy, we'll deal with the intruders' I said, pulling the tiller slightly so that we could the dinghy off from the convoy. 'But sir, we have no guns' said Collins. At this I smiled 'Indeed, but neither do they and I'm willing to bet that we have a larger crew' At this point the pirates obviously spotted us coming from the north and hastily turned their vessel about. However although their boat was smaller than ours, we certainly had the edge in speed. As we gained on the little vessel, it became apparent they were making for a small speck of an island that raised itself barely above the crests of the waves. Even if they made it there, we'd still be able to find them, there was nowhere to hide. The dinghy hit the beach running most of the way up to the tree line before coming to a halt. The two crew had already pelted into the undergrowth. So they intended to hide from us, well we'd just have to find them. 'Collins, prepare the men for a landing action' At that moment a loud bang and a puff of smoke emanated from the bushes where the pirates had entered. The cannonball landed in the water ahead of us, and the Vif plunged through column of spray it had kicked up. 'A cannon? This will not do, we must withdraw and fetch reinforcements' shouted Collins. 'Agreed,' I said, heaving on the tiller. The Vif turned sharply, another cannon shot falling in our wake. We had been defeated by the pirates, but at least the convoy had been successfully escorted. We plotted a course that would allow us to catch up with the rest of the ships before sundown, and left the island and its pirates behind. However the proximity of a nest pirates so close to one of the trade routes couldn't be sustained, it would have be got rid of sooner or later. This was something I'd been wanting to do for a while, which was make a classic pirate style island, but a little more fleshed out than the classic pirate sets, although I'm not sure to what degree I succeeded. I was pleased with the photographs this time, although I should have probably sorted out the wrinkles in the sheet. Finally the pirate's ride, which is basically just the old classic pirate sailing dinghy I hope you enjoyed reading, as I certainly enjoyed creating this story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TitusV Posted April 12, 2016 Soms very cool ships here, and I love the image of the firing canon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bregir Posted April 12, 2016 NIce vessels and brilliant storyline, very well illustrated with some brilliant action shots, sir! I really liked it, and the tactical considerations were really cool to follow. I agree that the picture of the firing cannon is great, and I think your island is pretty cool too. The pictures are much improved. Overall, very nice work! However, I do hope they will get at least some small guns for the Vif soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blackdeathgr Posted April 13, 2016 Nice story! Indeed, the firing cannon photo is one of your best! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fuzzy MacFuzz Posted April 13, 2016 Great action packed story that kept me reading to the end. Nice to see all four ships sailing together. The two close up photos are really good and give strong feeling of dynamic action. Good luck in clearing that nest of cut throats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ayrlego Posted April 13, 2016 I agree, the perspective on the firing canon photo is perfect! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Puvel Posted April 13, 2016 Great story! The pic with the pirates firing the cannon is brilliant indeed, lovely splash of water in the next pic too. Looking forward to seeing what happens to the island Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Franco Clarke Posted April 13, 2016 Thank you for all your nice replies, I am glad that you liked the cannon firing, I'll have to do more of them! NIce vessels and brilliant storyline, very well illustrated with some brilliant action shots, sir! I really liked it, and the tactical considerations were really cool to follow. I agree that the picture of the firing cannon is great, and I think your island is pretty cool too. The pictures are much improved. Overall, very nice work! However, I do hope they will get at least some small guns for the Vif soon! Thank you, especially for the help with the help on the photos, it's been really useful. Great action packed story that kept me reading to the end. Nice to see all four ships sailing together. The two close up photos are really good and give strong feeling of dynamic action. Good luck in clearing that nest of cut throats. Great story! The pic with the pirates firing the cannon is brilliant indeed, lovely splash of water in the next pic too. Looking forward to seeing what happens to the island Thanks, it might take a month or two, but I will return to the Isla de Ceniza! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gideon Posted April 21, 2016 Very nice action scenes! I especially like the photo from the back of a gun being fired I probably could nitpick on the technical quality in some aspects of your photos, but the angles and compositions are so good that I'll skip that this time (Except that I'll encourage you to either crop a lot as in your closeups, or make sure that you don't cut off small parts of the builds) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kwatchi Posted April 24, 2016 Reading through your post let me slip back down memory lane to when I was a kid playing Lego on the basement floor with my brother. Thanks for helping me recapture that for a moment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Franco Clarke Posted April 26, 2016 Very nice action scenes! I especially like the photo from the back of a gun being fired I probably could nitpick on the technical quality in some aspects of your photos, but the angles and compositions are so good that I'll skip that this time (Except that I'll encourage you to either crop a lot as in your closeups, or make sure that you don't cut off small parts of the builds) Thank you, I am open to suggestions on my photography, I would really like to make it easier for people to view my creations. Reading through your post let me slip back down memory lane to when I was a kid playing Lego on the basement floor with my brother. Thanks for helping me recapture that for a moment. Thank you, I always try to aim to keep at least a little bit of lego's feeling as a toy in my images and models. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
