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Sail Setting Markers (with a photo)


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#1 Brian Weathersby

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Posted 03 July 2017 - 02:28 PM

I've been thinking about a way to show sail setting status during a Post Captain game.  In an ideal world (that is, one with no restrictions on available time, money or lifespan) every ship would have several miniatures showing the different sail settings.  Clearly, that's a non-starter, so some kind of marker may prove useful.  As sail settings are clearly visible to all players, it doesn't need to be hidden, or hard to read. 

 

As usual Litko (www.litko.net) already had a sail shaped token in stock, and they could be customized.  I bought a set in blue with the word "EASY" on them, a set in green marked "FULL" and an unmarked white set for studding sails.  The studding sails token is unmarked because the use of those sails should be pretty rare in a game, and the white color should suffice as a reminder.  Also, you're limited in the number of letters available, and I didn't want to have to put a token marked "STUD" out on the table. :lol:  I don't see a need to do one for battle sails, as that is usually the default setting anyway.

 

I think they turned out pretty good, as you can see in the photo.  The original idea was to have easy sail in blue and full in green, so they would match the colors on the ship card.  Unfortunately, in getting colors that would let the etched letters show, I think most of the color difference might not be too noticeable on the table.

 

Attached File  IMG_20170702_225259.jpg   24.12KB   8 downloads

 

When running a game, I attach a label with the ship's name to the rear of her base. 

Attached File  IMG_20170703_135914.jpg   128.95KB   3 downloads

 

The tokens sit there just fine, and should serve to help remind the player running the ship what his sail setting is along with letting the other players know too.

Attached File  IMG_20170703_135929.jpg   127.37KB   1 downloads

 

Finally, here is a shot with the Quarter of Comparison to give you an idea of the size of these things.

Attached File  IMG_20170703_140026.jpg   63.43KB   2 downloads

 

I'd be interested to know what people think about them.  Are they useful, or am I just cluttering up the table for no good purpose?

BWW

 

 



#2 Cpt M

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Posted 03 July 2017 - 07:39 PM

Well, I suppose you could have each ship have several minis with different sail sets (assuming you're a heir to the Walmart fortune!  :D ).  But for the rest of us mere mortals, you're right, that ain't happenin'.  But I think your markers are a definite plus.  The color contrast looks good (to my eye).  Another idea is to forego the engraved printing and go with a stronger color (assuming that choice is available) and let the color do the work for you.  All in all, a good idea.    



#3 Brian Weathersby

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Posted 04 July 2017 - 01:38 AM

The WalMart fortune?  Yeah, that might be enough money to pull it off.  Given the speed I work at though, that's why I put that disclaimer in there about unlimited time, money AND lifespan. :P
 
The picture below is from the Litko website, and shows the different colors that are available for their tokens.  To me, none of them really matched well with the colors used on the ship sheets, so I went with the translucent ones.  Now that I have them in hand, I think that the opaque ones might have been a better choice.  I did think about just going with colors and no writing.  However, I was afraid that after a player had asked me 4-5 times, "OK, what does the blue one mean again?", I might get a little bit shouty.

 

Attached File  acrylic-color-reference-600.gif   172.99KB   1 downloads

 

True story:  I bought four different colors of 12 sided dice, enough so that a three-decker could roll an entire broadside with one die roll.  The idea was: lowest guns red, middle white, upper blue, and tan for the small caliber stuff on poop and forecastle.  I couldn't get the players to understand the concept, no matter what I did.  They wanted to roll each. deck. separately. Grrrrr. :angry:

BWW

 

 






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