Evolution of the French Leviathans Part 2
As we raced towards leaving for the GAMA Trade Show back in March (or April, it all blurs sometimes), we wanted to generate much cleaner b&w illustrations we could show off.
Doug, as always, was very willing to generate a series of cleaned up illustrations that would allow us to showcase the the unique look and feel of the Leviathans’ ships we were developing. Because of the aesthetic we’re looking at for the Leviathans Primer sourcebook that’ll be included in the initial box set, he did up a series of these in sepia tones. I love how that color really sets a great tone for the aesthetics of the universe.
Now it was time to really finalize all the little details on the ship and to generate a complete orthographic/schemeatic. This illustration would not only allow us to know all the final details of the ship from every angle, but more importantly it’s what we’ll send to the manufacturer so what they return to us in a miniature is exactly what we’re asking for; really no ambiguity in a schematic of this detail. Now this would be important in any miniatures game. But at the scale of our miniatures (1:1200, so that puts Destroyers at roughly 2.5″ in length and the king Battleships at roughly 5″ in length) means a lot of scrutiny for just these type of details
The top-down schematic is also what we’ll use on the Ship Cards (game components) that correspond to every miniature.
This left us in a position to have Doug start the full-color, three-quarter view illustration of the ship “under power”…but I’ll post that final illustration at a latter date.
See ya next duty shift!
Randall
I always ask this about BT art in the chats and message boards, but now I get to ask it about this, too! (hahah)
Will there be posters made of these great examples? I would pay for that kind thing, that’s for sure.
Lovely concept art! I love the style of ships in this era. I’m really getting excited about this game.
Two-barreled turrets on french ship?
French ships had one-barrelled turrets with rhomboid placement because:
a)For their future battles french admirals choosed ‘frontal attack’ formations and not a dogmatic ‘line’ formations – and therefore they prefer to had three large caliber cannons firing froward, versus only two from ‘english’-type placement.
It’s very good reason for flying ships
b) long barreled single-mount cannon have better rate of fire and better precision (and little more range)
It’s very good reason for flying ships too.
с) spreaded turrets had better survivability versus not so much difference in weight.
Alas, after 1892, french mediterranian fleet choose simplified ‘defence’ formations (the ‘line’) and french main turrets become conservative twin-gunned.
I’m loving the artwork more and more. As the setting is now in the Edwardian age (not Victorian) I can see the French with twin turrets for their big guns, though I can’t imagine them being bigger than 10-11″ (25-28cm) for this time period and I xpect them to be much smaller given the probable weight restrictions for the flying ship, more in the 8-9″ (20-23cm) with secondaries in the 3-5″ (75-127mm) range.
Pretty sweet looking.
The more I see the more excited I am for this to be available.
I can’t wait to see whats in the boxed set
& what the other countries/empires/kingdoms
Nef warships look like.Looks epic so far.
Love the artworks look and feel of the ships and the actual size appeals greatly too. We are starting out with French and English…would also be very interested in seeing German ships…infact, whose nest in line…?
Rgds
Madan
Heya, did you ever watch the anime Last Exile? If not, you should. It’s all about giant airships. A few screenshots here http://turricanoid.blogspot.com/2007/09/last-exile.html
No, I’d not seen that…thanks…looks pretty cool. But man, what is it about Japanese Animation and teenagers that save the world.
I’m not so much worried about the actual scale than about the representation of the vessels on the tabletop (and as miniatures to collect…), so a larger scale (say 1/800 – 1/600) would look a lot more impressive imho. (BTW I do love the concept!).
Hi
great looking artwork and great game concept.
It might be useful to clarify what the game universe physics are.
At some stage someone is going to ask why do you have the electium lifting tanks on the outside the hull, not ucovered by heavy armour?
If the electium tanks are outside, can’t they be more vulnerable and hence have a special rule for easy damage resulting in loss of lift… and so on…and so on ad nauseam…
Just nitpicking at this early stage even before having seen the rules, but flame rule wars have started on lesser factoids.
Okay Randall, this bites. I found this page this morning and you got me pumped to play this game. When is the general thought or time line that you might have this game on the shelves at our favorite game stores? Also, will there be a construction a system so we will be able to build our own ship? I’m hoping that there will be a construction system.
Glad you found the page! We don’t have a concrete release date as of yet beyond “end of year.” Once we get closer and finalize such details we’ll get that information posted. As for construction rules, the current plans do not include a complete construction system. Instead it’s a customization system that allows for nips and tucks to existing designs so players can create more unique designs.
Customization might be fun for a bit but, it will not be long for the masses want a full blown construction system. Well when your ready I would not mind putting my name in the hat for play testing.