HMS Surprise and Le Acheron

Even though I haven't played the game yet, only started collecting the ships ( I did the same with X-Wing and Star Wars Armada; now I have over 40 of the former and 15 of the latter):shock: I would love to play a "Master and Commander scenario with the HMS Surprise and the Acheron. What ships would you use to represent them? Has anyone made a template for these ships? I figured that the HMS Surprise could be a third rate frigate, but I'm not sure about the Acheron. I'll be watching the movie again later in the day, and may get a better idea. Nevertheless, I would appreciate your input. Thank you!

I just found my answer on IMDB. Acheron is built after the USS Constitution; HMS Surprise is a captured French ship converted to British lines.

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Originally Posted by garchilajr

Even though I haven't played the game yet, only started collecting the ships ( I did the same with X-Wing and Star Wars Armada; now I have over 40 of the former and 15 of the latter):shock: I would love to play a "Master and Commander scenario with the HMS Surprise and the Acheron. What ships would you use to represent them? Has anyone made a template for these ships? I figured that the HMS Surprise could be a third rate frigate, but I'm not sure about the Acheron. I'll be watching the movie again later in the day, and may get a better idea. Nevertheless, I would appreciate your input. Thank you!

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Jonas has a thread on HMS Surprise as he's created his own version. I'm sure he can share his log information. I'm not sure about the Acheron. I'm more of a modeler than gamer so the detail you'd need to recreate a ship log for the Acheron is beyond me. Cheers!

http://sailsofglory.org/showthread.p...light=surprise

My HMS Surprise is a shortened French 32 frigate. I cut away two gunports in length and added another furthest to the aft where one is hinted at.

The size difference between them is very big.

Attachment 14991

Attachment 14992

I have only just started adding a little paint on the sails of the Constitution.
And as a note: My Surprise isn't a perfect replica of either the historical or the HMS Rose from the movie. It's just a frigate shortened to work as a 28 gun frigate as the model allowed.

One of my favorite movies,got the special edition box set

Doing it for real:

Attachment 14993

Thank you,
Kenneth!

Talking of the game, even if you used an unmodified HMS Concorde vs the USS Constitution, you would have to severely handicap the Constitution or upgrade the Concorde to make it an interesting fight.

In the book O'Brian has the enemy frigate, a fictional 44-gun USS Norfolk, destroyed by a Typhoon instead of taken in battle. Only Hollywood would have a corvette defeat a 44-gun frigate.

I may be remembering it completely wrong (it has been years since I read it), but I got the impression the Norfolk was supposed to be an 18lbs 44 (more of a USS Chesapeake "44" than a true Constitution-class), still superior to the 28-gun Surprise, but not suicidally so.

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Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

I may be remembering it completely wrong (it has been years since I read it), but I got the impression the Norfolk was supposed to be an 18lbs 44 (more of a USS Chesapeake "44" than a true Constitution-class), still superior to the 28-gun Surprise, but not suicidally so.

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I can't recall in it the book, like you its been a quite while since I read it, but in the movie Acheron is mentioned as having 18-pounders. Like Chesapeake, Philadelphia when being build was referred to with a 44 gun rating but rerated at 36 guns. By the time of the War of 1812, when the book takes place, the United States had pretty much standardized their ratings. All 18-pounder frigates were rated at 36 or 38 guns. Only the big 24-pounder frigates were rated at 44 guns. Maybe O'Brian didn't put much thought into it when he wrote the book.

I got more the impression it was the Essex causing depredation among the British whalers in the Pacific that Aubrey was after.

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Originally Posted by Volunteer

I got more the impression it was the Essex causing depredation among the British whalers in the Pacific that Aubrey was after.

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In history it was the Essex that went into the Pacific but the ship O'Brian had Aubrey chasing in no way matched the Essex. O'Brian created a fictional event inspired by an actual historical event.

Attachment 15045

Here's the card I used in my Surprise.

Attachment 15046

And here's what I did.

I cut away the pink parts and used the gun from the cut away hull to add as a gun aft.

The stern was filed to get a more rounded look and then paint does the rest.

The main and mizzen masts were moved aft. I cut them off and drilled both the mast and the deck to strengthen the seam with a pin as is described elsewhere for the broken foremast problem. I also cut down a little on the foremast and the sails of the fore and mizzen masts to make the appearance of the ship a little smaller. HMS Surprise had a bigger main mast so that would be correct to keep as is or even add to if you can.

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Originally Posted by TexaS

Attachment 14991

Attachment 14992

I have only just started adding a little paint on the sails of the Constitution.
And as a note: My Surprise isn't a perfect replica of either the historical or the HMS Rose from the movie. It's just a frigate shortened to work as a 28 gun frigate as the model allowed.

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Once again a superb demonstration of your ingenuity Jonas.
I love your work, and thanks also for showing how you modified the Frigate.
Rob.

Thank you Rob! :hatsoff:

Thank you, all!