Building the Canoa and Piragua

The Canoa and Piragua were a different challenge to my more normal boat building.  They are dugouts, particularly the canoa, so I need to round them out.

I used the same build technique for both vessels, but the Piragua is 50% larger.  Artists mounting board for the base and sides.  The deck slopes upwards towards the bow when glued.

I measured out the bases.

Glued the sides.  The formers are temporary.

Making sure the lads fit.  My Caribs are a mixture of miniatures and manufacturers, some Maori are mixed in there too!

The Piragua nears completion beside two canoa. The hull is topped with an old boot lace to give the impresion its thicker than it is.  A layer of plaster and pva rounds it out before painting.

The canoa is flimsy but cheap.  Its hull Fortitude of 2 and Integrity of 3 means it only takes 3 hits on the boat to get a Critical hit and 4 hits to get 2 Criticals. Without any rigging, the Rigging Critical hit turns into another hit on the Hull. 

Its fragile.  Prepare to swim!

If you want to move at the standard 4" you must man the Sweeps, reducing the number of archers.

Worse, the maths of 9 figures per boat with units of at most with miniatures means either small groups, or large, with no real room to man the Sweeps.

The paddle stat is useful though.  The warriors shoot, the boat moves at 3".  (slowly)  The low profile is also useful, but the boat is unstable!

The Piragua

The Piragua stats have a respectable Fortitude of 3 and Integrity of 4, giving it fair durability.  

It's also low profile adding a +4 penalty to ranging shots when this ship is targeted with standard solid shot cannon fire. 

In terms of speed it has a 5″ sail setting and space for a group to man the sails, as well as a full 5″ turn and that is genuinely fast in this game.  When the Galley 4 trait is factored in the Piragua is really maneuverable. 

Using these boats in a game

I keep paddling and firing poisoned arrows.

Fragile though!

Useful inshore as the shallop sticks.