It is day eight of the advent calendar, I think the thumbnail gives it away a little but there is much more to be revealed inside.

It is time to open another door on the TTCombat advent calendar. This one is for all the Venetian dock workers out there, read more if you’d like to know a little bit about some of the new kits for Carnevale… Boats!

So because this is a behind the scenes post about things that are going on in the design room at TTCombat, I’ll let you in on a little workplace joke.

In the office we have a large whiteboard with the designer’s names on and their projects for the coming weeks. Everyone was assigned their design briefs and then it came to me. We knew we wanted to do Large ships and boats for the Blood on the Water expansion, so Lewis decided that the best person for this job was me. For my skill as an MDF designer I hear you ask? Possibly. Because you’ve worked on intricate kits in the past? Yes, but that isn’t the reason.

It was because of my first Initial and my surname. (check above the post title, next to the date).

Shallow Water Boats

When we started looking into doing boats, it was decided that each faction should have their own unique looking craft that still fit the conventions of the period. I would start with a smaller boat, able to fit in a canal and then work up to a larger more impressive ship that could be used as a scenery centrepiece.

Guild Dhow

The Guild boat is a trade vessel. Used for carrying goods around the canals or trading to nearby city states. Common in design, able to pass unnoticed by anyone who isn’t in the know about their other illicit activities.

Rashaar Sloop

The Rashaar boat on the other hand is loaded up with an entirely different cargo. One altogether more dangerous. Metal bars protect and contain marine terrors with, also handily providing the vessel its locomotion.

Patrician Brig

Each one of these kits was designed with gameplay in mind. You’ll find many new rules and means of getting around the battlefield in the new Blood on the Water expansion. You’ll be able to do all of them on these boats.

The smaller craft have at least one counterweight lift, located at the base of its mast. Able to launch a model from deck level up into the sails in an instant. There are more rules to be revealed about these boats but I have to leave a little something to be teased at a later date. Sorry not sorry!

Open Ocean Ships

We started with smaller boats and i did mention the larger ships. Well, here you are! Mixed together like this you can easily create an entirely naval board if you wanted to. What you see here is on a 3×3 board and theres plenty of space for a dockside, jetties or even more boats.

These static terrain pieces had a lot of similar ideas to the smaller ones, but I could go a bit more overboard (boat pun hah) with the design, since they don’t strictly need to sail in-game.

Just like the smaller boats, each larger ship is designed based on its parent faction.

As you can see from the image above, each one of these larger ships also have multiple lifts to get you up to the rigging faster. Higher up off the water level, the sides of the vessels are designed with rungs, allowing those that are swimming to easily clamber aboard.

Guild Galleon

As a terrain piece the boats are very playable kits. Multiple masts bring height and verticality to gameplay, allowing you to jump down on your enemies from above. Though that comes with a risk. Jumping from ship to ship could see you tumble from quite a height, a decision that should not be taken lightly.

Design & Construction

One of the concerns we had with the larger ships was the size. How big was too big? As you can see above, the ships are as long as three large street sections. Big enough to be a decent scenery piece or centre piece on any game board.

 

With all the curves the designs of these ships had to have and the height from the water, the construction was quite complex.

Using colours for the front and back (as well as the masts and prow) meant I could helpfully see at a glance what every bit was. The hull is naturally hollow (or else it would be a pretty weighty piece), instead, the deck is held up by individual slats that need to be glued together in a certain order.

If glued correctly, the construction is strong and the base of the ship is still weighty enough for a sturdy gaming surface.

As with everything that is still in production, all of these boats and ships are still subject to change.

Stay tuned to the community page for more boat updates closer to the Blood on the Water release. If you have built a venetian dock that is just crying out for a boat, or any other Venice boards, send some pictures to info@ttcombat.com and we will show them on monday motivation!