[off topic] Roman Galleys --

This is totally "off topic" and has nothing to do with 18th century gaming . . . but it is certainly something cool! Besides, since this is "the ides of March" it is appropriate to mention this.

Eric Hotz (of "Larry Leadhead" fame) has designed a series of 1/300 scale Roman and Carthaginian galleys and merchant ships (for the galleys to protect) as well as Saxon ships (fairly similar to the later Viking longships).

These are all available through his "Roman Seas" website, where you can either purchase a CD with the plans or have them delivered to your own computer.

Because these are paper models, most sets are relatively inexpensive. Besides, once you've purchased the plans, you can print and build as many as you want. To learn more and see the many different ships available, go to:

http://www.romanseas.com/

I should mention that Eric also has a lot of 1/300 scale Roman buildings available as well. In addition, he will shortly be coming out with his own rules ("Roman Seas") for these ships soon -- he's been playtesting it a various conventions.

Finally, there's also a Yahoo Group for further discussion of his Roman Seas project. To learn more, go to:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/roman_seas/

By the way, most models are between 4" and 8" long and readily use 5mm or 6mm crews (Baccus is suggested although H&R are used for most photos).


-- Jeff