Dawn of the Lead

In my previous post I lamented too small cannon, so I wanted something bigger. Remembering I had just the thing in my bits box, I got to work. Said “thing” is a WHFB cannon from the 6th edition boxed set, now 15 years old. It’s not in the best shape, having had bits glued, removed, re-glued and so on, as well as fairly haphazard filing and smoothing of mould lines and such.

Courtesy of me 15 years ago

The cannon itself is a big, ornamental beast as fits the gothic fantasy look of WHFB. This led me to thinking that obviously such an ornamental piece on a pirate ship must be looted from the Spanish. Seriously, is there another explanation? I think not. This also gave me the chance of using one of my favourite words ever, as I named it…

Cagafuego!

Impressive name, isn’t it? Of course, it has a historical background, as it was the nickname of a Spanish ship captured by Sir Francis Drake. As Wikipedia will tell you:

Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (Spanish: “Our Lady of the (Immaculate) Conception”) was a 120-ton Spanish galleon that sailed the Peru – Panama trading route during the 16th century. This ship has earned a place in maritime history not only by virtue of being Sir Francis Drake’s most famous prize, but also because of her colourful nickname, Cagafuego (“fireshitter”).

Seriously, is there a better name for a massive Spanish cannon than “Fireshitter”? I think not. It appeals both to my love of history and 10 year old’s sense of humour.

Cagafuego is a huge piece, and I’m thinking that its role on the ship is that it’s a piece mainly for intimidation. Due to the build of the ship and for practical reasons, it’s only going to carry some seven cannon altogether – much fewer than a ship of this size historically would have. Of these seven, six will be normal sized and Cagafuego much larger, so I’m thinking that it’s always a bit of a spectacle when it’s utilised. You know:

– Captain, they’re not striking their colours.

– Very well then. ROLL OUT CAGAFUEGO!

The only problem was that I didn’t have a carriage for the gun as the original mount was a field one, not suitable for ships. Having grown more accustomed to working with plasticard and coffee stirrers, I figured I’d try my hand at building the carriage from scratch, resulting in this:

Click for a larger version

Click for a larger version

It turned out alright, I think! Sure, anyone into things like history and realism will probably find plenty of things wrong with it, and there are some irregularities here and there, but to my fantasy pirate eye it looks as it should. The core structure is plasticard with an old Warmaster base underneath. The wooden bits are coffee stirrers, the wheels are cut from 10mm diameter dowel rod and the axles are decorative studs meant for clothing.  The smaller iron rings are plastic pieces from the original cannon set and the bigger ones are from WHFB orc weapons. As with a lot of my woodwork, this one also relies a lot on the “it’ll look nicer once painted” factor, but I have high hopes!

To cap off the post, here’s a comparison shot of Cagafuego and my existing Ainsty cannon as well as a Foundry pirate. Neat, right?

Click for a larger version