Aztec War Canoes

[Mark Morin]

First project of 2022 – Aztec War Canoes

Aztec War Canoes for the Spanish Conquest

Mark A. Morin

[Autodidact-O-Saurus]

Those look great, Mark. The 3d-model striations really do impart a carved wood texture to them.

Can’t wait to see the brigantines. Long, long ago in college I did a paper on Cortes’ use of the vessels at Tenochtitlan. At the time (and that was 40 years ago!), not much was known as to what form the Spanish boats would have actually taken. I’m sure more research has taken place since then so it will be interesting to see what you uncover.

–jeff

Self taught, persistently behind the times, never up to date. AKA ~ jeff
More verbosity: http://petiteguerre.blogspot.com/

[Gone Fishing]

Those have turned out extremely well, Mark. I’ve always thought games set on the lake featuring canoes and brigantines, or better, on both the lake and causeways, hold a lot of appeal and could make for some great games. Thank you for sharing this latest installment!

[Mark Morin]

Autodidact-O-Saurus wrote:

Those look great, Mark. The 3d-model striations really do impart a carved wood texture to them. Can’t wait to see the brigantines. Long, long ago in college I did a paper on Cortes’ use of the vessels at Tenochtitlan. At the time (and that was 40 years ago!), not much was known as to what form the Spanish boats would have actually taken. I’m sure more research has taken place since then so it will be interesting to see what you uncover. –jeff

Thanks Jeff – the challenge was that some striations are bad while others are good .  As for the brigantines, they are coming and are up in priority this year.  I’ll probably have to make some reasonable assumptions (as I have with the rules in the supplement that was updated on Sally 4th (if you want to check it out).

Mark A. Morin

[kyoteblue]

Very cool and they look good!!

[Jim Webster]

very impressive 🙂

https://jimssfnovelsandwargamerules.wordpress.com/

[Andrew Beasley]

That’s spooky – I was watching a program on Aztec medicine a couple of hours ago and one of the background pictures showed the lakes with in it!

I did wonder about rafts or canoes and lo, your project shows me the answer. The flotilla shots show how frightening this must have been.

Your project goes from strength to strength.

[Mark Morin]

kyoteblue wrote:

Very cool and they look good!!

Gracias!

Mark A. Morin

[Mark Morin]

Jim Webster wrote:

very impressive

 

Thanks Jim!

Mark A. Morin

[Mark Morin]

Andrew Beasley wrote:

That’s spooky – I was watching a program on Aztec medicine a couple of hours ago and one of the background pictures showed the lakes with in it! I did wonder about rafts or canoes and lo, your project shows me the answer. The flotilla shots show how frightening this must have been. Your project goes from strength to strength.

Nothing like an (up to 1521) impregnable island fortress surrounded by a lush lake connecting you to your own cities, conquered cities, and enemies you want to extort annually for wealth, resources, and people for slavery and/or sacrifice to create a huge empire.  I was struck that I had not seen any 28mm miniature battle recreations of a lot of the ones of the Spanish Conquest, especially with war canoes – so, here I go!  Appreciate your following my progress greatly.

Mark A. Morin

[Bowman Stringer]

Hi Mark,

Nice to see you continuing with your Tenochtitlan build. While I can’t say this with much historical accuracy, but I really like the flat bottom barges as the canoes. The canoes were primarily used for gardening the chinampas, and the wider design would work better for hauling equipment and produce. Plus Lake Texcoco was pretty flat and calm, so a flat bottomed boat would be fine. And your figures fit nicely onto these canoes! Lovely work as usual.

Ralph (Bowman)

[Mark Morin]

kyoteblue wrote:

Very cool and they look good!!

Thanks kyote

Mark A. Morin

[Mark Morin]

Bowman Stringer wrote:

Hi Mark, Nice to see you continuing with your Tenochtitlan build. While I can’t say this with much historical accuracy, but I really like the flat bottom barges as the canoes. The canoes were primarily used for gardening the chinampas, and the wider design would work better for hauling equipment and produce. Plus Lake Texcoco was pretty flat and calm, so a flat bottomed boat would be fine. And your figures fit nicely onto these canoes! Lovely work as usual. Ralph (Bowman)

 

Nice to hear that Ralph, thank you.  The flat design did ok, I did just need enough space for my 1″ bases (which drove the size mind you).  I’m sure that the freeboard on these would have been low to the water as well.  More Spanish Conquest stiff shortly…

Mark A. Morin

[Cacique Caribe]

Hi Mark

Beautiful. I bought similar-looking canoes on Etsy, for my 15mm “Caribs”:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/765674734/28mm-polynesian-canoe-set?click_key=25f1e6086e966a0a5e5699ee2edab720e9f3bd88%3A765674734&click_sum=bd78b691&rec_type=ss&ref=pla_similar_listing_top-1&frs=1&sts=1

I plan to use them for coastal raids, even in mangrove terrain:

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=127324.0

Dan
Loads of WIPs: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9593487@N07/albums/with/72157710630529376

[Mark Morin]

Thanks and I’d love to have some nice mangrove terrain!  These were 3D printed by a friend.

Mark A. Morin

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