Small Ships from Games of War

I recently posted about Games of War's ship's boats the Tender and Jolly Boat. The next biggest vessels are the small ships called Sea Dog. Currently there are two versions of the Sea Dog available: a "normal" version (GOW-PS002) - which I will refer to as "SD1" for the rest of this article - and an alternate version (GOW-PS007) which comes with an extended mast and sail configuration consisting of pre cut plastic parts and wood beams (and which I will call "SD2").

Pirates on jolly boats attack the crew of a Sea Dog

The model of the Sea Dog was completely redone a few years ago (I guess sometime in 2011). I bought the original version of the Sea Dog in 2009 and painted it for my Chinese pirates. The original model was a bit simpler than the current one. The most notable difference is the rear of the ship as the current version is highly decorated.

The original Sea Dog (left) next to the new Sea Dog (2)

The original Sea Dog (left) next to the new Sea Dog (2)

I have always been very happy with the original Sea Dog model. For a very low price you get a high quality resin model.

The small monkey sitting on the yard is from Black Scorpion's accessory sprue (currently unavailable).

The little monkey from Black Scorpion's accessory sprue

The new Sea Dog (SD1 & SD2) however, is even better - especially the extended variant, which comes with a big mast configuration, a bowsprit, a tiller and a highly decorated backside.

I added further details using the anchor from the excellent Ship's Kit (GOW-SA001) and the swivel gun (GOW-SA004).

I wrapped string around the bowsprit to represent rope welding.

The bowsprit with additional rope wolding and
the anchor from the Ship's Kit (GOW-SA001)

Note the swivel gun on the deck railing

The backside of the new model is much more interesting with its decoration. However, this is also a big challenge: The large flat space in the center has to be painted in some manner other than mere filling the area with a single colour. I took the opportunity to try my very first freehand. The result gave the ships its new name: The Mermaid.

The highly decorated rear of the Sea Dog (2)

Verdict

The current Sea Dog is a highly detailed, high quality resin model that comes at a very fair price (free shipping worldwide!). I totally recommend going with the extended version Sea Dog (2) which has an additional tiller, bowsprit and more intersting mast - all well worth the little price increase.

Lastly, let's hope to see some new ships from Games of War soon!