Black Seas and the USN

Here's my story. Many, many moons ago I purchased Black Seas and expected to dive into the "age of sail" in 1/700 scale and be a Horacio Hornblower reborn. Except, the wargaming butterfly that is I moved onto another project (anybody not see that coming?) way before paint met model and rigging sail lead to s a sense of frustration, so the box sadly languished in a dark place the loft. I did construct the free (well you had to but the magazine) giveaway frigate from the cover of a Wargames Illustrated magazine, but no further progress was made with a fleet. Then (several years later) a wandering eye in the local model store, sees a bargain but - end of stock - USS Constitution, the rest is predictable history (see below, "a love story starts" with an American super frigate):  

Size can matter (see below, a case of we only budgeted for six but as the Carling beer advert says it all, probably the best in the world - normal frigate [RN/French/Spanish] in the background): 

The master plan being that with the Master and Commander starter set and WI giveaway I have six brigs and four frigates, plus the USS Constitution ("old ironsides" herself - good timbers apparently). That means a basic USN fleet of two brigs and USS Constitution, a RN fleet of two brigs and a normal frigate and two brigs and a frigate for the French! Leaving two frigates in excess, whether to reinforce the French or British fleets, or make a Spaniard is the question (perhaps a wandering Russian frigate?). The only "possibly needed" expansion would be to include the bizarre fleets of the Barbary Pirates of the Mediterranean (where the teething battles of the USN were fought on the shores of Tripoli, as per the US Marines song) or the addition of a lazy fat merchantman or two. A small self-contained project, what could go possibly wrong, provided it gets off the painting tray. 

Note to Self: GHQ site - Napoloenic Ship Catalogue/Painting Reference

Useful as the GHQ site shows a painted example of each of their Napoleonic 1/1200 ships, click on ship to see gallery example:

http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/napoleonic-micronauts-battle-sails.html

Note: Good as a reference chart for my Navwar Ships

Navwar Napoleonic Ships 1/1200 (Another Naval Distraction)

What I love about Wargaming is the stuff that comes out of the blue and rekindles a "stalled" project. A great example of this is an unexpected conversation with my Redcar Wargaming friends, with respect to "what to do next" (after the Thirty Years War) and the subject of Napoleonic ships unexpectedly came up.

This was a project I had dabbled with and then stopped years ago, getting as far as painting a Royal Navy 74 gun ship (HMS Thunderer), but not rigging her [for fear of the threads] (see below):

Also on the stocks, but not so far along, is another Royal Navy ship, a 80 gunner (HMS Canopus, a captured Frenchman if my memory serves me correctly) just waiting for the moment of "inspiration" to take hold (see below):

Then follows the "silver fleet" still in their packets, two more British, three French and a Spanish (see below):

What I am finding ever so daunting is the prospect of the "rigging", I am trying to work out what I can get away with in a minimalistic sense. I am working down from my Langton Miniatures "complete" rigging booklet. Just a few lines to strengthen the sails so that they do not easily "snap off".

Any tips appreciated.

PS: The rules we intend to use are: Sails of Glory .. watch this space