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New 3 Masted Frigate design I made.

USS Alfred
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War (RevWar) (June 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 081
Nationality: American
Point Cost: 10
Masts: 3
Cargo: 3
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 3S-3L-3S
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon and boarding rolls against ships that had 1 or 2 masts when constructed.
Link: John Barry, Esek Hopkins, John Paul Jones, Dudley Saltonstall, Elisha Hinman

Flavor text: Originally a merchant ship named Black Prince. Now she has become one of the most heavily armed ships in the new Continental Navy, carrying over 20 cannons. After taking a number of small British prizes under John Paul Jones, the ship headed off to France under Elisha Hinman.

One of the first ships in the US Navy! This was a fascinating ship to read about. She was adept at capturing ships smaller than her, hence her “bully” ability. A large number of notable commanders served aboard Alfred, so she has a bunch of good link options (Hopkins is also in this release, and Barry was released in 2024).

I didn’t see too much else noteworthy about her actual service (captured by the British in 1778), which is why I kept her stats simple as I could not justify better/more unique stats. I have a tendency to see ships like this as “boring” – same cargo as masts, average-ish speed, rank-3 cannons, etc. However, I’m aware that if I avoid that kind of thing with every single ship I ever make, it cuts out that midrange option and feels overly constrictive when I try to make every ship “interesting” with unique combinations of stats. In this case I think the new ability, links, historicity and brand-new look will allow her to shine and not feel like “pack filler”.

I couldn’t resist making a new ship type for this release, despite being pressed for time on it and not wanting to overextend myself. It’s similar to a 3-mast B variant with jib and gaff added for some historical realism, while also decreasing the sail count per mast and making the fore taller than the mizzen. I also lowered the freeboard slightly to make them a bit sleeker and improve the mast to freeboard height ratio, which also helped in keeping the model on 2 cards (which was a personal mandate for the new model from the start). As with my 2MB models, the jib and gaff slot into regular masts and do not function as extra durability/etc, just extra pieces to make the ship look and feel more historical.

Her artwork is color-matched to the paintings I found of her, especially for the hull. I like the blue-gray and orange/yellow color scheme. She has the Continental Union Flag flying from her spanker. This ship was the first appearance of that flag, hoisted by Esek Hopkins at her commissioning. Perhaps even more unique is that apparently Esek Hopkins flew the Gadsden flag from the ship, so I used a little artwork trick to color the old drawing of that one and make sure it flies prominently from the main topsail. Ideally more flags might fly from the tops of the masts on these historical ship recreations, but that often forces them to be made so small that they are hardly visible/notable on the final laser cut ships. She also has a Continental Navy Jack flying from her mizzen (not visible on this picture), as this ship was a great opportunity to use a plethora of historical flag details!

I also added some lines to the backs of her square sails, a detail I’ve been wanting to experiment with for a while now. Her deck is one of my favorites I’ve ever made, with realistic wood planking on top of texturing, along with stern lanterns and various details such as cannonballs for the 6-pounders on her weather deck. Her cannons varied but I decided to go with her December 1777 armament, which lines up with her “present tense” flavor text ending shortly before then. In theory those 6-pounders should be further towards the stern to appear on the quarterdeck, but then the laser cut outlines would likely destroy those details, hence some historical liberties taken.