Purchasing Advice

I am wondering if anyone can advise me from past experience on the best way from now to grow my fleets and get what I want.

I'm looking at the new wave of ships like the Spanish and want to get some of the older packs like Victory and Constitution.
At least 12 various ships in total depending on availability.

The retailers I have spoken to here all give the impression it is way too hard for them to do.

If I order overseas from the likes of The Anchorage store for example - is there a magic number of ships or dollars to spend to make the cost of postage viable.
Is it best to make one large purchase or several smaller ones.
Do customs also then want to add to the cost of product that is hard to buy here and effectively drive the price up further without me knowing until they get here.

or Should I just buy what ships I can track down locally new and/or secondhand and repaint, reflag and rename to to the ships I want and then
the hassle of printing up new ship card and mats and hope eventually the new stuff does make its way down here.

I really wish I could just pop down to a local shop and spend all my money.

Yes it is a pain. I shop at miniature market when I want anything. I believe they ship internationally.

If I were you I'd get a first, 2 thirds, 2 frigates and an unrated. Then expand with more 3rds/4ths/2nds depending on your desires. Can't really go wrong with lots of thirds and frigates.

I echo Hugh's opinion here Alan.
As a rule of thumb you should have at least five 74s to each other type of liner until you build up your fleet to the point of being able to pop in the ships you want and switch 100s around as you wish. With seven 100 gunners and all the 74s they do plus a couple of repaints, and ships for both sides of the cards, I am still pushing this ratio over the top. On good advice I use a couple of the 100s for second rates now.

The Spanish and French did tend to have a few more big ships than we did, so you could add an extra one here. As for Frigates, no battle line employed them excepting as repeater ships, towing disabled Liners or harrying enemy escaping ships.
As far as I know the largest all Frigate action consisted of six a side, so you are never likely to need more than that.

Rob.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Well the deed is done.

The wait begins and I guess I'll see what suprises are in store.
Never shopped overseas before.

Ahoy Australians!

I am going to be looking at getting a range of ships probably old and new, I am sorry to revive a very old thread but seeing as the subject matter is a timeless one, it seems a waste to spam the forum with similar questions across many threads. I also assume the market has matured/changed in the last three years.

Does anyone here have some useful tips with where and how to track down SoG without needing to pay $20 postage a ship!

Ebay seems to have some local providers and from my quick searches online there are a few "Australian" retailers stocking limited supply. However Miniature Market in the US seems to be the best economical choice.
I would welcome feedback on, "MightyApe" and "Gameology" as they seam the best for Ship Packs.

Does anyone have any golden tips for me?

Much obliged, :hatsoff:
Geoff