"Pirates - A new Project for the Shed" Topic

Hi Folks

Now that I have complted my French Indian Wars project (well almost) I have turned my attention to the next…Pirates. Updates on the blog will be posted as regularly as I am able.

I would welcome any info on boats, figures, terrain ideas etc

I have already invested in an Ainstey Man O War and the Pirate Horde from Foundry

Cheers Eric

shedwars.blogspot.com

Beautiful ship and a nice group of Foundry figures. I know many of those figures very well. Should be a really fun project! Richard

For more ships I would head over to Laser Dream Works:

laserdreamworks.com

I would start with a search of the Pirate board here on TMP
TMP link
There are sooo many great figures out there. As for ships you can not go wrong with the ones from Old Glory. Also check out thier pirate figures as well. I am assuming you are using 25/28mm figures? Any idea what rules you are looking at using?

VR
James Mattes

any suggestions on rules welcome

Was thinking obf 'cannon- a bilising' Muskets & Tomahawks

More 'general swashbuckling' than specifically 'pirates', but I read very favorable comments about 'Gloire' link
Don't forget Eureka 'Pirate Ladies' (the Black Scorpion and Freebooter minis are larger than 'average 28mm', unfortunately; Reaper does have a few nice ones).

Now, pirates often enjoy (?) unexpected encounters

Well, you've already found the Ainsty boats, so looks like you are in good shape there, since they are some of the best made, in my opinion, as far as looks go for the pirate era.

Games of War has some nice, reasonably priced stuff too, especially their wonderful little jolly boat.

I've been trying to see if we can convince them to make a longboat with detailing similar to the level of the jolly boat, but haven't received a response. Perhaps if you all swamp them with requests, they will acquiesce.

Old Glory, as mentioned, makes some nice vessels, ships, and reasonably priced cannon as well.

Foundry has tons of pirates too.

Dixon makes figs too, but since there is no longer a US supplier/distributor, their pricing seems a bit high to me, here in the USA. Looks like the international shipping won't be an issue for you.

As for rules, there are lots to choose from, including: Legends of the High Seas, Limeys and Slimeys, Chain Reaction 3 and the swordfighting supplement for it (can't recall the name right now), etc.

I recently played a game of 'Gloire' and I wasn't all that impressed TBH.

My problem with it is that the D10 random factors so far outweigh any of the modifiers that it seems a little pointless even trying tactics. Why bother maneuvering to get three figures fighting one when being outnumbered doesn't make any difference? And what's the point of a+1 modifier on things when a bad roll on the dice obliterates it?

I also thought the gunpowder weapons were amazingly underpowered. It's far too easy to miss and then the thing is basically pointless (taking a full turn to reload). IIRC a blunderbuss has a -2 modifer at CHARGE range, a good shooter might have a skill of 4, so need to roll 8+ to hit.. and this is at a figure who'll hit you with their sword the next activation; that seems wrong somehow.

I also thought the gunpowder weapons were amazingly underpowered

Maybe that's deliberate, to comply with the Hollywood canon? In most pirates / swashbuckling movies individual firearms are rather inefficient (as inefficient as the rayguns of the stormtroopers in Star Wars), emphasis is on swordplay. Specially 'heroes' seem to abide to the Barsoomian code of honor, despising pistols and resorting to cold steel.
But I don't know if the rules cover jumping from balconies (on a trotting horse or galloping carriage), rope-swinging Tarzan-fashion, mugs throwing, fighting with a bottle or stool… all essential features of such types of movies