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"Preferred Scale for Pirate Gaming?" Topic


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Action Log

22 Feb 2018 10:54 a.m. PST
by Editor in Chief Bill

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Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian12 Aug 2017 10:30 a.m. PST

Which size of models do you prefer?

Zeelow12 Aug 2017 10:43 a.m. PST

15mm

Piquet Rules12 Aug 2017 10:47 a.m. PST

Super models.

Winston Smith12 Aug 2017 10:50 a.m. PST

25/28mm of course.

21eRegt12 Aug 2017 10:54 a.m. PST

The One True Scale, 28mm.

Dadster Supporting Member of TMP12 Aug 2017 11:11 a.m. PST

28 but have been toying with using 15mm for ships and then replacing them with 28 when action gets close. Land adventures always 28mm.

ZULUPAUL Supporting Member of TMP12 Aug 2017 11:13 a.m. PST

28mm is what we use

martin goddard Sponsoring Member of TMP12 Aug 2017 11:23 a.m. PST

1/450th for ships and 15mm for land raids. The ships need to be small i feel because the actual boarding is when it is all over. The merchant ship tries to out sail the pirate ship . That is its only form of escape. It cannot hope to outfight the pirate ship at close quarters/boarding. Pirates do not fight other pirates because there is no money in it i fear. So a pirate game should either be based around a merchant ship heaving to in order to surrender or a big chase which either ends in freedom or a quick take over by the pursuing pirate ship.

all of this historical stuff is of course no use to a good fun Hollywood game of pirate v pirate, so maybe two big models just doing a boarding action with no movement might work best in 15/25mm.

Disco Joe12 Aug 2017 11:56 a.m. PST

25/28mm.

Shagnasty Supporting Member of TMP12 Aug 2017 12:53 p.m. PST

28mm

The Nigerian Lead Minister12 Aug 2017 1:14 p.m. PST

28mm. Pirates are definitely skirmish gaming and I like the bigger figures for that.

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP12 Aug 2017 2:36 p.m. PST

1:1
25-28mm
15mm

FusilierDan Supporting Member of TMP12 Aug 2017 4:31 p.m. PST

28mm for me.

Early morning writer12 Aug 2017 6:32 p.m. PST

15 mm – by the hundreds and into the thousands! Okay, not quite two thousand.

mrwigglesworth12 Aug 2017 7:02 p.m. PST

40mm

Lascaris12 Aug 2017 8:59 p.m. PST

I do all single based gaming in 28mm.

Personal logo Wolfshanza Supporting Member of TMP12 Aug 2017 10:46 p.m. PST

25/28

Henry Martini13 Aug 2017 1:36 a.m. PST

My 28mm pirates are figures.

Sydney Gamer13 Aug 2017 1:56 a.m. PST

Use of ships pushes logically in the direction of smaller unless you have very big table and storage space.

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP13 Aug 2017 4:26 a.m. PST

The cannon naval battle and the boarding action are two different things. The pirate game is all about the boarding action.

We used to play a ship battle first to set the initial conditions for the boarding action. But we found out, like pirates throughout history, the best outcome for a pirate that is behind the curve on the first couple of turns is to run away before they are disabled. Not too interesting; even in books on pirate history this bit (the overwhelming majority of reality of pirating) gets a couple "the pirates avoided the Fleet" sentences.

So we moved to a system with a few dice rolls to set the initial conditions for the boarding action (still with a bit of ship maneuver) and leading to drawing a couple "surprise" cards from a deck of mostly blanks.

Plus, most of my pirate games are 20th Century+.

Howler13 Aug 2017 7:07 p.m. PST

28mm for 1-1 skirmish

SeattleGamer Supporting Member of TMP13 Aug 2017 8:54 p.m. PST

28-30mm. I discovered long ago that I despised painting anything smaller, so for me, there is only one scale.

shaun from s and s models14 Aug 2017 3:20 a.m. PST

54mm (1/32)

Gunfreak Supporting Member of TMP14 Aug 2017 3:26 a.m. PST

I only game the last parts of pirate games. So I have a scaffolding and noose in the yard.

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP14 Aug 2017 8:52 a.m. PST

I only game the last parts of pirate games. So I have a scaffolding and noose in the yard.

Well, my friend, that's woefully inadequate! What about all the murders, scurvy, shipwrecks, mutinies, happy(?) deaths from a social disease, one-shot kills on Easter Sunday, letters of marque and reprisal, transition to legitimate business and government (which is decidedly, not legitimate business), and the rare dude who died of old age?

Lots more endgames, there!

Plus, I need a scaffold … did you build or buy yours?

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