"Boat Sizes?" Topic

So I want to put together a template to show the size of the top deck of your average galleon-style pirate ship, for 30mm skirmish games. Anyone have any idea of what the dimensions would have to be, like just the length and width to be kind of accurate but also allow enough room for models to move around easily? I don't really care about stuff below deck, just the top surface area.

Pirates used what they could get their hands on, so you can grab any ship type from the era you want to do. Priates usually used smaller ships, so pick something that would typically have a crew of 20-100.

What period are you thinking? What part of the world?

The upper end would be Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge, at 100' long, 40 guns, crew peaking at 300. Assuming 1:72 that makes it 16" long, 4" wide or Kid's Adventure Galley would be 21" long, 5" wide.

Much more common would be a single masted sloop 10-12" long, 3-3.5" wide, maybe ten guns.

Thanks I can run with those those measurements :)

I was thinking of something along the lines of more like pirates of the caribbean than real history, like if the black pearl and flying dutchman pulled up next to each other and people were jumping across and swinging on ropes and having a jolly good time killing each other.

Just remember any sort of 30mm figure takes up more space on deck than real people do. I'm typing this in a room something under 10x10. If I were a 28mm miniature, the room would be no more than 2"x2"--and I'd be on a circular base 25mm in diameter. Four people in the room, absolute max. Now imagine how many real people might be using knives or coshes in a room this size.

1:1 skirmish terrain always needs to be overscale.

If you're doing Pirates of the Caribbean the ship is literally whatever size you want it to be. Make something you like and don't worry. Those ships, while small for naval vessels, were huge for pirate ships, and they didn't have 10% of the number of people they needed to operate them. Go nuts, have fun.

There are now some really nice 3D print ships for pirates etc. I'm no expert on that but I think you could simply size them on a program to what you want.