Back To The Sea

Once again I find myself drawn back to Blood & Plunder (and other "Piratey" projects) after a break painting Miniatures for other Games.

I finally finished my Corvette - and am awaiting a day dry enough to spray it so the painting can begin.

I had great fun building this, and cant wait to finish it (weather permitting).

I also finished a 4-man Unit of Sea Dogs, and have just started a unit of Forlorn Hope.

(Sorry about the unpainted scratch built fort wall as the background, it was at hand when I took the photograph LoL).

Blood & Plunder: Raise the Black

Firelock Games Website

AVAST! A Birthday Haul (Part One)

Thanks to my lovely Mrs, I was able to secure my desired Debonn Crew for Freebooter's Fate - and whilst they came with a strange mix of 1st and 2nd Edition Cards in English (leaving me in a weird place for playing games LoL) they are truly gorgeous.

Minimal Cleanup as usual with any Freebooter Miniatures, its hard to tell how lovely they are "in the flesh" as bare pewter is really hard to take a good picture of (especially with my inability to actually TAKE a good picture LoL).

I'm so pleased (and lucky) to own these, they are now a cherished part of my Freebooter's Fate Collection!

Captain Morgan for Blood & Plunder

Captain Morgan has always been one of my Favourite Historical Figures.

Sir Henry Morgan born in Wales on the 24th January 1635, Harri Morgan was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. Based in Port Royal, Jamaica - he raided settlements and ships on the Spanish Main, becoming a very wealthy man, eventually purchasing three large sugar plantations.

Morgan died a rich man (on 25th August 1688), and as Lieutenant Governor - was given a State Funeral, and an amnesty was declared so that Pirates and privateers could pay their respects without fear of arrest.

Anyway, this is my Take on the Great Man - Miniature (obviously) by Firelock Games as part of their Blood & Plunder Range.

THE RETURN OF THE SON OF 'AAAARRR, THERE SHE GROWS!'

I've not blogged for a couple of days, I've had a fairly bad Sinus Infection - so I've been staying quiet and (when the pain allows) doing bits of hobby.

My Freebooters Fate Pirates are stripped and re-undercoated, and I continued with some other "Piratey" Projects - including doing more on my Jungle/Island Scatter Terrain for my Freebooters Fate, Pirate, and Ghost Archipelago Games.

As you can see, PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE - just the base of the Trees/Plants, the Ground, and the Static-Grass to do!

THE SON OF 'AAAARRR, THERE SHE GROWS!'

After a long time, I finally returned to my Jungle project - I've added a few more - INCLUDING some with ruins on them.

The start of this was shown in last years "AAAARRR, THERE SHE GROWS!" Blog Post, and "BRING A SPRING UPON HER CABLE!" (where I covered what to do when you run out of bitz) - these showed the initial foray into using the old GW Jungle Trees I had lying around to start building Desert Island/Jungle Terrain for my Games.

I've added a few more Trees and Shrubbery bases - even do some with ruins (I also plan to do some with just ruins and archaic edifices on - for my more fantastical games), and whilst not particularly historical in focus, the multiple use aspect of them makes them acceptable (for me at least).

Freebooter's Fate - To Musketeer or Not to Musketeer

 

Freebooter's Fate has always been a huge favourite of mine, I've got two Crews - Pirates (obviously) to 585 Doubloons (without gear - and a Choice of Two Leaders, Captain Rosso & Rubio) and The Cult to 310 Doubloons (just the core box, and two Sansâmes - but again without gear).

My quandary was simple - do I expand the Cult (which I'm quite happy to have as a small "once in a while" Force) or do I go for something new to a similar size as my Pirates.

I'd leap on the Shadows, but I missed their pre-order Window (and so they will have to wait for another day). But with my Birthday coming up, I figured it might be worth-while "putting it out there" among my Family (rather than just responding "Pirates" when they ask me what I'd like for my Birthday).

And seeing I'm also a Huge Three Musketeers Fan - I think my "want list" has to have The Debonn on it.

"Banished on a small, almost unknown island, on Désespérance. Drilled through decades of clashes in their homeland. Disfavored by the ever-changing new ruler in Debonn. Rundown and bored by the wasteland on their convict colony. The name says it all: Island of hopelessness. But they have managed to wake up from their lethargy. With a tactical feat, they have hijacked a supply ship and are now on their way to Leonera, because there shall be gold there, and thus their return to Debonn would not be far away"

But how "loaded" (with Musketeers I mean LoL) can I make the list?

Treville is my immediate choice for a Leader, the Model is gorgeous and fits in with the Musketeer Theme I want.

Hire Fee: 85 Doubloons

Next up will be the Deckhands - two packs stick out at me, they are beautiful sculpts and will be a joy to paint.

Fusiliere Set #2.

Hire Fee: 60 Doubloons (for the pair)

and the Vieille Garde Set #2.

Hire Fee: 50 Doubloons (for the pair)

So Far so good - Four Deckhands = Four Specialists (no Mercenaries in this Crew ;) )

As the Plan is to be as Musketeer themed as possible, there can be only four possible Specialists.

D'Arebousse - who, though a Female is the obvious D'Artagnan Character.

Hire Fee: 85 Doubloons

Aplantage, who displays the strength and confidence of Athos.

Hire Fee: 85 Doubloons 

Armond, the Aramis-esque Model.

Hire Fee: 60 Doubloons 

and last (but not least) Potée, who is a beautifully rotund Porthos-inspired Model.

Hire Fee: 80 Doubloons 

That gives me a Debonn Crew of 505 Doubloons (without Gear) - putting me within spitting distance of my existing Pirate Crew.

Well, time to hand my Birthday list over - its all very exciting!

Deckhand "Schmitty" Done (Black Scorpion Pirate Miniature)

I've not been too well recently, nothing serious (not the C19 Virus luckily) just a nasty cold - it sapped my desire to paint, which is a big ole' bummer.

But I managed to finish Deckhand "Schmitty" Done one of my Black Scorpion Pirate Miniatures (sorry about the picture, I'm rubbish at taking them - it will all look better as a group with natural daylight).

You will notice he's on the standard 25mm Base Black Scorpion uses, in spite of my excitement at using Blood & Plunder 20mm sized bases - I was informed by Stuart and Toby (my only opponents for Cutlass locally) that THEIR Crews are based on 25mm round plastic bases. So in my always ongoing desire to be fair, I quickly rebased mine the same (yes, I'm that much of a softy).

So much more to do!

Gary Chalks "Build Your Own" Pirate Ship!

Way back in issue 82 of White Dwarf, Gary Chalk wrote an article called 'All The Nice Dwarfs Luv a Sailor'.

The article that appeared in White Dwarf 82 gave rules for sailing and fighting with Ships and includes basic instructions for building said vessels.

As you can see, the ships are crudely built (but effective) - but leads me onto my next point.

These lovely Pirate Ships created by Gary Chalk . . . .

Later on, Gary did an article for Wargames Foundry's Magazine - about how to scratch build your own Pirate Brigantines - and they are lovely models, a little lacking with regards to the masts/sails but nothing that can't be sorted out should that be seen as something thats an issue.

They WERE on the Foundry Website as well for a while, but as of 2009/2010 they have been unavailable.

But for those interested - you can now download them here - https://drive.google.com/open?id=14nWCZw1sGAS9yDfg9eCzpjN-DACB6YcZ

Early Days . . . .

I've not painted for a couple of days, I kept fu**ing things up and was really feeling down about things. Tonight I gave it a go again, early days with these - and whilst I didn't make super fast strides - I feel better about things.

Lets see how I feel when I get to the detailing 😏

Plastic Pirates!

I've had these in my Cupboard for a while now (hence the state of the Boxes) - 1/72nd scale Pirates of the Caribbean (nothing to do with the Disney movie in that set sadly) and Zombie Pirates (Sets 1 & 2 which are heavily influenced by the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies, theres even a toothy Mermaid) by MARS (http://www.marsfigures.com/).

Unfortunately they only seem to Have the English Pirates set on their website currently - but here in the UK you can pick up the Zombie Pirates (set one and two) and the Pirates of the Caribbean sets for around £10.00 on Ebay UK.

The English Pirates is an interesting Set actually, which I must look into getting as it has a Canon on the sprue.

You get four Sprues that are the same for your Money, each one with 12 Models on it (the English Pirate set seems to come with 2x of two different sprues by comparison) - which amounts to 48 Models for just about a tenner (the canon counts as two models with the English Pirates) - so its great value for money.

These are all made from "Plastic Army Men" Plastic, and whilst not being the best Pirate Miniatures I've ever seen - they are far from being the worst either.

They have a charming but clunky style, that reminds me of simpler times - and as you can see, there are analogues for Captain Barbosa, Jack Sparrow, and even Davy Jones in the Zombie Pirate Sets. The Pirates of the Caribbean will most definitely require the most work cleaning up - which will seem less of a chore as they also have the most detail on them.

But I do recommend you base them on something with a little weight to them, either a washer or a penny - as they are very light, and MDF or Plastic Bases I fear just won't cut it.

Now, where did I put that 1:72nd scale Ship Kit . . . . .

Every Little Helps

I've not been able to get much done (with the Mrs being unwell and my Cat Zak being extra needy today), barring the stripping, basing, and undercoating some Black Scorpion Pirates (I didn't strip old Ben, I'm going to try and save him - I didn't fancy resculpting the hair and beard) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/pirate.wargames/

I also managed the Headswaps on my Redoubt Musketeers (EVERY face was Miscast, more of that in here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/musketeers.gaming/, I managed to sculpt a double chin on Planchette too, and will start on the hair and beards on the rest tomorrow).

HOPEFULLY I'll start getting colours on the Pirates sooner rather than later too!

Still, every little helps!

Makin' Bases

Blood and Plunder has corrupted me! 

I can't stand seeing any of my Pirates on other sized bases - the dinky size is perfect for stability and practicality!

So, I resolved to make some planked bases of my own using some off cuts of plasticard (although you could use reasonably thick card), a circle cutter, some green stuff, and my favourite tool - Patience!

(this will also be in the Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/pirate.wargames/)