Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: Captain Blood on 29 September 2009, 08:06:39 PM
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Stepping up to my new mod responsibility for the Swashbuckling board, thought I'd take a quick look through recent threads here - and it makes for quite interesting reading.
What I notice is that in a quick (very unscientific) analysis of posts over recent weeks and months, the overwhelming majority of swashbuckling posts (viz - nearly all of them) concern...
The French & Indian Wars
And the ones that aren't F&IW related, seem to concern various things Zorro (can't think why ::) ;))
I can't really complain, since I'm in the process of building a ruddy great F&IW layout (and rebasing 100+ F&IW figures by the way >:() and Zorro is also a very appealing theme. So, nothing wrong at all with those as swashbuckling topics...
On the other hand, I'm wondering what on earth happened to everything else?
I did go through a period of trying to persuade people that ECW and border reivers were really swashbuckling core themes - but I don't think anyone bought it. :D
More particularly, I'm wondering at the sudden dramatic absence of anything much to do with pirates, cutthroats, buccaneers and the Three Musketeers (the occasional thread excepted)...
Clearly pirates were hugely in vogue a few years ago when Foundry launched their range, and underwent a brief resurgence a year or two ago with Legends of The High Seas, and Black Scorpion doing their excellent stuff.
But in the last few months they seem to have sunk pretty much without trace...
Which is odd.
Has everyone given up on pirates for good?
Are we all pirated out?
Or is it a fad whose time is well and truly done (or been supplanted by F&IW?)
LAF has always had a place in its heart for swashbuckling, although it's a bit of a minority interest around here these days...
Is anything likely to revive the fortunes of the swashbuckling genre, me hearties - or has its moment passed for good, like a galleon slipping into the mist off the shores of Tortuga, har harr...
Are there any up-and-coming swashbuckling ranges, periods, game systems or rulesets which are going to take the wargaming world by storm, in a flurry of blood, swordplay and lacy bits?
Anyway... Thoughts? Views? ideas? Suggestions? Tell me to shut up?
Just a topic for discussion really ;)
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I boarded the Pirate gaming thing back in 06, which faded quickly after I had painted my first crew since my then-gaming group didn´t get their act together and couldn´t get their Pirates painted up. Since then, they´ve been lingering in some figure chest, whereas my ship sailed off to another port to fight under the Prof´s flag.
Concluding, since we missed TLAPD: arrrh, matey.
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Our range (which was also featured in "Legends of the High Seas" by the way!) is still going very well and one of our biggest sellers so no lack of interest as far as we are concerned!
Jo:)
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Fads come and go.
Pirates will be back late next year, probably with even more supernatural overtones, as the hype for the 4th Disney Pirate movie pick up.
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The Black Scorpion range is also selling alright I think and there will be pack of Hired Sword (designed with LotHS in mind) released very soon.
I have just taken pictures of my recently finished Old Glory Brigantine today, plus completed an extensive review of the model so that one's coming very soon. :)
In my group interest for LotHS is slowly dying it seems and I can't think of another good pirates rules set right now... I think it's bad that Warhammer Historical doesn't support the game like they did with Legends of the Old West. I guess this is due to sales, but it would be so easy to release some additional articles via the website just to show that the game is alive and supported. I know the author would want to do more stuff... Speaking of him, I recently read on his blog that he will probably do some LotHS articles for Wargames Illustrated. I look forward to them.
I guess I need to find more rules sets for pirates to put my minis to more use...
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I still have hordes of pirates to do and my Highwayman figures remain untouched as yet plus 4 ships too :o one day...promise
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Ah yes - highwaymen! Now that's proper swashbuckling...
Didn't a couple of other people have plans for highwaymen games / boards / collections?
And / or smugglers?
Now that really does appeal to me... Possibly using those lovely 40mm Trident Designs C18th figures from the Miniature Service Center... ::) :)
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I've been trickling away at my Pirate project since I purchased LotHS a year ago.
28 mini's (Foundry) based and primed, waiting to be painted.
Ships are alot of work... I have an incomplete large vessel and the basic shape of a medium vessel.
If there were more players locally, who played other, non-GW games then maybe there would be more impetus for me to complete mini's and scenery for other games.
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That is the story alright. It is so hard to keep the games going strong without a decent pool of particpants.
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Here in Perth, Oz, we have the occasional game of LOTHS but rarely do we have a camera there.
I have just received a Redoubt Longboat with crew and no Marines that I want to use alongside 2 Britannia boats that have crew and Marines. There was a scenario in WI recently that had Asian natives up against a shipwrecked RN group. Now I just need to build the island for the 3 separate scenarios that were in the article.
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I just got done painting up about 150 pirates this summer, plus a couple small ships. The guys I game with are interested in doing a Legends of the High Seas campaign.
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Teddy bear pirates using Song of Blades and Heroes coming with pictures right after I receive my shipment of buildings from PMC. Just need to finish a bit of terrain before the actual game (the weekend after next should be free for gaming).
I also have set of Black Hat three musketeers in the to-do pile - having terrain to go with these might mean that I'll actually start painting them up too!
Marko
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Ah yes - highwaymen! Now that's proper swashbuckling...
Didn't a couple of other people have plans for highwaymen games / boards / collections?
And / or smugglers?
Now that really does appeal to me... Possibly using those lovely 40mm Trident Designs C18th figures from the Miniature Service Center... ::) :)
Guilty as charged, twas me :D
I have a box full of unpainted figures that I fully intended to use for Dr Synn style games smuggling down in Romney Marsh. I even purchased lots of PMC buildings and looked at using LOTHS so I could cross over into some pirate fun. Unfortunately the project is still on the to do list, overtaken by something else ::)
One day I will get it off the ground...
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Guilty as charged, twas me :D
I have a box full of unpainted figures that I fully intended to use for Dr Synn style games smuggling down in Romney Marsh. I even purchased lots of PMC buildings and looked at using LOTHS so I could cross over into some pirate fun. Unfortunately the project is still on the to do list, overtaken by something else ::)
One day I will get it off the ground...
Yep I think we both started looking at it around the same time. I still pick up the odd figure now and again for it, the Blue Moon Duelists pack were the last ones, very nice they are too. My PMC Buildings are now officially a town but have been seeing service in BCW lately...which thank the lord the whole project some 180 figures is done the first time for many an age where I have actually painted something to conclusion :D
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Still working on my Pirates here. Though I have been lacking with the photos as of late. :( Maybe one day very soon i will get my arse in gear..promise.
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I've got a plan. A tiny project that has caught my interest, only a handful of miniatures and I have "Drums and Shakos" in mind for it. Converting some figures right now.
Haven't seen it done before. I don't expect it to spread like wildfire through the world of wargaming, though. I find it fascinating, but it is very "niche."
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Personally, I don't think it's possible to have too much French & Indian Wars lol
Although, I think any of the C18 is high swash-buckling stuff, I used to play ECW/30YW period skirmishes with Once Upon A Time in the West Country. I too had a fancy for border reiving skirmishes, and as well as Elizabethan sea dogs and C17/C18 pirates, and late C17 generally is good stuff - I'd be interested in seeing any of this.....
But really, I can see why the F&IW is pretty much the natural choice of many of us, lots of different types involved, tribes with ancient enmities and all that aligning with the various colonials, wild majestic settings, and now some great figures available from.... now let me think........
www.gallopingmajorwargames.com
New Hurons coming out shortly, followed by our first packs of rangers :D
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I only check this board out for Pirate stuff... :D FIW, ect... little interest.
And the occasional Witch Hunter odd and ends...
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We just decided our new club's project for TACTICA next year: The Thirty Years War! So my first small vignette is finished shortly, and I will show you what else we're doing in the coming months. Just a small teaser:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_30_09_09_5_32_55.jpg)
Yep, photoshopped a bit; just for that Hollywood look ... :D
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Oh My! :o Admiral that is just beautiful ;D :-* :-*
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Oh My! :o Admiral that is just beautiful ;D :-* :-*
I'll second that :-*
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I've got a plan. A tiny project that has caught my interest, only a handful of miniatures and I have "Drums and Shakos" in mind for it. Converting some figures right now.
Haven't seen it done before. I don't expect it to spread like wildfire through the world of wargaming, though. I find it fascinating, but it is very "niche."
Fishguard?
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Nnnnn......nope. :)
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Admiral B, that looks, as we say in Anglo-Saxon, the dog's bollocks.
I just know that you are about to outdo me at my own game! ;) lol
Good!
I'm longing to see more pics and close-ups. As soon as you can please :)
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We just decided our new club's project for TACTICA next year: The Thirty Years War! So my first small vignette is finished shortly, and I will show you what else we're doing in the coming months. Just a small teaser:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/4/93_30_09_09_5_32_55.jpg)
Yep, photoshopped a bit; just for that Hollywood look ... :D
Oooh!
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Admiral B, that looks, as we say in Anglo-Saxon, the dog's bollocks.
I just know that you are about to outdo me at my own game! ;) lol
Good!
I'm longing to see more pics and close-ups. As soon as you can please :)
Thanks a bunch, lads! Just to clarify, the shot shows not my figures, they are from the collection of club chap Bernhard. And you know what, Captain? You know the painter. Yes, you know him very well. Indeed, he paints not exclusively for you, that mighty baner! :D
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Very nice Admiral.
Helen
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Never really got into Pirates but I have bought a few minis for use as ship's crew and I' did pick up Angus Konstam's Scourge of the Seas cheap in a second hand shop for light loo reading. I must admit I have been casting covetous eyes on the the big ship from War Store. Looks almost ideal for a Dutch descent on the English coast.
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Thanks a bunch, lads! Just to clarify, the shot shows not my figures, they are from the collection of club chap Bernhard. And you know what, Captain? You know the painter. Yes, you know him very well. Indeed, he paints not exclusively for you, that mighty baner! :D
lol lol
Ah yes, good old Mischa! I thought I'd seen those curaissiers before!
Well, I'd still like to see more shots anyway. The scenic setting is herrlich! Could be a scene straight from 'The Last Valley'.
And if and when you do get round to painting a few yourself Admiral, they will be well worth seeing, I'm certain of that.
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You're right! I would like to see more English Civil War Stuff and Pirates. Isn't that what Swashbuckling is all about.
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Can I ask what are the PMC buildings that Malamute and Lowtardog have mentioned?
Darkoath
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I must admit I have always dreamed of having a nice set of ECW miniatures to play campaigns with. My old gaming group used to play ECW all the time... though in 15mm instead of the one true scale 28mm! :D
Perhaps one day... but I think it would require quite an investment to do this...
Darkoath
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PMC Games are the people that used to own Total System Scenic (the ubiquitous fuzzy-flocked foam terrain boards). They also made an extensive range of hefty half-timbered resin buildings, broadly suitable for any period from late medieval through to C20th. Not brilliantly detailed, but ready-painted, robust and really quite cheap. And lots of them - like 20+ different models. Inns, barns, houses, stables, forges, tanneries, foundries, cottages - all sorts. I have quite a few of them as well.
PMC sold TSS three years ago, but kept the resin range available (only) through ebay (UK). They also keep up a rolling line of 'bespoke / handmade' pieces, again regularly available on ebay.
I must admit I have always dreamed of having a nice set of ECW miniatures to play campaigns with.
Perhaps one day... but I think it would require quite an investment to do this...
Well perhaps not if you went with the Warlord plastics - although having bought a box, I must admit they don't really grab me. It's not that they're plastic, it's more that the finish is too smooth and the poses are all a bit stiff...
Alternatively, Renegade are still doing fantastic unit / regiment deals on their very nice ECW range, which make these amongst the cheapest metal figures you can buy anywhere - less than 50 GBP pennies a figure - and amongst the best quality too. What's not to like? ;)
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Alternatively, Renegade are still doing fantastic unit / regiment deals on their very nice ECW range, which make these amongst the cheapest metal figures you can buy anywhere - less than 50 GBP pennies a figure - and amongst the best quality too. What's not to like? ;)
The only thing I don't like about them is they are too big to mix in comfortably with my Foundry and Perry stuff >:(
Apart from that they are indeed lovely figures and an absolute bargain to boot.
Oh well ::)
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The only thing I don't like about them is they are too big to mix in comfortably with my Foundry and Perry stuff >:(
Apart from that they are indeed lovely figures and an absolute bargain to boot.
Oh well ::)
Yes, it's a real bummer that there is such a wide divergence of sizes between Perry / Foundry and Renegade / Bicorne. TAG are kind of in the middle, but closer to Foundry / Perry really in stature, while Renegade are very big. You pays yer money and takes yer choice... :?
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I had heard that the Bircorne ECW are sculpted by the same person who is doing the Renegade ECW?
Also would anyone have a link to the PCM Ebay UK store?
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Here's what PMC currently have up on eBay in the UK http://shop.ebay.co.uk/pmc_games/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25
They don't have a store as such. They do have a constant supply of stuff coming onto eBay.
Yes, the main parts of both the Bicorne and Renegade ECW ranges were sculpted by Nick Collier. Also the entire TAG (The Assault Group) Renaissance ranges - a bit smaller, but otherwise compatible with Nick's stuff for Bicorne and Renegade.
However, both Bicorne and now Renegade have subsequently added other packs by other sculptors to their ECW ranges. Some of which are very nice... a few of which are not so good. And certainly stylistically really quite different from the bulk of the ranges sculpted by Nick Collier.
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I had heard that the Bircorne ECW are sculpted by the same person who is doing the Renegade ECW?
yep :)
Renegade- avoid the Scots and the Cavalry (the Cavalry is rather bland)
but go to town on the Muskets and Pike.
Bicorne- ooohh lovely, slightly finer than Renegade but they do mix rather well, even on the same base. The Cavalry is better looking than the photo's suggest, Bicorne also has a plethora of personality figs/packs to liven up your forces. Avoid the Irish,and maybe the Scots so I've been told.
Qindia Studios (http://www.quindia.com/studioarticles.htm) for a bit of inspiration.
and FREE Basic Baroque (http://www.dadiepiombo.com/bbaroq1.html)
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Here's what PMC currently have up on eBay in the UK http://shop.ebay.co.uk/pmc_games/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25
They don't have a store as such. They do have a constant supply of stuff coming onto eBay.
Anyone know whether their stuff can be gotten unpainted and unassembled? I'd have to repaint it anyway to make it look like I want and it seems shipping might be more reasonable if it can be mailed in a more compact state.
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Nope. Generally comes as solid lumps of resin.
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sounds heavy. :o
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:?
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is that a 'yes' or a 'wotcha talking about, willys'? ???
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is that a 'yes' or a 'wotcha talking about, willys'? ???
It's a :? (yes, I'm afraid solid lumps of resin are indeed heavy) ;)
Probably worth the postage though, because the product itself is pretty good value.
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I'll probably get some. Meanwhile, I've ordered some of the current TSS ones. They look good too and they are cheap as chips.
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It's a :? (yes, I'm afraid solid lumps of resin are indeed heavy) ;)
Probably worth the postage though, because the product itself is pretty good value.
They are hollow to an extent have a look at the photos on e-bay, however the roof and base is a chunky bit of resin
Top tip...never bid over the orignal asking price as the building will pop back up in a few weeks when they cast and paint more
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Looks like I missed the boat on the pirates discussion. However, my aspirations of having some Piratey table-top action have resurfaced with a recent purchase of LOTHS. I have been plundering the forums to get a few ideas on how to build some vessels, and I am putting all my effort into making a ship over Christmas! Ya-har!
I have also hoarded away a few Empire militia men from GW, as well as buying a box of Riflemen, and the Sartosan Pirate Captain: all fine miniatures for Piratey gaming. The new Riflemen/State Guard types have more of a Renaissance look to them, but will most likely be Privateer types... just not from the Golden Age. Ooh and looking forward to this fine lady making an appearance somewhere along the line: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat1490367&prodId=prod1120055
I'm also doing a bit of terrain that I hope to unleash on here shortly!
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My PMC stuff arrived yesterday, pic at http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=3577.msg169893#msg169893
hollow, painted black inside, all with removable roofs. I can take a pic to show what those look like "inside" if someone wants, but there's not much point to that actually.
Look really good, guess I'll get a couple more :)
Marko
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Just a thought here captain, maybe there could be a contest or project that the swashbucklers amongst us could participate in as well as draw others into the fun? Maybe a sticky with some sort of gallery for finished projects with a cinema poster format or something? (Sort of like your user pic) There are sure to be better ideas out there!
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I´ll second the PMC stuff. Great value (if you don´t consider the horrible postage costs...)
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Sorry, a bit late to this party, I have to agree with Cianty, ever since LotHS came out all I have heard from WHH was silence. I wanted to do another book for LotHS, but at the time, I was told lets see how the first book does. There seems to be a lot of folks playing LotHS from time to time, but I guess GW does not want to continue with any further books.
I have been writting up a few articles for WI which will have a ew new crews and nationalities in it. Also had a few more campaign ideas for the game, but these are a was off while I work at other projects.
And I will admit this, the last time I actually played LotHS was about a year ago when I ran two big group games at Adepticon in Chicago. I have not even taken my minis out or lifted the book off the shelf since then. Too many other projects going to get me (the author!) excited about playing LotHS right now.
But as someone else mentioned, when Disney gets the 4th PotC movie out, I am sure we will see a rise of Pirate games going on again. Hell maybe GW/WHH will decide that another book is warrented.
By the way, I have to give Cianty a big hats off for all the work he has done with his website talking about LotHS. It makes me happy to see other folks besides my own game group excited about LotHS. So thanks Cianty for all that you are doing...
Tim Kulinski
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So thanks Cianty for all that you are doing...
No, thank you, Tim! :)
I was going to write down some more story-driven campaign mechanics for LotHS some time ago but my pirate gaming group is dissolving... :'(
Maybe indeed when the pirate hype comes up again we get another campaign started. Until then I have another ship to finish on my workbench here...
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We're just getting started with Pirates here. :)
Our little group have just started picking up ships, pirates and rulebooks. So we should be getting underway with some swashbuckling soon.
I did plan to pick up LotHS from the time it was first released, but this delay is about the average turn about for me getting anything started. :D
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(if you don´t consider the horrible postage costs...)
And I'll second that part.. Mind you, its not their fault, its Royal Mail - they didn't overcharge me at all, its just really expensive to ship the stuff...
Marko
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Well me and a buddy are planning a convention game, so that's got me back into pirate motion. Right now I am working on some Spanish/Caribbean buildings for a town. After that we'll have to figure out the board. We have ships and pirates painted, not sure how many. The only thing we really lack miniatures wise is civilians and troops. That should be sorted soon. I'll post pictures of the project as things come together.
Joey