Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: Patrice on 28 October 2010, 07:21:01 PM
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Hi everybody.
I do not know if you have seen the photos of the VERY BIG pirate battle (28 mm) that happened in Bordeaux (south-west France) three weeks ago.
128 m2 of table, and more than 30 players (on two days) representing pirates, and French, Spanish, and English navies :)
Many pics here (comments are in French):
http://argad.forumculture.net/louis-xiv-pirates-f7/week-end-pirate-des-caraibesle-reportage-t175.htm
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That looked like a great way to spend a weekend!
Not reading French and I can only assume that ships moved from table to table as they sailed around?
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Yes they did. I was a bit uneasy about that before attending, but in fact it was not a problem in the game.
The main problem for players is that you don't look at the next table often enough, and sometimes a ship comes near you before you noticed it was already approaching on the other table. But movement from one table to another (and even firing from one table at another) was no difficulty.
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Vous ne seriez pas un peu mégalo dans votre club de wargames? ;)
Ceci étant dit "mégalo" et "wargames" vont très bien ensemble selon moi… lol
It look like a very nice game. I wish I could attend something like that one day 8)
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What a fantastic idea for a game :D Would it be possible for you to give us an idea of the figure/boat/building ranges there?
cheers
James
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:o :o :o :o :-* :-* :-*
Totally Freaking awesome!!!!!!!!
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Well, Jimbibbly it was all 25/28 mm ranges but there was a mixture of different things, depending on what the players brought with them. Pirates and Marines soldiers were a mix of Foundry, Old Glory, Front Rank, etc. Many ships have been built by their owners, a few other were modified (very nicely) from Megablocks pirate ship, etc. Same thing for the buildings : many had been created by players, many others had been purchased.
Add that some players were most interested in "pirate" free adventures, but that some others (including myself) were looking for a re-creation of a good-humoured historical context (c.1700 in the Carribean)...but there was fun for all.
Some more links about fortress construction and ship construction, etc (I am afraid it's all in french, but there are many pics):
http://argad.forumculture.net/louis-xiv-pirates-f7/castillo-de-san-marcos-t94.htm
http://euthanasor-wargamesetmodelisme.blogspot.com/
http://argad.forumculture.net/louis-xiv-pirates-f7/l-oiseau-blanc-a-l-horizon-t127.htm
http://argad.forumculture.net/decors-f10/auberge-medievale-t153.htm
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Thanks for the reply, I shall peruse those links at a later date :)
cheers
James
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All of those links looks great.
I just wish there was a translation for them...not being able to read French...
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That looks like it was a lot of fun! This my favourite picture by far though:
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/heb/graine-pisse2.jpg
The rest is very, very good though. I can't believe the scale of the damn thing!
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What an awesome game!! And the vision to set up a weekend of such epic proportions. The photography in such a setting really shows the work that went into and the action shots along the way.
Fortunately Google Chrome provided me with a translation so I did not have to challenge my school/tourist French. A couple of questions; You said that for the naval battles you used a local rule set - Turtles to Trafalgar. Is that available for our own use as we struggle to enjoy LOTHS as a ship to ship system? And what manufacturer is the English Poleacre? With linage dating back to Arab Feluccas, dreams of a decent Arab Pirate/Corsair list and ship surface.
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Fantastic! How dfo you say "Avast, me hearties!" in French?
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That looks like it was a lot of fun! This my favourite picture by far though:
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/heb/graine-pisse2.jpg
The rest is very, very good though. I can't believe the scale of the damn thing!
Mine too! What an amazing set up.
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Wow! This is really awesome! Thanks so much for sharing!
Just added the blog to my blog list.
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Great looking game, thanks for sharing it with the english speaking world. Tell me are the English the bad guys in French Pirate games?
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Surely the Spanish are the bad guys in all pirate games? :D
Although thinking about it, I suppose the pirates are actually the bad guys... ::)
;)
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Weren't most of them English anyway ??? lol
cheers
James
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What's the French for, "My God, you people are gloriously, wonderfully insane, and I am filled with pure envy!"?
Did I see working lights on one of those projects? Amidst enough stuff to fill a room that looks like a school gym? Maddness. Glorious, awesome maddness.
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That is amazing! Thank you for showing us!!!
What rules did you use for navigation and combat btw?
and were there any natives in the game as an encounter??
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Thanks folks for all these comments :)
I try to answer to some questions :
@Polter50
About the polacre: Bruno made it entirely, except some sculptures on the hull that comes from the Heller Chebec, more pics here
http://argad.forumculture.net/louis-xiv-pirates-f7/l-etoile-d-orient-un-nouveau-petit-bato-en-construction-t126.htm
http://argad.forumculture.net/louis-xiv-pirates-f7/le-soleil-d-orient-t147.htm
@Polter50 & elhlon
Rules for ship to ship (and ship vs coastal battery) were a local rules of the Bordeaux club, "De l'ile de la Tortue à Trafalgar" (from Tortuga to Trafalgar). It has not been translated into English yet. I think the authors are happy that people play with their ruleset if you can read french.
@elhlon
Yes there was a "hostile native" player - although not historical for the period in this area but quite fun.
To fight on land there was two different rules systems : LOTHS on the northern coasts, and Argad! (my own set of fast skirmish rules) on the southern coasts.
@...others
"Who are the bad guys"? There were no bad guys, all players say they are the good guys :D
Of course as all players were actually French it was easy for the "French" side to do old French jokes about the English (but not harm intended).
And the "Spanish" had no time to be very "bad" because they had special things to do: bring a convoy of mules loaded with gold from the jungle, load this gold on galleons, sail these galleons out of the table safely (to Spain), and utter menacing threats when players of other "nations" went to explore the same area of jungle in search for more so-called "Inca treasures"...
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Eh bien, je vous en prie, a copy of the rules in French and we will do our best to translate them and try them for ourselves? Merci en avance.
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... and were there any natives in the game as an encounter??
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_V0UnvLkaQ8k/TLWqJqZRwgI/AAAAAAAAA1E/5hpJ50lGw-E/s1600/P1010253.JPG
lol
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@ Wirelizard
Yes there are working lights in one of the scratch-built Megablocks ships. No use in the game but very impressive. :o
And it was not a school gym, but actually the Town gymnasium of the small town of Floirac (suburbs of Bordeaux).
Once a year the local Wargames club organizes there a large Games Festival which welcomes all games (and children games, etc), many local families are happy to visit this Games Festival, so the Town Council is very happy with the Wargame club and do not consider them as a bunch of weird people, so when the Wargame club needs the building to organize something... a bit weird... such as a big pirate battle, it is easier for the club to have acces to this building. This is good diplomacy !
@ Polter50
OK I give you contact with Philippe Pauzat the author of the "From Tortuga to Trafalgar" rules.
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This is astonishing and wonderful, a really glorious tribute to the golden age of pirates! The costumes of the players are as fabulous as the ships and forts, very inspirational!
The doubloons and other coins were cast and painted specifically for this event, right? Were they plastic, resin, or metal?
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Eh bien, je vous en prie, a copy of the rules in French and we will do our best to translate them and try them for ourselves? Merci en avance.
Please Poiters, I too would love a look at this rule set - after translation. I have NO language skills and barely manage English.
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Surely the Spanish are the bad guys in all pirate games? :D
<snip>
According to Hollyweird, they were!
I'd take that as a compliment, since nobody picks bland boring Milquetoasts as bad guys!
Gracias,
Glenn
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According to Hollyweird, they were!
I'd take that as a compliment, since nobody picks bland boring Milquetoasts as bad guys!
Gracias,
Glenn
And of course we all know that Hollywodd is 100% correct in all their historical movies! lol
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Well that was a nice little skirmish. How about a full man-sized game now ? ;)
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The doubloons and other coins were cast and painted specifically for this event, right? Were they plastic, resin, or metal?
The golden and silver doublons are some sort of metal alloy. I asked where they come from, the guy who brought them is asking to an other guy who have found them and who is asking to someone else... They believe it comes from some sort of boardgame, possibly CAYLUS.
The brass coins for small change are real money no more in legal use, centimes of French francs before we switched to the Euro in 2002.
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one more reason to move to bordeaux
or at least take the tgv to visit the town once more
realy great game, just a dream
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Wonderfull ! ! !
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I've already seen this before, but again:
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
(speeechless)
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Floirac (suburbs of Bordeaux)?
Weren't they mixed up in a war with Guilder?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Florin.Guilder.map.jpg)
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Prince Humperdink of Florin was trying to start a war with Guilder...
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That was a terrible war, I saw a documentary hosted by Peter Falk. There was like Three Casualties and countless cliché against humanity.
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Er... ? I am very happy to see this topic coming again, because I was in there ::)
...but ...is it necromancy (raising old topics from the dead) ? :)