Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: Happymcclap on 20 September 2012, 09:05:23 PM
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Hi
Im looking into starting a Pirate game, using Legends of the High Seas(which i should have my hands on in a few days), i could do with some advice as regards which scale to go for 15mm or 25/28mm, im aware of a good few manufacturers out there and whilst i really like the look of Blue Moons 15mm stuff, (and the fact that its cheaper and easier to store) im starting to be swayed by 25/28mm due to their being a much bigger range of options out there, and the ships are cheaper than i thought.
So what are the pro's and cons of the two scales, and what scenary is available for them, and can anyone tell me how big the Blue Moon 15mm ships are?
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If you want scenery, in both scales, i think you should go for custom build scenery instead of resin ones! The prices are quite similar, and you can have exactely what you want!
And casually i'm a custom scenery maker! 8-)
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I assume you got those rules from the badger ;) Great.
I'd go for 28mm if I wanted to fight more boarding and land actions and 15mm if I wanted to have more ships fighting. It's a tough choice, so when in doubt just go with 28mm and get a bigger table ;)
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I've seen the Blue Moon 15mm/18mm pirates, and they are very nice. Despite that and despite the fact that I have been painting 15mm military figures for more than 30 years, I went with 25mm/28mm for my pirates because the selection of figures is so great that my ability to build a really interesting collection is simply wonderful. You can see some of what I have done with mine in my pirate gallery at www.warin15mm.com/Pirates.html
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for the 15mm i have from blue moon the cowboys: they are small, but the charaterization is quite impressive. on the other hand 28mm pirates are quite cheap, and... if you look on the newest page in the Bazaar, someone is selling the Renegade ones right now! ^^ hurry up!
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I've seen the Blue Moon 15mm/18mm pirates, and they are very nice. Despite that and despite the fact that I have been painting 15mm military figures for more than 30 years, I went with 25mm/28mm for my pirates because the selection of figures is so great that my ability to build a really interesting collection is simply wonderful. You can see some of what I have done with mine in my pirate gallery at www.warin15mm.com/Pirates.html
If you look over War in 15MM's stuff your choice will be made for you I'd say. 28mm for sure.
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Furt, thank you for the very kind words. Richard
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Hold on there, not so fast on the all 28 mm band wagon! lol
Here's a sampling of what you can do in 15 mm:
http://carobbeansea.blogspot.com/
I have Blue Moon, Peter Pig, Minifig, Eureka, and Rebel Mini pirates (at least) - and that gives quite a big selection of figures (lots of poses - over 100 I'd guess) to choose from (granted, the Blue Moon are big in comparison to Peter Pig but you'll fine similar challenges in the larger scale).
If you are more into painting figures, yeah, 28 mm, but if you want more of "picture" game, 15 mm will work just fine.
And all of that terrain was made from scratch - if you count modifying aquarium items as scratch building. Also check out Wingnuts threads for some truly amazing games in 28 mm. And Richard's very cool offerings. But don't abandon 15 mm out of hand.
Oh, Blue Moon ships - if I had the budget and were starting today, I'd buy bunches of their ships. And don't just look at the Blue Moon offerings, check out Old Glory 25s shipyard range in 15 mm, the Buccanner ships. Also don't neglect to hunt around the whole of the shipyard - I found a lot of the boats in the ACW range.
Now this, you can't go wrong with pirates. People love 'em. So, whatever you decide - dive in head first, just make sure there's plenty of depth so you don't bonk you head on the anchor! o_o
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I did it in 28mm however with limited time and more opportunity to finish something I would now be tempted to go for 15mm personally
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28mm for a skirmish game and I would go with the Foundry figures. I think it is the best of all the pirate ranges. Get your ships from Ainsty and away you go.
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Thanks for the replies so far, well it looks like its 25/28mm for me,so on to my next question, im aware of the following ranges(for miniatures rather than ships):
Dixon
Foundry
Crusader
Artizan
Old Glory
Black Scorpian
Black Cat Bases
Can anyone tell me how they compare size wise? I know from my Old West collection and using Foundry as the baseline that Dixon can be small and suffer from large head syndrome, but that doesnt bother me, and i know that Crusader tend to be on the larger size and Artizan on the slimmer side but again these things dont bother me, but i have no experience with Old Glory, Black Scorpian or Black cat Bases(Are these their own sculpts or another compaines that they sell?)
Im intending on picking up 2 small ships* and two crews(Pirates & RN), from the ranges i have seen so far, i would probably be getting some Black Cat bases stuff(they seem to do the specialist types- cook, carpenter, monkeys etc + Marines and RN) with some Foundry & Dixon mixed in (possibly some Artizan & Crusader too) but im open to suggestions and advice.
* Most likely Games of War and Minimi to start with, and depending on budget and interest, moving on to an Ainsty or Old glory medium ship
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Foundry, Artizan and Crusader are all fine together, Dixon will come in slightly shorter.
The Black Scorpion figures are much, much taller and won't mix well. I don't know about OG, but suspect they will fit in alongside the others as most of their ranges are about the same size.
Black Cat bases I imagine will come up slightly larger and bulkier than the others as well.
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Happymcclap, if you look at pics 58, 64, and 67 of my Pirate gallery you will see Old Glory 25s and Foundry Pirates in large numbers side by side. That gallery is found at www.warin15mm.com/Pirates.html
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I mix Dixon and Old Glory, and find they table together fairly well... And I also mix in some Wargames Factory WSS plastics as government troops, and find that those tend to be a little bigger than the Dixons or Old Glory, they mesh well enough for my fairly flexible tastes.
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Those pics look great and the minis seem to mix well. The draw back with OG is the size(and cost) of the packs, i much prefer being able to cherry pick, a big plus for Dixon & Black Cat.
Id heard Black Scorpian were large when i was collecting Old West stuff, so thanks for confirming that, thats them off my list(if they had a larger range, i may have gone with just them)
Black cat do a multi pose pack of 3 with additional weapons for £6 which could be really handy for LOTHS, does anyone have any of these? Do they mix with Foundry?
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Black cat do a multi pose pack of 3 with additional weapons for £6 which could be really handy for LOTHS, does anyone have any of these? Do they mix with Foundry?
They are slightly bigger and chunkier than Foundry, but not as oversized as Black Scorpion.
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I would go Foundry in a heart beat as well. Black Scorpion have nice minis but they are too large and a little static in pose for me.
Eureka do both some some Turkish and Caribbean types, but personally I don't like their Caribbean ones - a little too thin.
You can see some of my own Barbary pirates here http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=6667.0
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They are slightly bigger and chunkier than Foundry, but not as oversized as Black Scorpion.
Thanks, my crews will be a mix of Foundry, Artizan, Crusader, Dixon & Black Cat, as i dont mind slight differences in sculpt size, i'll be ordering the Black Cat multi pose pack ASAP so will post the contents for those who are interested.
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There's also Freebooter Miniatures for 28mm. Range is quite small, but they are gorgeous minis and there are more on the way.
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Maybe there is something useful in here:
http://cianty-tabletop.blogspot.de/2008/09/collecting-pirate-miniatures.html
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Thanks Cianty, thats really helpful though i now want the Hasslefree Pirate Captain!
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That's a great blog. I have about 50 foundry pirates i got really cheap from Col Bill. What is good for Royal Marines?
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Good to hear that you find it useful. Hasslefree recently rediscovered some "lost" copies of the limited resin versions of their Tom Meier pirate - great opportunity to get one/some. :)
I never bothered making Royal Navy lists because most manufacturers who have the 'bad guys' (pirates) also have the 'good guys' (royal navy). I really like the Black Scorpion models. Of note are Black Cat Bases' Navies because of their distinct (earlier period?) look.
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Good to hear that you find it useful. Hasslefree recently rediscovered some "lost" copies of the limited resin versions of their Tom Meier pirate - great opportunity to get one/some. :)
I never bothered making Royal Navy lists because most manufacturers who have the 'bad guys' (pirates) also have the 'good guys' (royal navy). I really like the Black Scorpion models. Of note are Black Cat Bases' Navies because of their distinct (earlier period?) look.
Honestly Cianty I have yet to see you do something that isn't useful..
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Our figures are larger that Og, Foundry and Dixon, they firing more with Gw scale, have you thought about using Gw militia plastics? . Our Marines were designed to be accurate to the golden age of piracy, and I was shocked when I found out the tricorne wasn't used till much later by marines,Hollywood has much to answer for ;D.
I hope that helps and if your unsure on size if you send me a pm I sure I can work out sending you a sample figure.
Ben
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Thanks for all the replies, help and pointers, and Black Cat Bases very kind offer, all very useful indeed.
Ive started work on building a ship in line with the LOTHS rules, despite not having 1 Pirate figure, but whats a pirate game without a ship! Besides i noticed my sons discarded IgglePiggle boat, saw that it was primarily Balsa, and that it was roughly the right length and width and smuggled it into my gaming room, where it has lost its wheels and rudder and had various chunks of wood removed, with the addition of a little balsa and dowel i reckon i'll have decent looking ship for little expense.
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I'd just like to say a big thank-you to Black Cat bases for sending me a sample figure of their Pirate range, its a great sculpt full of detail and just crying out to be painted, i'll definately be gettting many more of this range when i start my project properly in the new year, thanks again BCB!