Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: gamer Mac on October 12, 2015, 11:08:02 PM
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This is just a place holder for the moment sorry not had a chance to sort out my photos or thoughts on what went on during the day when 16 or 17 BLAMers got together to play a large pirate game with 16 or 17 ships four town and a pirate treasure island. Maddness :o :o :o :o
If anyone else has photos or comments to add don't resist and do it.
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Miaow ;)
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I had a great time playing this. Our table was utter carnage and we loved it! Many thanks to Gamer Mac and AndyM for organising this and having patience with us all.
A shot across the ships in port at the former Spanish island, now under the management of the Pirate Collective.
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Is that a shot of the pirate committee Steve? ;)
Thanks to everyone who played and especially dug out miniatures and ships for people to use!
Ps. Is running a 16 pirate game supposed to be that stressful? ;) lol
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Yes, that's the Pirate Committee on shore shortly before Grimm's British Navy ship rammed the dockside! The Spanish Governor saw a good business opportunity and the Pirate flag was run up.
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I had a wonderful time - and won a trophy for sinking the Danish Pirate Ship
loads of pictures on the blog but hear are a few
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j375/ErictheShed/Blam15/B68_zpsfr2tvrmy.jpg)
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j375/ErictheShed/Blam15/B66_zpsissl1phd.jpg)
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j375/ErictheShed/Blam15/B59_zpsh5gojjty.jpg)
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j375/ErictheShed/Blam15/B54_zpstezpx7ku.jpg)
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j375/ErictheShed/Blam15/B71_zpsu2ebgfiz.jpg)
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j375/ErictheShed/Blam15/B69_zpskkfxjhf2.jpg)
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Great pics. We want more :)
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Argh!
Some lovely ships there, matey!
:D
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Some more piccies
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And some more
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Just to mention...
I WON!!!
:D
I'm not called Captain Blood for nothing, shipmates - yarrrr!
(Actually, I was playing the Royal Navy along with Eric The Shed and Grimm... Turns out it was a lot easier to kill pirates and sink their ships than to sack towns and collect treasure! lol)
Congratulations to Colin and Andy for taking it on... It's stressful enough running an exhibition game for 4 or 5 people, never mind almost 20 people! You have the patience of saints ;)
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Congratz, Richard!
Darn, you even had some Japanese running around on that table!
Wonder who they belonged too? ::)
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Some lovely pictures there 8)
www.gallopingmajorwargames.com
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Wonder who they belonged too? ::)
:D
Perfectly suited to the period ;D
cheers
James
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I love the ghost ship! Brilliantly conceived! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
Jeff's Spanish are lovely too as is a lot of the painting 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Darrell.
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I love the ghost ship! Brilliantly conceived! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
Jeff's Spanish are lovely too as is a lot of the painting 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Darrell.
Thanks Atheling!
Theres details how it was built and a few more pics here mate....
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=81143.45 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=81143.45)
(http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a605/andymac2105/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-09-26%2008.55.48_zpsbgynuhml.jpg) (http://s1286.photobucket.com/user/andymac2105/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-09-26%2008.55.48_zpsbgynuhml.jpg.html)
(http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a605/andymac2105/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-09-26%2009.02.13_zps11iyedyl.jpg) (http://s1286.photobucket.com/user/andymac2105/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-09-26%2009.02.13_zps11iyedyl.jpg.html)
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BLAMMER (Blamee, Blamions, Blamites?.....)HELP REQUIRED!
Its been a couple of days now since the big pirate game. Colin and myself have been talking, and IF we were asked to run the "Big Pirate Game"tm that we'd be more than happy to do so. Working to that end we know there is definitely ways of making it better. What we're hoping to get from anybody that attended is what you thought of it and what can be changed.
NEGATIVE comments are more than welcome and will be taken as constructive criticism! :D
Eg. On the day, a couple of people cane up with idea of having separate initiative for each of the 5 tables. We decided not to change that on the day. The thinking behind it was that if we let one table go on, it would be ahead in terms of everyone else. If we let that table go on then stop at the end of their turn, when an event card comes up (fog for example) it'll come at the wrong time at thst table.
We have a lot of ideas, if we were ever asked again.....
1.Deployment- we thought that ships were able to start too close together. We're thinking of not letting ships deploy within 12" of each other. This means that the whole room will be spread out a bit more.
The other thought for this is to make shios deploy in the port they're affiliated with.
2.Missions-not knowing how the game was going to play out (and not being able to test it!) we decided to leave them out of our first game. We think, now, that they ciuld easily be fitted in and add a hell of a lot more interest. Eg. Pirates to kidnap the governor. Privateers to hunt down an enemy navy ship. A map that leads to treasure. So on and so forth...... Different for each ship.
3. Weapons- we kept it simples, but would it be more interesting (and not slow the game down any more) to have more than just pistols and muskets? Maybe just use whatever is on your models?
Cannons as well....do you want grape shot included?
4.Different Crews- what about having more choices for players? Merchantmen? Arabian pirates? Ghost ship?..... Kraken?
5. Table layout. Could the tables in the room be better laid out just for this game? Maybe a table in each if the four corners of the room and one right in the middle to represent open water?
These are just a few of our ideas. There is plenty more. We'd love to hear yours.....
Again, it was our first huge game and there was no way to playtest it, so it would be lovely if we could get some feedback so that in the future IF we're ever asked to do it again....we can do it better!
Thanks in advance,
Andy and Colin.
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I think the separate cards for each table is a good idea, when that table is done, it just waits for the others to catch up and if a ship moves between tables, it's card goes with it but at the bottom of the pile.
No shooting between tables, it's funny but can lead to confusion.
Maybe have the four tables with ports with a blank in the middle as you suggest and ships only start on the post tables but have to move through the blank to get to another board (does that make sense?). Also, an even distribution of ships over al the tables so a random draw of the cards but the placement is in sequence?
Keep the weapons simple but maybe have a difference in cannon, two extra cannon and the ship is slower and less manueverable two less cannon and the ship is quicker.
Grape shot for cannon? Fuck yeah!
Would the different crews have any benefits? Maybe one type of crew is better at shooting or sailing?
Wind. Everytime there is a wind change it moves one point around the compass instead of randomly?
Event cards are randomly determined for one table at a time?
I think you should do it again but not next year ;)
Just a few thoughts :)
cheers
James
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looks like you had a lot of fun :-* :-*
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Brave of you to ask, Andy :)
I think, considering it was quite an experiment, it worked pretty well on the whole.
The obvious drawback was that with 17 players and random card activation (meaning that for any individual it could be as much as 32 'other player turns' between moves), it took a long time between activations, with much hanging around.
My suggestions:
1. I think the biggest issue was simply that most people did not know the basic rule mechanics / stats / dice rolls required for movement / shooting cannon, muskets, and hand to hand combat. Once people started to get the hang of resolving these basic interactions for themselves, the whole game noticeably speeded up - although that was about 3 hours in!
The answer is probably having more games-masters. If we'd had a couple more umpires au fait with the rules (one per table ideally), and a couple less players overall, I think the whole thing would have sailed along very much faster (:D)
With the benefit of hindsight (that marvellous thing!) perhaps having sent out a basic 1 pager in advance of the movement / shooting / fighting rules would have been useful?
2. Get a megaphone (or a mic and mini amp/speaker). The acoustics of that room crammed with 25 grown men all laughing / talking / shouting at the tops of their voices, meant that half the changes of wind direction, random events and instructions went unheeded, unheard, and unimplemented in some cases. If we ever do it again, get a whistle (a bosun's whistle!). When the whistle goes, everyone has to shut up, pause what they're doing, and listen. Then, in the event of fog, becalmed (or similar afflictions where everyone has to do something in response to the event), instead of you and Colin having to go around 17 different players individually to resolve the action, people can just get on and do it for themselves, on their tables.
3. Again with hindsight, four larger tables would have been better than five slightly smaller ones. I don't know if we could have re-engineered the MDF board tabletops in time to do this, but the size of the tabletops and the sheer amount of ships on some of them, made manouvering very difficult.
4. And finally - a criticism of the LOTHS rules themselves. Cannon proved woefully ineffective. Of the five ships that spent most of the game on the table I was on, all of us suffered multiple misfires and lost cannon and crew to this. With only four guns per ship to start with, after a few moves, most of us were down to just a couple of guns because of endless misfires. This then made attacking / sinking enemy ships with cannon fire very difficult indeed. It therefore became far more effective to shoot enemy crews with muskets, than to attempt to inflict damage on the ships themselves.
This may well be historically accurate, but slightly spoiled the effect of ships blasting away at each other - they just weren't able to.
My suggestion is that if there's a limit of only four guns per ship, then a D20 with a 1 in 20 chance of a misfire, or even a D10 (1 in 10) would be much better. A one in six chance of a misfire was just too harsh and the result (the inability to shoot at things) probably contributed to slowing down the game.
But yes, the ability to rake an enemy deck with grapeshot would certainly help :)
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Thanks Atheling!
Theres details how it was built and a few more pics here mate....
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=81143.45 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=81143.45)
Thanks for that. I wish i had more time to spend in the 'builds' section :)
I love the putty work on the model- highly impressive!! 8) 8) 8)
Darrell.
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BLAMMER (Blamee, Blamions, Blamites?.....)HELP REQUIRED!
Its been a couple of days now since the big pirate game. Colin and myself have been talking, and IF we were asked to run the "Big Pirate Game"tm that we'd be more than happy to do so. Working to that end we know there is definitely ways of making it better. What we're hoping to get from anybody that attended is what you thought of it and what can be changed.
NEGATIVE comments are more than welcome and will be taken as constructive criticism! :D
1.Deployment- we thought that ships were able to start too close together. We're thinking of not letting ships deploy within 12" of each other. This means that the whole room will be spread out a bit more.
The other thought for this is to make shios deploy in the port they're affiliated with.
2.Missions-not knowing how the game was going to play out (and not being able to test it!) we decided to leave them out of our first game. We think, now, that they ciuld easily be fitted in and add a hell of a lot more interest. Eg. Pirates to kidnap the governor. Privateers to hunt down an enemy navy ship. A map that leads to treasure. So on and so forth...... Different for each ship.
3. Weapons- we kept it simples, but would it be more interesting (and not slow the game down any more) to have more than just pistols and muskets? Maybe just use whatever is on your models?
Cannons as well....do you want grape shot included?
4.Different Crews- what about having more choices for players? Merchantmen? Arabian pirates? Ghost ship?..... Kraken?
5. Table layout. Could the tables in the room be better laid out just for this game? Maybe a table in each if the four corners of the room and one right in the middle to represent open water?
These are just a few of our ideas. There is plenty more. We'd love to hear yours.....
A few resposes to your questions Andy:
The deployment suggestion and idea of starting at an affiliated base would probably encourage more movement.
Missions might focus people more, especially if some overlap and encourage different interaction.
I thought keeping the weapons simple was a good idea. Grape shot for cannon is a good idea. There did seem to be a lot of misfires! The estimating for firing cannon was fun, I'd keep that.
Perhaps a few crew options/skills/flaws would be fun but it'd probably be best to keep it simple. The idea of playing the Kraken could be fun!
I definitely liked the idea if moving between tables and it would be good to encourage that.
All in all I thought it was an impressive effort and I enjoyed myself. We started to pick the rules up later into the game but probably pestered you guys as bit much early on. A few more umpires would take some of the pressure off you.
Thanks for a great experience!
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Really inspiring stuff. More pics wanted. More! MORE!
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From my view as a outside playing part of this game I have to say, that "Legends of the High Sea" is not the ruleset for such big games. After a while to long breaks between your action work against your concentration. It took very long to move a ship to an island, than fight for your treasure and bring it to the treasure island. So it would be nice to find a faster way to handle it.
The idea is great: Four tables, moving between the tables, different targets (pirates, british navy, spanish, etc), great events (the octupus, the ghost ship, etc.).
When you count all these things, andy, there is only one result for you: Make your own fast rules and let's do it then again.
I start my pirates in the time we wait.
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Dirk I am sorry you got left on a table on your own. I am also afraid that they were our own fast play rules we used! We used LOTHS for the little extras.
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Speed of ship movement could probably benefit from an increase. I think it took 5 turns before any of the Pirates made it to the Spanish docks. Combat etc I think worked fine once people had gotten a hang on the rules, unfortunately many of us had never played so didn't know them. Cannons did misfire rather a lot though.
While I liked the idea, the two pirate ports went unused the entire game I believe. Having them as alternate normal ports would have spread the players out more and eased some of the movement problems caused by many ships.
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Dirk I am sorry you got left on a table on your own. I am also afraid that they were our own fast play rules we used! We used LOTHS for the little extras.
No, it was great for me, had more action than Schwarzenegger and Stalone in their movies (Octopussy, exploding gun, storm, merchantdesaster in the fog and finally the viking lord killing me -and all in few hours). But I think for you as the umpires it was very stressy and the flow was becoming slower at the ongoing game.
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Love the pictures... wonderful stuff, and that's from a guy who loves the stuff but doesn't game. Looking forward to more pictures. Richard
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Love the pictures... wonderful stuff, and that's from a guy who loves the stuff but doesn't game. Looking forward to more pictures. Richard
More Pictures I have. Not sure what's going on in most of them. If anyone can add some info please feel free
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_48_43_2.jpg)
Setting up
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_48_43_3.jpg)
the other end
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_53_30_0.jpg)
my pirate port un-visited during the game :'(
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_53_30_1.jpg)
Hu Rue's port
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_53_31_2.jpg)
The British Navy flotilla came about due to some bad rules that will be changed for the future. The poor single pirate ship was placed on the table first then pretty much surrounded by the navy.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_53_32_3.jpg)
Some of the pirate ships
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Very nice, and inspiring ideas... :o :-*
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I can confirm in the first photo Dean had already kidnapped my ship even before play began. :'(..... ;) lol
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In the first to photo I'm having a discussion with Dave as to the availability of the various vessels; "is this ship taken?" etc. I still have no idea who owned it!
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Epic! I'm building stuff up to make a pirate themed mordheim campaign and your street stalls are on point, I'll have to borrok the idea
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In the first to photo I'm having a discussion with Dave as to the availability of the various vessels; "is this ship taken?" etc. I still have no idea who owned it!
Did you take a photo Steve?
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Did you take a photo Steve?
Yes, I think i did. It's the one on the far right of the photo.
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Some more photos
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_53_32_4.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_57_46_0.jpg)
The Kraken attacks
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_57_46_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_57_46_2.jpg)
two pirate ships against three navy ships
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_57_47_3.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_5_57_47_4.jpg)
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Shortly after the third photo a navy ship lost in the fog rammed the island, smashing the jetty to pieces and ditching Mark's crew into the sea.
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I would like to point out that the Japanese contingent were purely there in an innocent capacity and were needlessly set upon by the Royal Navy :'(
Bastards lol
cheers
James
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I would like to point out that the Japanese contingent were purely there in an innocent capacity and were needlessly set upon by the Royal Navy :'(
What?!
IIRC you shot at me first as you slipped between two gallant Royal Naval vessels >:D
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What?!
IIRC you shot at me first as you slipped between two gallant Royal Naval vessels >:D
Gallant Royal Navy??? Is that the ones who were the first ones in the game to attack a merchant ship ??? ??? ???
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_00_20_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_00_20_3.jpg)
Royal Navy ship attacking a merchant ship
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A perfectly legal 'pressing' operation, M'Lud... Replacing crew lost in action.
:D
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I would like to point out that the Japanese contingent were purely there in an innocent capacity and were needlessly set upon by the Royal Navy :'(
Bastards lol
cheers
James
I seem to recall you also shot me from the adjacent table whilst surrounded by navy ships! lol
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What?!
IIRC you shot at me first as you slipped between two gallant Royal Naval vessels >:D
That was only because Giles shot at me first ;D
I seem to recall you also shot me from the adjacent table whilst surrounded by navy ships! lol
That was after it became a free for all >:D
cheers
James
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I can confirm in the first photo Dean had already kidnapped my ship even before play began. :'(..... ;) lol
That's a good point! That means I stole three ships in that game.... I need a bigger hat!
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Yes, I think i did. It's the one on the far right of the photo.
Sorry never noticed this reply the one on the far right is my brothers scratch built effort not even following any plans or anything :D
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Forgot to finish adding my pictures
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_00_21_4.jpg)
British port with the floating jetty out in the water which I believe caused some navigation problems. The jetty was just a bit of terrain for my table that got left on the table by mistake during the mayhem of the set up. lol lol lol
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_08_07_0.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_08_07_1.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_08_08_4.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_11_42_0.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_11_43_1.jpg)
Ghost ship attacks
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_11_44_3.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_11_44_4.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_7_05_46_0.jpg)
Pirates running from ghosts
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_7_05_47_1.jpg)
The pirates running to a priest for help with the ghosts. We had rules for fighting the ghost that meant it was very hard for normal crewmen to defeat them but someone found this priest character amongst the Spanish town and he was pressed into service. I believe he done quite well before the game ended.
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Great pictures, Colin.
I think they show the obvious mayhem pretty well.
:D
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_11_44_4.jpg)
Was the Japanese ship in 'stealth' mode....?
;)
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Was the Japanese ship in 'stealth' mode....?
;)
You're not funny you know...
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Great pictures, Colin.
I think they show the obvious mayhem pretty well.
:D
Was the Japanese ship in 'stealth' mode....?
;)
No sorry sinking mode
The long boat beside it is trying to rescue the crew
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Sorry never noticed this reply the one on the far right is my brothers scratch built effort not even following any plans or anything :D
Cheers Colin. I really liked it and picked it over the big resin ones.
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No sorry sinking mode
The long boat beside it is trying to rescue the crew
Aha!
I was not there on Sunday, so I had no idea.
No wonders Bibbles.....
You're not funny you know...
....is so touchy.
lol lol
At least we know where that tradition regarding Japanese fleets began....
:D
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Aha!
I was not there on Sunday, so I had no idea.
No wonders Bibbles.....
....is so touchy.
lol lol
At least we know where that tradition regarding Japanese fleets began....
:D
lol lol lol
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I really enjoy watching these pictures. I am just wandering where some of the ships are from?
The pirate ship (with the red Jolly Roger)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_11_43_1.jpg)
The small vessel to the left?
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/23/1912_17_10_15_6_11_44_3.jpg)
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Great looking game cat herding seemed successful feel free to post more. Would love to take part in something like this any hints on running a bit of cat herding of ones own?
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I really enjoy watching these pictures. I am just wandering where some of the ships are from?
The pirate ship (with the red Jolly Roger)
The small vessel to the left?
Hi. Those two are mine, and they were made by an outfit called Village Green, long since defunct, and I don't think anyone else ever picked them up. Which is a pity, because they are very nice models, resin with metal parts, very similar to the ex-Dixon (now Ainsty) ships. They did a Man O-War as well.
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Great looking game cat herding seemed successful feel free to post more. Would love to take part in something like this any hints on running a bit of cat herding of ones own?
Don't do it :D
Get some other idiot to run it.
If you want a copy of our rules pm me your email and I'll send you what we have.
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Oh, you paupers, you. A game with only 16 players and you think it was large. How about 32 players! Yes, 32, that's what I said (typed?). We did one with 16 main ships, a few smaller ships, a whole lot more smaller boats, a few native canoes, too. Five towns, one of which was the pirate lair. A volcano, Davy Jones his-self made a cameo with Poseidon and a giant Octopus in the wings, fog banks and even a maelstrom on stand-by. No ghosts or skeletal pirates, though. Chaotic. Heck yeah. Fun, sure. Problems. Yup. Rules? Our own. Play tested but still challenging. Worst problem was it was way too easy to de-mast a ship. Herding cats? That would have been too easy. Only two tables, though. At 6' x 22' feet - each. In 15 mm! Would I do it again? Of course, after I paint up some more figures I already own and prep a couple more already purchased ships, one very much a pirate addition. And need to create better towns - though probably fewer (maybe?). In future, however, I will greatly limit the ship action to force much more action on land to put to use the more than a thousand figures painted up for the events (ran twice at conventions).
The moral of all of the above I've just typed. From someone who truly appreciates what you've attempted and what was accomplished, I feel your pain, your frustration, and your sense of accomplishment. And I'm so glad to see you had similar challenges to what we went through - and we had one game master (me) and four assistant game masters in our first outing.
Very nice effort, nice looking ships and terrain. Gigantic games seem to be the order of the decade for piratical efforts - several seem to be floating about. Have to give the nod to the lads in France who seem to have set the record. But yours was fun to read up on. Great job.