A new captain onboard

[Zazel]

Hey guys, so i am completely new to this side of things having jumped ship from games-workshop..
Quick rundown of why i am here,
a friend on another forum is starting a "pirate" warhammer warband and the question was raised will they have a ship, so i started researching into this and stumbled upon some very nice models and lots of inspiration in these boards, abd I have instantly taken a shine to building my own ship and crew.

A few problems now face me however, hopefully you can help me out with a couple;
. I know of absolutely no one around my area who plays ship battles (UK west midlands)
. Nor do i know of what ruleset etc i should be looking for or playing (want to go 28mm)
. Also i am not 100% on the ship scale.. am i right in believing anything between 1:72 and 1:60 would be suitable

I have managed/persuaded the missus to have a shelf put up so i can keep my ship on but it came with the condition that she gets one too
any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance

[Galland]

Hey guys, so i am completely new to this side of things having jumped ship from games-workshop..
Quick rundown of why i am here,
a friend on another forum is starting a "pirate" warhammer warband and the question was raised will they have a ship, so i started researching into this and stumbled upon some very nice models and lots of inspiration in these boards, abd I have instantly taken a shine to building my own ship and crew.

A few problems now face me however, hopefully you can help me out with a couple;
. I know of absolutely no one around my area who plays ship battles (UK west midlands)
. Nor do i know of what ruleset etc i should be looking for or playing (want to go 28mm)
. Also i am not 100% on the ship scale.. am i right in believing anything between 1:72 and 1:60 would be suitable

I have managed/persuaded the missus to have a shelf put up so i can keep my ship on but it came with the condition that she gets one too
any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Welcome to Swashbucklers... I am sure you will find some very useful information in here, and also I am sure that most of your questions will get answers fairly fast! One nice way to go is to try to find some Megablok ships and convert them for gaming, several people in here have done that, and I am doing it as we speak. There are also, depending on what you want, some readily available gaming ships (there is a sticky at the top of this page) and I am sure you can get a nice model ship on Ebay, they are a bit more costly though.
Hehe, I particularely liked that your wife is forcing you to get a ship for her as well

[Andym]

We've started playing 'Legends of the High Seas'. It's from warhammer historical so it would be too different from what your used to. They ,very roughly, use the warhammer system. It's a good ,fun and quick game and the campaign rules allow you to bring your small pirate warband up to infamy. The main rule book even has templates to build your own ship.

[Captain Blood]

Har-harr. Welcome aboard mate 
Since ye be a new hand, so to speak, here's a quick run-down...

People have always played wargames with pirates, but the genre really took off in the mid-nineties when Foundry launched their huge range of Cutthroats. Old Glory, Redoubt and others also brought out pirate ranges, and for a few years, pirate games were all the rage, until (like all wargaming bubbles) the bubble burst. Various cheap and cheerful rulesets like Dropwing Games 'Privateer', came out to support this initial surge in interest in 28mm pirate action.

A few years later, just as the genre was looking fairly dead in the water, GW brought out Legends of The High Seas - a Warhammer variant ruleset for pirates. This gave the miniature pirate gaming fraternity a new lease of life - although fairly shortlived, as it turned out. Around the same time, a few other manufacturers, like Crusader and Black Scorpion, hopped on the LOTHS bandwagon, with some very nice new miniatures offerings. And other rulesets appeared, including the excellent Gloire by Rattrap Games.

The third phase (which we're now in the middle of), seems to be a kind of pirates / fantasy hybrid - probably stimulated by the mega-success of the POTC franchise with its undead, magic, mermaids, sea monsters and so on. Strangely, I don't mind this, because it is fantasy / pirate lore true to the setting - even though mythical / fantastical.
Personally, the thing I abhor, is the advent of pirate orcs, pirate elves and pirate all-the-same-old-GW-shit, polluting the (admittedly entirely made-up) world of pirates-as-we-know-them-from-books-and-Hollywood.

The leading peddlars of this new 'crossover' genre, are Freebooter and Black Scorpion, both of whom have large ranges of miniatures, and expensive, fancy, branded 'rule systems' to support their lines - 'Freebooters Fate' and 'Cutlass' respectively.

Personally, I use cheap and cheerful 'knock em down and drag em out' home grown rules, which work for me. But if you want a 'straight' pirates game, I'd look at something like Gloire or LOTHS. If you want pirate orcses and the like, then one of the new generation of branded systems may be for you.

[Silent Invader]

As well as the golden age there's also mid-18th fun to be had with privateers, smuggling and excise men!

Outpost do some mid-late 18thC as do Foundry, Eureka and others.

[Ninja]

Actually I have noticed several people on these boards working on their own rules. I am certain several of them might even share wih you.

As to scales your pretty much right on but I would say look to your minis first as they will dicate more or less which side of that scale you should be close to!

 Galland is totally right about the megabloks I myself have 10! (Some times you got to play a big game). Look for the posts by Sinewgrab and Astor to start!

[jscottbowman]

Welcome aboard.
I must confess I'm fairly new here myself, but would concur with what many have said.
Particularly Captain Blood, whilst I dont mind the PotC themed fantasy with my pirates, I am not keen on pirate orcs and elves (too warhammer-ish) - If I wanted that I'd play LOTR...(which I do, but not with many ships as yet!).

I would say that making your own ship is not that hard, foamcard, thin card and balsa and some wood glue and you are away. There are plans available online, and you can make a ship to suit your needs.

I would also mention, look to your basing of your figures. Keep them small so you can get a few on baord your ship! I use coins that are 20mm dia. across. If you use the typical 25mm round plastic bases, your figures will take up a lot more deck space.


Best of luck.
Scott

[Zazel]

Hey guys thanks for the advice and comments.

I think i will go with a mega bloks style ship, they look fairly good and i have seen some lovely work on these models in various threads here.
As for rules i think i will start off with LOTHS, i have played the old west once, so shouldnt be too different. I dont have a problem with orcs and elves but prefer to keep this gaming experience human.