Starting a Pirates game - advice needed

[Happymcclap]

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?

[Sangennaru]

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-)

[Cherno]

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

[War In 15MM]

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

[Sangennaru]

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!

[Furt]

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.

[War In 15MM]

Furt, thank you for the very kind words.  Richard

[FifteensAway]

Hold on there, not so fast on the all 28 mm band wagon!   

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! 

[Lowtardog]

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

[Malamute]

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.

[Happymcclap]

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

[Malamute]

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.

[War In 15MM]

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

[michaelsbagley]

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.

[Happymcclap]

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?