Liever Turk dan Paap! - Dutch Privateers

[Mad Doc Morris]

Little absence from the forum, only to finish the latest foe of my Spaniards:
The bloody vrijbuiters from the Netherlands!

First of all, kapitein Johan Witveen, called 'De Witte Jong', from humble origins he's fought his way to captain of his first own ship, named Bonte Zeekoe - uhm, rather his first leased ship. Now he has to cope with Cornelis Maarten t'Maas, investment manager and supervisor of the shipping company "Argwaan & partners", Amsterdam.



Second, First Mate Willem, accompanied by his loyal monkey Notenkraker, and flanked by some recently hired seamen. One seems to be mute, the other one speaks in a foreign language no one understands. But, nobody cares as long as they are able to follow their Mate's polite instructions...



Third, even more rabble, no one dares to ask for their names. The guy on the right refuses angrily to have any similarity with any well known living or dead or - for God's sake - fictious person. No autographs here!



Some notes: I've tried to include some of the Dutch national colours (i.e. blue, white and, of course, orange) in the men's clothing. Maybe I'll add some details to their now plain white shirts if they're doing well (kind of battle honour). Then we'll see either if the rabble is worth to add their names to the ship's roll.

C & C are very welcome!

[Sendak]

I like the background tidbits on your crew of freebooters.

Usually I try to answer calls for C&C by asking myself, "what would I change / improve?"

I'm simply inspired by your work.

Thanks also for the suggestion First Mates make polite requests of the crew.

If I understand correctly these swabbies must earn their place on the crew?

If so, it's an interesting concept. Life is so ...unpredictable...even under a lease.

[Jase]

Love their paintjobs and love their names, especially the little monkey's (does he crack actual nuts, or does he do more... ).

Cheers

Jase

PS The Dutch flag is red, white and blue. Orange is not part of the flag, but can be added as a sort of pennant. It comes from our royal house, who are called Orange.

[Drunkendwarf]

If these men are gonna fight the spaniards, I suppose it is during "De Tachtigjarige Oorlog" (The Eighty Year War) with lasted
from 1568-1648.

The first version mentioned of the Dutch flag was orange-white-blue (1572), with declaration of independence in 1579 it became the first official flag. Within a century the orange was replaced by red, so by the end of "De tachtigjarige oorlog" in 1648 the official colours were red-white-blue.

So orange isn't really out of place.

DJ

[Overlord]

Very nicely done 

I particularly like the very first one, a great Mr Smee 

[Jase]

Ah, didn't know that. Maybe I should read up on my national history 

[Geudens]

Prachtig gedaan! De kapiteins van volgeladen handelsschepen zijn al aan 't bibberen!

(For the non-Dutch seamen: Very nice!  The captains of richly laden merchantmen are alreading shivering!)

[Vanvlak]

.... the other one speaks in a foreign language no one understands. But, nobody cares as long as they are able to follow their Mate's polite instructions...

I do believe he's Maltese. Does he say **** **** ****** or ******** a lot? If yes, he could be.
Grand job on all of them - especially the coat and shirt of the chap in the middle of the last row - particularly splendid. Cornelis Maarten t'Maas looks like a perfect grouch. 

[Mad Doc Morris]

  So many answers in such a short time! Thank you, mates!

Sendak, you're right, they have to earn it. Experience tells me, that games produce the best background stories. An ordinary crewmember might do extraordinary things, which earns him a nickname. Since this crew haven't seen the fires of battle, there are only some names for the characters, who should survive, at least, the first two, three times.

Jase, it really depends on the Mate's mood, which sort of nuts the beast gets to crack. Your comment on the National colours is absolutely right, my darn fault! Drunkendwarf has tried to restore my honour (thanks a lot!), but I've simply confused a few things. The crew is meant to be (roughly) from the late 1650s/early 1660s. Anyways, long live the  national stereotypes! 

Geudens, dat te horen doet me deugd! Laten we hopen dat de handelsschepen niet zijn volgeladen met soldaten en kanjers...
(Glad to hear that! Hopefully the merchantmen aren't richly laden with soldiers and cannon...)

Vanvlak, hm, good question. If Maltese people have a tradition of tatooing their faces, too, that might be. 

At all, dank je wel for your comments!

[Malamute]

Beautiful painting

[Poliorketes]

nice job, my favourite is of course the not-Ruud Gullit.

[DFlynSqrl]

I think they look great Mad Doc!  Well done.

[PeteMurray]

That is a fantastic band of freebooters! Great job on them!

[Mad Doc Morris]

Thank you again, guys. Always good to see other people have a little fun looking at miniatures painted by me.
Poli, damn you, the Zwarte Tulp may have thought to confuse you by a Mr Gibbs-wannabe next to him! Ah, those were great times for the Dutch national team (and bad for the Sowjets).

[theoldschool]

Very nice work indeed, the back story on the characters is a really nice touch.