Pirate Empire Army (cross posted with Swashbuckling)

[Sinewgrab]

Alright mates, here's the scoop.

I am in the middle of building an Empire army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle that has a pirate theme - I am using a mix of Foundry, Black Cat Bases, Reaper, Black Scorpion, and GW Free Company (as well as anything else I can get my hands on) to build it. The problem I am running into is trying to build some of the units - does anyone on here have a suggestion for how I can represent a mounted unit such as pistoliers or outriders while maintaining a pirate theme? They would not have horses - too much trouble on board ship, and doing something like 'shark-riders' is just stretching it too far in my opinion. Any ideas? I am fresh out here.

[Sendak]

Sea horses? Heh.

[wolfgangbrooks]

Some ships carried livestock for fresh supplies so... pig or cow riders.

Or piggyback pirates, either on their stockier mates, or the riders are midgets, or they could be riding ogre crew.

[Sinewgrab]

Sea horses? Heh.

(smack to back of head)

(exasperated sigh)

[Sinewgrab]

Some ships carried livestock for fresh supplies so... pig or cow riders.

Or piggyback pirates, either on their stockier mates, or the riders are midgets, or they could be riding ogre crew.

Hmm. That has potential. I have been playing with the idea of very small boats that *just* fit on a cavalry base and have one fellow with oars and the other with a gun. Can't find any boats that would work though, and I really don't want to make my own.

[JollyBob]

What about old gun carriages, used like wheelbarrows? One pirate pushing while his mate sits where the barrel would have been, pistols blazing.

That's probably quite stupid, isn't it? 

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

Being a fantasy themed army, would mutie pirates be on the cards? Like Pirates of the Caribean style? I thik there are quite a few models on the market, plus some fun conversion.

Im just thinking that ghost pirates that move swiftly might be the way to go?

[Gluteus Maximus]

See my reply in "Swashbuckling" 

[Sinewgrab]

Being a fantasy themed army, would mutie pirates be on the cards? Like Pirates of the Caribean style? I thik there are quite a few models on the market, plus some fun conversion.

Im just thinking that ghost pirates that move swiftly might be the way to go?

I am actually trying to keep from going too fantasy with the army - I expect I'll be running into the desire to use these in a crossover fashion, now that I am aware of a gaming group doing more than just WFB in my area. So muties, while interesting are kind of in the same realm as sharkriders (and seahorse riders, too  ).

[Rhoderic]

I think you'll just have to go with horses. You could convert their tack to be decorated in an aquatic and/or piratical theme.

Unless possibly hippocamps, but those'd probably fall in the same category as sea horses and landsharks.

[Sinewgrab]

I think you'll just have to go with horses. You could convert their tack to be decorated in an aquatic and/or piratical theme.

Unless possibly hippocamps, but those'd probably fall in the same category as sea horses and landsharks.

Yeah, I am kind of resigned to either using horses or trying to scratchbuild 2-man canoes.

[Christian]

You could always just do away with the knights

[Heldrak]

I think that maybe you're being to literal in thinking of cavalry as something riding on something else. If you wanted to represent cavalry figures in a nautical Pirate theme, maybe you could model them as duos of lightly-armed Pirates swarming through the rigging of a ship. They would stand out from the rest of your (infantry) army because they would be mounted on cavalry bases and they would have a distinctive look. Since they would be modeled as climbing on spars, topmasts, etc. they would be elevated and there would be little danger of your opponents confusing them with regular infantry figures. If you're modeling Pistoliers, you should give 'em all swivel guns (all the more reason to moel them in groups of two).

Knights are tougher, since I'm not aware of anything really heavily-armored in a Pirate crew...

[number9]

If you want and army that doesn't defy general WYSIWYG expectations, *AND* be able to cross over the fantasy line into historical, I think you either have to accept traditional cavalry as a necessary evil to your theme, or eschew it altogether.

I've never been a fan of clever proxy modeling that is firmly based on a particular environment. Pirates riding sharks for example, makes no sense on land, and pirates in bizarre land yachts doesn't sound appropriate in size or speed to cavalry without significant suspension of disbelief for the historical side of things. I digress.

I always find it far simpler and far preferable to concoct a plausible fiction around why I have made the army choices evident on the table. Perhaps your pirate force landed in a rural area expressly so they could steal horses and create a rudimentary cavalry force for an engagement against a larger settlement down the road.
Perhaps your pirate army has already conquered their own small island and uses cavalry as part of a standing defensive force, or as raiders against pockets of resistance?

Basically the potential of fiction far outweighs the potential of modeling to adequately justify this particular conundrum as per your requirements I think.