Tick-tock

Time marches on and little progress - though the figures are primed and based and ready for painting but who knows the when as far as when it will happen.  Been working on other projects with what little time I've had for the hobby the last year or so.  AWI, Old West, and now the renewed Boxer Rebellion project have soaked up most of my limited time.

Progress!

Well, a small bit of progress and a nice acquisition.  I have a new pirate ship and a smaller ship to join my fleet.  It is another two mantle piece ships to be converted to semi-water line.  I've also decided to go ahead and finish painting the last of the pirate figures in need of painting (I hope!).

This adds up to 358 pieces but that includes one horse and five pieces of artillery, 20 casualty figures, and one mermaid (not quite sure how to incorporate her into the games but what the heck, she makes one stand three figures.  I have four more mermaids and four sea witches or whatever they are but I just use them as game markers with a monotonic paint scheme).

I did the final sorting tonight and allocated bases for the figures.  Now just a matter of cleaning them, priming them, and pre-basing them before painting and texturing the bases.  And then sealing.

Oh, I've also added a Vauban fortress and a variety of structures as stated earlier for my pirate town (or towns).  I will be basing the towns and maybe building some town walls.  The fortress will be on two levels, a lower level somewhat damaged and the upper level in tact.  Rather than keep this as multiple pieces I'm just going to make it a single permanent model on a rocky base - and thus be able to get rid of the 'part' lines between pieces.  But I will be sure and leave a means of access for any attacking force to use!

So, progress on the pirate front, if small.  And I worked on the storage closet for these and other items today, instead of the floor and one shelf there are now a total of five shelves so a lot easier to get to things to work on them.

Progress is good.  Photos in due course.

(Looks like those hacking slavs are at it again, 245 visits from Russia in the last month.  Post-commie pusillanimous bastards.  Though if there are any legitimately interested folk from Russia you are, of course, most welcome.)

Pirate Futures

No, sorry, this is not an investment opportunity.

Rather, rereading about one of the mega games, I've made a firm decision.  Either a pirate game will be focused on sea action.  Or it will be focused on land action.  Trying to do both seems to dilute the effect.  Besides, if there is ship action, no one seems interested in the land action.  But I'm not giving up entirely on having landing actions.  Just have to make that a critical component of victory/success in a game.

And I am also working on improving the towns, probably incorporating into fewer towns to have two or three larger towns.  I'm thinking fewer factions might work better.

I do have some more pirates still to paint including an all female crew.  But that is all down the road a bit as I continue to focus on finishing the French and Indian War and get started on the Old West.  (And maybe make some adjustments in the ACW arena.)

Yes, still here.

Haven't visited in a while which means I haven't posted in a while.  Found some weird comments in need of deleting.  One day, like the Cherokee Nation, I will return to piratical postings.  Busy in other areas of life of late.

The rumors of my disappearance...

...are not true.  Just been busy with other things.  But piracy is still a part of my gaming life.  And, since I noticed it today, seems this little blog has passed 13,000 views.  No great shakes compared to some, but not too shabby.  Keep enjoying and when I can I will post something new more interesting than this minor missive.

Thought I'd Abandoned You, Did You?

Well, no, I haven't.  Just recently, courtesy of a sale, I ordered up some more pirate figures - and need to order a few more packs from a different supplier to finalize the acquisitions - from Rebel Minis.  And with these new additions to my collection, I have now finalized the organization of my pirates and their opponents.  Going forward, I've put together a six player game (that can quite easily accommodate up to twelve players) that will be a land based event with one large town defended against raiding pirates.  All of those cool ships are going to be relegated to table decorations - though the option of ship-to-ship actions doesn't go away.  I just want to make my "Base Pirate Event" a land warfare affair.

There is also the important change of adapting a published set of rules for my games rather than trying to create my own.  That is an option fraught with a diverse range of challenges.  So, I've settled on using Rank and File (from Crusader Publishing) as my rules of choice.  And not just for pirates, neither, but for just about everything I own.  Might be bit of a challenge to adapt to Viking era and Robin Hood, but not so much for my Four And A Half Musketeers since that isn't going to be a one-on-one swashbuckling event.

Not sure when I'll get the new figures painted or the hundred figures already in process that weren't ready in time for the previous outings, but they will get done.  This year my primary focus is on getting my French and Indian war figures 100% done.  Big challenge.  Biggest distraction is going to be my American Revolution collection.  That last is my favorite period and it sort of 'knocked me upside the head' that I really need to get it into shape for gaming.  Or at least a small portion of it.  Will take a long time to get that collection complete and fully on the table, even with highly focused effort.  Actually, doubt it will ever be 'fully' on the table since it is designed to cover the northern, main army, and southern theaters of that conflict - and provide for a rich and diverse fictional campaign based on history but adjusted for unpredictability.

Too many periods, too many figures, not enough time!

(oh, the new organization will be posted under the pirate tab on my Main Blog, SteepleChasing Zebras - but not right now, chores beckon)

Photos? Yes. But where? See below.

Here is the link to my other blog where you can find a post on the front page with lots and lots of photos - including many of my two pirate games:

http://steeplechasingzebras.blogspot.com/