Tallys Yo-ho

So, I did some arithmetic - ay, me pirate brain does hurt after that - and came up with the following numbers:

There will be 2,326 figures of people in the game as it stands now.  Of those, 144 are casualty figures, 88 dead folk and 56 men swimming about in the water or clinging desperately to flotsam and jetsam.  There are also 234 boat crews who won't be leaving their boats - they be seated at their oars and what not.  That leaves 1,948 men, women, and children roaming about the table whether by ship or afoot or horseback - ain't but five horses, though.  About 225 of those are the women and children; so, you can figure from there how many fighting folk there will be - though don't discount that some of the women might be armed and some of the men not.  No player will have fewer than 48 figures to command - unless they are the special player characters and what they will command isn't being revealed just yet.

Now, a photo or two.

What you see here is the small boat squadrons.  The group on the left shows the four national groupings - one boat for each ship and one boat for the governor and another for the military commander.  To the right rear is a group of six boats that belong to the pirates.  In front of those are two boats for the special player characters, one a piece.  And on the right are the game master force boats - one each for the assistant game masters and two each for the Game Master and the First Assistant Game Master.

The above shows one of the governor vignettes, the Spanish one I believe, with a few bits of furniture, these are from a doll house supply store in 1/144 th scale but functional for the purposes of our game.

You'll have to look close at this one to see that the second major sea mat is underway.  On the table behind it in the garage is the first one rolled up and next to it the two smaller matching pieces needed to account for the shrinkage.

And here is a festive shot of one of the pirate crews arranged into its composite forces of 12 figures each in four groups.  More of these folks in a moment.

This is just an overhead view of more of the governor vignettes.  If you look very carefully you'll see some maps on the tables.  Aye!

And now, a test for later edification and entertainment of the piratically inclined!  ...cue dramatic drumroll and trumpet fanfare...

And if it worked you should be able to watch a little movie of that pirate crew you saw earlier.  Don't expect Hollywood production values but do enjoy anticipating action shots from the play test - if I remember to bring the camera and have time to actually use it!

So, there you have a post.  There might not be any more posts for a week or more, maybe until after the play test because I really need to get a lot of stuff done before that.  A lot!  If I get far enough along, though, I'll provide an update.  I will try and take photos along the way for work-in-progress evidence.

Time to panic yet?  Not yet, but maybe soon.

"Closer to the wind, my boys," the mad eyed captain roared!