Pirates on Parade - and a Game with same

Saturday last I set up and ran a game of pirates using the Rank and File rules system - with 8 total players in the game, many of them young and one of them a woman (her husband played on the other side).  The game was at ConQuest Fresno in Clovis, California, USA.  We had lovely weather - if you like 109 degrees Fahrenheit (but it is a 'dry' heat!).

This is one end of the 5' x 16' table.  Yes, that is a volcano on the left and the ships on the right are 'government' forces but just a visual enhancement to the game which was a land battle.  Just above the ships on the right you can see a sinking ship but you cannot see that between the good ships and it there are a bunch of men swimming in the water with sharks circling in and a maelstrom in the middle of it all.  You can, however, see the figures used in the parade below.

This is the other end of the 5' x 16' table.  Again, the cool black pirate ship was just a visual but the walled town and the star fort did figure in the game to a degree.

And now: THE PARADE

This shows all of my pirate figures owned, painted, sort of painted (more below), and those just primed.  By pirate figures I mean the actual pirates and the figures for opponents.

These are part of the batch of figures painted for the game, mostly just dead but the governor's bodyguard and some command figures.  I did realize I need to change up my command figures.  My games are meant to be later 1600's to earlier 1700's but too many of my command figures are Napoleonic in nature - a reality attributed to putting on the giant club project game a decade ago and no time to get better figures ordered and ready.

This shows my casualties post ship wreck in the water along with circling sharks.  These are all from Peter Pig's pirate range.  The rest of the collection is from every 15 mm pirate purveyor I was aware of - all of them (from memory: Bluemoon, Peter Pig, Minisfigs, Eureka Miniatures, Rebel Miniatures, and Museum Miniatures; there may have been others but all I can think of as I type).  There are over 100 total dead plus more than 50 figures in the water from the shipwreck.

These were the dead painted for the project game years ago along with the governor's on the left and some more command at the bottom.  Again, a need to replace a bunch of those figures for the same reason as above.

This is one Command, six units of six stands for a total of 18 figures per unit - and in this case 'matching' casualty figures.  These are Native warriors - in this game standing in for Panamanian native peoples but could be Polynesian or Caribbean figures.  For the most part, this command was newly painted though 8 stands were already painted with some rework to ensure they matched to the newer figures.  Notice the color difference on the bases for the natives - yet I used the exact same sand.  The difference was that I used the wet paint for the natives but clear glue for the rest of the commands.  The natives will be used in non-pirate games for sure.

Just another of the sixteen total painted commands.  Four stands at the bottom left are part of the newly painted - easy to spot because no tufts of any kind.  When originally done back in 2011/2012 the whole tuft phenomenon wasn't in full swing, I made my 'tufts' by adapting model railroad scenery items.

Another command, the two front units were part of the pre-game painting.

Alas, I may have lost one stand of figures - been checking through my stuff and not found it yet, did put out an alert to others who went to the show with little hope of finding the stand unless it is in my stuff but unlikely, been through most of it already. (edit: apparently the missing stand was found by convention staff and I will see about getting it back)

Another command.

And another.

And another - ignore the wrong flags.  There should have only been pirate or Spanish flags but I ran out of time to get the flags cutout and mounted and added to the units.

More.

Another.

Yup, more.  The two units at the back are part of the new stuff.

And more.  Five of the six units here were newly painted with the top unit having two added figures to bring it up to 18.  I was gifted four 12 figure units by a fellow gamer some years ago and realized I could create three new 18 figure units (my standard for this collection) by just adding two figures to each group of 16.  I also changed the cuff colors to ensure all figures had the same color.

More.

Originally, there were British, French, Dutch, and Spanish units plus pirates and Colonists for the club game ten years ago.  I am reworking that into Spanish versus pirates only - maybe (more below).

The other two units where I added two figures to get to 18.

Getting tired yet of the 'mores'?

You may have noticed that some units have a Sand or Gravel theme across the front of the stands (bottom here) and then a color of flower tufts at the rear.  This command only has the two units at the bottom with the 'front' color but both have the rear flower tuft color (one is a bit harder to see but the yellow stands out).  This is my way of experimenting with Visual Labelling as opposed to obtrusive 'tags' spoiling the visual appeal of a game.

A command that did not get painted in time.

And another one.

This is the Native Villagers from various manufacturers, the old CUB range of women and I believe some more Peter Pig and a bunch of Eureka Hawaiians (I think) to provide unarmed villagers.  I will use some of these figures as "dancing girls" for things like nautch parties in India during The Mutiny.

The primed units here - with some start on skin colors - are all from Peter Pig: pirates with captives, drunk pirates, and looting pirates.  I think these will be used as markers in future games - haven't fully worked it out yet.  One of the packs has some female figures in "come on guys" poses that I shifted over to my Old West collection.

This shows the artillery park, painted and just primed as well as some 'dedicated' gunner stands.  Yes, there is quite a discrepancy between number of guns and gunner stands.  Many of the stands within all those commands above could be used or, maybe, I will order some additional gunners.  Many of the guns will be used to 'man' the start fort and the walls of the town with crews understood to be in place (well, maybe).

Those too few artillery stands and what will either be an artillery commander or the replacement stand - with some rework - for that lost and missing stand.

The entire collection again from the other end.

A side shot.  Those items at the top right of the white table in green and yellow and one black are five mermaids and four sea witches from Rebel Miniatures.  Not sure how or if I will use them in games; I am a historical gamer - though I allow for humor and what I call the Lark Side of gaming. [those black and white paws at the bottom right of the image belong to my "fur body" a neighbor's cat who just likes to hang out with me when I am outside or in my garage with the door open, I call him Mister Mooch Master Meows-a-lot which tells you much about him.  Keeps me company.]

And another.

A couple of shots at the setting up part of the actual game as players start placing figures on the table, repeat images but with a little more about the game.

The puffs of smoke on the volcano were used as turn counters.  Just to the left of the top of one of the ships you can see one of the two native villages - and beyond that the herd of cattle.  Since the game was "based on" Morgan's 1671 raid on Panama, the cattle actually had a role to play in the game - as they did historically.

The town had a full command of unarmed women and children who could be evacuated from the town - the boats in the harbor were there for that purpose.

We've all heard of Speed Painting.  For this game I adopted what must be termed Rush Painting.  In the two weeks ahead of the game I painted and readied 331 15 mm figures for the game - based and textured bases.  While that sounds impressive - and on one level it is - I need to go back and do some finish work and touch up on a lot of the figures to bring them up to my not so high standard but better than they are now.  The native warriors were in the group of 331 but they got fully finished except for adding the flower tufts to define each unit within the command.  I completed 19 new units, two of female pirates to add to four already completed units of armed women; four stands of unarmed females to complete a sixth unit for that command (all units had been in four stand units of twelve and got rearranged in June into six stand units); two new units of pirates; eight new units of government troops in white, five new and three where I had to paint two figures each to bring to 18 as above, and four completely new units of natives and then two additional stands of natives to bring the previously done eight stands to two units (not pictured above but I have one more unit of natives that is primed and ready but not yet painted - not sure how I will slot that into the collection).  So, Rush Painting means 'good enough' for the game but not good enough for long term.

All totaled, including the men in the water with the sharks, there are 2,016 figures pictured above  (2,013 if the loss stand doesn't turn up - turned up).  I may add or replace more figures on the command front but I will not be adding more commands - I'd guess I have the largest collection of painted pirates with opponents in the miniatures hobby; if not, I'd love to hear about someone who has more (multiple people combining for a game doesn't really count, now does it?).

For certain, if I run this scenario again, I will use a 5' x 24' or so table to give more open battle space between the two ends with all the visual appeal.  We had quite a traffic jam that created challenges for the game.  However, despite that, the Victory for me was to get everything that was painted onto the table - except for many of the casualty figures which were supposed to be used with one dead for every stand lost.  Not nearly enough game action shots above but enough for now.  All these photos were taken using my phone, before I packed it all way I used my iPad to take a lot of photos but those aren't loaded to this computer yet.  Might add them, might not.

Now, for the "more below": I realized that I can use a number of the units in this collection for an imagination which I will call Punctillia - a nation that prides itself on never being late for battle.  Well, there was that one time; oh, and that other time.  I guess it is that they take pride in almost never being late for a battle.  

When I get those three more commands painted, there will be 19 total commands of six units.  Hmm, with that one more native unit and those three "units" of specialty figures, I only need two more commands to round it out to 20 commands.  Would that be a "command" too far?

Flags?  I am going to experiment with stand alone flag staffs with 'weighted' bases that can be dropped into a stand to make it super easy to realign a unit's allegiance based on game needs.  Already have the materials for doing so.

The Practice Game - More Photos

This is an overall shot of the board laid out and ready to start play, roughly 5' x 6', again this is half length versus the convention game.

The extemporized town for the practice game with a few stands of civilians milling about.

The native village and the herd of cattle.

The minor fortification - don't know why the image turned blue, probably some quirk of lighting.

An action shot.  The dark blue marker indicates a charge declared, the light blue marker the target of the charge, targets can counter charge or stand and fire.

Another action shot.  The green marker indicates a morale reduction, brown would be routing.  The bottom unit shows how colored tufts identify a specific six stand unit.  The red chip meant some serious damage was done - my casualty figures were not ready to go.

Another shot, with many casualty caps.  The white marker means that unit will have to perform a morale check during the appropriate sequence.

And a last action shot.  That gray marker on the right means that unit has fallen to half strength and can no longer attempt to rally.

Now I need to get back to work on painting furiously to get more units ready for the convention version of this game!  One full command of six units with command and casualty figures just needs last texturing and labelling.  Hopefully several more commands will be done in time.

The practice game

 

This was the only photo I took with my iPhone, a bunch more on my iPad but I need a new cable to transfer those images.  May wait until the actual game to upload more photos since this was only a half size practice game.  From last Saturday in June, 26th.  The convention game will be on July 16.

Reorganizing figures without rebasing or relabeling

So, in preparation for my mid-July convention game, I needed to do some significant reorganization but there is no way I will have time for any rebasing or reorganizing the figures and also get some additional figures painted, some buildings painted, and some terrain pieces built.  

I hit upon the simple expedient of using 'talus' and 'tufts' to define the "new" units.   In some instances, rather than talus I will use rail ballast - it is what I have on hand in sufficient quantity and variety of colors. 

As a for instance, I have constituted four units of a similar nature each with six stands where previously there had been six units with four stands each.  For this grouping, I made piles of white talus on each stand the group identifier and then each unit is further defined by different colored flower tufts: white, yellow, red, and blue.  

What I like most about this approach is that it is readily visible without having to look at the lettering on the base of the figures and without any visually distracting labels.

I only have 72 more units to finish (that is 432 more bases to go)!

Then there are the units I need to get painted to add to the mix - but those might be easily differentiated by how the figures get painted, well some of the units.  The native units will require a bit more finesse but might still be able to use the painted colors for some to differentiate, maybe.

Pirate Harry Doorknockin's Raid on Paynomore

Putting on a pirate game at a convention in July so back to work on some figures - need 48 figures to round out 8 partial units, already painted, as part of a Grand Reorganization to fit the collection to my rules of choice per my own lights, essentially going from 4 stands to a unit up to 6 stands to a unit with some special units up to 8 stands.  Also need a couple of new units of a special nature and more dead figures and then there will be few a 'bonus' figures for the game.  No need to buy anymore figures, though, have plenty on hand, more than needed actually.  Also need to finish a bunch of native figures as part of the game, figures that will double for a Caribbean setting and the Pacific Islands at times.  Might try to finish some of the native canoes but that is a wait and see part of the project.  

I might offer some of the surplus figures as prizes during the game.  Not sure what I will do with there overly Napoleonic marine units.  Will still have a smattering of figures in out-of-period hats like fore-and-aft naval hats but I will just consider those fellows to be trend setters well ahead of their time.

I've got a bit over ten weeks to paint about 240-250 figures which is well within my range of productivity, more if I do the canoes but not too many more, a couple of dozen figures or so at most.

Will also be adding some terrain.  Need to order a couple of walls for my star fort model to create my variation of Panama.  And going to build a rope bridge across a canyon between two native villages.  Otherwise, I should have what I need.  Though I might paint up a few extra buildings and, if enough time, build some better jungle trees.

The coolest part is the game will put almost all of my painted pirate collection figures into a game - not a ship game, a land game.  May be a couple of ships as 'decor', maybe with some boats landed, but only as decor, not part of the game.

Don't have the final tally but once the 'new' stuff is painted, there will be a bit over 1900 figures including the multi-purpose natives.

And looks like I will take one unit out of the pirate collection and switch it over to my western collection as temperance women and a half dozen as bar girls or such.

To the devil drink a toast!

Alive and kicking

Just a quick note to show I am still here - old operating system wasn't allowing access and could not update but have new computer.  Finally!   

Avoiding a Year off

As in not letting a whole year go between posts.  Pirates not abandoned, focus on other collections this year: AWI, Pony West, Colonials.  Will circle back to the pirates at some point.