Post by clive on Mar 5, 2023 11:51:40 GMT
Originally I was going to do this project in 28 mil. I bought some Foundry pirates second hand and started painting them up. then I realised how expensive 28 mil ships were going to be to buy.
I love eBay and on eBay I bought half a dozen Playmobil toy ships. the six cost me less than £50 including postage. however they were a bit big for 28mm so the project went into the doldrums.
then I thought why not do it in 54 mil? the Playmobil ships are ideal for 54 mill.
The Playmobil ships are actually really nice models, I repainted them using aerosols and acrylics, some of the original models came in strange colours, but it's easy enough to repaint them.
As for 54 mill pirates, there is a set made by Mars which is quite good, you can also pick up some on eBay which are made by a Chinese toy manufacturer called hing fat, the easiest ones to obtain are made by a company called Glencoe, you can buy these on Amazon UK for around £14.00 a box and that includes shipping from the US. these different sets are all scale compatible, the Mars figures are perhaps a little larger than the others. I've also bought some call to arms British Light Infantry from the American war of independence to use as royal naval marines, but I've only painted up a few so far. I also use AIP Boxers.
on the large ships I have a crew of 16, on the smaller ones a crew of eight.
In terms of rules I looked a couple of commercial sets, but they were all too complicated. I like a set of rules quick easy and fun to play so I wrote my own which are below.
I played six games with these rules now with different people add which one has been a lot of fun have been very pleased that the rules seemed to work well.
Each game has been complete mayhem, with ships being rammed, sunk by cannon file, captured and recaptured, in one game a ship changed hands three times before it was finally sunk! the rules give the players lots of different options in terms of whether they rely on cannon fire ramming or boarding to defeat their opponent, and using the fire then move sequence means that players really have to think about what the opponent is likely to do next. Even so the best laid plans can go awry if you lose the crucial initiative roll. we have played this both as a two and three player game.
Photos are on my blog -
www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/preview/7541996501728219722/8344547962239400555
Pirate rules
Sequence
Roll for wind direction - it does not change for the duration of the game.
Determine initiative
Player 1 fires and moves a ship and crew
Player 2 fires and moves a ship and crew
Etc.
Crew
Movement 8 inches, no obstacles
Firing –
50% of crew rounding up.
Pistols – 12 inches, Muskets - 18 inches
Hit on 4+, Save on 4+
No cover.
Result –
1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed
Combat
Simultaneous
Roll to hit 3+ depending on weapon skill.
Save 4+, captains 3+
Fail result –
1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed
Over the side – roll d6, 1-2 eaten by sharks, 3+ climb back up next turn but may not fire or attack.
Ships
Movement
Move 12, 18 with the wind behind.
Turn pivot on stern - galleons – 45 degrees no penalty, 90 degrees half move.
Sloops – up to 90 degrees no penalty
Ships may not turn on the spot.
Shimmying – ships can shimmy sideways 6 inches and turn 45 degrees
Ramming – galleon vs galleon, target 3d6 damage, rammer 1 d6 damage
Sloop vs galleon, 1d6 to both
Sloop vs sloop, rammer 1D6, rammee 2D6
Galleon vs sloop, 3d6 damage, rammee 1d6+2
Firing cannon
Ranges – short – 8, medium up to 16, long up to 24.
To hit – short 3+, medium 4+, long +5
Choose target – rigging/masts, upper deck, gun deck or hull.
Damage roll – 5+
Rigging hit – D3 damage, galleon - 12 points, sloop – 8 points of damage. Immobilized when points level exceeded.
Upper deck hit – d3 casualties.
Gun deck – 1 gun destroyed, D3 damage to hull
Hull – 1 average D damage
Hull – galleon - 20 points, sloop – 12 points of damage. Sinks when points level exceeded. Crew have 1 turn to abandon ship.
Boarding
Boarding takes place as a result of –
Moving parallel;
Shimmying;
Ramming (optional).
The attacker places his troops on the defender figures to figure. Both sides can fire just before combat is joined.
Boarding range is 3 in.
Winning
If there are less than 4 of a sloop crew alive and on deck, they surrender.
If there are less than 5 of a galleon crew alive and on deck, they surrender.
Crew in the water
Join the crew of whoever picks them up.
I love eBay and on eBay I bought half a dozen Playmobil toy ships. the six cost me less than £50 including postage. however they were a bit big for 28mm so the project went into the doldrums.
then I thought why not do it in 54 mil? the Playmobil ships are ideal for 54 mill.
The Playmobil ships are actually really nice models, I repainted them using aerosols and acrylics, some of the original models came in strange colours, but it's easy enough to repaint them.
As for 54 mill pirates, there is a set made by Mars which is quite good, you can also pick up some on eBay which are made by a Chinese toy manufacturer called hing fat, the easiest ones to obtain are made by a company called Glencoe, you can buy these on Amazon UK for around £14.00 a box and that includes shipping from the US. these different sets are all scale compatible, the Mars figures are perhaps a little larger than the others. I've also bought some call to arms British Light Infantry from the American war of independence to use as royal naval marines, but I've only painted up a few so far. I also use AIP Boxers.
on the large ships I have a crew of 16, on the smaller ones a crew of eight.
In terms of rules I looked a couple of commercial sets, but they were all too complicated. I like a set of rules quick easy and fun to play so I wrote my own which are below.
I played six games with these rules now with different people add which one has been a lot of fun have been very pleased that the rules seemed to work well.
Each game has been complete mayhem, with ships being rammed, sunk by cannon file, captured and recaptured, in one game a ship changed hands three times before it was finally sunk! the rules give the players lots of different options in terms of whether they rely on cannon fire ramming or boarding to defeat their opponent, and using the fire then move sequence means that players really have to think about what the opponent is likely to do next. Even so the best laid plans can go awry if you lose the crucial initiative roll. we have played this both as a two and three player game.
Photos are on my blog -
www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/preview/7541996501728219722/8344547962239400555
Pirate rules
Sequence
Roll for wind direction - it does not change for the duration of the game.
Determine initiative
Player 1 fires and moves a ship and crew
Player 2 fires and moves a ship and crew
Etc.
Crew
Movement 8 inches, no obstacles
Firing –
50% of crew rounding up.
Pistols – 12 inches, Muskets - 18 inches
Hit on 4+, Save on 4+
No cover.
Result –
1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed
Combat
Simultaneous
Roll to hit 3+ depending on weapon skill.
Save 4+, captains 3+
Fail result –
1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed
Over the side – roll d6, 1-2 eaten by sharks, 3+ climb back up next turn but may not fire or attack.
Ships
Movement
Move 12, 18 with the wind behind.
Turn pivot on stern - galleons – 45 degrees no penalty, 90 degrees half move.
Sloops – up to 90 degrees no penalty
Ships may not turn on the spot.
Shimmying – ships can shimmy sideways 6 inches and turn 45 degrees
Ramming – galleon vs galleon, target 3d6 damage, rammer 1 d6 damage
Sloop vs galleon, 1d6 to both
Sloop vs sloop, rammer 1D6, rammee 2D6
Galleon vs sloop, 3d6 damage, rammee 1d6+2
Firing cannon
Ranges – short – 8, medium up to 16, long up to 24.
To hit – short 3+, medium 4+, long +5
Choose target – rigging/masts, upper deck, gun deck or hull.
Damage roll – 5+
Rigging hit – D3 damage, galleon - 12 points, sloop – 8 points of damage. Immobilized when points level exceeded.
Upper deck hit – d3 casualties.
Gun deck – 1 gun destroyed, D3 damage to hull
Hull – 1 average D damage
Hull – galleon - 20 points, sloop – 12 points of damage. Sinks when points level exceeded. Crew have 1 turn to abandon ship.
Boarding
Boarding takes place as a result of –
Moving parallel;
Shimmying;
Ramming (optional).
The attacker places his troops on the defender figures to figure. Both sides can fire just before combat is joined.
Boarding range is 3 in.
Winning
If there are less than 4 of a sloop crew alive and on deck, they surrender.
If there are less than 5 of a galleon crew alive and on deck, they surrender.
Crew in the water
Join the crew of whoever picks them up.
