20-Gun Sloop of War

These beauties are approximately three-quarters of an inch long and are manufactured by Valiant Miniatures. I purchased these micro-scaled 1/2000 sloops for the Les Petits Pirates print and play game that I recently downloaded, but I don’t think they are going to work on such a small playing service. That would be six ships on a five by eight playing surface. They would definitely look pretty, but I will have look-around for ships that are smaller in size, if that is even possible. Anyone have any suggestions?

Sacre Bleu!- Skirmish rules for the Age of Pirates War-game

This is one of digital titles that I purchased some time ago; another game rules booklet. The Sacre Bleu rule-book provides rules for war gaming in the age of pirates. This fourteen PDF provides rules and advice on the following topics: sequence, decision checks, static shooting, movement, shooting and shooting procedures, hand-to-hand fighting, and creating a force. In addition there are scenarios for four skirmishes. The rules are primarily for skirmishes using anywhere from 10 to 100, 25mm miniatures, but any sized miniatures could be used.

This post marks the fourth year for this blog. Happy Birthday, Ye-Olde-Site-of-Curiosities.

Aubrey–Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian

I have started to read the third volume in Patrick O'Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series; HMS Surprise. The Aubrey–Maturin series includes 20 historical novels. The series are set during the Napoleonic Wars and are centering around the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and the ship's surgeon, Stephen Maturin. Maturin is a trained physician, a natural philosopher, and an intelligence agent.

Having read the previous two titles in this series and having seen the Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, I knew I that I would be entertained.

Novels in order of first publication:

Master and Commander (1969)
Post Captain (1972)
HMS Surprise (1973)
The Mauritius Command (1977)
Desolation Island (1978)
The Fortune of War (1979)
The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
The Ionian Mission (1981)
Treason's Harbour (1983)
The Far Side of the World (1984)
The Reverse of the Medal (1986)
The Letter of Marque (1988)
The Thirteen Gun Salute (1989)
The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)
Clarissa Oakes (1992)
The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
The Commodore (1995)
The Yellow Admiral (1996)
The Hundred Days (1998)
Blue at the Mizzen (1999)
The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004)

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Screenshot 1

The first time I viewed this video was in a surround sound movie theater where every creek and grown of the wooden ship was heard as if you were there on the ship. And the sound of cannon was deafening.

I have watched this video on two other occasions and now it is part of my collection. I have read the book by Patrick O'Brian-Master and Commander in which the movie was, in part, contrived. The video was adapted from three novels from the O’ Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series.

Screenshot 2

“The film takes place in the spring of 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey of HMS Surprise has orders to pursue the French privateer Acheron, and "Sink, Burn, or take her as a Prize".

Screenshot 3

Jack Aubrey the captain of the HMS Surprise, played by Russell Crowe, is depicted as an excellent navigator, a great leader, and a compassionate friend. Aubrey outwits his French opponent and takes the Acheron as a prize, only to find out that it is he who has been outwitted. The last scene finds the HMS Surprise beating to quarters and changing course to pursue the Acheron, with the idea of escorting the recently captured ship to port.

Age of Sail Ships

I recently came across an interesting post on “Bob's Miniature Wargaming Blog” titled Age of Sail Ships, which includes several images of ships and the infamous Shal-Bala, a she sea dragon from the Pirates of the Spanish Main fame. The author didn’t have too much to say, but did offer a few images of craft I have not encountered.

If you click on the authors navel labeled link you will find some resources that might be of some interest to navel war-gamer. You will find many interesting battle reports, and other information on other navel war games.

Pirates of the …Ships-Getting them Built

I have found a method of prepping the slot that receives the sail tabs. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. Before attempting to insert the tabs into their slots, I take a small file and carefully clean and ever so slightly enlarge these slots. Since I have started to perform this operation I have not broken another sail tab.

Some of the tabs seem a bit too short and there isn’t enough of the tab inserted in the slot to hold the mast securely. In this case I put a drop of cyanoacrylate glue on the bottom of the piece that received the tabs. Cyanoacrylate can also be used to tabs that might have gotten a bit too much pressure inserting them into their slots. This can be avoided by using my fist method filing.

Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki-Davy Jones

The Pirates of the Caribbean Davy Jones Wiki gives the reader a thorough background of this legendary supernatural figure. Dave Jones is the ruler of the seven seas and the captain of the Flying Dutchman. Davy Jones appeared in the Pirates of the Caribbean’s Dead Man's Chest and At World's End. Whizkids makes mention of Davy Jones in their Pirates of Davy Jones Curse strategy game.

Geography of the Pirates of Caribbean

The Geography of the Pirates of Caribbean page lists and describes the major and minor locations mentioned in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. This page offers an interesting overview of the Islands and locations mentioned in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

Pirates of Mysterious Islands-Unique Crew Types

Each pack comes with at least one or two crew tokens. All crew members add special abilities to the ship they are on. Although I received three crew members I will only be reporting on the on the two unique crew members I received.

Firepot Specialist, 2 points, Pirate

Once per turn this ship may shoot a firepot at a target within one Short of her. A Short is a default movement measurement, like the Long used in the Pirates game. (A Short is about 2.5 inches.) Along with the crew member there are two firepots included on this card. If the firepot hits, according to a die roll of six, the ships mast becomes a fire mast. At the beginning of every turn, thereafter, the affected ships owner must roll a die. On the die roll of a six, the fire mast may be removed, however on a roll of a 1-3, another mast becomes a fire mast. When all masts are fire masts, the ship must be scuttled. If the ship with a fire mast(s) docks on her home island or a fort, she may remove all fire masts as a free move.

Nikos Chelios, 5 points, Ex-patriot

This card is linked to “Fathom”. When a crew member is linked to another crew member, and if the crew members are serving on the same ship, the special abilities they bring are increased in some matter. Once per turn this ship may randomly take two treasure pieces from any ship she touches. “Using Nemo’s technology, Nikos is out to prove that the true masters of the sea are not those who sail on top of it, but those who move below it.”

Pirates of Mysterious Islands-First Impressions

My Pirates of Mysterious Islands games arrived in the mail the other day. Here are a few the things that I have noticed about this Whizkids, eighth rendition of this construable strategy game.

Although the basic and extended rules are basically the same, there are a few changes to the rules for Pirates of Mysterious Islands (more about that in a separate post).

Pirates of the Spanish Main included six different ships; Pirates of Mysterious Island has ten different styles of ships and two types of Sea Monsters. Pirates of Mysterious Island as added the following types of ships:

• 2-Mast Blockade Runner
• 4-Mast Schooner
• 3-Mast Submarine
• 2-Mast Submarine

The sea monsters cannot carry crew, but they can carry treasure and fire cannon. As far as the submarines are concerned there is a Nautilus submarine model, however is seems to quite rare.

Pirates of the Spanish Main had three protagonists-England, Spain, and Pirates, whereas Pirates of Mysterious Islands has added the following France, America, and Mercenary combatants to the list.

The game pack also contained a check list of game pieces that one might find in Pirates of Mysterious Islands. There are a total of 137 different tokens listed in the check list. Crew, ships, special treasure pieces, and islands, are listed here (More about these tokens in a forthcoming post). All are listed by their availability status, that is, Treasure/Generic, Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Super rare.

One last note, there is also a “message in a bottle”, a special set of four messages, that when collected and sent in with the original packaging and receipts, the people from Whizkids will send you an exclusive ship(these games are no longer being published).

My message reads: “Our course has brought us to these uncharted isles…”

Five Pirate Documentaries

Over the Labor Day holiday I viewed a couple of these Pirate documentaries. The documentaries are brought to us by the History Channel, the Smithsonian, and the BBC. There are three documentaries that give you a generalized overview of Pirates, their life and habits, and the ships they practiced their diabolical trade. The other two documentaries depict notorious pirate captains, as such the likes of Blackbeard, Morgan, and others.

Arrr me maties, the documentaries provide insights into the life of Pirates.

• Golden Age of Sail: Great Pirate Ship-A History Channel Documentary
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Facts Behind the Fiction-A Smithsonian Documentary
• The Golden Age of Piracy: Terror at Sea-A BBC Documentary
• Blackbeard, Pirate King of the Caribbean-A History Channel Documentary
• True Caribbean Pirates: Henry Morgan to Blackbeard-A History Channel Documentary

Historic Naval Fiction

The Historic Naval Fiction site features reviews and links to some of the texts mentioned within these pages. All of the stories reviewed here are from the Age of Sail and depict characters like Horatio Hornblower to privateers. If you appreciate the Age of Sails era you are sure to find some fodder for future reading on this site.

The Pirate Island, a Story of the South Pacific

I just completed my reading of Harry Collingwood’s “The Pirate Island, a Story of the South Pacific”. It is a story of high adventure in the South Pacific, a story of ship wrecks, mutiny, a fabulously rich gold mine, earthquakes and erupting volcanoes, notorious and desperate pirates, and brave and resolute seamen.

The novel is twenty chapters long and at the climax of the story, I had a hard time knowing when to quite reading and turn off the light. Harry Collingwood is pseudonym for William Joseph Cosens Lancaster, a son of a sea captain turned engineer and prolific writer of stories of the sea. Project Guntenberg offers a large set of the author’s works and in many different electronic formats.
There are several plates that depict some of the scenes presented within the text:

• image1
• image2
• image3
• image4

Pirates of the Spanish Main Crew Types

Pirates of the Spanish Main, offers seven basic crew member types. Crew members add special abilities to the ship in which they serve. Players can add crews to their ships, however; typically each crew member takes up one cargo space.
Type	Points	Special Ablilities
Cannoneer	2	Once per turn, one of this ships cannons may shoot again, if it misses.
Captain	3	This ship may move and then shoot using the same move action.
Explorer	1	This ship may dock and explore one wild island using the same move action.
Helmsman	2	This ship gets +S to her base move.
Musketeer	3	This ships gains one cannon that may not have its range or cannon roll increased. It can shoot from any mast (even an eliminated mast).
Oarsmen	1	If derdlict, this ship gains a base move of S.This crew member takes up no cargo space.
Shipwright	2	This ship may repair at sea or any island.

My Pirates of the Spanish Main Fleet

Pescados De Plata
The "Silver Fish" is fast and agile. Her crews are all ex-merchantmen sailors and so they are expert cargo handlers.
Nation:	Spain
Points:	8
Masts:	2
Cargo Capacity:	3
Base Move:	S + S
Canon Ranges:	2 S - 2 S
Special Abilities:	Once per turn this ship may move S after unloading cargo.
Card Number:	SS-013
La Furia
Although "The Fury" was outfitted with the same cannons as the Asesino De La Nave, she does not perform as well at short range, a fact that can be attributed only to the quality of her gun crew.
Nation:	Spain
Points:	12
Masts:	2
Cargo Capacity:	3
Base Move:	L
Canon Ranges:	3 S -3 S
Special Abilities:	This ship eliminates two masts with one hit.
Card Number:	SS-0II
Muerta De La Corona
"Death to the Crown" was so named by Gaspar Zuan to appease his brothers blood lust for the throne of Spain.
Nation	Pirate
Points:	9
Masts:	3
Cargo Capacity:	3
Base Move:	S + L
Canon Ranges:	3 S - 3 L - 3 S
Special Abilities:	This ship gets + 1 to her cannon rolls against Spanish ships.
Card Number:	PS-024
HMS GallowGlass
HMS GallowGlass is manned by many ex-cons, including several of Bones Wylies crew. These men can strip valuables from sinking ships and barely get their feet wet.
Nation:	Great Britain
Points:	6
Masts:	2
Cargo Capacity:	2
Base Move:	S + S
Canon Ranges:	3 S - 3 L
Special Abilities:	When this ship sinks another ship, you may repair one of this ships masts.
Card Number:	ES-0II
HMS Birkenhead
HMS Brikenhead was part of several of Sir Myings insertions into Spanish ports. It was outfitted with spikes and guillotine lines to aid in the repelling of boarding parties.
Nation:	Great Britain
Points:	11
Masts:	3
Cargo Capacity:	4
Base Move:	L
Canon Ranges:	3 S - 3 L - 3 S
Special Abilities:	This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls.
Card Number:	ES-012

Looking Back and Forward. Miniatures I Would Still Like to Purchase in 2013

It was several months ago that I post: “Miniature Categories for 2013”, where I mention the type of miniatures that I was interested in obtaining in 2013. Here are those categories I mentioned:

• Pulp
• Steampunk
• Fantasy
• SCIFI
• Prehistoric
• Historic
• Period Pieces (Victorian, Edwardian)

Now that we are half way through the year it is time to take inventory of how far I have progressed in my procurement. I haven’t gotten to all of the individual categories, but have made some purchases from the following:

• Fantasy: 2 miniatures
• Pulp: 9 miniatures

For the second half of the year I have decided to changed my focus a bit and would like to add some of the following miniatures to my collection:

• 1/1200 scale sail and other types of sea going vessels (I have my eye on a few civil war era vessels from Histrofigs)
• Woman (Some of the next category might work)
• Steampunk and Victorian SCFI
• Pulp (additional Sky Pirates, Rocketmen)
• Prehistoric(Cavemen, girls (Reaper), beasts)

Pirates of the Spanish Main

Each packet of the Pirates of the Spanish Main includes two ships, one island, about nine gold pieces, several crew and or special treasure tokens. The packet, about the size of a credit card, also contains assembly instructions, and quick and complete rules to play the game.

This is not a multifaceted war game, but a skirmish game, where players attempt to travel from their home islands (not included) to islands containing treasure to obtain as many treasure pieces before their opponents does. Whoever collects the most treasure pieces or sinks their opponent’s ships wins the game.

Pirates of the Spanish Main

I have completed my Pirates of the Spanish Main miniatures. Like I mentioned in my last post on this topic, I accidentally broke one of the miniatures while assembling it. They are made of some type of laminated material or are they plastic, I am not sure; at any rate they are easily broken; even the assembly instructions mentions this.

It seems that the double decked ships were the most challenging for me to assemble. The instructions, which are anything but explicit, don’t explain the best way to go about assembling these miniatures and each ship is a bit different. I did have to use brown and black markers to cover-up a few places where the finish came off during assembly.

I will be uploading a few more images of the miniatures along with some additional information about each ship in the very near future. These miniatures are cool and I look forward to the skirmish.

Three Sources for the Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail War-Gamer

The Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail page features a small collection of links for an Age of Sail miniature war-gamer. Links to gaming rules, painting and rigging, and sources of miniatures are offered.

A sail of Glory is a Kick-Starter that hopes to offer a tactical ship-to-ship miniature game. It looks like they have some good looking sculpts.

The Miniatures page offers a Modeling 1:1200 Scale Napoleonic Sailing Ships treatise on how to paint and rig a couple of GHQ sailing ships. GHQ manufactures some of the most highly detailed and the most expensive miniatures on the market.