"Money. In rolls and tight wraps. A hugh haul of coins and notes, in scores of currencies. Shekels, nobles, and guineas, yes, the newest decades old, but there were ducats too, dollars, and rupees and sandnotes and arcane bawbees, square coins, little ingots from maritime provinces, from Shankell, from Perrick Nigh and from cities Ori was not sure he believed in.
A 'contribution', said the note enclosed. 'To hep with a Good Plan. In Jack's memory'."
Iron Council, China Mieville
A sailor is brought up with a catch of fish and he posseses the journal of Ponce de León. This mysterious phenomena and the possession of the journal made the king of Spain order three ships to investigate the report of Ponce de Leon having found the fountain or youth.
In serach for the sivler chalices, Jack Sparrow finds Ponce de Leon's ship teetering upon rocky fissure.
All screenshots are from Pirates of Caribbean, on Stranger Tides
Shimmer me timbers me buckos. I had the map all along. .
Map to the location to the treasure on Treasure Island
"Fifteen men on a deadmans chest-Oh, oh!
“The flash of a crimson robe out in the Digestion Yards caught Tom’s eye. The major of the pirate suburb had come down to look at his latest catch, and he was strutting along the walkways outside the cells, surrounded by his bodyguards. He was a tiny little man, stooping and hunched, a bald head and scrawny neck jutting from the cat fur collar of his gown.”
Mortal Engines, book 1, Philip Reeve
Les Petits Pirates was created by GGJ Games and was an entry in the 2016 PnP Game Design contest. This print and play board game is for one to four players. Players are pirates and command three ships. Their mission is gather resources and gold while trying to prevent their opponents from doing the same.
There are three distinct phases of the game, an Action Selection, Action Assignment, and Resolution phase. Players will continue to play until one player has collected and buried 20 Gold.
There six five by eight inch maps to choose from, including one that is space themed (perhaps you can come-up with something more suitable than gold for this game.)
You will need to supply four dice per player, three of which are used to represent three ships and tokens for gold pieces. I had actually considered using 1/2000 scale ships, which might be a little too large for the five by eight inch playing map. We will see!
I have acquired four more zombies for the museums’ Zombie collection and exhibits. The four zombies are cast from vinyl and were manufactured for Global Holdings, Inc. The Zombitzz zombies stand anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 inches tall (at least from the sampling that I have). These four zombies are from series 1. There are twenty zombies in this series.
Every zombie has one “gruesome” feature in its skull. You may find ink stamps, erasers, or a super-ball, to name just a few. These figures are well detailed and painted. Whether it is still available or not I don’t know, but there is or was a Zombiezz app for some virtual fun.
"There hasn’t been another rat on the high seas like Gabool the Wild. Gabool was the dreaded Lord of Terramort Island, King of the Searats, Warlord of the Rodent Corsairs, and Captain of Captains. Gabool the Wild was the biggest, the most savage, the cruelest, and the most ruthless badass upon the high seas. He was one formidable character.
Gabool wore large gold hoops in his ears and having lost is fangs in previous battles had his fangs replaced with sharp, jutting, gold canines. Each set with an enormous glinting green emerald. Below his weird yellow, blood-flecked eyes, his dark beard over-flowed, sprouted and curled down his broad chest with silk ribbons of blue and red woven through it. Whenever Gabool moved his gold, silver, and ivory rings, bracelets, medals, and buckles jangled. In his purple sash he carried several wicked looking swords and daggers."
Mariel of Redwall, Brain Jacques
A little over of a week ago I made a post on my review of Tim Power’s On Stranger Tides. I mentioned that On Stranger Tides was the inspiration for Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Disney’s On Stranger Tides makes use of the Powers use of magic, and although there are a few other similarities the Disney film diverges its own course.
The pirate, Black Beard figures prominently in both stories. In Power’s On Stranger Tides Black Beard is in command of Adventurer, toward the end of the story and his life. Having taken over the body of another human being he in effect is reincarnated.
Black Beards Queen Anne's Revenge
In Disney’s On Stranger Tides Black Beard is in command of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. The ship in which Jack Sparrow finds himself after being shanghaied.
Screenshots from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
I faded on the crowing cock.
Some say that ever `gainst that season comes,
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say no spirit can walk abroad;
The nights are wholesome;
Then no plants strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.
William Shakespeare
…And unmoored souls may drift on stranger tides
Than those men know of, and be overthrown
By winds that would not even stir a hair…
William Ashbless (On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers)
Cut off from the land that bore us,
Betrayed by that land we find,
Where the brightest have gone before us,
And the dullest are most behind-
Stand, stand to your glasses, steady!
`T is all we have left to prize:
One cup to the dead already-
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Excerpt from East India, by Bartholomew Dowling
“Whats o’ clock?”
It wants to quarter to twelve,
And to-marrow’s doomsday.
-T.L. Beddoes
“And then all at once they were no longer alone-in fact, the clearing was crowded now with human-shaped forms that were nearly transparent to the torchlight, though the light was dimmed if a number of them overlapped in front of it, and all of these insubstantial things were crowded in toward he blood pit and crying out imploringly in tiny, chittering, birdlike voices.”
On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers
When Shandy (Jack Chandagnac) met up with the old hoot Sawney. “Swaney was wearing a baggy, bright yellow trousers and an embroidered silk jacket, and if he had on any sort of neck-cloth it was concealed under his tangled beard, which was the color of bleached bones.”
Swaney, otherwise known as the Governor had been to the fabled Fountain of Youth back in 1521. Sawney had dropped blood and had drank from the waters and had become immortal, that is as long as the plant that had sprouted up from his bloodletting stayed green.
Over two hundred years ago Sawney had been the governor of Porto Rico, and of all the islands there about. Sawney, AKA the governor, was no other than Juan Ponce De Leon.
On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers
“Blessed be the soul, and the Lord that keeps it in order; blessed be the day, and the Lord that drives is away.”
“Mas molerá si Dios quisiere- Cuenta y pasa, que buen viaje faza.”
“More will flow if God wills-count and let it happen, and the voyage will pass more quickly.”
On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers
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.
The build up to Christmas will include a few of the Magic Kingdoms animated characters. Captain Hook was the main antagonist in Disney’s 1953 animated feature film, Peter Pan. This figure stands approximately 2.25 inches tall and was cast from a PVC.
Original full size public domain image can be found here:
“Hunter went to the stern and looked down at the dreadful sight. The bulbous body of the creature was directly astern, and its many tentacles gripped the ship in a dozen places, whipping and snaking this way and that. The entire body of the animal was phosphorescent green in the growing darkness. The creature’s tentacles were snaking into windows of the aft cabins. Its bulbous body was at least twenty feet long, and trailing behind, a tangle of long tentacles, like Medusa’s head.”
Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton
Dead Man’s Island is an economically priced, print and play game. Up to 4 players can play, however it is best played with 1 to 3 players. The downloadable contents include a large game board that measures approximately 16 by 11 inches, 77 assorted game tokens, 4 long boats, 12 pirate tokens in 4 different colors, 24 zombie tokens, 6 treasure tokens, and a 9 page rule booklet.
From Dead Man’s Island Rule Booklet
The object is to land on the island safely, find and dig-up the cursed treasure. While hunting for treasure you may have to fight other pirates that may be looking for the same treasure, and defiantly defend yourself from the zombies who are there to protect the treasure. The pirate and zombie tokens have attack, movement, and defense properties printed in there respected corners.
The game board measures approximately 16 by 11 inches
If you are successful in finding the treasure and staying alive long enough to haul the treasure back to your long boat there are the Kraken to contend with; they live in the deep waters around the island. You may on a roll of die to decide to sacrifice a treasure or one of your crew. (ARR- less crew means more booty for the rest of you)
The objective is to get the required number of treasure:
3 to 4 players: 3 treasures"The pirates went in four divisions to plunder; they took here, an immense quantity of clothes and other goods, and carried away one thousand one hundred and forty captives of both sexes. They set on fire about ten houses; the flames could not be extinguished for some days; in the whole village you could not hear the cry of a dog or a hen.
The other inhabitants retired far from the village, or hid themselves in the fields. In the paddy fields about a hundred women were hidden, but the pirates on hearing a child crying, went to the place and carried them away. Mei ying, the wife of Ke choo yang, was very beautiful, and a pirate being about to seize her by the head, she abused him exceedingly. The pirate bound her to the yard-arm; but on abusing him yet more, the pirate dragged her down and broke two of her teeth, which filled her mouth and jaws with blood. The pirate sprang up again to bind her. Ying allowed him to approach, but as soon as he came near her, she laid hold of his garments with her bleeding mouth, and threw both him and herself into the river, where they were drowned. The remaining captives of both sexes were after some months liberated, on having paid a ransom of fifteen thousand leang or ounces of silver.
Travelling once to Pwan peen jow I was affected by the virtuous behavior of Mei ying, and all generous men will, as I suppose, be moved by the same feelings. I therefore composed a song, mourning her fate:
'Cease fighting now for awhile!
Let us call back the flowing waves!
Who opposed the enemy in time? A single wife could overpower him.
Streaming with blood, she grasped the mad offspring of guilt,
She held fast the man and threw him into the meandering stream.
The spirit of the water, wandering up and down on the waves,
Was astonished at the virtue of Ying.
My song is at an end!
Waves meet each other continually.
I see the water green as mountain Peih,
But the brilliant fire returns no more!
How long did we mourn and cry!' "
History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810.
P.S. The sentiments and creative instincts from the likes of these blood thirsty cut throats and scoundrels is astounding.
