The Prizes of Captain Morgan

Captain Morgan was one of the most notorious pirates for his lust for gold and in as far as his achievements he was one the most successful pirates that plied the Caribbean. Morgan took many Spanish ships and sacked many Spanish settlements.  Morgan would often swindle his crew and took the lion’s share of the following prizes:

Sacking of Panama:                $1500,000

Sacking of Porto Bello:               800,000

Sacking of Puerto Del Principe:  700,000

Maracaibo and Gibraltar:            400,000

Various Piracies:                         250,000

Morgan knighted by King Charles II, retired to Jamaica, and was appointed the Governor of Jamaica. Although Morgan gave up piracy, he wasn’t able to give up his old ways of hard drinking. Drinking, not piracy, would eventually take him.

The Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle, & Under the Black Flag, David Cordingly

Lesser Known Pirates of the Caribbean

Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates

I am sure that you have heard of the pirates Captain Kidd and Morgan, but there were many other notorious and blood thirsty pirates before and after the former who made a name for themselves.

Pirate	Nationality	Claim to Fame
Pierre Francois	French	With 26 men, attacked the vice admiral, a ship armed with 8 guns, off the coast of South America. Although the ship was manned with threescore men, Pierre Francois captured the ship and would have would gotten away if only their main-mast had not went by the board.
Bartholomew Portuguese	Portuguese	With a boat manned with thirty fellow adventures fell upon a Spanish ship off of Cape Corrientes which was manned with threescore and ten men (70) and took the ship only to lose it and recapture the same ship.
Roch Brazliano	Dutch	Upon his very first adventure Roch captured a Spanish ship of fabulous value.
Lewis Scott	English	With a large and powerful detachment of men sacked Campeche.
Mansvelt		Made a decent on Saint Catherine, sacked it and made it his base of operations. He made two unsuccessful attempts at attacking Granada and Cartagena.
John Davis	Jamaican	With four-score of men he swooped down on the city of Nicaragua in the darkness of night and pillaged churches and homes, “without and respect or veneration”. With only a handful of men they carried away money and jewels to the value of fifty thousand pieces of eight, besides the dozen or so notable citizens, whom they held for ransom.
Francois l’Olonoise	French	Sacked the city of Maracaibo and the town of Gibraltar.

Plastic Lizard for Fantasy War Game

Recently, I came upon this very economical priced plastic lizard (Komodo Dragon ?) that looks like it will be just about the right size for an upcoming war game. The plastic toy lizard has a surprising amount of detail. I don’t know whether it will take paint, but if it does it might prove to be a very interesting addition to a game. I will place it in some cave or dungeon. Some poor soul might have a chance encounter with this creature. The outcome is predicable.

Old Brigade 28mm Miniature

This picture is of an old Brigade miniature I completed sometime ago. I believe the old gent is 28mm tall.

A Drinking Dirge Sung by Basil Stag Hare and Ambrose Spike

The following song was sung by Basil Stag Hare with his quavering treble and was accompanied by Ambrose Spike with his gruff bass harmony as they drank their October ale and black current wine.

“O if I feel sick or pale,

What makes my old eyes shine?

Some good October ale

And sweet black-current wine.

I’s kill a dragon for half a flagon,

I’d wrestle a stoat to wet my throat.

I’s strangle a snake, all for the sake

Of lovely nut-brown beer…

Nuhuhuhut broooowwwwnnnn beeeeheeeyer!

(Chapter 6, Mattimeo, 44)

Yog-Sothoth

Yog-Sothoth was a creature conjured up in Lovecrafts’ novel the Dunwich Horror by the novels main antagonist.

“The creature was bigger than a barn and made up of what looked like squirming' ropes and was sort of shaped like a hen's egg,” bigger'n than anything, with dozens o' legs like hogs-heads that haff shut up when they step... nothin' solid abaout it - all like jelly, an' made o' sep'rit wrigglin' ropes pushed clost together... great bulgin' eyes all over it... ten or twenty mouths or trunks a-sticking' out all along the sides, big as stove-pipes an all a-tossin' an openin' an' shuttin'... all grey, with kinder blue or purple rings... In its path the creature left a sticky tar like substance that had a putrid smell to it. Horrifying!

Without warning came those deep, cracked, raucous vocal sounds which will never leave the memory of the stricken group who heard them. Not from any human throat were they born, for the organs of man can yield no such acoustic perversions. Rather would one have said they came from the pit itself, had not their source been so unmistakably the altar-stone on the peak? It is almost erroneous to call them sounds at all, since so much of their ghastly; infra-bass timbre spoke to dim seats of consciousness and terror far subtler than the ear; yet one must do so, since their form was indisputably though vaguely that of half-articulate words.”

A Host of Characters-Sir Harry the Muse

Sir Harry the Muse Offers a Service to the Warriors of Redwall

“The owl bowed gravely and blinked his enormous eyes. Matthias bowed courteously in return. “good morning, Sir Harry. I am Matthias, Warrior of Redwall.” When asked why he was called the Muse, Sir Harry “struck an artistic stance” and quipped the following poem:

‘Why pray, do you suppose?

I’m master of poetry and prose,

No equal have I in field and wood,

No creature in smidgeon, a fraction as good.

And if you need a poet, why, here’s one to choose,

This Owl…Sir Harry the Muse.”

Although the owl was applauded, it was mentioned that the “Warriors” were not looking for a poet at this moment.

“The owl blinked in a dignified manner and exclaimed:”

‘Then tell me what you need.

Someone to perform a deed?

A mummer perhaps, or a singer of songs?

A champion, righter of wrongs?

A companion, maybe, to stand at your side?

For my talents are varied and wide.’

After eating a shrew cake and being promised several more, Sir Harry the Muse flies off the top of the cliff and lets down the rope latter that had been hauled up by the slavers.

Diminutive People

The following miniatures are from Preiser. These miniatures are in 1/87 scale. Preiser is supplier of hundreds of different pre-painted miniatures. These are not your low quality figures. Preiser’s figures are molded crisply and painted “carefully”.



Howard showing his mate Murphy the sights found around the Farris residence.



Howard with his son, Ralph investigating the many strange and wonderful artifacts they have found while out for a hike.

These three miniatures are from Prieser's #10290, the Wanderers. This set like many of Prieser figure sets includes 5 figures.

A Host of Characters

A Host of Characters is a new project that I am working on. It is a project where I collect miniatures for future game play. It is also where I assign names, characteristics and properties to these characters in order to make these characters interesting and more worthwhile during game play. Many of the names for my characters have been found in my readings. Here are some of the names I have recently established from my literary readings.

• Captain Cain, a pirate, The Pirate
• Sir Harry, the Owl, Mattimeo
• Captain Daniel Menard, The Road To Frontenac
• Basil Stag Hare, Redwall
• Yog-Sothoth, creature from the cosmos, The Dunwich Horror
• Doctor Moreau, The Island of Dr. Moreau
• Professor Challenger, found in several of Arthur Connan Doyle's novels and short stories

General Directions for Woodland Scenics Metal Castings

1. Clean-up castings by removing parting lines, flash, and stems. These can be removed by scraping with a hobby knife, filing, or using sand paper. I prefer filing, but in certain cases a hobby knife must be brought in to play.
2. As you are cleaning up the castings, refer to the directions and become thoroughly acquainted with their placement. Dry fit the parts before you start construction.
3. Parts may warp or become bent during shipment and should be straightened before construction. Be careful here, you don’t want to break those fragile parts.
4. Clean the casting with solution water and a little dish liquid and let air dry.
5. After the parts are thoroughly dry, I use a tweezers to transfer the parts to a piece of two-sided tape, and I then give them a good base coat. I usually use grey spray paint, but white will work.
6. Glue castings. I prefer “Super” glue, but a fast acting epoxy will also work. The detail I like about “Super” glue, is that it will adhere to a painted surface and it acts fast. When using a fast acting epoxy, both surfaces must be free from paint. By the way, if the part is going to receive some handing during play, then use epoxy. Epoxy will take a little longer to cure, but will produce a stronger bond.
7. Paint the castings. Pick out details on the castings with contrasting colors. Some parts might be better served if they are painted before construction.

I have worked with many of Woodland Scenics Metal kits. Some like the outhouses have worked out very well, while others like the chicken coop did not go together without some difficulty.

Quote from Chapter 5 of Mattimeo

“Resounding with the noise of busy creatures and laughter, mixing with the smell of wood smoke and cooking aromas, the sunlit afternoon stretched into warm windless eventide, turning the red sandstone Abbey walls a rosy hue with the speckle of golden dust motes drifting lazily on the rays of the setting sun.”

(Mattimeo, 38)

Blasted Planets Order #2

My order from Historifigs arrived a few days earlier than expected. It contained the following items:

TI-03, Monsters (bag of 3 mixed), 18mm

25mm-Special Figures

BP-002  Brain Siphon (aka N'ood)             

BP-003  The Monk                                          

BP-007  Space Vampire w/Needle Gun 

BP-004  The Brotherhood: Assassin         

BP-005  The Brotherhood: Arsonist

               

F-12       20mm, Hobbit w/Sword                               

Overall I am very satisfied with these miniatures. I have made many posts on monsters, but have yet to add one to my collection. The 25mm miniatures will be used in a skirmish game of some sort or with the Blasted Planets game rules. They are all very odd looking and I am looking forward to creating properties and a back story for these characters.

I will be writing more about these miniatures shortly, but in the meantime, I feel compelled to paint my first hobbit. I will get back to you on the progress of these miniatures.

Quote from Chapter 4 of Mattimeo

“The new moon was up. It hung like a fresh-minted coin in a still, cloudless sky of midnight blue. Moths fluttered vainly upward, only to drift spiraling down to the grass-carpeted woodland floor. The trees stood like timeless sentinels. Somewhere a nightjar serenaded the soft darkness.”

(Mattimeo, 24)

Alpine Miniatures Scale Model Directories

I just came across this link and did not want to lose track of it, so I have posted it. Alpine Miniatures site features a small international directory of scale model and figures of various scales.

Quote from Chapter 2, Mattimeo

“The afternoon wore on, peaceful and golden. Now and then a small dust devil swirled on the path with the summer heat.”

(Mattimeo, 18)

Projects for November

1) Woodland Scenic’s Outhouse with Man

This is the more detailed structure of the three, which are supplied, in this Woodland Scenic’s #D212 kit. As they say, a model railroad layout is never really finished and I can always use another outbuilding placed behind some industrial building, a barn or some farm house. Clustering several building close together adds just as much, if not more, interest to ones layout than those large showcase structures.

2) Campbell #431 Assay Office/Clothing Store

I thoroughly enjoy working with structures from this manufacture. The kit parts are stamped out and cut from sugar pine and just the smell of the pine parts gives me so much delight. This kit may take a good month to complete; not that this kit is all that complicated, I just know how I can get side-tracked.

3) A 1/72 Santa miniature from the Ykreol Nativity set. Yes a Santa was included in this set. Not quite sure about the connection, but this miniature sits on my workbench more than half way finished. Why not complete him?