Peter Pig Pirate Ship Stocking Fillers

Stocking Fillers

The assembled fleet from 2015

Ten years ago (!) I embarked on a pirate project using the 1/450th scale ships from Peter Pig and the fast play 'beer and pretzels' Galleys and Galleons rules. I assembled a load of models and ran a couple of well-received playtest games at the club but, as is so often the case, drifted off into other things and didn't get round to painting the models. A friend later gifted me a whole lot more of the ships, some built and others in their packs, so I have a pretty large lead pile already, 

Yesterday, I spotted a stocking filler bargain on eBay of two ship packs, some guns and crew, so I now have a few more to balance on top. So, to cut a long sea shanty short, I'm thinking of rebooting this project for 2025, having already decided that next year I will not start any new projects. I wonder how long that will last? It will be a nice change to paint something bigger than 1/2400th for starters!

I'm probably going to go back and undercoat the assembled models in black or dark brown, as my initial plan to paint them over a white base coat didn't quite work. I'm also thinking of disassembling them by removing the masts, so that painting is less fiddly, although I'm used to that now having painted all sorts of fiddly things over the intervening years.

Happy HeXmas

This year I'm asking Mrs Xmas to get me a set of Hexon tile terrain including the tiles, some hills and some roads. I have used Hexon for years at the club when playing AK47, Saurian Safari, Galleys and Galleons and Knights of the Sky, amongst other things, so I'm pretty sure having my own set will be a good investment. 

I'm planning to use it for the aforementioned games but also for various air and ground based wargaming projects including MiG Alley, Target Locked On!, Gruntz and No End In Sight, for example. The hills and terrain tiles could even be used as tropical coastline and islands at a push. I don't know why I didn't think of it before to be honest, as it will be a real game changer for all sorts of reasons, especially as I'm now not going to be at the cub for the foreseeable future.

Small Scale Age of Sail.

I'm thinking about which Age of Sail project to include in my plans for next year, one of which would be to have a go some 1/2400th Spanish and English ships for Elizabethan naval wargaming, with an emphasis on small, skirmish level actions rather than fleet sized Spanish Armada scale engagements. It's just a sketchy idea at the moment, as I already have the Napoleonic fleets to complete, but I quite like the sound of it. I'm doing some background reading now, so that I can work out what I'd need to do to make it a solid project.

Sandbanks and Shoals

I spotted these new laser cut mdf terrain templates on the Blotz website yesterday and thought they would be perfect as sandbanks, shallows or shoals for naval wargaming, especially as they have the contour lines etched into the surface to make it easy to identify water depth and the high water mark. I think that you could easily add some rocks or a sandbank in the central zone then use different shades of paint to create a shoaling effect as the water becomes deeper toward the outer edge. They can be suppled in 2mm or 3mm mdf and are the following dimensions, so they would also be useful as a basis for islands in smaller scales. Here's the burb:

A set of MDF terrain bases in random shapes, with an etched line 10mm and 25mm from the edge.

The set consists of five bases:

149mm x 86mm

140mm x 110mm
108mm x 69mm
114mm x 87mm
139mm x 103mm. 

Not bad for four quid a set?

https://blotz.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=24_46_218&products_id=2035

Half Term Holiday Mini-Project

I've now got a week or so of holiday, which is less than I as expecting but I've just had my contract renewed, so it's all swings and roundabouts. This means that I can crack on with my pre-dreadnought project but can also squeeze in a little mini project for completion over the next ten days or so. At the moment I have two front runners for this.

The first option is to assemble, base and paint all of the Chilean and Peruvian ironclads for the Battle of Angamos, with the unarmoured screw warships for the Battle of Iquiqui as a possible extra. This only amounts to six 1/2400th scale models in total, using the new versions from Tumbling Dice, so I think it's more than manageable in the space of a week. The plan would be to use Dahlgren and Columbiad for some fast play ironclad naval gaming.

The second option is to assemble, base and paint either a selection of 1/2400th scale ships for the Anglo Dutch War, based on privateering skirmishes around the Isles of Scilly in the late 1640's and early 1650's, or to finish painting some of the Peter Pig 1/450th scale pirate ships that I have had in my 'to do' box for a few years. The idea with both these would be to use Galleys and Galleons for some piratical games.

I'll give it some more thought today, then get started on one or the other!

Fistful of Lead - Pirates!

As I'm enjoying the games of Fistful of Lead I've been running for my kids, I thought I'd have a go at setting up a pirate scenario or two, using the Horse and Musket version of the rules. The kids are pretty clued up now, so I won't have to explain the rules beyond a few minor changes, so it's an easy crossover, especially as I have some painted 28mm pirates that I haven't used for years. I haven't got as much terrain for a desert island setting but I have enough to get by, including a scratch built pirate sloop and some nice jungle ruins from the local pet shop. I just need to roll up a couple of scurvy pirate crews and work out a scenario, which I can probably adapt from the rulebook or pinch from the old Legends of the High Seas rules. Aaargh Matey!

Paddling Up the Congo

Scouts

Bay Brown 

A finished pirate (actually a Darkest Africa musketeer)

With October just over the horizon, it's time to paddle off up the Congo, with my painting project for the next month or so, a Jungle Tribes column with all the whistles and bells. I'm going to start today with a basecoat of Foundry Bay Brown Shade, which I'll follow up with a highlight in Bay Brown and Bay Brown Light as the next two stages. I used this approach with a couple of my old 28mm Foundry Pirates and I think it gives a very good, not too light but not too dark skin tone. I may or may not give them a wash after the flesh tones are done but will probably move onto the loin cloths, head dresses, bangles, beads and masks before the ink wash is applied. I thought about texturing the bases before painting but I'll leave that until right at the end. 

Naval Projects and Plans

I'm back at work tomorrow, so I suspect very little will happen at the workbench for a while, especially as most of my weekends are also taken up with various family things. Nonetheless, I've decided to finally finish the 1/2400th Prussian and Danish naval forces for the 1864 Second Schleswig War at some point this Autumn, as they been hanging about for years and really should have been painted a long time ago. In a slight change of plan, I'm going to paint the entire Prussian fleet first, give or take,  followed by the Danes second. 

The Prussians have more ships but most of them are first and second class gunboats, which should be relatively quick to do, with only three of four larger ships, none bigger than a small frigate.  This means I should, famous last words, get them done in short order, assuming I get on with it and don't get side tracked. In the longer term, there's obviously the Danes and Austrians to paint, along with some generic merchant shipping, but I'm also thinking of starting fleets for the Pacific War as well, using the same selection of models that I've used for the 1864 project. I'm pretty sure this would be a lot of fun and is well supported in terms of rules.

Incidentally, the 1/2400th Napoleonic French are now in the queue and will eventually see a splash of paint but not just yet. I've also decided to abandon my Cruel Seas project and instead revert to good old 1/600th scale for my coastal warfare fix, as it makes no sense to do this in multiple scales and I'm quite happy with the smaller models anyway. I'm also thinking of another naval project at some point before the end of the year but have so many to choose from I don't know where to begin. It could be 1/600th American Civil War, 1/2400th Russo-Japanese, 1/3000th scale East of Suez or even 1/450th scale pirates, who knows? 

Answers on a postcard please?

Royal Navy Ironclads Redux

I got back home early this morning but have only just had time to sit down and think about what I'm going to do in the dying days of the holiday, before I go back to work this time next week. I'm happy with the outcome of my holiday project this year, assembling and basing up a 1/2400th scale French Napoleonic fleet for painting over the next few months, but now want to get some painting done as well. I've had a rummage around and decided to finish off half a dozen of the 1/2400th scale Tumbling Dice Royal Navy Victorian ironclads that I didn't quite finish a couple of months ago:

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2019/06/royal-navy-ironclad-extras.html

These are HMS Black Prince, HMS Monarch and four Prince Consort class broadside ironclads, HMS Ocean, HMS Caledonia, HMS Royal Oak and, of course, HMS Prince Consort herself. They've had the sails blocked in so there's a good chance that I can get the rest of the paintwork completed by this time next week, if I get my act together. Once they're done, I'm going to carry on with my 'Give Us the Ships' naval wargaming focus for this year, possibly dusting off the Peter Pig 1/450th scale pirate ships, although I'm very much fixated on my various 1/2400th scale projects for the moment:

https://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2018/12/give-us-ships.html

Galleys and Galleons in 1/2400

As previously mentioned, I've been thinking about reviving my Galleys and Galleons project from a few years ago, as part of my naval wargaming focus this year. I did some playtesting when the rules were being developed and although they have a few quirks they do give a very enjoyable and fast game. The scenarios I ran at the local club certainly went down well and I enjoyed the solo games that I played to learn the rules too.

I used the Peter Pig 1/450th Pieces of Eight ships for my games and plan to do the same again, only this time having painted and rigged them first. I have plenty of these assembled but didn't get round to painting them, despite making a tentative start. Now I have more experience with the much smaller Tumbling Dice models, I'm pretty sure I could do them justice. However I've also been considering the option of scaling down to 1/2400th scale for a 'portable' version of the game.

This would involve the Tumbling Dice Anglo Dutch Wars range of ships, with some extra bits sourced from the Napoleonic range. The idea would be to use the smaller models such as the privateer sloops and brigs (ASN 21 and 22) alongside the fifth rate frigate (ASD24) from the Anglo Dutch War as privateers. The merchant ships and smaller craft like cromsters (ASD 28, 30, 33 and 34) would be used as targets, with the larger warships as Dutch or English anti-privateer forces (ASD 22, 23, 24 and 25).

The idea would be to paint up about half a dozen models for each 'faction' then use them for scenario bases games on a 3' x 3' sea scape, with potential for some terrain modelling of islands, shoals, a harbour and defences, based very closely on the Isles of Scilly. The whole shebang could then be packed in a Really Useful storage box for ease of transport and storage. The models themselves are tiny and therefore very inexpensive, with a basic privateer fleet of six ships (ASD 25, AND 21 and 22) costing only £7.20 plus postage. The merchants and warships are equally affordable.

I think this would be really fun little project for later in the year. I've even been thinking of writing my own set of fast play rules, perhaps using hex based movement and gunnery, with everything simplified down to a couple of sides of A4. In the meantime, Galleys and Galleons will be ideal, as the flexible range system makes it easy to scale it down to 1/2400th, using centimetres for measuring and the smallest size of range sticks to keep everything nice and compact.

It will have to wait until the Napoleonic and ironclad projects are finished but I'm looking forward to some piratical privateering in some shape or form before the end of the year!

Peter Pig Pirate Plunder

A while back fellow club member and gamer, Colin, was very generous and donated to me his unfinished collection of Peter Pig 1/450th scale pirate ships from the Pieces of Eight range. I had already assembled, based and started to paint my own fleet of ships, having run some games of Galleys and Galleons at the club with the unpainted models, so he knew I was up to no good. I didn't get beyond some basic blocking in on a handful of my ships but there's no reason now why I can't have another go.

I am very grateful to Colin for the gift, as it has encouraged me to pick up where I left off with the pirate ship project, which I originally started back in 2015 but which subsequently ran out of puff. I've now got more than enough ships for a variety of fleets, Pirates, English, Dutch, French and even Chinese (!), so plan to re-ignite the project at some point later in the year. As soon as I have enough ships painted up I'll give Colin a shout and we can get in some games.

Thanks Colin :O)

15mm Sharp Practice Pirates

Another very interesting article and set of scenarios popped up in the TFL Xmas Special this year, focussing on Sharp Practice and pirates. The rules adaptations and army lists are by Chris Stoesen, who has also written material for Bag the Hun, amongst other things. He has used 15mm Peter Pig figures for his games, which jogged my memory as I have a big stash of these in a box along with three or four resin pirate ships, all of which I acquired via eBay many, many years ago.

I've done quite a bit of pirate gaming in 28mm and also fiddled about with 1/450th scale pirate ship skirmishes a while back, using the Peter Pig ships and Galleys and Galleons (I really should paint up the models and have another go at this). Anyway, I really liked the piratical scenarios that Chris has written for Sharp Practice and quite fancy giving them a try with the 15mm figures, especially as I'm never, ever going to do 28mm Napoleonics or the like!

International Naval Wargaming Day 2017

That nice chap David Manley has launched the first International Naval Wargaming Day, scheduled for Sunday 6th August, the birthday of Fred T. Jane, no less. I thought this was a genuinely brilliant idea, so am very happy to spread the message a little bit further with a rather natty poster, if I say so myself, courtesy of the US Navy and five minutes with MS Paint. Here's David's explanation:

http://dtbsam.blogspot.fr/2017/07/international-naval-wargames-day-next.html

Anyway, I'm on holiday so whatever I can come up with in naval wargaming terms for the weekend ahead, may well have to be a bit lashed together, if not last minute. I have a few ideas but all will be revealed on the big day itself. If I was at home I'd set up a game of Schnellrules for Schnellboote, Galleys and Galleons or Victory at Sea but I'm sure I can come up with something suitably nautical here instead!

FFOL Horse and Musket

I really like Fistful of Lead: Reloaded so I was very pleased to see that Jaye Wiley has published a Horse and Musket version, with rules adjustments, add-ons and scenarios for the French Indian Wars, Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War and the Maximillian Adventure. I have a plan to dig out my old 28mm pirate figures and use them for some Treasure Island style games, although with only a handful of figures required I could well branch out into other black powder periods. The core rules are very similar to the Old West version, so it should be easy to pick them up too. Very good value for six quid and available now as a handy pdf download from Wargame Vault.

Ile de Batz Fortifications

A few photos from our camping week which included a day trip to the Ile de Batz, just off shore from Roscoff. The first few are a small bunker complex on the SE corner of the island, over looking the approaches to the old port of Roscoff. The water was a fantastic shade of aquamarine as you can see. The second lot are of a small two gun redoubt on the adjacent point, which was originally constructed in the 1600's to control the anchorage and harbour approaches. They had a bit of a pirate problem at the time, so the battery was a useful deterrent and was subsequently used throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. A nice day out!

En Garde!

I pre-ordered a digital copy of the new swashbuckling skirmish rules from Osprey a while back and they arrived on the Kindle today. A quick skim through and I'm really liking what I see, especially as the system is based on the Ronin rules expanded and developed to cover the swashbuckling genre. The rules are also lavishly illustrated with colour plates by Peter Dennis and photos of some stunning 28mm figures from Redoubt and Foundry amongst others. I expect that there will now be a bit of a rush for these ranges, especially the Redoubt Three Musketeers which are superb (I have some in a dusty box somewhere).

The other thing about En Garde! is that I actually already have some figures painted and ready to play! I have a decent selection of 28mm pirates that I originally painted up for Legends of the High Seas and which have seen quite a lot of action, even hunting dinosaurs in Saurian Safari on a few occasions. The figures might need a bit of a touch up where they've been bashed about a bit but they're ready to be organised into a warband, so a Treasure Island style scenario would be easy to set up and run. I'll have to sort them out and do some number crunching using the lists in the rulebook to see how far they can be stretched. It might even be worth painting a handful more to swell the ranks?

Project Plans for 2016

I'm being very cautious with my plans for the coming year, so I'm keeping down to a skirmish level and focussing on small projects that I can complete in the space of weeks rather than months. These will include both Dragon Rampant, which is already underway, and Lion Rampant War of the Roses which I've decided to do in 28mm rather than 15mm, at least at the moment. I'll may also have a crack at Black Ops, Ronin, Frostgrave and En Garde, all of which require a small number of figures and are published by Osprey. The Achtung Commando! project and Saga will be in there somewhere too.

One thing I will use to tie this all together is an ice and snow theme, using my lovely new(ish) tundra gaming cloth from Cigar Box Battlemats. This means that I can maximise the use of the relatively expensive cloth and combine any other terrain that I build or buy to cover several projects. I like the idea of War of the Roses in the snow for a start, all very redolent of Towton, and there are obvious connections with Frostgrave, the Heroes of Telemark and the Ice Elves on the workbench. I may even do something sci-fi or pulp set in the snow, either in 15mm or 28mm, who knows...

...and there will definitely be some more mdf !

Galleys and Galleons Cards

 

Nic Wright, the author of Galleys and Galleons, has very kindly sent me a pack of character cards for the game, complete with a couple of very useful wind gauges. The cards are really well illustrated with the archetypes from the rule book including such colourful characters as the Bored Aristocrat, the Virago and the King's Man. I think the Creatures of the Deep one is my favourite. Anyway, I'll have to try them out in my next game of Galleys and Galleons, which I'm thinking of trying in 1/2400th scale using the Tumbling Dice range of Armada-era galleons or in 1/600th scale with my lead pile of Xyston ancient galleys, as a change from the usual pirates and buccaneers. Thanks Nic!