Small Scale Naval Action

As mentioned on the main blog, I purchased one pack of the notorious '72x plastic Napoleonic Sailing Ship Toy etc. etc.' bag on Amazon, and it is due to arrive next week.

Just in time as I was already eyeing some Warfare Miniatures metal ships for pirate actions, and how to cut cost! (Skipping one meal or two was, of course, out of the question.) Sometimes foresight works better than any planning.

Anyway, I plan to convert a bunch of these, much alike Master Crook on his blog, to three-deckers, frigates and Indiamen. And, although I originally bought the lot for fleet actions, I will be free to roam the seven seas as captain of a privateer or pirate hunter man-o-war.

My plan includes converting six ships to 1st rates, six frigates, six indiamen and six hulks (without masts). I might just increase the number of frigates to a dozen, but again, for fleet actions, they are not required. That would still leave me with fifty-odd 'second rate' hulls

This, then, brings the question of rules, preferably for ship on ship actions. For large scale battles I have Fighting Sail and my own diceless house rules.

For smaller actions I own Galleys & Galleons, but had not tried it for duels; and Kiss Me Hardy, which I played a lot and enjoyed, and think most suitable for the task. Another candidate would be Mad for War by the League of Augsburg, which is flexible in engagement scale as far as I know.

I'm not on the lookout for rules anymore on the current market, because I'm a grognard at heart and will just write my own. Of course there is the odd exception, for example the Renaissance rules to be published by Sam Mustafa. This means it's time to re-read KMH! for a while, and wait for the ships patiently.

 

Pirates in the Yellow Isles

(Updated 03.28.)

My next plan is a series of unconnected skirmishes featuring a small Jackewlinese pirate crew and their ship in the Yellow Isles. I already ordered the next batch of Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago crewmen for just that purpose.

This is a rather unexplored part of the world of Dorfainen, full of many dangers, so it's got a lot of storytelling potential.

The crew would gather resources, avoid military vessels and try to put their hands on long lost booty, combating rival pirate gangs, tribal islanders and nature itself.

Inter Arma 2.1., my homebrew ruleset has all the necessary elements to run such a campaign, basically I draft a scenario, play it, see who survives and who gets some experience, then carry on.

Perhaps in the end the captain of the crew could become Pirate Queen/King? (or just lie dead in the sand at some forgotten place, the way pirates do.)

The thing I mostly need now is ample figures on clear acrylic bases for both naval and land-based actions - and the bases themselves, but they're not a strain on my budget. I'm not really that much into pirate swashbuckling, but I needed something to get me out of hobby fatigue, so hopefully this project will just be the right cure.

Also I'll build some pirate ships out of trash.

Rules to be used:

- an abstract scenario-based IA2.1. campaign system for the long game

- IA2.1. for medium sized skirmishes

-IA2.1. or Flashing Steel for small skirmishes

- a Block Galleys variant for naval combat, perhaps only the ship vs. ship aspect, the crews could fight it out based on IA2.1.: the turn starts with a ship movement and cannonade phase, then individual crew vs. crew combat, and then determining the ship's hull status

- larger ship vs. ship actions in Galleys &Galleons, it's fun and very random (thank you brain, now I need to get more Zvezda 1/350 scale ships)

A four-gun ship could house about ten to a dozen crew members, and could be built to be rather compact in size.