Talk Like A Pirate Day - Pirate Project Update

I had hoped to get this posted last night in honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day but real life got in the way as it always seems to do.  However, when you live in the Florida Keys, one can hear pirate speak almost every day so in that respect, I'm right on time.

Though my posting frequency has been lower than normal lately, I have not been idle by any means on the hobby front.  In fact, it's due to the focus I've placed on my hobby projects lately that has left little time for blogging.  I'll try to get a general update posted in the very near future to showcase some of the other undertakings, but for now I want to concentrate on the pirate project.

Port Largo is coming along nicely.  I've been able to shape the terrain boards to my liking and add a bit of elevation here and there.  Since the first part of the campaign will take place mostly in town, I will be adding two boards behind the existing ones to showcase more of the island.  Once the crews manage to gain access to larger ships, the back boards can be removed to give more room for ship maneuvering.

Overhead view of Port Largo

In the view below, one can see the general layout of the town proper.  The docks are now apparent though the actual piers are still under construction.  Several of the buildings are starting to take shape as well, with the inn in the foreground to the right.  I've been trying several different techniques to simulate the classical Caribbean building style and have almost settled on a favored solution.  One method that I will no longer employ however is to use spackle over the foamboard to provide texture.  Not only does it take way too long, but it's quite messy and creates rather heavy structures.  The current winner is to use textured spray paint as a primer then apply colors and washes over that layer.

View of the east side of town

Not shown are the barracks, the blacksmith's shop, and several of the lesser homes that will line the street.  They are sitting on the workbench with clamps holding the sides together to allow the glue to dry.  I'm also working on a gallows that will sit seaward of the tower fort at the southernmost point of the island.  Does anyone know where I can find a miniature to represent a hanged pirate?


The ships are coming along nicely as well.  One of the completed smaller vessels can be seen sailing the Caribbean blue waters below while other unstarted ships can be seen sitting at the docks for scale.  Not shown are the two sloops under construction on the work bench right now.  While it will be some time before the crews are ready to take to the high seas, I do want several watercraft available for scenery and possibly for escapes.

Ships along the waterfront of Port Antigua

I took a break from painting the normal inhabitants of Port Antigua to return to the fighting folk.  I've started a new round of soldiers and a few commanders to go along.  A few pirates and privateers are also primed and ready to go.  All of the miniatures below are from the Black Scorpion line of pirates except for the little guy that belongs to Old Glory.  I've become quite a fan of Black Scorpion over the last year and highly  recommend them for their clean lines, interesting poses, and general good looks.

Pirates in progress

Well, that's about it for the pirates for now.  Projects await......

Pirate Port Construction

The construction of my pirate port (cunningly dubbed Port Largo) continues and it's nice to see some real progress.  Though the buildings were lacking roofs, siding, and details of any kind, just placing them together in an orderly fashion allowed me to see the plan coming together and give me direction for future structures and buildings. 

Bird's eye view of what will be the docks and main square.

In the photo above you can see the general layout of the town.  The buildings will not necessarily be in the same locations but the the distance between the individual structures is fairly accurate.  To facilitate large numbers of miniatures in action, I wanted to have a broad avenue leading from the docks towards what will be a hill in the distance.  Conversely, what seedy pirate town would be complete without dark alleys and narrow passages for swashbuckling and parleys?

The square will be wide enough for a fountain and traffic.

All of the buildings will feature numerous windows and balconies to allow for dynamic interaction and conflict amongst the players.  Each roof will be removable so that miniatures can be positioned at the various openings and possibly allow for fights to occur inside as well as outside.  Though there are no true upper stories except for the large balcony on the Government House (under construction), each window above ground level will have platforms attached so that miniatures can be positioned to shoot from the upper openings.

Another view of the first few buildings.

As far as the game board goes, I am in the process of shaping several large sections of one inch thick pink insulation sheets.  One end will terminate at the dock and will feature a stone quay and several wooden piers.  The Custom's House will be placed here as well as several warehouses and of course, a large inn and tavern.  I also plan to allow room for stacked goods, barrels, and crates.  If the tales be true, pirates love fighting in these areas.

The Custom's House and a ship at "dock".

The other end of the board will end with a low hill where many of the more prominent buildings in the area will be located.  This too will be shaped from pink insulation and filled out with plaster.  I don't think I'll have room to build a proper hill like those common in the Caribbean but the illusion will be there.  A backdrop with iconic island scenery may help with the endeavor.

A large wealthy merchant's house on the "hill".

A large merchant's house will be on or near the bottom of the hill.  Perhaps this will be the residence of a wealthy ship captain.  Sitting within sight of the seedier part of town, the large home is bound to tempt several of the less than savory characters.  Another possibility would be to make it the home of a shifty privateer captain.  He would have the money and standing to live near the hill but no doubt the more law abiding residents of Port Largo would whisper their suspicions about him when in polite company.

The beginnings of Government House.

Finally, on top of the hill will be Government House.  This building is shaping up to be a fairly large structure.  The main section is as large as the merchant's house but will feature larger windows on the upper flow along with a balcony that faces the sea and overlooks Port Largo.  Sprawling behind the main portion will be two lower levels that will feature a flat roof.  An opening from the second story will allow access to the roof and will certainly provide for some interesting action if the place is ever attacked when the pirates attack. Finally, a large courtyard will feature a bit of privacy for the guests of Government House and create cover and obstacles for both attacking and defending forces.  Most of the buildings will be white washed (except the inn which will be darker) but I think this home needs to stand out.  Perhaps a a faded rose/pink, not unlike that of a flamingo.  Hmmm....

I am enjoying this project immensely and look forward to designing a few more buildings.  I must caution myself not to go overboard however, by creating structure after structure and never finishing.  After all, the purpose of this project is to actually play a Legends of the High Seas game.

That is the purpose...right?

Any Port In The Storm

Warning: This will be my first attempt at posting from my iPad. I want to try blogging from alternate locations besides my desk or couch. Though I have a wireless keyboard I am not quite used to it yet. No doubt, I am bound to make many mistakes as my fingers stumble around on the tiny keyboard. If I fail to correct all of the mistakes, please forgive me in advance.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program.....

I spent last night and part of today cutting out frames for my pirate port project and putting them together (don't you just love alliteration?). So far I have two single story houses along with two "government" buildings. One of the buildings is destined to be the governor's mansion while the other may find duty as a customs house. They are just bare foamboard and without roofs right now. I'm afraid they will remain so until I have enough for a small port town. Since I plan on using spackle to cover the exterior of all the buildings, I'd rather make a big mess one time rather than on multiple occasions for multiple buildings. The tile for the roofs will have to wait as well. Though I have a few sheets of plastic tiles, I plan on trying a method I read about online. Someone suggested that corduroy could be used to simulate tile if stiffened with PVA glue. Considering the cost of the prefab sheets, I hope the corduroy trick works....I have many buildings to cover.

I was also able to finally finish my navigator. He has been on the workbench longer than any other pirate miniature. The reason for the delay was mainly his jacket. I envisioned him as an old weatherbeaten sailor with a few pieces of finery left to him but mainly dressed in threadbare garb. I gave him a nice waistcoat but wanted to make his jacket a dark burgandy color that looked stained and faded. Unfortunately, no matter what color or mix I tried, I just could not get the color to match my vision. I must have painted the jacket ten different times and on each occasion the resulting color varied from pink to purple to bright red. Finally I gave up and decided to accept whatever color appeared on my last attempt.

I'm still not happy with the jacket but he stays as is....at least for now. I am quite satisfied with the parrot however. Feeling rather defeated due to the jacket fiasco, I decided to really spend some time on his pet and work on blending the blues, greens, and yellows into a seamless transition. For the most part, I feel like I succeeded. More importantly, I think the parrot creates a nice strong contrast with the rest of the figure and acts as a focal point for the eye.

I would have posted a photo of him tonight but troubles with the base caused yet another delay. The miniature is standing on wooden planks or flooring but at the edge of the base, the wood ends and sculpted sand begins. I'm not very happy with this arrangement but I was too lazy to re-base the figure after all the delays I've encountered with him so far. So I decided to apply glue and sand around the edge of the base in hopes that I would cover the sculpted sand and maybe match the bases of my other pirates a bit more closely. Well, that plan failed miserably. The sand grains, though they look great as basing material, are the wrong scale to match the wooden planks. The result looked terrible. So now I have to clean off the glue and sand tomorrow and either paint the sculpted sand or rebase the mini on a standard base.

As a quick and humorous aside, this is also the miniature that I knocked off my painting desk last week. I was lifting another figure out of my stand when its sword caught the navigator under the arm and pulled him out as well. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch him before he tumbled several feet to the floor. If he had landed on carpet, perhaps the damage would have been minor or nonexistent. However the vast majority of floors in the Florida Keys are covered in hard tile in case of hurricane flooding. My house is no exception and I can't begin to describe what a three foot fall onto tile does to acrylic painting on a miniature. More delays....

I hope this navigator has better luck in-game than he did on the painting table. Otherwise his ship may end up on a well-charted reef or worse.

What miniature has given you the most trouble and why?

On The Horizon for February

January has come to an end and a new month is upon us.  Despite being sick with the flu for the first two weeks of the year I was able to accomplish quite a bit on the hobby front.  No less than nine pirates were completed with several others started and in various stages of completion.  Had I not been sick for the first part of the month I would have almost doubled my output.  As it stands now however, I'm still well on track to meet my goal of 100 miniatures by the end of the year.  With work picking up as the weather warms and  tourist season drawing ever closer, I can only hope to keep up the pace.

With my well-documented Hobby ADD, I try to plan ahead to help me focus on my goals.  My plan for February is to continue with the Legends of the High Seas project.  Getting more pirates and some scenery on the table is my priority for the month.  But as usual, I have quite a few side projects going on at the same time.  As you can see below, more than pirates are occupying my time.  A few LotR figures along with several Reaper models are in the slow process of coming to life.  There is even one Cadian miniature in the queue.  He is to be the test model for a paint scheme I have in mind for next month's project - March of the Cadians!

Mixed with the pirates are 5 Reaper, 2 LotR, and 1 Cadian.

Several of the models are already nearing completion and I hope to finish at least eight of them in the next week.  In doing so, I will have met the monthly average I need to complete to meet my year end goal.  Having more painted faces on my hobby desk smiling at me while I work will relieve some of the pressure and allow me to divert a bit of time towards a few other projects I would like to start this month.

Several models nearing completion.

One of those projects will be ship building.  Back in November and December, I went on an Ebay quest to find suitable ship models for Legends of the High Seas.  Through several lucky bids, I was able to score three sets of the Weapons and Warriors pirate game for very little investment.  Most of the items included in the boxed sets can be easily converted for 28mm play for much less than purchasing the resin purpose-built ships several companies are offering.  The ships in the set are eight inches long and qualify as a "small" ship according to the LotHS rules.  I find them quite suitable for play as far as realistic looks and miniature egress on the decks go.

Weapons and Warriors pirate ship under conversion.

To get the ships ready for play, several plastic moldings have to be carefully removed though.  With all the plastic chunks missing the deck will then have to be repaired.  One could use greenstuff to fill in the holes then re-sculpt the "wood grain" pattern to hide the evidence or completely resurface the deck with balsa wood.  At this point, I plan on pursuing the second course.  Sculpting is not one of my strong points and I do not want to spend loads of time blending patterns on the putty to match the original decking.  Plus, once I make a template for the first ship it will be easy to replicate the decks and outfit the other five vessels.

Painting should be fairly simple.  Black primer then lots of drybrushing with browns and grays is the plan.  I am unsure of what I'm going to do about the masts however.  The plastic masts, spars, and sails could be repainted and weathered to look more realistic or I could simply build my own from wooden dowels and cloth.  I'll do a bit of surfing on the web and see if any other modelers have come up with a good solution.

Playmobile pirate ship hull.

I was also able to find a beautiful hull by Playmobile for a quite a steal.  I think I paid less than ten dollars, including the shipping.  I'm not sure of the price if purchased new and with all the accessories, but from what I've seen in the stores, ten dollars was a great price.

To get this ship ready for the high seas I don't think I will need to remove anything.  Monstly I will be adding details such as decking and superstructure.  Balsa decks, dowels for masts, and maybe a balsa sterncastle and she will be looking quite fearsome indeed.  Her larger size will contrast nicely with the smaller ships and allow for more pirates on board.  She is quite beamy and is 12 1/2 inches long, qualifying her as a "medium" sized vessel according to the rules.

Six of the eight ships comprising the fleet.

I've also been working an another medium sized ship made of balsa, foamboard, and pink insulation.  I started the project before I decided to convert the toys I found online.  Although the purchased products look better and are stronger/more sturdy, I really have an issue with not completing what I started.  I think I will continue building her and see what happens.  Who knows, maybe the ship will surprise me and become my favorite of the fleet.

Toy palm trees that came with the Weapons and Warriors set.

In addition to the miniatures and ships, February will be focused on making the necessary terrain for Legends of the High Seas.  I have several buildings under construction (I'll post pictures soon) as well as various other bits of scenery like the palm trees above.  The palms by the way, are some of the ones included in the Weapons and Warriors set.  In their original form the trees look rather bland and well....plastic.  To bring them to life, I cut off the fat bases (and in some cases separated the trees from one another) and glued them to wooden platforms.  Rather than repainting each tree, I decided to leave the color as is but added shading with paint washes.  Dark Green (from GW) was used liberally on the fronds providing an acceptable amount of shading with little effort.

After I shade the trucks with Delvan Mud (GW), I'll finish off the bases with some sand and low foliage.  I'd also like to make a few coconuts but I have not thought of a quick and easy process to replicate them yet.

A pirate seeks relief from the tropical sun.

 Though these particular palms were based and partially shaded as a test, I think I will be quite happy with them once completed.  I purchased the Weapons and Warriors sets for the ships and consider the palms, along with the rowboats and block houses that come with the game (photos coming soon), a huge bonus.  To be honest, I did not even know they were included in the game.  Now that I see a glimpse of the outcome once fully painted, I'm even happier with the purchases.  The scale is almost perfect for this type of palm tree (they look like the palms right outside my front door) and once I combine them with other types of tropical plants and trees, I think I will have a fairly convincing pirate port or tropical island.

So that's my game plan for this month.  What are your gaming/hobby plans for February?