MINI WARGAMING: "28mm Pirate Ship Coming Together" (26 December 2007)

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TOP: Master Necromancer Maksimok's shipyards.

Hi Everyone,

One of the projects I have been enjoying the most lately has been a 28mm pirate ship.

I was browsing E-bay one day and found it for considerably under a C-spot ($100.00 USD) and decided to lowball the bid and miraculously I WON! So, the next thing I know, the pirate ship arrives and my work bench is covered in the undead, which effectively meant that the pirate ship project was forced to wait.

TOP: A dark PIRATE SHIP appears out of the foggy night!

So then a work colleague and friend, Cheri, calls me and, knowing I speak Spanish, asks me to tutor her daughter, Keri, in Spanish language studies so I came and started working with her. After a tutoring lesson one day, Keri chats me up a bit and asks how I liked the most recent "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. I mentioned that I enjoyed it and was even building a pirate ship model. This intrigued them and Cheri offered to lend me her corner table so I could build it with them... so I did. The next thing I know I started assembling a pirate ship at my friend's apartment with a teenage assistant who wanted to learn the craft. I started learning the parts of the ship, teaching my assistant nautical terminology, and, at the same time, teaching hobby skills.

And it's slowly coming together...

TOP: The aft castle has adornment made out of cheap jewelry charms.
TOP: Shaping the fore castle railing took some work...

The white tubes sticking up are mountings for masts.

The ship itself is an out-of-production 28mm model from Merrimack Miniatures / Old Glory called the adventure galley. I have slowly been cleaning it up and customizing it. I plan to use it with the excellent Pirates! rule set from my friends at Flagship Games, so I've built the masts to be removable. The masts are made from 3/8" dowels that fit snugly into 7/16" hollow plastic tubing.

TOP: The ship is coming together as seen from the side.
Both the fore and aft castles are removable...
With cabins accessible underneath them.
TOP: From this angle, you can see...
The cabin under the fore castle...
Has a custom bulkhead installed.

There is also custom railing, a hand-made front bulkhead and more.

I haven't decided what sort of crew to populate her from yet... I have three in mind:

1. A traditional, historical human pirate crew.

2. A demi-human, mostly Orc pirate crew.

3. A skeleton & zombie undead pirate crew.

Keri likes the undead crew best. I'm of a mind to keep the ship flexible and allow all three crews on board... just not at the same time!

Here are some 28mm pirate links for you:

Flagship Games link:

http://www.flagshipgames.com/

Old Glory Miniatures link:

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/

Pirate Wargames Yahoo discussion E-group:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/PirateWargames/

The rest of my 28mm pirate ship photos at my Photobucket image gallery:

http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/28mm_Pirates/

Have a root'in toot'in great Wednesday!
And happy holidays!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (...if it is indeed an infringement).