Dread_Privateer_Roberts

I don't like the idea of some king on a throne 3,000 miles away telling me how to manage my affairs. I'm not a criminal but a man's gotta earn a living! Guess that makes me a Privateer...

Thats a great ship! And great screename btw...

The brick forge bayonet is probably more accurate but I tend to like the looks of the brickarms bayonet on the lego rifles. I also like the versatility of that little u-clip piece and the fact that, once removed, the bayonet can act as a knife which is a lot more like the bayonet's I have used, so maybe I'm bias!

Thats awesome! Good job, very creative!

brick arms makes a pretty cool custom bayonet... http://b.imagehost.org/0341/BrickArms_Bayonet_02.jpg

Here is the updated version of the 4 stud wide smuggling ship... It still has the two smuggling holds... And now it has a medium pivot gun, (and a ships bell) And a light pivot gun... when I get up enough ambition I'll break out the sail making material and rig some of these ships...

Great little boats! Thanks for the ispiration, I need to build a few like these. My gaming fleet is heavy on the 12 and 16 hull ships, but kinda skimpy on the 4 and 6 stud hulls...

Here are a few pics of various other cannons Obviously you wouldn't have a ship with this many cannons all over the place, but these are just a few of the various types of medium and light ship guns employed in the Spanish Main strategy game... Here is a medium swivel gun on a row boat... Here is a light swivel gun mounted to the deck railing... Here is another version of the Medium swivel gun. I don't noramlly have two guns mounted to one plate, but I just wanted to see how it would look... Special thanks to Matteo1130 (http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=45700) for the basic design of this light ships gun... A Medium swivel gun and a light swivel gun... I thought I'd throw in a few custom shore-based artillery pieces while I was at it. I don't have the exact colors I want for these designs but, thanks to bricklink, soon enough I will! I thought I would throw in a few windage flags on this one to see how it looked.

Thanks, I liked how that light swivel gun turned out, and I've got a new and improved design now. Just a few more orders from bricklink... I really like the cannon design by Matteo1130 for a smaller gun to mount on these ships and I agree they look much better, but keep in mind these ships are used for gaming, not necessarily looks, and the "Speak softly and cary a big stick" theory is often a very effective tactic for taking out larger ships. The trade off in the game is that the weight of the cannons and their size slows down the ship considerably and severly limits the cargo you can hold. The Swift, for example, is generally outfitted with only the small swivel gun because her main objective is to run down and board enemy ships, not sink them. In fact, the Swifts configuration seen in the pics (with the 3 extra heavy cannon) is that ships maximum payload. With that much weight from the guns there is no room for any cargo... Same goes for the Merchant ship with 2 heavy cannon. The "non-player" ships encountered in the game generally have the appropriate cannon configureation for their size... I'll post a few pics of them when i get the chance... and Thanks! Someday that collection of hulls will all be assembled ships! The box full of masts for that many ships is almost as impressive, maybe I'll get a pic of that up also!

I agree... what sets do those torsos come from? With that many Flor De Lis on them, no doubt they are french! Man, bricklink is the greatest thing since sliced bread! But it seems to me that army building would become a costly affair, just judging by the pirate figures I've purchased on there... At least with building an army of sailors for the 30+ ships in my Spanish Main game I'm free to have a more ragtag, non uniform group of scoundrels!

Here is a small, 4 stud wide, ship used for smuggling. It has two hidden compartments. I have yet to refit the mast and rigging with lego pieces and give it a color scheme but the experimental version shows what the end result will look like. Here is a custom hull similar in size and shape to the Merchant vessel from Imperial Trading Post that has been refitted with a smuggling compartment and two cannon. Here is a unique experimental trimaran flying a Spinnaker sail Here are some ships with custom sails Sorry that so many of the pictures are such poor quality. My camera was not working so I actually took them with my cell phone! Many more to come! Since I've discovered Bricklink I've had a hayday designing an army of ships, most of which I still need to put together...

These are a few custom ships that we've used in our "Spanish Main Pirates Game" A few of them are just hastily made experiments and none are anywhere near the calibre of some of the shipbuilding I've been looking at on here, but they are some fun pieces none the less. Keep in mind that a good portion of the game involves hauling cargo, smuggling contraband (you'll notice a few ships have secret holds) Defending yourself from Pirates, and or attacking and seizing merchant vessels... First is the Swift She is the ship most frequently used by the Dread_Privateer_Roberts. Its a light and fast ship, with a long narrow hull (only 6 studs wide) Its main purpose it to quickly haul cargo from port to port in costal regions and outrun any who persue her. With the right captain and a darring crew, she can easily overtake larger vessels from behind and allow her crew to quickly board and seize the opposing ship. While most of the time she travels lightly loaded to take advantage of her speed, The Swift seen in some of these pictures has been outfitted with extra cannon, what could the Dread_Privateer be up to now...

Where do you go to order parts for all of your minifigs?

I know I've mentioned my game in other posts... I tried to post a file, but it doesn't fit... If you're interested I've got all of my stuff in Spreadsheets and PDF files, PM me...

Ever since the BSB first set sail my friends and I have built uppon a game that involved dice, cards, and lego. We kept playing and modifying the rules as we went. Over the years we have used different versions to accomadate Castle, Western, and Pirate themes. Keep in mind we were all just dumb country kids that grew up without internet or cable tv, you find lots of time to create things when you're not plugged into one of these darned tv screens! Now my ranch house has a full basement devoted to waging war on the high seas. To bad I live in Wyoming, we can always use another player! I recently discovered ESPG and have used a few of his ideas in our updated game, but half of the fun, at least for me, is building the game yourself so that it works well with what you have! SHIP SIZES.... Because, in our game, we use all of the ships available through lego sets as well as any custom pieces the players create, it is necessary to make a standard by which all ships are judged. We actually get into quite a bit of detail on the specs of a ship, but once its created, all of its stats are on its "card" so its not as compilcated as it first may appear... We use classes, but unlike ESPG, "First Class" means largest... "Second Class" and lower are smaller ships. All in all we have 5 classes. Class 5 being rafts, rowboats (rb w/sails), cannues (w/ or w/out sails) Class 4 being ships that are 4 studs wide (excluding the standard lego rowboat) Class 3 is based on the 6 stud wide boat from the Imperial Trading Post, Class 2 is the 12 stud ships like Imperial Flaship and Armada Flagship. Class 1 is the 16 wide hull like the NEW Imperial Flagship, BSB and so on... Each class has a "base speed" and then other factors are added to that speed to get the ships total speed. We use this formula: Class Standard + [(#)hull Ratio x 2]+ [(#) Sails] For the "hull Ratio" number, measure the ships length and devide by its width, then round to a whole number. ie: If a ship is 3" wide and 6" long, it would have a 2:1 ratio. 12" x 4" = 3:1 24" x 6" = 4:1 I'll use the (old) Imperial Flagship as an example. It is a Class 2, so it has a base speed of 14 empty (available on my chart) it has 3 sails and a hull ratio of 3:1 so: 14 + [3 x 2] + 3 = 23" For Manuverability, we determine how many turns it takes a ship to make a 180 degree change in direction. For this we use: Hull Ratio + # masts + headsail = # of turns to make 180 degree turn So the flagship would be: 3 + 1 + 1 = 5 turns (a headsail is the triangle shaped sail on the front of the ship) (Durring the game this is not a hard and fast number as its pretty hard to determine an exact 36 degree course change, but its up to the players to stay close as they can) We also have Wind in the game that changes every so many turns, both in direction and speed. We roll 2 6 sided dice to determine direction (like the face of a clock) and then 3 dice to determine speed. Each ship has its own speeds for the different points of sail, 45 into wind (close) 90 across the wind (beam) 45 downwind (reach) and straight downwind (run) These are based on the type of sails it runs. Square rigged ships typicaly take better advantage of downwind points of sail due to their relatively large suface areas with which to "catch" the wind. Lanteen, Gaff, and Fore and Aft rigged ships are better at sailing upwind. To apply this to the Flagship, It has a main mast with a square main sail and a gaff rigged sail mounted to the main. This means it has the advantages of both square riging and gaff/for and aft rig. It can effectively sail upwind with the help of the gaff rig, and downwind with the square rig. So it would have a sailing chart that would read: Close (45 upwind) 75% windspeed Beam (90 across) 100% windspeed Reach (45 downwind) 100% windspeed Run (straight down) 100% windspeed The speed of the ship is based off of the windspeed, and even if the wind speed is at 24, the ship cannot sail faster than its max speed (in this case, 23 empty and 16 fully loaded according to my chart for a class 2) Of course, when constructing and playing a game like this, you can make it as simple or complex as you want... its up to you!

I agree, but they're not to hard to spot. Even in crappy photographs you can usually see some tell tale differences... even so... There appears to be more than one "Chrome" cutlass floating around, impersonating LEGO products... This one even has a pic... http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=Dutchstyle&itemID=17024024 $127!!!!!!! Are they serious!?!?! http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=Legosteen&itemID=15416239

In place of muskets (like lego) they use the same casting as the Western rifle, only make it brown... Agreed... Very few things have ever been created that did not have some inspiration from a previous concept, but that does not mean they were "ripped off" Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile, he made it so people could afford it. Bill Gates didn't invent computers, and Edison didn't invent electrictity. There is,however, a difference in Cloning and Coppyright infringement...

Yeah, that Marlin is a great gun! My 1894 hangs on my wall because its been shot so much (although the gun is in great visual condition) that it no longer shoots accuratly, at least not enough for my standards! But its in great shape for a gun thats 100+ years old! I'm definatly going to get one of those pieces from Brickarms. I already have the "navy 6" and "colt 1911" to match my real gun collection, Now they need to make the Sharps and "colt peacemaker"! and some others... ;) Like I said before, As long as there are banks, there will be bank robbers, cars, car theives, and ships, PIRATES! I have no doubt in my mind that an act of piracy has occured using a Winchester or similar lever action rifle, but in relation to the LEGO pirate themes, I think they predate that rifle by some years. I'm a bit of a history buff, and after serving in the Marines, I've taken great interest in Pirates and their history. Some of the first battles Marines fought were against pirates, although some time after the "golden age" (funny how marines started fighting muslim extreemists, and last I checked, were still fighting them...)

Guess I should have made that post a little more clear... I was refering to the Western gun that Lego did make: http://www.draim.com/images/e/350408773564_0.jpg not sure what lego was going for, but I was just assuming they meant it to be a Henry or Winchester lever gun... not the Brickarms version which obviously is. I have bought some of the Brickarms stuff in the past and I think its actually pretty good quality, some very unique pieces!

Someone who knew I was into the Pirate Legos found me a set... and this is what it turned out to be: To say that the pieces are inferior is an understatement. The Pieces, the Plastic, the color, even the box... I don't know how they manage to avoid copyright issues. Not only are they an obvious rip off of "LEGO" style building blocks, but the sets are exact coppies of Lego Sets! The instructions are duplicated lego instructions with the LEGO removed, and ENLIGHTEN put up... Even in low light, with a low res camera, you can tell which figures are REAL lego, Notice how they've used all of the LEGO faces, and even individual figures... I've got the real version to this set, I'll have to set them up side by side and see what's different!

I have to go with the Imperial Trading Post, but its close. I have two ITP's set up downstairs in my "Spanish Main." One serves as Port Royal and the other as Panama (since the Spanish never really had a great lego fort) There a lot of neat small forts, like Cannon Cove, which defends the entrance to the harbor seen here... Rock Island Refuge would be a close second for me... And Shipwreck Island is very unique, especially the "hidden" compartment

I'm not sure exactly what lever action rifle LEGO was going for, but looks to me like the Winchester. I've got an octagon barrel 1894 30-30 hanging on my wall (passes for home decor in Wyoming) that looks just like it. Although "Pirates" have been around as long as there have been ships, and continue to this day (see Somalia) The lego Pirate's are set in the "golden age of piracy" which began roughly around 1650 and ended somewhere around 1726... so an 1874, 84 or 94 Lever gun is probably about 150 years to new...

As a LEGO set the IFS absolutely has the WOW factor... I've got about 15 or so ships together right now, and the IFS sure stands out, even next to the likes of the Baracuda, SES, Red Beard Runner, and the Bounty

Interactions between the players are, for the most part, up to them. For instance, the last game we played two players joined up at the very start. They pooled their money to buy a larger boat (with sail) that could cross open water (normaly you only have enough money to start off with a row boat) and had enough left for one Cutlass. They used the boat to sail to a small island where there was a shipwrecked sailor. The one player asked the sailor to help him pull the boat ashore (so he put down his pistol) and the other player (with cutlass) then attacked the poor unfotunate fellow and stole his treasure. Uppon returning to port they purchased a second sailboat and a crew for each man and went their separat ways, putting them several steps ahead of the rest of the players. Other times, if a player has rolled and encountered something (storm, ship, monster ect) any players in the nearby area might also be affected and want to, or have to participate in the event. Sometimes by default, other times by an agreed uppon percentage roll of the dice that they were close enough to see and engage (or disengage) from the action. If one player has taken up full time piracy, and another player has rolled for an encounter and come up with PIRATE, that player could choose to be said pirate if he were reasonably nearby... There is a lot of room for imagination and role play, and we don't really have any specifics to make the players engage in activities together, but we seem to wind up with a lot of player interaction anyway.

I don't remember how ESPG rated weapons, but here is a little bit of what we go by: 8" for Pistol and a 10 for accuracy [10 and less is a hit](out of 3, 6 side dice) 10 is like 50% accuracy range of 14" for rifle and its accuracy is 14 (about 75%) if a character can concievably hide behind something, we will role for a chance for the shot (if it was a hit) to be deflected by his cover. We judge roughly how much cover he is behind and go with a %. Say he is 50% covered, if he rolled a 10 or less he would be safe. If he was 75% covered, 14 and less he would be safe ect... This enables crew in the deck and holds of the ship to avoid a lot of the fire from an opposing vessel and allows for more boarding actions so you can get some H2H action going! Cannons (depending on class) can be from 16" to 48" and from 6 to 10 in accuracy (25 -50%) For cutlass and H2H combat, a cutlass swing has an accuracy of 10 (50%) if you do get a hit, but the other guy has a cutlass, he has a 12 (63%) chance of deflecting the hit. If the opponent being swung at has a flagpole, rifle, or other object that could deflect a cutlass, he may get a 6, 8 or 10 (depending on his weapon) chance of deflecting the attack. This seems to work well as it simulates the back and forth, perry and thrust momentum of a real swordfight.