Dead Earth Games are currently on Kickstarter looking to expand the world of Pirates of the Dread Sea with two new fantasy crews and some fantastical creatures. If you have missed Pirates of the Dread Sea it is a fast-paced tabletop skirmish game for two or more players.

Pirates Of The Dread Sea // Skriers

In Pirates of the Dread Sea, you create a crew of pirates from various fantasy races or can use the pre-designed crews featuring fantasy races such as Orcs, Dwarves, the Undead or Humans and fight for treasure and survival. This Kickstarter campaign hopes to add Goblins and Skrier crews to the mix alongside some mercenaries and creatures.

The first crew are the delightfully squid-headed Skriers. These cephalopods are a race from the main book giving form for the first time, being natives to the Dread Sea they are having to deal with the interlopers who have come recently into their world.

They appear to be very focused on doing their fighting up close and personal and to help them their ranged harpoons can reel their targets in close allowing my favourite narwhal tusk armed Skrier to polish them off!

Pirates Of The Dread Sea // Goblins

The Orc and Goblin crew is also on the way, the set contains three Goblins, including the captain, and two bulkier Orcs. I love the look of the goblins, smaller than a human, but upright and sharp-featured they feel more like a Tolkien goblin rather than a two-foot-tall scuttling green skin.

There is another orc that is viewable as a render on the Kickstarter page, wielding two brutal axes. It's nice to see all the races being given an equal footing, just because they're goblins doesn't mean they're a ramshackle crew and with plenty of plunder, their weapons and garb are the equals of any other privateer on the seas.

Fairy Assassins

Yes you read that correctly, Fairy Assassins are a thing. They may be small but they pack a punch, able to reach their targets by using their unique abilities the Fairys can both fly and shrink. This combination enables them to get into areas that a normal-sized figure would find themselves blocked off from.

They've shown off the initial test prints and they come in both sizes and look fantastic. I love that they've leant into the fantasy element of the world and came up with something very unique that you ordinarily wouldn't see. The rules for these mercenaries are in the new supplement Hunted, along with rules for narwhals, Ghost and Vampire pirates and new NPCs like Gorgons and Harpies to expand upon the foes already available in the main rules.

It's a short campaign running to flesh out more of the game world, but if you're interested they have a gameplay video and a growing community page that is very active to take a look at. The original rules and crews can also be picked up through the Kickstarter if you fancy embracing the pirate's life on the tumultuous waters of the Dread Sea.

I think this is one that could have some real (sea) legs for gamers, with a low model count and a campaign system to outfit and personalise your crews I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

What fantasy creature would you make into an Assassin?