I don’t know yet

I love making terrain and I also love the look of tall ships with all their sails and rigging and stuff.  (Don’t hate me Gerry but I love me some rigging, I also love dry undead but that’s for a different project)

Now the problem is they don’t work together.  Ships with their sails out tend to be out to sea where there is a distinct lack of terrain.
At a Port, where there is lots of lovely terrain there is a distinct lack of sailage.  It would cause a few problems if ships docked at port with all their sails unfurled.

So here we have a problem already and I may have to use a degree of poetic license to cover off on both.

I have a fairly large collection of Firelock Games figures still in their boxes from the last Kickstarter Campaign.   I also backed their first Kickstarter Campaign plus I have a few other ship models which I have picked up over the years.

With the addition of 3D printing, I reckon I can make up a fairly large fleet of ships which I can divide between the different maritime nations plus of course Pirates themselves.

I like the idea of Blood and Plunder being historically correct, or as close as, but don’t want to rule out the option of going a bit Pirates of the Caribbean too if the mood takes me, and knowing myself fairly well these days I suspect the mood will take me in that direction sooner or later.

For Rules, there is Blood and Plunder, but I will also be looking at another set of rules which may work better for what I have in mind, although I am keeping my options open.

So, I already have a good starting point to kick off from.  That blue sea mat is going to have to go though as it’s just too dark for my liking.  Also, at 6′ x 4′ it’s just a little bit small for what I have in mind.

I also have a few buildings that I may try to incorporate into a port or similar.  Either way, I like the light sand colour on these so will do my best to make any further pieces of terrain fit in with them.  If nothing else, it will then give me options when playing smaller games.

Finally, I want to incorporate elements that can be used with Firelock Games forthcoming Port Royal Skirmish game.

Skirmish games benefit from having terrain that has multiple levels and access points, so something along the lines of a Mordheim table but with a Pirate theme.  It’s no use to have all the buildings fully built as they then really just become objects of line-of-sight blocking terrain.  With multiple levels joined by walkways and gantries, with ladders and destroyed sections, it creates a much more fun space to play across.  Of course, this also does not mean that all the buildings and terrain pieces need to fit that description but there needs to be enough for a good skirmish game too.

Points to consider.

• Consistent colour and basing across all terrain to allow mixing and matching.
• Skirmish-style terrain with multiple levels.
• Room for a good variety of ships including a few larger ones.
• Ensigns on ships need to be removable to allow for ships to be captured.
• Caribbean feel to both the sea and terrain if possible.
• Indigenous populations may already have built some structures.
• The ability to add some more ‘Hollywood/Fantasy’ elements.  i.e
  • Skull Mountain
  • Kraken
  • Ghost Ship
  • Cannibals