The holiday season has come and gone. Here's hoping that you got lots of lead under the tree as well as all those reference books you've been looking for. Y2K has also come and gone and we seem to have survived that as well (pen and paper are still working just fine. thank you).
Also, thanks to all the folks who have expressed concern over Momma, the shop cat, who sustained injuries while successfully repelling an intruder during the New Years weekend. The fact that the intruder was a chipmunk and it whipped her fat butt is beside the point....
This is the slow time of year for new stuff. All the manufacturers and importers are waiting until Cold Wars to release the new goodies so we will just have to be patient. This gives us an opportunity look at a other things we didn't say much about last year.
It would appear (if the British glossies are to be believed) that 1999 was the year of the pirate. We have been inundated with articles on how to build and paint pirate ships. how to model and paint pirate figures, and how to build a pirate paradise that can be fought over and plundered to) your hearts content. All three of the major figure manufacturers, Dixon, Foundry, and Old Glory, have jumped on the band wagon and are producing a wide range (if some very nice 25/28MM figures and accessories.
Top honors go to Dixon for their outstanding pirate ships. At present they have 3 available, ranging from a beautiful 6 gun sloop to a massive 24 gun Mail 'o War. The hulls are of cast resin with white metal fittings, and properly tapered dowels for the mast and bow sprits. Unlike a lot of the resin we have seen from England. there are few air bubbles and NO broken pieces so far. The white metal casting are up it) the usual Dixon crisp standards with little flash or mis-castings, and are quite numorous. While this is nor a plastic kit with a thousand pieces, there are enough to keep you busy for a couple of hours.
Now for the down-side. The price. These ships ain't cheap. The 6 gun sloop runs $99.99, the twin masted merchantman is $ 139.9.5, and the man 'o war is $149.95. Plus you'll have to buy the deck guns and crew. Count (in spending between $150.00) to $225.00 to get started in this era using Dixon. Another slight criticism is the lack of a "crows nest". Granted, these are cast fabricated out of basswood or styrene, but for the price, I would expect some. especially on the larger boats. Still, if you want the best. Dixon is the way to go.
As earlier mentioned, Old Glory has started producing pirate figures. They have eight different sets, with another 15 or so in the works. They also have a ship available which is cast resin, made by Merrimack Miniatures. This is either an 18 or 20 gunner, depending on how you set it up and has 3 mast. It is also equipped with oars as a representation of Captain Kidd's Galley. It is cast out of whitish yellow resin which is a little heavier and a little more resistant to breakage than the gray. The trade off is that there less detail and what there is, is not as sharp. Also the white metal seems to be gravity cast as opposed to spin casted, so there again, the detail is not as sharp. The nice part about it these ships is that the bow and stern castles are removable, giving you the ability to have more below deck action. The price is also attractive at $110-00 which includes 8 deck guns or $85.00 without guns. And it even comes with a crows nest.
As mentioned earlier, Old Glory also has 8 bags of figures to go with their ship. The best deal on the market is their Pirate Artillery with Crew (#OGP-07). This pack gives you 2 deck guns and 10 gun crew figures for $15). Compared to Dixon's deck gun at $6.95 and Foundry's 2 guns for $12), this is quite a bargain. The figures scale out at a pleasing 27M and are quite nicely cast in pewter. Their pirate line is scheduled to be a limited run of 1000 packs each.
Next on the list is the 2 masted brigantine from Frontline Wargaming. Economically, this is probably the best deal around. It retails for $75.00 and comes complete with 6 deck guns, 4 swivel guns, and a lot of miscellaneous deck fittings. The detail on the resin hull is well cast as are the while metals fittings.
As with the others, this ship is equipped with dowels for the masts and bow sprit. The down side for this boat is that the resin it is cast out of is very brittle, so much so that you will probably have glue some of the hull back on when you take it out of the box.. Most of the breaks are clean, but we have seen a few that were pretty nasty. Still, it is a good value considering all you need add is your crew.
Outland games, at one time, produced a very nice foam cast, entry level pirate ship. It came in either an eight or 10 gun configuration, priced at $21.95 and $24.95 respectively. What you basically got was the hull and dowels for the mast. You had to supply the guns, deck railing, and any other fittings you thought necessary, but it was a good quality casting and the price was right. Kind of a half way point between scratch building your own and buying one of the more expensive kits. I'm not sure if these fine boats are back in production, but if you are interested, you might give Chris at Outland a call.
The last two that we have heard about, but not seen are Village Green (distributed in the U.S. by Old Guard Hobbies in Stearling Heights, MI), and Flagship Games of Alameda, CA. We have heard that the Village Green ships arc quite nice, but somewhat smaller than the other manufacturers. Flagship's boats are of a high quality cast resin. but appear to be rather blocky and stylized from the pictures in their catalog. They are also one of the first to publish a rules set, Pirates, to go along with their boats. The rules are written rather tongue in check and in addition to standard navel combat have a section on the use of magic and other critters for those of you so inclined. We have not had a chance to play these, but it you tear out halt the book that deals with magic, they look pretty good. Check with these fine manufacturers/distributors for price and availability.
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