Sounds like we are either visting the dentist (in the vein of Dustin Hoffman), or having a diorama idea..lets go with the diorama.
So ..the idea.
I thought it would be good to put the pirates in a setting where they have discovered more than they bargained for on a raiding party..perhaps they have dug down too deep, dived to the wrong wreck or just made things that go bump in the night emerge from some random cave.
After all, pirates shouldn’t just have conventional problems like getting sand in their shoes and in their pants (and in other unfortunate places, though that might actually account for some of those classic pirate facial expressions).
This might sound a bit Pirates of the Caribbean, but I have decided to go for it anyway as I think it would make a fun diorama – you can never have too many pirates and monsters in one place. In fact it’s a shame one cannot get away with ninjas as well. Mm..
So, moving swiftly past the ninjas and pirates thing, the idea is to have a ship in a cove being boarded by some unpleasant sea looking things, perhaps with a few other things pursuing our gallant (well unpleasant and cut throat, but, hey look, someone has to be the ‘good’ guy) heroes (or villains, this everyone is evil thing makes life complicated) along a little jetty. I had in mind a ships boat loaded with treasure being set on by something…yucky. I saw a terrain piece of a wrecked pirate ship on Tabletop Gaming News a while ago, shame that has already been done as it would have made a good concept.
Of course one of the main motivations here is the strange and inexplicable need, that most modellers will have at some point, to break out loads of balsa wood and build a gigantic pirate ship. The first question is..how complicated can I make my life in trying to achieve this? Looking around….the answer is very, very, very complicated, if I want to. For example there is the Maiden, which consists of a printed set of plans to download and mount on foamboard (or similar), that builds into the biggest ship in the 28mm world. Nice, but I fear it might be cheating as I wouldn’t need to paint much.
I also toyed momentarily with steampunk style Landships and Frigates and the slightly off the wall concept of an airship, which I still rather like and for which there was no sane source on how to build it (though one of those big styrofoam eggs from a craft shop might work).
But ‘classic’ ship wise there are also a few good choices. There are Colonial Ships which appear to be pretty simple to construct. There is a ship guide from Games Workshop which I like, though I would add more detail. There are always more boats everywhere you look. There is a small fast vessel in a set of plans from Wargames Foundry for example. Last and not least there is a big project sized ship, bizarrely on the Blue Peter website which might be a bit large but has all the detailing required
Decisions, decisions. On the one hand we do have three months, on the other I’d have to be mad as a mad thing labelled nuts and consigned to an asylum for loonies (no offence to anyone genuinely loony intended) to contemplate the larger ships. So I shall ponder on a little more. In the meantime I downloaded plans and stuck them onto paper to see what might look best and fit to a reasonable scale. Pictures to follow later.
I also bought this months GW magazine White Dwarf as there was a natty ship in it..sadly no plans. Drat.
3 comments:
Go for it!! The huger the better! A vast vessel being worried by creatures of the deep is just what is called for - and you did say you had 3 months, which is 91 days, which is 2184 hours and a whole bunch of minutes!! One of the pirates has to be wearing some very dashing clothing - something in purple and gold otherwise it's just not piratey enough!
Go for it! A big vessel complete with monsters from the deep 'worrying' the pirates is a cool idea - and you did say you had three months .... that's 91 days (I think) which is some 2184 hours and an even bigger number of minutes! If the judges are worth their salt they'll appreciate the effort! Either that or do something impossibly tiny but hugely detailed - you know, the sort of thing that costs your eyesight! Make sure one of the pirates wears something purple and loud too. Can't have too much of that!
Ok something huge and purple.
Now I am scared.
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