Tyneside Wargames Club

Py-rates!
28mm skirmish game played Saturday, 19th June 2010.
Somewhat ambitiously, given Lloyd having only recently returned from a danceathon in St Petersburg (that's in Russia, the former Soviet Union, geographically-challenged friends) and Steve having spent the week in Essex and London shouting at IT charlatans, we tried to put on a pirate game at 10 minutes notice.

The scenario saw Blackbeard Teach's vessel, the 'Black Pig' (it is so - Queen Anne's Revenge my erse) in dock with a busted rudder after a fiscally rewarding voyage and a tired and emotional crew sleeping it off. Meanwhile, the even more legendary buccaneer, Rock-Step Roger in his ketch 'Io id Sententium Prius' is bent on a dawn surprise raid to a) kill Teach; b) get his treasure; c) take the 'Black Pig' a prize; d) all of the above.


The raiders first launched their jolly little boats with crews intent on silencing the lookouts and securing the coastal batteries defending the entrance to Teach's harbour. The battery in the background fell without a shot but the lookout on the nearer post spotted the raiders and gave the pre-arranged warning blast on his newly-fashionable vuvuzela. Malheuresment, this signal was also exactly the same one as the pre-arranged signal for '5 of the clock and all is well' and thus the second battery fell and the way was clear for Roger to sail into the cove.



The 'Io Id Sententium Prius' sailed smoothly into the harbour, still without rousing Teach's slumbering crew, came up alongside the 'Black Pig' and threw lines across to facilitate boarding. Simultaneously - and at the same time - the two shore parties sneaked forward to enact a double envelopment.








At this point, victory for Roger looked assured: the principal portion of Teach's crew were still asleep in the Admiral Benbow at the side of the quay or in their camp in the lee of the hills on the east side of the harbour.

The ship's complement seemed blissfully unaware of their impending doom and Roger did a Spot Turn (Cowboy Style) on his foc'sle deck in anticipation of the easy pickings.

However, finally, the sound of one of Roger's grappling irons smashing a loose bottle of Morgan's Spiced (as quaffed by all discerning swabs this year) awoke Teach's cabin boy, who managed to raise the alarm.





There then followed much merriment, fisticuffs, cutlass-and-boarding-pike play, avast!-ing and shivering of timbers at the end of which, Teach was an ex-Pirate and the Black Pig was in the hands of the raiders.

The larger part of Teach's crew were still about, but at this point the previous week's exertions caught up with the participants who, frankly, ran out of steam.

Still - looked good, what?

Game:	Lloyd and Steve
Rules:	Games Workshop (Legends of the High Seas) plus usual home-grown fixes, tweakery and whimsy.
Figures:	Foundry 28mm (Steve)
Scenery:	scratch-built (Lloyd) and Hovels (Steve)
Ships and Jolly Little Boats:	Steve, but scratch-built by the lunatic genius Stuart Hitchinson