54mm pirate wargame

 

Originally I was going to do this project in 28 mil. I bought some Foundry pirates second hand cause I really nice pictures and started painting them up. then I realised how expensive 28 mil ships were going to be to buy.

I love eBay and on eBay I bought half a dozen Playmobil toy ships. the six cost me less than £50 including postage. however they were a bit big for 28mm so the project went into the doldrums.

then I thought why not do it in 54 mil? the Playmobil ships are ideal for 54 mill.

The Playmobil ships are actually really nice models, I repainted them using aerosols and acrylics, some of the original models came in strange colours, but it's easy enough to repaint them.

As for 54 mill pirates, there is a set made by Mars which is quite good, you can also pick up some on eBay which are made by a Chinese toy manufacturer called hing fat, the easiest ones to obtain are made by a company called Glencoe, you can buy these on Amazon UK for around £14.00 a box and that includes shipping from the US. these different sets are all scale compatible, the Mars figures are perhaps a little larger than the others. I've also bought some call to arms British Light Infantry from the American war of independence to use as royal naval marines, but I've only painted up a few so far. I also drafted in some Armies in Plastic Boxers to make up the numbers.

on the large ships I have a crew of 16, on the smaller ones a crew of eight.

In terms of rules I looked a couple of commercial sets, but they were all too complicated. I like a set of rules quick easy and fun to play so I wrote my own which we found to see two sides of a four.

I played six games with these rules now with different people add which one has been a lot of fun have been very pleased that the rules seemed to work well.

Pirate rules

Sequence

Roll for wind direction - it does not change for the duration of the game.

Determine initiative

Player 1 fires and moves a ship and crew

Player 2 fires and moves a ship and crew

Etc.

Crew

Movement 8 inches, no obstacles

Firing –

50% of crew rounding up.

Pistols – 12 inches, Muskets - 18 inches

Hit on 4+, Save on 4+

No cover.

Result –

1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed

Combat

Simultaneous

Roll to hit 3+ depending on weapon skill.

Save 4+, captains 3+

Fail result –

1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed

Over the side – roll d6, 1-2 eaten by sharks, 3+ climb back up next turn but may not fire or attack.

Ships

Movement

Move 12, 18 with the wind behind.

Turn pivot on stern - galleons – 45 degrees no penalty, 90 degrees half move.

Sloops – up to 90 degrees no penalty

Ships may not turn on the spot.

Shimmying – ships can shimmy sideways 6 inches and turn 45 degrees

Ramming – galleon vs galleon, target 3d6 damage, rammer 1 d6 damage

Sloop vs galleon, 1d6 to both

Sloop vs sloop, rammer 1D6, rammee 2D6

Galleon vs sloop, 3d6 damage, rammee 1d6+2

Firing cannon

Ranges – short – 8, medium up to 16, long up to 24.

To hit – short 3+, medium 4+, long +5

Choose target – rigging/masts, upper deck, gun deck or hull.

Damage roll – 5+

Rigging hit – D3 damage, galleon - 12 points, sloop – 8 points of damage. Immobilized when points level exceeded.

Upper deck hit – d3 casualties.

Gun deck – 1 gun destroyed, D3 damage to hull

Hull – 1 average D damage

Hull – galleon - 20 points, sloop – 12 points of damage. Sinks when points level exceeded. Crew have 1 turn to abandon ship.

Boarding

Boarding takes place as a result of –

Moving parallel;

Shimmying;

Ramming (optional).

The attacker places his troops on the defender figures to figure. Both sides can fire just before combat is joined.

Boarding range is 3 in.

Winning

If there are less than 4 of a sloop crew alive and on deck, they surrender.

If there are less than 5 of a galleon crew alive and on deck, they surrender.

Crew in the water

Join the crew of whoever picks them up.

Pirate rules

Sequence

Determine initiative

Player 1 fires and moves a ship and crew

Player 2 fires and moves a ship and crew

Etc.

Crew

Movement 8 inches, no obstacles

Firing –

50% of crew rounding up.

Pistols – 12 inches, Muskets - 18 inches

Hit on 4+, Save on 4+

No cover.

Result –

1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed

Combat

Simultaneous

Roll to hit 3+ depending on weapon skill.

Save 4+, captains 3+

Fail result –

1-2 – over the side, 3-6 – killed

Over the side – roll d6, 1-2 eaten by sharks, 3+ climb back up next turn but may not fire or attack.

Ships

Movement

Move 12, 18 with the wind behind.

Turn pivot on stern - galleons – 45 degrees no penalty, 90 degrees half move.

Sloops – up to 90 degrees no penalty

Ships may not turn on the spot.

Shimmying – ships can shimmy sideways 6 inches and turn 45 degrees

Ramming – galleon vs galleon, target 3d6 damage, rammer 1 d6 damage

Sloop vs galleon, 1d6 to both

Sloop vs sloop, rammer 1D6, rammee 2D6

Galleon vs sloop, 3d6 damage, rammee 1d6+2

Firing cannon

Ranges – short – 8, medium up to 16, long up to 24.

To hit – short 3+, medium 4+, long +5

Choose target – rigging/masts, upper deck, gun deck or hull.

Damage roll – 5+

Rigging hit – D3 damage, galleon - 12 points, sloop – 8 points of damage. Immobilized when points level exceeded.

Upper deck hit – d3 casualties.

Gun deck – 1 gun destroyed, D3 damage to hull

Hull – 1 average D damage

Hull – galleon - 20 points, sloop – 12 points of damage. Sinks when points level exceeded. Crew have 1 turn to abandon ship.

Boarding

Boarding takes place as a result of –

Moving parallel;

Shimmying;

Ramming (optional).

The attacker places his troops on the defender figures to figure. Both sides can fire just before combat is joined.

Boarding range is 3 in.

Winning

If there are less than 4 of a sloop crew alive and on deck, they surrender.

If there are less than 5 of a galleon crew alive and on deck, they surrender.

Crew in the water

Join the crew of whoever picks them up.