Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 22 August 2016

Personalities (Pirates 6)

Captains 3.  
It seems that almost every figure manufacturer feels the need to produce 'specials', or 'personality'  figures with probably the most prominent one being that of Blackbeard, or Edward Teach (or Thatch) if you prefer, being of course the epitome of a pirate.
The photograph on the right shows three such personality figures (all Foundry IIRC)  with their version of Blackbeard on the trio's left.
"I'm Blackbeard", "No! I'm Blackbeard", "I'm Spartacus"
Not a bad representation I guess, but he's not the only one I've got!
The photograph on the left shows another two 'Blackbeards' (How I ended up with two identical sculpts, I don't know).
The other Sculpts shown have probably all been given names of the more famous real-life pirates, such as Avery, Morgan etc. something which amuses me, but for all the wrong reasons.
Three more "Historical" characters ?

The variations between all of these is sufficient to give a wide selection of  figures that are emminently suitable as Captains for both pirate, merchant and Naval vessels.
The only thing I dislike about a lot of them (and a lot of other figures too) archetypical pistol raised in the air. Anyone who owns or has used a large pistol will know how heavy these things are and it's not generally done save for a formal duel (maybe).
"We could be proper pirates if we had hats"
Most of these can be used as ships' captains, but there are also those which shout out "Civilian!" (to me at least) , such as these three on the right. It's probably the lack of piratical hats or something!
There is ample scope for figures, such as these three to be used as Governors, important passengers etc.



 The last two I have for this section is the pair on the right; as they're so distinctive I have to assume they were listed as "named" or 'special' or something.
They wouldn't look out of place in a French-Indian war setting, the figure on the right being very 'Indian' looking imo.






Good, bad and ugly?
There are of course some Female Pirates too, amongst the 'personalities ( no doubt all called Ann , Mary or Grace (Bonny, Reid and O'Malley respectively.), but these vary from the historical to the hysterical.
The photograph on the left shows the three most historical looking in this selection.
(Sorry about the blurriness, but I blame the crap photographer )

"Avast behind" (and a bulging front too).
These next three amuse me, probably more than any other figures I have in this collection.
From left to right we have a pantomime lead woman playing the role of a man; the typical heroine from an old black and white film of yesteryear and finally a cross between a fantasy pirate and Rambo.

"We're laydees"
The three women on the left, a maid and two 'ladies', not quite the sum of my civilian female personnel, but a good chunk of it!
These three could easily be used over a span of a hundred years or so., but if I recall correctly they were indeed in some manufacturers Pirate range. I have quite a few similarly looking Redoubt figures from their Musketeers'  range (unpainted)


"We're feckin ladies too"
 Rounding off the female theme  are these two wonderful (imo) characters, suitable both for civilian and pirate use, being basically females in male clothing.
The figure below I discovered also to be a female I (I believe from the Old Glory Range) though I was dubious at first as to her sex.
It was only whilst working my way through the Old Glory pirate listings that I came across the figure and realised it was female.





"I may or may not be, I'm not sure"

That's it then for this week, next week will be the remainder of the odds and sods that haven't had their five minutes of fame, some more civilians and diverse crew that haven't been covered in a previous post.

As always your comments (and patience with this series of posts) are welcomed and appreciated.

16 comments:

  1. Great looking pirates and civilians Joe!

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    1. Thanks HW, it's good that quite a few figures will double upas either pirates or civvies

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  2. You really do have such a wonderful collection Joe. I have to confess that I'm sucker for a personality miniature, but that's mainly because I'm so easily distracted from painting the rank and file.

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    1. Thanks Michael, the personalities do 'make' the game and provide easy references for leaders

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  3. What a lovely collection you've got Joe, so expansive.

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    1. Thanks dGG, if by expansive you mean too many then I'd agree.

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  4. Probably the most amusing of the pirate posts so far.

    I reckon your right about the upright pistols, as I've seen WW2 sculpts of figures with Bren guns being fired as if they weighed nothing, which is completely incorrect as I had one and they're a heavy lump of metal. I do wonder if it would be advantageous to sculptors if they could actually handle equipment before sculpting so they could get a feel for what was possible, or not. There's plenty of re-enactors nowadays to find a pistol/sword/flag etc of use to make it possible.

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    1. Thanks Roy, the generic figures waving a pistol (or two even!) in the air have annoyed me for as long as I can rememeber - plastic cowboys iirc. I'm sure he pose has become another 'must have' for variety and like you I doubt the sculpters in many case haven't held a bag or two of sugar over their heads.

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  5. I think I have to Agree with Roy. Guns raised in the air as if they were feathers is not a very good look.

    Still we have all seen far worse than pistols raised that way.

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    1. THanks Clint, I think that there are now at least three of us in agreement, but as you say there are a lot worse sculpts.

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  6. Everyone loves special characters and as such, this is by far the best of your pirates showcases - as others have pointed before me!

    I have to admit that I've succumbed to the 'Disney' pirates look and my Captain-look-of-choice would certainly be Blackbeard.

    As for the 'signal' pistols...they surely fall in the "its wrong but its cool (or is it?)" category, along with outstretched-ready-to-fire pistol owners, double uzi assassins and so on.

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    1. Thanks Mattyoo, it is the 'specials' that can make a can but the rank and file have to be there too, to make them stand out!
      Blackbeard is the archetypical pirate, mostly because of the likes of Disney imo.
      Figures firing two weapons of any description is apocryphal, but may look 'cool' to some (not my view though)

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  7. I like these figures vey much and think they would look really good on the gaming table.Thankyou for sharing. :)

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    1. Thanks for the comment Ptr, it's probably your fault that I've been posting about my pirates!

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    2. If I gave you the inspiration to publish these very nice reports then I am flattered.I think you have also given me the final push for me to start working on my pirates and my pirate-game Las piratas this winter.Thankyou Joe. :)

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    3. It's a mutual thing I believe, bloggers inspire each other!

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