Yarrr!

Right ho then, the Wiglaf dark age painting is continuing at my normal glacial pace, ensuring that the two armies will finally be ready when the figure manufacturer in question is no longer in business or the period has been done to death by everyone else. In the interim I’ve decided to resurrect my old East Indies pirate ships for a quick game.

The fluff.

Let’s pop into a very seedy dive in Nanorabas, Indonesia,  where three “gentlemen of the coast” are having a rum fuelled argument about who is the bestest pirate. Unsurprisingly things have become a little bit heated.

To save the “discussion” turning into a hostelry wrecking brawl, the worried tavern keeper suggests the three of them take part in a competition to sort it out.

After a bit of yarring and waving of grog filled tankards the three of them agree. I mean...what could possibly go wrong?

The terms of the competition are simple. The Captain who comes back from Danger Island with the most loot will have “bestest captain on the high seas” bragging rights for 1 whole year.

Allow me to introduce you to them. 

First up is...

Black Taff Llewelyn, aka, the man they couldn’t hang. An unlikely coupling of a beautiful African Nubian princess and a tailors apprentice from Neath (who ran away to sea to avoid some unpleasantness over a shipment of lace - if you need to know) which produced young Taff. He turned out a little different to his pa, (who was 5ft 2 inches tall with a receding chin and a cod eye) ...as you can see.

Taff is Captain of the Mardy Mare and his all female crew are feared throughout the Indian Ocean. Legend has it that they once laid alongside a potential prize and nagged its crew into submission, without a shot being fired.

Sitting opposite to him is an old friend from 1642andallthat.blogspot.com Captain Richard Tully now of the Cutty Wren. Tully has a wooden arm, terrible insomnia and a morbid fear of seagulls. A nasty piece of work, he is greatly feared by his crew, who’d turn on him in a flash if it wasn’t for his four permanently primed pistols and the fact that he never seems to sleep.

Now then who else, ah yes...

Handsome Jack of the good ship Spatchcock.

Obviously, no one calls him Handsome Jack apart from his mother, who also happens to be the ships Bosun. His real name is Neville by the way...

The crew are used to slim pickings on the loot front since Neville’s mom isn’t keen on things that might put her lad in harms way, but there’s always plenty of grub on board which serves to keep the lads happy.

Here are the requisite ship data cards I’ve made to use alongside the Galleys and Galleons rules - converted to hexes. Once printed out I usually fold them in half and laminate them. 

Danger island is actually two small rocky outcrops, the hexes around them being counted as shallows. Once a boarding party has put ashore they may roll 1D6, needing 6, then 5 or 6 and so on until treasure is discovered. Once located the value of the treasure is determined by a further roll. Treasure falls into two categories and is either, “a night on the town and your bus fare home” or “a kings ransom”. There is one large treasure and one small treasure available in total. 

Oh yes, did I mention that the island is infested by cannibals? If a crew searching for treasure rolls a 1 then they’ve been added to the menu.

Since my iPads running out of juice, I’ll post the game itself in a day or so, when I’ve found another 50p to put in the leccy.

Toodle ooh