Painting has happened (to the absolute surprise of noone). And this time, it's more ships (well, a ship and a half, really, and not a very big ship at that) for Blood & Plunder. Yes, plural. Because they're both too small for a decent blogpost each by themselves.
First up, the Bark. A tiny fishing ship, runabout, coastal trader and general ship-shaped thing, that were never-the-less quite popular among the buccaneers in the Spanish Main (as well as the Spanish Guarda Costa), possibly because they were easy to get hold of.
Maybe not plenty of space, but enough for a trusted crew (one kind of harbour rat or another, be they english, dutch och spanish) and some trade goods (legally obtained or otherwise).
Neither is she the most heavily armed, but once again, enough. A few cannons and swivels, enough to keep heads down as you approach. More cannons is not always better, because if you sink the enemy ship, then it gets much harder to plunder it (remember Maxim 1: Pillage, then Burn).
And there she is, Lydia as she's tentatively named (although I haven't bothered to get her a nameplate). All in all, she's a very cute ship, and just enough to teach one the basics of sailing (at least in Blood & Plunder).
Of course, all the masts can be taken down, and the flag replaced, for ease of transport and change of allegiance. And all armaments are mounted with magnets, for reasonably safe play and ease of removal (even if it will probably be rare to change all that much, since she doesn't have many options... but still, if I have a system, then I have a system).
If the Bark is small, then the Piragua is tiny. Only slightly larger than the Longboat and Canoas, this boat mostly compensates by girth, allowing for a decent amount of crew. Interrestingly enough, a Piragua can technically be towed as a ship's boat by a Bark, despite being almost as large. Ah, rules conundrums and literal reading, aint it wonderful.
She's got very few guns mounted, but that can be compensated by muskets. She's small, she's fast, and can carry both a decent boarding party and some fellows who keeps enemy heads down. Is it any surprise that this was also a favored ship by the buccaneers?
Once again, the sails can be dismounted for ease of travel. Although here, they're likely to be left of, because the magnets I used aren't quite strong enough (and/or aren't getting enough contact due to the layers of paint), and the rigging is non-existent, leaving them somewhat wobbly and too prone to randomly falling down for the average game. Still, it's nice to have while it's waiting its turn on a bookshelf.
And of course, the swivel guns are only attached by magnets, and can trivially be removed (especially useful if the Piragua is to be used by Native forces).
Still, she looks splendid and fast even when slimmed down. And one can appreciate the fact that Piraguas weren't as much built as carved directly from a large tree, with only some timber enhancements.
All in all, not a bad start for a buccaneer fleet. Now I just need to get a chance to field them in action, and see how they work in game... They both seem brittle, and perhaps not the most agile, but they're cheap, so one can fill them up with good troops. I'm really tempted to try the Piragua with a small unit of Sailors, and a medium-to-large unit of Boucaniers. Although perhaps those would be better in the Bark, with some gunners, and then a boarding party of some kind in the Piragua... as can be seen, ideas are multiplying.
/Fool Out, there's more sails on the horizon
