Francis Dampierre

This is awesome! A classic representation of my favorite swashbucklers This MOC would look fantastic with Brickarms rapiers, the little "buttons" at the tips of the LEGO version make it look more like a fencing foil than an actual sword to me. Nevertheless, this is a perfectly proportioned MOC and a perfect fit with the Pirates theme. Heck, I think Porthos was a pirate in the movie version with Charlie Sheen...

You could have your players get magic ingredients for the voodoo lady. If you're allowing your players to raid ports, you could have them steal a key or map from the governor's office. Or just a classic "rescue the governor's daughter" scenario. More general ideas: - Bring muskets and cannons to a port to reinforce it - Deliver a message within "x" turns to someone - Escort a cargo ship - Bring rum to the Pirate King Also, when a player docks at a neutral trading post you could offer to let them buy some cargo to deliver a hostile port. Make it worth more if they take it to a friendly pirate port, but if they successfully deliver it to the soldier outpost (or whatever) they can treat the hostile port as neutral too.

One thing that players have often complained about is wind direction and strength. For a first game, I would either have the wind blowing at normal speed in one direction throughout the entire game or (if you want wind changes) plan them ahead of time and refrain from changing wind speeds. Maybe once your two players have more experience you can start experimenting with light or strong winds and more random changes. Also, to avoid confusion, I've seen players that dedicate a small island to the turn number. This seems like a pretty effective method of keeping track of the game. Of course, this involves making numbered decals for the tiles.

Those limitations sound good. In all reality, the penalties for musket and pistol define the maximum range. Cannons, on the other hand, tend to be a little more decisive in a sea battle, and I don't think it's fair if a fleeing ship keeps getting pounded until it's outside of the four or five foot range. I like the idea of a 36" maximum. And yes, I agree entirely with the 6-18" no-modifier zone. One exception: someone with a bonus (i.e. an Expert Marksman or Polish Gunner) gets to expand their max range one "increment" (3" for musket, 6" for cannon, etc.)

Well I figured that the players, like real pirates, would be aiming to capture rather than sink. The Royal Navy, on the other hand, will aim to sink - making them all the more dangerous since all the soldiers get +1 on pretty much everything. I also added chain shot for rigging, which essentially gives better results but requires a shorter range (in essence, its only real use is during a close chase: slowing down your target or crippling a pursuer). In addition, I adjusted the -6 penalty for grapeshot to be a 6" range instead; so far it works well. I forgot to mention how awesome your neutral port looks! How did you make that flag? I recognize the anchor-and-barrel symbol from the ITP cutter (brig?).

I see. This is the design I use for my brigs: I usually follow Evil Stevie's class system for ships, the only adjustment I made to the rules was making it easier to get hull hits to balance the effectiveness of "deck" shots. I might try and create some of your style cutters though, I really like the design.

Man, I've always loved the ESPG game, but I've never had enough ships to play properly. I love your fleet! The colors make the ships easily distinguishable, perfect for gaming. One question though: in the online description for the cutters in ESPG, he described them as being comparable to the little merchant vessels from the Imperial Trading Post, whereas you seem to be using this design for your brigs. Was this done on purpose, and if so, what was the reasoning behind it? I love your design of the cutters, but they seem a bit small for fitting crew and treasure and cannon. Are you sticking to Steve Jackson's 2004 rules or have you altered them to suit your own fleet?

Just thought I'd get the word out, I don't know each and every link to ESPG, so here it is. Steve Jackson has moved Evil Stevie's Pirate Game to his own site, at http://sj.sjgames.com/[/b]"]http://sj.sjgames.com/. From there, it is linked normally. I already notified Forbidden Cove about the site change, so hopefully they already know to change their link addresses. If anyone else knows other sites linked to ESPG, please let them know (or me).

I prefer the old sharks, as they seem a bit more realistic in size. Although I like having the one 2009 shark as a "great white"

I play Evil Stevie's Pirate Game on a fairly regular basis with some of my friends, but I tried accessing the ESPG site and got the dreaded 404 error. It looks like the server's been taken down, or the ESPG pages were removed. I have my own printout copy of the combat rules (with minor modifications) that I can use, but I now have no access to the Part 2 rules (the campaign game). Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the campaign rules, seperate from the main server?

Fantastic, AhabDarab! That was one spectacular fluke! I will be sure to download these rules onto a word document to avoid a similar situation in the future. Thank you!

Sorry, it wasn't my computer at all. I haven't done an active login in a while (just used the "remember me" checkbox) and I was entering the wrong password. I'll contact Siegfried and get the other one removed.

I have a copy of the combat rules in a Word Document that I made some slight modifications to. The cannon fire rules are a bit flawed, as Steve Jackson has said himself, so I made some changes. If you give me some time to revert them back to the originals, I can send them to you. P.S. This is the same user as Francis LeBaron, I ditched my old account because of some weird discrepancies on my old computer

Not a bad idea, but I remember that the site explicitly stated that ESPG was not licensed under Steve Jackson Games. It was published privately. A way to contact Steve Jackson himself would probably yield more results.

Excellent! With the original site gone, it would be much appreciated by many (including myself) if the rules were online again. At the very least, would you be willing to send the rules to some of us upon request?

Signed.

Ahoy all! After some pretty bad entry attempts at the most recent JRC contest, I wasn't sure if I could knock out a contest-worthy MOC that I could feel proud of. So when I heard of the Bayonets at Dawn contest, I saw a chance at redemption...and a sudden inspiration. Ever since I read Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, the Jacobite rebellion in the highlands of Scotland has fascinated me, characterized best (in my opinion) by the daredevil Alan Breck. So, in honor of this well-written book, I have decided to "legofy" the Battle of Culloden, the last defiant stand of the Jacobite rebellion east of Inverness. Rather than directly copy a portrait of the battle, which I have a poor parts selection for, I decided to depict a small skirmish of Jacobite forces attacking a British artillery crew. Without further ado, here it is: An overview of the skirmish. Here, we see from behind the British line. The artillery crew has just lobbed off a shot and is preparing to reload under orders of the gun captain. Now from the Jacobite party. I haven't found any good "kilt" decals for the highlanders, does anyone know where to find them? An interesting bit of trivia: the Highlander tactics (as they were armed only with broadswords and bucklers) were to hit the dirt at the first volley of musket-shot, strip off their heavy kilts, and charge the British line while shouting and bellowing. I decided to keep the MOC PG-rated and let them keep the kilts . A closeup of the cannon. Sorry for the bad resolution, I'll use a better camera when I enter the final draft. Perhaps I should extend the shot cloud, or make it arc over? Comments/criticism are welcome! Note the terrified jacobite who narrowly missed a rather messy demise. One of the Jacobites leaps on a Redcoat with his broadsword raised. Again, my apologies for the bad resolution. A link to the Brickshelf Gallery: Click Here The wikipedia article (Be sure to check out the uniforms and battle map!): Battle of Culloden Please comment and criticize away, I want honest opinions on the battle. Thanks!

Thanks for the tip, I was half-asleep when I wrote this .

I've encountered the problem with the legs being wider than the neck, but so far it's not much of an issue...sadly I have a poor selection of pieces for the other leg, and capes aren't thick enough. Usually I have part of a cape hanging from one side as a sash, and a different cape on the other side that's been cut up so that it functions as a sort of scabbard. What I want (and I know I'll never get it) is a piece that I can use to store a sword while keeping a minifig's arms at their sides. But thanks for pointing that out before i went crazy with scissors :)

I thought of cutting off the outer sword-holder and attaching it to the inside of my minifig's leg as a scabbard. If someone else has already posted this idea, my bad, but I've been using butchered capes as waist scabbards for a while now and it's time I used something else.

The island itself, with the rocky reefs on the right. The reef section of my MOC. The crew is recovering the cargo on the left there, and the surviving merchants are fleeing the toothy monster that has surfaced. The scaffold tower, complete with cargo crane, cannon, and the fake lighthouse itself. Note the pirate fishing on the bottom left there. Captain Francis can be seen on the right with the plumed hat . Please tell me what you think! (If you've seem my other entry, Isla Epada, let me know which is better. I'm entering them both)

Here's the frontal view of the island. Note the gallows with the imperial skeleton (A taste of their own medicine ) and the little fishing pond on the left hill. The Captain's office is on the right, but you can't see him that well. A bird's-eye view of the island (or a parrot's-eye view?). From here, you can see the general layout of the island. See the cook in the middle with his fish grill and apple? Yum! And lastly, my favorite part: the ship's wheel dart-board. Of course, lacking darts, the pirates compromised with some nice daggers. Every evening, they have a little competition to see who can get closest to the center. The loser gets drunk! So there's my entry. I hope you guys liked it!

Thanks for the tip, I was wondering how to do that. I made them 800 x 600.

Sounds awesome, brigs are my favorite kind of ship . If you're trying to be historically accurate, put the guns on the BOTTOM deck, because a top-heavy ship is REALLY bad, as the Dutch were unfortunate enough to discover. If your ship ends up in heavy swells and she's rocking and rolling, those guns will tip your ship over in a second. If you keep the guns low, it's the same as having a low center of gravity, which balances your ship. And yes, the crew can sleep between the guns quite comfortably. In terms of just having a cool looking ship, though, i like having them on the top deck where the world can see them. . Having them on the low deck looks cool too though, sticking out of the gunports. Up to you. Good luck!

I gotta say, that looks just like my modded Brickbeard's Bounty, but in blue . It's a great combination, the colors work great together and the ship looks a bit more finished than the original Clipper. Awesome job!