Col. Whipstick

Faction: The Portuguese Leader: Vasco Da Gama - wearing silver helmet and breastplate of the conquistadors and a red/purple shirt with green trousers to mark the colours of portugal. He should also have a full thick black beard. Other Characters: Bartholomew Diaz - the unsuccesful and jealous rival of Vasco because we was unsuccesful in reaching the east so now we pretend that Prince Henry has sent him to work under Da Gama so he 'might learn something' Diaz has no facial hair but a grumpy expression and the men never listen to him. Father Jual - a Portuguese Catholic Priest sent as a missionary to make sure the Dutch don't convert the natives to the reformed church. Father Jual wears long black robes and a wide brimmed black hat with a white colour - similar to that of the inquisition. Lorenco Marques - the regional governor of Mozambique while Da Gama tends to stay on board his ship. Main Base: Delagoa Bay - a large trading post on the sea with networks across the western Indian Ocean. Delagoa Bay is short of cannons but the conquistador troops are master swordsmen and there are many feudal looking axes etc around the fortress. Lorenco Marques is here with a few men but mostly civilians are about and a small Arab dhow ship with a couple arabs should come with the set to show the islamic trade of the indian ocean. Some barrels could be filled with something that looks like spice to show how successful the route to the east is turning out to be. The fortress should have lots of painted green doors and windows and the small castle flags of green, red and purple. Main Ship: The Prince Henry - named after Henry the navigator and sailed by Vasco Da Gama, the crew of the Prince Henry are brave men, not scared of sailing off the edge of the world the way the chicken crew of Diaz was. The Prince Henry should be an old caravel styled ship, very ornate and with big crusader styled crosses across the sails in a green, red and purple pattern. She has only a couple cannon and is mostly for exploration and trade. Other Bases: Port Benguela - the main base in the Portugese colony of Angola on the western coast of Southern Africa. The Lego Portugese nobility have left Diaz in command here as a second prize. The Port is used mostly for the slave trade running out of west africa to Brazil. Most the troops should have grumpy faces and the place is overcrowded with lots of fighting. Rio Christo - a small mission station where Father Jual lives at the mouth of the Amazon river on the coast of Brazil. A small rowboat is ready to take the Father up the river if need be.

Faction: The Dutch Leader: Governor Jan van Riebeck - green imperial admiral uniform with an orange feather out of the admiral hat. Other Characters: Simon van der Styl - van Riebeck's second in command and eventual replacement. Some Islander figures to signify the Batavian slaves of the Dutch or the Khoi-San natives of the Cape. Main Base: The Cape Of Good Hope - a large pentagonal structure built out of the sandy brick used in egyptian lego with cannons facing out to sea and Table Moutain built behind the model. The base should have green uniformed Imperials with orange epilets and all black Tricorn hats. The Cape Fortress needs to have a prison facility as it is famed for this. This building is now known as the Cape Town Castle. Obviously the fortress needs the Dutch tricolour with the VOC insignia in the central white stripe. A small dockyard extention is needed to extend into Table Bay and should have a small VOC trade ship, similiar to the little ship found with ITP. Obviously the whole thing needs barrels and all the other accessories to accentuate it. Also lots of goblets to signify the abundance of the vineyards and fame of the Cape wines which were started by the Dutch. Also a small garden outside the fort with some tulip styled flowers. :-P Main Ship: The Dromedary - a medium sized Basque, similar to the carribean clipper but with plain looking sails on it. At the top of the main mast we should have 3 of the coloured castle flags in sequence of orange, white and blue. The ship shouldn't have uniformed personal as the Dutch aren't known to have had marines so just civilian looking type crew except for Governer Jan van Riebeck who will be in dress. The ship should have only a couple cannons as she's meant for trade and exploration, not your bloodlusty British Frigate types. Other Sets: Fort Orange - A base on the Orange River in SA to guard against invaders to the colony. Small fort with rowboat manned by some green imperials and a couple islander figures to symbolise Khoi-San scouts. New Amsterdam - a larger base with docks but with more civilian traders than troops. This is to symbolise the colony before the British get control and change it to New York. A couple Indian figures from the lego western theme would help to carry this off.

Green Hair... I have found the novel, I do own a copy myself but downloaded this one just to find something on the green uniforms. This extract from Birds of Prey gives us what we're looking for... "Merciful God! Hal cried. "Why do not the batteries at the entrance return their fire?" Then with his naked eye he saw strange soldiers in green uniform overrunning the gun emplacements at the foot of the cliffs, their swords and the steel heads of their pikes flashing in the sunlight as they slaughtered the gunners, and flung their bodies over the parapets into the sea below. "They have surprised our men in the forts. The Buzzard has led the Dutch to us, and shown them where our guns are placed." His voice trembled with outrage. "He will pay with his blood for this day, I swear it." My Brickshelf account has some green soldiers to look at but I'd like to have them wear an orange epilet instead of yellow - it would look good with the green and help to emphasise the Dutchness, although some might find them Irish then. lol http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=simplygareth Oh, and a note on the Cheeseheads - Dutch :D and camoflage... The Afrikaners although not strictly Dutch anymore used browns and greens in their guerilla styled warfare against British troops in the Anglo-Boer wars in South Africa. As effective as the camoflage might have been though they still lost in the long run but as in Holland when the Spanish and French and Germans have invaded the Dutch are formidable at guerilla styled warfare and known for it in history. Sadly in open warfare they usually just get cooked but yes, a real Williamite Dutchy should be good at wearing green and carrying a sniper rifle.

Now that thing looks hot! Given the Tudor architecture it would have to be an early English colony, circa John Smith of Virginia, Jamestown deal. It also looks very neat, the more cramped building and dockyards might imply the English hadn't worked out that it wasn't the Plymouth dockyards anymore and now they're in the New World they can build out a bit and there's time to breathe :-P But someone must have put a lot of work into it.

The War of 1812 would be interesting... that Imperial Blues could represent US Continental forces and Imperial Reds the Canadians X-D Yeah, Americans have been using English and British as sinonyms for donkey's years and sold the confusion to the world through Hollywood. Despite being an actual language which likes to make it more complicated English is the ethnic term for those from England but England is only a part of Britain and basically it's okay to say the Indians met the English with the establishment of the Virginian colony but after 1711 pretty much anything internationally you've gotta say British because Great Britain then exists. Unless of course we're dealing inside the British Isles, then English is applicable to things relating specifically to England so please please tell your buddies that the reason it's the Union Jack flag you see in those movies is because that's the British and a lot of those boys wearing redcoats will have Scottish, Welsh and Irish accents X-D Mr Phes Did you read that whole long thing I wrote on Southern Africa on page 2? As it stands the official sets are versatile to anywhere colonially, just a case of making the scenery a little different from the Carribean or Pacific. Imperial Trading Post (which I would really rather call Port Royal) so easily doubles up as Cape Town or Port Natal (now Durban) The dutch build an impressive pentagonal fort there before the British took over shop. It would be interesting if someone could try make an MOC mimicking that fort and call it the Cape Fortress, man it with the men in green. Think of it as a 17th century Pentagon :-P

Mr Phez What face is the green soldier showing? Just the normal standard lego face, why? The American Revolution is on the money timewise though it has little in the way of piracy it's all about the Napoleanic Era and as we go into the European battlefields of the time it's only right we should consider North America in the same light. One interesting thought for me is the idea of how The War of 1812 actually suits the red and blue imperials as we have them... we tend to associate these as British/French but they could be applicable as Royal Canadian Troops versus the US Continental Army. :-) One of the major reasons I suggested Southern Africa is that there's a fair bit of both elements but now... has anyone thought what Ze Germans would look like prior to WWI - no pointy helmets allowed!

Not to pick holes in that theory... But the US versus Great Britain could only be the war of 1812. If you're reffering to the revolution, the US doesn't exist until after 1776, niether for that matter do Americans strictly speaking... And this is a pet peev of mine from that side of the Atlantic - it's not the English... It's the British! Since 1711 Scotland and England with Wales already annexed are merged creating Great Britain. I know it seems complicated but it would be like calling Texans Yankies as a comparison :-P

Well they certainly weren't as organised as say the British and French forces in the 18th and 19th centuries but I've read up on a few things suggesting that even the Dutch in the Cape were wearing uniforms. My first thought if you can get a copy is the Wilbur Smith book - Bird of Prey. English privateers are taken prisoner during the Anglo-Dutch war and held captive in the Cape Fort, in it there are descriptions of green uniforms and Wilbur Smith is pretty veteran in his research. Anyway, that book is actually the prequel to the entire saga involving the Courntey family... If you haven't heard about any of this, it's worth having a look into... Read: Birds of Prey, Monsoon and Blue Horizon in that exact order - covers early colonial africa in some great vividity and then after that the later books go into the days of the British Empire. Yeah history is a bit of a drug for me, I could write some synopsis like this for the other theatres but felt Southern Africa would be suitable as I am British and South African. here's a good link: www.wilbursmithbooks.com If you have any enquiries about any history just yell, like to test my knowledge, we can never know too much...

This game looks great but at the ripe old age of 27 and as a veteran of lego and likewise things like NES, old gameboys and yes - 286 PC's (my first puppy) I have to ask about the game being as these days I'm an old man in terms of technology. I hardly begin to tap the internet and half the sophisticated gaming market out there. I gather it's all role-playing but is this the kinda thing only playable online the way people play that World of Warcraft stuff? I like some strategy but to be honest so much of it has gone way past me now... if it takes a degree to learn how to play the game it kinda puts me off. Does anyone else feel the grey hairs getting faster and the brain cells getting slower?

That's a hell of a lot of work! That threading would make my grandma proud but my fingers numb! Great looking ship all the same, I like the work done on the back of the cabin in particular. *y*

She got a 3 out of 5 for me. The big skull on the sail is a bit overkill and a slight extention in her hull would have been nice but that having been said the name of the ship is 'Renegade Runner' and it's called that for a reason... Being a sloop and designed to outrun and outmanouver her bigger imperial competitors is what this ship is all about. I actually think lego gave a bit of thought here... A ship that was designed more for raiding, getting past barricades and escaping quickly. She's ideal for smuggling. The single rotating canon can be easy to manouver and this compensates for the lack of firepower making her a match for ships like The Sea Lion/Imperial Flag Ship who more times than not only have one cannon ready either Starboard or Port. The other aspect we all keep forgetting is that the smaller you are, the harder you are to hit. The Dark Shark/Black Seas Barracuda is just target practise and really if you were a pirate facing what is almost always superior numbers and firepower from the imperials I know I'd want something I can get away in. :-$

For some reason the film seems to get slated by the critics... but then the likes of us would know that's because it's all the politically correct charged crap. The didn't make the Spanish look nasty enough to the Indians I guess! Personally I really enjoyed it. Yes the movie is slow but that's the apeal, it's visually very exotic as a considerable amount of time is spent in both Spain and The New World, good visuals of Granada and San Salvador in particular. The soundtrack by Vangelis is fantastic and I listen to it constantly. I'd recommend we look at creating some 1492 MOC's... But yes well worth getting hold of. I've also just watched Apocalypto and although the Spanish are hardly in the film it's a visual feast for the eyes in terms of Mayan Culture if not more than a little violent.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2772589 Here's something I worked on lastnight and this morning guys. It's a few maps to help compliment my argument about a new Pirate Range based on Southern Africa. I hope the link works, I'm not so great at this sort of thing. The more I look at it maybe this is all for a slightly different discussion - a 'Theatres of War' thread or something relating to the Map Room. Anyway, hope the information is useful for formulating those theories. It would be useful to construct maps like this for Australiasia/South Pacific, North America, South America, the Caribbean specifically and Western Europe as really that's where all our creations really take force. Here's also the link for some green soldiers I made some time ago. Sorry about the poor quality but it was the best I could do at the time. Might give us an idea of what Dutch or other troops could look like. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=280536

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Van_Riebeck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town I can quickly see this thread getting ready to explode. Like every one else the Aztec or Inca element would be first rate as with the Conquistadors Lego were hinting at the early age of discovery when we tend to associate the Imperial Blues and Reds as something more 19th century. One thing that really has to be said, as I see it two elements from other themes are already very appropriate - the ninjas and the red indians! Consider that the appearance of both these is still historically accurate, the red indians would compliment our red and blue (British and French) imperials perfectly for North America and then the ninjas could be used in connection with Dutch and Portugese traders who were the first to deal with the Hermit Kingdom. The Dutch would be a nice touch as being from South Africa I could always have them establish the Cape Colony only to send my redcoats in to take it from them all over again... Or likewise New Amsterdam/New York. The Dutchies really need to learn to protect their colonies better :-P One real strong concern is that certainly in the Cape Colony the Dutch troops were reputed to have worn green uniforms and one considers the tempting variation of green imperial troops. In fact, here's what I suggest as a sub-theme, colonial southern Africa being as that is my particular theatre of war and it would take away the Caribbean and Pacific impacts. Here, Dutch settlers could be put against Red Imperials, pirates (being based in Madagascar which was notorius for them as well as being a blue coat - French colony), the Africans ofcourse and also the Arab dohw's or Indian trading ships. Also there's the Portugese in Angola and Mozambique as well as Germans in South West Africa (Namibia) at a later stage so it's all very colourful! So... here we go - SOUTHERN AFRICA: Dutch Colonial forces of the VOC based in the Cape of Good Hope (aka The Cape of Storms to the Portuguese). The Dutch will be led by 'Governor Jan van Riebeck' and their forces would probably wear green although I'd like to see orange epilets on the green uniform to also help emphasise the Dutchness, we'll use yellow in the meantime. I have made some green troops and taken photos which I will post seperately. Other notable characters will be 'Simon van der Styl' etc. I've forgotten the names of the of the Dutch officers in the book but they were really nasty great characters for those who have read 'Bird of Prey' by Wilbur Smith. The Dutch base is ofcourse to be named 'The Cape of Good Hope' and resemble Imperial Trading Post with Table Mountain in the background. The main Dutch ship will have to be 'The Dromedary' (Camel) or 'The King William'. Smaller forts sould be 'Fort Orange' and 'New Amsterdam' Also we can use the islanders to portray the Batavian slaves (particularly women) who were brought to the Dutch colony. Portugese Colonial forces should resemble the conquistadors but there needs to be something making them slightly more desctinctive though I can't think what in terms of dress. The Portugese will be led by 'Vasco Da Gama' as he is the first to have rounded the Cape and reach the east, 'Bartholamew Diaz' (also Porra) reached the Cape but his crew revolted and he was forced to turn back so maybe he could be in there as well but be jealous of the other guy. The Portugese thought the cape was crappy and too stormy so they preffered to set up shop in Mozambique. 'Lorenco Marques' was their main base but 'Natal' the second and most English of Britain's province bases after the Cape Colony was actually given the name by the Portugese and I think it means 'peaceful'. Anyway, the Portugese and the Dutch are near each other and not too keen - one Catholic, one Protestant, it could be a similar situation between the French and British. The main Portugese ship should be called 'The Prince Henry' to combat 'The Prince William' and as Prince Henry is also the one who started the school of navigation in Lisbon and is really the father figure behind Portugese colonialism. The bonus is we can use the Porras for Brazil too. Both the Dutch and the Portugese from Southern Africa will attempt to reach and trade with the Hermit Kingdom (Feudal Japan) where ninjas and samurai are still more than happy in the 17th century. The British will obviously get in on the action too and ultimately win :-P As Napolean storms through Europe and Holland looks set to fall the Brits become concerned with losing strategic territory for global trade in the war with France that is everywhere colonially so the redcoats will sail into 'The Cape of Good Hope' and raise the Union Jack declaring it 'Cape Town'. If the Dutch manage to hold on to the Cape and history is changed, the British will at the very least colonise the 'eastern Cape province and Natal. As such Durban will become the British HQ (today this is still South Africa's largest port - not Cape Town) but back then Durban will be 'Port Natal', other major bases will include 'Port Elizabeth' and 'East London'. We will be led by 'the Earl Grey' who was the main British Administrator and yep - he's the guy behind Earl Grey tea too so he needs to be holding a cup of tea and not a goblet! Another important character will be the hero 'Dick (Richard King)' who will be on a horse and who will ride for reinforcements when the Dutch attack. I think he should ride to get help from the Portugese as Britain and Portugal always have that secrete alliance *wink wink* and both hate the Dutch and Spanish. The main British ship something like 'The Kingfisher'. Also... The British brought Indians to Natal to build railroads so we can make use of the true Indians from the Orient Expedition stuff with Johnny Thunder. Making life hard for all of these 3 will be - The Zulus, The Pirates from Madagascar as well as the actual French there themselves and all the Arab Pirate Dhows. In fact having black natives such as Zulu's would be an excellent sub-theme and likewise Arabs to fight the black natives and all the heathen Europeans too! The Zulus are led by 'Shaka' but he will be fighting with his brother 'Dingane' for the throne. In Zululand where they are known for practising the famous 'bull horn manouver' so that would make an interesting display. Well guys to be honest I feel that Southern Africa has such a rich colonial and diverse ethnic history that it could be a good ol' model making bloodbath equal to the Carribean etc. Perhaps this whole theme could be large enough to warrant a thread of it's own? I can supply some historical maps etc to help define the whole idea. What does the big boss downunder say?

What programme do you guys use to design stuff like that? I downloaded some lego brick construction thing from somewhere a while ago but it was so crappy.

First rate Captain K! With a pad like that you could be scoring regularly with the wentches! X-D The tower is particularly appealing, especially given it's cylindrical rather than geometric form, it's more elegant and reminscient of the Spanish colonial architecture. Would be keen to see the same structure stocked with Conquistadorian type troops from the later years. Interestingly I just saw 1492: Conquest of Paradise, the film about Columbus discovering the new world which was made in '92. The colony at San Salvador was apparently based on drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci that he had devised as the perfect planning for a European city of the day. Columbus probably wanted to encourage the efforts of another Italian but anyway, very attractive colony and your model reminded me of it.

Shipwreck Island and the Bomber Sentry were my very first two sets ever! I know Shipwreck Island is a little cramped... the fact that one of the pirates seems to eat, sleep and do God knows what else in his floating digs should prove this. The monkey and the parrot are likely to be at each other's throats just as much the two pirates themselves. The entire set reminds me of half the rooms I've rented out in shared houses. All that having been said I always feel a strong pang of nostalgia for what was the beginning of my collection so I just can't bring myself to call it terrible. And being as it's only two feral drongo pirates who smell like mouldy old weavil infested biscuits who cares if they are cramped! Only Imperial forces deserve better accomodation. :-P

The thing about Eldorado not being what Port Royal (Imperial Trading Post to the neanderthals) is that by comparison Forbidden Island was small as the arch rival base for Eldorado and Rock Island Refuge (Port Jamiaca) was likewise larger to serve as the arch rival base for Port Royal. This being the case I can't say that Eldorado is too small, it's probably the one case where Lego were generous enough to supply sufficient figures because they sure do feel stingy when you look at the number of minifigs that accompanies Port Royal or Port Jamaica. My real beef with Eldorado is the Spanish name which should be written as El Dorado for a kick off, let alone the fact that the boys manning it, be they the 'Soldiers' have always been argued as either French or British. As a design and a set though I can't fault her, though tragically I still do not own one!!!

I still don't own a Broadside, so Woodhouse it is :-P Did anyone vote for Bone Nose or Ginger Nut? :-P :-P :-P

Well let's all be honest... Imperial Trading Post has two base plates in size and when it comes to displays she just looks more than Eldorado. That having been said there are fair points to make about both of the sets. 1. With Eldorado Lego weren't so stingy with troopers. 2. Eldorado is a fort as opposed to a port. 3. Imperial Trading Post (Always Port Royal to me) is a port as opposed to a fort. 4. Eldorado has better general architecture although both of them have enough room to house more troops. 5. You just can't beat the docks of ITP... it's the only real base model that can accomodate the ships.

Mr Phes I unfortunately don't possess a scanner, struggling in the technology department because I don't actually have a home either in England or in SA and thus don't have anything much in the way of possesions. I spend too much time Island Hoping chasing pirates. lol Will give you a readout on possible alternative set names when I finally get to my stored stuff but I hear you on the American name situation... A lot of these common place names seem quite alien to me.

Nice one Ravensdorn! Personally I await the next move of the vermin piratical scum... let's see what the 'other' side of the lego pirate forum have to say for themselves regarding the next turn of events being as the islands are back in British hands there is little room for me to do the proverbial big behind-kicking as yet but should they retaliate they'll be shown the short sweet butt of an imperial rifle in their grizzly rum-slackened jaws! Okay Pirate scum... do your worst! :-P

Lemme me simply start off by saying... Pirates good? Poppycock! What servile peasant should dare suggest that a mob of poxy-faced, intoxicated, foul-mouthed, uncivilized godless heathen mercenaries could ever be deemed the good guys when compared to the gentlemen in the redcoats or for that matter the bluecoats at a stretch... I warn you all that I must report any gesture of pirate sympathies to His Majesty's Royal Navy and I shall personally be sitting there with a bowl of popcorn at the gallows when we watch your treasonous bodies take the long swift drop! :-P I'd sooner collaborate with the French than side with the forces of scumbucket villany and that's saying something! Now back to reality... In the catalogues I have, again not sure if they are British or South African (if indeed the later actually exists) there isn't a very clear distinction of who is good or bad but I'd argue against suggesting there never is... many parts to the ol' catalogues are biased in one form or another. The forestmen were always presented as the nice guys compared to the King's men, the space themes always made one bunch holier than thou over another... The Pirate theme always seemed a little more neutral in presentation.

Man I'm just thinking of how I'd love to get that MOC in some great scenery to really put it in it's element... fantastic design! *y*

Wait 'til you boys see the different epulettes on my green imperial troops :-P