The Daphne Blue Strat

The Lieutenant On The Quarterdeck. It's my avatar/profile image, yeah...but this is a bigger version of it. :)

It's beautiful, indeed! Just one question: did you build a churchbell?

I love the idea of a Medieval Village-type set! I personally don't want bluecoats yet; as many before me have said, there need to be more redcoats (and as Mr. Cantu said, more face variety). Everybody is talking about a redcoat ship, but let's remember that there's only been one new ship released, period. Let's see what the next pirate ship will look like!

I vote "no" for the new soldiers, as it mostly hides the lovely backprinting. In my personal collection, I don't have enough backpacks for *any* of my armies to be fully equipped, so I don't even bother trying.

Brickbeard's Bounty, of course. And about 600 more Cannon Battles. But most of all, the new soldier fort!

Maybe this doesn't mean anything, but I picked up a brochure for Legoland Schaumburg while I was downtown last week, and they have "Pirates", along with a picture of the new pirate captain (whose name I've forgotten), stamped across "Summer" on the brochure's miniature calander of events. Maybe it's just some kind of "celebration month", but it seems to me that it would be a prime time for them to showcase a new set or two. Could be nothing, of course. ((edit: corrected a misstatement on my part))

I've found that, as Dave pointed out, modifying a set is often a good way to generate ideas. Some of my best MOCs started as modifications of other sets.

I'm going with Richie and Ken: Playmobil's specific set was undoubtedly first, but...it's a raft. It's not like they copied a major set or even a particularly unique idea.

Finally got Empire: Total War...and it's excellent. The first time my column of redcoats hiding behind a stone wall repelled a charge of Swedish cavalry more than twice their number, I knew I was hooked.

- 8 old (non-shooting) in brown carriages - 34 old (non-shooting) in red carriages - 4 new (shooting!) in red carriages - 2 new (shooting!) in brown carriages (switched 'em from red myself, obviously)

Brickset says I have 284 (from the sets I could remember that I had). Deducting figures I know I've sold and adding a bunch I bought on Bricklink, I'd say I've got ~300.

I'd love a picture of this guy. The thing he's holding is a telescope, if it wasn't apparent. Whenever you get around to it...no rush! ((edit: Sorry about that...didn't realize it was that big!))

These are, quite simply, amazing, and I would love to see more!

If I recall correctly, I have: - 5 new blue-grey - 4 old brown - 4 red

I would much rather they flesh out the current pirates and soldiers rather than prematurely add a "sub-theme".