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".

Read this review on Wednesday; happened to be in the LEGO store in downtown Chicago, and so I grabbed one of these. Definitely worthwhile. Worth noting, perhaps: the pirate minifig didn't have the head shown in the OP's close-ups, but rather the one shown on the box.

I've always loved my Black Seas Barracuda. I wish I had enough hull pieces to rebuild it...

I think it's possible. We'll have to see. The Pirates line so far looks promising, and if it continues for a long time, who knows what they might come up with?

I'll be alright with some fantasy, especially as it's established that there will be at least two human factions already. So if they want to make some sets "Pirates vs. Squid" or "Soldiers vs. Skeletons", I'm alright with that. I'd PREFER that they stick with mostly humans, but if incorporating some fantasy well help sell the line and keep it around for years to come, it's alright in my book. BSB is definitely a brig. The designation of a brig refers not to size, but to the ship's rigging. BSB being rigged square, with two masts...she qualifies as a brig. A brigantine would be a ship with a square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft rigger mainmast... and maybe this should become a separate thread. A ship as small as the BSB would carry its guns on the main deck; a lower deck devoted to guns would make the ship FAR too tall for its length.

British Royal Marines, of course!

Vive la revolution! Vive le republique! Vive le gens! ...it looks great!

Man, this thing looks sweeeeeeeeet. What piece did you use for all those gargoyles? I can't say it looks familiar...

...what kind of cannons are those?

This gives me a chuckle. I hope this joker doesn't buy up too many soldiers (if indeed he buys any)... there's enough of a damned shortage as it is.

Oh, infinitely better than Runescape, make no mistake! And by "look around at sea" do you mean ZOOM IN on things? If so, that is useful and I hadn't realized it was an option...