InkTank

I think one of the issues is that US commercials can't do stop motion or show the toys in action on their own anymore (since the 50s?). Too many sad American kids would be sitting around waiting for their Lego pirates to start moving around and talking. Brings back great memories though.

Okay, that settles it. My red coats are Imperial Guard (more elite troops) and blue coats are Imperial Soldiers (standard foot soldiers and artillery) and they will fight the pirates and natives. All this history is too complicated.

You know that throws me off? The "non-deals". Where did anyone figure the price for an individual tri-corn hatted, red coat soldier with a gun is $10 to $14? And lots of soldiers (in batches of 4 to 8) selling for what amounts to over $10 a figure. There was a lot recently of 6 figures with an $80+ Buy It Now price. PLUS shipping! I don't think I've paid over $3 for a figure, ever. But then again I tend to be patient and choose my targets carefully. Real piratey like.

I've gotten a good selection of soldiers (mixed lots of blue and red, with shakos and without) for an average price of $2.50 each on a few recent eBay lots. I was lucky in a few auctions where there were few, if any, bids. It's a real crap shoot to see which auctions shoot up at the last minute and which go for bargain prices. I now have more shakos than troops to put them on. Perhaps I'll use the new decorated Shakos for the elite troops and standard shakos for the line troops.

I believe it was a Skulls Eye Schooner bought off eBay in 2004 or 2005. Pretty quickly after that I picked up more ships and soldiers. Oddly enough, I have no forts or land based playsets. I would LOVE an Imperial Trading post.

I bought a bunch of the white Snowtrooper backpacks to use on my army (I felt they looked better than drab grey or brown) and am currently tracking down some Western covered wagon sets (6716) to flesh out my "supply train" for my army. For pirate ships, I'm looking to incorporate the Advenutrer's line Emperor's Ship and a Harry Potter Durmstrang Ship into a pirate theme.

Ahh, much better. Thanks for the move. Well, here are the assembled forces as of last night (trying to keep the blues and reds even): And the beginnings of Fort Brickton (harbor fort for Brickton Bay). This is the WIP while I use the red and white bricks of a house set to layout the shape and then work on a corner deciding how many bricks I'll need. I'll likely go with grey or white bricks for building. The shape of the fort: A corner in progress as I figure out the structure: And a look at the technic pins to hold it togehter. I'll likely build it on seperate baseplates and use the pinds to connect it all (and all designed before the new modular pirate sets too):

Ahh, sorry about that. Just a few members lined up for recruiting. Actually, I bought a bulk of heads (bulk heads?) from Bricklink to use when the heads that came though any purchases weren't the generic, happy Lego head. I intend to have a generically happy army eventually! I also bought a bunch of white Snowtrooper backpacks to use as all brown seemed too drab. I do find myself leaning towards the red coats in terms of making sure they have all thier equipment and armamants. Now to figure out a eppalute color scheme for the blue coats. I'm leaning towards brown or white. And I certainly do know of the Classic Pirates blog site. It's how I found the forums way back when. ;)

Ah darn, I was looking for something like that. Of course, I pretty much have only lurked here in the Pirates forum so I hadn't thought to go further out to to the main forums to check. Well, so it's not a total waste, here are some older pics of the army (armies?) I am gathering. I have some more recent pictures I should be able to post later. I am mostly going for squads of 10 men with one Sergeant per squad and a Lieutenant in charge of each platoon (and a higher ranking officer over them). Still trying to dertermine how to indicate a Sergeant. Perhaps the new shakos could denote the Sergeant in each squad.

Avast ye scallywags! My name is InkTank and I am a Lego Pirates fanatic. I wanted to say 'hi' and that I have already found these forms to be a treasure trove of information and entertainment. I hope to be a regular around here and thought I'd introduce myself. I have been collecting Pirates for a few years after a long hiatus (since I was in my teens?). I actually started collecting pirates around 2004 or 2005, long after the original Pirates line was discontinued. Of course, that makes me an eBaby when it comes to my collection. But hopefully with the new sets I'll be able to add even more ships to my fleet. I have a few of the big ships and have built them stock a few times (Skulls Eye Schooner, Redbeard Runner, etc.) and have a few other ship set off to the side for hopeful "piratization" (7416 Emperors Ship, 4768 Durmstrang Ship, etc.) In addition I have been gathering a small army with a few red coats and bluecoats. I'm still undecided on what to "do" with them in terms of force selection. French and British? Two generic opposing Lego forces? Two seperate units of the same army? Hopefully I'll find some input and answers here. Plus I'll be sure to post some pictures. Anyways, thanks for reading and see you on the boards! Ayarrr!