SkaForHire

Hi, for a long while a few friends and I were working on rules for a lego mecha game that we would like to play. I think there may be a couple out there, i just have never seen them, so we started making our own using mostly the mars sets (this was many years ago) which made good looking mech warrior kind of units... with the release of exo-force the few of us that are left have decided to try and get back to it again... exo-force provides alot more options then there were before, and this got our hopes up. I was wondering if anyone has gamed in this genre using lego before? if so could you direct me towards the rulesset you were using? second when I finish up the preliminary rules, i was wondering if any others would like to play test them for me? (probably won't be done until this fall, i am a full time student) Also any suggestions anyone has for adding into a game based on giant robots, let me know! -dan oh yeah, and don't let mr phes know that I am posting away from the pirates board! lol

LOL of course, i guess I meant to say i would be MORE dissapointed ok so this is going to be a sick question.... how are the hulls for these??? Usable perhaps for lego creation? I havent bought any duplo... well ever but i used to have a ton when i was a kid and I know back then you could connect them to lego, is that still possible? would be cool if these were posible to use as ships for lego too. doubt it but its still a pipe dream that pirates may come back.

You would think though with the third movie of the POTC franchise hitting the states on memorial day next year (thats like may or something?) That TLG would have some sort of way to cash in on the success of "pirates" as a popular culture reference. I would hope they have a new pirates theme (not the <insert that tiresome argument> stuff either) after christmas (the same release time for exo-force this year) It seems to me that this would be an extrememly good marketing move. It also seems to me to be the last chance for pirates as a theme in the next five years or longer. I thought for sure LEGO would have cashed in this time around with the second movie by making some sort of pirates sets. IF MB prices drive LEGO prices down, all the better. Lego can make a better quality toy and advertise that, parents would like that. and at least in the states, you can charge a bit more then other products if you base your product on a "quality" campaign, and in this case LEGO could advertise quantity over their competitors too. So... if we do not see a new pirate theme based around competing with PTOC Megablocs next year I will be 1)disapointed in TLG's marketing abilities 2)saddened by yet another year without a cool historical theme.

True, but if this was all real the Eldorado Fortress would be some back water fort or part of a series of small forts guarding an entrace to a port or river... the SR would be the ship of the line along with atleast five others of her caliber and a whole host of smaller ships, most of which would be bigger then SES... as for SES vrs SR... it would not ever happen for two reasons 1) SR's escorts would never let SES cross the SR's T (the only place that would be safe for the SES to attack on the SR) and 2) because the SES are pirates they would never attempt to attack a SOTL (ship of the line) and if it did happen, the SES would run out of ammo before it even came close to damaging the SR. So then they would board the SR, and well if they even got onto the deck of the ship, the SR would wipe the floor with the SES, because they are trained marines and outnumber the crew of SES by as many as 10:1 and no less then 5:1 i think the MOCer did a good job with what he had.

oh yeah.... I just thought of this... check out lugnet.com on their pirates page... last time i was there richie dullin (sp? i am suprised he doesn't post here, or does he?) had a nice little conversion using some of the pieces from 4j (not the hull tho) also i think it was on piratebricks, or maybe lugnet that someone made a dutch merchant vessle with the 4j hull, wish i would have saved it. It was better then my conversion.

i am astonished by the prices, i think he got an awesome deal if hes from the states... but then again i havent monitored ship prices in about 5 years... but wow you europeans have the best luck, all your legos seem to be so much cheeper! like i mentioned in a previous post i had bought a imperial flagship from a guy in britain, thats because he charged very little for shipping to the states, and his auction was something like 40-50 dollars (half as many pounds) cheeper then the next american auction... sometimes its worth getting your lego from across the pond, they even have shooting cannons! :) i used to be into this one ebay store that would make custom ships in different colors (loosely based off of SES or BSB or CC depending on the ship) i bought a couple extended CC from them. They were cheaper then a normal CC usually, lol. I think i may go to my moms house and bring one back so i can refit it. i wish there were still stores like that on ebay... or any kind of custom lego places.

I love to post today I guess... 1)Jack, student loans are for buying lego not buying food! :) unfortunately, that seems to be where alot of mine have gone durring the last couple years. 2)The odd colored minifigs in HP sets are for those pirates that are struck down with scurvey! look how pale and sick they look. 3)I am going to defend the 4j, and wish they still sold it over here (i hear they still sell it in europe? is that true? at the end it was going for like 19 bucks, wish i had one of my student loans when it was that way! lol would have bought like 10 of them instead of one) First of all, between the Viking Ship (which doesn't make the best pirate ship) the HP ship, and the 4j ship it is all we have in terms of new parts to build with. Thuse instead of dismising it as complete rubbish, i feel it is needs to be reexamined and imagination needs to be pumped into it. Why I think 4j is better? one piece comes to mind, the middle hull piece. Why oh why did HP not have one! i want to make a ship using that hull, but other then some sort of small barque i can not think of how to do it (still waiting to be able to find that ship for cheaper then 50 dollars american) That hull makes it the choice for MOCers out of the two. I don't think every piece on 4j is worthless, i love the new pirate flags (wish i could have got more of the large blue ones too) that was a plus for me... adds variety and different pirate groups to my lego world... anyway they masts work, even if they do not look as good. I wish they wouldnt have changed them but its what we have to work with now. with some refiting the ship doesnt look as aweful... i combined some god awful KK2 pieces from some sort of tower andthis ship and came out with something a little better I think... I guess in defense of the 4j, there are things you can do with it... the giant hulls on either set are a major drawback, but i guess we could treat it as a "new hull type is sweeping the lego seas" hopefully they will go back to something more managable. Lastly, before i shut up and stop rambleing, I will confess that i recently bought hull pieces on brickling from this set. I would like to see what a extended hull would look like... if i ever get enough pieces to build the rest of the ship...

A couple responses to this thread: 1) Nice Pictures! I enjoy the labor you put into the review, it will allow those who have never seen the set in its full glory know what they are trying to bid on on ebay :) 2) I actually have an incomplete model of this i got extra from someone in britain when I bought my first Imperial Flagship, they just sent it along as an "extra" ! I was pleasently suprised! I crave finding a whole one, but it is not the top of my list. I am a ship person before I am a fortification, so if i could find a cheap ship i would buy it over a cheap fortress... nonetheless, this is a great little set. 3)onto the topic of legends. I have two opinions on the legends line and a third pirates orientated one... first, if lego is not going to pull itself out of the gutter and make decent models then please give us legends. (though i really like the model quality of dinoattack, exo-force, and most of the Viking stuff so they could be moving in the right direction with this all.) second, if they are going to improve their models like some of their recent stuff... then I say no new legends. two reasons, 1) because I feel that is one less set they are going to make each year they offer a legend, and 2) because those of us that have spent money on items like BSB before they rereleased it were pretty unhappy when we found out we could have bought it much much cheaper. (I bought my first BSB and my second like six months before they announced it, for what I payed at the time i could have bought four from TLG in a couple months :( ) now my pirate related opinion on legends, the same as my first opinion, if they are not going to build more pirates then give me the legends, though even though i just ranted about it, i would like to see SES over a fortress... even though i will probably smash a brick over my head for buying one, this would allow new people to get into the pirate adventure. But most of all, if they bring back a pirates theme then we won't need legends to supplement our lust for pirates. damn, I know half of this group would design the sets for free as long as they rereleased them! maybe i should write TLG and offer my services? 4)like i said, i never was into the islands as much as i was the ships (probably why i have become a Naval Historian and not a historian of like forts... lol) so it is good to see reviews like this! keep up the good work.

Thats a sweet frigate. Everyone's ships look great so far! Texas Jack, that stinks that you lost your whole collection. Man I would have hunted that bastard down LOL! I want to post pics of some of my ships but I am currently at college housing... where I do not have access to many of my bricks... (i should really do some sort of inventory, my fleet is mighty large...) i have some ships made, but they are not color coordinated very well due to lack of pieces... So i am fearing putting them up here... they are pretty laughable! :P However seeing many of your ships makes me want to find time to actually build again. (So much work with my two masters programs that I am in. ) I think I am going to have to build something new soon.

There arent any more gunports as i can see. thats why i called it a 20gun frigate. but of course someone could buildt a covered gundeck to get the guns out of influence of weather. it would look more right to me if he had placed some more guns on the topdeck. in that case it would be a two decker with about 26-28 guns. but a great ship neverless yeah for some reason my edit didnt go through right it just quoted me... i came back and said that after further looking at it, he doesnt extend the top deck all the way, if he had it seems it would be a 32 gun ship.

I am going to have to agree, and for whoever said the back was too small, it looks just right for a frigate. I think it holds many more then 20 guns, thats why he has two decks (in response to 20 gun ships and duel decks) I have seen drawings of frigates with up to three gun decks, so two is not a stretch. Though most 20 gun ships only had one deck, but it looks like it holds more guns then that... I am going to have to agree, and for whoever said the back was too small, it looks just right for a frigate. I think it holds many more then 20 guns, thats why he has two decks (in response to 20 gun ships and duel decks) I have seen drawings of frigates with up to three gun decks, so two is not a stretch. Though most 20 gun ships only had one deck, but it looks like it holds more guns then that...

First, forgive the spelling errors I am about to commit... Not true, as it has been said, Vikings made atlantic travels (Viking settlements in greenland, Iceland, Nova Scotia prove this) Also, the galley, which is what a longboat essentially is, are wonderful in merchant raiding. The ealiest pirate threat was that of galleys in the mediterranian sea. the smaller galleys are quicker then cogs, and roman vessels similar to cogs. Many pirates of the Caribean started out on small galleys or long row boats. The power of manpower in battle is not really breached until the age of steam. Also, chinese pirates used galley like ships a good deal, also. As has been stated, there were no real fleets in the northern seas and ocean that could really affect the Viking menace, therefore the Vikings really did not fight sea battles. Their armor would have prevented sea engagements. (YOu would sink to the bottom in metal armor if you accedently fell off the ship in combat, hence in the middle ages the building of large pontoons for soldiers to fight on so they had less of a chance to go splash!) Vikings worked alot like the battle in the movie troy when the greeks row off and attack, well they would only come off the ship like that if the enemy was present, most of the time they parked outside a coastal villiage or a city on a river and raided unphased by enemy warriors. No they didn't sail the Atlantc. They just sailed close to the north pole all the way basically from one island to another. They didn't have the knoledge of navigation they'd need to sail the Atlantic Ocean, at best, they sailed the periphery of the Atlantic. It's not a coincidence that the exploration of Earth only started when people had all sorts of navigational skills and most of all, decent maps... Vikings didn't have those... Vikings would never be able to do what Colombus did with his three ships, even though those were quite primitive as well... "Greenland", "Nova Scotia", "Iceland"? g... not mankind's greatest achievements, if you're asking me, with all due respect... You're highly overestimating the concept of a galley. Man power is inferior to sails. You need too many people just to get your ship moving, you can't do large distances away from the coast, you can't really transport heavy cargo... You really think a galley would win a battle against Nelson's "Victory"? come on... a few shots from a canon and your man power is completely gone... But even as a transport ship a longboat is simply not as good as a cog... and yes, a cog was indeed capable of carrying armed soldiers... I agree both, the cog and the longboat are merchant vessels, no question there. So sure, this entire discussion is nonsense... but entertaining... I remember having read on another website a discussion on what would be the strongest warship in the galaxy: a Borg cube or sw's Death star... Hilarious! X-D History proves you wrong. First, to island hop Vikings needed to go on the high seas to get to these places. (that includes parts of the atlantic ocean) They navigate like any other sailor up until the widespread use of the compas. Its not the greatest way to navigate but worked for centuries. I never said nova scotia was an essential to human history (sorry any canucks that are out there) I just said they made it that far, and there was high seas sailing that happened to do so. Therefore making the long boat a very versitile ship for traveling. Again, History says other wise in the galley vrs Sail. Yes, you can move much much more cargo with sail and build larger ships, i never said you couldn't. But in a fight the galley is the weapon of choice really until the age of sail and exploration. And the only reason the sailing ship replaced the galley for warefare is because the vast distances it had to travel, the advancement in cannon technology, and the fact that you didn't need as much labor on sailing ship. Some Spanish War Galleons kept the oars and (supposedly) had slaves man them in battle. This was for maneuverability in combat. Galleys can not hold the armament of a sailing war ship, and therefor become inferior in ranged fighting. On the other hand, the small skiff, galley, or long row boat was the starting and sometimes prefered ship of the classic pirate. Why? because he could row up to the back of a sailing ship and overtake its crew either by using stealth or speed. As for the armed combatants, i don't think i said that a cog couldn't have them, I am sure many troop transports were cogs. So were some "battleships" that is why we have the terms like forecastle on a sailing ship, these were (historicly) litterly mini-castles on a ship where archers would sit behind and shoot. What i said was that Vikings did not participate in much sea combat, because they did not have the ship designs to allow armored troops to fight deck to deck. If you fall in the water you are just another anchor. The vikings didn't need to fight ship to ship, because as it has been said, rarely anyone had a navy of much consequense. Cog vrs Longboat, Cog would win. Cog vrs lighter crewed galley, (and most war galleys had large rams on them) Galley would win, Nelsons HMS Victory vrs galley durring day, Nelson would surely win, Nelsons HMS Victory, vrs Galley at night, if its a large enough galley with enough men, they have a chance. one last thought, sentries are posted on the decks of even modern ships for the reason to make sure no one rows up and trys to get on board, its not the big ships you worry about, its the little ones. oh yeah, and Death Star all the way! LOL

First, forgive the spelling errors I am about to commit... Not true, as it has been said, Vikings made atlantic travels (Viking settlements in greenland, Iceland, Nova Scotia prove this) Also, the galley, which is what a longboat essentially is, are wonderful in merchant raiding. The ealiest pirate threat was that of galleys in the mediterranian sea. the smaller galleys are quicker then cogs, and roman vessels similar to cogs. Many pirates of the Caribean started out on small galleys or long row boats. The power of manpower in battle is not really breached until the age of steam. Also, chinese pirates used galley like ships a good deal, also. As has been stated, there were no real fleets in the northern seas and ocean that could really affect the Viking menace, therefore the Vikings really did not fight sea battles. Their armor would have prevented sea engagements. (YOu would sink to the bottom in metal armor if you accedently fell off the ship in combat, hence in the middle ages the building of large pontoons for soldiers to fight on so they had less of a chance to go splash!) Vikings worked alot like the battle in the movie troy when the greeks row off and attack, well they would only come off the ship like that if the enemy was present, most of the time they parked outside a coastal villiage or a city on a river and raided unphased by enemy warriors.

Might be in the wrong post, but since i recognize most of the posters names, is this where the crew from piratebricks.com migrated from/to? since that site is no longer working :( This site looks just as promising for discussion on my favorite hobby tho, i am glad i found it!

This is one of my favorite small ships lego has ever made! so much that i have a bag of 20 of them sitting unopened in my basement :P (KB Toys had a buy one get one half off sale, and they mismarked the set at 8 dollars... needless to say i went into debt to clear their shelves.) they are just waiting until i have space to build to become a junk fleet to terrorize my imperial guard trying force open the orient... It goes really well with Ninja, but just kinda well with Pirates, which is the main theme I collect. Though, I don't see a reason why the european looking pirates can't sail into oriental waters to confront these ships. though, i have armed some of these shits with small cannons so that they may stand up to the pirates. Good review.