When I first Crusaded to buy Pirate Sets, I thought that I would get the Medium sized sets. I looked and found which ones I liked best, and decided to pursue.
So, my first pirate sets (besides the small green-hulled ships which was years ago) was the Imperial Flagship, the Imperial Outpost, and a small pirate set. The Imperial Flagship and Outpost together give you a nice collection of Red soldiers, as well as two Admirals and a sailor as well as a couple of pirates. Later, I bought a lot on Ebay that included a number of sets, which were rather pieces to those sets. Anyway, that lot included the BlackSeas Barracuda and I think it was a good buy. After I had established these, I moved on to buy some soldiers and some other pirate sets.
So, what I am saying, is that a habitual switching of the two. Starting with sets then moving on to buy more sets or soldiers, or vice versa!
:-)