Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Wiggy]

7th January 2009 - Shiver me timbers!

Happy New Year!

This week at Triple Ace Games we have dusted off some work that Jordan did some time ago and we all felt needed to be released. We present a new set of pirate figures for the Age of Piracy line formally produced by Legion Publishing. Tabletop Heroes: Age of Piracy - Undead is a brand new set of figures which introduces supernatural elements into your pirate games. From ghostly pirate captains to skeletal sailors you will find all you need to create an undead army to crew your ship!

We have gone one further and re-packaged the two previous sets for the standard tri-fold format favoured here at TAG plus all three packs have the brand new Figure FactoryTM feature we introduced last year. So now you can create your own print sheet fully customized for your Pirate games!

Each set has a full set of nicely designed figures from Jordan Peacock and all the background you need as each figure has full Savage World stats from our ace Dave Blewer. So set sail and head over to the store and pick these beauties up!

Tabletop Heroes: Age of Piracy - Pirates
Tabletop Heroes: Age of Piracy - British Sailors
Tabletop Heroes: Age of Piracy - Undead



TAG Monthly Competition!

January's $10 voucher goes too Graham Spearing - congrats Graham the voucher will be winging its way to you shortly and we hope you enjoy!
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Wiggy
Creative Director Triple Ace Games

[Jordan Peacock]

One thing I noticed about the entry for the new Tabletop Heroes: Age of Piracy - Undead Pirates set ... is that there's no mention of the Zombie Trebuchet, or the Dread Cannon! And that just won't do.

Well, basically, I went a bit overboard when making the undead pirates (a while back), and had this crazy idea of a trebuchet crewed by (and loaded by) zombies. (*chop* *fwing* Yaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr-*SPLAT*)



Above is a photo of the (roughly) assembled model. (I didn't put that extra effort into trimming the pieces, or using a felt-tip marker to blacken the exposed white edges.) No moving parts in the paper model, really, and I suppose the weight (anchor) should be positioned over the edge of the deck, so it has enough room to drop the full distance. (That is, if it were a real trebuchet.)



Above is a photo of the separate components (once the opposing side pieces have been glued together). Please note that you'll have to cut a short slot in the middle of the top "axis" for the trebuchet arm to fit into the A-frame. (Once you put it together, it shoudl be fairly easy to figure out where to cut a slot.)

Also included in the set are the "dread cannons." This consists of the "Shipwreck Cannon" (a 32-pdr ghost ship cannon), the "Ghost Cannon," and the "Skull Cannon." And I had a lot of fun doing the detail work for those last two! They're presented in two forms: First, there are multi-piece cannon assemblies in the style of the 32-pdr paper cannon that was included in the original Age of Piracy: British set. However, paper models of that size can be a bit fiddly ... so I also made up some simpler flats to represent the cannons as well (stand-up two-sider models showing the cannon from the side).

Dave Blewer wrote up stats and color information for the Zombie Trebuchet, Ghost Cannon, and Skull Cannon, included in the set. The updated "British" set still includes the original 32-pdr cannon, but now includes a page of several copies of the "easy" (2D) version as well.

As for the regular contents of the Undead Pirate set, I tried to go for a variety of undead types, with the idea that someone might either try to cram an undead pirate ship with an assortment of ALL of these undead types ... or maybe the GM would reserve certain crew types for certain ships.

For example, you could use JUST the Skeletons for a pirate ship with a literal skeleton crew, with the skeletal Ghost of Captain Deepbeard in charge. Or, you could use JUST zombies, with "Captain Samedi" as a voodoo zombie-master. Or, you could even have a ghost ship of the far north, crewed entirely by Viking Wights ... or perhaps a cursed trireme crewed entirely by Roman Legionnaire Wights.

A few of the figures have intentional likeness to certain characters from the Pirate set, just in case a GM would like to pull a stunt such as having an apparently normal pirate reveal his true cursed nature under certain conditions ... or maybe a character that the PCs are likely to kill off, but who might rise from the dead later on for revenge!
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[DaRealJudas]

Hmmm, the British Sailors just seem to be perfect for my Hornblower campaign, set in the early 1800s.
This is actually the first time I honestly consider using figures…
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"So, how much Experience do I get for the bard?"

[Rambling Scribe]

Wow. I actually just bought the old version of the pirates set from RPGNow last night, and assembled them this morning. I really like the way the bases work, and was thinking about buying the British set. A zombie set would be amazing too.

I'm not a big fan of the tri-fold format for paper minis. I assume you mean the same trifold as the cardstock cowboys et al. rather than A-frame. When I get them I usually cut two images and glues them flat, back to back, and then stick it in a base. Lately I've been using One Monk's folded paper bases, which are free to download and have a ton of terrain options (including planks). They make for easy storage, which trifolds don't. The thing I really like about the pirates set is that the base is integral and flat, so I can stick an Alea Tools sticky magnetic base on them, and the base can't fall off when I pick up the mini by the head (which occasionally happens with the One Monk bases when I stick the magnet on). They don't store as flat as the separate bases and minis, but at least they don't get crushed like my tri-folds always did.

The trebuchet looks awesome though, and I'd love to be able to select and organize a print sheet. And who can say no to undead pirates!?
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"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success." - Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1907

[Jordan Peacock]

[Rambling Scribe]

Your bases are almost identical in style to the ones at One Monk Miniatures. I also have a handful of old SJG Cardboard Heroes plastic bases, and I used to use the ones from my old Talisman board game as well.

I've looked at your Pirates website before but had missed your fonts site. Looks cool. And I really appreciate the other resources you have there, especially since I'm about to start a SW piratey game based on the Savage Tide adventure path from Dungeon magazine. I'm toning down the standard fantasy and cranking up the voodoo pirates dial though.

So, I see more paper mini purchases in my future!
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"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success." - Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1907

[jscifert]

Check out these - they work very well for most miniatures!

http://store.mrchips.net//index.php/cPath/27_59

[marshal kt]

heh.. i use the plastic binder holders.
they make, or used to make, clear plastic report covers. the back bind/edge was held by a trangluar piece of plastic, that ran the entire length of the bind, about 12 inches.

i cut them into 1/2 inch and 1 inch length.. i've used these since battletech came out with cardboard mechs...about 20 years..they still hold..i mean stand up.

they're also cheap...
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"I'm Hotep"