First batch of pirates painted

Finally finished the first batch of some 200 figures I've collected. I took a sample of different manufacturer's figures and different types: gun crew, general poses, and a captain. At the rate it took me to find the time to paint these seven, it's going to take be the better part of two years to paint them all. I think I'm going to have to come up with a better plan.

Guess who the captain (at left) is? (Hint: have a look at the last few posts.)

The further adventures of Captain Morgan

Chapter Two:

...and Chapter Three:

Captian Morgan video adventures

Captain Morgan Rum had made a number of short videos, like the one above. Lots of fun.

NC Wyeth illustrations for Treasure Island

NC Wyeth was a prolific illustrator in the early part of the 20th century. It is his paintings of pirates--inaccurate as they can be--that give us our idea of what pirates looked like. This painting is for the cover of Treasure Island.

Since Foundry makes a character set for Treasure Island the only question is:should i use the scheme Wyeth used or the one from the 1950 movie?

A pirate standard-bearer

Here's a great example of a War of the Spanish Succession figure painted as a pirate. Highly unlikely that pirates had standard bearers like this but the point is that in the age of piracy (around 1680-1730) pirates dressed just like everyone else. More than that, the military units of the major powers wore the same uniforms and carried the same weapons in the West Indies as they did on the Continent. Front Rank figure painted by Kevin Dallimore.

Captain Morgan

If you're going to have pirates, you need pirate captains. Captain Morgan was really a privateer, as notes from the Captain Morgan rum company describe:

In 1654 a young Henry Morgan left his native Wales for the West Indies. He never looked back. A born leader, he quickly made Captain and became famous as a legal pirate or buccaneer, defending British interests and generally rocking the Caribbean.
His awesome exploits on the high seas earned him a knighthood and by 1680 Sir Henry Morgan was a plantation owner and Governor of Jamaica. There he lived out his final days until his death in 1688.
Centuries later he became the figurehead for a company that became as famous as the man himself… The Captain Morgan Rum Company.

If you do a little searching, you find that there are older drawings of Captain Morgan with green leggings and cape. Sometimes the lace is yellow, sometimes gold. The boots can be either brown or black.

I bought the Old Glory pack of pirate captains so there are plenty to choose from. None have a cape, but that's fine. Since he was active in the late 17th century, I'll go with a figure that has an older-style sword like the drawing--knowing that the whole get-up is more Hollywood than historical.

That's just perfect for Two Hour Wargames' Larger than  Life.

Well-painted pirates