18th Century English Pirates

Orion’s 18th Century English Pirates offer an amazing variety of figure poses, they finally top an industry record set by Airfix over thirty years ago. These pirates are rough looking, apparently because the master figures have been carved exactly to scale, whereas other manufacturers use oversize masters which are scanned and miniaturized during the electronic mould making process. The pirates shown here have been mounted on multi-figure infantry skirmish stands compatible with several popular wargame rules. Every stand can be a small vignette of a typical pirate scene: boarding an enemy ship, brawling in a tavern, and digging for treasure on a deserted island.

Contents

44 miniatures in 22 Poses – 24 mm equal 173 cm Height

• Pirate Captain (2)
• Pirate Captain with Telescope (2)
• Pirate Captain with Compass, pointing (2)
• Pirate Captain pulling Lady’s Hair (2)
• Lady resisting Capture (2)
• Female Pirate with Knife and Sword (2)
• Woman waving (2)
• Pirate Officer firing Pistol (2)
• Pirate Officer with Sword (2)
• Pirate Boatswain with Whistle (2)
• Pirate with Map (2)
• Pirate with Oar (2)
• Pirate with Shovel (2)
• Pirate defending Treasure Chest (2)
• Pirate carrying Treasure Chest (2)
• Pirate with Blowpipe (2)
• Pirate with Bottle, drinking (2)
• Pirate with Knife and Belaying Pin (2)
• One-legged Pirate with Sword (2)
• Drunken Pirate with Barrel (2)
• Pirate Gunner (2)
• Skeleton (2)

12pdr Cannon (2)

Evaluation

Excellent choice of subject, the English pirates are unique in this scale.

22 figure poses and a ship’s cannon, this set offers amazing variety.

The master figures for this set seem to have been carved and sculpted exactly to scale, to minimize the cost of the mould making process. Other manufacturers develop oversized master figures which are scanned and transferred to the mould electronically. The latter is the more expensive miniaturization process which produces exceptionally well detailed miniatures one would not normally be able to sculpt manually in 1:72 scale.

Noticeable mould lines need to be removed prior to painting.

Three of the figures show prominent ejector pin marks on their back.

The treasure chests are marred by sinkholes which need to be filled with putty or Rai-Ro filler wax prior to painting.

The skeleton is too big, it belongs to a man who would have been over 200 cm talls in this scale. With its feet fully extended, the skeleton model is 32 mm long.

The Orion pirates are fun to paint, and they will look good in a diorama. Wargamers may want to mount their pirates on skirmish stands to represent infantry fighting in open order. These stands should be compatible with other 18th century infantry stands, and they only need to have their inherent figure scale adjusted to create suitable skirmish formations. As an example, Volley & Bayonet players might use their regimental stands to represent infantry platoons instead.

18th Century Pirates