“Dead Earth Games” are producing a range of miniatures to support their “Pirates of the Dread Sea” (PODS) skirmish wargames rules. The range currently consists of Human, Undead and Dwarf crews but crews from the other races are promised soon. Sent for review here are the human crew, led by Captain Thornback and consisting of five miniatures in total. Advertised as 35mm miniatures, they do not look too out of place alongside my “Black Scorpion” and “Freebooter” pirates and my “Redoubt” marines but stand a good head taller than “Foundry” and similar manufacturers. The crew consists of Captain Thornback, complete with parrot on her shoulder; “Bad Annie”, with hook hand and bad attitude; Juan de Silva, with his peg leg and more than passing resemblance to a pirate legend; “Jokes” who makes up for her one eye by wielding a multi barrelled nock gun and finally, Graves, who is depicted attacking with two swords. Full details for each of these characters profiles can be found in the PODS rulebook.
The miniatures are very nice indeed, with excellent detail on the coat lace, weapons and kit, with the hammers on the flintlock pistols being particularly well done. All the miniatures have clear, expressive faces and detail such as “Jokes” eye patch are clearly defined. I imagine they will paint up very easily as most of the poses have the characters standing with arms wide apart, allowing you to really go to town on their pirate costume should you wish to do so. Our review pack contained an alternate (Kickstarter exclusive) “de Silva” miniature, where he is holding a meat cleaver and a bottle of rum rather than the weapons shown in the original pack. This, I assume, is for those who wish to depict him in his role as a cook rather than a full-blown pirate. Also included was a separate parrot, cast in full flight and provided with a clear plastic flying stand which I think comes as a bonus mini in the super starter set. This is a lovely little model with great detailing on the feather work (no jokes about the “beautiful plumage”) and which allows it to be used independently in the PODS game, where parrots, monkeys and similar animals can be magical familiars.
I really liked these miniatures and think “Dead Earth Games” have done a good job. However, at £25 for five, these figures may be a little rich for some people’s blood. Having said that, to play PODS you need only purchase one crew for each player, so this is still a fairly minor outlay to start your adventure on the Dread Sea.
