PIRATES: Talk Like a Pirate Day and "Pirate War" Playing with My Toys

Ahoy me Hearties!, drop the anchor, lower the sails, and join us for a we bit 'o fun>

Q: Why is pirating so addictive?
A: They say once ye lose yer first hand, ye get hooked!

Q: What happened when Bluebeard fell overboard in the Red Sea?
A: He got marooned.

Q: What has 8 legs, 8 arms, and 8 eyes?
A: 8 pirates.

Q: What do ye call a pirate with two eyes and two legs?
A: A rookie.

Q: What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches?
A: A nervous wreck.

These and more silly pirate jokes can be found at Reader's Digest

Sooo, last week I pulled out the board I made last year for the Christmas train layout and set it up in the living room. "Isn't it a little early for Christmas Ed?" I can hear you asking. Yup, it is but I promised the grand daughter I would set up the Halloween display first before setting up the Christmas layout. While she likes the Halloween stuff, she doesn't like going out in The Cave to play with the trains so setting it up in the living room seemed to be the best answer. You can tell Bettina is numb to everything because she didn't voice any disagreements LOL For now, the table is raised up on metal saw horses I used many years ago for setting up my micro train layout The Edge of Town (EoT). 

Then I had an epiphany: why not use the board to play with toys for a couple of weeks before dragging out the Halloween stuff!!?? Yeah, that's the ticket. Especially since 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' was fast approaching. I painted the board a light blue to represent water cuz I would be pulling out my Pirate ships and needed a suitable expanse of 'water'. I did not give it a glossy clear coating to better represent water though. That might be a project for another time - maybe. Then I pulled out landforms and hills left over from previous train layouts and ones that I use a lot for photo shoots like this. Next, out came all the pirate toys. I really wanted to pull out the MPC ships and figures, but as you know, with only four poses there's not much variety. Also too, I don't have any Redcoats at the ready, so I figured to take other-than-MPC figures and pose a war between rival pirate factions. Arrr, a right proper war if I say so myself! LOL Lots of fun and there will be a few more set-ups before they get packed away and the Halloween toys come out. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

The photos weren't taken with any specific sequence in mind - just random shots and changing angles

 Th gray guy is running away with the treasure chest...

...while this crew is going to bury theirs!

The fleet has six ships total, five of which are pictured here

The Welcoming Committee

Not all pirate activity was in the Caribbean with is palm trees and sandy beaches. It stretched all along the eastern seaboard and the wreck of Blackbeard's ship, "Queen Anne's Revenge" was located off the coast of North Carolina.