Tales of Captain Blue Billy Bones

Game One

 in Which We Meet Captain Billy on his way out of town...

Gather near dear reader and listen close to this story of pirates and high adventure.  For I am about to recount the stories I've seen and heard of the infamous pirate captain Blue Billy.  Blue Billy was captured once and held in the admiralty cellars for crimes on the high seas.  His bail was set so high no captain could ever hope to have been set free.  But others had no idea the lengths to which Billy's crew and brethren would gather to help out their loved leader.  The brethren of the seas did post Billy's bail and had him set free on a Tuesday afternoon.

They arrived in force and tied up to the quay in the harbor.  South by Southwest was the port of call and Captain Blue was being held in a brick admiralty building in the shore district.  His bail was delivered and the debt payed to the sea commissioners but the town's people would have none of it!  When word spread that Blue Billy's crew had paid his bail the town went into an immediate uproar.

The hardies are on the wharf and itching to have their captain returned to their midst.

All hell breaks loose in the admiralty building as glass is broken by towns folk and pirate alike in an attempt to turn the building into a fortress.  The crack of pistol ball and musket alike echo in the naval buildings vast interior.  Blue Billy is freed and the bail retaken.

Meanwhile, outside the natives are quite restless. 

The towns folk want to run up and stab that pirate in the eye.

Mobs of citizenry are called out to arms to recapture the villain captain and hang him immediately from one of the stately green space oaks.  The admiralty building remains fortified with Billy's Blue Crew elite.  The tavern across the street is a gathering storm for the pirates to evade.  The "Bollocks Mollusk" is the rallying point for the towns violently active citizenry. Every window of the Silly Snail has an armed citizen bent on tagging Billy Blue.

The longshoremen pour from their warehouse and are screaming violent threats to Billy and the pirate crews.

Cool as ice, Blue Billy eyes an apple he has snatched from the desk of the shore clerk.  As a cacophony of noise and violence erupts outside our hero/villain contemplates his snack time.

Outside the window the Bollocks Mollusk is a riot of activity.

 

Help arrives from offshore.  The Vermilion Captain and Captain Violet are arriving in force to set up a safe cordon for Blue Billy to escape to the waiting ships.

Snack time can wait I gotta get out of this place - if it's the last thing I ever do!

Battle lines are drawn in the streets of Southwest.  Gunfire and knife fights are the scene.

Billy sets foot on the wharf..... Will he make it?

Yea.  The town is in shambles.  Captain Violet takes a musket ball from the Longshoreman foreman and can be seen rolling in the surf.  His crew rallied with a dramatic success that would suggest they were glad to be rid of him?!

The fight is over and Billy can be seen safe aboard the pirate ship "Huntress."  The game was played using G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. and 54mm plastic pirates.  The buildings, scenery, figures and table are part of the Strategic Gaming Club that meets after school at Southwest High School in Kansas City.  This new club is a game friendly  environment for students that meets weekly from 3:00-5:30.

Yes the kids paint the miniatures. Yes, I have a hand in teaching them the rudiments of miniatures wargaming.

 Game Two

In Which we see Billy Adventure to Skull Island and the land of the dead...

Oh now that's a scary place.  They're all dead.  No one has ever been to the land of the dead on skull island and returned to tell the tale...

The fabled cave of the other side.  Beyond which lies fabulous cash and prizes.

Guarded by a legion of dead pirates

and what's this?  Our intrepid Captain Blue has anchored just off shore and is sending the away boats to fill the water casks.  Is he mad?  Does he have a death wish?!

Once the men of the "Huntress" set foot on the shore of Skull Island, they hear a cry of the damned and dead from the island's interior.  Coming out of the jungle is a tangle of bones and weapons as pack after pack of undead pirates clash with the living for a battle of souls.

Wave attacks of undead.

The men of the shore party are nearly left to their fate as more away boats are loaded for an attempt on the cave of "Beyond".

"The jungle was full of dead and dying..." Captain Vermilion, lead officer of the Huntress on the away team onshore on Skull Island.  (He did not return.)

The howls of the evil skeletal attackers nearly drowned out the pistol fire and cannonade from the "Huntress".

The final moments of Captain Orange.  "Take that you damned dirty stack of bones."

This encounter lasted three consecutive turns of scuffle and save as the skeletal leader and the pirate leader both attacked parried and rolled saves.  Finally they were locked in a death grip with one dead and the other deader.