"Irish Dead Eye's are Smiling"
With no tolerance of the Anglican settlement of their homeland many fine Catholic Irishmen put to sea either by poverty or pressed into service. It's no wonder that a spirited crew would seize a ship and set to terrorizing the merchant shipping of the English Crown. Ireland's History of Piracy is a undersold legacy that includes infamous pirates such as Anne Bonnie (1697 – 1721), Grace O' Malley (1530 - 1603), William Burke (died 1699) and now Jack Brannigan (2001- )
The "Dirty Oar" is a bit of an Enigma. Where most pirates will steal to survive, she and her crew are known to go to ludicrous efforts to just be destructive miscreants. The articles of Piracy composed by her crew start with the words: "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to Imbibe, Burn and Loot." A former midshipman explained the philosophy as "Look if we can't have a home with nice stuff, we're going to make sure no one else does either. Simply put shenanigans"
Aft of the Dirty Oar
The Philosophy in Latin of Her Irish Catholic Crew.
Builder's Notes: This is one of the configurations of the Firelock games 28mm Plastic Sloop Model. For the price it is the most complete kit you can get on the market at the lowest price point. I wanted to build the model as close to it's original factory configuration as possible but my need for a more ascetically pleasing finished product overtook me. The modifications I made include lowering the Boom for the aft rig, Adding Ratlines that are magnetic, cutting down the cart for a few of the cannons so they actually fit the gun ports, and adding sails and rigging.
If you are starting out in any 28mm Pirate gaming I recommend this model for simply the cost alone. It comes with many little optional parts to make several ships from the same model.
