Smugglers!

I was thinking about the Pirates this morning and how I could use them in different ways. I have worked out the points cost of the eight man crew I have and rounded it up to exactly 200 points.

While I was working this out I wondered why there were only three variants on the crew list in the book - Pirates, Royal Navy and Privateers - and how this could be expanded to add a bit more variety.

The obvious thing would be to add a list for Barbary Pirates and Corsairs but I also reckon you could work out lists for smugglers or wreckers. This site has a lot of really interesting information which could be used to create a suitable cast of heroes and henchmen:

http://www.smuggling.co.uk/history.html

You could re-use the pirate crew figures for this with a few characters thrown in for a bit of colour. At sea, the Royal Navy would form the opposition while on land a list for custom collectors, riding officers and dragoons could be worked out, along with rival smuggling gangs.

There's even a pack of smugglers available from Foundry:

http://wargamesfoundry.com/other_ranges/single_packs/civilian/any/smugglers_civ007/?sector_id=6

I think there's lot's of potential in this and it would be an excellent way to stretch the use of the figures, ships and terrain for extra playability.