Topic: Inexpensive relatively to scale ship models.

[Cory Magel]

Ok, here are some so-so quality shots of the 3D Puzzle Ships I picked up recently.  You'll usually find these on ebay or amazon for the $15-$20 range (you'll find they for sometimes twice as much too).  They are all from "Cubic Fun" but are a little hard to get your hands on (from Hong Kong I believe).  But... they are a decent scale for table top gaming and about 25% the cost of even the cheaper nice gaming models out there.  Not as nice (especially once you paint the ones made FOR gaming) but far more cost effective.

[Cory Magel]

These are... (in order)

Black Pearl (Large Brown Ship)
Santa Maria
Mystic (Xebec like ship)
Yacht Mary

The Santa Maria has the most room for miniatures I think, it's wider and the fore and aft castles are flatter/have more space to boot.  The Black Pearl and Mystic are longer, but thinner.  I've left some of the things which are supposed to be on-deck off (like the escape/row boats and cannon) and also left some of the sails off the Black Pearl and the Mystic for easier access.

[Cory Magel]

These may not display right for some of you when clicking on the image itself.  If you click on the file name below the image and open it using your browser it should work.  Looks like the pictures posted in the reverse order than I thought they did too, so the "Yacht Mary" is the first one (rather than the bottom one).

[Old Man]

Those are pretty cool. I'll have to look them up. (For ship to ship stuff, I like the pseudo-3D plastic ships from the Pirates of the Cursed Sea CCG (probably pretty cheap to find now.))

[Cory Magel]

I think you're talking about the "Pirates of the Spanish Main" game that came in cards, you punch out, assemble and play the game on a table top?  You'll probably be shocked to know it's hard to get your hands on them for even just retail price (i.e. they are costing MORE now that WizKids stopped producing it).  I've got a lot of the first two sets that I'll use for ranged ship combat (the large ones are for on deck combat - boarding, at the docks, etc) and when I went looking to pick some of the future expansions (the viking ships or sea creatures) I found that many of them are running twice the 'cover' price.

[Old Man]

I think you're talking about the "Pirates of the Spanish Main" game that came in cards, you punch out, assemble and play the game on a table top?  You'll probably be shocked to know it's hard to get your hands on them for even just retail price (i.e. they are costing MORE now that WizKids stopped producing it).  I've got a lot of the first two sets that I'll use for ranged ship combat (the large ones are for on deck combat - boarding, at the docks, etc) and when I went looking to pick some of the future expansions (the viking ships or sea creatures) I found that many of them are running twice the 'cover' price.

Thanks. A quick google pulled up the other name. I guess the prices depends on where you look eh? I saw some sets cheap at various Gencons. I've also seen them still at our local Target at retail. Not sure whether those were recent sets or not ...

[Cory Magel]

Hmmm. I've been checking out the hobby shops... I didn't even think about the fact that some of the chain stores might have some.  I'll have to take a look at them.  Thanks for the info.

I did recently track some down at a reasonable price, but there still seem to be certain expansions that are far more pricey (now that they are long out of print).

Really wanting to get back to GenCon again.  Been there three times, but not since it went to Indy.  I don't think that's going to be in the cards for a few more years.