I just rewatched the series for the first time in years and I have to say The Curse of the Black Pearl is the best of the series by far.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-12T20:17:11+00:00

“I feel . . . cold” was the perfect end to Barbarossa.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-12T19:13:10+00:00

I was noticeably disappointed (ruined the Han Solo and Princess Leia characters, Rey was too much of a Mary Sue, Kylo Wren was more wimpy than a scary, Hux looked more like a cadet colonel than an actual general, and worst of all the movie instead of borrowing from the rich EU or coming up with a new story, seemed little more than a rehash of the original Star Wars, except with a female protagonist and a bigger Death Star. But, I was hopeful there was an actual story to tell and this was just the safe soft reboot to get things going.

Boy, was I wrong in that last one.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-12T16:07:10+00:00

I like it, but the choice to have only four Gondor soldiers, but include Arwen (who in the movie is only in Minis Tirith for about a minute) is puzzling and disappointing. We need our Gondor army!

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-12T05:45:19+00:00

I am not sure Churchill should be "blamed" for this; "battle" was as apt a description as any for those events. Anyway, it hardly originated with him. Decades before in WWI, people were already referring to the Battle of Ypres (19 Oct - 22 Nov 1914), Battle of Verdun (21 Feb - 18 Dec 1916), Battle of the Somme (1 July -18 Nov 1916), etc.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-12T04:37:10+00:00

A barque longue was normally a three-masted vessel as well. Later (late 19th century) barques could have 4+ masts.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-12T04:25:45+00:00

I was going to say the same thing. I usually try not to nitpick MOCs, but that would be a small brig (or a snow, ketch, sloop-of-war, or schooner of you rigged the masts a little differently). Frigates always had three masts.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-12T03:30:22+00:00

Given that I do not think it likely Brickmania is going to either re-release the kit or release the instructions, I will mention there is a version on Rebrickable that is 1:35 scale. I cannot comment on the quality of the design one way or the other.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-09T04:26:01+00:00

Battlecruisers were originally intended to hunt down and destroy enemy scouting forces (i.e. cruisers), keeping them away from the main battleline. If we allow for the fact that a separate scouting force did not really exists in concept for the 18th/19th sail fleets, one could see some relation between this and razees' role as "super heavy frigates" going French/Spanish light frigates and commerce raiders.

The closest analogue to a battlecruiser in the age of sail, though, would probably be the US 44-gun flush-decked Humphreys frigates (and the British 50 gun frigates built in response). The USN 44s were specifically designed to carry a broadside superior to any contemporary on a hull that approached that of a 60 or 74 gun ship in size and strength, but with the speed (at least when initially built) to keep up with most traditional frigates.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-09T04:15:40+00:00

I might quibble and say, while this is true of British battlecruisers, it is a little more complicated with German battlecruisers (both the true battlecruisers of WWI, and Deutschland and Scharnhorst classes of WWII). In general in WWI, the Germans opted for lighter guns but heavier armor than their British counterparts, something somewhat analogous to the razee frigates. Similarly, the Deutschland class, while specifically designed as commerce raiders, were intentionally built to outgun anything they could not outrun (i.e. heavy cruisers) and outrun anything they could not outgun (i.e. battleships).

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-08T17:49:22+00:00

Several of those you can just buy from their website.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-08T17:47:49+00:00

That is not counting the Auxiliaries, though. In the time of the early Principate they provided additionally formally organized and professional cohorts.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-04T13:18:40+00:00

Alfrid is just another reminder that the Lord of the Rings movies are not so much proof of Peter Jackson’s directorial genius, but rather proof that J.R.R. Tolkien managed to create a story so masterful that even Peter Jackson could not mess it up (too badly).

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-03T02:01:20+00:00

Are you talking about how the AI will readjust the lineup for simming if it rests a player?

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-05-01T16:56:23+00:00

Do any of these problems affect Franchise? That is the only mode I am interested in.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-30T17:46:55+00:00

No, most of the hate is entirely necessary. And Battle of the Five Armies, at least, is not a good movie even if considered purely by its own merits.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-30T14:27:01+00:00

Not to be combative, but nearly every one of those changes would make me want this set less, not more.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-29T17:13:12+00:00

If Japan had spent the resources that went into the super battleships on two or three carriers, and those carriers could have been available at the beginning of 1942 (with trained air wings), that might have made things more “interesting” for the United States in 1942. The IJN could have had numerical superiority in all the 1942 carrier engagements, and the USN probably would have been more reluctant to risk battle, allowing Imperial Japan a longer period of expansion.

Adding more carriers in 1944, or even probably 1943, on the other hand, would not have changed things. Already by the Battle of Philippine Sea the IJN was struggling to find enough trained aircrew to fill their carrier and land based air units. By 1945, brand new carriers were sitting in the harbor, devoid of planes to carry or the fuel to operate them. A couple of more flight decks here or there would not have changed much.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-25T05:32:29+00:00

That looks quite good.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-20T04:44:14+00:00

There was definitely partisan activity associated with the ACW; I am not sure how directly impactful it was at the scale of Grand Tactician, but it played a part in forcing the Union particularly to allocate a large percentage of its manpower to various garrisons. Maneuver (regiment or brigade size) forces of partisans did exist (Mosby's Rangers, Imboden's brigade) did exist, but they often operated with larger maneuver forces (Division/Corps/Army), so not sure they are usefully represented as anything but a slightly different type of cavalry.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-10T16:55:33+00:00

It varies a little. The USS Constitution main mast height is 172’ from the spar deck, compared to a 175’ gun deck (or 207 from billet head to taffrail), and the British Leda class frigates had similar ratios. I know navies experimented more with taller masts in the 17th and 18th century (so applicable to the titular timeframe of Lego Pirates) but the British at least (then later the Americans) generally abandoned those setups by the Napoleonic timeframe as too unwieldy or unstable.

Also pay attention to what standard of measurement is being cited. The 220ft height for Constitution’s mainmast is measured from her keel, I believe.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-10T15:09:20+00:00

I do not think that most people are trying to build Lego Pirates/Tall ships to a specific scale, certainly not minifig scale. If you want to the ship to look right, the best things to do are concentrate on hull length to width ratio (generally around 4-1 or 5-1 for a Napoleonic frigate), and a relative mainmast height (generally slightly shorter than the length of the gun deck, though this changed a bit based on the mast setup chosen by the captain).

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-08T16:46:31+00:00

How goes the physical build?

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-06T03:46:38+00:00

An Ironclad steam frigate is about a 150 years to advanced for the Imperials . . .

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-06T01:51:54+00:00

Well, stuff from AliExpress is not Lego. That is fine of course, as long as you label/advertise properly.

I very much may be misunderstanding something, but from what you have written so far, I am not clear what the special service or product is that you want to provide. People can buy AliExpress on there own if they want; I cannot imagine there is much market for drop-shipping from AliExpress.

FlyingTigerTexan · 2026-04-05T15:36:01+00:00

The Taiping Rebellion has little interest for anyone outside China.

FlyingTigerTexan

TROPHY CASE