In Her Majesty's Name: Orville and Wilburton Wright and the Wright Pirates Stat Sheet

Alrighty then, time for more of In Her Majesty's Name goodness! Here we have some background information and the stats for Orville Wright, Wilburton Wright and the Wright Pirates.

This adventuring company resides in the good old US and have as their leaders the Wright Brothers. The Wright brothers as everybody knows were pioneers in ornithopter technology and have other nifty inventions at their disposal. The wealthy industrialist S. Pierpont Langley became interested in these two brothers early on and helped fund their inventive minds. His financing enabled the Wrights first steam ornithopter to be produced in the US. The Wright brothers and their crew having fully tested their fine craft, completed several missions in quick succession. This gained them instant notoriety in the international community and placed them on the crosshairs of others.

Mr Langley is keen to keep on top of the latest tech and also recoup on his investments. Thus the Wright Brothers have completed several missions for "paying customers". This has lead to them being called mercenaries and pirates. The name took root and the boys, especially the fearless Wilburton, liked it so much they became the Wright Pirates.

Working through S. Pierpont and his extensive contacts in the US State and War Department they receive many lucrative contracts from the US Government and in turn provide their services to help get things done in a way as to not implicate the US in any possible diplomatic issues.

The mind behind the Wright brothers is the eldest, Orville. He did most of the design work on the ornithopter and other techs, like the Grappling Gun and the Sub-Thermopulsion Gun, produced by Wright Brothers Inc. He is more reserved than his younger brother and prefers to get in and get out with the least disturbance. He has become very stealthy and would rather work things out with his sword than a firearm.

Orville Wright
Pluck 3+, FV +4, SV +3, Cost: 52
Talents: Engineer, Duelist (sword), Stealthy, Leadership +2
Equipment: Magneto Static Coat, Sword, Pistol

Wilburton is the exuberant and fearless younger brother who test piloted every iteration of the ornithopter. His mouth usually gets him into a jam but the Sub-Thermopulsion Gun he wields usually gets him out of it. His boisterous attitude resounds with the crew and they have come to respect and admire his leadership.

The Sub-Thermopulsion Gun is also known as a freeze ray. It fires an icy blast at a single target and has a range of 12 inches, an attack bonus of +2 and a Pluck penalty of -3. All armor is useless against this weapon except for Magneto Static items which disrupt the Thermopulsion. Each of the three Magneto Static defensive items receive a +1 bonus. If target has a knocked down result, they instead are partially frozen to that spot, all other rules for being knocked down apply. A medic has two turns to chip out and revive a frozen character instead of 1. It requires two hands to use. It costs 9 points.

Wilburton Wright
Pluck 3+, FV +2, SV +4, Cost: 58
Talents: Erudite Wit, Fearless, Leadership +3
Equipment: Faraday Coat, Sub-Thermopulsion Gun

Their Command Sergeant is a man trained in the US Army and was one of the first members of the new US Air Defense Corp. He distinguished himself in the battle of port Norfolk in 1862 where he attacked and destroyed two of the South's Peruvian Sea Dreadnoughts. S. Pierpont pulled some strings and had him honorably discharged so he could be brought over to the Wright Pirates for his military expertise. His weapon of choice is the new sub-machine gun.

Command Sergeant Edgerton

Pluck 4+, FV +3, SV +3, Cost: 42
Talents: Tough, Marksman
Equipment: Brigandine, Sub-Machine Gun, Combat Knife

The Sub-Machine Gun is a lightweight machine gun that fires pistol bullets. It has a range of 18”, an attack bonus of +3 and a Pluck penalty of -1. It can be used to attack groups and for “walking fire” in the same way as a Machine Gun. It requires two hands to use. It costs 11 points.

The remainder of the crew have been nicknamed the Wright Pirates by friend and foe alike. They are versed in military tactics by Sergeant Edgerton and in flight by Wilburton.

Wright Pirate

Pluck 5+, FV +2, SV +2, Cost: 19
Equipment: Brigandine, Military Rifle, Combat Knife

Options
Any Wright Pirate can upgrade his combat knife to a sword (+1 point)
Any Wright Pirate can have a Pistol (+3 points)
One Wright Pirate can be given Medic (+5 points)
One Wright Pirate can be given Strongman and upgrade to Machine gun (+11 points)
One in every three Wright Pirates can upgrade rifle to a sub-machine gun (+2 Points)
One Wright Pirate can be given a Grappling gun (+8 points)
If Pirates are on-board their airship, up to six Grappling guns may be used.

 A Grappling Gun is a non offensive weapon lightweight gun that fires a grappling hook to its target and then once secured will retract and "pull" the user to the target. It is intended to quickly get the user to tops of buildings or onto enemy airships. It takes the character one turn to fire and travel to the desired location. Nothing else can be done that turn. It has a range of 24”. It requires two hands to use. It costs 8 points.

We hope to hear comments from anyone who plays these guys!

Have a Great Battle,
The Old Crow

In Her Majesty's Name: How to Paint Orville and Wilburton Wright for the Wright Pirates

Here they are, the illustrious leaders of the Wright Pirates, Orville and Wilburton Wright. These guys are ready to square off against The Bucharest Brigade, Society of Thule or the Black Dragon Tong inthe sweet steampunk game, In Her Majesty's Name. These daring adventurers hail from the US and are quite a formidable pair.

Enough of that, we started with base figures from Artizan Designs and did a few minor modifications. 

Orville had a hole drilled into his hand and a sword was inserted. This should help him out in those close quarters fights.

Wilburton was a bit tougher. We added a small spring to the barrel of his weapon and a piece of wire to feed the gun from his power pack.

The power pack, attached to his belt, was a small component from a circuit board.

Now onto painting Orville. Base coats of brown were painted on the coat, pants and shirt.

A wash of black was painted into any cracks, folds or crevices to accentuate shadows.

Dry-brush the original color over the areas where the wash was applied...

then dry-brush on your mid-tones and highlights. Here the pants received a Khaki mid-tone over the base coat and a highlight of Linen.

In mid process Orville is shaping up. The collar received a Mink Tan and will get a coat of Linen and final dry-brush of White. His scarf will remain black so simple highlights will work.

We used Brass on his goggles and Bronze on buttons and buckles. Sword blade was painted with Gunmetal, Sterling Silver and a highlight of Aluminium. For the hilt we used Antique Gold. The goggle lenses were painted with Midnight Blue and reflections of Winter Blue.

Now Orvilles younger brother, the daring and boisterous Wilburton. Once again we placed all the base coats on all the major areas. Burnt Umber jacket, Nutmeg pants, Chocolate Brown scarf and gun stock and a Tan for the flesh tones.

Being the brother full of bravado, we decided a red scarf would set him apart from the rest of the pirates. We added a coat of Heritage Brick, then Tomato Red and lastly Napthol Crimson.

A simple dry-brush off Linen adds highlights to his scarf, pants and coat.

His hair was based with Nutmeg and you can see the gun mid process.

Wilburton's hair was given a dry-brush of Orange, the cable Midnight Blue, fur collar finished like Orvilles and washes applied to the gun. the gun barrel was given a coat of black, dry-brush of Medium Gray, Linen and lastly White.

Here's another angle to see the hair and other details.

Now the finished product. Orville is now clearly sporting a pencil thin handlebar mustache and 5 o-clock shadow. Wilburton is eagerly motioning his men forward while his gun is smoking from the last freeze blast.

Extra black washes and highlights were applied to bring out the details.

Orville striking a nice pose.

...and to close things out, here they are leading a contingent of Wright Pirates across the airship yards. Now to get you their stat sheets!

Have a great Battle,

The Old Crow

The Wright Pirates for In Her Majesty's Name Steampunk Adventure Game

All righty then, today we finally get to post the Wright Pirates! Our next company of adventurers for "In Her Majesty's Name" Steampunk miniatures game. These air raiders reside in the Northeast of the United States and have quite a history of adventuring for Country or King. You could call them mercenaries, as long as you do it behind their back.

We started once again with packs of miniatures from Artizan designs and primed them with black Rustoleum automotive primer. Being airmen, we wanted leathers so decided to stick with earth tones. Here the lieutenant has his overcoat painted in Raw Umber and his inner tunic Chocolate Brown.

The regular troops all have shorter jackets so just received the Raw Umber.

Khakis seemed to fit the best so a base of Mink Tan was used.

The skull caps were painted with the same Chocolate Brown as the Lt's tunic.

Side arm holsters and ammo bags were all painted a Burnt Umber except for the riflemen who received Olive ammo pouches. Straps, gun stocks and accents were mainly painted with Coffee Bean.

The fur collars were based with the same Mink Tan

Then were accented with Warm White

Scarves received an extra highlight of Titanium White. Goggles and buckles were painted with Metallic Brass. The lenses were painted Midnight Blue. Originally they were to have bare hands but it was decided that the air being so cold at high altitudes would require gloves.

Weapons were painted with Metallic Gunmetal and highlighted with Aluminium. Extra parts were treated with a mixture of Bronze and Copper

So after a few final touches, they were immediately assigned a guard duty rotation.

Or sent on a clandestine mission for the US Secret Service to investigate a hidden Prussian Installation

And at any time they could be called upon by their wealthy industrialist benefactor to explore far off South American jungle ruins for ancient artifacts.

Watch out for the natives boys!

OK, there's guard duty there too.

We hope you enjoy the Wright Pirates and stay tuned as we frantically try to prepare their company leaders!

Have a Great Battle,
The Old Crow