Tuesday 22 June 2010

Barbary Corsairs in Aeronef


My recent reading about the Barbary Corsairs has reacquainted me with an idea I was toying with some time ago along the lines of having them as an auxiliary force for use with the Ottoman Turks - a position they occupied historically during the 16th century. They were raiders par excellence and often came together in sizable numbers for larger expeditions. My only reservation about using these is that I am unconvinced about them having access to much in the way of industrial capacity - even basic steam power.
With this in mind I am considering the use of wind power for propulsion. The vessels would be traditional wooden hulled types with much use made of some form of anti-gravity coating (Martian 'liftwood' would be the obvious choice although I am assuming that something 'earthly' would be used instead) to provide the flight aspect and traditional sails for movement.
I envisage that these vessels would be quite fast in the right wind conditions, relatively lightly armed and probably quite light in respect of build. As sailing ships were still in use during the early days of steam this seems to be a viable idea.

These vessels would be great at running down dirigibles but would struggle against pure Aeronef when on equal terms and so are ideal for use as raiders.
The models would need to be scratchbuilt although I seem to recall that the Barbary Corsairs featured in the Wizkids collectible pirate card game some years ago so I shall investigate this avenue further and see what I can find.

2 comments:

Steve said...

"Martian 'liftwood' would be the obvious choice"

AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

No, cavourite would be a more obvious choice as it is "period" not the invention of some (albeit talented) C20th rule swriter (this is a pet hate of mine in VSF!). Even N-Gravitons from Aeronef make sense as they provide the lift not the propulsion.

Nice idea but ten minutes stood in the corner for mentioning liftwood!

David Crook said...

Hi Steve,

I have posted a suitable response for your delectation.

All the best,

Ogre

PS I was unable to find a decent corner..........;-)