Weekly Waffle #426 – The Ottoman Pirate – Cold Steel and Boarding Actions on the Canals

27th June 2026

The Mojo

Welcome back to the Weekly Waffle where I attempt to regale you all with fantastic hobby exploits from the week. Which really amounts to me trying to sump up my week and show you what I’ve been working on. And this week feels very much like ground hog week.

I really don’t know whew the year has gone and we are nearly half way through. It seems be eat, sleep, work repeat, with a little bit of hobby and socialising. But it could always be worse so I’m not to dwell it too much. And before I get too morbid, because that’s not how I’m feeling I crack on with the blog.

On The Work Bench

It’s been another difficult week on the work bench. I don’t know what it is at the moment. Whether it’s just these minis or if it’s something else but I just can’t seem to pick the right colours. Although I’m beginning to think that it may be linked to how I’ve primed the minis.

I just did my normal black with a grey zenith and I’m thinking that I should have used something warmer to try and help the colours pop more. If that is the cast then I’m going to have the same issues with the rest of the box because they are all primed and ready to go.

Now even if that is the case all is not lost. I am going to treat it as a teach able moment and one that I hope I can remember. Which means that whilst it might sometimes be tempting to just crack on and get groups of minis primed at the same time. After all hour hobby time is precious so why not do things in bulk.

You really need to be thinking how you want things to end up looking right back at the priming stage. Now that doesn’t mean you have to change everything and come up with a completely new way of working. Just that you need to be mindful of it and you may have to add in a few extra steps to get the end result you are looking for.

But getting back to this week I once again think the colours don’t quite pop like I would want them to. But they are different to my Guild crew and I think that once they are all finished they will look good on the table top. And I’m looking forward to seeing how they perform.

But what do you think.

(Pictures here of the Pirate)

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You can find more Carnivale minis here at the gallery.

Tactical deep dive

There is a glorious point in every game of Carnevale where the grand, theatrical illusions of Venice completely fall apart. You can spend all the ducats you want on elaborate bird masks, bespoke silk waistcoats, and glittering rapiers, but when a six foot tall, battle hardened sailor from the eastern Mediterranean leaps over a stone balustrade with a massive scimitar raised above his head, high-society etiquette quickly goes out the window. If you’ve been keeping up with our regular hobby musings here at terminatortids.co.uk, you know we love the sheer, unadulterated drama of La Serenissima. But while the core Patricians faction is usually defined by decadent nobles who treat street combat like a fashionable evening out, the Venetian Privateers sub-faction brings a heavy dose of cold, mercenary reality to the tabletop. Today, we are shining the spotlight on the backbone of that naval enterprise: the Ottoman Pirate.

Welcome back to the weekly waffle, crew! Grab yourself a massive mug of whatever keeps your painting arm steady, clear some space on the cutting mat, and let’s talk about a Henchman choice that swaps out the delicate finesse of the Venetian courts for the raw, unyielding grit of life on the high seas. The Ottoman Pirate is a model that reminds your opponent that while the Nobles might sign the paycheques, it’s the sailors who actually get their hands dirty.

Sailors of the Levant: The Lore of the Ottoman Pirate

To understand how these fierce eastern warriors ended up patrolling the damp, haunted alleys of Venice, we have to look at what happened immediately after the Rent in the Sky tore open the heavens in 1793. When the magical cataclysm reshaped geography and turned the Mediterranean into a boiling soup of eldritch energy and sea monsters, the global economy took a bit of a nosedive. But where ordinary people saw the literal apocalypse, the ruling class of Venice saw an absolute gold rush.

Ambitious Patrician families began pooling their massive family fortunes to commission private armadas out of the Arsenale. These weren’t defensive fleets; they were heavily armed expeditions designed to sail out into the uncharted, magical fog, find anyone else who survived, and forcefully relieve them of their worldly goods. The most successful of these expeditions sailed east toward the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, specifically the wealthy trading hubs around Constantinople.

Now, a Venetian Noble Admiral might be incredibly wealthy, but he isn’t stupid. He knows that his pampered city guards and delicate duelists don’t last five minutes in a brutal boarding action against Barbary corsairs or seasoned eastern privateers. So, the Venetians did what they do best: they opened their coin purses. They recruited, and outright hired, entire crews of Ottoman sailors who had been left displaced by the changing world.

These Ottoman Pirates aren’t mindless thugs or desperate cutpurses picked up from the Venetian gutters. They are elite naval mercenaries. They are veterans of a hundred skirmishes along the Levant, men who know exactly how to manage a ship’s rigging during a magical storm and how to clear an enemy deck with terrifying speed. When the privateer fleets sail back into the Venetian lagoons, these sailors march off the gangplanks right alongside their noble employers. They look at the crumbling palazzos and winding canal paths of Venice and see them for what they truly are: just another network of narrow decks and tight choke points to be boarded, plundered, and secured.

Clearing the Decks: The Ottoman Pirate on the Tabletop

Let’s put down the historical ledgers, slide the fluff to one side, and talk about the raw mechanics of what happens when these lads hit the cobblestones. In a game of Carnevale, your Henchmen are the lifeblood of your gang. They are the objective grabbers, the crowd control, and the literal meat-shields that keep your expensive Leader and Hero choices from being dragged into the depths by a Rashaar monster. If you are running a standard Patricians list, you are probably used to relying on Gondoliers or City Guards, solid, defensive pieces that excel at holding ground. The Ottoman Pirate, however, turns that defensive mindset completely on its head.

As a Henchman choice specifically tailored for the Venetian Privateers list, the Ottoman Pirate is an aggressive, front foot brawler. When you look at his stat profile, the first thing that jumps out is his combat reliability. He doesn’t carry a delicate foil meant for poking holes in a fencing salon; he carries a heavy, curved scimitar designed to sever limbs. This translates to an incredibly respectable offensive output for a Henchman piece. If he gets the drop on an opponent, his attacks pack enough punch to seriously threaten enemy Heroes and absolutely dismantle rival Henchmen.

But what makes the Ottoman Pirate truly special on the pitch is his rugged durability and specialised naval training. Because these men have spent their entire lives balancing on rolling, slippery ship decks in the middle of the ocean, they possess an incredible sense of balance and physical grit. On the tabletop, this means they are remarkably difficult to displace.

Carnevale is a game defined by its insane verticality and environmental hazards. Half the time, you aren’t actually dying from a sword blow; you’re dying because someone punched you off a stone bridge and you fell into the canal where a giant, mutated fish was waiting for lunch. The Ottoman Pirate handles this environment beautifully. His inherent rules make him incredibly steady on his feet, meaning your opponent will have a very hard time pushing him off edges or knocking him down. He treats the slippery, moss covered piers of Venice with the absolute confidence of a man walking across his own living room.

The Grinding Front Line: Tactical Roles

When it comes to actual strategy during a match, the Ottoman Pirate is your primary line of engagement. He is the anvil upon which your opponent’s plans will break. Because they are relatively affordable in terms of gang points, you can easily field them in pairs or small groups to create a formidable front wall.

The ideal tactical synergy for these pirates involves leaning heavily into the command structure of the Privateers sub-faction. If you have a Noble Admiral standing behind them roaring orders, or a Wayfinder on a nearby roof mapping out the fire lanes, the Ottoman Pirates become an incredibly efficient unit. While your Ottoman Archers are standing safely on the high ground raining arrows across the canals, your Pirates form a defensive pocket in the street below. They act as the perfect deterrent to anyone trying to rush your ranged assets.

If an enemy model is foolish enough to try and push past them to get to your squishier support pieces, the Pirates can use their solid combat stats to lock them in place. They excel in the classic “grinding” fights. They might not have the flashy, acrobatic tricks of a Harlequin or the mystical powers of a Vatican priest, but they have high armour, reliable damage, and an absolute refusal to back down. They turn any alleyway into a meat grinder, slowly wearing down the enemy’s resources while your heavy-hitting Heroes position themselves for a lethal flanking charge.

Furthermore, do not underestimate their utility in objective based scenarios. Because they are so difficult to knock down or push around, parking an Ottoman Pirate squarely on top of an objective marker is a fantastic way to frustrate your opponent. They have to commit significant resources just to try and nudge him off the spot, distracting them from your main scoring pieces and forcing them to play a game of attrition that the Pirates are built to win.

The Verdict: True Mercenary Value

Let’s look at this through our signature, down to earth perspective of a regular hobbyist who just loves playing with beautifully painted toys. Does the Ottoman Pirate earn his keep on your workbench, or should he stay in the blister pack?

If you want to run a Privateers list that feels cohesive, thematic, and brutally effective, the Ottoman Pirate is an absolute no-brainer. He gives the Patricians a completely different mechanical texture. Instead of playing a finesse game based on precise positioning and elegant counters, you get to play a rugged, aggressive boarding action. You step onto the table with a gang that feels less like a political conspiracy and more like a pirate crew executing a perfectly synchronised raid.

From a hobby perspective, the resin miniature supplied by TTCombat is an absolute joy to work with. The sculpt perfectly captures that rugged, Eastern mercenary aesthetic, the loose, flowing trousers, the heavy leather sashes, the chainmail shirts worn under salt-stained vests, and the fierce, determined expressions under their turbans. He looks entirely distinct from anything else in the Patrician lineup. Painting them offers a fantastic break from the usual bright whites, deep blues, and golds of the Venetian nobility. You can really lean into earthy tones, weathered leathers, tarnished chainmail, and oxidised metals, creating a gritty contrast that looks magnificent on a fully dressed tabletop.

Ultimately, the Ottoman Pirate is exactly what a good Henchman should be: reliable, thematic, and incredibly efficient at his job. He doesn’t need the glory of the final kill, and he doesn’t need a fancy palace to call home. Give him a solid piece of stone to stand on, a clear line of sight to the enemy, and a pocket full of Venetian ducats, and he will happily hold the line against the worst horrors the Rent in the Sky can throw at him.

Are you ready to sign the ship’s articles? Are you going to stick to the pristine silks of the Venetian courts, or are you ready to bring some Eastern steel to the canals with the Ottoman Pirates? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below! If there’s another crew member, cultist, or canal dwelling abomination from the world of Carnevale you want me to break down next week, leave a comment and I’ll see what I can bring to life on the painting desk. Until next time, keep your blades sharp, watch the tides, and don’t fall in the water!

The Wrap Up

That’s all I have of for you on this week’s weekly waffle. I hope you are enjoying our time in Venice as much as I am and there is more to come next week. So I will be back at the same time next week and hope you can find the time to join me. Until then keep safe and have a great week.

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