Pirates: 2018 Year in Review

Pirates: 2018 Year in Review

Hi everyone! This is a thread where you can share what Pirates stuff happened over the past year. It can be just about anything, from accomplishments to purchases to cool ideas. If this seems too vague, you can look at mine for an example. There’s also the option of stating your Pirates Goals for 2019.

It will be nice to look back upon the entire year and find joy and amazement in how much we’re capable of. List (possibly with links and/or a short description) everything you accomplished in 2018 in regards to Pirates that you thought was a good thing that happened. Everyone could make their own post and contribute their own things that they did or are currently doing. When I think about this past week for example, I don’t really think much of it, but when I consider everything I’ve personally done in the entire year, I feel amazed at myself! 2018 Year in Review I think others could share that feeling as well if they look back at everything. Also, little things count too, so it doesn’t have to be all about one particular event or anything. Once everyone has posted, we can talk about what we accomplished as a whole forum.

a7xfanben

Pirates Goals for 2018

-At least 8 new players taught: Pathetic, ZERO players taught.  🙁  Darn.
-VASSAL module (get more players on the module, hopefully edit for more ship types, execute on plans with Xerecs): Somewhat successful, The Caribbean Game has begun but no consistency has been established.
-Finish VASSAL Tournament #2: Done!
-Make a bunch of videos for youtube: DONE!  I technically have produced/uploaded 231 videos to youtube in 2018!  O_O
-Make great podcast episodes and have more guests: The podcast doesn’t seem to have a growing audience from the numbers I see on ShoutEngine, but we did have some great episodes including the reveals of Unreleased game pieces.
-Finish stuff for Ocean Terrain Contest #3: I didn’t really do this, but it was because more important priorities got in the way.
-10 year anniversary games (RotF, F&S, SS): These were played, and eventually the Battle Reports for the first two will be restored/redone.
-Try to play at least one game in every month of the year: Another total failure, as I missed four months in a row from July through October.  I also finished with just 11 total plays (not counting The Hourly Campaign and the Caribbean game, which are ongoing), my lowest ever total for a single year by a wide margin since I started playing in 2011.

General accomplishments:
-Made a lot of progress in salvaging Miniature Trading content (database pictures backed up, Master Spreadsheet saved, many threads and other content saved)
-Completed 4 trades
-Submitted 5 fleets
-Wrote 2 Miniature Reviews
-Posted a lot of pictures on Instagram and surpassed 250 followers (as of now)
-Was the driving force behind starting VASSAL Campaign Game 4
-Produced 24 Podcast episodes
-Produced 231 videos for Pirates CSG (including starting a Pirates CSG Blog/Vlog series)
-Tried out a Facebook ad and an Instagram ad – good “reach”, but not many people seem to actually care about the game.
-Made the transition to Pirates with Ben from my Weebly site – up and running, content transferred over, speed is now improved, more posts coming, forum up and working with some members posting, huzzah!!
-Actually made a little money from Pirates through affiliate marketing rather than direct sales – this is important going forward because my time commitment to the game is simply not sustainable financially in the long run….

Games:
-Played 11 games (my lowest ever total, though massively affected by the amount of campaign game playing rather than games that can actually be completed in a reasonable time frame)
-Finished and WON VASSAL Campaign Game 3
-Started CG4
-Started The Caribbean Game
-Started The Hourly Campaign

Pirates Goals for 2019
I’m anticipating a number of potential major life changes in 2019, so I may not be able to do all the things I’d like to with Pirates.
-I’d like to teach at least one person how to play, though of course I’d love to break my record of 7 from 2015.
-Make videos and podcasts about Pirates
-Continue The Hourly Campaign with at least some consistency – although I doubt I’ll play and finish games in every month of the year, playing THC each month and sometimes each week can satisfy my “playing bug” and allows me to be playing consistently.
-Continue optimizing, building, and monetizing Pirates with Ben
-Actually do things that matter in terms of restarting the game – realize that posting on Instagram all the time, playing random games on the VASSAL module, and doing “random” Pirates stuff really isn’t going to move the needle at this point. I’ve done a TON of the “small stuff” over the years, and it doesn’t help much in the grand scheme of things even if it’s fun.

Board Game Online – Playing Pirates CSG virtually

Board Game Online – Playing Pirates CSG virtually

Board Game Online Pirates CSG VASSAL

A game of Pirates CSG in progress on VASSAL

When it comes to playing a board game online, the VASSAL engine is a great way to go.  VASSAL is an open source computer program that is used to play board games over their online server.  You can build a module from scratch, or take an existing module for a game created by someone else and make modifications to it.

Why I love VASSAL

I absolutely love the VASSAL engine.  Why?  I can play with anyone in the world.  There’s no need to have physical proximity to your gaming peers in order to have fun playing the games you love.  If a gaming group broke up because of moving or other difficulties, play could continue with VASSAL.  You could even use something like Skype or Discord to continue the verbal and even video conversation during play time.

I can start a game on one day, and finish it another day.  I can play games that are longer than anything I would ever be able to play in real life.  With no need for a physical setup, games can be as large or as long as you want them to be.

Gaming Examples

My Battle Reports Compendium post contains examples of the many games I’ve played using the VASSAL module.  My favorite type of Pirates CSG games are large campaign games.  This is where you spend gold to acquire new ships and crew rather than just having it sit as a score on your home island.  The VASSAL module is great for playing these kinds of extended games because you can save the file (.vsav) and then reload it in the module to continue playing later on.  This applies to any game that could take longer than one session or sitting to finish.

Saving the file is also a great way to play tournaments of similar games.  In VASSAL Tournaments #1 and #2, Xerecs and I played many competitive games where the basic setup would remain the same between games.  It was very convenient to simply save the file after each game and return to it for the next session.  This saved us time because we didn’t have to recreate the setup for each game.  To that end, if you play a game with a customizable setup, you can save specific “maps”/etc as files that can be easily reused.

Get started on VASSAL today to play your favorite board game online!

Below you can check out the video I made looking back at the events of VASSAL Campaign Game 1 in a very condensed format.  (the game took about 3 months of consistent play sessions)

Pirates vs. Americans – December 24th, 2013

The first game since the summer was a quick two player 40 point game, Pirates vs. Americans. I built some of the newer ships in my collection on Saturday, and I’m going to try to use mostly (or possibly exclusively) game pieces that I’ve never used before. The Americans and Pirates are the two factions with the strongest additions (or you could call them reinforcements), so it felt natural to pit them against each other. They don’t have a huge history in terms of my games, but historically it makes more sense.

The Frontier and the USS Mercury (LE sub from MI) faced the Minerva, Amity (F&S version), and Swift. The Minerva and Amity are ships from the F&S historical pack, while the Swift is a two-masted galley from POTC with a built-in explorer ability.

Minerva from Fire and Steel, courtesy of Riz. Used in Pirates vs. Americans game

Minerva from Fire and Steel, courtesy of Riz

The Americans went first, and this gave them the advantage. The Frontier quickly explored the nearest two islands, gathering a total of 16 gold, enough to win the game with one cargo haul’s worth of coins! The Mercury started the game submerged, heading towards the Pirate fleet. The Swift and Amity headed for wild islands, while the Minerva (with crew-killing Christopher Moody aboard) headed for the Frontier. The Mercury surfaced and shot away two of the Minerva’s three masts. The Minerva then desperately shot and rammed the Frontier, resulting in a bloody mess. Both the shot and the ram rolled true, and the Minerva’s built-in crew-killing ability took out the helmsman on the Frontier. The boarding roll went against the Pirates however, taking out the helmsman on the Minerva.

At this point, both the Frontier and the Minerva had one mast remaining. The Mercury then took out the final mast on the Minerva, ending the threat against the Frontier (or so the Americans hoped). Instead, the Pirates saw that there was only a total of 13 gold on the two island that they had explored, and knowing that the Frontier had gotten to the other two islands, they knew they had to sink the Frontier, limping home with one mast. The Amity was only moving L at this point (she moves L+S when her cargo hold is empty), but the Swift (as her name implies) was quick enough to catch the Frontier (now moving at S+S after the death of her helmsman). Alas, the Mercury was still in the fight, and just when the Swift was coming in range of the Frontier, she promptly sunk the Swift with her 2L guns with help from 0LR reroller Wayne Nolan, allowing the Frontier to safely sail into harbour! After the sinking of the Swift, the final treasure count came to 19 to 9 in favour of the Americans.

I intend to play more games with similar fleets, and I think I will keep it Pirates vs. Americans for the time being. I think I’ll gradually increase the point limit until all of the new additions to said factions are on the water, and see who can win the war!

Fleet Showcase: The Jades can use Calypso too!

Fleet Showcase: The Jades can use Calypso too!

Here’s another Fleet Showcase video from youtube!

Got this idea during the 12th episode of the podcast.

Pirates CSG Calypso

Get Calypso for your own fleets!

The perfectly costed Tiger’s Paw allows the use of Pirate crew, providing a niche use for one of the game’s lesser ships. Calypso comes aboard, with Ms. Cheng providing a “free” reroll for the ability to maximize the number of whirlpools put in play. Ms. Cheng would be linked to the captain of the Virtuous Wind, since it does not say that the crew have to be on the same ship. The TP will sit at home and create as many lanes as possible to provide opportunities for the other ships. The Turtle Ship keyword should provide insurance against ramming and boarding, making it a relatively safe place for Calypso.

I originally had the East Wind with a captain and oarsman as the main gunship, but then I didn’t have enough points to add the Sea Crane AND the Tiger’s Breath. Well, at that point, why not substitute for the best Jade Rebel ship in the game, the Virtuous Wind? She has a hybrid complement of crew, with 3 spaces left open for treasure. She will be tasked with a big workload – protect Calypso and the Tiger’s Breath, grab gold from islands (including enemy home islands), and fight the best enemy warship if necessary. What I like about the whirlpool exploration strategy is that you don’t need as much speed: since the whirlpools are placed within L of wild islands, you don’t need much speed from there (just S can work depending on the length of the ship’s hull measured out from the whirlpool) to reach the wild island. Hence the explorers instead of helmsmen (my usual preference) on the gold runners. By placing a whirlpool L away from a wild island and as close as possible to an enemy HI, it could be very easy to allow the Virtuous Wind to steal gold. However, as soon as Calypso is revealed, your opponent will know this.

The Tiger’s Breath completes the unintentional “tiger” theme of this fleet, but more importantly gives a true gold runner. The Tiger’s Breath will go into a whirlpool and out of the other on one turn, and then move to dock and explore an island on the next turn. The oarsman was transferred to the TB so she can get home even with bad whirl rolls on the way there and on the way back.

UT’s are pretty basic – I’m counting on the speedy whirlpool travel to allow me to find Jade, and Marksman’s Map could determine where future whirlpools are placed (and help me to know if I should bother raiding an enemy HI). The Protection will make the journeys less treacherous, since a couple bad rolls could really mess with the crew setups and even dismast the Tiger’s Breath.

One weakness would be fellow HI raiders – they can raid easily with all the whirlpools near the Tiger’s Paw, and could use the same whirlpools to make fast getaways.

I definitely want to test this fleet out at some point, since I think it has the potential to get some gold quickly. I was surprised by how effective the concept worked in this game.

Please comment and vote!!!! (on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best)

Question of the Day: Have you tried using Calypso in a small game? (less than 60 points for example)

-Also let me know if you’d like to see more Fleet Showcase videos!  I could also review fleets that aren’t my own!

The fleet: http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/showDeck/deck_id/830152/grouping/0/extended_format/true

Pirates packs on eBay: https://ebay.us/KHI2jl This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
– I HIGHLY recommend getting Calypso – she’s super unique and a ton of fun to use.
Tiger’s Paw: https://goo.gl/TywyQn

Battle Report mentioned: https://pirateswithben.com/the-jades-can-use-calypso-too-a-good-game-may-4th-2018/
Another example of using Calypso in a small game: https://pirateswithben.com/testing-a-gimmick-fleet-june-27th-2017/

Fleet Showcase: The Jades can use Calypso too!

Fleet on Miniature Trading

Naval Wars: The Last Campaign (A Pirate’s Story)

Naval Wars: The Last Campaign (A Pirate’s Story)

This is my first attempt at actually “making” a video through editing and putting something together versus just recording. Although the quality may be a joke compared to many of the epic things on youtube, I’ve been VERY excited about it and it’s been AWESOME to make it and watch it. Please give feedback! I want to make more videos like this and improve if possible.

This is a parody of sorts – CG4 is NOT meant as the last campaign game (VASSAL or otherwise) of Pirates CSG. Just wanted to have the title connection. I combined the titles of both “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” to get the title the way I wanted it. (worked out perfectly!)

I got the idea from some of the other epic trailer-style videos, especially these:
NFL 2017: The Last Quarterback – A Star Wars NFL Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrByNSyjB5Y
2018 Yankees Hype Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1h59_bBS3g
Xerecs’ Savage Seas trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnP8hWWd7Sk

I’ve always loved epic stuff so this sort of thing is exactly what I want to create. I LOVE this game and campaign games are my favorite thing about the world of Pirates CSG, so naturally I’m excited about both the past and future of them. I thought it would be cool to showcase my illustrious history of playing campaign games, while using that as a way to preview this upcoming game.

I know there are some inconsistencies with the character parallels, but naturally I have to portray myself as the “First Order” with the other CG4 players as the rebels. With the “it does now”, I was originally going to have that feature my own avatar with the two player 1000 point game post by mastercommander before it, but I decided it would be much better to showcase a current player. Plus, it makes Xerecs seem epic XD, which his games have been. I also was going to have a picture from one of his games fade in right after his avatar first appears, but I think it would be too fast before the next transition. Funny enough my name is Ben, which is perfect for the Ben Solo comparison. (I actually hate Kylo Ren though haha) Baseball is the only sport I really care about at this point, but I’m a Yankees and Patriots fan (go dynasties!!), and Tom Brady was 3-0 through his first 3 Super Bowls, just as I am 3-0 in my first 3 non-solo campaign games, thus why I’m the “Tom Brady of campaign games”. (it also acts as an homage to the Patriots hype videos that partially inspired this one)

Since this is my first real “edited” video, I hope to improve in the future. I already have a solid half-dozen more ideas for this kind of video, but it will take a while to make each of them. Indeed, I was actually going to make retrospective videos for CG1/2/3 before this one, with this video as an epic “finale” of sorts that outdoes all the rest.  However, a number of things have led to this being first, although this is the one I’m most excited about anyway.

Disclaimer: Not trying to take credit from Disney or Star Wars. XD

Leave a like and subscribe if you want to see more!  You can see the CG1/CG2/CG3 retrospective videos in the Epic Videos playlist.

Naval Wars - The Last Campaign - VASSAL Campaign Game 4

VASSAL Campaign Game 4 has begun!

Another big “dig” find – art from the Adventure Book!

Originally posted to Miniature Trading on May 22nd, 2018

I seem to have found Darrel Rustvold, a Graphic Designer at Wizkids during the later days of the game’s production run. Ships from the Adventure Book 1 of 1. I assume the 5 master on the right would be the Charming Mary, looks like she was modeled after an HMS Apollo or Morning Star.  (his old site)

This may have been posted here before, so apologies if it’s not new or not new to everyone. Ah yes – these managed to show up on the Scavenger Pack boxes for SS….

art from Adventure Book

Pirates CSG Podcast #37: Optimizing and Using Lesser Ships and Crew | Circle of Blood Review

Pirates CSG Podcast #37: Optimizing and Using Lesser Ships and Crew | Circle of Blood Review

Question of the Day: How do you get lesser ships and crew into action?

ShoutEngine: http://shoutengine.com/PiratesCSGPodcast/pirates-csg-podcast-37-optimizing-and-using-less-70984

YouTube: 

Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/PiratesCSGPodcast37

 

“thoughts on optimizing less/not utilized ships”

-MUST have speed, so helmsmen pretty much always necessary (especially since a lot of lesser ships are slow). Beyond that, try to find a niche use for specific game pieces. For example, 1 cargo and fast speed? (Dark Fox) Scout explorer with crew or S-Explorer. OR, flotilla tug with surprise crew face down (canceller/captain/etc).

Slow with high cargo – home waters hybrid to get nearby gold and protect HI, potentially use with navigator. Could also use with gold factory bonus strategy, especially in case of Spanish “treasure galleons” such as Isabela, Concepcion, etc.

-Keep in mind that your competition will not want to dumb things down (people like to win and often use the same OP ships all the time), so have realistic outcome expectations and propose alternative game ideas like “make worst fleet possible, pass to other player” to get lesser ships/crew into action. Other than that, more points = more points to use on gimmicks and suboptimal experiments

“Rules variants to get the ships on the table.”

-Require specific base move – Challenge of Snails, all L, etc.

-Require all cargo holds to be full during setup – force players to make tradeoffs on when to dump crew – right at start, at wild islands (making them accessible to other players), or go with total war/all combat strategy? Con-exacerbates how OP Sac already is.

-Require each player to use ONLY ships AND named crew they’ve never used before (for starters, look through what you’ve never punched out!), or a pure faction fleet from a faction you’ve never played.

-Look through Fleet Challenge Archives to find fun restrictions http://www.miniaturetrading.com/im/forum/viewtopic/t=8492///

Reviewing Circle of Blood

Take the podcast survey! https://goo.gl/forms/CsnwVmi3qhtqik323

Feel free to rate and review the podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pirates-csg-podcast/id1258016060

Pirates packs on eBay: https://ebay.us/KHI2jl This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Sign the Petition! https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bring-back-pirates-of-the-cursed-seas

Join the Forum at Pirates with Ben! https://pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/

The following should eventually be updated from ShoutEngine so they will be available when they get the podcast.

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pirates-csg-podcast/id1258016060

Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1258016060/pirates-csg-podcast

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Imxc6vplvkqlmagcvkxvi2er2wu?t=Pirates_CSG_Podcast

Blubrry: https://www.blubrry.com/piratescsgpodcast/

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/a7xfanben/pirates-csg-podcast?refid=stpr

 

More Podcast episodes here!  Pirates CSG Podcast #37

Pirates: 2017 Year in Review

Pirates: 2017 Year in Review

Hi everyone! This is a thread where you can share what Pirates stuff happened over the past year. It can be just about anything, from accomplishments to purchases to cool ideas. If this seems too vague, you can look at mine for an example. There’s also the option of stating your Pirates Goals for 2018.

Link to 2016 Year in Review thread (you might find your 2017 goals here)

It will be nice to look back upon the entire year and find joy and amazement in how much we’re capable of. List (possibly with links and/or a short description) everything you accomplished in 2017 in regards to Pirates that you thought was a good thing that happened. Everyone could make their own post and contribute their own things that they did or are currently doing. When I think about this past week for example, I don’t really think much of it, but when I consider everything I’ve personally done in the entire year, I feel amazed at myself! Very Happy I think others could share that feeling as well if they look back at everything. Also, little things count too, so it doesn’t have to be all about one particular event or anything. Once everyone has posted, we can talk about what we accomplished as a whole forum.

a7xfanben

Goals for 2017
-Taught 4 players, not 8. (including 2 in the past week)
-VASSAL module. This was hit and miss, with plenty of no-shows and excuses from others. However, it was still a solid year, with progress made on T2, a handful of players new to the module, and a THIRD campaign game starting up (with SIX players no less!).
-10 year anniversary games – These were played: FN (x2), OEPotC
-I didn’t quite play a game in each month of the year, missing March and October (though of course CTO was going on in October)

General accomplishments:
-Taught 4 new players
-Had a good first full year as forum moderator
-Recently became a moderator at the Black Mongoose Tavern
-Completed 12 trades
-Submitted 37 fleets O_O (many of which could use more comments and votes!) (new personal record, and quite possibly a record at MT for Pirates fleets)
-Wrote 8 Miniature Reviews (new personal record)
-Posted a lot of pictures on Instagram and BGG
-Won two fleet challenges
-Won a Miniature Review Contest
-Was the driving force behind the creation of VASSAL Campaign Game 3, the first virtual campaign game with not just more than 3 players, but 6!
-Reached out to NECA and Wizkids, and did some legal research about the patents
-Ran the Pirates CSG Survey
-Started the Pirates CSG Podcast with godmason

Games:
-Played 76 games, my second highest single-year total
-Played Command the Oceans, the biggest game ever by a wide margin (at the time)
-Started CG3
-Finished VASSAL Tournament #2 with Xerecs

Pirates Goals for 2018
-At least 8 new players taught (strive for more!) (previous high for a year is 7, so I’m trying to top that each year)
-VASSAL module (get more players on the module, hopefully edit for more ship types, execute on plans with Xerecs)
-Finish VASSAL Tournament #2
-Make a bunch of videos for youtube
-Make great podcast episodes and have more guests
-Finish stuff for Ocean Terrain Contest #3
-10 year anniversary games (RotF, F&S, SS)
-Try to play at least one game in every month of the year

2017 Year in Review

Original thread on Miniature Trading

Pirates: 2016 Year in Review

Pirates: 2016 Year in Review

Hi everyone! This is a thread where you can share what Pirates stuff happened over the past year. It can be just about anything, from accomplishments to purchases to cool ideas. If this seems too vague, you can look at mine for an example. There’s also the option of stating your Pirates Goals for 2017.

Link to 2015 Year in Review thread (you might find your 2016 goals here)

It will be nice to look back upon the entire year and find joy and amazement in how much we’re capable of. List (possibly with links and/or a short description) everything you accomplished in 2016 in regards to Pirates that you thought was a good thing that happened. Everyone could make their own post and contribute their own things that they did or are currently doing. When I think about this past week for example, I don’t really think much of it, but when I consider everything I’ve personally done in the entire year, I feel amazed at myself! Very Happy I think others could share that feeling as well if they look back at everything. Also, little things count too, so it doesn’t have to be all about one particular event or anything. Once everyone has posted, we can talk about what we accomplished as a whole forum.

a7xfanben

Goals for 2016
-Taught 6 players, not 24. I think for the future I will simply try to beat my previous record for a single year. In that case, I will do my best to teach at least 8 players in 2017 (I taught 7 in 2015).
-VASSAL module. This was a huge success, with two huge campaign games and around 9 different players on the module.
-10 year anniversary games – These were played: SCSDJCMI
-I did play at least one game in each month of the year

General accomplishments:
-Taught 6 new players
-Became a forum moderator
-Completed 27 trades
-Submitted 19 fleets
-Wrote 2 Miniature Reviews
-Posted a lot of pictures on InstagramTumblr, and BGG
-Won three fleet challenges
-Ran two fleet challenges with VASSAL
-Started a Miniature Review contest
-Planned, designed, and created the World game with Xerecs
-Edited the VASSAL module (fixed a few errors, added 10 masted junk ship type, and added things for the World game)

Games:
-Broke my personal record for single-year plays with 92 total on the year
-Played VASSAL Campaign Game 1 with Xerecs
-Started VASSAL Campaign Game 2 with Xerecs and El Cazador
Experimental cumulative game
-Played VASSAL Tournament #1 with Xerecs
-Started VASSAL Tournament #2 with Xerecs

Pirates Goals for 2017
-At least 8 new players taught (strive for more!)
-VASSAL module (get more players on the module, start a new campaign game)
-10 year anniversary games (FN, OE, PotC)
-Try to play at least one game in every month of the year

2016 Year in Review

Original thread at Miniature Trading

Pirates: 2015 Year in Review

Pirates: 2015 Year in Review

Hi everyone! This is a thread where you can share what Pirates stuff happened over the past year. It can be just about anything, from accomplishments to purchases to cool ideas. If this seems too vague, you can look at mine for an example. There’s also the option of stating your Pirates Goals for 2016.

I think this will be a great thread, and I’d like to make it a yearly tradition. It will be nice to look back upon the entire year and find joy and amazement in how much we’re capable of. List (possibly with links and/or a short description) everything you accomplished in 2015 in regards to Pirates that you thought was a good thing that happened. Everyone could make their own post and contribute their own things that they did or are currently doing. When I think about this past week for example, I don’t really think much of it, but when I consider everything I’ve personally done in the entire year, I feel amazed at myself! 2015 Year in Review I think others could share that feeling as well if they look back at everything. Also, little things count too, so it doesn’t have to be all about one particular event or anything. Once everyone has posted, we can talk about what we accomplished as a whole forum (ex: getting Custom Ships to 64 pages!).

a7xfanben

General accomplishments:
-Created new fansite (Pirates with Ben)
-Taught 7 new players
-Joined the Pirates CSG reddit community and became moderator there (community grew in number from ~23 to 41)
-Bought a ton of sealed packs and acquired more duplicates, all to be given away or traded
-Gave away lots of duplicate ships and packs (including some Christmas giving)
-Successfully completed a whopping 49 trades (some started in 2014 but all finished in 2015)
-Built my own custom islands and terrain

Forum:
Thread of Threads
-Finished the Rankings threads (20 total)

Ideas:
-Sealed pack game(s) (finally played one!)
-Live-streamed Pirates game

Games:
Economy Edition
-Played games in every month of the year for the first time ever (56 games total)
-Posted lots of BR’s at BGG to get more exposure

Other:
-10 year anniversaries of CC, RV, and BC

Pirates Goals for 2016
-At least 24 new players taught (strive for more! Hopefully not too ambitious lol)
-VASSAL module!
-10 year anniversary games
-Once again play at least one game in every month of the year

We can also edit new things in when we think of them!

2015 Year in Review

Original thread at Miniature Trading