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My thoughts on The Pirates who Never Met:

Le Bouscat could be a very interesting ship. Lots of cargo and already decent cannons with an ability that would incline me to put a captain on her, particularly her linked crew a SAC-captain. 15 points seems fair to me for her.

Chamount could be very good as a pure gunship. She’s arguably better than HMS Dreadnought, given her speed and cannons as well as a slightly lower point cost. Based on speed and cannons alone I’d consider upping her point cost to either match or maybe exceed the Dreadnoughts, as speed wins games. Granted, 24+ points is a LOT of points to invest in a ship before adding any crew. Given that I don’t think Chamount would see much action in 40-60 point games but would maybe see usage in higher point games or in campaigns.

Napoule is maybe better than La Magnifique, despite the cargo difference. 16 points seems fine for her.

Mons en Barcul is likely fine at 13 points, as she’s very similar to La Possession, at least to me.

SDDV is also likely fine at 10 points, though I could see the point cost dropping to 9, as the Dover and DHII are both better overall ships imo at 10 points.

Holy moly, Montemorency is a FAST ship, potential of 4S movement before any extra action. I’m not really a fan of faction specific cannon bonuses, but one against the Pirates is a bit of an exception, given that the Pirates are the most likely faction you’d match up against. Her point cost seems fine, given her overall good stats.

Libourne is a neat ship, likely fine at 7 points.

Lagny sur Marne is a gold ship, no questions about it, but could also be run as a hybrid ship, similar to Le Triton.

La Celle makes an interesting ship. Good speed, mediocre cannons, nice cargo for her size, and a situational helpful ability. She has the speed and cargo space to steal a treasure and not get mauled in the process, but can also be run as a pure gold ship with a helmsman and explorer. Seems fine at 11 points.

I’m not sure how often you’d be able to use the ability of SMsO. On one hand the ability is interesting and can be used to hit multiple islands, but on the other it relies on an island set-up that doesn’t follow the official minimum island distance of 3L. However, now that I think about it, you could still get some use out of it as a scout ship to aid in gold gathering. SMsO has a fast base move and a range of L, giving her an effective range of S+L+S+L to mark an island as explored. I think I’d need to see this one in action with standard island set-up to get a better feeling of the ability. Outside of her ability she has good speed and average cannons and cargo. She could be run as a hybrid with a captain and helmsman, as the L-exploring can be used at any point during her turn, which would allow her to get within range of an island, mark it explored, and finish moving to dock at the now marked explored island to load treasure. (Unless I’ve gotten my order of pirates operations mixed up and ships with abilities similar to this can’t do that)

Orvault is interesting and maybe too good. The only comparison is USS Springfield an 18 point ship from SCS. Orvault is arguably much better, as she has more cargo, access to much better crew, and better cannons. I could see this one going up a point or two (10 or 11), even though WK grossly overpriced many ships with this cannon bonus ability, it does pay off in larger scale games, and sometimes even in smaller scale games.

La Teste almost feels overpriced, but EA is a very good ability, especially when built into a ship with good to decent stats like La Teste. Still, I feel this could either stay as-is or go down to 13 points.

Montbeliard feels very similar to HMS Algiers(RV), however I think the Mont is better, based on speed and cargo space. Algiers is possibly over priced for what you get so I think the Mont is fine at 11 points.

Villiers le Bel is quite good. Nice speed and cargo for her size and a very useful ability, seems okay at 11 points.

Villiers sur Marne seems fine at 8 points, also very similar to Le Triton.

HSC is a nice flotilla tug. Excellent speed and nice cannons would incline me to run her as a small gunship, and paired with a flotilla.

Pride of Bordeaux is a weird one. Very fast out of the gate with no cargo, and doesn’t loose too much speed when she picks up some treasure or has a helmsman added. Likely fine at 10 points as she has very nice cargo for her size, an almost purpose built gold runner.

Speaking of a purpose built gold runner, Ris Orangis makes a very nice gold runner. Good speed and cargo, along with an ability that enables her to aggressively go after similarly sized pirate gold runners.

Even though she has a very nice point cost of 3, I’d struggle to find a use for the Bezons. Almost no cargo space and an in-accurate cannon. She does have decent speed, so she could be used to haul around a flotilla.

Bergerac is interesting. I dislike 1 mast ships with single base move segments, but she does have a nice defensive ability that will keep her safe from most ships, given the predominance of L-range cannons in the game. However, like all 1 mast ships, she’s susceptible to ram damage, and has average cargo for her size. I’d likely use her as a gold ship or as a very odd 1 mast gunship. You could probably bring her speed up to S+S and not need to increase her point cost of 5.

 

Jacques is well suited to being used on his linked ship, but would also see use on other large cargo vessels. Why is his point cost at 6?

Rene is a very nice addition to any gunship, as the trigger for their ability will stack with other more regular cannon bonuses. His price seems fine at 3, given that the bonus is conditional and doesn’t apply to all ships.

Charles Castel and Louis Pastuer are fine point wise, and add more to the already excellent French named crew roster.

I’d use Louis-Espirit on the DJC La Corse, to get a smaller version of the SM Acorazado. I don’t think the French have a 5 mast ship with that ability, but if they do I’m certainly putting him there instead. 😀

Why is Jacque Cartier 6 points? That combination would come out 5 points I think. Also, is he meant to be related to Louis Cartier from FN?

 

Whew! I’ll be getting to the rest of the set in due time!