This is my blog about Pirates Constructible Strategy Game. I hope for it to be informational and rewarding to all readers, watchers, and listeners. Most posts will include a Deal of the Day, Card of the Day, and Picture of the Day. Suggestions are welcome. Thank you. (Audio versions: Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
After a whopping SIX days of vlogging in a row, here’s another regular blog post at last. I greatly enjoy the video blogs because it takes far less time, I can do everything all in one take (usually), and once I convert to audio, I have 2 of the 3 mediums covered (video + audio) rather than just 1 (text). As a result, expect mostly video blogs going forward! 😀
Check out my new youtube video, based on a comment suggestion.
Faction Affiliation: American Rarity: R Type: Ship Point Value: 16 Cargo Space: 2 Base Move: S+S Cannons: 3L-3S-4S-3L Number of Masts: 4
Sea Monster. If this sea monster succeeds at a boarding party, it also eliminates a mast.
Flavor: Not one to run from purported beasties of the sea, the Americans often try to herd the Slippery Devil toward enemy shipping lanes, where they hope it will wreak havoc.
Another RtSS piece is nice, but this one is not so nice. Slippery Devil is similarly mediocre to Champ. Both boring and overpriced serpents with not much going for them. If this existed, it would be one of the least-liked and least sought after game pieces from Return to Savage Shores.
All game sizes: Can’t carry crew, so just stay underwater until the “opportune moment” and then surface to attack. Ram, board, pin, and then shoot if you survive. XD
Game Piece Rating: 2/10. Truly terrible, and not in a fearsome way. Really shows what Wizkids did wrong – basically unplayable, very boring, and a complete 180 from the brilliance of Spanish Main. UGH!
Pictures of the Day
On this day in Pirates history: June 10th 2015. The Pirates use Calypso during Economy Edition to put whirlpools near the Pirates’ home island and INSIDE the Lagoon!! This allowed them to bypass the usual restrictions on the Lagoon’s borders (only submerged ships can enter) and put regular sailing ships in the Lagoon! O_O A truly classic, “shocking” moment from one of my favorite games.
Sorry for the short blog today, but I’ll be back soon with more! A bunch of eBay auctions ended hours before I wrote this post and then the RNG gave me a crappy Card of the Day, so not much to talk about.
Miniature Trading has been VERY active lately – tons of threads posted in since May 30th! If you don’t already have an account there, I highly recommend signing up – it’s free to use, a great resource, and the true hub of the Pirates community online.
I am approaching 2,000 total posts on Instagram, so I’ll have to make sure I have a really good picture for that. XD I guess. Haha! The numbers don’t matter too much, but it’s a lot of posting and whatnot! Also, check out this board made by another IG user – amazing work! Beauty is everywhere – you just gotta find it!
I still need to start working on another page, but I’m planning to do more video/audio blogs this week!
Deal of the Day: Big lot of Crimson Coast. Although the main deal is gone, there are usually interesting auctions up for grabs. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
**Disclaimer: I will be using affiliate links with things like this, so if someone buys from it, I could make a few cents.
Faction Affiliation: Barbary Corsairs Rarity: R Type: Ship Point Value: 13 Cargo Space: 5 Base Move: S+L Cannons: 4L-4S-5S-5L Number of Masts: 4
Galley. Once per turn, you may reroll any die roll you make for this ship; you must use the second die roll result.
Flavor: The devout captain of the Crescent Moon demands that his compass be accurate so that he can face Mecca when praying, no matter the ship’s heading.
Nice! Got a rare and beautiful Corsair ship from a fine set. With pretty awful cannons, this is definitely a large gold runner. She’s actually the only Barbary 4 master with more than 4 cargo, so she’s perfect in that role. A nice support ship to add to your collection.
Standard 40 point games: Helmsman + optional explorer. (15/16 total points)
Medium size games (50-100 points): Kheir-ed-din + helmsman. The Crescent Moon is the only source of the reroll ability in the entire Barbary Corsair faction. With Kheir’s ability quite difficult to pull off frequently, reroll is the perfect complement. In addition, Kheir will likely be far from enemy ships during the game, able to give Admiral’s Actions from afar. (21 total points)
Large games (over 100 points): Kheir-ed-din, helmsman, oarsman. This gives the two important crew extra protection, and allows the Crescent Moon to not be captured if dismasted. (the part of the Oarsman keyword not allowing dereliction does not apply to ship type keywords like Galleys and Longships) There’s not much point in adding more stuff, since you’ll want to keep at least 3 cargo spaces open for treasure. (22 total points)
Game Piece Rating: 7.5/10. The Crescent Moon is what I would call a fine ship. She’s beautiful, elegant, and has a clear role within the effective Barbary Corsair fleet. Only her terrible armament and somewhat high cost compared to some of the great BC 2 masted galleys holds her back.
I’d recommend getting ahold of the Crescent Moon – you can find her here. Beautiful ship and a very nice addition to anyone’s collection or gold-based fleet.
Here she is in my Experimental cumulative game from January 2016. This picture doesn’t do her full justice – truly one of the prettier ships around.
She’s here!
Picture of the Day
You didn’t think I’d miss out on Economy Edition, did you? XD Here are three pictures from June 3rd 2015.
The English pulverize the American defense of a wild island, with the Atlanta hit hard and burning fiercely.
However, the Americans were far from out of it, as their new Constitution showed:
Less than a week into the game, and it was already expanding in scope, size, and fun!
Between all the pictures in this blog and the Instagram linked post of that user’s custom board and terrain, I decided to change the blog’s title to one about beauty. XD I’ll certainly talk about it more in the future, but I truly feel that Pirates is one of the most aesthetic board games EVER.
This post got me thinking about teaching new players and getting people interested in the game. So far I’m happy to say that I’ve taught 17 different people how to play Pirates since 2015. However, of those, I don’t think any of them have played Pirates without me, and I don’t think any of them have bought the game in any form. The latter is partly due to my giving away some duplicates or sealed packs to new players to get them started and hopefully have them excited/more invested once they have their own stuff.
I seem to be successful at the initial stage of the process, where they do seem interested and would like to learn the game. They also seem to like the game. However, most of them don’t LOVE the game to the point where they’d sign up at Miniature Trading, or buy their own stuff for example. New players tend to trail off, partly because they’re busy and don’t want to learn what they see as a very complicated board game. I understand and respect that.
One of the things I’d like to work on for the future when trying to find potential new players is targeting. Not everyone will be into the game. Older folks have issues trying to build the ships, and tend to either give up quickly or say the game is too complicated for them to learn. Younger people have more exciting things to do and may be busy with too many other activities to devote their time to an out of print game.
In terms of “targeting”, there are certain demographics or types of people I have in mind. There is a serious trend of young people getting back into the game long after its discontinuation. Some of the most passionate members of the online community are in the same boat (or ship!) as me – in their 20’s, male, got into the game as a kid, and now back into it after a “hiatus” of a certain number of years. From the survey results, those same people now have more spending money as they get older, meaning they might be in a buying mode as they come back to the game. (especially if they sold/lost/got rid of their old collections). It’s also a demo that could include potential new players who haven’t heard of the game before.
Eventually I hope to do some actual advertising for this game, though it may still be a long way off. However, I do feel good knowing at least one very specific target demographic to promote to.
If you have experience teaching new players or trying to get people into the game, feel free to comment below.
Faction Affiliation: America Rarity: U Type: Ship Point Value: 14 Cargo Space: 4 Base Move: S+L Cannons: 2S-2S-3S-4S Number of Masts: 4
Schooner. This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls.
Flavor: Captain Oswald “recruited” his crew from the Baltimore jailhouse and gave them one law: When you hit the deck of the enemy ship, the survivor goes home a free man.
Here is a classic American schooner, the likes of which we saw many of in the first few sets the Americans were introduced in. The Saratoga is a good ship without many weaknesses. Not many 4 masters have base speeds of S+L, and she boasts decent cargo, solid firepower, and a reasonably fitting ability to boot.
How you set up the Saratoga depends on your play style. I’d recommend focusing on either a gunship or hybrid role. This ship is a “natural” hybrid in my opinion, since a basic setup of captain+helmsman leaves her with 2 cargo spaces and the attributes (speed, good at boarding) necessary to be a hybrid.
The raider hybrid role suits this ship well. She has the max speed (S+L+S with a helmsman) to catch some enemy gold runners, and a great chance of winning board parties against smaller treasure ships. With the boarding bonus, you’re essentially starting off with a boarding score of 5, a considerable advantage against some of the best gold runners in the game that have 1 or 2 masts. Throw in the Schooner keyword, which makes boarding easier since you can maneuver at the end of the move action.
Most games: Captain + helmsman, optional oarsman. 2 cargo spaces open for gold, whether it’s taken from wild islands or enemy ships. (19/20 total points)
Sure you could load up the Saratoga, but I don’t see a lot of reason in doing that. The Americans have a plethora of better gunships that can utilize their limited selection of named crew much more effectively, and besides that, any crew added will decrease the cargo available and take away from the Saratoga’s main strength, which in my opinion is being a fast hybrid. If you really want to add named crew, this version of Montana Mays would be good for a boarding-based strategy, and after him you could load up some generics such as a firepot specialist to use with the 2S cannons.
Game Piece Rating: 7.5/10. The Saratoga is a good ship in her class, with speed being her best asset. However, she has no L-range guns, her cargo is filled up quickly, and she feels a little too pricey with a mediocre ability. The Americans also have far better ships for specific roles, as the Franklin and Hudson are both much better gunships, while the Providence is a better hybrid for 2 LESS points. A fine ship, but not necessarily an American player’s best option.
I found the Saratoga on eBay. There are two other versions of the ship from other sets, and all three are actually quite playable. This RV version is probably the best, but they’re all solid gunships.
Check out the Saratoga in action – the few times I’ve used her, she’s done well. That island was made by Ross in AZ if you’d like your own.
The Saratoga in action setting a Pirate ship alight!
Picture of the Day
I love so many of the pictures from my Economy Edition game. It was the most aesthetic game I played at that point in time, and although it has been surpassed by Command the Oceans and arguably the Experimental cumulative game, it’s still great to look at. This shot is looking north-northwest from above the Cursed position in the south.
Today is the Glorious First of June! The beginning of months can be an exciting time, especially now since if there was any doubt about it being summer, that is now gone. 🙂 The battle is one of my favorite to read about in my studies of naval history, and I would like to do a game about it someday. Either a mockup with pictures, or an actual deathmatch game played from the point in time when the fleets met.
This actually marks the THIRD post of the day! In addition to my regular Friday battle report, I wrote an article: Destroy a Fort – How to WRECK forts! It’s a written and slightly expanded version of the youtube video about the same topic. I probably won’t do this sort of new content idea often, but it was an easy conversion that allows me to have the same content in multiple formats. I have an Informational category for pages and posts, so I probably won’t do a separate blog of the same type… still a possibility though!
Deal of the Day: Gone now, but you can still find stuff on eBay. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
**Disclaimer: I will be using affiliate links with things like this, so if someone buys from it, I could make a few cents. XD
Faction Affiliation: Pirate Rarity: LE Type: Ship Point Value: 10 Cargo Space: 3 Base Move: S+L Cannons: 3L Number of Masts: 1
Longship. This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.
Flavor: Rumor has it that Jack Hawkins commissioned this vessel and handpicked her crew.
Here’s a ship I review in the video version of this blog. Nothing great, but not a terrible ship either. You can get the Icicle here.
Standard 40 point games: Empty gold runner, or with a captain. (10/13 total points)
Medium size games (50-100 points): Captain, maybe helmsman or explorer. (13-15 total points)
Large games (over 100 points): Probably not much, since it’s so vulnerable to being rammed or sunk out of commission. With that ability, you could experiment with putting a 0LR +5 crew or Calypso aboard.
Game Piece Rating: 5/10. Sure she’s not very beneficial to the Pirates, but there’s not much inherently wrong with this ship. At 7-8 points she’d probably get a 7/10. Perhaps underrated, but mostly due to her rarity and factional competitiveness.
Picture of the Day
Since June 2015 was basically the month when I played almost every day for Economy Edition, you can expect to see more pictures from that game. Here you get a nice birds-eye view of a clash between the English and Americans! More on that later….
High above the action with a view from Thompson’s Island!
One of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken of this game. I love the vibrancy of the colors, along with everything in the frame – a pretty ship, a fort (one of my favorite types of game pieces), along with islands, coins, and reefs!
Let me know if you have any thoughts on a new content idea!
