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Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 – Pirates CSG Mega Pack for September 2026

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Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2

Pirates CSG Mega Pack for September 2026

Here are the game pieces for the Golden Age of Piracy Part 2 (GAOP2) Mega Pack, released starting in September 2026 for subscribers of my Buccaneer’s Booty Box!

This product is based on the 1690s, with a heavy focus on one of the most lucrative pirate heists of all time. The Pirates receive 5 new ships and 8 new named crew, for 13 total new game pieces! Since pirates mostly used smaller vessels to carry out their raids, it allows me to include more crew while keeping the ship count for the release about average. 8 cards of ships and 4 cards of crew, compared to my usual ratio of 10:2 or 9:3. Oftentimes there is far more information about people during the Age of Sail than the ships themselves, especially for many of the pre-1700 ships.

Fancy
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 099
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 15
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3L-2S-3L
Ability: If this ship has a crew with the Captain keyword, she gets +S to her base move. This ship cannot be towed by opposing ships.
Link: Henry Every

Flavor text: Originally an English vessel, Every’s pirate ship was razeed in the Bight of Benin in 1694. Since then she has become one of the fastest sailers in the Indian Ocean. Every continues to recruit more pirates to his cause, which he hopes will lead to capturing a grand prize from a Mughal convoy en route to India.

The King of Pirates is finally here! This new Mega Pack has a heavy focus on the 1690s, with Henry Every himself at the center of it all. His ship is one of the ultimate pirate vessels, capable of blazing speed for devastating raids. Not only was Every one of the most successful pirates of all time, he managed to disappear with his fortune. Thus his ship cannot be captured without cancelling/etc – originally that ability was on Every, but he’s already a “kingpin” type crew with a bevy of abilities (creating a crew like him is one of those “should be overpowered” type moments). By putting the last ability on the ship instead of the crew, it helps balance the point costs of the combo and limits how OP Every could otherwise become (ex: on a 10 master). Initially I was hesitant to make it a 3 mast frigate design vs. an original 3MA model, but that changed perfectly when I read she was razeed – 3MF suits her as a model type well enough, knowing that her fore and aftercastles were cut down from the regular high sterns of 1600s ship designs.

I love how the artwork turned out – I saved this ship for last and made sure I had enough time to make her special. A worn but realistic wood deck, bronze/brass cannons, and some fancy lanterns with extra glow at the stern. The sails have some of my favorite texturing I’ve done so far, along with battle damage worthy of her tangle with the Ganj-i-sawai. Although Every’s pirate flag is unknown to history, I wanted to include a 1724 attribution of it for fun. The hull has a mix of planking, weathered texture, some details, and some guns I really like. The gunports have a blood red outline, with brass muzzles for the cannons along with gunport lids of a light brown color for contrast against the dark hull.

Fancy - Henry Every's pirate ship

Pearl
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 100
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 7
Masts: 2
Cargo: 4
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3S-3S
Ability: Filching Gold.
Link: William May

Flavor text: After New York Governor Jacob Leisler was executed for treason against the crown, the new governor Benjamin Fletcher gave William May a privateering commission. May’s vessel is armed with 16 cannons, and has been seen operating from Rhode Island all the way to the Indian Ocean.

I decided to spell out the keyword text on the ship’s deckplate since I had plenty of room for it. This is a prototypical pirate ship – fast, armed enough to get what she wants, capacious and with a theft ability that will aid in her plundering. Pirate ships feel like a great excuse to get a little wonky with the art sometimes – multiple sail colors, ragged deck arrangements, etc. Here the crew have rigged a few new sails but others are getting rather old and worn. Relatively standard armament, but with a curved hull gradient, new clipped picture for the stern galleries, and subtle lanterns at the bow so the Jades aren’t hogging all the fun hull lighting!

Pearl from Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2

Susanna
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 102 (Lord Horatio Nelson is #101 due to my numbering scheme for the Age of Sail set changing in 2025)
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 5
Masts: 2
Cargo: 4
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L-4S
Ability: This ship gets -1 to her d6 rolls.
Link: Thomas Wake

Flavor text: A 10-gun vessel commanded by Thomas Wake, she was too slow to participate in the capture of the Ganj-i-sawai. After Wake and many others became sick and perished in Madagascar, the remaining crew took her to Saint Augustine where some of them were killed by Malagasay natives.

This ship had problems and didn’t seem to accomplish much, so I wanted her game status to reflect that. Her poor luck will follow her wherever she goes…. One could argue her cargo could be upped to 5, but I didn’t want her to just become another automatically great Pirate gold runner with a negative ability that barely comes into play given her typical role (like Bloody Jewel/etc). She looks as ragged as one would expect, with yellowed sails peppered by shot holes, a shoddy deck situation, and some gunport lids either askew, closed or missing. I rarely opt for a missing sail because the black background contrast can be jarring to see, but I wanted to finally try that again given the decrepit state of the ship. The pirates have been too sick to replace that sail, with the yardarm dangling suspended in the rigging.

Susanna from Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2

Amity
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 103
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 9
Masts: 1
Cargo: 3
Base Move: S+S+S
Cannons: 2S
Ability: This ship may repair at sea or at any island. This ship ignores terrain when she is given a move action.
Link: Thomas Tew, John Ireland

Flavor text: The sloop belonging to Thomas Tew mounts eight cannons. For a 70-ton vessel she has done remarkably well plying the pirate trade. A single dhow capture netted her crew over £1000 per sailor.

I broke one of my “rules” with this ship – normally I don’t like recreating things that are already in the game, with Amity getting a 3 mast variant in the Fire and Steel set. However, given that she was apparently a sloop in real life, I wanted to create a more historically accurate version. In addition, she fits perfectly into this release for many reasons – she had a more notable career than some of the other ships, has a faster base move, brings another new linked crew into the game, and can still fit the F&S version of Tew if one wanted to go that route. Everything comes from history as always – her speed is based on Tew attacking early in the Mughal fight, she was repaired in Madagascar (shipwright ability), and Ireland kept her safe from terrain until (ironically) she was left on a reef by Dirk Chivers (1 masters are immune to reef damage anyway, so Ignores Terrain fits even more perfectly as an ability). I love the coffee/brown color scheme, with Amity showing some battle scars along with Tew’s flag (which lacks historicity similar to Every’s, but is hard not to include).

Amity from Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2

Seaflower
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 104
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 4
Masts: 1
Cargo: 2
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 5S
Ability: Crew placed on this ship cost no points towards this ship’s point cost, but they always each take up one cargo space; this ability cannot be copied.
Link: Joseph Faro

Flavor text: Rumor has it that Joseph Faro ferried the notorious pirate Henry Every to Ireland aboard this vessel.

Couldn’t find much info on this sloop. She gives the Pirates another cheap vessel to play with, and serves to differentiate ship point costs in this release and provides a cheap alternative to the somewhat expensive (for her size) Amity. The ability is based on getting both Every and Faro aboard for a voyage, which normally wouldn’t be possible with Every’s point cost….

I didn’t see any evidence of Seaflower being in combat, so to change it up from the other ships of this Mega Pack, she has clean lines and a fresh look. The more historical ships I make the harder it gets to make them look unique, so I try to find every reason I can for variety and differentiation!

Seaflower from Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2

Henry Every
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 105
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 10
Ability: Captain. Hoarding Gold. This crew cannot be captured by abilities, and cannot be eliminated or removed from the game unless this ship sinks. If this ship wins a boarding party, she may capture the crew with the lowest point cost instead of eliminating it. A captive becomes assigned to this ship, takes up no cargo space, and can use its abilities.
Link: Fancy, Alexander Dalzeel

Flavor text: From his humble beginnings in the Royal Navy to becoming immensely wealthy as the “King of Pirates”, Every was the subject of the first worldwide manhunt. His capture of the Ganj-i-sawai made him possibly the richest pirate ever. Known as “Long Ben” to his crew, his exploits became even more legendary after his mysterious disappearance.

Every is the centerpiece of the entire release, and was always going to be a legendary crew. As arguably the most successful pirate of all time, he should almost be overpowered based on historicity alone. He is an “ultimate pirate”, capable of elevating any ship to a buccaneer’s dream vessel. He took Fancy to heights of fame and fortune, hence the Captain ability. Hoard for stealing a huge amount from the Mughal convoy. He got away with his loot and disappeared, hence he cannot be captured or removed/eliminated. He also recruited pirates to his cause, so he’s got a low-point “Nemo capture” ability as well. I think he’ll pair exceedingly well with Fancy, with 5 points left over in the cap space to add a helmsman and possibly some combination of SAT/explorer/oarsman/etc.

Henry Every Pirates CSG

Robert Culliford
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 106
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 5
Ability: This ship gets +1 cargo spaces. This crew takes up no cargo space. This crew cannot be captured by abilities. If this ship is towed, place this crew on the nearest wild island. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against French ships.
Link: William May, Edward Coates, John Swann, Ralph Stout, James Kelly

Flavor text: Originally teaming up with Captain William Kidd, Culliford mutinied and struck out on his own. His association with William May led to his first command, the “Horne Frigate”. However, his crimes against the Gujaratis led to a prison stint. After escaping, he commandeered an East India Company ketch but was marooned soon afterwards. Ralph Stout rescued him before perishing himself. After another run-in with Kidd, he engaged in piratical activities yet again before being captured by the English. Even Marshalsea prison couldn’t hold him, as he has now vanished….

Completely insane life story, and very well-connected… it was hard to fit everything into his flavor text! The ability concerning his ship getting towed works perfectly both ways: if it’s a friendly ship starting the tow, it ties into his marooning/mutiny background, while if an enemy ship starts the tow, it’s him being an escape artist!

William May
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 107
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 5
Ability: Captain. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against the French.
Link: Pearl, Charming Mary, Robert Culliford, Edward Coates

Flavor text: Joining the mutiny led by Robert Culliford against Captain Kidd, May found himself captain of multiple ships during his pirate career. Making several trips between New York and Madagascar, he harassed the French, gave a prize to Culliford, sailed his new brigantine from Rhode Island, and assisted Henry Every in the capture of the Gunsway. He was able to escape capture by the English and retired to Whitehorse Tavern.

Another interesting pirate life story, May was one of many who went all the way from the northeast coast of America to the Indian Ocean and back.

Thomas Wake
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 108
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 5
Ability: Captain. After looking at treasure on a wild island, you may trade any one treasure from that island for a random treasure on any other wild island. This ship must load the traded treasure.
Link: Susanna

Flavor text: Wake joined Henry Every and other pirates for the pursuit of the Mughal convoy in the Indian Ocean. With his ship too slow to keep pace, he and his crew missed out on the immense winnings. Their bad luck continued, with most of the crew dying of illness on Madagascar following a visit to Adam Baldridge’s pirate trading post.

Susanna’s captain just barely fits aboard the ship (point cap space of 5), though I realize most players probably won’t put him there. Overall a solid addition to the Pirate named crew ranks.

Giles Shelley
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 109
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 5
Ability: Merchant. One of this ship’s treasures is worth +1 gold when she docks at your home island.
Link: Nassau

Flavor text: From New York to Sainte-Marie, his ventures have brought riches to his benefactors and many pirate friends.

One of the final additions to the release. I was really excited to find out about this guy. Having a Merchant crew in the Pirate ranks should make for an interesting dynamic, especially for games or players that involve flavor in their plot. His linked ship looks like it should be a 3 master, so it missed the cut. I almost justified giving him a bunch of crew links, but stopped because some of the combos might starting getting ridiculous given how a lot of these pirates all seemed to know each other. Plus, his connections seemed like more of a passing thing than a long-term partnership. I like trying to base crew to crew links on relationships where they served together on the same ship (vs. being on different ships in the same fleet, or having only one short voyage together/etc). Many of the named crew in this release (and my sets in general) have long flavor text, so I wanted to change that up and keep his short and mysterious.

John Ireland
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 110
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 4
Ability: Navigator. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against targets with all their masts.
Link: Amity, Thomas Tew

Flavor text: Claiming to be forced into piracy against his will, Ireland nevertheless has maintained relations with many scoundrels in his seafaring days, among them Thomas Tew and Richard Bobbington. Regardless of his true affiliation, he has proved to be a valuable pilot.

A very unique ability set that might not pair well. He does have some intriguing links, and I was happy to include some color for his crew art based on a painting of (I think) Amity and others chasing down the Mughal convoy.

Richard Want
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 111
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 2
Ability: After this ship resolves a shoot action, she may move as a free action.
Link: Dolphin, Thomas Tew, George Raynor

Flavor text: Having experienced piratical success as Thomas Tew’s first mate and a buccaneer under George Raynor, Want eventually commanded his own ship. He ended up in South Carolina with a new privateering commission.

With a whopping 8 named crew in the release, I definitely wanted at least one of them to be under 4 points, and Want fit the bill perfectly. First Mate has sometimes been used as a shorthand for the Reverse Captain ability, which I value at 2 points.

Joseph Faro
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Golden Age of Piracy: Part 2 (GAOP2) (September 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 112
Nationality: Pirate
Point Cost: 4
Ability: Captain. Place this crew face up during setup. Reduce the cost of all other crew placed on this ship by 1.
Link: Portsmouth Adventure, Seaflower, Dirk Chivers

Flavor text: Hailing from Newport in the Rhode Island colony, Faro made it as far as the Indian Ocean to watch Every’s capture of the Grand Mughal Fleet. Being denied a share of the prize money, he was nevertheless rescued by Every later on and may have assisted in his disappearance….

This guy was originally 1 point without the Captain ability, because the 2 point “reducer” crew in the original sets only really ever get used if they’re absolutely necessary. However, I didn’t want to suddenly make a full upgrade crew that makes those original 3 Pirate crew suboptimal to use in small games. Plus, Faro had multiple commands in his career, so the Pirates get 4 named captains in GAOP2!

Rise of Atlantis Part 2 Mega Pack

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Rise of Atlantis Part 2 Mega Pack

Pirates CSG Mega Pack for August 2026

Here are the game pieces for the Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) Mega Pack, released starting in August 2026 for subscribers of my Buccaneer’s Booty Box! It is now available while supplies last here.

It was another great collaboration with Vindaga Games. He designed the game pieces and did the artwork, while I did some edits, files, production and logistics/etc.

The Atlantean warlords and their Merfolk allies challenge the other powers sailing the high seas. The blood of their ancestors that once ruled the Mediterranean seas calls to them again. Their influence is spreading as their numbers grow…. Even the great and monstrous denizens of the sea have heeded the call. Atlantis has returned, now join with them!

Argonaut
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 006
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 15
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 2S-2S-3S
Ability: Trireme. When this ship rams an enemy ship, that ship’s controller also eliminates a cargo.
Link: Grand Praetorian

Trireme: A ship with this keyword cannot pin or be pinned, and cannot be assigned crew with the Helmsman ability. If this ship has a crew with the Oarsman ability, she gets +S to her base move; with no masts her printed base move becomes L (instead of S), and she can always ram enemy ships. When this ship rams an opposing ship, the roll automatically succeeds regardless of the number of masts.

Flavor text: Flagship of the Praetorians and oldest fighting vessel in the Atlantean fleets. The Argonaut is said to be the oldest vessel on the seven seas. It’s been repaired, outfitted and enhanced many times over the centuries, still holding true to legends and stories of old, just as the ancestors had taught.

Creator’s notes: So excited to have the very first Trireme come to life! Though it’s a more “modern” take on the design, this fantasy Trireme will embody the power and fighting spirit of the Ancient Greeks. These vessels are designed specifically for contact, ramming, boarding and devastating their targets. Another devastatingly string addition to the Atlanteans. RoA 1 may have made them a presence, this pack ensures they are a threat!

Argonaut from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Poseidon
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 028
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 16
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 2S-2S-2S-3L
Ability: Grand Xebec. This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load as much treasure as she can carry. If able she must leave on her next turn.

Grand Xebec: This ship’s masts do not block her lines of fire. This ship cannot pin or be pinned. This ship may be given move actions when she has no masts; her printed base move becomes S.
This ship’s rearmost mast requires two hits from the same shoot action to eliminate, and can shoot twice when this ship shoots. If this ship is hit once during a shoot action, her owner must eliminate one of the first 3 masts if able.

Flavor text: Like a powerful riptide, the Poseidon specializes in tactical strikes. Plundering enemy stores of their goods and treasure before slipping away as quickly as it came.

Creator’s notes: The Atlanteans get a little more backbone with this ship. A very capable Grand Xebec; not afraid to get close and personal with enemy territory, and it’s has the firepower and durability for it. This ship is not only decorated in honor of the sea god himself, but brings enough of a threat that even home shores aren’t safe from its wrath, as its namesake suggests. Keep a wary eye on this vessel, if seen near your shores. Poseidon’s arm reaches as far as the sea itself and it shows no mercy in its wake.

Poseidon from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Scylla
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 017
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 16
Masts: 6
Cargo: 2
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 4S-4S-4S-4S-4S-4L
Ability: Sea Monster. Hydra. When this Sea Monster hits an enemy ship, also eliminate one cargo from that ship.

Hydra: A hydra is a type of sea monster. The following abilities are specific to hydras and override the Sea Monster keyword: Measure a hydra’s movement from the middle head slot on its base. Hydras may move and shoot using the same move action. A hydra may be given repair actions at sea or at any island, including while it is submerged.

Flavor text: Legends say Scylla was once a beautiful enchantress, but a jealous goddess cursed her into this monstrous form. Now hideous, cunning and filled with spite, this creature attacks swiftly with calculated attacks, picking off sailors and treasure to fill her belly and trinkets for her lair.

Creator’s notes: The first Sea Monster to join the Atlanteans and I can’t think of a more fitting candidate. From the call of the sea and for a great purpose none can fathom, this ancient monster has abandoned her lair and is at large. Her design was inspired by combining a Moray Eel and ‘Rexy’ from Jurassic Park into a multi-headed, prehistoric-vibing monstrosity. If you were dissatisfied with the latest iteration of Scylla we got in the Odyssey, this beastie shouldn’t disappoint. Now to find a reef and a whirlpool to lurk around for some flavor…

Scylla from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Astrapi
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 035
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 9
Masts: 2
Cargo: 3
Base Move: S+S+S
Cannons: 5S-5S
Ability: Dragonwing Cutter. One of this ship’s treasures is worth +1 gold when unloaded at your home island.

Dragonwing Cutter: This ship gets +S to her base move if she has all of her masts. When given a move action, this ship can rotate on her stern (the rear of the ship) in any direction as an additional, final movement segment.

Flavor text: As her name suggests, the “Lightning” is an extremely quick vessel. A simple complement of crew and a lighter cargo hold ensure that her wares get to port in prime condition.

Creator’s notes: I love these little ships. The fantastical design is fun, sleek and whimsical. This DWC in particular is a super speedy gold runner. If stacked with its keyword and a helmsman ability you’re packing serious knots. An ideal scout and gold grabber, I’m so excited to field this little vessel in my next Atlantean game.

Astrapi from RoA2

Oceanus
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 030
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 7
Masts: 1
Cargo: 1
Base Move: T
Cannons: 3S-3S
Ability: Sea Chariot. Any sea monster towing this sea chariot gets +1 to its cannon, ram and boarding rolls.

Sea Chariot: A Sea Chariot is treated like a ship with the following exceptions:
It can only move if towed by a Sea Monster. Any Sea Monster may tow a Sea Chariot when any part of its base touches any part of the Sea Chariot; you may move the Sea Chariot into a towed position as a free action. A Sea Monster may stop towing a Sea Chariot at any time, where it remains until towed again or sunk. Sea Chariots can submerge with the towing Sea Monster, but cannot shoot while submerged.
When towing a Sea Chariot, a Sea Monster on the surface may dock at islands, be given explore actions, and load treasure into the Sea Chariot’s cargo space. If the towing Sea Monster docks, the Sea Chariot may remain towed instead of docking it at the island.
Abilities of crew assigned to the Sea Chariot cannot be used by the towing Sea Monster, unless specifically stated otherwise.
If a Sea Monster towing a Sea Chariot wins a boarding party, you may assign any stolen treasure to the Sea Monster or the Sea Chariot; if a Unique Treasure is taken you must assign it to the Sea Chariot or eliminate it as normal.
A Sea Chariot has no masts. Instead it has a flag which can be eliminated only if the Sea Chariot is hit twice during a single shoot action; when it has no flag, any hit will sink it. If the flag has been eliminated, the Sea Chariot may be given a repair action (even if it’s at sea) to replace it.

Flavor text: The Merfolk of the Oceanus ambush enemy vessels, ramming their opponents from below and out of sight to catch them off guard. The doomed target is then pinned between their monstrous, rampaging steed and a swarm of boarding Merfolk.

Creator’s Notes: Was not sure if this concept would ever come to life, as it is a strange one, and certainly took a bit of time to get the groundwork done on its functionality. So much love and excitement surrounded the concept that I was eager to christen the idea. Ben worked hard on the general shape to get everything fitting just right and onto one card! There is so much fun potential in this little craft and I’m excited to see the various sea monster combos with her. Your chariot awaits, go shake things up!

Oceanus from RoA2

Grand Praetorian
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 003
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 6
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. If this ship succeeds at a boarding party, she may eliminate all of the other ship’s crew.
Link: Argonaut

Flavor text: Leader of the Praetorians, this imposing figure leads his elite group of fighting men from the sea. Favoring tactics of the old world, but skillfully implementing modern technology, the Praetorians are legends of old reforged in a modern era.

Creator’s note: We have “Vikings”, why not have “Greeks”? The Atlanteans are a coalition of warlord nations hailing from the Mediterranean and Agean sea. Their mysterious and sudden rise to power seems ushered by powerful, otherworldly forces. Times are changing on the high seas, and some great and malevolent force is at work on the seven seas, but will the Atlantean usher it in, or be on the forefront of keeping it at bay? Time and tides will tell…
Having a fondness for Greek mythology, and not content to just make a set based purely on history, I wanted to have the “cosplay” Spartans, like WizKids introduced the “cosplay” Vikings, lol.
Dressing in the old style, but outfitted to contend with other sailing nations. A fun and fantastical concept, but so much fun!
This crew in particular is devastating when combined with its linked ship, making it a fighting force of power to be reckoned with!

Grand Praetorian from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Artorius Rex
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 005
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 7
Ability: Captain. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against non-Atlantean ships, forts and crew.
Link: Myrmidon

Flavor text: Leader of the chains of anguish, this self-described king of the Atlanteans believes he is heir to the sunken throne. He and his followers worship an ancient being called Kronos, a mysterious entity from eons past that offers promises of power and authority to those who subjugate themselves to it.

Creator’s Notes: Another strong crew to lend some power to the Atlanteans. The familiar Captain/World Hater combo is a staple in war fleets and it feels right that the Atlanteans get one to complement this batch of strong fighting vessels. While we may need to wait for his linked ship, he will still be a powerful addition to the risen ranks of Atlantis at present.

Artorius Rex from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Merfolk Marauder
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 051
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 5
Ability: Marine. If a sea monster begins its move within L of this ship, it gets +L to its base move.

Flavor text: The Marauders are among the Merfolk’s most elite fighting forces. Their knowledge of both combat and the nature of the beasts they bond with makes them a significant force to be reckoned with.

Creator’s notes: Another Merfolk for the Atlantean and a Marine at that! It took a lot of thought decided how I wanted the merfolk to look, and it wasn’t an easy task. I wanted to be unique enough but still be recognizable. The bow is a fun choice, similar to Olaf Lindstrom with his bow. I had also originally planned to have a sea serpent in the background, but when shrunk down to crew chit size it would have been too much detail and gotten lost in the design.
Marines are usually over-costed on their points, and so this one leans toward a more balance cost. No need to needlessly add another 7 points Marine to the game…
A final thought, is initially wanting to give the Sea Monster boost to “Within L of this crew” but thought that it would be best to keep it familiar, and keep the cost down.

Merfolk Marauder from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Chains of Anguish
Set: Rise of Atlantis
Release: Rise of Atlantis Part 2 (RoA2) (August 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 054
Nationality: Atlantean
Point Cost: 6
Ability: Once per turn, you may eliminate one of this ship’s crew to give her an extra action. This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls.

Flavor text: These metal-masked servants of the Iron Will gave up their voice long ago in service to a higher power; whether this is figurative or literal nobody can be certain, but they take their master’s orders without hesitation and show no mercy in carrying out their duties.

Creator’s Notes: This was a fun crew to design. The art was the most difficult part, but was worth the challenge! It’s always fun to have a linked story arc shared amongst game pieces too. This crew should give some flexibility and more options for the already substantial warships in this month’s line-up. Atlanteans aren’t here to play. They are ready for war!

Chains of Anguish from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Revolutionary War Part 2 – Pirates CSG Mega Pack for July 2026

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Revolutionary War Part 2

Pirates CSG Mega Pack for July 2026

Here are the game pieces for the Revolutionary War Part 2 (RevWar 2/RW2) Mega Pack, released starting in July 2026 for subscribers of my Buccaneer’s Booty Box!

My subscribers voted to continue the Revolutionary War theme for a consecutive Mega Pack! Whereas the first one focused on the early days of the Revolution, this one focuses mostly on ships and crew that played a role into the 1780s. It is split between 3 factions! The Americans get 2 ships and a crew, while the English and French receive one ship and crew each. This marks the first French game pieces of my Pirates CSG relaunch!

USS Alliance
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 091
Nationality: American
Point Cost: 13
Masts: 3
Cargo: 3
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3L-2L-3S
Ability: Once per turn, you can reroll any die roll you make for this ship; you must use the second die roll result. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls if there is a friendly ship within L of her.
Link: John Barry, John Paul Jones, Pierre Landais

Flavor text: From several mutinies, an unruly captain and damage from ice floes, the adventures of USS Alliance have faced numerous setbacks. Under the command of John Barry however, she has thrived during the American Revolution. Multiple journeys to France and captures of British ships have made her one of the most dependable ships in the Continental Navy.

It was a bit tough finding a good candidate for my 3 mast frigate design in terms of American ships that survived the entire Revolutionary War. This ship became the ideal choice, especially given her connections to existing crew John Barry and John Paul Jones. She’s got a nice “team-up” ability along with Reroll. She seemed to have a more notable career than USS Alfred, so I gave her better speed and slightly better firepower.

For her artwork I found a few good references. The aft sail lines on some of the RevWar (1) ships weren’t as noticeable on the final prints as I wanted them to be, so I increased the opacity of them so they’d show more on this ship. Her armament is based on the 1778 Three Decks listing – you can see the 14 cannons per side on her hull for the main gun deck, with 4 per side on the weather deck between quarterdeck and focsle areas.

USS Alliance

USS Reprisal
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 092
Nationality: American
Point Cost: 8
Masts: 2
Cargo: 3
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L-3L
Ability: If this ship is within S of an enemy ship when this ship is given a move action, she gets +S to her base move. This ship may dock at a French home island or fort and be given repair actions while there.
Link: Lambert Wickes

Flavor text: While carrying Benjamin Franklin to France on a diplomatic mission, she became the first Continental Navy ship to visit Europe. Not only an escape artist, she has captured multiple British and Irish vessels under the command of Captain Wickes.

As her flavor text explains, she had a very interesting history. Loved giving her a brand new ability for the French connection. Even more fitting for this particular release because the French get a couple game pieces as well in RevWar 2 (their first game pieces I’ve created for my Pirates relaunch that went public in 2024). I think she’ll be a flexible American asset capable of playing a dual role, especially when her linked crew is aboard. Though between the linked crew and her stats/ability spread, probably more likely to snag gold by commerce raiding or taking prizes than by conventional island gold running. Wickes is 5 points, so there’s still point cap space to add a helmsman and oarsman/etc to accompany him.

Art: Between her combat history and escapes, I wanted her sails to be a bit damaged. Her deck is probably one of the more realistic I’ve made – each deck and sail I make is generally unique even though a lot of them inevitably end up looking similar due to being historical ships. Historical flag flying from the mizzenmast. Hull and sails color matched to some paintings I found of her. Those paintings also guided her cannon distribution, with specifically 16/18 cannons on the hull with the final pair on the weather deck aft. (I’m aware that some of these smaller ships of 2 masts or fewer usually had their cannons on a weather/spar deck, but although I did that in full for USS Niagara and USS Lawrence, I generally prefer to only show main deck cannons on the hull artwork, with anything above the uppermost main gun deck going on the weather deck(s). I think having the cannons “topside” and aligned to hull cannon art would work better on ships that have deck tabs rather than hull tabs, because those models have a deck that can actually be aligned with part of the hull (rather than models like this where the topmost deck is always higher than the hull art).)

USS Reprisal

HMS Barfleur
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 093
Nationality: English
Point Cost: 18
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-3L-3L-3L-2S
Ability: This ship cannot be sunk by a shot unless it is a 6. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against French ships.
Link: Lord Samuel Hood, John Knight, Admiral Alexander Hood, Cuthbert Collingwood, George Bowyer, Joseph Sydney Yorke, Thomas Hardy

Flavor text: A dangerous weapon of the Royal Navy, especially when under the command of the powerful Hood family. From the Chesapeake to the Saintes and later the Glorious First of June, she has been a dependable three decker. Entering her fifth decade of service, she has undergone multiple repairs and refits.

This was such a treat to make! I love the English and their ships of the line, so it was great to return to those ideas without the pressure of doing an iconic ship like HMS Victory justice. Although not the most famous 3 decker, HMS Barfleur was a great candidate for the English representative for this release. Her main competition for the slot was HMS Formidable, another ship of her class and the ship that carried Rodney’s flag at the Saintes. However, when I make these releases I generally try to cover as much history as possible, especially with the “big” game pieces like this one. Barfleur fought in more battles than Formidable, notably including the Chesapeake, the Glorious First, Cape St. Vincent and Cape Finisterre. She also has massive link potential, so she was a slam dunk to include as just the second historical 3 decker I’ve made (first being HMS Victory of course). She saw success against the French and was never sunk in battle despite many actions, hence her new ability. I nearly gave her an original ability only seen on La Republique (This ship cannot sink, but she can be scuttled), but figured it a bit excessive and not focused enough on surviving combat specifically. With this new ability, it hopefully won’t be OP on a large ship like that other original ability might be, and only applies to shots so she can still be sunk by other means. None of her linked crew have been fully produced yet, but that could certainly change….

For her artwork, I took inspiration from multiple sources and wanted a unique look. Between the yellow/gold hull of a ship model, red gunport lids of another, and a historically accurate stern gallery, I like how the hull pieces turned out. I wanted some damage on the deck and sails given her extensive combat history. I don’t always re-color the tops of the historical ships, but for this one I did after revisiting this amazing painting that I’ve loved for years. I love how I can punch holes in the sails and mirror them so the other sides are symmetrical – really gives an immersive look to the shot holes when you can see the mast through the hole and see a perfect (realistic) mirror image on the other side of the sail.

HMS Barfleur

Marseillois
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 094
Nationality: French
Point Cost: 14
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3S-2L-4L-3S
Ability: When this ship is given a shoot action, any of her cannons can shoot chain shots. Declare which cannon(s) will shoot the chain shot before rolling the d6. If the shot hits, do not eliminate a mast; instead the target cannot move on her next turn.
Link: Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, Jean François Renaudin, Comte de Rioms, Castellane-Majastre, Samson de Champmartin, Poype de Vertrieux

Flavor text: One of the many 74 gun ships active in the French Navy. Former commanders noted that she is a passable sailer. She played a role in the American Revolution, serving at the Battles of the Chesapeake and the Saintes. Now she sails from Brest under Jean Renaudin on convoy duty.

The first French ship of my Pirates CSG Relaunch!  She fought in many battles – Age of Sail (AoS) history buffs may know her as Vengeur du Peuple, famous for sinking at the Glorious First of June in 1794.  I wanted a ship that fought in multiple Revolutionary War battles that also had some recognition beyond it. She was the perfect candidate, with a long and storied career.

She was directly involved at the Battle of the Chesapeake, one of the key battles of the Revolutionary War that helped the United States prevail. She was also at the the Battle of the Saintes, an important fleet action that I’ve been itching to include in a historical release.

The ship ability is a new one, based on the French tactic of aiming at an enemy ship’s masts and rigging to disable it. I believe her artwork took more time than the other ships in the release, because I wanted to do my first French ship justice. There are some great paintings and ship models I was able to use for color matching and references. The hull took a while but I’m happy with how the ship turned out. The armament is matched (as usual) to the historical record. For each Mega Pack, usually the ship artwork and files are the biggest chunk of time. Sometimes it gets tedious but in cases like this it can be really worth it.

My philosophy with historical ship types in terms of the rating system is based on in-game armament. As a very general guideline (that I can’t promise will hold up over time), I usually prefer to make 3 decked ships of the line 5 masters, 2 decked ships of the line 4 masters, and frigates/etc as 3 masters. Then of course brigs and similar as 2 masters, and sloops/etc as 1 masters. It’s not perfect but it’s a good enough approximation of the firepower differences between the classes of warships, especially given how historically inaccurate the game is. Technically a 3 decker and a frigate are both 3 masted ships, but having one at 5 masts and one at 3 helps immensely in differentiating their firepower and durability.

As a side note, generally I prefer not to remake ships or crew that already exist in the game. As a result, famous RevWar game pieces such as John Paul Jones and the Ville de Paris were not considered for these patriotic summer Mega Packs. Due to the huge abundance of historical game pieces that could be made (that haven’t seen the light of day yet), I’d rather focus on bringing those to life rather than remaking something we can already use in games.

Marseillois

Lambert Wickes
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 095
Nationality: American
Point Cost: 5
Ability: Captain. This ship can tow a ship by touching a derelict in any location (not just the bow).
Link: USS Reprisal

Flavor text: Hailing from Maryland, Captain Wickes commanded merchant ships before the Revolution broke out. He lost a brother and third lieutenant at the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet. His deft handling of diplomatic maneuvers combined with his excellent seamanship make him one of the premier officers in the Continental Navy.

Very notable career and well-known by Benjamin Franklin. There was of course some competition for this slot, but I wanted a named captain for at least one of these two American crew, and Joshua Humphreys and the others I was considering didn’t quite fit that criteria or the release quite well enough. Plus, once I had Wickes or USS Reprisal in the release, including the other in the pair was an obvious choice.

Joshua Barney
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 096
Nationality: American
Point Cost: 5
Ability: Hostile: England. Broadsides Attack. This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. This crew can use their abilities on French ships.
Link: Hornet, Wasp, Harmonie

Flavor text: After multiple commands and prisoner exchanges during the Revolutionary War, he became a captain in the French Navy. He returned to United States service in 1812, but was wounded shortly before the burning of Washington. His greatest victory was perhaps the Battle of Delaware Bay in 1782.

Barney barely missed the cut on the first RevWar release, with Abraham Whipple getting the spot instead. So I was happy to include him for RevWar 2. I recommend reading his fascinating life story, which explains his unique ability and flavor text. In fact, his French connection made him perfect for this release, given that the French are in it too!

Admiral George Rodney
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 097
Nationality: English
Point Cost: 10
Ability: Captain. Loyal: England. Hostile: France. English ships within S of this ship get +1 to their boarding rolls. Once per turn, roll a d6. On a result of 1-4, this ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls this turn. On a 5-6, this ship may be given the same action twice.
Link: All English ships, Henry Medley

Flavor text: One of the finest admirals of the age, with victories ranging from Cape Finisterre to Louisberg and Martinique. Rodney relieved Gibraltar during the Franco-Spanish siege, which became the largest battle of the American war and longest-ever siege involving the British. His triumphs at the Moonlight Battle and the Battle of the Saintes have cemented his legacy as a British naval icon. Those successes proved the effectiveness of copper sheathed hulls and the tactic of breaking the line.

Rodney. He’s here. O_O  One of the most iconic named crew I can make. Not much more needs to be said here that hasn’t already been covered by many history books and of course the flavor text that I tried to make as epic as possible.

Comte De Grasse
Set: Pirates of the Age of Sail
Release: Revolutionary War Part 2 (RW2) (July 2026 Mega Pack)
Collector’s Number: 098
Nationality: French
Point Cost: 8
Ability: Limit. Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship may be given an extra action. Each turn you may choose one friendly ship within L of this ship; that ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls.
Link: Ville de Paris

Flavor text: Having served the Knights Hospitaller in the Maltese Navy as a young lad, he is no stranger to naval experience. After arriving in the West Indies during the American Revolution, De Grasse contributed to the captures of Grenada and Tobago. His victory at the Chesapeake was a major factor in securing the independence of the newly formed United States.

Probably the only appropriate counter to Rodney on the back of this card would be the French admiral at the Battle of the Chesapeake! My oh my how I’ve longed to see these two huge names in the game….

The way I like to use Limit with historical customs is as a “best of their era” device. For example, Lord Horatio Nelson has Limit and some of the other greatest English admirals or leaders of other eras would too, such as possibly Sir Francis Drake and definitely Admiral Robert Blake if I remade him. Essentially limiting a faction’s best so you can’t use all of their best admirals of all-time in the same fleet. I don’t like when Limit is used as a crutch just to lower a crew’s point cost. Here it’s more flavorful, preventing the use of multiple “gods of war” from different eras in the same fleet. Just something I’ve thought about since I started making game pieces in 2011. Neat for me to see it come to fruition on physically created game pieces!

New Keywords and Assembly Diagrams – Ben’s Pirates CSG Relaunch

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New Keywords and Assembly Diagrams

My recent Pirates CSG Relaunch that went public in 2024 has featured many new ship types and sometimes keywords for those new types. This post consolidates all of them into one reference. I also have a video playlist where I build each new ship type. To print out a copy of all the new keywords associated with the game’s rebirth, use this file. The New Master Keyword List has all of the keywords, both old and new.

Directory:

  1. Red Seal Ship
  2. Atakebune
  3. Giant Turtle
  4. 3 Mast Frigate
  5. 2 Mast Historical Snow-Brig
  6. Bomb Vessel
  7. Hydra
  8. 7 Masted Junk
  9. Carrack
  10. Grand Xebec
  11. Caravel
  12. Dragonwing Cutter
  13. Trireme
  14. Sea Chariot
  15. 5 Mast Fluyt
  16. Crew and Equipment Keywords (Merchant, Archer, Grenades)

Red Seal Ship (no ship type keyword)

Red Seal Ship assembly diagram

Atakebune

A ship with this keyword printed on its deckplate card has removable flags that are treated exactly the same as masts on a normal ship (they can be replaced by fire masts).
This ship may be given move actions when it has no flags; its printed base move becomes S. When given a move action, this ship can rotate on her bow (the front of the ship) OR stern (the rear of the ship) in any direction as an additional, final movement segment (she cannot rotate on both bow and stern in the same move action). This ship cannot pin or be pinned.
This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls for every crew assigned to her. If this ship wins a boarding party, she may steal one treasure from the enemy ship (winner’s choice), and eliminate one crew (loser’s choice).
This ship cannot be assigned treasure except for treasure taken via boarding party.
Crew assigned to this ship do not count towards the ship’s point limit.
If this ship has no crew, she cannot be given move actions.

Atakebune assembly diagram for Pirates CSG Atakebune assembly diagram for Pirates CSG

Giant Turtle (AlgothAybara)

A ship with this keyword printed on its deckplate is a sea creature.
A giant turtle can ram a sargasso sea as if ramming an iceberg; if it does, remove the sargasso sea from the game.
Two hits during the same player’s turn are required to eliminate one of this sea creature’s segments. When removing segments, remove a fin of the giant turtle. When all four fins are removed, the giant turtle is eliminated. The giant turtle’s cannon (its head) cannot be eliminated.
A giant turtle may move across islands (except enemy home islands and enemy forts) if it does not have a fort on its back. It becomes docked if it ends movement on an island. A giant turtle may shoot and be shot at while on an island (the island does not block lines of fire to and from the giant turtle on the island).
A giant turtle can be assigned crew.
A giant turtle may be given explore actions to load cargo like a normal ship.
A giant turtle may tow other ships (unless it has a fort on its back), it may ram (the rammed ship becomes pinned instead of the giant turtle), and it may board like a normal ship.
When building a fort, you may build it on the back of this giant turtle while it is docked at either the wild island or your home island. If there is a fort on the back of a giant turtle, it cannot move more than S in a single move action; during combat the fort takes damage instead of the turtle. The fort on the back of the turtle is treated like a fort on a wild island and has its own actions. Friendly ships can dock at a giant turtle with a fort and be given repair actions while there. If a ship is docked, the giant turtle cannot move.
Any treasure in a giant turtle’s fort does not take up cargo space. Crew and equipment still take up cargo space. When the fort on a giant turtle is destroyed, the treasure is moved into the giant turtle’s cargo. If there is more treasure than cargo space available, remove the excess treasure from the game instead of removing crew/equipment to make room for the treasure.
A fort built on a giant turtle cannot use crew abilities.

Giant Turtle assembly diagram for Pirates CSG Giant Turtle assembly diagram for Pirates CSG

3 Mast Frigate

This one builds similar to the original 3 Mast B, but with jib and gaff parts that slot into the foremast and mizzenmast (the slots are spaced differently so it’s obvious which goes with each). Recommend attaching the extra sails before inserting the masts into the deck (ideally the masts into deck will be the final phase of the build). Assembly instruction video

USS Alfred

2 Mast Historical Snow-Brig (2MB) (no ship type keyword)

2 Mast Brig assembly diagram for Pirates CSG

Bomb Vessel

Ramming cannot eliminate this ship’s masts. This ship has an additional rank-4 mortar cannon assigned to each of its first two masts. These mortars can only shoot once per turn each, and can only hit targets more than L away but not more than L+L away. These shots are not blocked by other ships, and get +1 to their rolls when targeting a fort. If a mortar shot hits, replace a mast on the enemy ship with a fire mast instead of eliminating it; if the mortar roll is a 1, replace that mast on this ship with a fire mast. The following cannot be applied to these mortar shots: specialists, grape shot, chain shot, smokepot shot, other abilities that improve cannon accuracy.

No assembly diagram, but very similar to the 2MB model:

Erebus and Terror ships

Hydra (original model by PirateCaptainAndrew)

A hydra is a type of sea monster. The following abilities are specific to hydras and override the Sea Monster keyword: Measure a hydra’s movement from the middle head slot on its base. Hydras may move and shoot using the same move action. A hydra may be given repair actions at sea or at any island, including while it is submerged.

No diagram, but quite straightforward:

Pyrannus - custom Hydra

7 Masted Junk
Regular Junk keyword; build is very similar to the 6 masted junks but with an extra mast on the aftmost deck:

Taicang - first 7 masted junk for Pirates CSG

Carrack

The quarterdeck is the smallest deck and goes at the stern. I recommend “pre-slotting” (slightly widening) the hull slots before building the ship in full so the deck goes into them snugly.
Carrack ship type model design for Pirates CSG

Grand Xebec (Vindaga Games)

This ship’s masts do not block her lines of fire. This ship cannot pin or be pinned. This ship may be given move actions when she has no masts; her printed base move becomes S.
This ship’s rearmost mast requires two hits from the same shoot action to eliminate, and can shoot twice when this ship shoots. If this ship is hit once during a shoot action, her owner must eliminate one of the first 3 masts if able.

Grand Xebec assembly diagram for Pirates CSG

Caravel (Vindaga Games)

This ship’s masts do not block her lines of fire. This ship cannot be pinned. When given a move action, this ship can rotate on her stern (the rear of the ship) in any direction as an additional, final movement segment.

3 Mast Caravel assembly diagram for Pirates CSG 2 Mast Caravel assembly diagram for Pirates CSG

Dragonwing Cutter (Vindaga Games)

This ship gets +S to her base move if she has all of her masts. When given a move action, this ship can rotate on her stern (the rear of the ship) in any direction as an additional, final movement segment.

Dragonwing Cutter assembly diagram for Pirates CSG

Trireme (Vindaga Games)

A ship with this keyword cannot pin or be pinned, and cannot be assigned crew with the Helmsman ability. If this ship has a crew with the Oarsman ability, she gets +S to her base move; with no masts her printed base move becomes L (instead of S), and she can always ram enemy ships. When this ship rams an opposing ship, the roll automatically succeeds regardless of the number of masts.

I recommend inserting the mizzenmast into the quarterdeck before attaching the quarterdeck to the hull pieces via the open slide-in slots.

Argonaut - Atlantean trireme from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

Sea Chariot (Vindaga Games)

A Sea Chariot is treated like a ship with the following exceptions:
It can only move if towed by a Sea Monster. Any Sea Monster may tow a Sea Chariot when any part of its base touches any part of the Sea Chariot; you may move the Sea Chariot into a towed position as a free action. A Sea Monster may stop towing a Sea Chariot at any time, where it remains until towed again or sunk. Sea Chariots can submerge with the towing Sea Monster, but cannot shoot while submerged.
When towing a Sea Chariot, a Sea Monster on the surface may dock at islands, be given explore actions, and load treasure into the Sea Chariot’s cargo space. If the towing Sea Monster docks, the Sea Chariot may remain towed instead of docking it at the island.
Abilities of crew assigned to the Sea Chariot cannot be used by the towing Sea Monster, unless specifically stated otherwise.
If a Sea Monster towing a Sea Chariot wins a boarding party, you may assign any stolen treasure to the Sea Monster or the Sea Chariot; if a Unique Treasure is taken you must assign it to the Sea Chariot or eliminate it as normal.
A Sea Chariot has no masts. Instead it has a flag which can be eliminated only if the Sea Chariot is hit twice during a single shoot action; when it has no flag, any hit will sink it. If the flag has been eliminated, the Sea Chariot may be given a repair action (even if it’s at sea) to replace it.
A Sea Chariot’s cannons are measured from the d6 markings on its hull, not from the flag.

Oceanus - a Sea Chariot from Rise of Atlantis Part 2

5 Mast Fluyt (no ship type keyword) (Vulkan)

5 Mast Fluyt assembly diagram for Pirates CSG

Crew and Equipment Keywords

Merchant: Once per turn if this crew or ship is within S of any ships, home islands, or forts, the controllers of each game piece may agree to trade any number of cargo between the game pieces as a free action (if applicable, up to their available cargo space). If the trade is between friendly game pieces, all friendly game pieces involved must unload at least one non-identical cargo; you cannot trade between friendly ships and your own home island.
Forum post with clarifications. Subject to change in the future.

Archer: This ship gains one 3S cannon that can shoot from any mast (even an eliminated mast), but eliminates crew instead of masts when it hits. If this ship carries cargo with “firepot” or “fire shot” in the name, you may assign it to this cannon instead of a regular cannon. When assigned to a ship of the same nationality, this crew is not subject to the No-Stacking Rule.

Grenades: If this ship has any crew, once during each of your turns you may choose an enemy ship touching this ship. Roll a d6; on a 5-6, the target’s controller replaces one mast with a fire mast and eliminates a crew; if the roll is a 1, eliminate a crew from this ship.

Firepot Specialist: (original ability, new as a keyword) Once per turn when this ship is given a shoot action, one of her cannons may shoot a firepot at a target within S of her. Declare which cannon will shoot the firepot before rolling the d6. If it hits, the target’s controller replaces one of her masts with a fire mast. If a ship has a fire mast, before she is given an action roll a d6 for each fire mast on her. On a result of 5 or 6, remove the fire mast; on a 1 or 2, replace another of her masts with a fire mast. When a ship has only fire masts, she must be scuttled on her next turn. When a ship docks at her home island or a fort, remove all of her fire masts as a free action.

 

Other keywords:

Hidden Gold (Xerecs): This ship has 2 extra cargo spaces that may only be assigned treasure.

Lighthouse (The9ofSpades)

Building lighthouses follows the conditions for building forts. Gold used to build the lighthouse is placed face-up next to the lighthouse and still counts towards a player’s total for victory conditions. A lighthouse cannot use its abilities on the same turn that it is built. The effects of Mysterious Islands (including Great Turtles) are ignored if a lighthouse is present on the island.

If the Lighthouse has its light, a friendly ship within L+L of the Lighthouse gets +S to its base move once per turn (a yellow L+L tool can be used to indicate the range of this effect, or a light yellow plastic can be placed under the lighthouse).

Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate the lighthouse light; when it is eliminated, remove it and the lighthouse top (if applicable). Once a lighthouse loses its light, it loses the L+L effect but retains its other abilities. When a lighthouse has no light, one additional hit destroys the lighthouse and it is eliminated; the gold used to build the lighthouse remains on the island (face down).

Enemy ships may dock, load treasure, and drop off crew or equipment from islands with lighthouses built on them. Enemy ships cannot load crew or equipment from this island that belong to the lighthouse controller as long as the lighthouse has its light. If the lighthouse has cannons, their ranges are measured from any part of the lighthouse base.

If a friendly ship is docked at the island, it can give up its turn and conduct a repair action on the lighthouse. If an enemy ship is docked at the island and no ship friendly to the current lighthouse controller is within L+L of the lighthouse, that ship can give up its turn to simultaneously capture and repair the lighthouse.

If a lighthouse has cargo space available, shipwrights and musketeers can use their abilities inside a lighthouse.

What Have I Done?

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All of the quantities are as of December 2025!

My Pirates CSG Life “By The Numbers”:
Games played: 604
Huge games (1000+ points in play): 12
Campaign Games: 9 (non-solo CG record: 3-0)
Players taught: 31+ (likely many more through the 32K+ total views my how to play videos have gotten)
Videos published: 830 (1213+ subscribers)
Podcasts: 68 (including 7+ with original Wizkids employees that worked on the game)
Fleets made: 116 submitted at Miniature Trading, 74 so far on PSMList
Trades: 122+ (73 different trade references on MT)
Miniature Reviews: 17 on MT, essentially hundreds or thousands total including all the set review podcast episodes
Posts at Pirates with Ben: 925+
Pages at Pirates with Ben: 117+
Instagram: 3136 posts, 543 followers
Constructed ships in collection: probably over 1000
Ships given away: many hundreds, plus sealed packs
Sealed packs given away: 129+ since December 2021
Game pieces available for trade: 1805
Time in PCSG online community: 14.5 years
Total hours of PCSG: way over 10,000, possibly over 15-20K hours since 2011

Restarting Pirates Project
Ships Made: 65 and counting
Newsletters: 58
Print companies contacted: 300+
Other companies contacted (for plastic, laser cutting, wire EDM and/or die cutting): 53+
Restarting Pirates folder: 123GB, 5623 files, 975 subfolders
DM’s and emails sent: thousands across many platforms, including everyone in the Pirates CSG community
Reachouts included: Wizkids+NECA (multiple times each in multiple years), sent PotC packs to Martin Klebba, Johnny Depp, Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, talked to Lee Arenberg about the game (+his signature on his PotC Pintel card). Communicated with original manufacturer Lucky Yeh International after many attempts including physical letter sent with Chinese translation. Plus many other titans of the past PCSG community, board game industry people, and more.
Hours spent: 3000+
I also documented part of the slog and journey here: A wild journey to accomplish the dream.

Document lengths by page count: (these are just the core/biggest ones, there are many other smaller documents)
3D Printing, Production and Manufacturing Pirates CSG: 88 pages
Restarting Pirates: 40 pages
Pirates with Ben: 35 pages
Pirates CSG original doc: 37 pages
Subscription Box: 8 pages
PCSG contacts/etc: 34 pages
Pirates CSG Videos and Video Ideas: 21 pages
VASSAL: 31 pages (mostly CG4 notes)
Fleets and Future Games: 21 pages

Thought it might be fun to choose one picture for each “domain” that summarizes the extreme lengths to which I’ve taken this game.

Playing:

Command the Oceans 2017

The Sea of Karkuda in Command the Oceans, 2017.

Collecting:

UNBOXING THE MOTHERLODE epic shot resized

People picture:

Pirates CSG with other people

Restarting Pirates CSG:

Restarting Pirates CSG - ALL new ships!

New Ships created for my Relaunch of Pirates CSG!

 

Pirates CSG Ships List

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Pirates CSG Ships List

If you’re looking for information about all the ships of Pirates CSG, you’ve come to the right place. Here are the primary databases that list all the different ships for the game:

Master Spreadsheet – the primary source for official information about all the ships from the original print run of Pirates CSG. Compiled using original Wizkids documents provided by Woelf, Jolly Roger spreadsheet by Holofernes, and the Miniature Trading database.

PSMList – a searchable database with card renders, fleet building functionality, and more!

TilorFire27’s database – very fast easy reference with all game pieces on one page, fast to search for specific text/etc.

 

For unofficial custom game pieces, most can be found in the Customs Database or PSMList.

The Restarting Pirates CSG Project

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The Restarting Pirates CSG Project

Ever since I joined the Pirates CSG online community in 2011 and learned that the game was out of print, I had wondered what it would take to bring it back to life. I remember reading the iconic “how did they do it” and petition threads at Miniature Trading around then.

All the New Ship and Sea Creature types for my Relaunch of Pirates Constructible Strategy Game

All the New Ship and Sea Creature types for my Relaunch of Pirates Constructible Strategy Game (through November 2025)

WHY Restart Pirates CSG?

You might wonder “WHY should the game be brought back?” To restore it to its glory. To bring new game pieces to life that pay homage to the incredible history of the Age of Sail. To chase an “impossible dream”. To fulfill a life dream and start an entrepreneurial venture with terrible odds of success. To dream big because I wasn’t meant to live an average and boring life. To dare to go against the status quo and do something that probably no one else would be willing to do. To top off my obsession with the game with a project so large and difficult that it even eclipses my insane playing history of thousands of hours of gameplay and ludicrous campaign games the likes of which had never been seen before. To evoke feelings of intense nostalgia and joy in the core audience of fans. To admit that a board game from the past deserves new life instead of just making a similar copycat game that doesn’t need to exist. To bring new sets into existence that myself and others can use in games. To be a pirate!

The Beginnings of an Epic Journey

In 2015 I began getting more serious about my passion for the game. That year was the birth of Pirates with Ben, though in Weebly form as a free website. I also contacted a lawyer who was supposed to be pro bono (according to a website) who hung up when I inquired about doing legal research – possibly the first of many failures and setbacks.

In 2021, the Restarting Pirates Project actually began. I formed a “supergroup” of fans who I thought could help me bring the game back. A small portion of those did help in a substantial way, especially in those early years (2021-2023) when I was too busy to work on the relaunch very much. Pirates of the Golden Seas was created in spreadsheet form, as a standalone set to reintroduce the game to the world. Many edits to the original rules were made and playtested along with the new game pieces.

Making It Happen

In 2024 I began working on my Pirates Relaunch full-time, sometimes almost exclusively in some parts of the year. At this point my whole life was about Pirates CSG. The first 5 months of 2024 were a slog of 3D print troubleshooting, decal cutting issues, getting my website ready for ecommerce, and learning Adobe Illustrator to complete the artwork and files for the Golden Seas set. On June 1st I launched The Store at Pirates with Ben. June 7th was the first public sharing of my newsletter, The Pirate Press. On June 8th I made the biggest announcement of my Pirates CSG “career” – that the game was coming back, with a new set to be released in limited quantity later that summer. After many dozens of hours printing and decaling, I finally finished making the first 10 homemade copies of Golden Seas just barely in time for the release date of August 10th (8/10/2024). These initial 10 copies sold out in just about one hour, proving to me that there was demand for the relaunch.

From there I knew I needed a better production method, as 3D printing and decaling was far too tedious and time consuming. The goal was to achieve “medium-scale” production, which in reality turns out to be still quite small scale in the grand scheme of things. This would be sheet printing on styrene, with laser cutting to cut out the cards and shapes from those sheets. Thus began one of the most frustrating parts of the project. The nightmare of finding an adequate supplier lasted for months. Laser cutting didn’t fare much better, as the laser cutters I have access to are somewhat older community machines that sometimes needed significant maintenance/repairs/etc. Various testing occurred with mixed results. Inkscape files had to be reworked many times to accommodate the different requirements of different print companies. After about 3 months, I finally had some misprinted (bad front-back alignment) styrene in hand. Laser cutting it was a disaster – sheets too big, and the laser beam or ink quality caused a nasty browned ink tacky particle issue that ruined the artwork on the cards somewhat and made them unsellable in my opinion. I figured it was the specific UV ink used so I pivoted to companies that had water-based latex ink printers. However, I later discovered that it was likely more of an issue with the laser beam itself, as a different laser was able to cut UV printed styrene without having the same issue with browning and tackiness.

The print company issues extended into 2025 – the one great supplier I had doubled their price at one point because of how hard it was for them to print on styrene. Many others were tried to no avail, usually having issues getting adequate front-back alignment (the project requires printing precision, which is often unnecessary in many signage/large format jobs). Eventually the search got desperate as I began contacting print companies in Los Angeles, having already contacted all the 191+ print companies I could find in Vegas without a good long-term solution. Better suppliers were eventually found locally and the laser cutter worked well for most of 2025, so around June 2025 I finally had reliable inventory of most of my core products. That realm of the project (sheet printing + laser cutting) started in August 2024, so getting all of that right (including many aspects of files and communication/etc not discussed here) took about 10 months.

Many other issues came up over the long journey to consistently bring the game to market. Website issues, store issues, file glitches, and business difficulties all cost me many hours that I wish I could have spent on developing new products. Below you can see an image gallery of the project, showing the journey of Restarting Pirates CSG.

A Pirates’ Life

I am essentially “everything” for this project, and have been working very hard on a huge variety of tasks since late 2023. For example, these are some of the “hats” I wear for the relaunch of Pirates: business owner, game piece designer, artist/graphic designer, playtester, videographer, photographer, website manager, product developer, product manager, blogger, copywriter, marketer, salesman, logistics/fulfillment, procurement, production manager, quality control+assurance, social media manager, accountant, publisher, etc.

The current iteration of the business is the Buccaneer’s Booty Box subscription model, where a few dozen dedicated pirates have signed up to keep the game in print. A Mega Pack a Month should be a sustainable product model going forward, allowing new releases to continue as the game stays in print. I am very grateful to both my collaborators who helped me early in the project and to my subscribers whose treasure contributions are fueling the game’s present and future.

To victory at sea!

Ben

 

The Challenges of Restarting Pirates

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The Challenges of Restarting Pirates

Edit: The best way to support the game staying in print is to subscribe to my Buccaneer’s Booty Box!

After about 2 years of working on my Pirates CSG relaunch full-time (since January 2024), unfortunately the time has come to reduce it to a part-time effort due to a large number of factors. I outline these below, as well as my overall thoughts on the project.

Master List of problems and issues with the Restarting Pirates project

Big 3:

  1. Not profitable/lucrative enough to do full-time (by far the biggest reason). Only financially in the green for ~3-4 out of the 19 months since the Store opened on June 1st 2024. Since the project started, I’m somewhere in the range of negative $15,000 net (as of July 2025).
    -It is not going to take me where I want to go financially. It has essentially turned into a very low-paying job, with one of my best months only being about $9.33/hr (and most far less than that). Based on my income this year, I’m below the poverty line.
    -Bad economic timing – tons of people I’ve messaged don’t have any money to spend on this right now.
  2. Legal risk. Talking to Wizkids has been a dead end so far, and rights to the game would likely cost far more than what the community could come up with. The chance of getting shut down tomorrow via C&D makes planning for my future very difficult, and makes long-term business planning impossible and arguably pointless.
  3. Health risks with inevitable burnt styrene fume inhalation. Many mitigations in place but can’t completely avoid. (mitigations: enclosure for the laser cutter, exhaust system, fan in laser room, respirator worn during sheet cleaning and card extraction, all product stored in sealed bags inside weatherproof container)

Other reasons:
-Too many single points of failure. If the laser cutters don’t work, or go down for an extended period of time, I might not be able to make inventory. If the printing companies raise their prices, I can’t stay profitable unless I also raise mine and somehow sell at least as many units. If the printing companies can’t get adequate front-back alignment, I don’t feel I can charge full price (and thus would have to sell far more units if decreasing the price due to quality issues). If Wizkids sends a C&D, I don’t have many good options to counter that.

-Too much time spent on production, order fulfillment, and lead generation/marketing (sometimes 30+ hours/week on those alone). Little time left over for the creative aspect that fuels new releases. But new releases are necessary to keep the sales coming in. Lately it’s starting to feel like a production manager and marketer job more than a passionate life dream being fulfilled. Can feel like the “starving artist” trope but with barely enough time for the art. Losing touch with the actual game and the joys it brings. (and there is no money to delegate/hire)

-Tiny market with limited spending power. In theory there might be enough people interested in Pirates to sustain a full-time income. However, there is always turnover in the community – I’ve been surprised by how many community veterans have been silent or not bought anything since I opened my store. People have a myriad of reasons not to buy, so the conversion rate of “interested” to customers is always lower than what it might look to be on the surface. There are a number of things people have to accept about a Pirates relaunch nowadays – higher prices per game piece (mass manufacturing and economies of scale not realistic), “unofficial”, different production method, etc. But it seems to me there will always be hardliners that will accept nothing other than what the game started as – cheap, mass produced, all original crew art, collectible with packs at major retailers, etc.

-Tired of trying to recapture the magic. Essentially (re)building someone else’s product instead of my own idea. Hard to escape the shadow of Wizkids given their mass production+retail scale. For me it’s an obsession and something I have contact with every day, for most it’s just memories and nostalgia. Without a huge marketing budget, most people who have heard of the game or knew it will never know I did a ton of things to bring it back. Hard for one person to shift public perception from “oh I remember that” to “Ben’s making the game now!” – it’s like an endless loop of chasing ghosts.

-Impossible to compete on price with the existing glut of product still on the market. Can’t sell the game at the $2/ship sale price that RV and OE packs are still going for. Might even be impossible at the mass manufacturing level due to inflation/tariffs/etc.

-In the grand scope of life, Pirates being out of print was arguably not a real problem. It was a personal problem for me (in my opinion) that I solved by making it again. But I’m probably one of the only people in the world who saw the game’s status (OOP) as a “problem” to be solved.

-Based on Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers book, this is: a declining market without pain, without adequate purchasing power, that generally isn’t growing. A nightmare scenario that is arguably a terrible business model and idea. Based on MJ DeMarco’s CENTS framework, the business violates most of that business framework: Control – none due to IP situation. Entry – somewhat hard to make, or at least make the game right and well, consistently. Need – no need for it, as discussed above (especially with original version still cheap). Time – can’t get away from the business. If I stop creating new releases, laser cutting and marketing, revenue dries up quick. Scale – can’t really scale laser cutting. Dies might not be much better, especially given their higher cost. Can’t delegate/hire in order to scale when I don’t even have enough owner’s comp to pay myself most months.

-Solopreneur overwhelm (minor reason). This was inevitable from the start, especially as a first-time business owner. I am trying to bring back a board game that had an entire team of professionals working on it for full-time incomes. For most of this project I’ve been the only person doing pretty much everything. It’s been a wonderful learning experience. A non-comprehensive list of roles or “job titles”: business owner, game piece designer, artist/graphic designer, playtester, videographer, photographer, website manager, product developer, product manager, blogger, copywriter, marketer, salesman, logistics/fulfillment, procurement, production manager, quality control+assurance, social media manager, accountant, publisher, etc.

-Starting to feel like “been there, done that”. Technically an endless amount of game pieces that can be created, but you get trapped in a content treadmill of having to keep creating new releases. Which comes with deadline pressures and some fatigue. (very minor reason)

-To anyone saying “keep up the good work”, I appreciate your feedback but the fact of the matter is that there needs to be more money involved to justify continuing at a full-time rate. It took a full-time effort to get to this point with my store open and various core printed styrene products available, and it would take the same to continue the project the way I’ve been doing it thus far. So unless you have a bunch of friends/etc that can start buying product now or some hefty (and recurring) donations ready, the atta-boys aren’t going to cut it. Money was required to start the game back in the 2000’s, money was required to keep making the game, and money is certainly required to bring the game back.

 

Still a major life dream (partially) accomplished:
I’m happy that I solved 2 out of the 3 major things I set out to do with this project:

  1. Learn how to make the game (production, artwork files, sheet printing, etc.)
  2. Bring the game back (regardless of scale)
  3. Make a living off it (mostly unsolved due to reasons above)

Related post: 10 step journey to making Pirates

 

Other thoughts on the project

-Already used up most of my “dry powder” with mass reachouts to the community in early July – I finally sent out a blast to an old email list compiled from many years ago to today. Plus various emails to customers and individual reachouts to almost everyone in the Facebook group and many in the Discord server.

-Also already did lots of my “Restarting Pirates bucket list” with various private communications, inquiries, etc. Along with “hail mary’s” like sending PotC packs to Johnny Depp, Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski.

-I almost always knew that someone (with immense passion) needed to be working full-time on Pirates to make true progress. When I was trying to do it part-time in various chunks of 2018-2023, it was very difficult to make substantial progress due to the sheer volume of work required (and the lack of momentum whenever you miss days/weeks at a time).  I’m not sure if Wizkids had anyone other than Mike Mulvihill working on Pirates full-time past Spanish Main, but they had a full team of professionals getting paid adequately whether the product succeeded or not. In order to figure out if a Pirates restart could truly work, somebody had to go all-in to figure out production costs, method of making everything (from concept to finished models in customer hands, including the entire artwork, files and testing processes), and seeing if there was enough demand. That person was probably always going to be me. I underestimated the difficulties of production a bit, but the lack of demand is a bigger issue (especially now that I have almost everything figured out on the supply side).  If I can’t even make a measly living (~$2500/month owner’s comp) from selling to the community – in theory the most interested and passionate potential customers I can find – how would this even work?  It’s nice when people say they like how products look, but people need to pay me to justify doing this full-time.  The people that say “this looks awesome!” need to buy more often, but from what I’m seeing and what they’ve told me, a lot of them are broke (which is fair, but this product can’t be free). I’ve invested over 3000+ hours into this Restarting Pirates project since January 2024, for way less than poverty wages. My savings can run out too, so that can’t continue forever.

-No I’m not interested in making a game “similar but not the same” like Pirates CSG. My vision has always been to bring back PCSG. I don’t think we need another (new) pirate board game on the market right now. I’d rather revive what I consider a timeless classic and fulfill that dream… not skirt around the legal risk and pretend I’m making something original when I really just want PCSG to be back. For me it has to be the same thing or bust.

 

Why it’s probably difficult even for Wizkids to restart the game
There are a number of problems: (many of which I’m probably not aware of)
-New product would still have to compete with existing stock of RV, OE, etc. With most or all costs of everything higher than they were in the 2000’s, it would probably not be feasible to make packs/boxes/tins at the same price point.
-Tariffs
-“Shadow recession”. Wages have not kept pace with inflation – cost of living crisis makes the reintroduction of an entertainment product more risky.
-The team is completely different, so a lot of the expertise and direct knowledge has moved on. I don’t believe there are any employees still there who worked on Pirates.
-Royalties owed to some of the original designers/etc – eats into margins that would likely be thin due to other reasons above.

 

Problems with Dies:

  1. Cost – not just the die(s), but equipment to use them
  2. No modularity compared to laser cutting – locked into X specific ship types
  3. Financial death sentence if they don’t work or if they break/wear out quickly – probably can’t really “edit” them after production, the opposite of laser vector files.
  4. Time, effort, and money spent learning a new production method.
  5. Would have to retool print files based on how many cards a die could cut at once, and potentially other things like the spacing gap between cards.
  6. Might not be faster than laser cutting, especially if you include all the time spent learning, designing and testing dies.

Overall dies are best for mass manufacturing, and I just haven’t seen the demand that would justify the investment.

 

Why I’m not going to lower prices: (assuming COGS and manufacturing methods stay the same)
-Effectively a punishment for people who already bought, who are my biggest fans/most loyal customers/etc.
-Would need to get far more customers than I currently have (not guaranteed). Ex: If I cut prices in half, I would have to get more than twice as many customers to make the same amount of money due to the increased time spent laser cutting and packaging/shipping/etc.
-Requires more laser cutting, packaging, and order fulfillment because now I would have to sell more units to make the same meager amount of money (basically more time required for the physical labor, leaving even less for creativity/new releases/business development/etc).
-It would set new expectations of lower prices that would not hold up to inflation over time.
-You also have to consider that I’ve never even done a “legal premium” in my pricing – arguably there should be an extra fee on every product to offset the legal risk I’m taking on by doing all this, but higher prices would just be even less demand I imagine.
-If anything, one of the only ways to make this work would be to raise prices.
-And like one of the comments on this video….
“I’d rather have less stress from less customers and make more money per job.”

 

Issues with collectible releases:
-Hand-making and hand-collation of packs is time consuming and annoying. More labor than non-collectible. (handmade packs are not scalable)
-Seas of Japan has had some pretty big lulls in sales, so demand for that product may already be waning.
-Creating a release large enough to justify a collectible distribution is hard, and takes time I can’t afford to waste if it doesn’t sell. Ideally a full set numbered to 80-100+. Golden Seas was a mammoth effort for a half-set worth of game pieces. I would probably need $20K+ up front to justify even thinking about a full set, let alone trying to figure out a collectible distribution model for it.
-In this facebook poll, “less collectible” was the most-voted option among factors that would make people want to buy a relaunch of the game. (I’ve pretty much nailed all 3 of the most-voted responses in that poll with my major product releases….)

 

A lot of these thoughts and issues have been festering for months now. The combination of the RoA and War of 1812 Mega Packs along with the rerelease of USS America and mass reachouts did help revenue in June and July, but I can barely break even overall even in the best months so far. There have been weeks where I work 50 hours to make about 50 bucks. I had to use about $12K of savings just to take the time required to do the ramp-up period in early 2024 where I figured out all of the 3D printing, decal cutting, Store opening, product pages, and more. One of the reasons I moved to Vegas was to knock my living expenses as low as possible so I could increase my “runway” with which to make this work. But with only about 3/19 months solvent (3/24 if including the ramp-up period when the store wasn’t ready), it is not something I can continually dedicate my life to.

Lucky Yeh International and the original Pirates dies

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Back in 2022, an eBay listing was sold and eventually ended up with a Pirates CSG collector. From that listing, it became known that Lucky Yeh International (also known as the Lucky Group and Lucky Worldwide) was one of the primary suppliers Wizkids used during the original production runs of Pirates CSG.

Chinese company envelope with samples and assembly instructions

In this case, the Michael in question was probably Angotti, but could also have been Mike Selinker or Mike Mulvihill

I have reached out to Lucky Yeh multiple times through many different channels, to no avail.
-March 2022: Sent messages through their website, another site, and 4 of their email addresses (some couldn’t be delivered to). Tried calling them but my phone couldn’t dial the Hong Kong/etc number.
-August 2023: Mailed physical letter to their Hong Kong location with questions about the dies (letter is at the bottom of this post). It just so happens that the first person I taught how to play Pirates is from Malaysia and knows Cantonese, so he verified the Chinese translation of the letter as well (it was also sent in English).
-November 2024: Sent inquiry through tradeeasy
-December 2024/January 2025: Messaged Lucky employees on LinkedIn (no responses so far)
-November 2024 – January 2025: In contact with them through Alibaba, to no avail. Representative was not able to connect me with anyone in the Hong Kong office, and couldn’t confirm any information about the dies and pictures shown in this post.

I have a feeling that either nobody there can ever say anything about the dies (even just their cost to produce and what happened to them), and/or there may be no employees still working there that worked on the project as late as 2008.

Credit to Matt for all of the pictures.

Here are the previous discussions about this in the Pirates community: Initial Discord posts, Full posts with reveal

Here is the letter I sent them in the mail back in 2023:

Greetings,

I am interested in the work that Lucky Yeh International did for Wizkids on the Pirates Constructible Strategy Game (CSG) around 2004 and likely afterwards until possibly around 2008 when the game went out of print. I have included an example of a card from the game. It was also known as Pirates of the Spanish Main and Pirates of the Cursed Seas.

I would appreciate any answers to a few questions:
1. Does your company still have any of the equipment used to make the game? (such as dies used to press/punch the styrene cards)
2. If you still have any of the equipment, are you able to sell it? If so, how much would each item cost?
3. Do you have financial information about the production costs that you are able to share?
4. How exactly were the cards for the game made? (including the artwork, coloring, number of cards per sheet, and how the artwork was applied to the styrene cards.)
5. Was your company the primary and/or sole producer of the game during its entire production run from 2004-2008? If not, do you know what other companies were involved in the production process?

Thank you!
Ben

Pirates: Seas of Japan! Release coming January 2025!

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Pirates: Seas of Japan!

Release coming January 2025!

12/23/2024

Atakemaru - Japanese atakebune ship from Pirates: Seas of Japan

Get ready to travel to an exotic new locale and brave new waters with the latest Pirates CSG release!

Coming in January 2025, Seas of Japan is a mixed-set mini-release featuring no less than FOUR brand-new ship/creature types!

It features 11 total game pieces – four core ships, three crew, one equipment, and three sea creatures. The sea creatures (at a minimum) will likely be a collectible element of the release. Much of the release is still in progress, including the distribution model – the collectibility aspect may depend on how I can make the product. It is more likely to be collectible if I can make it on styrene sheets with full cards.

The entire mini-release is rather exotic – probably the most exciting part is that ALL the ship/creature types are new designs! There is a lot of novelty with it, compared to something like the Golden Seas set. It is a “mixed set” release, with game pieces from both of my huge custom sets: Age of Sail and Epic Seas. This means it will have both historical game pieces, and fantasy elements.

It is more focused on gold than combat, unlike my recent releases (HMS Victory and the Cursed Mega Pack). It’s a bit gimmicky, but that’s in contrast to products like Golden Seas.

The pictured ship is the flagship of the set – one of two Japanese atakebune!

Atakemaru
Nationality: Japan
Point Cost: 12
Flags: 3
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 4S-5L-5L
Link: Kuki Yoshitaka, Mukai Tadakatsu
Ability: Atakebune. Two hits are required to eliminate one of this ship’s flags.

Atakebune keyword: A ship with this keyword printed on its deckplate card has removable flags that are treated exactly the same as masts on a normal ship (they can be replaced by fire masts).
This ship may be given move actions when it has no flags; its printed base move becomes S. When given a move action, this ship can rotate on her bow (the front of the ship) OR stern (the rear of the ship) in any direction as an additional, final movement segment (she cannot rotate on both bow and stern in the same move action). This ship cannot pin or be pinned.
This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls for every crew assigned to her. If this ship wins a boarding party, she may steal one treasure from the enemy ship (winner’s choice), and eliminate one crew (loser’s choice).
This ship cannot be assigned treasure except for treasure taken via boarding party.
Crew assigned to this ship do not count towards the ship’s point limit.
If this ship has no crew, she cannot be given move actions.

Flavor Text: Mukai Tadakatsu wanted a new atakebune modeled after the six legendary Tekkōsen of Oda Nobunaga’s navy. With Yoshitaka in command of the war fleet, the Tokugawa Shogunate aim to strike fear in anyone opposing their rule.