Features/New Stuff: Jade Rebels, Junks, first 10 master (Baochuan)
Ben’s Rating: 18/20
Jade Rebellion ships at the 10th anniversary of SCS game in 2016
Pirates of the South China Seas (SCS) is by far the hardest set to acquire, and the first set released in 2006. The Jade Rebellion and their new ship type, Junks, highlighted the set. This is another fantastic set on par with the first three sets, doing extremely well on gameplay, theme, and artwork. Tough to beat, but tough to find. You can find all of the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet, and I’ve ranked the Top 10 here.
Ratings
– Art: 5/5. Godmason already nailed it: “Huge variety of artwork. Creative, yet keeps the factions distinct.” Very colorful, pretty, diverse. Throw in the crew and UT’s, and possibly the best set for artwork.
– Set Quality: 5/5. Absolutely amazing – as I’ve said before, I’ve fallen in love with this set over the past year and a half or so. The brief return of events can’t even keep it from a perfect 5, especially with the surprisingly good PR’s and the cool SR pack.
– New Content: 5/5. I agree that the Junk and Turtle Ship keywords were somewhat underwhelming, but the Jade Rebellion faction makes up for it. Throw in the first 10 master, and there’s not much to dislike.
– Collectability/Misc: 3/5. The hardest set to collect by far – commons from SCS can be harder to acquire than rares from other sets. It’s simply tough to get, and not quite as much fun to acquire since it will usually cost you a lot. However, this can also make you appreciate the ships more, as you’ll treasure them. The common PR’s make for a truly bizarre rarity distribution, as they can be cheaper than commons!
= Overall: 18/20. Probably my favorite set of the last 2 years, but imperfect due to collectibility problems and the return of events.
Features/New Stuff: Barbary Corsairs, Galleys, cardboard LE (Limited Edition) crew
Ben’s Rating: 16/20
Beautiful Barbary Corsair galleys at the 2014 Fleet Review
Pirates of the Barbary Coast (BC) was the last set from 2005. The Barbary Corsairs and their Galleys gave players the best “minor faction” to use. This is another set with some historical tie-ins, and the only set without the Pirate faction. Overall the set is very balanced and playable, but not quite as exciting as the sets released just before and after it. You can find all of the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet, and I’ve ranked the Top 10 here.
Ratings
– Art: 5/5. Tons of great artwork – the Barbary Corsairs are arguably the prettiest faction, while the crew art feels very thematic.
– Set Quality: 4/5. The Corsairs are the strongest minor faction in the game and arguably better overall than the Cursed, one of the eventual Big 6 factions. Many other quality ships from the other factions, and the set feels very balanced overall – a return to normalcy after some problems in RV. However, the lack of the Pirate faction and (for me at least) the lack of any larger (4 or 5 masted) square rigged ships hold this set back from being a standout.
– New Content: 4/5. Corsairs and galleys are welcome additions, but sometimes the set feels rather lackluster, especially in comparison to the first 3 sets. However, the combination of good named crew, fun UT’s, an awesome SR pack, and new editions of SM crew make up for the set being a little boring.
– Collectability/Misc: 3/5. The Corsairs hogged almost all of the rare ships, while the cardboard crew PR’s were somewhat obnoxious and bizarre after the already-established crew chips. IMO, this set feels like the least likable of the first 5, so it loses a point for miscellaneous/intagibles as well, partly due to the above deficiencies.
= Overall: 16/20. Interesting and cool, but doesn’t stand the test of time as well as SM/CC/RV.
Features/New Stuff: America, Events, overpowered (OP) stuff, Special Edition boxes
Ben’s Rating: 17/20
The mighty Constitution, signaling the arrival of the Americans!
Pirates of the Revolution (RV) came out in 2005, featuring the introduction of the American faction. Revolution is sometimes considered the “best” set, with fast ships and some of the most usable ships in the game. RV also marked the first time Events were used, as well as new tins with varying artwork. One of the most historical sets, it’s also a favorite of American fans. You can find all of the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet, and I’ve ranked the Top 10 here.
Ratings
– Art: 5/5. Absolutely agree with godmason – simply fantastic!
– Set Quality: 4/5. The “best” set for gameplay, but unfortunately it was plagued by a small handful of OP (and arguably game-breaking) pieces. Also, I haven’t seen it discussed much, but the small Spanish representation and lack of inspiring named crew don’t help.
– New Content: 4/5. The Americans are the highlight, with events as the lowlight. Another batch of interesting UT’s and the SR pack help make things interesting.
– Collectability/Misc: 4/5. Collectibility gets a 3/3 here, but a point is lost due to the overall “likeability” being lower than SM and CC in my opinion. Indeed, the named crew options are rather atrocious for 3 out of the 5 nations, while the massive mistake that was events has not been fully corrected (banhammer please).
= Overall: 17/20. The favorite of many old-school players, and for good reason. The reasons listed above keep it from being the best set ever.
Ready to experience the awesomeness of Pirates of the Revolution? eBay has it.
Below you can check out the entire Set Review Podcast episode for a full overview of all the game pieces.
Features/New Stuff: France, Terrain, Schooners, Forts, Specialists
Ben’s Rating: 19/20
The mighty and spooky Deliverance, the first ship in the set (#001)
The second set came out in 2005 – Pirates of the Crimson Coast (CC). This set introduced the French, the Schooner ship type and forts. This is another classic set with a TON of great ships and crew. It can also lay claim to the title of “most perfect set”, as it got the highest rating from me when ranking all the sets. It also has the lowest number of votes for “least favorite set” in the Pirates CSG Survey. You can find all of the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet, and I’ve ranked the Top 10 here.
Ratings
– Art: 4/5. More nice historical designs, with slightly more flair than SM. Nice red background on the cards.
– Set Quality: 5/5. Large quantity of good or great ships for all main factions. For me, the forts make it from a 4.5 to a 5. Also, some rather memorable UT’s.
– New Content: 5/5. The final entry to the “Big 4”, France was immediately established as a powerhouse faction. Terrain was a HUGE addition, while forts were a great mechanic – very aesthetic and fun, while providing a nice diversion from the usual naval affairs.
– Collectability/Misc: 5/5. Picked up where SM left off with the faction-based checklist. A perfect little introduction to the super rare concept, and plenty of fantastic commons and uncommons for people with less money to spend. Almost loses a half point due to the cards seeming to fingerprint easily, but perhaps that’s just my experience.
= Overall: 19/20. I actually prefer SM, but CC could be considered a more “perfect” set.
Contents of a Pirates of the Spanish Main pack I opened
In 2004, Wizkids launched the Pirates of the Spanish Main product line. The first set introduced three factions – Pirates, English, and Spanish. Spanish Main (SM) was the first set I bought and it is still my favorite set. If you like the basics of the game, a limited number of factions, and a more historical set than most of the others, this is the set for you. You can find all of the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet, and I’ve ranked the Top 10 here.
Ratings
– Art: 4/5. Great historically-based artwork that set the foundation for how the hulls and decks would look for the rest of the sets. It may look bland nowadays but I’ve always liked the historical theme of Pirates a lot. The cards are the perfect parchment color for the 17th/18th century.
– Set Quality: 5/5. Tons of great ships, most of which are at least playable today. Large numbers of ships per faction meant that each was quite competitive. The standout ships are some of the most beloved and useful in history.
– New Content: 5/5. Tough not to give a 5 here – without this set, there’s no game. Things were fun right from the start, with enough abilities and combos to keep things interesting.
– Collectability/Misc: 4/5. Relatively easy to find, both back then and today. Not extremely difficult to get a full set, and rares were plentiful enough to keep you happy and not get bored with the typical rarity of CCG’s. Loses a point due to the somewhat inferior numbering system used in the first print runs, which becomes more confusing with the Unlimited edition’s release.
= Overall: 18/20. The gold standard and foundation for everything that came afterwards. Still a fan favorite!
DISCLAIMER: This Pirates CSG Review is extremely biased, and was written by a non-gamer who is likely the biggest current fan of this game in the world. As a result, I thought I’d never write a Pirates CSG Review, but I originally posted this in June 2017. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
Pack art for the first set, Spanish Main
Theme
Pirates Constructible Strategy Game, also known as Pirates of the Spanish Main and Pirates of the Cursed Seas Pocketmodel Game, is a miniatures game about piracy, exploration, and naval warfare. Various aspects of the Age of Sail are introduced throughout the expansions that were released from 2004-2008. The theme is heavy on gold, plunder, combat at sea, and just general piratey goodness that you’d expect from the game’s title.
Rating: 9/10. While the theme is consistent throughout the sets, Wizkids deviated from the historical theme by adding various sea creatures, non-historical ship types, and ship types that weren’t really contained to the Age of Sail. This also compromised the pirate theme to some extent, as the golden ages of piracy didn’t involve sea monsters, Vikings, or submarines. I have a Ranking of all the sets.
Price
The “game in every pack” was priced at an MSRP of $3.99 (This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated). This gave you two ships, a crew, treasure, an island, and the full rules. Barely enough to play, I’d recommend at least 3 packs to play a two player game. However, this still leaves you with a very low base cost compared to other games. This is one of the biggest strengths of Pirates – it doesn’t take a fortune to amass a solid collection and an impressive armada of beautiful constructible ships. Nowadays, the game is often found for cheaper prices than when it was in print, as my eBay price history spreadsheet shows. The longevity of the game is also proven there, as prices have risen since around 2015.
Rating: 10/10
Quality
Since the game has constructible parts, this is an important aspect. The ships are more durable than you would expect, and the first ships I have that I built in 2005 have held up extremely well over the years. Some breakage problems may occur when building ships, but this is almost always due to rushing and inexperience. If a slot is too tight, widening it with a spare game piece (such as a pennant flag) or even a pen or item with similar width can often remedy the problem.
In addition, the other items (islands, coins, crew chips) are very well-made, colorful, and very good quality when you consider that most of them are contained in small booster packs that are not very well protected.
Rating: 10/10
Artwork
Most naval games have stock game pieces to represent specific unit types, or miniatures that can be painted or customized. Pirates is a beauty right out of the pack. Nearly every ship in the game has its own unique artwork, as do the named crew and even some of the common generic crew from the later sets. There’s something for everyone, whether it’s the historical ships of the first 3+ sets, crazy Cursed contraptions from the later sets, or really well-done crew portraits that look like paintings from the Age of Sail period. In addition, the pack artwork for the sets can draw you into the game by itself, especially if you’re nautically inclined like myself.
Rating: 10/10
A large campaign game of Pirates CSG in progress. (Economy Edition, June 2015)
Learning
The rules are presented in a somewhat haphazard fashion, because the Start Here rules assume you only have a single pack to play with. In addition, the Complete Game rules do not cover the basics that the Start Here rules cover, so you need both in order to play the full game. Lastly, there are numerous loopholes in the rules that were fixed by a large FAQ (The Pirate Code) that can be cumbersome to search through while playing something that apparently started off as a “beer and pretzels” game.
Rating: 7/10
Weight
This category is perhaps the most difficult to explain. I come from a non-gaming background and the full rules and scope of the game took some time to learn. In addition, almost all of the players I’ve taught (15 as of this writing) have said that Pirates is the most complex game they’ve ever played (including one person who saw a demo turn and was completely scared off immediately!). However, most “gamers” consider the game to be pretty light, and I think the complexity rating has something to do with when the ratings were assigned.
As more expansions and game mechanics were released, the game has become more complex. The vast number of abilities available and the large amount of potential rules (including the Pirate Code and various confusion over rules loopholes) can make it a rather complex affair. Finally, one of the biggest strengths of the game, its wide-open and customizable nature (you can do whatever you want, there is no board, and there are endless combinations for fleet construction and build totals), actually makes the game far more complex, but in a good way. Taking everything into consideration, Pirates can be as simple or complex as you make it. The Start Here rules are decidedly simple, but when you incorporate the full rules and play larger or multiplayer games, it can become quite complex.
Rating: 6/10, so medium/moderately complex (completely depends on how you play)
Luck
There is considerable dice rolling involved, and quirks of the treasure distribution can lead to blowout victories.
Rating: 7/10, moderate luck but not so much that strategy is compromised
Interaction
You’ll want to look at the fleets you’re facing, as well as thinking about what type of opponents you have. There is plenty of interaction within the combat system for the game. The possibility of bluffing for face down crew or treasure coins adds further interaction. Throw in the theme and personal nature of the gameplay, and you have a very fun and engaging game.
Rating: 8/10
Waiting
The length of a player’s turn depends entirely on the build total chosen. For a standard 40 point game, turns usually take 1-5 minutes. As players become more experienced, play can go faster and be quite competitive and equal in nature. In huge games with hundreds or thousands of points, a single turn could take 30+ minutes to resolve.
Rating: 3/10 (minimal waiting in most games)
Length
VASSAL Campaign Game 1, played from February-May of 2016.
Once again, this depends on the size of the game. A standard 40 point game usually takes an hour or less, though it could vary from 10 minutes up to about 2 hours. It depends heavily on how many players are involved, their experience level, and the number of complicated mechanics (Unique Treasures, combat) that take time to sort out. Larger games could take most of an afternoon or evening. Huge campaign games, where gold is spent along the way to acquire new ships and crew, are potentially infinite in length. The longest campaign games I’ve played took 3-6 months to conclude, but they’re usually the most fun. (VASSAL Campaign Game 1, VASSAL Campaign Game 3, Command the Oceans)
Rating: 4/10 (based on an average 40 point game)
Replayability
As said previously, this game has so many options for ships and crew that you’ll never run out of fleets to make. In addition, you can set up the map any way you like, so even the “board” is completely customizable. Last but not least, there are a TON of scenarios, house rules, and custom rulesets created for this game, many of which can be found in the Files section. I’m at nearly 400 plays and I cannot envision ever getting tired of it.
Rating: 10/10
Extras
This game is amazing. It works well at any player level, since even the rules are incredibly customizable. It works well at any number of players – I’ve had a ton of fun playing by myself, and in larger groups. The historical connections are very fun (including a handful of historical ships and crew), and the flavor text was a great idea to give the game a story.
Finally, the collectible nature can be a good or bad thing. I’m in the middle on that aspect, but just the excitement of eBay auctions on rare pieces, one-of-a-kind prototypes, and “crazy collectors” on various forums can make the collecting experience fun. Also, this isn’t a game you need to spend much on to have a competitive fleet – oftentimes the commons are better in gameplay than the Limited and Special Edition items. Throw in a great VASSAL module (+ tutorial) and you even have the option of playing remotely against anyone in the world.
Rating: 10/10
Comparison
With a strong emphasis on the theme, an incredibly rich and diverse array of game pieces, the constructible aspect, and the stunningly massive customizability that can please any pirate, this game stands out from any competition. The artwork is top-notch, the miniatures are beautiful and creative, and the open world is truly inspiring. I cannot emphasize enough how much the customizable aspect helps this game. Non-gamers can play a game using the simple rules. Wargamers can incorporate the ships and even some of the rules into their massive global conquests. The game can be played on a small coffee table, multiple tables using round earth rules or whirlpools, or on a huge ocean in the VASSAL module. The 1,400+ fleets at Miniature Trading are just a taste of what’s possible when making the game a personal challenge to build the best or most creative fleets around.
Rating: 10/10
Pros: Theme, artwork, fun, complexity options, infinite possibilities, board game without a board
Cons: Luck-based, setup and cleanup time, games can take longer than expected
Overall
I’m as biased as it gets, but this is BY FAR the best game I’ve ever played and it’s a unique experience that has no equal.
Rating: 10/10
Pirates Life
Want to buy Pirates CSG?
Click here to buy on eBay, which has the best selection for the game (This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated). Hill’s Wholesale Gaming often has the best prices on packs, but not every set. If you go the pack route, you can check out my Sets page for more information and ratings to help guide your decision.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my Pirates CSG Review and get Pirates CSG fever like I’ve had for many years now! (I got back into the game in 2011) Feel free to leave comments below about your experience with this great game!
This was originally posted at Miniature Trading on February 23rd, 2015
Ranking the rarest Pirates CSG items
While making the Thread of Threads I really got absorbed in reading about all of the old collecting days with new sets, eBay, and rare items.
Is it possible to rank the rarest items in Pirates CSG? (This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated) Especially with some of the collectors no longer on the forum, it will be more difficult than it would have been a few years ago.
1. “1 of 1’s” – game pieces that have only one known copy in existence
Here are the Castigue and Blue Heron, picture courtesy of old_man. You can also see them in this picture along with the “Black Beauty” and 1 masted galley metal supersized ships, made by burnthills. The Sea Dragon is a custom fan-made Vieil Homme made for old_man by J_ARRRRR_P.
-F&S 137 – ???
-F&S 138 – ???
These two (as well as the Ochobrazo) could be out there somewhere. Neither old_man nor any other public collectors can verify their physical existence. There is also a mythical version of Sir Christopher Myngs, brought to light by algorab. Searching google for the picture brought up this site, which I had never seen before. The five master also looks like a prototype because it doesn’t appear to be either the Revenant or Harbinger based on the hull.
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2.
As for other goodies, the rankings quickly become more difficult. There are supposedly around 30 Obago Deuce’s, and some small number of Scandinavian Islands: (from Wikipedia)
2008 – Promo Ship Obago Deuce – This extremely rare ship was scheduled to be a late year promo for in-store handout, but was only distributed in very limited quantities to employees and convention-helper Privateers. Some have made their way out on the resellers market as well. About 30 are known to exist, but more are assumed to have been printed. As such, this is the rarest ‘produced ship’ in the series, and highly sought after by collectors, though thoroughly unspectacular in game-play.
(13 of them given to the pdxyar.org (Portland) group, with another 17 apparently out there as well. After at least one (?) was burnt to a crisp (lol) there may be 29 in existence.)
-Two Home islands released with the “Donald Duck & Co. #26” (Kalle Anka) comic magazine only in Scandinavia on 7/20/06 – these packs contained two ships (El Cazadora & Glorious Treasure, both identical to their English releases), a paper slip of treasure coins to cut out, rules, and two cardboard islands which are labelled “Home” on one side. Due to their limited distribution, these two islands are highly prized by completist collectors and quite hard to come by.
3.
Other notably hard-to-acquire pieces:
-ROTF LE’s
-F&S LE’s
-DJC LE’s
-CC LE’s
(from Wikipedia:)
2004 – Scrye the Explorer (SM card # PP735) – Exclusive Explorer crew packed in the Sept. 2004 Scrye magazine (issue 75) along with the ship Bloody Throne.
2004 – The Bloody Throne (SM card # PP375) – Exclusive three-masted ship packed in the Sept. 2004 Scrye magazine (issue 75) with the crew card “Scrye the Explorer”.
2006 – Gale Force Nine (SCS card # 301) – A four-masted Pirate ship LE, free by mail with proof-of-purchase when you buy either one of two island terrain sets from the Gale Force Nine game company.
2008 – Rise of the Fiends Cursed Ship (Specter) – originally customers had to mail in the Specter story (a paper insert) from a pack, but after a packaging problem in which few of these actually packed, WizKids changed this to any story from this set, plus a receipt & postage.
2008 – Fire & Steel Cursed Scorpion Ship (Chum Maker) – customers had to mail in the Chum Maker story (a paper insert) from a pack plus a receipt, wrapper and postage.
PP-471 Bust – Advantage Trophy A larger plastic bust given as a prize in 2005 – this one is painted in multiple colors
2008 – Rise of the Fiend “Stories”, one of ten possible paper inserts in booster packs telling different crew/ship stories. A packing error made these stories very hard to collect as they do not appear in every pack as advertised – more like one in ten packs.
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Does someone actually have the Scandinavian comic book itself? It would be interesting to see scans of the relevant pages.
Can anyone verify that the Grinder was harder to acquire than the other 3 mega cards found in the tins? I mention this since some of the older topics made me wonder.
These are parts of emails exchanged between myself and B.J., the creator of the Pirates module.
a7xfanben wrote:
Do you know what your basic process was to start making a new ship model for the module? Assuming I can figure out how to edit it, that’s the main thing I would focus on, but I’m not sure where to start (though I’ll soon peruse the Designer’s Guide).
bj_o wrote:
I started off by tearing apart the old French-made module, and figuring out what I wanted to do differently. My version is a bit of a mess, but I did try to build things piece by piece, as in there’s different parts that plug together to make one ship. For example, each ship piece calls a prototype ship definition, which calls a ShipOps prototype, which also calls a ShipStats prototype. There’s a reason to the madness, and part of it was not duplicating and redefining certain actions many times over. I think there was another reason, but I honestly can’t remember it right now. A lot of it seemed to be necessary to get Vassal to play nice and the way I wanted.
a7xfanben wrote:
Do you know if the “observer” category is unlimited? I noticed that I could move things normally even as an observer, so I’d be intrigued to find out if the game could feature more than 4 or 5 players.
bj_o wrote:
I have no idea if there’s any “observer” limit. The main drawback that I know of would be that observers wouldn’t have access to a private window, so any coin flips or other formerly private actions would be public. Each of the private windows had to be coded separately, but more could be added fairly easily.
a7xfanben wrote:
When you created the artwork/files for the different ship types, did you download or take anything from the French version? There is a 10 mast junk on the French module, and I was able to get it in the correct format, but now I’m realizing it’s more complicated because I’ll need individual file pictures for each mast.
bj_o wrote:
I didn’t use anything from the French version. I didn’t want to reuse anyone else’s work without their permission, plus it didn’t work with the scale I picked anyway.
a7xfanben wrote:
Do you happen to have any old files that you didn’t end up using? I ask because I found your Photobucket picture with all of the different ship types, and I can see you had begun working on a squid, shark, and serpent. If you had any old files of artwork or anything like that I would try to put it to good use.
bj_o wrote:
I actually do have a svg file where I drew those out to scale with the existing ships. The shapes were drawn out in Inkscape, then imported that into GIMP to do the shading/texturing/etc. I usually scaled up to work in 4x scale in GIMP, then reduced back down afterward. (See attached files!) [files are on dropbox]
a7xfanben wrote:
I know you used GIMP to create the artwork – did you measure out the scale from real-life ships? Now that I’m actually trying to edit the module I’m even more impressed by how much effort was put into it.
bj_o wrote:
I didn’t use any real-life ships because these didn’t always match up to anything real. I used the assembled game ships as a guide and measured those, ending up with a 30px/cm scale, e.g. the cards are ~8.85 x 6.35 cm, so they are scaled to ~266 x 191 px for graphics (L = 252px, S = 174px).
For all the ships, I had been going with a semi-realistic style, and I pretty much hit a wall when I got to the creatures. After a while of trying to figure out a good way to depict them, I lost interest, and that’s where we are now.
a7xfanben wrote:
Just to clarify – when you say you drew out the shapes in Inkscape, you mean that you drew the parts out and saved each file separately and then uploaded each individual mast picture file along with the hull to complete the ship type? I can’t download Inkscape or GIMP right now but I’m wondering if I could figure out something with Paint.
bj_o wrote:
Not quite. The shapes were drawn in Inkscape, then imported into GIMP. GIMP also converts the Inkscape shapes into paths that I used to finish drawing all the components. For a ship, the hull was created on one layer, and each of the masts were on separate layers. Each layer was then exported to its own image file for Vassal to use.
One thing to understand is that for the “fire” to show up where the center of the masts were, all the mast images and the fire image all had to have the center of the image in the same place. That’s usually the center of the mast. For example, a square rigged mast shows the sails billowing out to the right, but there’s a lot of empty pixels to the left so that the mast is in the middle of the image. I also had to make sure the center of the ship (i.e. the rotation point in Vassal) was in the middle of the hull image.
I’m probably confusing the issue more here. I could probably explain it better visually, but I don’t have the time at the moment. You might be able to experiment with Paint, but it doesn’t support transparency.
bj_o wrote:
I sent you all the remaining artwork I had, so there wasn’t really anything else beyond the squid and shark that wasn’t used.
But if you have an image you can use (at the right scale), it’s easy to add it to the game. If you go into the editor, expand the item labeled “Ocean [Map Window]”, then expand “[Map Boards]”. Right click on [Map Boards], “Add Board”. Name it whatever, and select your image for the Board Image. You don’t have to tell it a size or anything. Save the module, and you’re done after that, but you’d have to make sure everyone has a copy of your modified module.
Now to start a new game with your map, you’d need to go into the “Build your own” option in the Ocean Layout and select your new map board.
a7xfanben wrote:
Out of curiosity, did you create the artwork for the stern flag and the deck/sail details in GIMP as well? (We’re adding a Dutch faction; creating a crew chip was easy but the stern flag will be a bit tougher.) I’m not a fan of doing artwork stuff on a computer, so I’m struggling to make a 10 master look very good lol.
bj_o wrote:
I did do it in GIMP, although a lot of it was drawn in Inkscape as shapes first, then imported into GIMP to add textures/shadows/etc.
This is version “2.1” finished on 3/2/2018 and released yesterday with the start of the Caribbean game. The module size is smaller, and it did take less time to boot up than with the previous module version.
An important aspect of this edit that I should have mentioned in this post:
Page 103 of the VASSAL Designer’s Guide has instructions for deleting unnecessary files. This was important in making the module size smaller when I deleted all the world territory files and replaced them with much less space from the Caribbean territories.
Not the most important thing to keep in mind while editing the module, but something I had to search for a while to get. Deleting files while in “editing mode” on the module itself is not the same as deleting the files permanently by going into the BuildFile.
It became a tradition to formulate all sorts of Rankings ideas over at Miniature Trading. I started the original series, which reviewed my opinion on the top 5 or 10 gunships and gold runners for each of the factions. Godmason continued the series and in theory we as a community might never run out of things to rank. Here you can find my ideas on the various factions and their best ships. This is a good way to learn about the game, learn about the factions, and discover which ships you might be interested in acquiring to build your fleets and expand your collection. Feel free to submit your own Top 10 Game Pieces Overall! 😀
These are mostly from the 2010’s and simply reflect my opinions based on my long history of playing the game – your results may vary!
