I have also put these on the front page of the site to accompany the various useful documents near the bottom of that page.
The main difference is that the google sheet can be viewed online in a browser, while the file can be changed to your liking if you want to edit it. The file also has the filters enabled properly, which can be difficult to do in shared google sheets.
Credit to:
-Original Wizkids documents provided by Woelf
-Jolly Roger spreadsheet by Holofernes
-Miniature Trading database
Pros of my spreadsheet:
-Don’t have to scroll to the right for anything important (flavor text and treasure values off to the right) (Basically a rule of Pirates CSG spreadsheets in my opinion – if you can’t easily see all gameplay-relevant data without scrolling, columns should be shrunk down for ease of use.) -All flavor text included -Factions color coded for maximum ease of use (I like the new design so much that I think I will be converting my custom sets to the same color scheme!) -Took the best stuff from each resource used (Holofernes’ notes from Jolly Roger + filtering, flavor text from Wizkids spreadsheets, Miniature Trading database for cannons and some flavor text (a/b for crewfer twofers/etc are lowercase because that is how they appear on the WK documents) -Includes unreleased and “lost” items from official Wizkids documents
Cons: -Some columns do not display well at all with the filter view. Those are the ones I slanted so they would be more legible (it gets worse if they are horizontal). -Filter view does not seem to work with Google Sheets version for online viewing, unless you create a temporary filter view yourself. Even tried allowing editing mode and locking the sheets, but that didn’t work either. (https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/docs/68RwOGYUCqA/PFFYjiaKBwAJ) To view filters in online version: Data>Filter Views>Create new temporary filter view The .xlsx file of the spreadsheet has the filters. -Likely some minor mistakes due to copy/paste errors or excessive dragging of cell data. (please point out so I can fix them)
Pros of my spreadsheet:
-Don’t have to scroll to the right for anything important (flavor text and treasure values off to the right) (Basically a rule of Pirates CSG spreadsheets in my opinion – if you can’t easily see all gameplay-relevant data without scrolling, columns should be shrunk down for ease of use.)
-All flavor text included
-Factions color coded for maximum ease of use (I like the new design so much that I think I will be converting my custom sets to the same color scheme!)
-Took the best stuff from each resource used (Holofernes’ notes from Jolly Roger + filtering, flavor text from Wizkids spreadsheets, Miniature Trading database for cannons and some flavor text (a/b for crewfer twofers/etc are lowercase because that is how they appear on the WK documents)
-Includes unreleased and “lost” items from official Wizkids documents
Cons:
-Some columns do not display well at all with the filter view. Those are the ones I slanted so they would be more legible (it gets worse if they are horizontal).
-Filter view does not seem to work with Google Sheets version for online viewing, unless you create a temporary filter view yourself. Even tried allowing editing mode and locking the sheets, but that didn’t work either. (https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/docs/68RwOGYUCqA/PFFYjiaKBwAJ)
To view filters in online version: Data>Filter Views>Create new temporary filter view
The .xlsx file of the spreadsheet has the filters.
-Likely some minor mistakes due to copy/paste errors or excessive dragging of cell data. (please point out so I can fix them)
Woelf has shared some original Wizkids spreadsheets with me to help in my process to create a “master spreadsheet” that I hope to turn into a second database, similar to the one at Miniature Trading. In these incredible documents are many “juicy tidbits” of information, a true treasure trove of cool stuff for a Pirates fanatic like me. 😀
How crazy is this?! New Pirates information 13 years later! XD I can’t wait to use these new game pieces in games sometime.
As many of you know, I love making my Pirates games as big as possible. With considerable experience in this field, I have learned a lot about what it takes to play long games. I may expand upon this thread in the future, but at least this is a start. This is not meant to deter anyone from attempting these kinds of things, but rather as a warning to be prepared.
A “huge” game is subjective, but I’d start by suggesting anything that exceeds 1,000 points is huge. That can be 1,000 points at the start (ex: a 2 player 500 point game, or a 5 player 200 point game), or 1,000 points at the game’s peak if it is a cumulative game. This is not to say that 800 points is low, but rather big or “quite large”. There’s no exact science to it, but I think 1,000+ points is about right.
Now that I’ve established what I’m talking about, here are my tips and tricks to making these behemoths work.
1. You must have immense amounts of passion and time.
These games are not for the faint of heart. You really have to LOVE Pirates CSG to even make it through to the end. It’s also a big plus if you like the historical topic of naval warfare (specifically during the age of sail), since with larger games come more realistic navies and battles. As for the time portion, I would recommend establishing some kind of endgame rules if you know you have a limited amount of time. It could be a certain date, a certain number of turns, or whatever else fits your criteria (also consider the biggest fleet by point size when an endgame condition is met). Obviously if you’re playing a “regular” non-cumulative game, the game still ends with the last treasure coin. However, cumulative games have the potential to be infinite in length, which is why you may want to consider an artificial endgame scenario, rather than playing until there’s only one fleet left.
2. Planning is huge.
For Economy Edition, I allowed two full weeks for preparation and planning. It can be shorter if your “real life” isn’t busy at the time, or if you’re planning something smaller than a game like Economy.
Ask yourself these questions:
Where will the game be played?
How many players?
How many points? (Including the starting fleet for a cumulative game; I’d recommend 20, 30, or 40.)
What playing surface will be used? Are you going to write battle reports? Are you going to take pictures? If so, how aesthetically pleasing do you want your game to be? Will you make or purchase custom islands and terrain for use in the game?
How many islands will be used? (home islands? wild islands? mysterious islands?)
How much terrain will be used? Do you want to string terrain together and/or feature certain types of terrain more heavily than others?
Will any house rules be used?
Which factions will be participating? Are there pre-set/permanent alliances to beef up weaker factions? What about privateer rules?
Will there be unique treasures?
How will the gold system work? For a cumulative game, how often is treasure replenished? What is the maximum number of coins that can be on a wild island? If treasure is replenished, are UT’s ever replenished as well? (Not necessarily the same UT’s you’ve already used in the game, but do UT’s appear outside of the setup?)
Lastly, what are your goals for the game? Do you want it to exceed a certain point total? What strategies are you focusing on? Does each fleet have certain game pieces and combos they’re looking to use since they can’t use them in a smaller game?
3. Tips from experience
These tips are mostly from things I’ve done wrong. I generally get better and better at doing this with every huge game, but it’s almost inevitable that something will come up or that something will go wrong.
– Don’t place the islands too far apart. The more open ocean there is to travel, the slower the game will progress, and the more time you’ll spend sailing around. Once you have dozens of ships in play, it does become tedious to move each and every one of them turn after turn. Also, games are generally more exciting and fast-paced when things are closer together, and huge games are no exception. I would recommend ~2L between islands, but definitely make a few closer or farther so the ocean doesn’t look or play too artificially. I would recommend stringing terrain together and placing it next to and touching islands.
– Don’t play on the floor, especially if it’s the room where someone sleeps! Even if the ocean is out of the walkway and away from potential disturbances, your game is never safe! Don’t suffer like I did. If you do play on tables, you may need more than one to accommodate such a large playing area.
– Don’t overestimate how much you can play. Depending on your life circumstances, try to play an hour or two per day, or possibly 1 turn per day. The key is to be consistent. It may go fast at first, but when purchases are made in a cumulative game, it really slows down. For games exceeding 1,000 points, I’d allow at least an hour for turns, with more time necessary for purchases and battles.
– Be realistic about how long the game is going to take. I only allowed 3 weeks for my Century of the Empires (CotE) game, which I wrongly thought would be enough. Depending on how ambitious your goals are, try to allow multiple months. Giving the game a longer window also allows you to (hopefully) focus more on non-Pirates stuff, which gives you flexibility. That being said, if your game exceeds 2,000 points, it’s very difficult to make much progress unless you devote a considerable effort to the game. I have found that each round of turns takes around 1 hour for every thousand points in play, though it certainly varies. (ex: a game with 2,500 total points in play could take around 2.5 hours to play one round of turns)
– Plan out your purchases. For a cumulative game, it’s tempting to want to play constantly so the game can progress and the fleets can grow larger. However, it’s possible to fall into a “purchasing trance” and simply launch random ships turn after turn until all of the fleets just resemble massive gold fleets with no direction or strategy. This is fine at the beginning of games, but once you’ve got between 100 and 300 points running gold, you should think more about the specific strategies that each faction should use to try and dominate the sea.
– The more table space and time you have, the better. I cannot overemphasize that enough, especially the time part.
4. My history of huge games
Here are the different huge games I’ve played at various points in time. I’ve linked to the battle reports for them, as well as a summary of each one.
Summary: My first cumulative game, at least as far as I can tell. This may be my favourite battle report I’ve ever written, even though I wrote most of the report years after the game took place. This is my most nostalgic game of Pirates. It’s the only actual game to feature the harbour system, which was mostly used during Historical Fantasy Scenarios.
Pros: Epic battles, massive fun with the Cursed Conch and it’s effect on the game, and using the harbour system in a real game.
Cons: Far too much distance between islands and harbours, not to mention the locations of the harbours themselves on the ocean. I used an entire room for this game, and as a result the English and French harbours were considerably more isolated than the Spanish, Pirate, and American harbours near the middle of the sea.
Overall size: Unknown. I never did a point count, but according to my original reports, there were over 100 ships in play at some point. Estimated size between 1,200 and 2,000 total points. I used almost my entire room for the ocean, so it was a very long rectangle with another rectangle for part of it (shaped somewhat like 00oo). After measuring the same area, the total length was about 15 feet. The narrow end of the rectangle had the English and Spanish harbors (3.5 feet wide), while the bigger end with the Pirate, American, and French harbors was 6.5 feet wide. When combining these two areas (8.5×3.5 and 6.5×6.5), it gives a total ocean size of 72 square feet!
Summary: Still the largest “regular” game I’ve played, this was the first of three 5 player 500 point games. The first one was definitely the best of the three, and it remains one of the absolute best games I’ve ever played. It featured a lot of memorable moments, and the finish was downright epic, including the top 3 fleets being within 5 gold of each other!
Pros: Start out with long turns, and then the game gets faster as you go along (the opposite of cumulative games). Very fun and fast-paced gameplay, with a lot of big decisions affecting the outcome.
Cons: None.
Overall size: 2,520 points at the start of the game. This includes the four 0LR +5 crew. Essentially a 2,500 point game. 157 total ships.
Summary: Similar to the first one, just not as exciting and memorable.
Pros: Same as before.
Cons: Not as exciting as the first 2,500 point game.
Overall size: 2,520 total points. 165 total ships.
– Pirates CSG combined with RISK (June 2012)
Battle Report (the rules are in the post, and more recently I’ve posted them to BGG)
Summary: This remains my only personal custom ruleset. Combining the land warfare of RISK with the naval warfare of Pirates, this game was epic indeed. Coming up with the rules and designing a global ocean took a lot of time, but I was eventually satisfied with the setup. This was also my first time playing a huge game that utilized a custom ruleset.
Pros: Truly realistic “global” scale, using real-life territories, continents, and locations. Very interesting take on the world of Pirates CSG to combine it with another game. Grand scale that makes you feel like you’re playing a game of life rather than just a petty war in the Caribbean.
Cons: The RISK portion was underpowered. If I play this game again I’m going to edit the ruleset so troops can acquire gold over land.
Overall size: Unknown. Definitely a huge game, but probably under 2,000 total points. The only clue is that at the beginning of the final battle, the two combatants combined for 62 total ships, with the other fleets having already been eliminated.
– Third 5 player 500 point game – Defence of St. Helens Island (June 2012)
Battle Report (background info in the previous post, but a very short battle report)
Summary: The biggest deathmatch I’ve ever played. A fun scenario, but the fleets were probably too big (maybe the only time you’ll hear me say that!) for it. It was more memorable than the second 2,500 point game but slightly disappointing overall. However, the scenario itself is brilliant and rather interesting.
Pros: HUGE deathmatch! Lots of chaotic fighting, especially around the forts and entrance points.
Cons: Fleets were a bit too big – lots and lots of rolling dice.
Summary: A monumental achievement for me on so many levels. The MT era of battle reports was born, as well as the advent of pictures. This was the first cumulative game ruleset created by someone other than me that I played. This game and its reports redefined my standards for battle reports, and I’d like to think they’ve only gotten better and clearer since then. The game itself was absolutely fantastic; CotE is one of the best rulesets created for this game.
Pros: Epic ruleset, huge ocean, big fleets. There are certain things in the ruleset that mimic real life, colonization, and empire in ways that RISK cannot. I love upgrades and the slow but natural pace of the game. Definitely a ruleset worth playing over and over again.
Cons: Inevitable rich-get-richer/poor-get-poorer nature of a cumulative game. Also takes forever, which I didn’t realize. 3 weeks was a decent start, but not long enough.
Overall size: 1,212 points in the sea at the end of turn 41, when gold production stopped. This sounds low based on the scope and nature of the game; it felt bigger than 1,200. The game ended up taking 62 total turns. The ocean was somewhat of a giant square, as you can see in the pictures, somewhere around 6 feet by 6 feet.
Summary: After two years of smaller games, it was finally time to take on my most ambitious project yet. The ruleset was key, and it proved to be possibly my favourite ruleset yet, mostly because it limits the rich-get-richer/poor-get-poorer aspect that usually dominates cumulative games.
In the back of my mind, I kept thinking to myself that I wanted to make this game bigger than anything I had ever done. I accomplished that goal, but at what cost?
Pros: Biggest physical game ever (at the time). Best-looking game I’ve ever played (at the time). Unique, custom made islands, terrain, and locations used for the first time ever. New concepts including the lagoon, arch, and gold-laden shipwreck. A blue ocean was used for the first time. MASSIVE fleets, huge launchings, epic strategy plays, incredibly diverse fleets, extremely unique ruleset that made the game more fair, shiny gold, shiny silver, chain exploring with native canoes, tons of fun, very intense battles, crazy house rules. Also introduced stuff from my custom set, CC Mike’s set, and RtSS. Nuff said?
Cons: The biggest disaster in my history of Pirates CSG. A horrific accident destroyed the entire setup and many ships were destroyed beyond repair. The bigger the stakes, the bigger the potential fall.
Overall size: 2,846 points at the end of turn 33. At the time, this was the biggest game I’ve ever played. Turn 33 alone saw over 1,000 points’ worth of purchases, meaning that one turn saw more stuff introduced than entire games start off with! Those 2,846 points accounted for 163 total ships, showing how heavily crewed a lot of them were. A number of turns later, another ship count revealed 181 ships in play, making this one of the biggest games ever by ship count as well as point count. In addition, with a higher number of ships the second time around, it’s possible that the game exceeded 3,000 total points. The ocean was about 5 feet long by 3 feet wide.
Summary: After reviving the VASSAL module, Xerecs and I became excited by the possibilities of campaign games on the module. We hastily planned the first one, which would be a “regular” cumulative game with no special campaign ruleset or many house rules. Each of us controlled 3 fleets, which we HAD to play independently.
Pros: First campaign game played remotely (as far as we know). The first of many campaign games between Xerecs and a7xfanben! Plenty of custom game pieces were used. In addition, the interaction between leaders through the VASSAL chat was very unique (much of it wasn’t recorded, but the game was more complex than the battle reports show). It also became the largest game of all time (making my Economy Edition the biggest physical game ever played haha).
Cons: Typical negatives of a standard CG. The rich got richer, and the poor got poorer, almost without exception throughout the entire game. As the game swelled to enormous size, the map started to look a bit too small, but the chaotic and bloody War for CG1 brought the game to a relatively quick end. This was about as “normal” as campaign games get, but it was a fantastic test of VASSAL’s capability (as well as Xerecs and I’s capability!) to run a long campaign game. One of the biggest problems concerned the lag – when the game size reached ~2,000+ points, zooming out to see more of the ocean produced a lag in the module. This was countered by simply ignoring the lag, and sometimes by not zooming out at all.
Overall size:
Official new records: (some since broken, see Command the Oceans below)
Total points: 3,516 (likely reached about 3,700 soon afterwards)
Total ships: 208
Largest single-turn launching: 628 gold (English battle fleet)
Largest recorded single-fleet point total: Spanish at 1,631 points
Largest fleet of any faction: Spanish at 111 ships
Ocean size: Using a pixel-to-feet converter (a standard ocean block on the module is 3000×3000 pixels), the ocean was 7.8 feet long by 5.2 feet wide (40.56 square feet).
Summary: For the second VASSAL campaign game, which started just a few days after the first one began, Xerecs and I wanted more than just 2 players. The game would be played at a slower pace than CG1, and we managed to bring El_Cazador and ownage98 into the fold. This brought us to a whopping 4 players, a large number of people to play a campaign game with, let alone remotely using VASSAL. Each player would control 1 faction-pure fleet, and just like CG1 there was no special ruleset.
Pros: This gave El_Cazador his first campaign game experience, and allowed Xerecs and I to have a distraction from the intensity of CG1. It was also a great chance to try out some custom game pieces, which we did. As the game took longer than CG1, an edit to the module was completed during the game, which allowed the first usage of 10 masters on VASSAL, during a campaign game no less.
Cons: A huge disappointment. After committing to the game, ownage98 realized he was in way over his head, leaving the game after just a few turns. This took the Americans out of the game and left a void in the western area of the sea. It also left us with 3 players, which was only 1 more than CG1. Other problems began to develop. The ocean was a bit “tall”, and I should have made it as wide as the ocean for CG1. El_Cazador’s frequent absences and hiatuses were a much bigger problem, as he was too busy and/or disinterested to pursue remotely consistent play. As you can see from the battle reports, the game went for long stretches with no turns being played, and even when turns were played, they often ceased soon afterwards for another hiatus. There was no combat until late June, after starting the game in February. You’d think that would spark more playing, but again the game suffered a huge delay, with the next turn happening in late September. El_Cazador tried to sail his fleet off the map before Xerecs and I convinced him to keep playing. The game became lopsided towards the end, and an interference by the dominant faction unintentionally caused the game to stop and end prematurely after a chain reaction which would have led to a predictable finish even had we kept playing.
Overall size:
Final point count: 82 ships, 1,417 points
Largest fleet: English at 1,222 total points (a half-turn after the last report with some launchings)
Possible records:
The longest campaign game I’ve played by how long it took (10 months), but certainly not close by how many turns were played or total time in hours spent playing the game.
7 ten masters in the English fleet (though “only” 6 for most of the late-game action)
6 cancellers in the English fleet
Ocean size: about 27 square feet (a 2×2 grid using regular ocean tiles)
Summary: With the introduction of the third Ocean Terrain Contest, I made a bunch of cool new pieces to use in games. However, I wanted a way to show them off in an actual game where they were used. Thus, a “last hurrah” of sorts in regards to physical campaign games. A HUGE game was planned, with house rules created for the gameplay and for the new island/terrain pieces I made. The game quickly became the best-looking and biggest game I’ve ever played, eventually far surpassing even Economy Edition in just about every category you can think of.
Pros: I got to show off many of my cool island/terrain pieces. However, the game became much more than just that, since now this game is more about its own legacy than OTC3. I experimented with various house rules. I got into some video content for the first time for a physical game. I did a lot of awesome narrative stuff to make the game exciting and fun to read about, including some big surprises and twists. I had a lot of fun with the strategic and tactical side of things, especially with a whopping EIGHT factions participating. For some factions, I got to use almost my entire collection since the game got so big. I have over 3,500 awesome pictures to use for years to come. The battle reports have inspired multiple people with their own CG efforts, and tons of people have enjoyed reading about the game. Almost the same things about EE could be said here, as it became the greatest campaign game ever by most aspects you could consider.
Cons: The most frustrating, trying, and difficult game I’ve ever played. The physical hardship of EE was multiplied by 3, both for the length of the game (1 month vs. 3) and the points involved. A full round of turns in a 9,000 point game can take 8 hours, so things progress at a glacial pace regardless of how often you play. There was a lot of bumping things, knocking stuff over, moving between rooms to check a crew setup for a gunship, etc etc. Overall it’s an experience I would not want to repeat again. The lessons hold though – have an unlimited amount of time to play the game, and try to play entirely on tables. You need serious real estate and literally unlimited time to get these things right.
Overall size:
Official new records:
Total points: 9,078
Total ships: 509
Largest recorded single-fleet point total: Pirates at 2,347
Largest fleet of any faction: Pirates at 131 ships
Ocean size: 42 square feet between the 3 oceans involved.
– VASSAL Campaign Game 3 (September 2017-March 2018)
Summary: After having 3 different players combined between CG1 and CG2, CG3 set a big new record at 6 players, with 4 of them being new to campaign games. It was decided that the Economy Edition ruleset would be used, and the ocean would be the same size as CG1.
Pros: Having a lot of players was fun, and gave them some valuable experience with a large game. The EE rules are good, and some players utilized game pieces from RtSS along with some customs.
Cons: The game eventually became lopsided and one faction was able to run away with the game. Unfortunately there was a domino effect that resulted in 3 of the 6 players hardly getting to play, so their first CG experience was quite limited.
Overall size: 2,414 points (American fleet at the end)
Ocean size: Same as CG1, so 40.56 square feet.
Official new records:
Largest recorded single-fleet point total: Americans at 2,414 points
Most cancellers ever seen in a fleet? (likely): 9 (Americans)
Most players ever seen in a campaign game? (impossible to know for sure): 6
Most players ever seen in a virtual/VASSAL campaign game: 6
This is a page for all the different ideas for games that I have heard about or created. I think it will be useful for reference in case any players want some fresh takes on Pirates CSG. Hopefully it will also spark interest for people to start playing. 😀 If anyone has more ideas, please post them here!
-Cumulative games – treasure is spent as the game progresses, making the game bigger and bigger (these games usually either end with a time limit where you count up how many points each player has, or it devolves into a deathmatch).
–Multiplayer setups thread (linked to the post concerning custom terrain rules, but there are other ideas throughout the thread as well; pictures of thread here)
-Pick your absolute favourite game pieces and create fleets just for fun. Also check out Miniature Reviews of game pieces you have to inspire their usage!
-Use the Return to Savage Shores game pieces by using proxies. (found in the Master Spreadsheet)
-500 point games – these are huge games that take a while but are quite fun. I’ve played 3, including one as the Defence of St. Helens scenario, but the first one was the best.
-300 point games pitting a fleet of huge ships against a fleet of small and tiny ships. The third paragraph of this post gives a brief insight into my experience with this idea.
-100 point deathmatches (when you’re looking for a bloody battle without gold)
-Regular 40 point games. What I like to do is have a 3-game series between the fleets to determine which one is better. Sometimes I do a tournament with at least four fleets, and one time I did eight.
-Make fleets using ONLY game pieces that you’ve never used before. This will open your eyes to some ships and crew that are overlooked and underrated, not to mention that it’s actually fun to change things up and stop using your HMS Titan and La Monarca.
-Vary the playing area. Use a bigger table/floor space than you usually do, or confine the game to a very small space.
-An idea by godmason to have a single wild island with at least 100 gold on it, surrounded by terrain and possibly some forts and flotillas.
I had a flurry of ideas once I heard about and played Water World. This is what I wrote down; I may expand upon it or explain myself better in the future:
-Fog home islands (HI’s move around, combine with HI raiding)
-One HI for all fleets (+ one HI for all fleets but with islands that have multiple beaches (inspired by rossinaz’s islands))
-Sea is entirely made of terrain – no open ocean (maybe with icebergs) (example game)
-Every ship automatically has the HI raiding ability (maybe with one HI for all fleets, fog HI’s)
-All gold starts on HI’s, players rob each other (probably have every ship get the HI raiding ability)
-Use only Unique Treasures, possibly with just 1 wild island (tested out)
-Round earth with home islands close together on edges of map, HI Raiders mandatory/every ship has HI Raider. Include Wine as well.
-All sunken ships become wrecks at the bottom of the ocean. Submerged submarines can be given explore actions underwater where they sunk to recover gold (which is NOT revealed when ship is sunk), + crew that now have Ghost Ship or Eternal keywords. If shipwreck within S of an island, can use an action to try and raise it (only works on 5-6 or with Hoist ship, etc).
-Uneven tables at different heights. Waterfall into bay. Can only go down onto lower ocean, not back up unless Turbine/Submarine (perhaps sea creatures too). 1 whirlpool on lower table that can be used to get to 2+ whirlpools on higher table.
-Table bottleneck – line up 2 tables diagonally with small space connecting them. Can also create a bottleneck with land dividing ocean with tables still aligned.
-Team-based play: “games with teamates and allies having to work together towards a goal in hybrid style games more along a campaign or 2 vs 2 match.” (Daddy Garand)
-Have treasure in the water, and ships pick up coins as they sail over them. (similar to video games like Sonic where in-game currency is accumulated as you speed through a map) When a ship is made derelict or sinks, she could spill all the coins in her cargo hold!
-Blitz/Speed Pirates: time limit on turns. (ex: each player only has 2 minutes to finish all their actions with the exception of die rolls/etc resulting from their final action; no actions can be taken past the time limit) (use chess clock/etc)
-“Open Strategy” game. Players are encourage to talk about every minute aspect of the tactical and strategic elements of the gameplay. Great for learning and “what if” scenarios/etc.
-Expanding on Captain Randy’s 9 Pirate Lords idea, have a PotC themed game where the 9 Pirate Lords battle against the antagonist alliance from At World’s End – Lord Beckett’s English fleet led by Davy Jones. (regular game or deathmatch, with a build total likely in the 100-200 point range)
-“A very underused game mechanic in my opinion is the you cut I choose method. My playgroup usually likes to take turns having one person set up the game board, but the person who does gets to choose his/her home island last.
It creates cool map layouts as it allows for one person to be creative, but at the same time balance as the person making the map doesn’t want to be left with the worst position on the board so it encourages the person setting up to be as fair as possible.” (MangoSmoothie)
-Expanding upon the Race scenario linked above: line (“drag race”) vs. circle/oval (or other!), have islands with UT’s on them (power-ups/upgrades/etc), shortcut opportunities, NPC creatures.
Next, you’ll want the rules for the game. You likely received them in a pack or other purchase, but if not, here they are: Start Here rules Complete Game rules Master Keyword List (very useful to have on hand since your copy of the Complete Game rules won’t have all the keywords in it)
-Alternatively, you can download my Basic Rules, which combine the Start Here and Complete Game rules into one document. However, keep in mind that I’ve made some edits to the rules to make the game more realistic and adding a few house rule tweaks. (House rules are custom rulings that players come up with based on playing preferences and other factors) If you use them, just make sure to tell anyone else that uses them that some stuff has been changed. That said, the changes are generally for the better, so have at it! 🙂
Sometimes the rules won’t cover how to deal with a situation when playing the game. In those cases, you’ll want to have these documents: The Pirate Code (FAQ/Errata) Reference Diagrams
-AFTER consulting the various rules documents, if you still don’t have an answer to your question, ask it in the Rules thread (where you can also clarify what violates the No-Duplicates rule and what doesn’t). Luckily for the community, Woelf, the former official Rules Arbitrator for Wizkids when the game was still in production, has remained active! If nobody else can answer your question, he will definitely be able to. (but he’s a very busy man, so give him time to answer!)
If you need any help building the ships, check out this great document: Pirates – Complete Assembly Diagrams (created by E. Kasnick of the Facebook group)
The cheapest set is Ocean’s Edge. This is a nice starter set between the cost, the diversity of game pieces it offers, and the fact that it has all of the “Big 6” factions.
The first five sets (Spanish Main, Crimson Coast, Revolution, Barbary Coast, and South China Seas) are the most historical, and many people agree that they are the highest quality sets as well, ranking high in various surveys and polls over the years. The sixth set, Davy Jones’ Curse, is where Wizkids began to experiment more with the supernatural with the introduction of the Cursed and sea creatures. The few sets that followed DJC (Mysterious Islands, Frozen North, and Ocean’s Edge) were a mix of historical stuff and plenty of fantasy/less historical stuff such as Vikings and submarines. There were a few design changes in the Pirates of the Caribbean set, where Wizkids partnered with Disney for a movie tie-in set (keep in mind this set only has the English and Pirate factions). The final 3 sets (Rise of the Fiends, Fire and Steel, and Savage Shores) were the most “out there”, with odd ship designs joining the sea creatures and ship speeds and point costs reaching a new low in the reverse power creep (in other words, as sets were released they became less and less competitive with the stuff from the older sets).
In general:
-The older the set, the more historical it is.
-The older the set, the “better” it is (in terms of gameplay).
(There are exceptions to these rules but this is a good guideline)
Hill’s Wholesale Gaming is a great place to buy packs, but eBay is better for specific game pieces, used lots, great deals, and finding rare stuff like 10 masters. You can check out Gladius’ pricing reports or my eBay history guide(auctions only!) to see what things have sold for on eBay in the past.
Pirates CSG has had a great community of traders for many years now. You can make a list of your haves and wants, post them or a link to your collection data, and then reach out to other people in the community. The Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook group helps to facilitate this. I highly recommend trading some of your duplicates to get new game pieces, it has helped my collection a ton!
Playing
So you’re ready to play the game! But where to start? You’ll need a fleet, and some kind of opponent to go up against (which can include yourself playing another fleet).
Since Pirates is such a wide-open and customizable game, there’s really not a definitive “fleet-making guide”. There are so many options that it would have to be an encyclopedia! 🙂 However, I made a page on my fansite that gives the general information that you’ll want to keep in mind.
You’ll probably want to start at a small build total, such as the standard 40 points, in order to get used to the gameplay mechanics and fleet construction strategy aspect. Over time, you may develop an affinity for a specific faction or handful of factions. My Sets and Factions pages can help you determine which sets to buy and which factions to try out, based on your preferences.
If you’re very unsure of how to make a fleet or want more guidance, you can check out my fleets or search the site for specific build totals, such as 40 points.
When discussing gameplay on the various Pirates sites, there is a lot to know and learn. This page has an acronym list can help you navigate the waters. I’ve also compiled some tips for gameplay, and Cadet-Captain Mike’s page has a TON of great info.
Feel free to post what happens in your games in the Battle Reports thread. (a report does not have to be long or include pictures to be of good quality)
What if I don’t have anyone to play with? What if I don’t have any Pirates stuff right now?
Guess what? You can play remotely with anyone in the world over an online server! Even if you don’t have any physical stuff!
VASSAL is an free, open source engine for running boardgames over an online server. Luckily for all of us, bj_o (their Miniature Trading username) created a module for Pirates CSG! I made a few edits to the module in 2016, which you can find here: VASSAL module
That page has links to download the program and module, as well as a guide to getting started. In addition, I made a tutorial for how to use it.
The module has seen at least 23 players on it since it’s “rebirth” in early 2016. I’m on the module every week, and I’d love to have more opponents, especially for campaign games!
Conclusion
Go forth and plunder, new pirate! 😀
After playing your first game, there is no limit to what you can accomplish. Try out a trade. Collect the rarest of the rare. Seek out admirals in other countries and challenge them to games on the VASSAL module.
For those who want to go deeper into these waters, boy do we have stuff for you! 😀
If you really want to “go down the rabbit hole”, there is an endless amount of content to dive into. Checking out Game Ideas would be a good start. Beyond that, you can give up your soul, as I have done.
Finally, Pirates with Ben might be the best site for Pirates CSG, but it’s not nearly the only one. Check out this page for a plethora of other options, many of which have unique features and community members.
Here are my rankings based on godmason’s criteria, originally posted on Miniature Trading. However, I have some different opinions on how to apply the different categories, which you can tell from my comments. Also, I’m almost treating the Collectibility as /3 and Miscellaneous as /2 for the total of 5 for that score. This is partly to add extra points for overall set greatness, or “likeability”. (Also, I had a little too much fun bashing stuff in the “new content” section, so some of my comments there can be taken with a grain of salt haha)
This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated. Feel free to buy from them to help support the site, thanks!
Spanish Main
– 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!
Crimson Coast
– 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.
Revolution
– Art: 5/5. Absolutely agree with godmason above – 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.
Barbary Coast
– 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.
South China Seas
– 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.
Davy Jones’ Curse
– Art: 4/5. The wacky advent of the Cursed highlights an underwhelming set for artwork. However, the crew art, American ships, and SR pack certainly keep the score from being a 3.
– Set Quality: 4/5. This set began the long slow decline of Pirates CSG. A reverse power creep started, and wouldn’t be reversed back until the final set. Sea monsters stink in-game, and the set features more boring ships than previous sets. However, a nice selection of named crew and a few standout ships per faction make it somewhat memorable.
– New Content: 2/5. The Cursed have always been the worst faction of the Big 6, even with their introductory set. Sea monsters have always been overpriced. A large portion of the existing customer base was alienated by the overemphasis on the supernatural and magical elements, which is arguably what started the end. Very close to a score of 1, if not for the inherent “coolness” factor.
– Collectability/Misc: 4/5. A point deducted for the low quality first print runs, but otherwise a fun one to buy. All 6 major factions for the first time, which leads to much collecting. I’m actually glad the Guichuan and LE’s are rare (they should be), and the SE boxes and cool SR pack are great reasons to buy DJC.
= Overall: 14/20. The beginning of the end. The glory days of Pirates were over, with the dark cloud of Cursed madness threatening to take over the beloved game. OK, I’m being too dramatic! Heh, definitely a good set but the reputation is somewhat horrible between how many people left the game soon afterwards and the scratching issues.
Mysterious Islands
– Art: 3/5. Some boring ships with a small handful of incredible standouts (including those little-known SE’s), along with decent artwork overall. Submarines were the highlight of the set, but they’re very lackluster and even hard to tell apart. I also didn’t enjoy the boring gray cards, though it fits with the Mercenary faction. (perhaps a tropical look would be too much)
– Set Quality: 3/5. The Mercenaries introduce an interesting dynamic to the game, and some of their game pieces have affected fleet-building ever since. Each faction got some solid if unspectacular ships, but plenty of mediocre/boring ships were introduced as well.
– New Content: 2/5. I enjoyed the Mysterious Islands, but some of them can be OP. The Mercenaries have always been the worst faction in the game, and submarines are often either useless or borderline OP (think deathmatches, marines, cancellers, etc). Novelty and excitement barely keep the score from being a 1. (for the second set in a row – when a lot of people can agree that the new stuff stinks, you know things are in decline)
– Collectability/Misc: 2/5. Not entirely collectible, between the low playability and lackluster PR’s (with the exception of the MiaB pack). The miscellaneous score has to suffer as well – this set can be rather boring and hasn’t stood the test of time that well for me. It doesn’t help that this set came out at a bad time – soon after the general brilliance of the “golden age” and when DJC (a superior set) and its sales likely set expectations too high. In addition, I noticed that the ships are generally more brittle than usual, which is especially bad for newer players.
= Overall: 10/20. As godmason said, bad execution. Perhaps more playtesting could have improved the new mechanics.
Frozen North
– Art: 3/5. Pretty much all of the longships are interesting, but most of the regular ships are not. The repetitive UT’s and mostly boring named crew don’t help. However, the French and Americans have some very pretty ships, and I think the rather dull look actually fits the theme rather well, keeping the score from being a 2. Though the white look of the cards is also very thematic, it’s hard not to prefer the vibrancy and color of the first 5 or 6 sets in terms of cards.
– Set Quality: 3/5. FN continues the trend of more mediocre ships where MI left off. I’ve noticed that the named crew, UT’s, and LE’s seem either fantastic or terrible. Plenty of playable ships, just not a lot that people prefer to use. In addition, I believe Cadet-Captain Mike proved that this was the slowest set for ship speeds.
– New Content: 1/5. Wow… where do you even start with this one? Icebergs are by far the most obnoxious terrain type – of course they should damage your ships, but moving them at the beginning of each player’s turn has consistently been the most-forgotten aspect of gameplay in my experience. They’re annoying to no end, and they look silly compared to the reefs and sargassos because they would never be flat. Then we have the Vikings, where the historicity of the set comes into question. Many people have lamented the Viking faction even more than the Mercenaries, simply because the timing of their exploits in real life is so far from the Age of Sail. However, I think the Longship keyword takes the cake for worst new content in this set. Viking longships didn’t even carry cannons as far as I know, but here they get the most potent offensive ability in the game just because they have small ships. The Vikings would be far better off with a different version of the keyword while functioning as a swarm nation.
– Collectability/Misc: 4/5. Not much to say here, other than the fact that FN remains one of the pricier sets.
= Overall: 11/20. A decent set strictly from a gameplay perspective. A rather strange direction to take the game in, and the reverse power creep continues.
Ocean’s Edge
– Art: 1/5. The ugliest ships are from this set. Overall the artwork is quite boring (Le Musarde lol – even the French got it), with a couple standouts (Zeus). Some of the ships are absolutely garish, and not in a good way (Salte el Tiburon).
– Set Quality: 3/5. A lot of mediocre and extremely boring ships. However, I didn’t give a 2 because there are some absolutely amazing finds here – the brief return of 6 masted junks, a few cool SE’s, two All-Powerful crew, surprisingly playable sea creatures, and some good 5 masters (except for the “new” Acorazado). In addition, the sheer quantity, especially when including the SE’s and LE’s, gives a ton of options for playing, which is great.
– New Content: 3/5. Titans are the best sea creatures by far, and can be rather good. Sea dragons aren’t so hot, but they’re also few in number. The sharks are absolute trash, so thank Wizkids for not releasing any more in later sets (or condemn them for even releasing them in the first place!). Catamarans have always seemed overrated to me, and their disproportionate size looks silly. Windcatchers have always seemed like a glorified 3 masted schooner, but the ones that came out are certainly interesting to play. I happen to love whirlpools, despite them not being realistic at all. Obviously a ton of new stuff – once again the sheer quantity helps the score because it gives options and pleases most people to some degree even if you only like one or two of the new things.
– Collectability/Misc: 5/5. I rate the collectibility as a 3/3 easily, and though I would normally put the miscellaneous score as 1/2, the collectibility is so high that I’m giving the overall category 5/5 (collectibility breaks the scale heh). The biggest set ever, extremely cheap packs (great for new players), very easy to get most of the main set. SE tins rereleased some older ships, while they and the SE’s weren’t terribly difficult to find. Throw in megapacks, the legendary Zeus, and a tough LE set to collect, and you have a crazy collector’s dream while still being the most accessible set to new players due to how common it is and the low price.
= Overall: 12/20. A set famous for being very diverse, common, and cheap. The prevalence of OE makes it very easy to get sick of; I have once again tired of it after a short renaissance last year.
Caribbean
– Art: 3/5. Design changes actually annoyed me, as I found the old look more pleasing and I like using pennants. However, limiting how often the ships break is definitely a good thing. In addition, more rounded hull and mast tabs usually make for easier assembly.
The actual artwork was pretty cool and fun to look at. However, a bunch of it was reused from earlier sets, but the biggest problem was the total failure to make the Endeavour, Dauntless, and Interceptor look ANYTHING like the ships from the movies. An inexcusable gaffe that nearly ruins the experience of playing those ships (so silly looking that the excellent Flying Dutchman and Black Pearls don’t make up for it). Notable for introducing the split card colors which stayed until the end. I did enjoy the crew and UT pictures, as it really ties the movies into the game quite well. I think the kraken design and artwork is about as good as could be expected.
– Set Quality: 3/5. Lots of good ships with a few great ones as well. This gave the Pirates and English that many more options (including very nice crew options), which neither of them really needed. I deducted a point for not having other factions, and another point for the OP stuff (mostly Captain Jack Sparrow, but the Endeavour, Cursed Captain Jack and Kraken Gong have all had somewhat detrimental effects on the game).
– New Content: 3/5. Krakens were quite well done overall, as a relatively playable sea creature that effectively incorporated the movie theme. The Parley keyword can be confusing at first and is probably underpriced a little, but it’s definitely a cool addition to the game and another effective movie tie-in. Going a little deeper, this set also introduced a handful of new “1 of 1” game pieces such as CJS, Calypso, the Hai Peng, and Jailhouse Dog. Most of the unique stuff was either confusing or ruined some of the fun, but there’s no denying the importance of those and other game pieces on modern competitive play.
– Collectability/Misc: 3/5. Mostly negatives here unfortunately – a small set is easier to collect (which can be a good thing), and there wasn’t much extra stuff (SE/LE/PR pieces) to get. The real problem was when the distribution went awry, with some packs having all commons, and in extreme cases, “god boxes” full of SR packs. Throw in just 2 factions, and even the PotC name can’t save the set from having major collectibility problems. However, the partnership with Disney was absolutely perfect for a game like Pirates, so the Miscellaneous score is definitely a 2 and could be bumped to a 4/5 overall if you value intangibles more than collectibility (or are just a huge PotC fan heh). Though, the change to a rarity-based checklist was a negative.
= Overall: 12/20. A great effort with Disney’s help, but with some glaring flaws that make the set quite polarizing.
Rise of the Fiends
– Art: 4/5. Very colorful ships and crew – many great, but some a bit over the top. Most of the larger ships are quite beautiful. Using different artwork for generic crew is cool, but it does make it a bit confusing and harder to use for new players. Actually one of the most interesting sets for artwork, but too much focus on the red theme was detrimental (mostly with the red island/terrain cards, which look truly disgusting next to any other set’s). I don’t like the cards either – the red and yellow looks great with SM and CC, but combined and brighter it seems unappealing for some reason.
– Set Quality: 3/5. I’ve underrated this set many times, but it has a lot of interesting game pieces. However, there’s a bunch of mediocre stuff as well. Most ships are either slow or have small cargo holds, so it’s not a good set for getting gold at all. There are a few balance issues with the extremes of the set – mostly the San Cristobal and Blood Money being OP, while stuff like Merrow and some of the 1 masters should not have been made.
– New Content: 1/5. I nearly put 0/5 and said “am I allowed to do this?”, but flotillas and the glow in the dark stuff just barely make up for the atrocity of scorpions and the Hostile/Loyal stuff. Scorpions are my least favorite ship type, though the sharks are up there as well. Only one of them stands out, while all the flotillas are usable and quite good. The Hostile/Loyal keywords feel like an unnecessary gimmick to lower point costs (Eternal for one point?), though I do like when flavor text is part of the gameplay. The Turbine and Double Catamaran randomly thrown in at the end of the set really show that the game was completely coming off the rails at this point. The Turbine keyword is underpriced and weird from a historical perspective, while the Double Catamaran ship type is way too wide and big, not to mention awkward. Though the ship types weren’t new, I love the glow in the dark concept.
– Collectability/Misc: 3/5. Another small set, but a decent one to collect. Positives included a cool variety of SE’s and LE’s, some of which are very expensive to acquire. Negatives include a silly rarity distribution with generic crew and an SR pack that was too common. Not much to say about the story inserts. Throw in the mythical Ochobrazo, and it’s definitely a unique set for collectors. The Miscellaneous score is 1/2 since the set is just not that great when you consider everything. Throw in the odd name, “Rise of the Fiends”, and you can’t even find a sea creature outside of an SE kraken nor an abnormally strong Cursed presence. (sure they got Scorpions and a 10 master, but any of the large gunships from the set easily outclass them)
= Overall: 11/20. Not one of my favorites, but the positives of the set are pretty cool.
Fire & Steel
– Art: 4/5. Plenty of variety and good designs, with some ugly ones as well. The named crew portraits seem below average.
– Set Quality: 2/5. The gold standard for mediocrity in Pirates. So much quantity, and so much of it boring and/or below average.
– New Content: 2/5. Another colossal failure that partly led to the game’s downfall. Giant flamethrowers and freaky blades that pop out from the sides of a hull. Not as bad as Scorpions, but two Pokeship designs instead of one is just sad. On the other hand, equipment would have been perfect to introduce early in the game, such as CC or RV. However, at least it was great when it arrived – lots of variety, mostly historical, and good point costs (once you see the errata). The 0-value gold coins provide an interesting twist to the game.
– Collectability/Misc: 2/5. Somewhat fun to collect due to the sheer number of game pieces, including cool SE’s and LE’s. However, it’s a little TOO hard to collect – beyond the LE’s being pricey, you’ve got a Big 3 of very tough acquisitions – the Chum Maker, Raptor Maw, and the big one, the Obago Deuce (and I’m not even including the SiaB’s!). I would say this is the most boring set, so the intangibles are bad. It gets a 1/2 for Miscellaneous due to the Historical Pack and having just enough cool stuff to be worth investigating.
= Overall: 10/20. The most boring set in my opinion. I still enjoy all the sets, but I usually enjoy this one the least.
Savage Shores/Return to Savage Shores (latter not released but found here)
– Art: 4/5. Definitely stands out, but some ugly ships keep it from a perfect score. I think the named crew artwork was exceptional.
– Set Quality: 4/5. Some great stuff, mostly good. The sea monsters, lack of generic crew, and somewhat unbalanced pieces (navigators, cargo masters, American canoes, Libellule, hoists) keep it from a 5 for me.
– New Content: 4/5. Canoes and hoists are both fantastic, arguably too much so. Hoists are the most excusable Pokeship (if they are even considered to be one) simply due to how interesting they are in terms of gameplay. Navigators and cargo masters are both frustrating to deal with in large games, but they’re a welcome addition to most players.
– Collectability/Misc: 4/5. The set was almost too easy to acquire, and the box idea caused some consternation among people who didn’t or couldn’t (or still can’t!) complete 10 masters. The SR’s were relatively common as well, but I give the set a 2/3 for collectibility. The Miscellaneous score gets a 2/2 due to the set’s good reputation and a kind of positive farewell after the long decline. The set is generally viewed with very positive vibes due to it being so unique in so many ways, and a beacon of hope that unfortunately never was.
= Overall: 16/20. Very good but not all-time great. RtSS is sort of included since it’s so similar.
Best to Worst:
19/20: Crimson Coast
18/20: Spanish Main
18/20: South China Seas
17/20: Revolution
16/20: Barbary Coast
16/20: Savage Shores/Return to Savage Shores
14/20: Davy Jones’ Curse
12/20: Caribbean
12/20: Ocean’s Edge
11/20: Frozen North
11/20: Rise of the Fiends
10/20: Mysterious Islands
10/20: Fire and Steel
Compared to my original or “favorites” list, CC jumps to the top spot! As I expected the top 4 are all very close, with the “perfection” of CC and the flaws of RV narrowly keeping them from a 4-way tie. SS climbed ahead of DJC, while FN and MI dropped a bunch. Very interesting. It will be interesting to see how my favorites change over the years, and if I edit any of the ratings to reflect more comprehensive experience with the sets.
It has become 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 has continued the series and we have many threads still to go! 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.
This ship is the first gunship to ever be gifted with amazing guns and the built-in EA roll. Back in the old days before the 2 action limit rule was instituted, players everywhere loaded the Titan up with crew like Myngs and gave their ship enough extra actions to clear the board in one turn. Even today you’ll occasionally see newbies posting fleets claiming to be able to eliminate upwards of 20 masts in one turn using old-school combos. Although the Titan has serious competition now that all the sets are out, she still remains one of the most formidable foes you can face in this game. A large cargo space, average base move, and fair point cost make her the quintessential gunship.
One of the most undercosted ships in the game, the English version of the original GT just missed out on the #1 spot. I felt that the Titan’s 2 extra cargo spaces gave her more flexibility in terms of crew and potential treasure running/stealing, and the EA is worth more than allowing Pirate crew aboard. Although, since Pirate crew can be used on the HMS GT, undercosted crew such as Calico Cat can come aboard and give the GT an EA at a discount.
That being said, the Grand Temple combines above average size with above average speed (for her size, anyway), not to mention her near-perfect guns. I myself have used her extensively, and I can say that she is one of the best gunships in the game, regardless of nationality.
Combining theoretically perfect guns with the most potent offensive ability in the game, this beast is probably the most powerful five master ever. Put a world-hater on board and you’ve got a chance to take out up to 10 masts in one turn if you can find enough targets. The only things that hold this ship back from taking the #1 spot are her high point cost (tough to use in the standard 40 point format) and her average speed and cargo space. In addition, many players may be expecting her to be used a lot, so make sure to have a counter for ships with this ability.
Not only does the London combine great cannons with good speed, she only costs 11 points, less than most other large English gunships. She’s not as flashy as some of her counterparts, but 16 points (with a captain and helmsman) gets you a very nice package. Her ability doesn’t help her too much, but perhaps it’s all for the better since it keeps her point cost low.
This ship is expensive and a bit slow at 16 points, but having 4 1L cannons before adding any crew is the best a gunship can ever do. Her firepower is simply too good to be ignored. In addition, her large cargo hold allows you to pack on deadly crew and equipment, or potentially use her as a treasure raider and/or hybrid ship.
Similar to the London but with a higher point cost and slightly less effective guns, the Oxford can fly under the radar by playing second fiddle to ships like the Titan and Endeavour. Her speed sets her apart; no other English gunship as large can boast such a high base move, outside of HMS Swallow. With just a captain aboard she’s ready to go at 15 points. Again, like the Gallows, her extra cargo spaces can be utilized to run gold or try to steal it via boarding. Her ability is just gravy after how good the rest of the ship is.
This one is a little bit sentimental, but I’ve always thought the Bolingbroke to be one of the most underrated ships in the game. The cheapest ship on this list, the Bolingbroke is very much like a smaller version of the London, combining S+S speed with good cannons. Released in the first set, her speed made her “fast” in those days. Her ability is often cited as a good one to use behind a larger ship, but it’s very flexible in that it can be used at any point in the game.
This might be a surprise to some, however the impact of a world-hater on guns that are already good is understated. Raw firepower wins battles more than flashy ships and expensive crew. The Royal combines great firepower with enough cargo space to add another crew or equipment after the standard captain and helmsman (or Hermione Gold).
Not exactly a ship, I first had doubts about putting this on the list. However, this is by far the cheapest bunch of guns you can buy in England. It would be considered even they didn’t have great ranks (2) and ranges (S+S). Hook this up to a ship like the Oxford and you’ll be almost unstoppable. Always remember that not only can your opponent only cancel your ship’s captain, but the Extended Range keyword can let you snipe away from outside S range, not to mention the fact the the flotilla’s shoot action can’t be cancelled, making her perfect against ships with cancellers. I prefer the Gibraltar over the Tower because of the gun ranks and lower point cost, but Tower isn’t far behind at all.
This was the hardest choice to make – HMS Victoria would probably be #11. You can see my honorable mentions below, but the last spot will always be a tough one. I went with the Apollo over the Victoria for a number of reasons. The Apollo has a faster base move, and her guns are a mix of S and L, which can be crucial if facing the wrong opponent. However, the Apollo’s reroll gave her the advantage over the Victoria and the other version of HMS Apollo. Faction-haters are too situational, while the reroll can be used over and over for a multitude of things.
One of the only 5 masters in the game that’s viable as a treasure runner, the Aberdeen Baron has been a staple in my English fleets. The built-in explorer ability makes her fantastic. Some will disagree with her placement here because she’s not dirt-cheap and only has S+S speed. However, for 14 points (with a helmsman) you have an extremely durable runner sailing at S+S+S with room for 4 coins. Having extra masts that can be taken down is invaluable because it allows her to get home without sinking. Only 1 or 2 hits are required to dismast and therefore stop a lot of the best treasure runners in this game. The Baron is a very unique ship that deserves recognition for her greatness.
This one is expensive but worth it. The Provost combines speed (S+L) with a huge cargo hold (6 spaces!). She would be #2 on this list even without the HI-raiding ability, which is perfect for a gold runner like this one. That ability makes her contend for the #1 spot, but I had to choose 5 masts for 12 points rather than 2 masts for 13 points.
This ship only needs an explorer to get started, which ties the Baron at 14 points overall. Add a helmsman for S+L+S speed. Just be careful with the Provost because you don’t want your rather pricy investment to get hit.
Here’s a more typical runner of which England has very few. Simple but effective, the Hound combines adequate speed with adequate cargo space. Plop an explorer on her and she comes in at 8 points. I gave her a slight edge over the next ship because she’s a point cheaper and has a more useful ability. Her ability may not help her directly, but it can help out the rest of your fleet in numerous ways.
Very similar to the Hound but a point more expensive. Between her guns and ability she’s more capable of putting up a fight, but any fleet (especially an English one) had better not be using her for combat.
One of the cheapest ships in the English navy. This ship really needs a helmsman to move quickly enough, but for 7 points L+S movement with 3 spaces available is a great deal. Adding an explorer brings it to 8 points but then you’ll only have room for two treasures. In addition, this little pest has fantastic cannons, which makes her the perfect ship on which to put a captain and a helmsman and become an effective support gunship. In that scenario she would still have two spaces available, perfect for stealing gold from enemy runners. Overall a very versatile ship.
The Dover isn’t always a treasure runner due to her large size and serviceable guns. However, in England’s fleet she fits better as a gold ship because they have so many better fighting options. She can also be used to do both. For 13 points (with a helmsman and explorer), the Dover moves S+S+S with 3 spaces available for gold. She is similar to the Aberdeen Baron when crewed with at least an explorer. Again, durability is an underrated aspect of running gold.
It should say “+S” to her base move, but even with L+S+S speed on the way out this ship is one of the fastest the English have. Unfortunately this means she can’t carry an explorer, but 7 points is still a nice price for being able to move L+S+S to an island, take the best three treasures, and sail back at L+S.
This ship completes the trio of English two masters from CC. The Gibraltar isn’t the worst of the three – you could make a case that she’s the best! However, for strictly treasure running she loses a few points for being expensive and having less cargo space than the other two. This is one of the more versatile ships England has. Send her out with an explorer and she’ll be able to grab a few coins at S+S+S speed, or she can raid an enemy HI when they least expect it. It’s also feasible to send her out with a captain and use her effective guns to support your main gunship and/or raid enemy gold runners and use her two spaces to steal gold from them.
This ship has everything going in it’s favour. Good speed, a lot of cargo space, a decent ability, a nice gun, and Super Rare status. This ship isn’t one of the very best, but she gets the job done. I would recommend either a helmsman or explorer, or possibly both depending on your preferences.
I put these two together since they’re so similar. I have both and they’re effective for their point cost. Both have no ability, so it’s up to you if you want to pay the extra point to get the extra speed and slightly more maneuverability.
This was actually harder than ranking the gunships; some of these rankings could easily be changed a bit. In addition, some of the honorable mentions just barely missed the cut.
The Soleil Royal is a near-perfect ship. She gets the #1 spot because she gives you great bang for your buck. There are a few flashier ships, but the Soleil Royal combines a great point cost with good guns and a great ability. Her speed is the only thing that leaves something to be desired; however with 5 cargo spaces there is plenty of room to add a helmsman and potentially a sac captain and some oarsman. On top of everything else she’s one of the most beautiful ships in the game, like many of the other French ships.
I’d like to put some more five masters above this ship, but there’s no denying her from taking the #2 spot. I know that some would rank her #1. However, I feel that her guns and high point cost (and to a degree her 3 cargo spaces) hold her back a bit. Although her ability makes her incredibly difficult to take out, her firepower is a bit lacking. The Soleil Royal costs 16 points even AFTER you add a captain.
That being said, this might be the “best of the pests”. Ships with this ability are just so annoying. Back before “reverse pinning” was banned this ship was nigh unbeatable. Even today she remains one of the best ships in the game.
Often overlooked because of being from FN, this ship is a beast. Great guns, good speed, and a very nice ability that makes her versatile and maneuverable. Her point cost is high and her cargo hold is small, but this ship just beats out a few of the other five masters on this list.
The other French five master from RV, Le Superbe has everything you want in a gunship. The only thing that holds her back a little bit are the fact that all of her guns are L-range. In addition, I felt that the reverse captain ability of the Delacroix was more valuable than the Superbe’s ability. However, they can both be very useful and it depends on the situation.
Another beautiful five master, Le Gaule is one of the best close-quarters brawlers in the game. She’s expensive but quite powerful. The only thing that holds this ship back are that both her guns and ability only work within S, putting her at a disadvantage when facing ships like the Bonaparte or ships with cancellers.
Another powerful five master with fantastic guns and a nice point cost. This one’s not as flashy as her sister ships but gets the job done. This ship is the only one of the original three French five masters (from CC) to make the top 10; the other two were considered heavily and are listed as honorable mentions.
Also, I felt it was easier to group all of the five masters together at the top since they have more firepower than the following three masters.
There are some who will disagree that this ship is above the next two. However, nothing is better to have in a gunship than all rank-1 guns! I’ve recently acquired this ship and I’m pretty sure the mainmast should be listed as a 2L gun, not 3L. The Lyon is simple but extremely effective.
This is a really fantastic ship. This is one of those ships that’s just PACKED. By that I mean that she is just great in every way. Fast, capacious, and well-armed, with a high enough point cost to add essential crew like Barbinais in order to eliminate as much enemy cargo as possible. She can also be used to run treasure or steal it. The only thing that holds her back are her guns, serviceable but not optimal for a ship with such an ability.
This thing is the most simple gunship ever created! Put a captain on and you’re good. Her speed and ability are fantastic complements, and having just one cargo space may actually be better since it makes your job as fleet-builder incredibly easy. Great value for 13 total points.
I’d love to award the last spot to a ship, but I really value flotillas as a great and cheap way to boost your firepower. This isn’t the best flotilla in the game but it is the only French one. Hook it up to the Bonne Chance and you’ll have 7 effective guns (with 4 of them at S+S range) flying around at S+S+S speed for only 22 points! If you don’t use/don’t like flotillas, a lot of the larger ships in the honorable mentions list could easily be swapped for this one.
This ship has the durability of a two master, but because of that negative ability her point cost is about what a two master might be. Her somewhat obscene cargo hold is only augmented by her fast base move. Easily one of the best ships in Savage Shores.
One of the original French ships, this is one of the very best deals in the game. She is just fantastic. Most players either use her as some kind of treasure ship or a place to put their 0LR +5 crew/etc., but it’s even feasible to use her as a gunship. I think of her as the French answer to HMS Cumberland, which is from the same set.
This ship has been a staple of French fleets since she came out. Some use her as a sniper gunship (potentially with shot equipment), but since she’s so fragile I think she’s better as a gold runner. If you add an explorer she’ll only have two spaces for gold, but you’re still only spending 6 points and she’s got S+S+S speed. Another great value for your points.
I personally like this ship better than Le Pique, but I felt that one extra cargo space isn’t worth paying 3 extra points. The Artesien does have a more treasure-oriented ability, but it’s not particularly good. She’d be better off with no ability or an ability that lets her randomly take one treasure from any ship she touches. Either way, still a great ship!
This is the most durable ship on the list so far, which makes a sizable difference in my book. The Triton is very simple – just crew her with some combination of helmsman/explorer and she’ll be set to go. Her guns are serviceable, making her a good hybrid ship.
The Vengeance could be considered a larger and more expensive version of the Triton. Her extra firepower (and bonus against English ships) makes her even more viable for use as a hybrid, but with only an explorer she makes for a good gold runner as well. Even without a captain this ship should be able to easily settle most disputes over gold by ramming and boarding smaller enemy runners and taking their gold and potentially dismasting them.
This is your quintessential bread-and-butter treasure runner. (That sentence sounds strange lol) The Dijon has it all – nice cargo, good speed and even an ability that’s perfect for a gold runner.
This one is similar to the HMS Lady Provost, trading the HI-raider ability for a defensive one and losing a cargo space. Her ability is what sets her apart (and makes her expensive), giving her an advantage over other small ships, although she’s still vulnerable to ramming. The Favori has performed admirably in my games and is a little bit underrated because the top 5 ships on this list steal thunder from other ships.
I’ve had two copies of this ship for a long time and never could understand all the hype. However, she is quite good. She is a uniquely gifted hybrid ship, with enough cargo to run gold and fight and an ability that suits both, especially given her small size. This ship just beat out the Amazone and Belle Poule.
I’m still massively in favor of getting the best cannon ranks possible, but I realize that my original list here might be a bit wrong. That said, I have not been playing as much this year. Honestly, some typical performances by similar or the same ships (typical luck for me meaning going 0/5 with rank-3 cannons and 4/4 with rank-1 cannons, for example) in the near future could upend this list again and make me change it back. XD It is still open to revision, but for now I have some changes:
This is one of the most classic gold runners in the game, combining great speed and cargo space with a gold runner friendly ability. Her point cost is relatively fair, making her fantastic but not outright broken.
The Santa Isabel is one of Spain’s best all-around ships. Her speed, cargo space and extremely valuable +2 ability make her better suited to treasure running. Her guns are serviceable, however, so put a captain and explorer on her and she’ll be a perfect hybrid ship.
With the biggest non-10 master cargo hold in the game, the Joya del Sol has appeared in countless fleets since the very beginning of the game. Her speed and guns leave a bit to be desired, but 8 cargo spaces is ridiculous. With as many as 6 spaces available for gold even after adding a helmsman and explorer, the Joya can easily hit at least two wild islands per trip. In addition, her size and boarding ability make her ideal for fending off attacks, not to mention attacking enemy treasure runners and stealing their gold.
These ships are almost exactly the same. The junior version of the Santa Isabel, both of these ships are ideal for grabbing gold. With an explorer they’ll have 3 spaces left over, and even with a captain (since they’re medium size and have decent guns) they’ll have 2. Great ships in every way.
Rounding out the three super-ships from RV, this Spaniard is your typical gold runner. Her trading treasure ability helps her avoid negative UT’s and makes her even more perfect for the role of gathering gold.
These could be ranked higher although I feel that their fragility and relatively low speed hold them back a little bit. They are a great addition to any Spanish fleet and the +1 ability (up to +5) makes them one of Spain’s best options for treasure.
I wasn’t going to include this ship at first, but her durability and very low point cost (cheapest 5 master in the game) give her the advantage. With a helmsman and explorer she’ll cost 12 points and be moving S+S+S with room for 4 coins, comparable to the Aberdeen Baron.
This is one of those rare Hoist ships. All of them are quite interesting, to say the least. This is the cheapest one, but she still has 7 cargo spaces! Even with 6 after adding a helmsman, this ship is a wonderful option for the Spanish to have. Her second ability isn’t likely to be used much, but it could help her in a pinch.
This was a tough fight for the last spot (see my other picks below). In the end I went with the middle option. The San Francisco is a great overall ship whether you put a captain, helmsman, explorer, or any combination of the three on board. One of my favorite Spanish ships.
Sometimes I forget about the Zeus since I don’t own her yet, with my biggest Pirate ships being the five masters. She is something to behold, and although I don’t generally think ten masters are worth paying for, the Zeus is the cheapest of the bunch. Her guns leave something to be desired – I would highly suggest using Bruce Grey since the more cannons a ship has, the more value you get out of improving each and every one of them. With Bruce Grey and the standard captain and helmsman, this ship will be dominant. She is viable in 40 point games, and her ability and huge size makes her perfect for stealing lots of gold from your opponent’s poor treasure runners.
After the Zeus, things get a lot harder in a hurry. The next 6 or so spots could easily be changed around.
For some reason I always underrate this ship, so I was surprised to rank it this high. This is the best version of the Black Pearl. Her ability is key, allowing her to move L+S+S with a captain and helmsman with 2L, 1L, 1L, 2L guns. This is a great package.
This is the original Pirate flagship! The Revenant is and will always be a classic. I find her ability to be a bit more practical than the Harbinger’s. This is one of the only Pirate ships with 4 or more masts to have unmodified rank-2 guns.
These two are the same ship thematically and similar in gameplay, so I’m combining them to make room for another ship in the top 10. The derelict ability is powerful, but the problem is twofold in a game, especially a smaller game. The Harbinger will be transported away from where the action was, so depending on the situation, you may not want to use the ability. In addition, the odds of repairing the captured ship and actually using it effectively against your opponent in the same game are relatively small, especially in smaller/faster games. The Harbinger will have to dismast an enemy ship and capture her very early on in the game. That being said, you can’t go wrong with either of these gunships.
This ship loses out to the above ships because her cannons are a bit less accurate. However, the Victoire is one of my favorite new ships and one of the most unique ships in the game. You can use French crew on the Victoire, and she’s got 6 cargo spaces! This makes her ideal for leaving some spaces open to run gold and/or steal it. Her point cost is great and probably even a little too low, making this ship a great option. She looks black in the picture but is actually a very dark purple, making her even more unique!
Here’s another version of the Black Pearl, trading speed and point cost for a nice ability and S-range guns. Her ability makes her ideal for packing crew aboard, and this is a gunship to be reckoned with.
This ship is legendary. She has more cargo spaces than most ten masters and almost as many cargo spaces as points! On top of everything else, she makes for a great gunship. If you want to go overboard you can use tailor-made Jonah to turn this ship into a monster. Easily one of the best ships in the game. I remember CC Mike saying that he thought this was the best ship in Pirates. In addition, possibly the best overall hybrid ship.
I have a soft spot for the original Deliverance (listed below as an honorable mention), but this is the better ship. The Deliverance is the fastest Pirate five master, making her intriguing right off the bat. She would be ranked higher on this list if she wasn’t lackluster in other areas. If you’re looking for a very large gunship that’s also very fast, this is the best the Pirates have got.
This is one of the best 3 masted gunships in the game, with great speed, solid cannons, and a nice ability, all for just 9 points! If you haven’t used the Windjammer I would highly recommend doing so. For more details check out my review of her.
This was a tossup. Any of the ships in the “almost” list can be subbed in for the Recreant, but I felt that she deserves more recognition than she’s gotten so far. The Pirates have a plethora of awesome 3 masted gunships (see below for more), and the Recreant is one of the best. For 14 points she’ll move L+S with the move-and-shoot and built-in crew-killing.
Widely considered to be the best ship in the game. Also the most undercosted ship in the game. Only 4 points (with an explorer) gives you L+L movement with room for three coins. Have you heard enough about this ship yet?
Depending on your preferences for large vs. small treasure runners, this ship could be moved down to #6 since the following four ships are all quite similar. However, the Darkhawk deserves recognition as one of the best ships in the game and quite possibly the best ship overall, because unlike the Cry she can put up a good fight. Even after you add a captain, helsmman, and explorer you’ll have 5 cargo spaces available.
The following four ships are all quite similar and therefore can be interchanged. I ranked them as follows based on their total point cost. All four are incredibly popular and make the Pirates the best faction in the game.
This is the flagship of the old Norvegia setup with crew like Don Pedro Gilbert. Even after the ruling on gold was changed the Hoard remains one of the best ships ever. She’s even got serviceable guns to use if you wanted to make her a hybrid ship.
This is the fastest ship in the game when you add a captain and helmsman (S+L+L+S). If you add a crew like Captain Jack Sparrow you can save a cargo space (you can also use Hammersmith to combine abilities). Using Captain Jack also opens up possibilities for crazy fleets like this one. This is one of the most interesting ships in the game.
This is one of my oldest ships and one of the best one masters. It would be nice if she had one more cargo space, but even with an explorer she has two spaces available for gold, which isn’t bad when you consider that the other coin or two on the island is probably a 1 or 2 since you’ll take the highest value coins. She is vulnerable to ramming, but her ability makes her tougher than most one masters, not to mention the fact that her 2L cannon could come in handy. A very good ship overall.
For the last spot I chose one of the only three masters in the game with S+S+S speed. She’s a bit pricier than most of the other ships on the list, but her speed and ability make her very evasive and difficult to stop.
After putting the HMS Titan #1 on my list of English gunships, it should come as no surprise to see the Enterprise atop this list. The Enterprise was actually the second five master I ever got, so naturally she’s seen a ton of usage. In fact, her masts have been taken out and replaced so many times that they’re looser than most other ships.
I’ve said this already, but there’s nothing like having a world-hater on a ship with great cannons. The Blackwatch has firepower that is almost unrivalled by any other ship.
This ship is one of the coolest ships in the entire game. She already has good speed, so you don’t need a helmsman like you do with most other gunships. The Longship keyword doubles her firepower to six shots per turn. The built-in canceller is what puts this ship over the top – just about the best and most flexible ability in the game.
This is another legendary ship that has sent countless vessels to the bottom of the sea. Equip her with a captain and helmsman and you’ll have 4 1S guns sailing at S+S+S speed.
Since the two versions of this ship are so different I’ve ranked them separately. This one isn’t as playable as the OE version, but as with El Acorazado there is not really another gunship in this game that can beat a ship like the Constitution in one-on-one action.
This five master is an absolute beast with all 2S guns and five cargo spaces to fill up. The S-boarding ability makes her even more deadly. I also find her to be one of the coolest looking five masters.
This is the best 3 masted submarine in the game. The Mercury combines the best guns money can buy with a nice defensive ability. If this wasn’t a submarine it wouldn’t be on the list, but subs are notoriously difficult to stop and this one is exceptionally good where others are not.
Since these are so similar and I did separate rankings for the Constitution, these two are ranked together. The Richard gives you slightly better speed but slightly worse firepower. If you know what faction you’ll be facing it will make your decision easier.
The Stephens is the only ship in the game with both the captain and reverse captain abilities. This makes her the only ship that’s viable to use as a gunship with no crew whatsoever. She is slow and expensive, however, so to maximize your investment I would suggest a helmsman and a world-hater. Her rather average guns keep her from moving higher on this list.
I have used the Frontier on many occasions, and she is just fantastic. Decent speed, HUGE cargo, Hoist ability. She is expensive, but in this case the high point cost is justified.
Native Canoes are generally some of the best treasure runners available to any faction, but for the Americans they are a life saver.
These canoes are unique because they’re faster than the Spanish and Cursed canoes. They also have that treasure ability, which lets you create fun fleets like this one.
This is a fantastic ship that I’ve finally acquired. Very underrated ship, with an explorer you’ll have 3 cargo spaces left over for gold that you can spot with her nice ability. Again, 3 masts is a nice bonus for a very fairly-priced gold runner.
Each of the next three are pretty equal in my opinion, I just ranked them this way based on their durability.
The Rattlesnake is slow but very cheap. With a helmsman and explorer she’ll be going L+S with room for 3 coins for 8 points total, a great deal for a faction like the Americans.
This one just needs a helmsman and she’ll be ready to go. Her built-in explorer saves a valuable cargo space, but one mast is always a gamble in terms of fragility.
This one is similar to the James Madison but she’s pretty expensive to use only as a treasure runner. If not for Savage Shores the Americans would really be lacking for gold runners.
This is one of those ships that you don’t know which crew to put on her. A simple setup with a captain, helmsman, and explorer would work great. Either way you’re going to end up spending a lot of points on the Roanoke. Her access to Pirate crew makes things even more interesting because they have so many great named crew and the Americans have a relative lack of great named crew. Her cargo hold is big enough that you could even use the old Norvegia setup with Gilbert! Depending on how you crew her, the Roanoke could potentially move up a few spots on this list.
This ship is so much better than almost every other Cursed ship it’s not even funny. Fast, great guns, nice point cost, not to mention some relatively useful abilities. This ship gets the job done and can even be used as a hybrid ship since the Cursed have so few good options for getting gold.
This is another rare Cursed ship with S+L speed. As long as your captain isn’t cancelled her guns improve to rank 2’s. It would’ve been nice if Fear was left out to lower the cost a few points, but this is still one of the best Cursed ships either way.
This ship is very underrated and effective. Essentially a poor man’s version of the Grinder, the Grim Reaper can still do serious damage for a low point cost. In addition her boarding bonus makes her more relevant against larger ships she’ll go up against.
After those three ships, things get more difficult because the ships have either worse cannon ranks and/or much slower speeds. Therefore it became harder to rank the ships for the rest of the top 10.
The Divine Dragon is a classic, the only Cursed 6 masted junk and the only non-Jade 6 master outside of the HMS Grand Temple. She has been very involved in a lot of big and fun games, most notably the first 500 point game I played. Her guns really need the extra boost to become effective, and although they still aren’t spectacular, it helps that there are so many of them, not to mention the Junk keyword. Her speed sets her apart from some of the following ships.
This ship is crazy! I must admit some bias here because as of now the Loki’s Revenge is one of my favourite ships. A captain and helmsman brings the total point cost to 20, and an additional 3 oarsmen for the sac ability brings it to 23. However, you’re guaranteed to move S+S+S+S and rip off a full dozen shots at 2L! Now you can see why I wanted this ship so badly. I also must say that she is one of the coolest-looking ships in the game. Finally, if I had to pick a favourite flavour text for a game piece, I think it would be this ship.
The Loki’s Revenge spews fire like some kind of deranged god, an ability that science has yet to explain.
This is essentially a 22 point ship once you add the necessary captain and helmsman. That’s a high price to pay for a ship that’s still moving pretty slow with a relatively bad ability. The Dutchman is habitually overrated by newer players and I must say somewhat underrated by more veteran players (I have to admit that I almost left her off the list entirely!). At the end of the day you’re still getting a large dangerous ship with very effective guns. If you think about the total point cost, gun ranks and speed she’s actually quite similar to the Loki’s Revenge. However, the sac ability is so much better than BA that it overrides the Loki’s weakness of only having three masts.
Another less flashy Cursed longship, the Baba Yaga is effectively able to shoot 2S guns six times per turn. Once again you’ll be paying a lot for it because this will run you at least 20 points. The Baba Yaga is just one of those gunships that’s simple but effective.
I found it hard to determine where to rank the next three “ships” because they’re unique in all sorts of ways and it’s easier to rank the ships one after another.
The only “ship” in the game with the copy ability. Behemoth is just that, a true behemoth on the high seas. Copying a captain is the obvious choice, but all kinds of fun combos could be available, especially in a large or multiplayer game. Definitely one of the best sea monsters.
Calim is one of the fastest monsters in the game. When combined with her ability and the fact that the enemy ship will be pinned after the ram, Calim can become quite a nuisance to your opponents. Her gun ranks are worse than Behemoth’s and it’s much harder to give her the ability to move and shoot, but Calim is a large threat (literally) in any game.
This should probably be ranked higher, however I wanted the spotlight on the actual ships as much as possible. This flotilla has better gun ranks than the other one (listed below) and is a very effective firepower boost to any Cursed fleet. Fast ships like the Grinder and Executioner are especially useful for towing the Death’s Anchor, but I’ve also employed the Fallen Angel (listed below).
I really need this ship lol. Put an explorer on her and you’re moving S+L with room for 3 coins. With a price of only 13 points that’s about as good as you’re going to get with the Cursed. In addition her abilities and fantastic cannon ranks can really help her fight back and/or escape an attack.
The Sea Monkey is another Cursed ship with S+L speed and four cargo spaces. The same rules apply here; now you’ve got one less point to spend on other stuff but you get the reverse captain ability.
With or without an explorer this is one of the most effective Cursed gold runners that’s cheap and not abysmally slow. Ideally you’ll be able to shoot at danger before it gets to you with her ability, but we all know that the best laid plans get ruined, especially in Pirates.
The Sea Rat is always underrated. It’s probably because she is a two masted junk, one of the hardest ships to build. She’s from the most common set (OE), so some players no doubt have many Sea Rats. In addition, Sea Rat is not an especially flattering name for a ship. However, this ship is a nice treasure runner once you add a helmsman and explorer. L+S, room for 3 coins, 13 points. The added bonus of being able to steal treasure from an enemy HI makes her an ideal gold runner (for the Cursed).
Ugh. I didn’t really want to rank these but the other options are so bad that I had to throw them in at the end of this list. The Guichuan would get the nod for the Treasure Ship keyword and being slightly cheaper, but since you are required to use the Headhunter she comes in at 36 points. The Delusion gives you better speed and more abilities that may or may not (probably not) be useful, while sacrificing cargo space once you add crew. The Guichuan is better at being a gunship and a pure treasure runner while the Delusion is better at finding gold, stealing it, and generally just taking up a lot of useless space.
If Return to Savage Shores had actually been produced and released, the Cursed would have gotten a ship named “Sskwa’aluk” . That ship would have been #1 on this list.
This ship combines good speed with a nice ability. Most importantly, however, all four of her cannons are serviceable, while the other 4 masted galleys have poorer ranks and get worse as you go from bow to stern.
This ship is cheap compared to some of the other and more flashy BC 2 masters. Her speed and cannons don’t necessarily need augmentation. Perhaps best of all, access to Pirate crew lets you pick from an impressive selection of great named crew, something the Corsairs really could use more of. On an 8 point ship with 2 cargo, you won’t be able to do much, but it still helps.
I wanted to rank this ship lower but I couldn’t. Her speed and ability make her the perfect treasure runner, but also a good candidate to be a fighter. Her cannons don’t recede with the ship. This is the most popular BC ship.
Another nice ship with great overall stats. This is a nice midsize option to have, especially if you’re going to play against the French. She’s one of the best BC options for a gunship, but with a captain and explorer she’ll still have two spaces available for gold.
#001 in the Barbary Coast set, this is the first Barbary Corsair ship and therefore sort of their unofficial flagship. Her stats leave something to be desired, but her ability and size make up for it somewhat. She could really use some kind of boost to make her a true gunship. Bonus points for having a cool name and being aesthetically pleasing (not unlike a lot of BC ships of course!).
This was #3 on the gunship list and here it is once again. Once you get over the effectiveness of this ship I’d encourage you to move on and use different ships.
This was one of only two Corsair ships I had (along with the Griffin) for a long time and is therefore a natural favourite of mine. Nice speed, good cargo, solid durability, and a cool (I’m running out of adjectives lol) ability that can help her out. In terms of a Corsair ship she’s sort of on the large side of the scale and her cannons may even hit something if you need them, something that can’t be said for a lot of other Corsair ships!
A very cheap option that doesn’t lose you any speed or cargo spaces. Her ability is the key to her low cost. There are a bunch of other BC ships with the same point cost or speed but none that can match the Griffin’s overall combination of cost, speed, and cargo.
With 5 cargo spaces and terrible cannons, the Morocco jumps out as a gold runner. Even after adding a helmsman she’ll have 4 spaces left. Her ability makes her a near-perfect gold runner.
This last spot was a wild card for me and I wanted to include a 4 master. The Crescent Moon has the best combination of speed and cargo so she gets the nod for the final spot.
(I love the Queen of Sheba and I wanted to include her in one of the lists. I felt that her ability inhibits her use as a gunship because she only has 2 masts in the first place and she can’t afford to lose any without the enemy firing a shot. The Morocco is a similar ship but more of a typical treasure runner. However, the Queen of Sheba’s ability becomes irrelevant when using her as a treasure runner, so it comes down to how the player values the Morocco’s ability for the extra 2 points.)
This ship is a monster. One of the best boarding ships in the game, her cannons are almost perfect. With a helmsman she’s essentially a 19 point ship, comparable to the Grand Temple. The Temple combines better speed and maneuverability with the reverse captain ability while the Grand Path is a better boarder and slightly more accurate, though only at short range. Take your pick – you can’t go wrong!
This is the only Jade ship bigger than 2 masts with all 2L guns, technically the best cannons money can buy. She’s simply one of the best ships in the game and without too much argument the best overall ship in the Jade Rebellion. This is sort of the Jade version of the Tiger’s Eye, with a captain and explorer the perfect crew complement.
Some may have expected to see this ship higher on the list (or not at all, who knows?). Her huge cost, rather average cannons and Treasure Ship keyword hold her back. This ship isn’t a great ship to use exclusively as a gunship, but rather as a hybrid. She definitely needs a captain and helmsman, which essentially brings her cost to 41 points with the necessary Admiral Zheng He.
There are a number of smaller JR ships with accurate cannons, but the Grand Mountain has six guns for just 14 points. Her speed is lacking to say the least, but with a helmsman and hopefully some kind of extra action crew she should be able to get some shots in. In addition, your opponent may forget about her lone 2L cannon and/or her bonus against English ships.
This ship is a bit expensive for what you’d like to pay for a gold runner, but this ship is LOADED. Every stat is about as good as you can hope for. Unlike many of your opponent’s gold runners, the Virtuous Wind is durable and very capable of putting up a fight. The HI-raiding ability is just gravy. For 17-19 points you can have a 3 masted ship moving S+L+S with room for three coins.
A Super Rare from the Barbary Coast, this ship screams gold runner. After adding a helmsman you’ll move S+S+S with room for 3 coins for 11 points. With a tad less speed but the same amount of cargo left over for less points, this ship just barely lost out to the Virtuous Wind and her extra durability, fantastic cannons, and HI-raider ability (great to have on a ship that’s already fast).
This ship could use an extra cargo space or two but even with an explorer or helmsman she’ll have room for 2 coins, which is usually enough of an island to make a nice profit. Add the +1 and you’ve got a nice gold runner. As with many of the other JR gold ships (Virtuous Wind, Baochuan, East Wind, etc.), the Sea Crane is able to defend herself if need be.
Although the Treasure Ship keyword and 10 cargo spaces is epic, the Baochuan moves just L and takes up almost your entire build total in a standard game. Theoretically you NEED Li Quin just to fit Zheng He, a captain, a helmsman, and an explorer on board, leaving just 3 points left over. As with the other 10 masters the Baochuan is better used in large games where she can exploit her size and Zheng He’s ability more often. That being said this is one of the most epic ships in the game and the original 10 master.
This is the cheapest 2 masted JR ship. I’ve used the English version of her many times with considerable success. Leave her uncrewed and she won’t take up much of your build total, but you might be surprised what she can do for you. Speed is huge in Pirates and it can make up for her lack of explorer. The Sea Tiger is just a good option to have and one of the only viable “swarm” ship the Jades ever sailed.
The Vikings only have 23 ships, most of which are slow and expensive. They are much better at fighting than getting gold, in part because of the Longship keyword. However, they don’t have anything bigger than 3 masts, and it just so happens that their 3 masted ships are also the ones with the best combat abilities and cannon ranks. Therefore, as long as you pick a 3 masted Viking longship as your Viking gunship, you’ll do alright. In addition, all of their common 3 masted longships are relatively similar and therefore this list doesn’t really mean a whole lot – reverse the order and it could be another player’s opinion.
With somewhat above-average speed for a Viking ship and with a very helpful ability, the Muninn is one of the best ships in their fleet. L-range guns are a help since the longships don’t have the best firing arcs and you have to shoot over the relatively bulky oars and width of the ship in the first place.
This one is nice because she’s cheaper than the others that cost the same even after adding a captain to the Huginn. Her guns are all different and her ability is very nice to have.
I wanted to rank this ship #1 because of her perfect cannons, but the overall package is just slightly less than what you get with the above two ships. That being said the Naegling can be the most destructive longship in the game, especially if you manage to use her ability (possibly by teaming her up with one or more of these 5 ships).
The Hrunting is in between the other 3 masters in numerous ways, which actually conspires to hurt her position on this list. She’s expensive but not as much as the Naegling, but her ability isn’t worth anything for a gunship, especially since you’ll only have one cargo space available after adding a captain and helmsman. Her guns are accurate but only at short range, meaning you’ll have to get extremely close alongside an opposing ship to have all three in range at once.
The Kalmar is an LE with just S speed, but she compensates with fantastic cannons and 5 cargo spaces, enough to add the necessary crew and still have room to use her ability.
This huge ship is one of the cheaper ten masters along with the next ship. The Shui Xian gets the nod because of her rank-2 cannons, of which the Celtic Fury has none.
This ship is cheaper than most Merc ships (even those with less masts) and comes with a serviceable set of guns and a very good ability. The “almost” ships are just about as good, however.
With the Dories keyword the two ten masters have to take the top spots on this list as they did last week because you need at least one canceller just to make a Merc treasure runner viable.
This ship could use another cargo space or two, but her speed is quite good for a Merc ship when underwater, which is where you’ll want her most of the time.
This is the only “normal” gold runner the Mercs have. Add an explorer and you’ll have 3 open spaces moving S+L for 13 points, comparable to other factions.
-Check out the Informational category and the Useful tag for a lot of helpful information and stats about Pirates CSG! To find past information from Miniature Trading that is no longer available, check out this post.
If you consult those documents and still have Rules questions, try the Rules thread. (where you can also find the No Duplicates List in the second post)
How to Build the Ships – Complete Assembly Diagrams courtesy of thunderbros
–PDF document with official diagrams, created by Cameron Neill of the Facebook group.
Pirates on eBay history – A spreadsheet with auction prices dating back to around 2011 for many of the rarest Pirates CSG game pieces, along with pack price averages and data on complete sets and numerous other categories.
Number of sets released: 13
Number of unreleased sets: 1 (Return to Savage Shores)
There is also a wealth of information at the Wikipedia page.
Common Abbreviations and Acronyms
CSG: Constructible Strategy Game (term coined by Jason Mical)
MT: Miniature Trading(The most active and useful site for Pirates CSG from the game’s end in late 2008 until MT’s closure on July 1st 2019)
BGG: BoardGameGeek
Sets (these sometimes have “Pot” in front of them for “Pirates of the…”; also CS: Cursed Seas)
SM: Spanish Main
CC: Crimson Coast
RV: Revolution
BC: Barbary Coast
SCS: South China Seas
DJC: Davy Jones’ Curse
MI: Mysterious Islands
FN: Frozen North
OE: Ocean’s Edge
PotC: Pirates of the Caribbean
RotF: Rise of the Fiends
F&S: Fire and Steel
SS: Savage Shores
RtSS: Return to Savage Shores
Gameplay
HI: Home Island
WI: Wild Island
MI: Mysterious Island
UT: Unique Treasure
CG: Campaign Game/Cumulative Game
BR: Battle Report
Abilities (these are unofficial)
EA: Extra Action (Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, this ship may be given an extra action.)
SAT: Same Action Twice (same as Born Leader) (Once per turn before you give this ship an action, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship may be given the same action twice.)
SAC/Sac: Sacrifice Action (Once per turn, you can eliminate one of this ship’s crew to give her an extra action.)
AA: Admiral’s Action (Once at the beginning of each of your turns, roll a d6. On a result of 6, any ship in your fleet may be given two actions that turn.)
Reroll: Once per turn, you can reroll any die roll you make for this ship; you must use the second die roll result.
WH: World Hater (This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against any [non-faction] ship.)
Canceller: Once per turn, one crew or ship within S of this ship cannot use its ability this turn.
HI raider: home island raider (This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn.)
BA: Broadsides Attack
More Ability Abbreviations (these are unofficial)
-Some of these are more commonly used than others.
Reverse Captain: After this ship resolves a shoot action, she may move as a free action.
S-Board: As part of a move action, this ship can initiate a boarding party against a ship up to S away from her, without having to ram. The boarded ship can’t use any boarding bonuses.
Crew Killing: Once per turn when this ship hits an enemy ship, also eliminate one crew from that ship.
Cargo Wrecking: When this ship hits an enemy ship, you may also eliminate one cargo from that ship.
Massacre: If this ship succeeds at a boarding party, she can eliminate all of the other ship’s crew.
Sniping: You may double the range of this ship’s cannons each turn, but you must roll a 6 to hit.
Crew Protect: This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.
Doctor: When another face up crew on this ship would be eliminated, turn it face down instead.
Island treasure trading: 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.
Ship treasure trading: Once per turn, if this ship carries treasure and is within S of an enemy ship, you may randomly trade one treasure with that ship.
Possession: If an enemy ship is within S of this ship, you can use this ship’s action for the turn to try to possess a target crew on that ship. Roll a d6; on a result of 6, the target is immediately assigned to this ship. Its nationality changes to match the nationality of this ship.
S-Explorer: Once per turn, if this ship is within S of an island, you can mark the island as explored without docking at it. The island becomes unexplored in regards to all other players.
Gold Capture: If this ship wins a boarding party, she may capture the crew with the highest point cost instead of eliminating it. A captured crew becomes cargo worth its point cost in gold when unloaded at your home island.
Fog Hopper: If this ship ends her turn in a fog bank, on her next turn she may use her move action to move out of any other fog bank in play.
UT Hoard: Once per turn, if this ship is touching another ship, reveal all face-down treasure aboard the other ship. This ship can take as much unique treasure from the other ship as she can carry.
HI Hoard: This ship may dock at an enemy home island and take as much treasure as she can carry. If able, she must leave on your next turn.
Pokéship: A non-historical ship type that resembles a Pokémon. (Examples)
I would love to get some input on strategies for assaulting island with Fort. We have failed many times.
This was a suggestion on a youtube video that I turned into a response video. Specifically, tough forts such as Paradis de la Mer and Fortaleza Dorada. Forts are not seen all that often in a lot of games, especially due to their appearance being limited to Crimson Coast and Revolution. However, they can be a great tool in a winning player’s arsenal. They can also be a thorn in your side if you have to take them out in order to win, as often happens in close-fought competitive games.
To destroy a fort, you’ll often want a combination of:
Multiple ships
Anti-fort abilities
L-range cannons
Gunships equipped with captains and helmsmen
In this guide I will outline the best ways to wreck forts!
Ability: Forts cannot hit this ship.
There are only 6 ships with this ability, none of which have more than 3 masts. However, this is the most direct route you can take to destroying forts – simply don’t allow them to shoot! Although the quantity and size of the ships with this ability are limited, conveniently enough they have good accuracy. None of the 6 ships have any cannons of rank-4 or worse, so they’ll do their job well when assaulting forts. The Windjammer, Treasure, Boston and San Salvador are the best of these, and you really can’t go wrong with any of them. The Windjammer is probably the best pure value for points as a gunship, while the San Salvador has some hybrid potential. If you really wanted to, you could also use Davy Jones to copy this ability to a large ship with great firepower to obliterate a fort in a single turn!
Ability: L-range cannons cannot hit this ship.
This is fantastic because of the 10 forts in the game, only two even have S-range cannons, and one of those (Fortaleza Dorada) is immune to L-range cannons itself! This means that 8/10 forts will not be able to hit ships with this “L immunity”, making it nearly as good as the outright “forts cannot hit” ability. This ability is also fantastic to have on any ship, regardless of whether or not you plan to go off on a fort-trashing adventure. 🙂
Of the ships with this ability, there are some decent ones to choose from. The Cygnet, Duke, Jarvis, Tiger’s Eye and Silverback are probably the best of the bunch.
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against forts within S of her.
This can be good because there are a few crew with this ability – put them on a ship with 5 or more masts, and you’ll be getting a nice bonus against forts. However, those crew also have other abilities tacked on that make them overpriced for the value they provide. I’d only recommend using them if you KNOW you’re going to attack a fort, such as in a campaign game where you can assign ships to very specific roles. For example, Carl Smith on the Jarvis or Boston would make fort-wrecking easy. Of the three ships with this ability, the Oxford and Cutlass are both excellent gunships and even potential hybrids, while L’Atalante is boring but a reasonable value for the points. This ability pales in comparison to the defensive abilities above, so it’s not as highly recommended.
Long range bombardment
Since forts are stationary and only Ramsgate has a cannon whose range can be increased beyond L, anything that gives S+S cannon range or better is a great way to blast away at forts while staying out of their range. All 10 flotillas in the game have the Extended Range keyword, and some of them have very good accuracy as well. Combine this with a ship that has at least S+L speed, a captain aboard, and L range guns, and you’ll be in good shape for a fort assault. You can maneuver to stay out of the fort’s range, then park or “anchor” your ship there and simply blast away each turn until the fort is gone. Flotillas are also just great in general – getting 4 extra cannons that fire at doubled range for 10 points or less is just a great deal on firepower.
The sniping ability is more fun than reliable, but it’s still an option if you don’t have access to other abilities when going after a fort. It’s a nice option to have for gunships in general and doesn’t inflate the cost of the ship. Looking at the ships with sniping, almost all of them are solid candidates to be gunships, with solid speeds and good cannon ranks throughout.
I would say that flotillas are a better option for fort-wrecking than the +1 to cannon rolls against forts within S, but it depends on the situation. If you’ve got a large and accurate gunship with extra actions, the bonus could be enough to give you a decisive edge and destroy the fort on the first turn of the engagement. It’s also good for a brute force strategy when using multiple ships to attack a fort all at the same time. However, staying out of the fort’s range is a better tactic if you need to play defensively and don’t have a lot of firepower at your disposal. This is where good maneuvering, many-segmented speeds (such as S+S+S or S+L+S), and L-range cannons become important. Combine good positioning with a flotilla, and you should be able to crush the fort without even getting hit.
Alternative/Niche tactics
Neptune’s Trident ignores the ability of Paradis de la Mer. Depending on who rolls for the ability, a reroller or Potions and Brews could be useful against Paradis. A few other UT’s could help too – Wine and Letter of Marque are fun in general and worthy additions to any game.
In terms of prevention, you could go after opposing gold runners very early in the game, build your own fort first, or use Mysterious Islands that have beneficial positive effects that could make an opponent prefer the 5-6 effect to building a fort.
General gameplay tips
All gunships need captains, and preferably helmsmen too.
Pay attention to maneuvering. There’s no rule against pre-measuring the fort’s cannon ranges to see what kind of space you’re working with.
If you use multiple ships, use all of them at once, even if that means waiting for one to catch up to the squadron. Forts can win battles against small fleets if the ships attack one by one. Surround it with cannons and give the fort many targets to shoot at.
Conclusion
Overall, forts can be a problem if you’re not well-equipped to take them on. However, the numerous counters available make it quite possible to beat them easily. If you’ve got a combination of helpful abilities and more than one gunship, most forts will not be able to hold up in the long term. Go out there and wreck some forts! If you have any additional suggestions, please contact me. (a7xfanben@gmail.com) Thank you for reading.
Here are a few pictures that show fort-wrecking at its finest.
During Economy Edition, 2015.
During Economy Edition, 2015.
The Roanoke barely prevails during an extremely memorable and competitive game between the American Pirates and Hai Peng Fort Frenzy.
VASSAL is a computer program that allows users to play on and build modules for board games. Using an online server, you can play with anyone in the entire world with the Pirates CSG VASSAL module!
3 campaign games have already been completed on the VASSAL module, with 2 more currently ongoing (the Caribbean game and CG4). Check out the videos below for the epic fun to be had on VASSAL! (scroll through the playlist to see them all)
Check out these VASSAL files you can use for playing specific scenarios:
If for some reason you want the “middle” module that has the World game territories, you can find that here.
~~~~~
Well, I PM’d lord_denton about unlocking the old Pirates CSG VASSAL module thread, but to speed things up:
The VASSAL module has been reborn!
This is a megapost. I’m hoping that people check this thread a lot, because I’ll definitely continue to post here even if it directly follows my previous post.
I thought I’d start with this. After corresponding with B.J. over the past day or so, I got his permission to share part of his email:
bj_o wrote:
As for modifying the module, I have no problem with that if anyone can figure it out. Vassal isn’t the most user friendly program. The module isn’t compiled or anything like that, so anyone should be able to edit it as-is. Vassal has gone through a couple of versions since this was created, but I don’t think that will cause any issues.
I doubt I’ll return, since there’s really not much I can contribute, but thanks!
This is great news that apparently anyone can make edits to the module! Now it will be up to us to do so and improve it.
Alright, here is the best sort of “Easy Startup Guide” I can do:
From Vassal, you must use File>Open Module> (wherever you have bj_0’s .zip file)>the .zip folder. Vassal should recognize and load it.
3. VASSAL is now open. The Welcome screen doesn’t appear to have its own window that you can minimize. You can create a username and password.
4.
VASSAL User Guide wrote:
Select Play Mode: Under Select play mode, select one of the following:
a. Start a new game offline: choose this option for beginning an email game, playing
solitaire or hotseat, or to edit a module.
b. Look for a game online: to play on the Server or peer-to-peer.
c. Load a saved game: to play a previously saved game, or to review an email game log.
We’re generally going to go with the middle option. Solitaire games would be the first option, while I would assume that the third option could work for campaign games that are saved.
5. Now you should be in the Main Room.
VASSAL User Guide wrote:
To join a game on the Server,
1. In Module Manager, in the
Module Library window,
double-click the module you
want to play. The Welcome
Wizard opens.
2. In the Welcome Wizard,
under Select play mode,
choose Look for a game
online, and then follow the
other Wizard steps as the module requires.
3. On the Toolbar, click Connect.
4. On the right side of the screen, the Active Games window opens. The Active Games window
displays the Main Room for the module, which is the default location for all players who are not currently in a game, and any active game rooms under that. Only rooms running the current module
are displayed. The number of players is displayed in parentheses.
5. Double-click the name of the game room you wish to join.
6. If prompted, enter the password for the room. (This password is generally different from your Vassal
password.)
I hope that helps! You can also private message other users on the same module, which was helpful to el_cazador and I when trying to get the game set up. However, once the game starts, it’s easier to just use the chat at the top of the window, which is where the game transcript thread came from.
In terms of Pirates, the setup gets easier. Go to File at the top left, and then choose an Ocean Layout. It’s helpful to adjust the top panel and drag it up so you can see more of the water. At the top of the window, there are numerous command buttons, and the telescopes are very useful. They can be used for a basic zoom in and out, but the middle one allows you to fit the game to different percentages. Also very useful, the button to the right of the telescopes (looks like a map) allows you to see an “overworld” view of the entire game in a smaller box, regardless of how much zoom there is on the overall game.
To the left of the zoom buttons, there is a camera button where you can save snapshots of the game. You could also use a Snipping Tool to grab screenshots of the zoomed in details.
The question mark to the left of the camera button brings you to B.J.’s help guide, which is very useful when you’re starting out.
The treasure chest button allows you to have a “locker” where you can flip coins over without other players seeing them. Other than that, there is some transparency in the game – you can keep your crew “hidden”, but other players can still flip them over. Also, when crew are hidden, their names still appear below the crew chip, as long as you’ve defined their properties.
bj_o wrote:
Setup
-Placing Islands
The islands are available within the game piece palette (“ship” button) on the “Terrain” tab. Just drag and place them where you want them, rotating if necessary. After placement, islands cannot be selected unless you SHIFT+CLICK on them.
-Placing Treasure
Each player can drag the coins they want from the game piece palette. Unique treasure must have its properties (CTRL-P) defined before placing them on the islands. Once all players have selected their coins, make sure they are all showing the backs and not the values (flip if necessary with CTRL-F). Then one player can select all the coins and stack them (CTRL-S), which send them all to a stack in the upper left corner. A player can then pull coins off one at a time and place them on different islands.
Also, you can edit a ship’s properties in the pieces window before it’s introduced to the game. In this way, you can eliminate masts and start fires before it even shows up in the ocean, making my fireship idea even more intriguing. Also, forts can be on fire too!
I think I’m going to slowly start investigating how to edit the module (Designer’s Guide), and any help would be greatly appreciated! I’d love to add some more ship types.
Example of a small game being played on the Pirates CSG VASSAL module
Although the Titan has serious competition now that all the sets are out, she still remains one of the most formidable foes you can face in this game. A large cargo space, average base move, and fair point cost make her the quintessential gunship.
Her ability is often cited as a good one to use behind a larger ship, but it’s very flexible in that it can be used at any point in the game.
Now you can see why I wanted this ship so badly. I also must say that she is one of the coolest-looking ships in the game. Finally, if I had to pick a favourite flavour text for a game piece, I think it would be this ship.
