Ben

  • Ben replied to the topic Century of Economy 2019 in the forum Pirates CSG 7 years ago

    Glad to see another report, the size of the battle is really epic!

  • @juulm: Thanks! Sorry, I should have made that more clear and I will edit the post. Impossible to actually play even a demo/solo game as far as I can tell. The fleet builder is neat but there’s not much you can do.

    Have fun,
    Ben

  • How’s that for “fancy?!”

    That is fancy, and rather epic!  😀  Love the idea of a Pirates birthday party.  Looking forward to hearing about the game – I just used five 10 masters in my 6×150 game, and it was pretty great.

  • Ben replied to the topic Battle Reports in the forum Pirates CSG 7 years ago

    It has been 2 years since I started Command the Oceans.  It became the largest recorded Pirates CSG game that I’ve heard of, and my finest effort to date.

  • Super random but yet another thread idea I’ve had waiting in the wings.

    Feel free to list any surprising facts about you related to Pirates CSG that people might not expect.

    For me: I’ve only pulled one SR pack, and it was RotF (one of the most common SR packs).  I still haven’t opened a Scavenger Pack box from SS.  Until this year I didn’t h…[Read more]

  • I was trying to not write a novel length post!

    No problem with those!  😀

    An alternative to making ships more tough would be to simply increase the number of ships in a standard game.

    By increasing the build total?  Or having a mandatory number of ships each player must sail with?  I do like higher build totals, especially since it allows you to…[Read more]

  • @Woelf: I love how many good options there are for making it less collectible.

    the classic 2 hits for every mast in same shoot action (which I think I saw utilized in one of Ben’s campaign games or something to introduce more realism)

    Indeed, both Century of the Empires and Command the Oceans had that rule.

    Of course, increasing the number of shi…

    [Read more]

  • After seeing Woelf’s answers in the Rules thread about this game, a few things could have been a little different. I think the Neptune’s Trident wave blast would have hit the Pluton as seen in the video of that play.

    With The Inquisitor captured at the end, the Cristal’s crew would have had trouble. That would have made it even harder for the…[Read more]

  • Not sure if I have any ‘major’ accomplishments…..

    You’ve done a TON!  I think you’re at 2 campaign game wins?  That alone is a huge investment of time and effort, not to mention strategic prowess.  All the custom sets, physical customs, custom islands, youtube channel, etc etc….  😀

  • @Xerecs: Thanks a ton for reading all of it!

    Part of the Ghost Ship keyword: “A ghostly ship ignores islands, terrain, and other ships when moving, but cannot end a move action with any part physically overlapping an island or another ship.”
    From the Pirate Code: “-The effect of ghostly only applies when the ship is moving. If it stops on…[Read more]

  • Poll: What is your least favorite thing about Pirates CSG? (other than the fact that it is out of print)  Fragility/breakability of components, Rules issues, length of play, long setup time, more?

  • Now that the Rules survey has some results (45 responses as of this post), I think it would be a good idea to discuss some various options in detail.

    One more response has come in, and I decided to combine all the interesting things I saw from it.

    Are there any changes you would recommend to the shooting system?
    The player shooting should need to…

    [Read more]

  • Ben wrote a new post 7 years, 1 month ago

    6 Fleets, 150 Points – September 2019
    Here it is!  After planning the details of this game since perhaps April or May of 2019, it is finally complete.

    Comment below if you liked it!  I would love to hear w […]

    • How were the Delusion and Guichuan able to go into fog banks while Ghostly? I thought that Ghost Ship prevented them from physically overlapping any game piece when they were finished moving.

      Nice game overall, with an EPIC early endgame. The movements and actions of the Guichuan and the Cursed were impressive and awesome. I had a feeling that they would either finish on top, or in the top three, especially after the second more deadly home island raid. I really need to get my hands on the Viking Grim and the Poseidon’s Breath UT.
      I quite liked the video reports you did as well, different from how I do mine, but most enjoyable.
      That shoot action with the Monarca reminded me of that moment in T2 I think, when I was able to hit a ship with the Banshee’s Cry. 😀

      • @Xerecs: Thanks a ton for reading all of it!

        Part of the Ghost Ship keyword: “A ghostly ship ignores islands, terrain, and other ships when moving, but cannot end a move action with any part physically overlapping an island or another ship.”
        From the Pirate Code: “-The effect of ghostly only applies when the ship is moving. If it stops on terrain, the effects apply normally.”

        Indeed, the combo of using Treasure Ship, HI Hoard (Grim), and SS Bianco’s Haulers all at once is AMAZING. (as you already knew of course 😉 ) Combine it with Ghost Ship to not be boarded after departing the enemy HI and possibly some defensive UT’s, and it seems just about unbeatable. The Guichuan is uniquely positioned to take advantage of such a crazy combo, because I don’t think the Baochuan can get the crew aboard to pull it off. (and using DJC Davy Jones to copy Treasure Ship is a headache of sorts on the other 10 masters since it resets)

        Glad you enjoyed the videos. I’d still like to do a report like yours sometime. I did enjoy capturing raw footage in real time of a physical game, which is pretty rare to see in Pirates CSG overall.

        5S cannons are sometimes better than 3S’s for me it seems. XD

        Ben

    • After seeing Woelf’s answers in the Rules thread about this game, a few things could have been a little different. I think the Neptune’s Trident wave blast would have hit the Pluton as seen in the video of that play.

      With The Inquisitor captured at the end, the Cristal’s crew would have had trouble. That would have made it even harder for the English Mercenaries to somehow pull out a win or even finish with a higher score, making it even more clear that they made the right move by surrendering.

  • Unsurprisingly ran into some Rules questions in my 6×150 game that concluded today:

    If a native canoe finds the Marines UT, does it leave the game or stay on the island?

    Neptune’s Trident – does it affect ships docked at HI’s?  Can you measure the S width S away from the ship and protruding at a perpendicular angle? (I may need to show diag…[Read more]

  • Ben replied to the topic Century of Economy 2019 in the forum Pirates CSG 7 years, 1 month ago

    From YT comment….
    That Spanish fleet is insanely huge. The wall of ships reminds me of the Pirates in Command the Oceans.
    Well maybe the Cursed would have a resource island to go to if they hadn’t farted around for days on end!! 🙄
    Definitely feels like the Spanish should be able to beat the Americans.
    I like having ships roll for the reef that…[Read more]

  • Way back when I’d created a set of rules challenges where there was some odd combination of pieces, and people had to figure out how the interaction worked. They’re probably lost to history at this point, although I might still have them buried in a text file somewhere…

    I remember coming across some of those and being absolutely baffled. XD  T…[Read more]

  • What is the most complicated rules situation you have encountered in a game?

    I have many – Abandoned Crew, UT resolution, etc.  Abandoned Crew can be about as confusing as it gets in my opinion.  I’ve noticed that UT’s can slow a game to a crawl between looking up the specific text and trying to resolve UT issues with other UT’s and a…[Read more]

  • Load More