[Ben]

Alright; I’ll add that to the Mirage. You think points would stay about the same?

I think so.  Honestly I don’t have a big issue with it being playtested without the new negative; it’s just that I think it would be extremely frustrating to play against.  You can check out VASSAL Campaign Game 2 to know why I say that.  In that game it was the threat of Emperor Blackheart rolling a 6.  Here it’s guaranteed.  O_O

So if this ability were to appear targeting a major faction (i.e. England or America) it would likely be closer to 5-ish points?

I think less, probably 3.  The World Hater cannon bonus against (nearly) all nations at 4 points is about right (could have been higher originally IMO, but far too late haha).  A faction restriction is a much bigger deal than the positive of including a few extra types of rolls like ramming and boarding, at least in my opinion.  +1 to cannons against tons of enemies is awesome no matter what; +1 to d6 rolls against just one faction is so much more limited, and could be irrelevant if that faction is not in the game.  Godmason ranted against faction-based bonus abilities many times on the podcast, and he wasn’t wrong – Wizkids nearly always overpriced them.

[Ben]

Perhaps depending on how broken it is in playtesting, I could give it a semi-severe negative ability? I was thinking of adding “Masts eliminated in this way cannot be repaired.” Does that seem too negative, or basically make the Mirage pointless?

I think that’s a solid negative.

Thanks!  Parasitic Legion is weird.  She can’t really do damage with her cannons, which is why I felt the low cost was fine.  (along with the speed of course XD)

Yes, +1 to d6 rolls against a faction would include any combat rolls and things that are rolled directly against enemy ships, such as Fear.  However, it’s only against the Barbary Corsairs, who are a minor faction, which is why I don’t think the ability is worth a lot of points.  SAT is really the only draw here; the other stuff is niche at best and useless in many games. (likely absence of Corsairs + Fear stinks)

[Ben]

I’m worried that the ability of the Emerald Mirage is too automatic and could swing a decently large game in the right spot, but I think 15 points is okay for a playtest.

Parasitic Legion
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: U
Point Value: 15
Number of Masts: 4
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S
Cannons: 3S-2S-2S-3S
Ability: Switchblade. This ship only shoots grapple shot. [If this ship’s cannons hit, do not eliminate a mast; instead this ship can initiate a boarding party against the target.]

Flavor text: This bladed vessel has cannons that shoot the parasites and insects that fill her hold. So extreme is the infestation that no regular cannonballs are ever used.

Galonessa
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: U
Point Value: 7
Ability: Hostile: Barbary Corsairs. Fear. SAT. [Same Action Twice: 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.] This ship gets +1 to her d6 rolls against the Barbary Corsairs.

Flavor text: After being sold by Corsairs she once called comrades, this woman scorned is on a rampage. Going west to east across the Mediterranean, she is developing a fierce reputation.

You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas

[Ben]

Pirates CSG Podcast #44: News, Current Market, Favorite Strategy, Customs and More! (with Xerecs)

You can listen to the audio via ShoutEngine!

 

Questions of the Day

A7XfanBen: What is your favorite memory of Miniature Trading?

Xerecs: To players and collectors of the game, would you ever consider making custom game pieces, and make a model for them, using either pieces of existing ships, or use other materials to bring you creations off the paper?

Recent Games:

Century of Economy (CoEC) 2019: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY5ESzOKns5gkP98K49iP–589KmYKaNf

Bizarre Bottleneck Game: https://pirateswithben.com/bizarre-game-with-4-fleets-at-50-points-june-21st-2019/

4 Fleets at 100 Points: https://pirateswithben.com/4-fleet-100-point-game-june-14th-2019/

Legend of the Giant Turtle: https://pirateswithben.com/legend-of-the-giant-turtle/

My custom game pieces: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wB1CDawx3PkRJus_3m0L_04OBxpujzL8xmjSr_QYN9c/edit?usp=sharing

Pirates of Spherus Magna: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/176124/pirates-spherus-magna

Wayback Machine: https://archive.org/web/

Game Essentials: When playing, try to have the Pirates documents available for reference.  Find them all on the bottom of my homepage: https://pirateswithben.com/

Vendari’s Action Phase Variant: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/62118/pirates-action-phase-variant

Somali Cruises: http://www.somalicruises.com/

Find all the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18Z-x-z9gaWiKFLk-kw1weamc0A1-NxMN3xLjWWKsUmA/edit?usp=sharing

Take the podcast survey! https://goo.gl/forms/CsnwVmi3qhtqik323

Feel free to rate and review the podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pirates-csg-podcast/id1258016060

Pirates packs on eBay: https://goo.gl/MfHBQJ

Sign the Petition!  https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bring-back-pirates-of-the-cursed-seas

Join the Forum at Pirates with Ben!  https://pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/

The following should eventually be updated from ShoutEngine so they will be available when they get the podcast.

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pirates-csg-podcast/id1258016060

Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1258016060/pirates-csg-podcast

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Imxc6vplvkqlmagcvkxvi2er2wu?t=Pirates_CSG_Podcast

Blubrry: https://www.blubrry.com/piratescsgpodcast/

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/a7xfanben/pirates-csg-podcast?refid=stpr

Thanks for listening to Pirates CSG Podcast #44!

[Ben]

Xerecs and I are going live on youtube with the Pirates CSG Podcast!  https://www.youtube.com/c/a7xfanben/live

[Ben]

Anyway, cool. I don’t think I’d do that until I had built up a following on YT.

Yeah, the youtube default description is pretty much the only place I’m advertising it right now, and I think I’ll keep it that way in case I might get in trouble.  XD

(I’m also kinda skeptical of how much bigger I can grow my YT subscriber fan base, since I’ve made and promoted a TON of videos since summer 2017 and the game is not remotely popular in the first place)

[Ben]

I have a firepot specialist picture for a helmsman.  not sure if it was a mis print of if the whole set was that way.  But it was a DJC Helmsman with a firepot picture (nationality france).

I have a bunch like that too, so it wasn’t a misprint.  They definitely messed up the generic crew artwork.

[Ben]

Welcome aboard!

This is a fantastic site! Very well done for taking the time and effort to keep this great old game from dying completely.

Thanks a ton!

Any other Brits here by any chance?

Not sure about here yet.  From the looks of it, some of the Pirates CSG fans from the UK haven’t been around the online community in a while.

[Ben]

Ah, I see.  No similar message at the top of the MT boards but have to assume the site will meet the same fate.  It has been a weird situation since the “fake scare” last year.

Yikes.  🙁

[Ben]

I really like the sunken ship/shipwreck idea. I’ve thought about doing stuff like that before, but with an actual smaller table underneath my main table, making a sot of ‘underwater map’ that is entirely submerged and is where Sea Monsters and other submersible things go when they submerge from the main table. I think this would wok best with a sturdy glass table or tables.

Yup, part of the reason I thought of it was because of the plastic mold I got recently that was posted in the other thread.  I do see it as a logistical issue because if the underwater stuff stays on the main flat surface, it’s tough to represent it accurately without taking stuff apart.  (taking out sea creature segments, or having just a ship’s main deck for a sunken ship)  A lower table could work but I feel like it would be annoying or physically difficult to reach and use stuff on it.

[Ben]

The shits are cool, but who gets the money? TeeSpring, a third party, you?

Your lack of “r” is getting amusing lol.

I get some profit on the sales because it’s a Teespring store I created.  They must make some money as well, but I don’t know if there’s another party that can make money too.

[Ben]

Those are some great shirts!

Thanks!  A fun little experiment for now.  I hope the quality comes out okay if anyone buys any.  I’m thinking I might have to get one for myself.  🙂

[Ben]

Had these ideas recently, added them to the main page.  Might even try to use the bottleneck idea this year.

-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.

[Ben]

So me and my group that regularly play the game have started working on our own set based off Irish naval activity of the west coast of Ireland. We’re making a minor faction called the Fenians and are based off of famous Irish pirates and Irish folk heroes. One of my group knows how to use adobe creative suite so we have some carstock and a laminator so we can actually print out deck plates that are custamized. The ships I’m constructing froma pile of cannibalized ship parts from broken or incomplete ones from lots I’ve bought.

That is awesome!  Feel free to post the stats/etc of them here!

Oriental Queen
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Jade Rebellion
Rarity: C
Point Value: 13
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 5L-3L
Ability: Junk. HI Raider. [This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn.] This ship cannot be pinned.

Flavor text: A bit of bravado accompanies this vessel’s crew. Although this ship is the best in her local area, that’s not saying much when you have the entire South China Sea (or Pacific Ocean) to plunder.

Isvela
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Jade Rebellion
Rarity: C
Point Value: 8
Ability: Captain. Crew Protect. [This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.] Place this crew face up during setup. Reduce the cost of all other crew placed on this ship by 1.

Flavor text: This captain will do anything for her sailors. She is caring and accomodating, and has suffered numerous injuries to protect even common landsmen from dying. Her quick reflexes allow her to occasionally deflect slowing musket balls with sword parries.

You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas

[Ben]

Awesome, loving the reports so far!!  😀

[Ben]

Can you activate Ghost Ship while that ship is being towed? (for example, to prevent opponents from ramming a towed derelict to steal gold from it)

You can activate it on either ship involved at the beginning of your turn, but that immediately breaks the tow.

That makes perfect sense and I don’t disagree with it.  Part of the reason I asked is because the keyword and the Code say nothing about towing (that I saw) in regards to Ghost Ship.

A ghostly ship ignores islands, terrain, and other ships when moving

I guess I wish it said “when moving or being moved”.  🙂

[Ben]

@Ben: So given the combination of Captain, Ex-Pat, and the new ability, would you say Julie is good at 6 points, or should go to 7?

I think 6 is fine to start at.

Paladin Arnaustas seems just a little OP to me; that’s a crew that would serve well on a 10-mast ship.

I think that’s part of the reason I didn’t give him Ex-Patriot.  A 10 master with only S-range guns could be a problem.  I may just change it to Sniping. (doubled range only hit on 6)

However, I can also see that ability being terribly abused by fleets with multiple Fleet Admirals or Mycron crew. And if I’m being honest, it would be by us.

In this case it’s good you guys are power gamers, since I don’t think of all the possibilities.  I actually only added the Vital Creek’s first ability today, but I’m going to delete it already so only Mercenary ships can dock at the island and use the fort.

Her Majesty’s Exotic Filth and Waste
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: C
Point Value: 13
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 6
Base Move: S
Cannons: 4S-3L-5L
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against the English. This ship must be assigned stinkpot shot or a stinkpot specialist; if not remove this ship and all cargo from the game immediately.

Flavor text: Not content with simply insulting the high commander of England, these filthy Cursed hordes want to defecate on the throne and force the reigning monarch to eat it.

Definitely went crazy with this poop theme. lol.

Borkun Crowley
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: C
Point Value: 6
Ability: If this ship wins a boarding party, she may capture the crew with the LOWEST point cost instead of eliminating it. A captured crew becomes cargo worth its point cost in gold when unloaded at your home island, and can be eliminated to give this ship an extra action.
Link: Ships with “Devil” in their name

Flavor text: A disfigured slaver who preys on weak creatures to “salvage” their worth, Crowley is despicable. Nevertheless his efforts have greatly helped the Cursed in their quest for domination.

You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas

[Ben]

@JB/JW: Those reasons make perfect sense.

Julie Rose’s new ability is difficult to cost.  I think ~3 is a good start though.  Tyson Young has an awesome combo going, just a little OP by default IMO.  Perfect for a 10 master.

Some Mercenaries of my own!

Inferno
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Point Value: 13
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 2
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L-3L-3L
Ability: Mercenary. Junk. Every shot this ship takes is a fire shot: if it hits, replace one of the target’s masts with a fire mast; on a roll of 1, replace one of this ship’s masts with a fire mast [this ability cannot be copied]. If a shot sinks this ship, roll a d6 for every ship within L of this ship. For each target, replace that number of masts with fire masts.

Flavor text: “Pyromania” as a term would do a disservice to the members of this crew. They are hell-bent on burning all of existence to fuel Ifrit. Dare take the final shot to sink this menace of a vessel, and dare to unleash an Inferno that rivals the Devil himself….

Paladin Arnaustas
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: U
Point Value: 10
Ability: This ship’s S-range cannons have the Extended Range keyword. Once per turn you may give a +2 bonus to one d6 roll made for this ship; the bonus must be declared before rolling.

Flavor text: Said to have creative magical powers, this “traveling sorcerer” has been helping ships near Africa reach their true potential. Good luck follows him, and as a result, so do new mercenary recruits.

Vital Creek
Type: Fort
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Gold Cost: 3
Cannons: 3L-3L-3L
Ability: Ships of any nationality may dock at this island.  Ships docked at this fort cannot have their crew eliminated, cancelled, or removed from the game.

Flavor text: The creek on this small island has some of the freshest water in all the Eastern hemisphere. Sailors eager to catch a break flock to it. The creek is known as a safe haven, both for its ability to heal illnesses, and for the wrath any invader would face if they were to attempt to take the island by force.

You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas

[Ben]

Hey cool, Pirate merch! Hopefully you don’t get shutdown by any legal hullaballoo.

Derp.  I’m the type of person to just completely forget about that.  Maybe I’ll get arrested for being a real “pirate”.  XD

I did try making a “serious collector” shirt with all of the different pack artwork on it, but Teespring took it down quickly.  So maybe the first shirt will also get hit.  At some point it’s hard to care, and there comes a point where I’d rather push boundaries than sit around for years without trying stuff.

[Ben]

I think this woks best with the large custom, three dimensional islands that people make. For the regular game pack islands, I think exploring works fine as-is, since not every game is a grand epic.

Exactly, agreed 100%.

[Ben]

Hit the “Subscribe” link to the upper right of “Pirates CSG” towards the top of the main forum page to get notified when new threads are posted!

[Ben]

My latest masterpiece!

[Ben]

These questions come from my latest game.

If you have Filching Gold but also want to board a ship to steal an additional coin, which happens first?  (I assumed the Filching Gold; perhaps the owner of the ship can decide?)

If Neptune’s Figurehead kicks in right after scuttling, can that ship be given a move action right away?  (more of a clarification; in this case the ship sunk via scuttling at the beginning of the turn, then appeared at the HI fully repaired and immediately sailed out and rammed a ship!)

Can you activate Ghost Ship while that ship is being towed?  (for example, to prevent opponents from ramming a towed derelict to steal gold from it)

What do you think of letting submerged game pieces ignore fog banks while submerged?

[Ben]

I’ve checked around he site and the web but can not wind what ‘Trade Currents’ do. what are they?

You can see in Page 10 of the Combined Set Rules. (which I have linked on the homepage for convenience)

[Ben]

Looking around and found some stuff.  Punched Guichuan: https://ebay.to/2wTPHV0

Small SM lot worth bidding on: https://ebay.to/2WFdck9

Random CC crew lot with a couple Promo/LE’s: https://ebay.to/2MOT5eR

[Ben]

Signed up for Teespring and now you can get some Pirates CSG shirts!  😀

There’s a wide variety of colors and types, and I plan to keep adding stuff to the store in the near future.

[Ben]

Picked up this thin and flimsy but interesting plastic molding from work today.  That’s the Ville de Paris on a hard card sleeve suspended above the valleys.  It reminds me of the table that was posted on Miniature Trading a while back. (haven’t found the post yet)

SO many options.  I’m thinking about attaching a piece of plexiglass to the top of it, and have it be a small alternate ocean where ships arrive and can send crew down to shipwrecks or something below.  I could also make it more realistic by having the higher parts be reefs or sandbars, with the deeper area the only part where ships can sail safely.  The lower parts could be made to look like a cool underwater area.

I also thought about enclosing the sides to make a “box” and then fill it with water!  Then the plexiglass/etc could go on top and ships could go over it, possibly even dropping custom anchors into the depths.

This could get wild haha.  A flashlight below could illuminate the waters, perhaps signaling the arrival of a deadly beast?  Imagine it over the top of some blue LED lights or something.

As you probably already know, the above cardboard molding turned into a Giant Turtle! 😀

[Ben]

Great!  I fondly remember those times when I was consistently adding new ships and crew to my collection.

That is unfortunate about the Mega Packs, and one thing I don’t miss as much lol.  (getting lots of dupes, and ones that aren’t that useful in some cases like Squalo)

It is a nice deal on F&S, I’ve thought about it a few times the past few weeks haha.  (just that I already have pretty much everything I could pull from the packs of that set)

[Ben]

I really like the concept of Cancelers but I was unsure about a one masted ship. thanks for the insight.

Of course!  Cancellers are fantastic but of course on a 1 masted ship you have the usual ramming problem, where one easily successful ram can often ruin a 1 master’s chances of impacting a game.  In the unique case of the Hessian, that’s where a shipwright and Eternal could come in handy.

[Ben]

Pirates CSG Podcast #43: Jason Mical! (former Wizkids Communications Manager)

You can listen to the audio via ShoutEngine!

 

You can also listen on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/PiratesCSGPodcast43JasonMical

Jason Mical was the Wizkids Communications Manager from 2003-2006.  Questions list on Pirates with Ben: https://pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/submit-your-questions-for-former-wk-communications-manager-jason-mical/

Questions of the Day: If you were to name a Pirate ship, what would you name it and why? (from Jason Mical)

What is your favorite flavor text of any game piece? (from Ben)

His website: https://www.jasonmicalwrites.com/

His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ClassicLetsPlay/videos

Expanse RPG: https://greenronin.com/expanse/

Find all the game pieces here:

Master Spreadsheet (stuff from Wizkids): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18Z-x-z9gaWiKFLk-kw1weamc0A1-NxMN3xLjWWKsUmA/edit?usp=sharing

Past podcasts: http://shoutengine.com/PiratesCSGPodcast/

Take the podcast survey! https://goo.gl/forms/CsnwVmi3qhtqik323

Feel free to rate and review the podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pirates-csg-podcast/id1258016060

Pirates packs on eBay: https://goo.gl/MfHBQJ

Sign the Petition!  https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bring-back-pirates-of-the-cursed-seas

Join the Forum at Pirates with Ben!  https://pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/

The following should eventually be updated from ShoutEngine so they will be available when they get the podcast.

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pirates-csg-podcast/id1258016060

Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1258016060/pirates-csg-podcast

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Imxc6vplvkqlmagcvkxvi2er2wu?t=Pirates_CSG_Podcast

Blubrry: https://www.blubrry.com/piratescsgpodcast/

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/a7xfanben/pirates-csg-podcast?refid=stpr

Thanks for listening!  Feel free to answer the Questions of the Day below!   

[Author]

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