[Ben]

Kingdom of Horrors
Type: Fort
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: LE
Gold Cost: 10 gold
Cannons: 3L-3L-2L-2L-3L-3L
Ability: When this fort hits an enemy ship, also eliminate one crew from that ship. If an enemy ship is within S of this fort you can roll a d6. On a result of 6, one target crew is immediately assigned to this ship. Its nationality changes to match the nationality of this ship. If any ship is moved into contact with this island, that ship and all crew aboard have their nationality changed to Cursed and become part of this fleet.

Flavor text: Like a fear “festival” of terrible things, this “kingdom” is the defintion of sailor’s nightmares. It is said that the Cursed devils manning the fort are adept not only at killing anyone who comes close, but taking their souls as well.

Lucifer’s Serpent
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 14
Number of Masts: 4
Cargo Space: 2
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 2S-2S-3S-3S
Ability: Sea Monster. Once per turn when this sea monster rams an enemy ship, eliminate one mast and one crew from the enemy ship.

Flavor text: A calling from above the waves awakened this creature from its ancient slumber….

[Ben]

I think the treacherous waters would make more sense if a roll of 1 meant something bad (as it usually does in this game).   Maybe a 1 roll would be a reef effect with a 5 or 6 being no effect.  The variability is interesting because you could enter it on purpose and try to game the whirlpool effect for an improbable escape.

And to Ben I would turn that into a fortress I dunno why or how it just screams fortress to me

Indeed, that’s one of the main ideas I had in mind.  I think I have 4 cardboard moldings in that shape so I have options as to what I want to make in the future if I use them.

[Ben]

Easily my biggest purchase for pirates as well but I think it was well worth it, I have two games planned this weekend so I’ll be trying them out.

Awesome!  Feel free to post about the games in Battle Reports.

[Ben]

What do you think this could be turned into?

 

I also picked up a piece of aluminum flashing from the hardware store for less than a dollar.  Lots of things I could do with it.

[Ben]

Ok cool, out of the 32 I was able to find I recieved almost all of the Jade Rebellion ships (including several 6 masters) and most of their named crew. That and I went through the list and was able to get 85% of the whole expansion. I’ve never had any Jade Rebellion ships so it was pretty exciting for me to make this find.

That is awesome!!  SCS is one of the best sets and one of my favorites.  The Jades are a really cool minor faction.  The big lot of SCS I got in late 2014 was one of the biggest Pirates purchases I’ve done, but I don’t regret it at all.

[Ben]

@Countupyourcoyne: Sounds interesting, and reminds me of cannonfury’s Economy Edition and a little of Merchants and Marauders.  If you do flesh out full house rules or an entire alternative ruleset, feel free to post about it in Game Ideas.

[Ben]

Oh yeah for sure if I was better at making ships I would play a whole fleet of my own design lol

The more you make, the better you’ll get at it!  You never know when you’ll end up better then you expected to be.

[Ben]

I’m excited to say that I am planning to finally play a few physical games again.  As of now my plan is to play one physical solo game per month for the next 3 months (no promises though).  Might not sound like much, but I’m planning to put a potentially inordinate amount of effort into each game and its associated battle report.  Hoping to debut a new thing or two and possibly mark a personal “first” in the BR realm of it.

First game will probably be 5-7 fleets at 60 points, another game with 4 fleets at 100 points (in a possibly futile attempt to recreate magic), and possibly a game at over 100 points with 4 or more fleets.

PS: The Zeus will be loose.   XD

[Ben]

I recently made a great find, several dozen sealed South China Sea boosters. I have been looking for reasonable lots of them for a while and I know they are rare but exaxtly how rare I’m not sure. What have been you all’s experience with searching for South China Sea packs?

SCS is the rarest expansion for packs and correspondingly the most expensive.  There are usually expensive single packs on eBay for $10+ but finding a bunch in a lot is rare.  There was a foreign site selling them not long ago but some folks said they ended up selling most or all of their stock to DAcardworld.

[Ben]

Im not so much a stat guy since I can play with whatever stats I want but i can’t change the shape of the models.

I get what you’re saying.  That makes me think that perhaps you play with proxies and/or customs more than other people would?

[Ben]

@Woelf: Yet another interesting take on modifying BA.  My initial thought is that it might be too powerful, or at least worth the ~5 points it was costed at.

[Ben]

What if you had you knock out the oars per the flotilla hit rules (two hits within the same shoot action) and then they can only be replaced as a repair action at a home island.

That does make sense.  Allow them to be repaired, possibly even as a free action if you pay 1 gold.

[Ben]

I now will not be able to derelict the ship in one shoot action, but I am guaranteed at least 1 hit for performing broadsides attack. So rolling 0 hits will result in 1 hit, rolling 1 hit will also result in 1 hit, rolling 2 hits will result in 2 hits.

I realize this applies to existing BA game pieces that are paying for the keyword, but guaranteed hits are likely to be a problem for some people.  As you can see from the survey results linked in the original post, 68% of respondents so far think that a roll of 1 should always miss.  Personally, I’m not fond of getting 1 hit whether you roll for 0 hits or 1 hit.  Each result of the rolls should be different.

I can’t say I’d ever want to roll even more dice while shooting either, unless perhaps the entire combat system was completely revamped.   I think the second example overcomplicates the shooting process, but I’m not someone who has played more complicated games outside of complex Pirates situations.

Glad to see some seriously in-depth ideas and discussion in this thread!

[Ben]

Ive been pondering how to not only play co-op pirates but to have a lot of fun doing so. The main criteria I see for a successful game of friendly pirates is difficulty and randomness.

Interesting idea.  You’re trying to play games where the players are incentivized to work together rather than against each other?

I’ve never really thought of that, but it could be an interesting way to change things up and decrease potential bitterness in intense games.  Though I must say I get a thrill out of strategizing against a real opponent that doesn’t come in solo games.

[Ben]

Instead of rolling an additional die and dropping a hit, the attack could lose a die for a guaranteed hit. So your maximum damage on a 4 masted ship would be 3 hits, and your minimum would be 1 (even if rolling all misses). This achieves the same result as the above proposed rule, just with absolute consistency.

Sorry to be so dumb, but could you provide an example?  It sounds like you wouldn’t need to roll if you’re getting guaranteed hits by forfeiting rolls.  It’s starting to sound more like a regular shoot action to me.

[Ben]

The bribes exist mostly to add just a touch more flavor. However, it could also allow for very interesting game decisions. Deciding whether to spend precious gold to bribe during an important capture could either win you the game by giving you the edge in the next engagement, or lose you the game due to the loss of coin. Tough choices like these are what make games interesting, and Pirates is missing these sorts of decisions in my opinion.

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for the additional info!  Good point about bribes in larger games; makes me want to try it out sometime.

[Ben]

Le Tireur d’Élite could come down in cost by a handful of points.  The Selkie (one of my favorite ships) has much better cannons for 4 less points, and is arguably costed correctly.  I think this ship could be 8-9.

Wow, heckuva ship thee with the Calamity. I imagine that she’d only make an appearance in a huge game, in excess of 100 points, since I’m not even sue if 100 points would be enough to fit this thing.

The entire combo comes to 56 points, so put aboard a few crew to “protect”/supplement the mighty Acronius and you could fit it easily.

Revokt
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: C
Point Value: 10
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-2L
Ability: S-Board.
Link: Infant Buccaneers

Flavor text: Crewed by multigenerational pirates, the Revokt will never be exceptional, but has what she needs to be successful while avoiding priority lists of pirate hunters.

Infant Buccaneers
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: C
Point Value: 3
Ability: Helmsman. Shipwright. This ship gets -1 to her cannon and boarding rolls.
Link: Revokt

Flavor text: Getting their name from enemies who were astounded to see little boys and girls crewing a pirate ship, these offspring of the Revokt’s pirates have taken a liking to sea life. Although they’ve learned to crew the ship effectively, their weak muscles and small stature are often liabilities during boarding parties.

[Ben]

Thanks so much for doing what you can to get these folks on the podcast!

You’re welcome!  My plan now is to wait perhaps a week in between each new person I’ve messaged before trying a new one.  (I’d be overwhelmed if a bunch of people were willing to be on all at once)

[Ben]

@Ed: Any specific crew artwork you find weird, not just the actual photos of the PotC characters? (though I can admit Damsel in Distress was a weird crew to make for the game in general)

[Ben]

I have reached out to additional former Wizkids employees who worked on the game in hopes of talking with them on the podcast.  Kian Ng (the real person, not the crew named after him 🙂 ) said he isn’t able to be on.  I messaged Ethan Pasternack; no response yet.  Today I messaged Sandra Everingham (formerly Garavito).

If anyone else would like to appear on an episode soon, please let me know!  😀

[Ben]

I think Le Baron could be 14 points, since I’d say the Jarvis from RV is still superior at 15 points.  With the Georgetown from OE at 14 being not too great of a ship, you might get away with 13 actually.

The other point costs look about right; the Lis de Tigre might be one of the more underpowered Men-o-war so far, but I don’t see that as a bad thing.  It’s inevitable that there will be some name crossover – my Jades from Epic Seas have a Tiger Lily, but it’s a cheap turtle ship.  XD

~~~~~

Another of the most EPIC 10 masters from Pirates of the Epic Seas!

Calamity
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 45
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 7
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-2S-2L-2L-2L-2S-2S-2S-2L-2L
Ability: Junk. Once per turn you may eliminate 15 or more points of crew from this ship to place up to 2 fire masts on every ship within L of this ship.
Link: Acronius The Calamitous

Flavor text: Firebreather of Doom. Harbinger of the Apocalypse. Terror of the Seven Seas. In spite of all the nicknames, this ship’s real name strikes more fear into the hearts of sailors than Devilspeak. With every unholy outburst of flame and ruin, the legend grows. In time it is said that only skeletons will remain.

Acronius The Calamitous
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 11
Ability: Captain. Helmsman. Once per turn give any ship in your fleet +1 to all of her cannon rolls. This crew can only use his abilities on the Calamity.
Link: Calamity

Flavor text: “The continents are nexxts…” – Acronius

[Ben]

The SoS is a pure gunship

I completely disagree.  I think she immediately becomes one of the best hybrids in the entire Cursed fleet, though mostly because they don’t have that many of those.  Having her be from one of the imperial nations was my flavor excuse of making this good of a Cursed ship that wouldn’t normally be Cursed.  XD
~~~~~
The “last” of the Jade 6 masters, this is certainly an experiment.

Grand Paradise
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Jade Rebellion
Rarity: R
Point Value: 18
Number of Masts: 6
Cargo Space: 8
Base Move: X
Cannons: 4S-4S-4S-4S-4S-4S
Ability: Junk. This ship cannot be shot at [this ability cannot be copied]. This ship cannot move on its own, but can be towed like a derelict. One of this ship’s treasures is worth +1 gold when she docks at your home island.

Flavor text: Too drunk to set sail, the ever-changing crew aboard this massive vessel attract easygoing sailors from around the world. The massive cargo hold is useful when not filled with rum.

Celtic Sage
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Jade Rebellion
Rarity: U
Point Value: 8
Ability: EA. [Extra Action: Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, this ship may be given an extra action.] 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.] Once per turn, this ship may look at any one face-down treasure on any ship or island.

Flavor text: This wise being has become not only an officer in the Jade Rebellion, but seemingly a seer capable of finding and acquiring useful relics.

[Ben]

This way you can choose to go for the massive payout of destroying a fully repaired ship in a single action or you can dramatically increase your chance of landing a hit.

Ah, makes perfect sense now, thanks for explaining.  That is quite interesting and unique.   Do you plan to test it out in a game?

[Ben]

Slaying of the Savior
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: U
Point Value: 18
Number of Masts: 4
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L-2S-2S-3L
Ability: Schooner. When this ship shoots, any of her cannons can shoot grape shot. Declare which cannon will shoot the grape shot before rolling a d6. If it hits, eliminate a crew of your choice instead of a mast.

Flavor text: Stolen from the French, this European-built schooner has quickly become one of the more purely efficient vessels in the Cursed Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets. Her crew are experts at finding and eliminating enemy officers.

Delagoth
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: C
Point Value: 6
Ability: Oarsman. Massacre. [If this ship succeeds at a boarding party, she can eliminate all of the other ship’s crew.]

Flavor text: Seeing the travails of the Slave Coast in Africa, Delagoth’s mind broke. He used his rowing prowess to find employ on a Cursed vessel, but cannot distinguish between good and evil, assuming all Europeans to be slavers. Now he kills those who would enslave and put to the oars…

One of my favorite flavor inspirations in the set, kind of a “psychotic oarsman”.

[Ben]

Player 3 was relying on his Calico Cats getting double actions so he could move and shoot, but I think having a captain is far superior in that situation.

Definitely, and ideally you’d have both.

It’s sometimes bothersome to have to ration out 5 points for every gunship, but it’s very necessary! Moving fast and shooting with one action is a great deal and forms the bread and butter of my battle strategies.

Exactly.  It can seem weird to budget 5 additional points for every gunship (considering 3 gunships in a fleet=15 points of crew, which could be spent getting another gunship), but it’s pretty much always worth it.  Crew are often the lifeblood of effective fleets.

[Ben]

My ships were left with the Possession with two masts, and the Soleil Royal was left with three.

Nice, sounds like you had the best crew setups overall.  In my experience it can take a while for players to learn that helmsmen and captains are incredibly essential, especially having both on just about every gunship.

[Ben]

I’ve always liked how simple yet versatile the movement system has been but I’ve almost played with a modified rule that sees a ship’s listed speed as its “top” speed. The people I have played with and I always saw it as something that you could choose to modify within your move action. If your move was S+S you can choose to move any where between that range as long as it does not exceed the maximum. The logic was that a ship can choose to change how open its sails are and thereby throttle its speed yet cannot exceed the fastest speed with all sails open.

Perhaps you already know this, but that’s completely legal anyway.  You can choose to move in partial move segments whenever you want.

We also toyed with the idea of incorporating a wind mechanic, something like roll a D8 or D4 and that is the direction of the wind for a turn or series of turns and it modifies the movement when traveling towards or against. It was a bit complicated so we never quite got it right but it was a fun idea.

The Files section at BoardGameGeek has a bunch of different wind rules, one of which is somewhat simple that I used and enjoyed in the Experimental cumulative game.  (a battle report I hope to restore in the next few months or sooner)

[Ben]

Something like you can roll and additional die and take the highest option but you lose one “hit” and have it scale up, giving heavy ships the option to risk all hits for a low chance or basically have a for sure single hit.

I don’t fully understand – if you rolled 2 dice, wouldn’t the probability of getting hits be better regardless of ship size?  Perhaps an example would help.

Whenever I have trouble interpreting the rules I try to visualize how they would function in a real scenario, how would actual naval warfare go? One of the other fixes I thought of for this is if the threshold for a hit was lower but if they hit, the enemy ship gets and opportunity to fire back before the hits “land”. Typically if two ships where to go broadside they would be blasting each other right?

Absolutely, unless one ship was already heavily damaged from the same battle against other ships.  If you want more ideas on how to make your games more realistic, check out my post on the subject.

[Ben]

I’m about to meet some friends for a couple of Pirates matches, so I’ll have a battle report soon!

Awesome!  Both fleets look good!

[Ben]

Necklace of the Sky: “Load this treasure face down. Give this ship a move action, but do not move her. Instead, reveal this treasure and dock this ship at any wild island. Then unload this treasure at that island; for the rest of the game, no ship in your fleet can load this treasure.”

The Pirate Code says:

-An explore action is required to unload this treasure; it does not unload automatically. The ship must unload this treasure before it can leave the island.

Regardless of the treasure unloading rules, I feel that this PC ruling directly contradicts the actual ability text of the UT.  “Then unload this treasure” indicates that unloading happens immediately as a free action after docking.  Forcing the ship to explore the island just to chuck a necklace overboard also feels like a strange mechanic.

Xerecs saw the above ruling that is currently relevant to CG4; I played the UT “wrong” in CG1 and CTO, but I think I will continue to do so at least in solo games at this point, since it’s more fun and less confusing that way.

[Author]

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