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Great Robbery
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Barbary Corsair
Rarity: R
Point Value: 17
Number of Masts: 4
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3L-4S-4L-5L
Ability: Galley. 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.
Link: Zagras of YammasFlavor text: The “great” Zagras comes aboard the Great Robbery to perform his captain duties on about half of the ship’s voyages. Although the crew occasionally grumble that he acts as though he is above them, they almost always come home from his trips with double the profits.
Zagras of Yammas
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Barbary Corsair/Mercenary
Rarity: U
Point Value: 10
Ability: EA. [Extra Action: Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, this ship may be given an extra action.] Hoard.
Link: Great RobberyFlavor text: An accomplished thief turned occasional Mercenary warlord, Zagras “of Yammas” is one of the leading Barbary Corsairs. That is, when he puts on his Corsair attire and actually sails in the Mediterranean. Half the time he is off on undisclosed voyages, rumored to be in the South China Sea and South Pacific.
Historical Custom of the Day #384
Shirley
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: English
Rarity: C
Point Value: 7
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3S-3S
Ability: This ship’s linked crew can use his abilities on this ship regardless of point costs.
Link: John RousYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
It is here! Thanks for the questions!
Pirates CSG Podcast #41: GAME DESIGNER JAMES ERNEST!!!!
Check out this very special episode of the Pirates CSG Podcast with original game designer James Ernest!
Listen to it on ShoutEngine: http://shoutengine.com/PiratesCSGPodcast/pirates-csg-podcast-41-game-designer-james-ernest-74495
James Ernest is one of the original game designers for Pirates CSG. He has his own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ernest
Website: https://cheapass.com/
Bio: https://cheapass.com/about-james-ernest/
Check out his free pirate game called Cagway Bay! https://cheapass.com/free-games/cagway-bay/
Rules: https://cheapass.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Cagway-Bay-Rules.pdfHis YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyVH4H2qhHwmuPFQ5HMPgqw
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheapassgames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cheapassjames
At BoardGameGeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/61/james-ernestToday we talk about Pirates CSG and his own piratey projects! Here is the list of questions submitted at Pirates with Ben: https://pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/submit-your-questions-for-pirates-csg-game-designer-james-ernest/#post-3363
Question of the Day: Have you played Cagway Bay? What do you think of it?
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=stprThanks for listening!
-Admiral A7XfanBen
On Saturday I asked Wizkids and NECA on Facebook “What would it take to bring back Pirates Constructible Strategy Game?”
They responded this morning with the same message they sent me in March 2017 when I inquired about whether or not they had the license/rights to Pirates CSG.
Hi Ben,
At this time I do not have nay information about the Pirates CSG/Pirate of the Spanish Main.
Thank you,
The WK Team
However, I think the flotilla rules are easier to abuse, so using the derelict towing rule would make the game more balanced overall.
I agree. Hooking up a line and getting the towed object behind the towing ship is already easy enough. Towing a heavy object behind a ship should definitely slow the ship down considerably. Speed is already powerful enough in the game, so letting ships with fast base moves tow derelicts at that same speed would just make them even more of an obvious choice when building a fleet. I think applying the derelict towing rules to flotillas would actually make for more interesting fleet builds, as the slower ships would benefit instead.
Grand Flower
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Jade Rebellion
Rarity: R
Point Value: 13
Number of Masts: 6
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L-4L-5L-5L-4L-4L
Ability: Junk. Parley. L-range cannons targeting this ship always hit. [no roll required]Flavor text: Although this vessel is able to use her beauty to escape some otherwise deadly encounters, the sheer amount of aesthetic appeal has made her a very inviting target for gun crews.
Historical Custom of the Day #383
John Rous
English
Crew
10 points
Ability: Captain. This ship gets +1 to her cannon and boarding rolls against the French. Once per turn you may give one friendly ship within S of this ship +1 to her cannon rolls.
Link: HMS Ruby, Shirley, HMS SutherlandYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
I still don’t think that’s happened to me, but it certainly has happened to others plenty of times unfortunately.
Any idea how long the interview will last?
No, and I’m not sure we’ll get to all of the questions, or at least not as in-depth as we could go with no time limit.
Questions for James Ernest
When and how did you get involved with the Pirates project?
What is your collection like?
General overview of how sets were designed and finalized.
What sets did he work on?
Favorite set and game piece you designed or worked on? Least favorites?
At the game’s apex, how many people were working on the game?
What other designers and artists did you work with?
Did multiple people work on the flavor text, or was one person mainly in charge of the game’s lore?
How did Wizkids make the ships? How were they printed and stamped?
How did Wizkids decide on points and ship stats and in general come up with the ships?
What thoughts/concept went behind the development of the ships and crew?
What were the main inspirations for the different expansions?
How did they determine what strategies were “good” for a pack?
What, in your opinion, are the most OP ships or strategies?
What were some of his ideas that never made it into the game?
Does he recall any sets/plans or potential directions Wizkids had in the works? What was the direction they had planned for the game? (other than more fantasy/less historical as reported by Kelly Bonilla)
How much did PotC affect DJC/OE/etc?
After the Pirates of the Caribbean expansion, were there any plans to do another cross-over?
What were some of the future ideas for special ships? (more Pokeships/etc? Or less extreme stuff)
Favorite memories of Pirates and his experience?
What are things he would have changed in hindsight?
How did you get out of Pirates?
Where did it all go wrong with Pirates?
What do you think is the biggest reason that Pirates CSG went out of print?
Opinion on the effect of 2008 recession and general economics on the game?
Do you have any idea how the Shuffling the Deck card game did in sales? Is NECA wanting to do more with pirates in general?
Do you think the game has a chance to come back in the future?
How do you think it could come back – digital vs. physical?
Do you happen to know exactly what patent concerns the rights to produce Pirates CSG? Have you had experience with the patents for other games expiring and being open to anyone reproducing the game?
If Pirates CSG came back, would you want to return to it?
What are you doing now?
Where can people find you online?
Other: Cagway Bay similarities to Pirates, there was a Pirates event at PAX Unplugged in November 2017, Gencon festivities, great YouTube channel.
Do you house rule that Turtle ships can’t have their masts rammed off while they still have panels?
In general yes. In fact my Basic Rules do away with ram damage altogether. Opal Shrine not Shine.
Queenstorm
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: French
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 44
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-4L-3L-3L-3L-4S-4L-4L-3S-3S
Ability: Junk. Grapple Shot. This ship can shoot at submerged ships within S of her. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against non-French/English/Spanish/American/Dutch targets. Specialist crew take up no cargo space on this ship.
Link: Jean-Claude DuPierreFlavor text: Judging by her name, it is no surprise that the French have used this monstrosity for warfare only. Designed to combat all the scourges of the seven seas, the Queenstorm is equipped with both the artillery and ammunition to put an end to criminality. However, her crew are not prepared to deal with the complex international relations that their “enemies” have formed in the buildup to the grand war of the age….
Jean-Claude DuPierre
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: French
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 8
Ability: Loyal: France. Hostile: Pirate, Cursed, Barbary Corsair, Jade Rebellion, Viking, Mercenary. Captain. Broadsides Attack. This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls.
Link: QueenstormFlavor text: With rigid discipline, Capitaine DuPierre keeps his ship ready for combat at all times during every mission. His hatred of scoundrels is becoming legendary. He can be a bit chaotic, sometimes manning a massive 42 pounder on the lower gun deck, and other times leading his men in a courageous boarding party.
Not the best combo, but that’s not really the point. What fun will be had….
~~~~~
Historical Custom of the Day #382
John Aldred
English
Crew
4 points
Ability: Captain. Shipwright. Pirate ships get +1 to their cannon rolls against this ship.
Link: Essex PrizeYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Opal Shrine
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: R
Point Value: 11
Number of Masts: 1
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+S+S
Cannons: 4L
Ability: Turtle Ship. Extended Range. One of this ship’s treasures is worth +1 gold when she docks at your home island.Flavor text: This ship’s crew is always searching for opals, but they find opportunities for long-distance potshots now and then.
Already one of the more visible ships in THC, but not publicly revealed on a forum until now.
Historical Custom of the Day #381
Duke of Clarence (first version listed)
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: English
Rarity: C
Point Value: 6
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: L
Cannons: 4S-5L
Ability: This ship gets -1 to her initial sandbar rolls.
Link: John HayesYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
I also like Dories, I think it should be on more ships, and not just mercenary ships.
That’s something that’s on my customs to do list!
Van Damme is cool, and makes for an interesting combo on his own ship, since he won’t take up cargo space, and add one because of his link, giving the ME a total of 5 cargo to stash stolen goodies in.
Yikes, I can’t remember if I thought of that when I made him. I’m starting to think this is too good of a combo.
King’s Ghost
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: English
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 10
Number of Masts: 1
Cargo Space: 2
Base Move: L+L
Cannons: 1L
Ability: Eternal. This ship may use the effects of any equipment with “shot” in the name.Flavor text: Like the purported “ghost” of Henry VIII himself, this ship comes and goes over the years. Hundreds of witnesses have claimed to see her go down in battle, but long afterwards she’ll be seen sailing out of a port on the southern coast of England.
Historical Custom of the Day #380
John Hayes
English
Crew
2 points
Ability: S-Explorer.
Link: Duke of ClarenceYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Sounds like a great question for James Ernest!
It is being added to the list!
It would be exciting to see an article be published reviewing the game in 2019. It would seem fitting since the 10 year anniversary of its cancellation just passed.
I did that, but my opinion isn’t exactly objective at this point…. XD
Oooh. I like the Crystal Shroud. It sounds cool, and has an interesting function, I’d probably use it on a heavyweight named crew, or what I’d consider the most important named crew on a gunship. Might be difficult in that respect, since big gunships usually get built to the point limit.
Indeed; perhaps it would work for named crew that have multiple abilities that are so good they don’t require many other crew to be on the ship. Such as Stern, Victor de Alva from F&S, sac captains, etc.
Might as well put the “epic” in Epic Seas! XD
Marvelous Escape
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: SE
Point Value: 25
Number of Masts: 5
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 4L+L-3S-3S-3S-4L+L
Ability: Mercenary. Dories. Crew assigned to this ship don’t take up cargo space; this ship can be assigned a maximum of three crew. | If this ship is within S of an enemy ship when this ship is given a move action, she gets +S to her base move. | Once per turn when this ship is given a shoot action, one of her cannons can shoot a chain shot. Declare which cannon will shoot the chain shot before rolling the d6. If the shot hits, do not eliminate a mast; instead the target can’t move on her next turn.
Link: Bar Van DammeFlavor text: Bar Van Damme’s ship, the Marvelous Escape is so named for her many raids and successful getaways. Using chain shot and studding sails to their advantage, the crew are experts at getting in and out of ports quickly.
Bar Van Damme
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: SE
Point Value: 9
Ability: Captain. 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.
Link: Marvelous EscapeFlavor text: This swashbuckling character has a reputation unlike any other. After escaping the Tower of London and fighting off the Demon King in a swordfight, he has realized that friends will be few in his life. However, his loyal crew have assissted him in numerous heists, and he enjoys his fortunes at leisure.
Historical Custom of the Day #379
Henry Waterhouse
English
Crew
3 points
Ability: Cannoneer. Explorer.
Link: HMS Reliance, George BassYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Hi Ben, do you have any specific ideas on what we can do in order to try to help to bring back the game? Besides telling my friends and signing petitions of course.
Contacting NECA through Facebook/email/Instagram/etc. Tell or show them your interest level in the game and how you’d love to see it in stores again. Given the legal cesspool that prevents anyone from doing much in the way of production, they may only be swayed by obvious demand (of a serious quantity, far beyond petitioning) and straight cash. I’ve thought about trying to buy the rights away from them, but it would likely take far more money than the entire community could come up with together.
I know of several tabletop websites that like to do features on “retro” games that maybe we could reach out to and have them do a piece on the game?
Sounds cool! Feel free to list them here or contact them about it of course. If they allow guest posting, it could allow them to save time if a Pirates fan did the writing.
Thanks for asking and it’s a question I’ve thought about. Outside of hiring legal help to actually get to the bottom of the patent/IP issue, it’s tough to do much that would help directly. I also like the idea of getting some of the game’s past fans back into the community, but that hasn’t worked for me so far. I hope the rights can simply expire at some point, but until then, I feel it’s just a case of stimulating demand in the market so they’d feel financially incentivized to actually do something about the product.
I’m not nearly the only one with ideas though! I’d love to hear what other people think are good ways to try and restart the game.
I’ve been re-listening to several of the review podcasts where one of the most common complaints said about ships or keywords are their illogical point costs.
Thanks for that! It’s flattering to hear that anyone has gotten through some of the longer podcasts more than once.
Perhaps a forum page should be dedicated to rule change suggestions?
Sounds good. I might have time to start that today. Sometimes it just gets complicated to determine what is being talked about – rule changes vs. point cost changes vs. Pirate Code/etc changes (changes to how the original official rules are interpreted without changing the original rules).
Also, I forgot to mention in my initial reply two others things that make me hesitant. For one, I’ve got a lot of other big long-term Pirates CSG projects I’m already working on or would prefer to work on. Second, between the rules of CG4, the Caribbean game, and Game Ideas, I already have a lot of alternative rules things to test out and find what I like best/etc. I’d rather play (and have fun testing various rules/rulesets) than come up with even more rules alternatives (the World/Caribbean game rulesets was already a massive undertaking in that regard, and is still basically untested…), but finding time and players for campaign games has only gotten more difficult. If a potential relaunch was more possible or imminent, my tone would be a bit different I think.
Crystal Shroud
Type: Equipment
Rarity: R
Point Value: 4
Ability: Parley. When revealed, this equipment becomes linked to a named crew of your choice on this ship. If that crew would be eliminated, instead place them and this equipment on your home island.Flavor text: A dazzling robe that doesn’t grant the wearer invisibility, but can extract someone from sticky situations.
Historical Custom of the Day #378
Charles Hardy
English
Crew
6 points
Ability: Captain. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against the French. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against forts within S of her.
Link: HMS RyeYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
So I remember back on MT there was a discussion (mentioned by Ben I believe) about formulating an “updated” pirates code based upon the the experience and opinions of the present fan base.
What are your thoughts on creating an alternative Pirate CSG code that only seeks to balance out and address some of the key issues we routinely see?
I like the idea of a “community ruleset” (not so much FAQ, although maybe I said something about that?), but it’s impossible to please everyone. If all somewhat experienced players took the following surveys, it would help towards determining a consensus of sorts.
Rules Survey: https://goo.gl/forms/dDV50a3yVQHVrNG03
Ability Costs Survey: https://goo.gl/forms/MS4gufdXBBSRbqX43
I don’t think the Pirate Code is the problem, the problem is that Wizkids NEEDED a massive FAQ to explain their rules and to even make the game playable on a reasonably complex or competitive level for fairness. I have disagreed with a few things in the PC, but for the most part it makes a lot of sense and has helped me countless times when playing.
It sounds like you’re talking more about a massive rules/game overhaul than just changing how a few specific things work.
This would mean alternative point costs for ships and crew (not every piece just the most egregious pieces) as well as modifications of some keywords.
I still feel that this opens up a can of worms and is difficult to stop. If you make the Banshee’s Cry 10 points, maybe Bloody Jewel is suddenly the best Pirate gold runner. Should she go up in cost too? It might help curb some of the blatantly OP game pieces, but it would probably just make others replace them. I’m more in favor of simply banning events, and then discussing with your opponents prior to the game whether it will be more towards competitive or casual. (so the fleets aren’t unbalanced to an extreme)
I foresee an improvement in factions such as the Cursed where their general tournament weakness may be improved by cheaper point-costs and more realistic keywords.
I can’t speak for Woelf of course, but him and I would both agree that the Cursed don’t need to suddenly be viable for competitive tournaments. They just kinda stink in small games, and I’m fine with that. It’s good to have unique factions, and the Cursed are arguably the most unique in a lot of ways. I wouldn’t want to lose that by basically giving them steroids like some custom creators have done. 🙂 (I know I have a lot of crazy Cursed customs, but they’re mostly gimmicky or ludicrously expensive, not so much competitive/cheap stuff)
I’m fine with making the keywords have more realistic costs when making customs (Fear at 2 instead of 6 for example), but trying to retcon existing WK stuff gets confusing in a hurry, and starts to invalidate all sorts of stuff like fleets at MT, the database/Master Spreadsheet, etc etc. Also, the Cursed are more viable in large/campaign games, and giving them cheap gold runners and whatnot would make them much more like other factions in those games in addition to tournament relevance. Outside of (in my opinion) France and Spain, the factions are all quite different with their own strengths and weaknesses, and I’m just one of those people in the camp that is fine with things staying that way. I never really hear about people playing competitive tournaments anymore either, so unless there was a restart, I think fun and engaging customs are more important than boosting underpowered stuff that Wizkids made. 🙂
I like my Basic Rules, and at this point it’s hard to see myself purposely going away from that to conform to a “community ruleset” that I might never use if people don’t want to or can’t play on VASSAL anyway. At this point it seems like everyone has their own rulesets or preferred house rules, so a lot of things would be hard to iron out. Even if something was “finalized”, people coming back to the community in a year or an influx of new players might completely disagree with a lot of the changes made. You’d also have serious confusion for new players not knowing what to look at, and there’s already more than one rules document to look at when trying to play a game. (I tried to improve that somewhat by combining the best of the Start Here rules with the Complete Game rules, but the Code is important too)
Sorry to kinda be debbie downer or whatever it’s called. I think it’s an idea worth discussing, just one that may not result in much of a consensus or participation rate. I do think it warrants its own thread, so if you want I could perhaps work some kind of forum magic to make it appear that way.
Keg Bomb
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Point Value: 10
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 2
Base Move: S
Cannons: 3S-3S
Ability: When this ship hits an enemy ship, the target’s controller replaces one mast with a fire mast and eliminates a crew. When this ship is hit, replace one of this ship’s masts with a fire mast. [Both instead of regular damage, not in addition to.] If this ship is hit with a shot that normally causes fire masts, this ship sinks immediately and every ship within L of this ship must replace one mast with a fire mast.Flavor text: With full barrels of gunpowder and incendiary materials just lying out on the deck, the crew of this vessel have been deemed suicidal maniacs. Although their vast stores of ammunition have won them some battles, it’s only a matter of time until a well-placed firepot instantly incinerates them all.
Historical Custom of the Day #377
Keith Stewart
English
Crew
5 points
Ability: Captain. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against Dutch ships.
Link: HMS BerwickYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Very interesting. Fog hopping on such a large ship is indeed powerful and should not be cheap. however, given the rest of the ships stats, I feel you could come down to 40 points. If only because Storms don’t get used often, even by me! Therefore, to my way of thinking, it would be difficult to get that +1 to d6 rolls ability to kick in, and the same on Alcantara.
I hear you, but the argument could be made that fog hopping on a 10 master is a bad idea for the game. I’d much rather overprice the ship than have her be OP out of the gate (or storm in this case XD). It would be so easy to just add Bruce Grey for 4 points and make her that much more devastating. I’m trying to take my crazy powerful customs seriously, so I want to price them high enough. I agree that the storm-based abilities don’t add much to her cost, but Fog Hopper should scale in cost to the size of the ship. In this case it’s almost as close as one can get to a ballistic missile bomb weapon.
Darina
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Viking
Rarity: C
Point Value: 5
Ability: Captain. Shipwright.Flavor text: Darina is seeking more than just bloodshed and glory on the high seas. She aims to pilot her vessel all the way to America, where the Spanish Silver Fleet is rumored to be mothballed. For added redundancy, she has trained herself in repair operations in case her shipwright is lost en route.
~~~~~
Historical Custom of the Day #376
Philip Durell
English
Crew
5 points
Ability: Captain. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against the French.
Link: HMS Gloucester, HMS TerribleYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Would Luis be able to use his chain shot from that bow cannon, or would he still need to have a target within S?
Still within S, Chain Shot is what allows full range. I have added the various specialist crew titles and their full ability texts under the keywords tab to minimize confusion. The truly new ones (Grapeshot Specialist and Grappleshot Specialist) were already there, but your comment reminded me that I should add the regular ones too since I prefer to abbreviate them. There may be some inconsistencies in the naming of “Grapeshot” vs. “Grape Shot” Specialists, etc. I suppose one word makes sense due to how the Chainshot Specialist was worded before the associated equipment was released.
Anyway, onto (yet another) 10 master!! XD I suppose you could say I’ve “jumped the shark”, but perhaps I did that a long time ago with this set too.
Stormcloud
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 47
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L-3L-4S-4S-4S-4L-4L-4L-4S-4S
Ability: Junk. 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.] This ship ignores storm terrain. If this ship is within S of a storm, she gets +1 to her d6 rolls.
Link: Robert AlcantaraFlavor text: When lightning strikes, it is said that Zeus is near. Lately it has been this behemoth, gliding out of dismal weather to surprise both navy vessels and coastal towns. The crew’s goals are not known, but perhaps the Stormcloud’s reign of dominance is just beginning.
Robert Alcantara
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 10
Ability: Captain. EA. [Extra Action: Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, this ship may be given an extra action.] If this ship is within S of a storm when this ship is given a move action, she gets +S to her base move. This ship cannot remain docked on consecutive turns.
Link: StormcloudFlavor text: Seemingly “normal” by most modern accounts, Alcantara has lived an extraordinary life. Although the details are muddled, he has ended up captain of one of the most feared and unique vessels on the ocean. Teaching every single crewmember his exemplary discipline, Captain Alcantara has made the Stormcloud a monster. Preferring to never go into port for fear of crew laziness and ship capture, wild weather on the high seas is his comfort zone.
I’m slightly bored by the captain’s name, but I do want him to have a relatively normal sounding name, unlike most of the other 10 master captains. XD Especially considering that storm terrain has mostly just been used by Xerecs’ playgroup, the Stormcloud’s only big calling card is the Fog Hopper ability. That ability is OP by default on a ship so large, so I deliberately just blew up her cost to some massive level. If need be I may increase it further. XD
As I’ve said before, combining Captain with SAT or EA is pretty much OP to some extent by default. However, I hope the high cost of Alcantara (as opposed to leaving him at 8 for basic Captain+EA) and his somewhat severe drawback (very difficult to hide at home or to repair without a Shipwright) will allow him to function without breaking the game. I actually really like his negative ability because it limits him while perfectly blending with his flavor text – he’d rather be off sailing through a storm than docked at an island. If he someday proves to still be OP, I may change the EA to only working on a roll of 6, replace it with Helmsman instead, or simply give him “this ship cannot dock”, period. However, as of now it would cost about 60 points to have a basic setup of this combo (assuming helmsman and probably oarsman) working properly.
Historical Custom of the Day #375
Watkin Tench
English
Crew
4 points
Ability: Marine.
Link: HMS Alexander, HMS Polyphemus, HMS Princess RoyalYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Another must-watch video by the great Joseph Vincent. Tom Brady is the Lord of the Rings! Full screen and high volume recommended!
I just changed the home page to be “regular” instead of full width. This is mostly so the top menu shows up the same on the home page as it does on nearly all other pages. Added an Affiliate Disclosure to the Privacy Policy page, as I’d prefer to have all the “official legal junk” in one place. XD Since there was a bit of extra room on the third line of the menu, I also added the recent and rapidly growing Fleets category to the menu to fill it out.
Any feedback on how the site looks/functions (I still need to check/improve the speed more often, it’s just technical and sometimes difficult/time-consuming to figure out) is appreciated, just realize that improvements will probably be incremental and slow compared to some of the major stuff from last year. (which was inevitable given how new/bare/slow the site was at various times in its first ~8 months)
El Perseguidor
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Spanish
Rarity: C
Point Value: 13
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+S+S
Cannons: 2L-4S-4S
Ability: Galley. Hoard.
Link: Luis de la ConcepciónFlavor text: Although “The Pursuer” has a similarly gold-based metric for success like many other Spanish vessels, she differs in attributes. One of the fastest galleys ever built, she is designed more for catching enemy vessels than simply ferrying valuables. Her captain prefers to keep her light and her namesake proud.
Luis de la Concepción
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Spanish
Rarity: U
Point Value: 9
Ability: Captain. S-Board. Chainshot Specialist.
Link: El PerseguidorFlavor text: Ready to die for Spain at every given moment, Luis de la Concepción stops at nothing to improve the performance of his galley and her crew. Never satisfied with the work done by those he commands, Capitan Luis prefers to perform the most important tasks himself. That includes leading zealous boarding parties from the rigging, and manning the cannons himself to shoot the key chain shot that leaves an enemy ship crippled.
Historical Custom of the Day #374
Molyneux Shuldham
English
Crew
4 points
Ability: Captain. Once per turn as a free action, this crew can be transferred to another friendly ship within S of this ship.
Link: All English Ships, Evan NepeanYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
@Xerecs: Thanks for the feedback and compliments!
Waltz
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: French
Rarity: SE
Point Value: 24
Number of Masts: 6
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: L
Cannons: 4L-4S-3L-3L-4S-4L
Ability: Junk. Parley. L-range cannons cannot hit this ship.Flavor text: Truly an oddity, this rare French junk is constantly confusing enemies. She is slow but evasive, jovial but also deadly. The Waltz does have some musicians aboard, but they are mostly for show. The ship is simply hard to corner, and hard to justify attacking.
Historical Custom of the Day #373
Evan Nepean
English
Crew
4 points
Ability: One of this ship’s treasures is worth +1 gold when unloaded at your home island.
Link: HMS Boyne, HMS Foudroyant, Molyneux Shuldham, John JervisYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Interesting remake. I assume the Bombardier cannon is 3S, since I don’t see it listed with the other cannons? I think this is a much improved version of the Draconum, almost too good. Her cargo I think holds her back from being exceptional, which I think is good, otherwise no one would use the original.
Yes, I forgot to list the Bombardier cannon but I plan to keep them at 3S for all my custom Bombardiers. I felt like Mission’s power could grow and he could use some of his “kingdom” wealth to improve one of his ships.
Yes, this is the exact same Captain Mission/Mysion. I guess I have just made it even more confusing by following in Wizkids’ footsteps and giving a recurring character yet another alternate name. XD But I thought it was fitting based on his prior versions, and since in F&S his portrait is rather not piratey, he now prefers a fancy name to his old moniker. XD Based on his very impressive Wizkids flavor text that I like a lot, I felt it was time for him to “graduate” to being one of the top Pirate named crew in terms of cost and ability power. (obviously his MI and RotF versions are quite good, but I wanted more of an admiral/lord type crew idea) Hopefully he’s not too tailor-made for 10 masters; I might restrict the WH ability to only his linked ships. Thanks for commenting on my customs, it’s fun to keep a dialogue going. I think the next month or two of releases will be worth talking about as well. XD
Skipping the Vikings to get to the Mercenaries. Given how much stuff there is to “release” from this set, and given some potential life changes this year, I plan to only accelerate the pace at which I release the expensive and powerful/interesting stuff, so as to get that stuff out as soon as possible. The chaos will keep coming. XD
Starfire
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: U
Point Value: 23
Number of Masts: 4
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-3L-3L-2S
Ability: Mercenary. Each time this ship hits an enemy ship, replace masts with fire masts instead of eliminating them. Each time this ship hits an enemy ship with a 6, replace 2 masts with fire masts instead of eliminating a mast.
Link: HarrionFlavor text: The ultimate pyro displays that the Starfire sets off on a near-nightly basis has some in the Philippines calling for her captain’s arrest.
Harrion
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Point Value: 7
Ability: Captain. Reroll. [Once per turn, you can reroll any die roll you make for this ship; you must use the second die roll result.] Grapple Shot Specialist. [Once per turn when this ship is given a shoot action, one of her cannons can shoot a grapple shot. Declare which cannon will shoot the grapple shot before rolling the d6. If it hits, do not eliminate a mast; instead this ship can initiate a boarding party against the target.]
Link: StarfireFlavor text: Known as a high-flying adventurer in the South Pacific, Harrion’s legend grows with each passing month. He is both a warmonger for hire and a scholarly gentleman. His favorite occupation involves using grappling techniques to surprise enemies with the quickness of his physical attacks. When not in command of his fiery flagship the Starfire, he can often be found ambushing would-be friends from Stormguard Fortress.
Stormguard
Type: Fort
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Gold Cost: 4
Cannons: 2S-2S-2L-2L
Ability: This fort ignores the first hit she takes each turn as long as she has all of her flags. Harrion can use his abilities in this fort. This fort is immune to storm terrain.Flavor text: A well constructed and well armed fortress, Harrion’s personal hideaway has all the amenities that lifelong international criminals could want at their disposal.
In a “regular” Pirates set Harrion is the type of character that would be Rare or Uncommon, but in Epic Seas, he is relegated to Common due to the sheer number of powerful and influential figures “ahead” of him. In general I like the idea of Harrion grappling opponents with Stormguard’s cannons; the fort could have a boarding base of her remaining flags and as usual either a crew would be eliminated or gold taken. That requires more house ruling than I’d like to bother putting into ability text form, but I hope it’s a simple enough concept.
LOTS more cool stuff coming! 😀
Historical Custom of the Day #372
Jacob Nagle
English
Crew
8 points?
Ability: If this ship returns a captured derelict to your home island, you may eliminate that ship and all her cargo from the game to place 5 gold on your home island. This crew can use his abilities on American ships.
Link: HMS Sirius, HMS HectorDefinitely looking for feedback on this one. Trying to come up with an ability for the “prize master” position, especially since I didn’t find much evidence of his other exploits. (could add/substitute basic stuff like Musketeer or Marine given the soldier description, but I think there will be enough named crew like that…) I think I’m getting into a can of worms, but I don’t want the capture to be fully redeemable for gold (ex: an 18 point ship turns into 18 gold) even if it gets fully repaired, and I don’t want to give +1 gold automatically for every mast eliminated since it doesn’t really reflect what he did…. A very experimental crew that I can always just nerf into a basic Marine or Helmsman/Musketeer/etc.
You can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Normally I try to avoid remakes of Wizkids game pieces, but in the case of one of my favorites, I couldn’t resist. 😀
Draconum
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: R
Point Value: 19
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 2S-2S-2S
Ability: Bombardier. Once per turn you may give a Pirate ship within S of this ship +1 to her cannon rolls this turn against non-Pirate game pieces.
Link: Lord Henry McLeanFlavor text: With a copper bottom and more experienced gunners, Mission has transformed the Draconum from a laughingstock to one of the most feared bombardiers ever seen. Some say he has become a bit too fancy, preferring to let other ships in his fleet do his dirty work.
Lord Henry McLean
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: R
Point Value: 10
Ability: AA. [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.] World Hater. [This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against any [non-faction] ship.]
Link: DraconumFlavor text: The venerable Captain Mission has returned to his roots, now preferring to be called by his real name for the first time in years. He has also returned to commanding some of the largest Pirate fleets ever seen in the Indian Ocean. As his reputation has grown over time, so too have his skills, following, and the reward for his severed head.
Historical Custom of the Day #371
Daniel Southwell
English
Crew
3 points
Ability: Helmsman. Once per turn you may look at one face down cargo within L of this crew [this ability can be used anywhere].
Link: HMS Sirius, HMS Ocean, HMS MonkeyYou can find my custom sets here: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
@the9ofspades: Thanks for clarifying!
@ve1m: Thanks for the neat questions! I can still address your last question, but it looks like a no.I’ll probably do that, but like I said, I’m hesitant. I’m not sure how they (we?) would be able to clean things up. It’d be great to have the old account back, but starting over might be less of a hassle.
As a relatively new owner of a website where people can sign up, I can say for sure that I’d rather have someone try to smooth over an issue rather than sneaking in without my knowledge under a new account name.
If the system or admin catches your IP/etc, you might just get banned right away anyway. I hate to say it, but keep in mind that you got banned for a reason. You may disagree with the reasoning to some extent, but the admin has their own rules.
Also, it would be a bit weird if you were able to come back and your brothers weren’t, when they were the completely innocent parties involved. :\
