[Ben]

As a topic you may want to discuss, what are your thoughts on the current market of Pirates items? Is it still overall a sellers market? Or have prices started to shift back towards the buyer again?

Thanks for the suggestion, that’s a good idea.  Without analyzing numbers it seems that the past few months have seen a bit of a decrease in auction prices, but it’s still just wildly unpredictable.  As proved by the Shui Xian randomly setting a record going for $79 at auction.  XD

[Ben]

You could attach a severe negative ability to the Powder kegs. Like, ‘If this ship rolls a 1 on a cannon roll, remove powder kegs from the game, and remove up to three masts from this ship’. That might be too extreme, but it would simulate a powder magazine or several kegs exploding. Conversely, you could make it like this: If an enemy ship hits this ship with a cannon roll of 6, remove powder kegs and up to three masts from this ship.

Great idea!  That is pretty extreme though, but I definitely see your point.  I’ve already got a decent negative ability, but it would get bypassed easily when used on pure gunships – which is what the kegs would probably be used on anyway.  Since I don’t want something so negative that it would make the equipment cheap (and rolling 1’s is VERY common…), I might try “this ship sinks when her last mast is eliminated”, signaling that the ship blows up once a fire or damage quantity reaches the powder room.  Still thinking about it though… for now I might add that and decrease the cost to 6.  Playtesting should be fun.  XD

@Ben: So, I’m thinking I’ll add one of these: Filching Gold, or “This ship gets +1 to cannon rolls. She gets +2 if she initiates the board attempt”

Both are cool, I assume the second one is about boarding and not cannons.

I’m pretty sure all of Dark Tides (PoDT) has been posted, but I don’t use spreadsheets…

Pros of using a Google Spreadsheet: updated instantly (no need to redo file uploads to BGG/elsewhere when a simple change is made), people can view changes in real time, very easy to share, very searchable/sortable (you can sort columns by mast count, filter out a specific faction, find every instance of an ability very quickly, etc), other people don’t need to download anything, you can download the spreadsheet in various file formats including .xlsx whenever you want. (I download a copy whenever I add 10+ pieces to either of my sets in one session, so even if google drive implodes or becomes unavailable/etc I’ll still have a copy on my computer, then you can also periodically reupload that file to a file storage site for extra backup)  Either way though I’d use a personal google account rather than a school/company one so there’s no weird oversight issues if they somehow have access to what you create.

Oriental Devil
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: SE
Point Value: 22
Number of Masts: 6
Cargo Space: 6
Base Move: S
Cannons: 2S-2S-3L-3L-2L-2L
Ability: Junk. This ship ignores terrain when she is given a move action (islands are not terrain). This ship cannot be pinned.
Link: Gorgon Confucius

Flavor text: Unable to convince more than a few dozen of his loyal Jade Rebellion followers to join his side, Gorgon Confucius took his vessel and turned it into a Cursed flagship. Beyond the ship’s capability for bombardment and housing many hundreds of dangerous foes, the Oriental Devil is surprisingly difficult to corner and capture despite her slow speed.

Gorgon Confucius
Type: Crew
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: SE
Point Value: 10
Ability: Eternal. This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls for every crew assigned to her. Generic Jade Rebellion crew can use their abilities on this ship.
Link: Oriental Devil, all Cursed 10 masters

Flavor text: A former monk in the Jade Rebellion, Gorgon Confucius had an awakening. Changing his name and his style, he joined the Cursed. His bizarre and demonic teachings have inspired thousands of evil beings. They now join him in chanting, overwhelming any ship that dares to threaten Gorgon Confucius.

For Gorgon Confucius, I generally put Eternal at 3, the boarding ability at 5, and the JR ability at barely 1, but I wanted to keep him expensive due to the links and how perfectly he would fit on 10 masters.

Historical Custom of the Day #362

Thomas Jamison
English
Crew
5 points
Ability: Doctor. Ship treasure trading. This crew can use his abilities in forts.
Link: HMS Sirius, George Bass

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

[Ben]

Hard to believe we are at podcast 40… That’s a lot of Pirates content!

It certainly is!  It would be a bit staggering to total up all the hours and minutes spent on the recordings.  Never expected to have multiple episodes of 3+ hours haha.

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for the podcast.

[Ben]

Some tracks I enjoy would include the Dropkick Murphys, some Muse, and some E.S. Posthumus.

The soundtrack from Master And Commander may provide you with some inspiration….

Thanks for the recommendations!  I love Shipping up to Boston. (guess you could play it when using the Boston schooner haha)  Hopefully I’ll check the others out soon.  I enjoyed Master and Commander, though it had a bit less action than I prefer.  It’s been a while though so a refresher on the music would be cool.

[Ben]

I’ll consider making the Aguas a little faster, but not every ship needs to be really good. mediocrity isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I could potentially give her the gold stealing ability (the one you described, I don’t know its short-hand) but I’m not sure what that would do to her point cost.

Exactly.  The ship is alright, and decent enough to consider usage.  She’s a little expensive compared to other 3 masters for less points and the same cargo, which is why I think you could add another ability and keep the cost the same.  Maybe not Hoard (at least not without increasing the cost to 15-16), but Filching Gold could be added without increasing the cost.  Alternatively, some other stealing type augmentation like Secret Hold, increasing the bonus to +2 to boarding rolls, etc.  I like the unique cannon arrangement.

Extra Powder
Type: Equipment
Rarity: C
Point Value: 1
Ability: You may reveal this equipment to double the ranges of this ship’s cannons for this turn. Then remove Extra Powder from the game.

Powder Kegs
Type: Equipment
Rarity: U
Point Value: 8
Ability: Extended Range. This ship cannot carry gold/resources.

So much cargo is required to provide large amounts of extra firepower that ships cannot afford to carry anything other than huge stores of gunpowder.

Toying around with these somewhat obvious equipment ideas. I like both, but Powder Kegs may be OP on 10 masters for example. I may try to make it scale in cost to the ship’s mast/cannon count. (perhaps 2 points per mast) I’d rather not do “this ship’s cannons can shoot twice this turn”, since that implies an excellent gun crew more than what they’re actually putting in the cannons.

Historical Custom of the Day #361

Matthew Flinders
English
Crew
4 points
Ability: Helmsman. Explorer. Once per turn this ship may look at one face down cargo on any island within L of her.
Link: HMS Investigator, HMS Reliance, Norfolk, George Bass, Bungaree

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

[Ben]

Even more things being bid on now:

3 DJC SE boxes: https://goo.gl/31Zvy6

2 OE SE boxes: https://goo.gl/XvoPpP

 

The full list: https://goo.gl/GWXNjX

[Ben]

Pirates CSG Podcast #40 – Casual Discussion with Xerecs

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P0Fyzz1Oek
ShoutEngine: http://shoutengine.com/PiratesCSGPodcast/pirates-csg-podcast-40-casual-discussion-with-x-73094
Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/PiratesCSGPodcast40

Question of the Day: Do you have any “oh crap” game moments from Pirates CSG?

Rules for Thought #17: https://pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/rules-for-thought-17/
Rules for Thought #18: https://pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/rules-for-thought-18/
Recent game recaps?
Funny and/or unfortunate “Oh crap” game moments (for Ben – El Toro literally ripping off Angelica’s head in OE anniversary game)

~~~~~

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

[Ben]

Blitz
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: U
Type: Ship
Point Value: 24
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3L-2S-3L
Ability: Mercenary. Longship. If this ship has a Captain crew, she gets +S to her base move. This ship gets +1 to her equipment and specialist rolls.

Flavor text: Hyper-crazed mercenaries and a few former Vikings crew this oddity. Although regarded as completely psychotic, they have gotten rich based sheerly on their ability to strike a target with incredible speed and force.

Historical Custom of the Day #360

Norfolk
Faction Affiliation: English
Rarity: R
Type: Ship
Point Value: 7
Number of Masts: 1
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 5S
Ability: 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.]
Link: George Bass, Matthew Flinders

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

[Ben]

I’ve a question or two about your Equipment Copper Sheathing.

Once used, does it still takes up point space on the ship its been applied to? I know it doesn’t take up cargo space, but what about point space?

Yes, because equipment always takes up point space and the ability text doesn’t say otherwise.

Could you use more than one on the same ship?

No: “Only one of the ship’s segments can be increased in this way.”  So even if you can load more than one aboard, only one could ever increase the ship’s base move.

Would using it on a ship with a L+S base move make that ships base move L+L? Or if you used it on a ship with S+S, would it make that ships base move S+L?

Exactly right.

Let me know if you think it should be more expensive because that’s how I feel.

[Ben]

Burning Body
Faction Affiliation: Viking
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 7
Number of Masts: 1
Cargo Space: 2
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 2S
Ability: Longship. If this ship succeeds at a ram roll or boarding party, replace one of the enemy ship’s masts with a fire mast. If this ship loses a boarding party, eliminate all of this ship’s crew.

Flavor text: Supposedly this ship has been “reborn” after a funeral pyre gone wrong. Her new crew delight in throwing long matches and grenades at enemies after smashing into them, regardless of what harm the explosions and fires may do to their own ship.

Historical Custom of the Day #359

George Bass
English
Crew
5 points
Ability: Explorer. Doctor.
Link: Norfolk, Matthew Flinders, Thomas Jamison

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

[Ben]

Sorry for the forum being a little rough around the edges – I think all that code shows up because you may have pasted my text directly into the Visual tab and then switched to Text.  (or something else)

I’ve found that pasting as plaintext (ctrl+shift+v on a PC) helps.  It’s something I’d like to fix, but there is a LOT of Pirates CSG stuff I have on my lists….

but that’s something you’d need a lawyer to figure out.

Exactly.  And getting legal help is NOT cheap, which is part of why I was hoping the community could potentially help out.

I know you may not want to join the FB group, but I brought up a recent discussion where advancements in 3D printing are going to eventually make things more accessible and less expensive to make.  In the long term (5+ years) dies may actually be a less cost effective solution than other options, and there’s the possibility that AR/VR/video games become so good that eventually people may prefer a virtual version to the physical game.  (though that is certainly not the case now based on the sentiment of the FB group)

Stickers have always been a nice option that I’d be willing to try someday if it was cheap.  I do like having duplicates around for spares, trade options, and stuff to sell/give to new players.  I don’t have much artwork for my customs, but the historical ones are pretty easy for those that have paintings/illustrations of them.

[Ben]

But Spherus Magna will be the last full set of Custom pieces I’ll make.

Somehow I doubt that…. XD  (in a good way)

Johnny Darksun
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: U
Type: Crew
Point Value: 9
Ability: Helmsman. Hoard. HI Raider. [This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn.] American crew can use their abilities on this ship.

Flavor text: This dashing young and hairy pirate was stealing before the age of 5. Escaping numerous jail sentences as a juvenile, he is now going from ship to ship, assissting various pirate ships on their quests for more loot. He still harbors an affinity for his more mischievous brothers from the United States, provided they sign his personal pirate’s code of conduct.

~~~~~

Historical Custom of the Day #358

Nathaniel Courthope
English
Crew
4 points
Ability: Hostile: Dutch. Crew of any nationality can use their abilities on this ship. If this crew is placed inside a fort, that fort gets +1 to its cannon rolls.

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

[Ben]

As-is, things are a little scattered, but it also feels a little overwhelming, with the number of places now that you can go to for pirates stuff.

I feel that way when I go to post a new video/etc.  So many places to put the link in order to maximize reach/views.  It’s nice and kinda just a hallmark of the modern internet/social media, but it feels kinda empty sometimes when I post content in 5+ places and get little to no engagement in any of them.

The growth of the FB group is kinda weird.  For “225 members”, the activity level is stagnant and disappointing.  It’s also far too “instant” and seems vanity-based – a “welcome to new members” post that takes 5 seconds to submit gets way more likes than my best youtube videos or most interesting discussion topics, and if there isn’t a picture associated with a post, it will automatically get way less likes than if a random picture is assigned to it.  Reminds me of the Instagram fake followers problem.  It doesn’t seem like more than 1-10% of the “membership” count of any given platform or group will bother participating at all.

Thanks for the feedback, lots of similar sentiment.  I’ll keep doing my best but I can’t change others’ behavior.

[Ben]

Is there any way to transfer the Fruit UT from one friendly ship to another?

Is it legal to explore a flotilla to give it the Maps of Hades UT?  (so the UT can be “hidden” away and basically made irrelevant)

 

[Ben]

No, don’t change Sharpton!!!! I figure you could make another American who has more serious anti-pirate abilities.

Sharpton is as anti-Pirate as it gets!  I literally cannot make someone who hates Pirates more.  I may still swap abilities around.  Actually just added “if this ship wins a boarding party against a Pirate ship, eliminate all of that ship’s crew.”

Here comes a big combo….

Tesoro de los Antiguos
Faction Affiliation: Spanish
Rarity: R
Type: Ship
Point Value: 24
Number of Masts: 5
Cargo Space: 7
Base Move: L
Cannons: 5L-4S-4S-4S-5L
Ability: Secret Hold. Hidden Gold. [This ship has 2 extra cargo spaces that may only be assigned treasure.] This ship’s cannons cannot have their range or rank improved.
Link: El Coleccionista

Flavor text: The Collector always commands his flagship, the Treasure of the Ancients. Personally optimized for ludicrous cargo capacity, the ship’s massive cargo hold has many alleys and secret areas, some which are known only to The Collector. It is rumored that he could be hiding long-lost religious relics down there, or even the infant corpses of illegitimate heirs to the thrones of Europe. Although still flying the Spanish flag, this galleon is known to be all but the property of The Collector himself. His unrivaled passion and zeal have kept even the royal family away from trying to get the ship back in the Atlantic treasure fleet.

Hidden Gold is actually one of Xerecs’ keywords that I like quite a lot. Hoping it goes over more as a compliment than any “theft” of ideas. 🙂

El Coleccionista
Faction Affiliation: Spanish
Rarity: R
Type: Crew
Point Value: 10
Ability: Explorer. Unholy Light. Once per turn, if this ship is touching another ship, she can randomly take as much treasure from the other ship as she can carry. If this ship loses a boarding party, this ship does not lose any crew or cargo.
Link: Tesoro de los Antiguos

Flavor text: Driven beyond the point of no return in his lust to acquire a specific object or objects, The Collector helms his massive galleon and sets sail under his own direction. He speaks so rarely that he is rumored to be a mute. The relics of his desire are unknown – not satisfied with the hundreds of valuable and historic artifacts he has already found, people have stopped guessing what he is searching for. His devotion to his quest has left the world in awe. Most captains simply get out of his way at this point, often letting him and his crew board their vessels and take what they want, which is usually very little. True stories abound of what happens if you refuse to show him what is aboard – the slightest raising of an eyebrow from The Collector summons a deadly hailstorm of musket balls from the Treasure of the Ancients that cuts down the captain in an instant.

~~~~~

Historical Custom of the Day #357

Hezekiah Frith
Pirate
Crew
6 points
Ability: Captain. Filching Gold. This ship can use Parley against English ships. English crew can use their abilities on this ship.

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

[Ben]

So jumping between the two forums does give me a sense of disconnect.

Agreed.  Part of it is a combination of some people not migrating from there to here, some people that have joined here not posting as much as they might at MT, and people not migrating because MT is still up.

When I learned of MT’s potential demise I had to do everything possible to get this forum up and running with reasonable features and a membership system.  Naturally, very soon after I PM’d all the Pirates fans at MT to join PwB, I got the message from the admin of MT saying that MT might stay open.  XD

Unfortunately both of Xerecs’ brothers got caught up in his trade issue banning, so MT was inevitably declining a bit from that.  I think things would look more consolidated if MT was gone by now as I had expected it to be, so for as long as it stays up, there may simply be confusion.  I just want to host my own Pirates content.

Facebook is nearly ubiquitous and it’s pretty obvious that people feel more comfortable posting at the FB groups than participating here.  (whether they should or not, given FB’s “issues” in the recent past if you will)  Speaking of issues, youtube has their own detractors at this point for very valid reasons, but if that gets worse there will hopefully be other free video sharing platforms.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Ben]

I think my alternate way of posting the podcast is why your quotes have the coding in them… yet another thing on my Pirates to do list….

There certainly are issues such as putting him on a Home island raider and then teleport right to the home island could very easily be a game changer in that regard.

Great point.  I have a feeling his ability could be OP and swing games too much.

I like the variety, I enjoy hearing the ideas of new game pieces and potential strategy behind them.

I like the way you phrase that.  It really is like looking at new game pieces for the first time, similar to the previews from back in the day and when a brand new set was released.  Since it’s unlikely that there will be “official” game pieces released again, customs are the best thing we have, and it CAN be exciting.  Kinda tired of relying on a company that appears to have no interest in the game for say on “official” stuff.  I reckon that almost everyone who plays consistently at this point uses at least one house rule (sometimes accidentally if they don’t know the rules well enough), so why not consider most customs borderline “official” and certainly available for playing. (as long as both players agree of course)

I like your thoughts on Paradise Island.  Funny enough I made a custom lighthouse today (concept, not physical like the ones used in CTO), just have to input it to the spreadsheet and work out any issues.

[Ben]

Jean and Dominique AE American right? Their flavor leads me to believe that they might be French….

Oops!  They are French and I must have just continued the faction from the previous day.

I guess Sharpton is kind of tailor-made for the Constitution, but oh well.  I could always change the defensive ability to something more anti-Pirate, like +1 to cannons specifically or something simple like Musketeer.

[Ben]

I also think that Sharpton is fine as-is. I would probably NOT use him on his linked ship though. I’d probably put him on the RV constitution!

Good point… there’s a good case to be made that he should be the one with the massive anti-Pirate/Cursed bonuses, but I don’t necessarily want all that on something like the Zhanfu.  Plus he trained the crew to be like him so I suppose it works.  When I make links I usually don’t think about all the other ships a crew could serve on, so I might unintentionally be creating some powerful combos that aren’t “supposed” to happen flavor wise.  XD

Jean Croyonois
Faction Affiliation: French
Rarity: C
Type: Crew
Point Value: 2
Ability: Black Mark. Secret Hold.
Link: Dominique Akin

Flavor text: Croyonois is fully in league with the Cursed, it’s just that his French friends don’t know it yet. Devereaux tasked him with a secret plan to find a secret relic. Dominique Akin has proven a reliable companion thus far.

Dominique Akin
Faction Affiliation: French
Rarity: C
Type: Crew
Point Value: 3
Ability: Helmsman. 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.]
Link: Jean Croyonois

Flavor text: A former slave from the African coast, Akin found new life after being saved by Jean Croyonois. His recent travels have included trips to Japan and the increasingly busy (and dangerous) isles of Australia.

Historical Custom of the Day #356

Sadie Farrell
Pirate
Crew
6 points
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. 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.

She is believed to have been a vicious street mugger in New York’s “Bloody” Fourth Ward. Upon encountering a lone traveler, she would headbutt like a charging goat a man in the stomach and her male accomplice would hit the victim with a slingshot and then rob him. Sadie, according to popular underworld lore, was engaged in a long-time feud with a tough, six-feet-tall female bouncer Gallus Mag, who finally bit off Sadie’s ear in a bar fight, as Mag was known to do, albeit usually with male trouble-makers.

Ummmm…. O_O

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

[Ben]

I really like the Justice and Sharpton.

Glad to hear that!

the + to die rolls would affect cannons yes? O would it only affect things like EA/SAT, Boarding?

+1 to d6 rolls against a specific faction is simply an upgraded version of the typical faction-hater ability that affects cannon rolls.  It applies to all d6 rolls made specifically AGAINST that faction or factions.  Which generally means combat rolls – it’s a lot easier to say “+1 to her d6 rolls against the Pirates” than “+1 to her cannon, ramming, and boarding rolls against the Pirates.”

It’s meant to be a catch-all and an upgraded version of the “hating” abilities.  It wouldn’t apply to things like EA or SAT, because those are not necessarily being used against Pirates, even if the ship is right next to a Pirate ship.  (because you could game it by pretending to get the +1 to an SAT roll, then just move away instead of doing combat stuff)  There needs to be a direct link between what the ship is doing and the faction of the opponent she’s antagonizing.

There’s a lot of different ways you can word the various bonus abilities, some of which Wizkids certainly played around with.  On opposite ends of the spectrum for example, you could have “+1 to her boarding rolls against Pirate ships” (arguably not worth a full point) vs. “+1 to her d6 rolls against the Pirates” (potentially game-changing if your opponent has an all-Pirate fleet).  The latter would mean cannon/ramming/boarding rolls against Pirate ships, but ALSO those kinds of rolls against Pirate forts, marines, etc, because it doesn’t specify that it has to be a ship.

Hopefully that clears things up, because I have a lot of game pieces in both sets with variations of the bonus abilities.  It all depends on the flavor and how much animosity or incentive there is.  In the case of the Justice, the crew are so against Pirates that they get a massive +3 bonus to ALL rolls against ANY Pirate entities, about as extreme as I could think of.  She’s not quite worth her cost when facing non-Pirate and non-Cursed opponents, but it’s possible that the Justice should be more expensive.  I realize there may be some fringe cases where it’s difficult to determine if the bonus should apply, but I haven’t seen/encountered those yet.

[Ben]

SPANISH MAIN OVERLOAD!!

Big lot of unpunched SM, with most of the 5 masters present: https://goo.gl/KCXEHF

HUGE lot of punched SM, massive duplicates: https://goo.gl/ZjcQE1

[Ben]

Justice
Faction Affiliation: American
Rarity: R
Type: Ship
Point Value: 18
Number of Masts: 5
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L-3L-3S-3S-3S
Ability: Hostile: Pirate. This ship gets +3 to her d6 rolls against the Pirates. This ship gets +2 to her d6 rolls against the Cursed.
Link: Alexander Sharpton

Flavor text: Captain Alexander Sharpton commands the Justice with rigid discipline bordering on insanity. Everyone aboard is trained to battle with ocean villains both hidden and powerful. With above average speed for a man-o-war, and long guns concentrated in the bow, the ship is equipped to catch and overtake pirates.

Alexander Sharpton
Faction Affiliation: American
Rarity: R
Type: Crew
Point Value: 8
Ability: Hostile: Pirate. Captain. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn as long as she has all of her masts. The Fear and Horror abilities have no effect on this ship’s crew.
Link: Justice

Flavor text: Of all the “pirate haters” in the world, Alexander Sharpton is both the most passionate and the most serious. It is rumored that he said he would never smile until piracy was stamped out completely across the seven seas. The discipline aboard his ship is legendary. With a veteran crew of navy men, he has trained them to be unperturbed by all manner of Pirate and Cursed atrocities.

~~~~~

Historical Custom of the Day #355

Jacob Pettersson Degenaar
Pirate
Crew
5 points
Ability: Ex-Patriot. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against non-French and non-Swedish ships.

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

[Ben]

Sounds like a rule for a campaign, and would lend itself well to islands that have paths cut into them, like my arch island, or the Bone Temple island.

Indeed; it’s kinda similar to the army unit land movement rules for the World game.  I think it makes sense too, since a person might be able to run about as fast as a sailing ship’s average cruising speed.

[Ben]

I did that simply because the islands wee large, and it felt silly to have only one stack of coins per island.

One thing I’ve done in the past is have different coins in different areas of an island.  A ship can only load coins from where it docks.  This is easier when you have islands with multiple beaches to dock at, but you could also let crew leave the ship.  Perhaps a crew can move L per turn on the island, and can carry one coin at a time back to the beach.

[Ben]

Rutesh
Faction Affiliation: Barbary Corsair
Rarity: C
Type: Crew
Point Value: 6
Ability: Musketeer. HI Raider. [This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn.]

Flavor text: With his trusty musket in hand, Rutesh is always ready to jump overboard in an enemy harbor, eager to rob Europeans of their valuables.

Historical Custom of the Day #354

James Copeland
Pirate
Crew
6 points
Ability: Hoard. Firepot Specialist.

Starting to think I should be pricing Hoard at 4 if Massacre is 5… I feel like they are tough abilities to price correctly.

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

[Ben]

Wow, you should have taken pictures given the awesome islands in play!

Flung is such a funny word haha, great usage of that in the BR.  Sounds like Blackheart took over!  That’s a lot of gold for the game size.  Interesting rule with the stacks.

[Ben]

Pirates CSG Podcast #39 – A7XfanBen and Xerecs Review Custom Game Pieces!

Question of the Day: Do you have a favorite custom game piece from this episode?  Do you enjoy the custom review episodes more or less than the other episodes?

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1ntySJXtxI

ShoutEngine: http://shoutengine.com/PiratesCSGPodcast/pirates-csg-podcast-39-a7xfanben-and-xerecs-revi-72747

Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/PiratesCSGPodcast39

 

Custom Ships organized version: http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/forum/viewtopic/t=8682///

Rise of the Moon Sorcerer: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/167110/pirates-cursed-seas-rise-moon-sorcerer

Pirates of the Epic Seas: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wB1CDawx3PkRJus_3m0L_04OBxpujzL8xmjSr_QYN9c/edit?usp=sharing

Fiends of the Blood Islands: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/163300/pirates-fiends-blood-islands

 

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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

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

[Ben]

Would that seriously affect the point cost?

Without seeing the other ship/abilities I have no idea.

For the Serenata, I was saying that the ability should only affect stuff within S.  The speed of the ship is fine, it’s the ability that makes the original OP.  If you leave everything else the same and do “One friendly ship within S of this ship gets +S to her base move”, I think 15 is OK for a first playtest.

One thing to keep in mind with speed is that it can compound on things that are already really good.  With Griffin/captain/helmsman and a ship like this, you could pretty easily have the Shui Xian consistently going L+S+S+S per turn, let alone with SAC to double that.  Sure it costs a lot, but at some point there should be some kind of cap on how fast these really dangerous vessels can even go, at least in my opinion.  I’ve actually made at least one OP custom with a speed boost that might just get completely nixed for a different ability.  Since speed is the most important ship attribute in this game, it almost cannot be overvalued, and things like the classic helmsman and navigator crew can make powerful customs feel undervalued.

Mithálvarín
Faction Affiliation: Jade Rebellion
Rarity: U
Type: Crew
Point Value: 8
Ability: Helmsman. EA. [Extra Action: Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, this ship may be given an extra action.] Place this crew face up during setup. Reduce the cost of all other crew placed on this ship by 1.
Link: All French ships

Flavor text: Although he grew up in France, this legendary man was erroneously labeled a traitor for a bizarre set of circumstances involving the Cursed. Since becoming one of the leaders in the Jade Rebellion, his expertise has only grown. He occasionally uses some of his vast cache of diamonds to hire the best crew in the world to help him achieve god-like status.

Historical Custom of the Day #353

Eric Cobham and Maria Lindsey
Pirate
Crew
5 points
Ability: Massacre. [If this ship succeeds at a boarding party, she can eliminate all of the other ship’s crew.]

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

[Ben]

I don’t think people will learn to associate the letters “PTSD” with your custom set.  I would use “SoD” for Seas of Doom, or PotSoD.

El Resuelto’s second ability seems pointless when the first sinking gives her rank-1 cannons for (presumably) the rest of the game.

Friendly ships within L of this ship get +S to their base move.

This is simply not an ability that should exist… it would be very easy to sandwich the ship between 2 (or more) 10 masters and give them even more speed.  It’s an OP ability that makes OP ships more OP.  I suggest limiting it to one friendly ship, probably only within S, and still increase the cost to a minimum of 15.

[Ben]

The Finisher
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 9
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 2
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L-4L-4L
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against targets without all their masts. This ship gets +2 to her cannon rolls against targets with no masts remaining.

Flavor text: Although she will never be one of the preeminent Cursed warships, the crew of “The Finisher” take great delight in savagely killing and drowning enemies who are in dire straits.

Historical Custom of the Day #352

Ralph Stout
Pirate
Crew
5 points
Ability: Captain. If this ship wins a boarding party, she may eliminate up to two of the enemy ship’s crew. This crew cannot be captured.
Link: James Kelly, Robert Culliford

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

[Author]

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