[Ben]

Would you consider a ‘fleets’ section like MT, or would that be difficult to implement; or just isn’t high on the priority list?

Just like a trading system, that would come after a database and as a result of one.  A searchable database would be key in making a fleets section, but therefore it’s unlikely to happen yet.  In the meantime I plan to post a Fleets Thread.

[Ben]

I think though, that putting the scans out thee would have to be fee, otherwise you’d have creators competing with whoever was selling the blank packs.

Perhaps, but demand for blank cards wouldn’t have to diminish due to custom creators.

you could have custom designed ships become part of the official game

Indeed, but I see this as an “anything goes” sort of alternative game idea.  I wouldn’t want Wizkids or any other company to only choose certain customs to be “approved” or “official”; players would simply decide if a game would have customs or not.  Before the game started they could decide amongst themselves if any customs brought to the game were too unfair to use.

I think it would be fine to have sort of “open season” in regards to what’s allowed and what’s not, especially since that would encourage playtesting.  I wouldn’t want to wait for the company endorsing the cards to make something official, and as we saw with even the F&S stuff, they might just neuter the originals anyway. (making them more boring)

Therefore it does bear researching what exactly the patent is.

As you know, I’ve done that, but it’s extremely hard to find information that is concrete and useful.

[Ben]

Rancorious Filth
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: SE
Type: Ship
Point Value: 16
Number of Masts: 8
Cargo Space: 0
Base Move: S
Cannons: 5S-4L-2L-3S-5L-5L-2S-4S
Ability: Kraken. Fear.

Flavor text: This hideous, stinking vortex of trash is slow enough to not be feared, but dangerous enough to surprise confident captains. Comprised of dead sea creature remains, it appears as though each giant tentacle is a different color and shape.

Historical Custom of the Day #351

Nathaniel Rich
English
Crew
4 points
Ability: One of this ship’s treasures is worth +1 gold when she docks at your home island. Once per turn, if this ship or fort carries treasure and is within S of a ship, you may randomly trade one treasure with that ship [this crew can use this ability in a friendly fort].
Link: Robert Rich

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

[Ben]

I’m seeing some decent lots that might be worth a look.

Couple faction lots: https://goo.gl/GVC3PE

Punched Pirate lot, says 94 ships for $60: https://goo.gl/Wh6UBJ

BIG but expensive lot: https://goo.gl/ntjEpa

-I would ask the seller if the Celtic Fury has all cards.  (also can’t tell if it’s a full SS SR pack, could be just the Honu Iki)

[Ben]

The custom  potential would be though the roof, not only with artwork, but with cannon ranks and whatnot. It’s too bad something like this didn’t exist, would have made my day a lot easier.

I just thought of something with cannon ranks and other similar things – sticker sheets in each pack or box for things that are extremely common.  For example, the tiny dice markings are so small that you could fit dozens of tiny stickers on a deckplate-sized card that would have multiples of each cannon type, perhaps from 2L-5S.  (and some blank in case you wanted 1S, 6L, etc)

Something else, if custom designs were shared, either online o some other format, you could have a situation whee other people buy the blank slate packs to make a copy of a custom ship they saw somewhere else.

Great idea, but I think that could be made even easier with scans that are printable as stickers, or even a colored 3D printed design.  Instead of trying to draw out the exact artwork someone else made, simply download the stickers from the web and put them on a blank template to make your own copy.  Custom creators could have their own folder of scans or pictures (maybe that photogrammetry mentioned on the Discord could be a useful tool) in an account.  They could have some private while they work on designs, and make some public for others to download.  Here’s an interesting idea – let people charge for their ideas so they’re incentivized to come up with awesome stuff.  Maybe $1-$5 for a the rights to use a custom design.  Keeping it always free would be cool too of course haha.  Maybe if your free designs are downloaded a certain number of times, you get credits to download premium designs, get a special premade ship without having to purchase it, or you get extra blank packs/cards in the mail for free.  So many interesting ways to go with this.  Finally, perhaps you could be awarded the custom of the month/year for designing a certain number of customs that get high ratings (such as a 1-5 scale based on not just effectiveness, but also creativity of stats/ability design along with aesthetics).  If an online or 3D version came around again, it could be easy to introduce all of the public customs in a database into that virtual world, which is where a lot of gaming seems to be going anyway.

Alright, I’ve officially gone crazy with this topic, but only because I think it has a lot of potential.  😀

@Woelf/anyone who would know: Do you think that printing blank white styrene cards with punchable ship and crew templates without the branding and set name would violate the patent(s)?  I assumed so because ideally the design itself would be identical, but it’s intriguing to think about.  (such as a very simple no-name box of 3 masted ship cards all white with no associated info to the old game)

This actually might have reasonable potential as a stopgap measure if the legal stuff never resolves itself, but those same legal issues could be what dooms it in the first place.

[Ben]

I would like to see a “generic” sailing/warship art for the cards and then the player would fill in the name, cannons, cargo, speed, & ability(s). Add up all the factors and there is your point value.

That makes sense too, and reminds me of VASSAL.  There you simply have a generic ship template and fill out the stats for each.

I could see a blend of pure white and some generic stuff.  Perhaps the masts would have the spars and generic white sails evident, and then people could draw or color over them from there.  Perhaps decks that are obviously wooden, but without cannons so people could personalize the ship as heavily armed or a merchant ship.  However, perhaps just going all white could really help the cost stay low.

~~~~~

Not saying any of this would be legal now of course – I was suggesting it as a possibility if NECA/Wizkids didn’t hold the rights to the game, or if it went into production under some company.

[Ben]

The automatic/mandatory unloading as home has brought up a few issues over the years (mostly when interacting with a few key abilities), so I’d rather that rule get scrapped entirely.  Make unloading require an actual [explore?] action instead, or at least make it something that has to be actively triggered by a player beyond just arriving.

That would certainly open up some rather interesting possibilities.  I think I mentioned on Podcast #40 (not released yet) with Xerecs that you could have a gold ship dock at home, and then an enemy could use Hoarding Gold to take the gold before it could be unloaded!  I do see it as a somewhat realistic alternative rule, since it would certainly take some effort to get heavy stuff off the ship and secured on an island or base.  That said, I do like how gold is automatically unloaded at home.

I agree with some of your thoughts in the last paragraph.  I still think faction packs could be a good way to go for Pirates specifically.  However, I LOVE how much quantity there is in the game (especially since it helps with massive campaign games), so less variety and customizability is a trade-off I’d be hesitant towards.  Although it would be fine if any new stuff was completely compatible with the game we know, since then there’s a lot of variety from the original sets where you’d never come close to running out of potential fleets/etc.

Just thought of another idea that I’ll make a new thread about….

[Ben]

Chameleon
Faction Affiliation: Neutral
Rarity: U
Type: Ship
Point Value: 14
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3S-3S
Ability: Crew of any nationality can use their abilities on this ship.

Flavor text: Seeming to always have crew of various backgrounds aboard, the Chameleon sails about the oceans, never sunk and never playing a big role in wartime.

Historical Custom of the Day #350

Thomas Dale
English
Crew
5 points
Ability: Crew Protect. [This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.] This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against Dutch ships.

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

[Ben]

Thank you to everyone who helped me get to 20,000 total views on youtube and 300 followers on Instagram!  😀

[Ben]

I have a question, Does Ruth Lee reduce reduce the cost of Native Canoes?

No, because the Chieftain assumes the cost of all the native canoes.  The canoes themselves aren’t technically assigned individual point costs.  She would decrease the cost of the chieftain crew only, especially because the chieftain is considered crew while the canoes are considered ships and not crew.

“-The Tribal Chieftain crew assumes the full point cost of its associated set of native canoes for the purposes of fleet building, placement, point restrictions, and all other abilities or effects that refer to point costs.”

-From The Pirate Code Page 21.

Plus the American canoes are already OP enough as it is; making them cheaper would break the game!  🙂

You should keep posting these at MT until the site actually dies.

@Woelf: The reason I’m posting them here is because I want to preserve as many rules questions as possible.  I don’t want to lose even more stuff in case MT disappears or something.  I just can’t be incentivized to create content I don’t own when I’ve already lost so much.

[Ben]

Thanks so much! Sorry about posting in wrong forum, not sure how I managed that. I am just getting back into the game (played when I was younger) and your site has been a great resource so thanks for that too!

Thank you for the kind words about my site.  I’m happy it has been of help!

Ben

[Ben]

@Xerecs: Catapult is definitely better, but I feel it should be 2 points. I’d try to use it on an island, but it strikes me as slightly worse than a musketeer. I think a cost of 2 would allow it to see more usage.

On the other hand, I’ve realized that Ballista is OP. On a 10 master, you can easily gain TEN extra 3L cannons for just 5 points! (less than some marines!) On any ship with 3+ masts, it’s underpriced. I don’t think the drawback is enough to keep it that way. In addition, since they can fire from any mast, I don’t see how that would prevent someone from stacking all those extra cannons on the bow shot and get up to 11 shots from one mast. O_O Either it needs to scale in cost to how many ballista are aboard, or simply a hard cap such as up to 3 extra 3L cannons. Scaling it could get weird in terms of the wording, but 2 points for every 3L ballista placed on the ship might work – then it would cost 20 points rather than just 5 to double a 10 master’s firepower, but you could choose how many get placed (maybe tokens would be required), so you could place 3 ballista on a 5 master for 6 points. (which is still probably too cheap though…)
Since it’s equipment you could also put it on a creature with cargo, which makes for some strange ideas….

Ill Omen
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 15
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-2L-2S
Ability: Mercenary. Fear. Crew with “specialist” in their name get +1 to their d6 rolls on this ship.
Link: Antoine Culot

Flavor text: Antoine Culot pilots his ship with a cunning evil. His reputation has grown with the body count. Although he has cargo to haul goods and defend them, he prefers to employ gunnery experts in order to cause his wartime opponents as much pain as possible.

Antoine Culot
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Type: Crew
Point Value: 7
Ability: Crew killing. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against ships without all of their masts. French crew can use their abilities on this ship.
Link: Ill Omen, Capitaine Bulbus

Flavor text: Born in France, taking payment as a killer for hire, and now in league with Cursed captains, Culot knows how to get around, both geographically and socially. Consistently serving on ships of differing nationalities, it remains to be seen if he has any true allegiance.

Historical Custom of the Day #349

Samuel Argall
English
Crew
14 points
Ability: Captain. Helmsman. Gold Capture. Parley. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against the French. This crew can be assigned to any ship of the same nationality regardless of point costs; if this crew’s cost is greater than the ship, no other crew or equipment can be assigned to that ship.

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

[Ben]

Ahoyhoy,

I bought a new Spanish Main pack and received the HMS Leicester(045) I’m confused because the 2nd and 3rd ship plates designate the ship as uncommon (silver) but the 1st ship plate  has a different color, not quite gold, more of a bronze. What does this designate? Not sure how to upload a photo but will try to add one to this post later.

Thanks for the help.

Ahoy!  XD  I have moved this topic to the main forum because it is general Pirates CSG content that doesn’t belong in the Black Mongoose Tavern.

This is a common problem found in Spanish Main Unlimited.  A decent amount of uncommons have off-colored rarity corners.  HMS Leicester is an uncommon, and all her cards are that rarity.  For whatever reason, the printing of some cards resulted in different colors – not sure if it was a glitch or they originally had the bronze/brown color as the uncommon color at some point.  I’ve had the same thing with other ships from that set, and I’m pretty sure any cards with the bronze coloring are uncommon. (that I’ve seen at least, though there might be some weirdness with rares)

If you ever have any doubts as to a game piece’s rarity, you can look it up in the Master Spreadsheet to confirm.

Thanks for joining my site!

Ben

[Ben]

More boxes up! In addition to OE, I see DJC and FN! All three have the LE tournament packs! https://goo.gl/ZzrEqx

In addition, a few other things are being bid on. https://goo.gl/GWXNjX

[Ben]

Baron Rouge (Red Baron)
Faction Affiliation: French
Rarity: U
Type: Ship
Point Value: 16
Number of Masts: 4
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 2L-2S-3S-3L
Ability: Schooner. HI Raider. Crew of any nationality may use their abilities on this ship.
Link: Capitaine Bulbus

Flavor text: The Red Baron is one of the finest vessels in the Atlantic and Mediterranean – fast, well-armed, and capable of just about any task assigned to her. Former commodore Capitaine Bulbus has been given a letter of marque to raid enemy ports, and he has embraced the role by taking on sailors from around the world who have heard of the ship’s brilliance. Those sailors include a long time friend of the capitaine – one Antoine Culot.

Capitaine Bulbus
Faction Affiliation: French
Rarity: U
Type: Crew
Point Value: 5
Ability: Captain. If this crew is on his linked ship with his linked crew, this ship gets +S to her base move.
Link: Baron Rouge, Antoine Culot

Flavor text: Bulbus is a former military man whose newfound “robber” status amuses him greatly. Having brought aboard an old friend from his childhood, he plans to dominate the seas without clearance from the French Navy.

The Red Baron is somewhat inspired by some of the great 4 masted schooners in the game such as the Golden Medusa and White Rose. I wanted to make her a REALLY good ship without making it overpowered.

Historical Custom of the Day #348

Dardo
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 12
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L-4S-4L
Ability: Equipment doesn’t take up cargo space on this ship.
Link: Luis Brión

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

[Ben]

Glad to see the first Podcast of 2019. Thanks to everyone who participates in this content. Listening to your discussions and topics of Pirates is away fun while I work and I greatly appreciate the work you all put in.

Thanks, that’s great to hear!

Thank you for the suggestions and feedback.  Xerecs and I both enjoy reviewing customs, and you and Cazador enjoy that too, so we’ll probably continue that to some extent.

Covering the Rankings threads is a possibility.  I think it would be best as a debate topic – each person who would be scheduled for that episode would make their ranked list (possibly different than before if their opinion has changed), and then there would be a debate about the differences.  I’m just worried that it would devolve into playing differences, such as 40 points vs. campaign games.  Or simply playing preferences – Xerecs is far luckier with Broadsides Attack than almost anyone else, so he has a different view of the ability.  In addition, I’ve spent SO much time making rankings and publishing and republishing them.  This is part of why I don’t want to do more ship reviews in almost any form – I’ve talked about almost every ship in the game at least twice between the set reviews and Collection Review Series on youtube, and some 3+ times.  There’s a big reason I’m republishing a lot of content at PwB – evergreen content that can be preserved for people to look at years from now, so I don’t have to repeat myself whenever someone asks the same question I’ve seen/heard before.  There was also decent participation in a lot of the original threads at MT, so plenty of the discussion/debate has already been had.  However I like the idea of trying a Rankings debate to see how it goes.  Let me know if you’d like to participate in that kind of thing.

I have asked Woelf about being on an episode, but there are some technical difficulties to work out.  A phone call may or may not be a way around that.  You must have read my mind though, because one of my podcast goals for this year is to reach out to the game designers themselves (plus other people involved with the game I hope) in an attempt to get them on the podcast!  Although the 3 episodes from the 17th seem to have been recorded without a hitch, I’d prefer to fix my (possibly trivial?) computer issue first because I really don’t want to have issues if it was a big episode like that.

Good final suggestion too.  We’ve consistently advertised in the past that just about anyone is welcome to guest on the podcast, but perhaps reaching out directly to some people could help more.  A lot of people seem to have moved on permanently from actively participating with anything to do with the game, or stop responding.

I like the suggestions though, and hope the podcast will have another good year.

[Ben]

Some stuff ending today/soon: https://goo.gl/GWXNjX

Somebody REALLY wants some Barbary Corsairs… ?

https://goo.gl/UgLifz

[Ben]

Glad Disk Launcher is 3, since Musketeers are really only worth 2 points anyway. (though if ALL crew were costed correctly in the game with helmsman still at 2, Musketeer could probably be 1 in that scenario)
I like Spike Shot, but what is the idea behind stopping the enemy ship? Big spear lodged in the rigging?
Catapults on seagoing ships seems like a very unwieldy concept. They’re very large and the projectiles would travel more slowly than cannonballs. The potential height seems like it could easily interfere with the ship’s rigging. I think I’d prefer to see it as a 4L+L or 5L+L cannon (the latter with a 2 point cost), but that’s probably not realistic either. I just find a somewhat strange integration that could be better as a land-only equipment. I like the repairing part though.
If Ballista are 3L cannons, why would you use the ship’s existing cannon ranges for them? Also, similar to the catapult, that’s a serious investment of “infrastructure” and extra weaponry that would take both logistics and space on the ship, so I really don’t think it shouldn’t take up cargo space. Assuming they would be put on the upper deck (not an enclosed gun deck, which seems impossible without giving up some regular cannons), it would provide space constraints regardless of what else was up there.
Those slugs sound nasty. It’s quite powerful too, and the repeating nature of the effect makes it more valuable than Exploding Shot in my opinion. Big drawback, but I wouldn’t mind seeing this at 4 to start.
“Spherus Manga” – anime Bionicle? 😉

I love equipment in general. It really makes the game more realistic, and I think Wizkids could have implemented it much earlier and done more varieties. (though what they DID do with it in F&S is one of the saving graces for that set in my opinion)

Escape
Faction Affiliation: American
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 14
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 2S-3S-2S
Ability: Schooner. Chain Shot. Once per action you may double the range of one of this ship’s cannons.
Link: Jaskin Daniels

Flavor text: This aptly named schooner is the personal vessel of Jaskin Daniels, who uses it to carry out profitable raids on Caribbean ports. In the rare case where pure speed is not enough to flee the scene, a well-placed chain shot from afar can ensure a safe getaway.

Jaskin Daniels
Faction Affiliation: American
Rarity: U
Type: Crew
Point Value: 7
Ability: Captain. HI Raider. [This ship may dock at an enemy home island and load one treasure. If able, she must leave on your next turn.] This ship gets +1 to her d6 rolls if within S of a Pirate fort. Pirate crew can use their abilities on this ship. This ship cannot shoot at Pirate game pieces.
Link: Escape

Flavor text: A daring adventurer always looking for a new ship to call home, Jaskin Daniels is not part of the US Navy anymore. He has forged his own path, and fallen in with pirates on the Spanish Main. It remains to be seen if this association will result in the United States branding him a criminal, or if they will allow his behavior in the name of occasional profits from his heists. If Alexander Sharpton can find him, he plans to personally decapitate Daniels.

Historical Custom of the Day #347

Luis Brión
Mercenary
Crew
8 points
Ability: Ex-Patriot. Hostile: Spain. Captain. 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.] This ship gets +1 cargo spaces. This crew takes up no cargo space. This ship gets +1 to her d6 rolls against the Spanish.
Link: Dardo

I’ve gotten through a large percentage of the historical pirate list from the 17th and 18th centuries, so I’m slowly getting into more gray area in regards to factions of the “pirates” from later eras. This individual is an example of complicated factional relations. Seems to have French parents, but parents are from Belgium; he was born in Curacao, schooled in the Netherlands AND United States, somewhat anti-British, but then acquired a ship and sailed from London, then fighting against Spain for Venezuela. O_O Whew! So, Ex-Patriot Mercenary seems like the best way to go, with the hostility preventing any weirdness with Spain.  This is also the first Mercenary game piece from my historical custom set.

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

[Ben]

Yay! the first Pirates podcast of 2019! I really appreciate the work that has gone into producing the content.

I appreciate your upvotes and feedback!  I recorded two additional episodes with Xerecs the same day as #38, so I should be able to upload the next two weekends as well.

I haven’t forgotten about your suggestion above either, it’s just something that will take a bit more work and research than most of the other topics.

[Ben]

Very cool.  If you do see/message him, let him know that we miss him here in the Pirates CSG community and he’s welcome aboard Pirates with Ben!  🙂

[Ben]

@Flungus: Wow that’s amazing!  MT shows he was last active there in 2015.

Do you know him personally?  He’s definitely one of the main pirates I’d love to have back in the community, and I wish I had delved deep into gameplay and strategy conversations more often when lordstu was active.

[Ben]

Pirates CSG Podcast #38: News, Game Essentials, Playing Solo, Pirate Code Page, Try 20 Point Fleets!

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNRhR99MXpQ

ShoutEngine: http://shoutengine.com/PiratesCSGPodcast/pirates-csg-podcast-38-news-game-essentials-pl-72405

Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/PiratesCSGPodcast38

New Idea: Challenge.  Your next game of Pirates CSG should NOT be at 40 points!  (20/60/etc)

Question of the Day: Any ideas for new segments we could pursue?

News: MT alive into the new year.  Posting entire story of EE game on IG: https://www.instagram.com/piratescsg/

Obago Deuce for $500!  https://goo.gl/w9KSTJ

Proof: https://i.postimg.cc/85gX4J8V/Eagleman94about-Obago-Deuce.png

(one previous known high was $232.50, hard to find others that have been exchanged since vosarnath’s at MT a handful of years back)

-Having slight technical issues that may compromise podcast episodes and THC a bit

-Between godmason being busy, my impending life changes, somewhat declining content base, and technical issues, expect shorter and less episodes this year.  Suggesting topics is great!!

-Short solo episodes may sometimes be even less than 30 minutes, I can cover a bunch of stuff quickly it seems, especially with only one opinion on each topic.

-Trying to do a post/page every day at PwB, going through MT content for some of my best stuff

-Commenting on my content at PwB will help the site grow and be popular as a “hub” for Pirates CSG – plus I’ll respond to all comments!!  Thank you!

-Looking at podcast data from SE, seem to have about 33 unique IP’s per episode.

Game essentials – measuring card or straws – latter great for arches and planning moves/premeasuring,  Use a big d6 from SE boxes/etc for ease of use and likely better results (fun idea though – 10 tiny d6 for a Zeus shoot action since all cannons the same)

Another idea on playing solo without favoring a faction – really delve into each faction, especially before playing.  Maybe stop playing favorites in general, force yourself to use a faction you’ve NEVER played before. Read a book on the Spanish Empire and then see if you like playing them better.  Make customs inspired by pop culture to play the Cursed or Vikings, etc. Just think outside the box and try to really become a fan of each faction. Partly due to knowing almost all the ships and crew in the game, I find it easy and fun to play as any faction.  (ex: Vikings in CG4 should be fun, and somewhat groundbreaking in terms of factional play in CG’s)

Try reading to get passionate: https://amzn.to/2AQkdBs

New segment – Random Pirate Code page, muse on rules/strategy of results  https://pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Pirate-Code-FAQ-Dec-2016.pdf

Interesting fleets for x point games – try 20 points sometime.  Fast, forces you to be efficient with building, probably no +5’s, easy to get going, fun with multiple players OR multiple fleets per player, etc.  Played Water World game against repkosai in 2017 with Libellule + bonuses, was very fun!!

Libellule fleet: http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/showDeck/deck_id/800125/grouping/0/extended_format/true

6 bonuses fleet: http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/showDeck/deck_id/800322/grouping/0/extended_format/true

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]

Ahoy Trox, thanks for joining the ship here at Pirates with Ben!

I don’t know if there are any provisions being made for trades or not.

That is a large project that I will not be able to complete anytime soon.  For now we’ll have to rely on private messages.

[Ben]

Sanesha Vayward
Faction Affiliation: Barbary Corsair
Rarity: C
Type: Crew
Point Value: 5
Ability: Black Mark. Crew killing. Crew of any nationality may use their abilities on this ship.

Flavor text: Becoming disenfranchised with life as a mercenary, Vayward abandoned a merchant ship to join the more “brutal” Barbary Corsairs. Always with a knife in hand, her vicious exploits have attracted a number of villains to the African coast. After hearing of Bloodbeard, she now plans to take things a step further and join the Cursed.

Historical Custom of the Day #346

Garland
Faction Affiliation: English
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 8
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S
Cannons: 4S-2L-2S
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against Dutch ships.
Link: Thomas Best

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

[Ben]

Serene Gasp
Faction Affiliation: Jade Rebellion
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 13
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 4S-3L
Ability: Junk. If this ship has a crew with the Shipwright or Cannoneer ability, she gets +1 to her d6 rolls. When this ship is docked at your home island, you may eliminate one treasure. It becomes a 3S cannon that can be eliminated only when the ship sinks.

Flavor text: Although her cargo hold is large enough to be a profitable merchant ship, this ship’s captain insists on a combat focus. With a full complement of crew and some extra cannons aboard, the Serene Gasp is positioned to be a small but fearsome warship.

Historical Custom of the Day #345

Thomas Best
English
Crew
7 points
Ability: Captain. Cannoneer. Ship treasure trading. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against Portuguese ships.
Link: Scourge of Malice, Garland, George Best

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

[Ben]

With a perfect score (3/3 votes), Lordstu has been elected to the Pirates CSG Hall of Fame! Congratulations!!

The updated Hall of Fame, by order of induction:
Woelf
A7XfanBen
Cadet-Captain Mike
Holofernes
Old_Man
Xerecs
Lordstu

[Ben]

@Woelf: Great points, and thanks for commenting on an idea that I think has serious potential.

My issue with the fixed rates is I’d prefer it to be more realistic.  Capturing and returning a 5 master to your home island should be worth more points than a 1 master.  Not sure I like the idea of points or gold for masts eliminated, since it feels too much like a game to me and not enough like the Age of Sail (obviously kind of a silly point to make with no wind rules, but whatever).  Part of my idea is that the fleets are trying to profit off each other, and one of the best ways to do that is to capture enemy ships for prize money or refitting them to expand the fleet.  Incentivizing capturing rather than sinking.

Great point about some of the gamey tactics that could emerge.  I don’t like the idea of people self preserving their points at all… but forcing them to give move actions to docked ships would be weird too.

It’s interesting to think about leaving points “on the table” when building a fleet, but I really like how the game allows for all players to start the game on a (theoretically) equal playing field.  Having a “30 point game” where a 25 point fleet faces a 17 point fleet just doesn’t appeal to me, and makes me wonder if it would lead to excessive pregame theory/posturing/negotiating. (and the pregame phase already takes too long with ship/fleet/map construction and other stuff like house rules/etc).

You’ve definitely pointed out some holes in my whole “points in play” theory, so unsurprisingly it’s something that will need to be refined and tested to figure out what works.  Although I love the concept, I’ve still really only done it once.

[Ben]

Rats’ Haven
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: R
Type: Ship
Point Value: 15
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 1
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 4L-4L-4L
Ability: Scorpion. Horror. If this ship wins a boarding party, eliminate one crew from the enemy ship in addition to any other results. [Horror: For each enemy ship within S of this ship at the beginning of this ship’s turn, roll a d6. On a result of 3-6, one of the enemy ship’s crew cannot use their abilities on their turn.]

Flavor text: The dead skeletons that man this vessel don’t mind that they are greatly outnumbered by the infestation of rats. With the original crew long since eaten by the rats, the “haven” has become a deadly scourge. After the huge blade slams down onto an enemy deck, hundreds of hungry rats scurry across to find new prey. Rat droppings and dead bodies of both humans and rats litter the cargo hold, limiting the ship’s capacity for carrying additional cargo.

Historical Custom of the Day #344

Sussex Camock
English
Crew
6 points
Ability: Captain. Ship treasure trading. English forts within S of this game piece get +1 to their cannon rolls.

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

[Ben]

Let’s see if it lets me post, or if this will get blocked as soon as I hit submit…

I’m seeing it, so you’re good!

Great to hear your thoughts on it.  People at the Facebook group were a bit more skeptical, so I’ll have to link to this over there.  It makes a lot of sense, and makes me wonder about OE specifically….

[Ben]

Butterfly’s Escape
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: SE
Type: Ship
Point Value: 21
Number of Masts: 3
Cargo Space: 5
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 4S-4L-4S
Ability: Mercenary. Double Catamaran. 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 as a free action, this ship can take any amount of treasure from friendly native canoes within S of her. Crew with the Chieftain ability don’t take up cargo space on this ship.
Link: Kutan Juffen Raykos

Flavor text: One of the “tribal flagships”, the Butterfly’s Escape is a rather ambitious vessel captained by a chieftain well regarded across the Philippines. Often seen maneuvering among many smaller vessels at once, she weaves in and out of fleets, shielding canoes and taking their stolen goods aboard to better protect the loot.

Kutan Juffen Raykos
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: C
Type: Crew
Point Value: 6
Ability: Captain. Secret Hold. Ship treasure trading.
Link: Butterfly’s Escape

Flavor text: Raykos commands the Butterfly’s Escape, often seen in the lead of a massive pack of tiny canoes, making off with stolen goods and loot. Having made considerable profits, he plans to invest his savings into building a fleet capable of making the dangerous journey to the Caribbean. His goal is to “escape” the Pacific and try his hand on the Spanish Main.

Historical Custom of the Day #343

Daniel Elfrith
English
Crew
11 points
Ability: Helmsman. This crew may use their abilities in forts. This ship/fort gets +1 to her d6 rolls against Spanish ships. English ships within L of this fort get +S to their base move. Pirates crew can use their abilities on this ship. 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.
Link: Diego el Mulato Martín

Whew, this one took a while. Complicated and interesting story from someone I’d never heard of. Might get more links in the future too, especially if I go crazy with the political “crew” someday for rulesets like the World or Caribbean game.

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

[Author]

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