Pirates of the Barbary Coast
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Mini Set Review
Product: Pirates of the Barbary Coast
Average eBay pack price: ~$13 (from 2023)
Where to buy: eBay
Factions: Barbary Corsairs, English, Spanish, French, Americans
Features/New Stuff: Barbary Corsairs, Galleys, cardboard LE (Limited Edition) crew
Ben’s Rating: 16/20
Beautiful Barbary Corsair galleys at the 2014 Fleet Review
Pirates of the Barbary Coast (BC) was the last set from 2005. The Barbary Corsairs and their Galleys gave players the best “minor faction” to use. This is another set with some historical tie-ins, and the only set without the Pirate faction. Overall the set is very balanced and playable, but not quite as exciting as the sets released just before and after it. You can find all of the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet, and I’ve ranked the Top 10 here.
Ratings
– Art: 5/5. Tons of great artwork – the Barbary Corsairs are arguably the prettiest faction, while the crew art feels very thematic.
– Set Quality: 4/5. The Corsairs are the strongest minor faction in the game and arguably better overall than the Cursed, one of the eventual Big 6 factions. Many other quality ships from the other factions, and the set feels very balanced overall – a return to normalcy after some problems in RV. However, the lack of the Pirate faction and (for me at least) the lack of any larger (4 or 5 masted) square rigged ships hold this set back from being a standout.
– New Content: 4/5. Corsairs and galleys are welcome additions, but sometimes the set feels rather lackluster, especially in comparison to the first 3 sets. However, the combination of good named crew, fun UT’s, an awesome SR pack, and new editions of SM crew make up for the set being a little boring.
– Collectability/Misc: 3/5. The Corsairs hogged almost all of the rare ships, while the cardboard crew PR’s were somewhat obnoxious and bizarre after the already-established crew chips. IMO, this set feels like the least likable of the first 5, so it loses a point for miscellaneous/intagibles as well, partly due to the above deficiencies.
= Overall: 16/20. Interesting and cool, but doesn’t stand the test of time as well as SM/CC/RV.
Search eBay to find the Barbary Coast!
Below you can check out the entire Set Review Podcast episode for a full overview of all the game pieces.
Man, this reminds me what it was like to be a kid again. I was always a huge fan of board games. Me and my brother would play games like Axis and Allies, Stratego, man those were good times. How would you say the pirates of the barbary coast set compares to the pirates of the revolution? Which one do you prefer?
@Nate: Good point! I got into Pirates CSG as a kid and the memories of it remain some of my fondest.
Revolution is a better set than Barbary Coast, as you can see from my set rankings. RV has very good ship quality, great artwork, and is a bit “cooler”. BC is neat but lacks the Pirate faction and 5 masted ships. However, RV is less balanced and has flaws that BC does not have (events and subpar named crew in some cases).
Thanks for commenting!
Ben