Golden Seas Playtest Game #5 – June 24th, 2023

Posted on October 20, 2024October 20, 2024 by Ben

Golden Seas Playtest Game #5

6/24/2023: Pirates vs. English vs. Dutch

This was the fifth in a series of playtesting games for the new set, Pirates of the Golden Seas. Some game pieces back then were different, and have undergone revisions since then. I also used the Restarting Rules, though they were also in a somewhat different form back then – the earliest form of that alternate ruleset was finished in July 2021, but the “final” version released with the set in August 2024 more closely resembles the original rules (various rule changes were taken back out, such as the elimination of ram damage). I used the Points in Play + Gold win condition, with gold values to match (all coin values multiplied by 4). 60 point fleets with 60 gold contributed per player for 240 “total points” available at the start of the game.

Fleets in the order of play:
Dutch
Christiansvaern + Captain Berend, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Friesland + helmsman
Rotterdam + Captain Dewitt, Lady Alida, captain
UT’s: Plague, Scurvy, Enemy of the State

English
HMS Blue Whale + Captain Armstrong, Scholar Episces, helmsman, explorer
HMS Red Death + Charlotte Godspry, captain, firepot specialist, oarsman
HMS Immortal + helmsman
UT’s: Knights of Malta Banner, Jack’s Piece of Eight, Manawa no Kowhatu

Pirates
Golden Rose + Hammersmith, Ivory Mask, oarsman
Dark Angel + Fists of Fate, captain
Knife’s Edge + Captain Fletcher, oarsman
Baroness + explorer
Dragon
UT’s: Neptune’s Figurehead, Homemade Flag, abandoned helmsman

Important note: This game was played with normal ram damage and pinning rules. (instead of doing away with ram damage and pinning per the Restarting Rules at the time)

3 terrain per faction, Dutch placed whirlpools since they were using an SAT crew. Pirates reefed some islands they wanted to be wild. English placed 2 fog banks near where they anticipated on settling. I did a semi-random coin distribution with mostly 3’s (12’s due to the 4x multiplier to get to 60 gold per fleet). Chose to do 3 UT’s per fleet, with some synergy between them and each fleet and associated strategies.

Pirates wanted islands close together so the Dragon could arrive at just S+S speed and the Golden Rose might be able to “plus up” more coins with quick repeat runs. They picked first and so got their wish. English picked middle, Dutch last. The Dutch ships are 3D printed blank models. The port jib sail on the 3 masters have “C” and “F” temporarily written on them in pencil to distinguish them (this was before I had any physical models of the new Dutch ship types).

Round 1
Dutch: Friesland (F) sped west to grab coinage. Christiansvaern (C) ducked into fog with Rotterdam as potential bait.
English: Shadowed the Dutch, with their own 3 masted gunship (Red Death) entering fog and the Immortal docking at the wild island Rotterdam wanted. Blue Whale sailed NE for treasure.
Pirates: Baroness explored north of HI (finding Manawa no Kowhatu) so Golden Rose could grab gold. Dragon docked at island SW of HI, escorted by Knife’s Edge. Dark Angel looking to round earth to the far west.

Conflict erupts! The Dutch continue southwards to dismast the Immortal. However, the Red Death’s counterattack is effective, setting the C alight and damaging Rotterdam. (C should have 2 masts, I forgot her ignore ability but added the mast back next round)

F and Blue Whale explored. Golden Rose re-explored to dump some gold, realizing her mistake of taking all 3 gold coins since she wanted to bring them home one at a time to maximize the +1 bonus she has as a ship ability.

Dutch: C fire spread so they ran.
English: Blue Whale coming home, Red Death towing Immortal after she explored. Scholar Episces was able to let the English know what coins the BW and Immortal would find at their islands. Enemy of the State on Immortal will cause a logistics headache trying to unload her 24 gold.
Pirates: Baroness explores SW island for Dark Angel, but finds Plague (killing her explorer), Neptune’s Figurehead, and Homemade Flag. Dragon transfers her Knights of Malta Banner (and soon her abandoned helmsman) to Knife’s Edge, in case the latter can make a run at the Blue Whale or another treasure hauler. Golden Rose returns home with the first of three 12’s from the nearby island, adding 1 to the overall gold score of the Pirates. For now, gold bonuses are not multiplied by 4 like the regular coins, else I think those abilities would have to be more expensive.

Deckplate area with Dutch at lower right showing the various treasures accumulating in cargo holds.

Dutch: Scurvy eliminated upon F docking at home; C saved from fire! Great salvage turn but they have some ground (sea) to make up.
English: Blue Whale unloads some big gold while Red Death tows Immortal home.
Pirates: At left, Dark Angel heads home with a 12 coin while Baroness has turned into a significant weapon due to the Plague – with a simple ram she could potentially eliminate 10+ points of crew from a Dutch/English ship. At right, Knife’s Edge sprints north for the coin Blue Whale didn’t have room to load.

Dutch: F goes east to contest Knife’s Edge getting one of the last wild coins. Other 2 ships repair.
English: Immortal explores to give Enemy of the State to Red Death. Blue Whale touches RD. RD explores BW to give EotS to BW. This will allow RD to tow Immortal home. (maybe not the fastest way to do it, but Captain Armstrong of the BW was anticipating a potential fight in the endgame and RD didn’t want to give up her fighting crew to load the Immortal’s gold)
Pirates: Knife’s Edge docks in north. Baroness barely moves, knowing she’s useless to the Pirates if dismasted. She gets within range to move into the fog bank next turn. Homecoming gold party in the east!

Dutch: Repair C, F shadows Knife’s Edge, Rotterdam into fog.
English: Immortal finally returned home, unloads 24 gold and repairs!
Pirates: Baroness into fog, Knife’s Edge loads coin, Golden Rose loads last 3 from her island.

F rams a mast off Knife’s Edge, but loses the boarding party which kills her helmsman! This means it’s unlikely any ship can stop the KE from ending the game with her coin. English captains surge east but the Pirates are looking strong at their HI. Baroness is targeting the Blue Whale with the Plague, knowing that the English would have to give up 10+ points of crew on one of their two captained ships just to ram (plague!) and capture her – not worth it for the English to get Baroness (only 5 points), and therefore worth the risk for the Pirates.

Final round sees the Dutch eager to at least contest for second place. Bad blood renewed as the “fifth Anglo-Dutch War” breaks out ;). F rams Immortal derelict, allowing C to capture her (12 point swing from English to Dutch possession). English don’t know for sure if the Pirates will end the game on purpose at the end of the round by docking home the KE and final coin in play, so BW dismasts Baroness to nullify the Plague threat. Red Death goes home for revenge, lighting the C aflame once more and using her ability to take out two more crew, leaving only Captain Berend on the C. On the Pirate turn, the Knife’s Edge docks to unload the final coin and end the game.

Scores
Pirates: 142 (59 points in play, 83 gold)
English: 116 (48 points in play, 68 gold)
Dutch: 97 (64 points in play, 33 gold)

Overall a decently fun game with some thought provoking stuff in it. Much less lopsided than many of the other games using points in play. Pirates benefited from being the non-combatant in this 3 fleet affair which saw the other 2 fleets smash each other up a bit. Though, the Pirates were disappointed they didn’t get to use Captain Fletcher or Fists of Fate. Dutch didn’t collect enough gold with Friesland for their capture of Immortal to matter much, still finishing last.

Observations:
-How to deal with gold that is added to the game over time? Ex: Knights of Malta Banner has less of an impact
-Should ships and crew lost in fog banks count towards the points in play endgame condition? (default should be no to align with treasure not counting, and to prevent players from just ducking all their ships into fog banks on what looks like the last round of play)
-Should Abandoned Crew count towards the points in play? My initial thought was no, especially because they do not count against the point limit of a ship per the Code.
-I LOVE the Knife’s Edge
-Rotterdam can’t shoot masts off enemies that have Crew Protect
-Point costs: Pirates might be too cheap. Although the sample size of games is still small, the Pirates are undefeated so far. Increasing Dark Angel cost from 8 to 9. Unsure if Baroness is too cheap. I think more of it has to do with set balance/point parity – the Pirates have two cheap options to fill out fleets with in the Knife’s Edge and Baroness, while the Dutch and English have only one ship under 9 points between them (and it moves S) – this was fixed in later edits to the set. Might modify at least one small ship in both the English and Dutch rosters so the Pirates don’t have all the best cheap options. Caveat: arguably the Dragon (only non-Golden Seas ship) was the best overall ship in this game, but she did help the Pirates wield 2 more ships than the other factions).

***Points in Play is a fun house rule to incentivize combat and aggressive playing, but it is a double edged sword in that regard. Factions were hesitant to risk support gunships in gutsy moves because they figured the 12+ points worth of ship/crew would be captured in the counterattack, so they decided not to attack. Some of the late-game desperation plays might disappear because people just want to conserve their points in play rather than risking getting captured. This came into play today more so than in the past playtest games – not sure if I just wasn’t thinking about it enough in the other ones, or if the situations and potential attacks that weren’t taken just happened to be overly risky today. I think it was the latter, as both the Pirates and Dutch didn’t have enough reason to try to intercept the Immortal’s gold with the Red Death and Blue Whale waiting to pounce on any ship that interfered.

Ranking: Terrain

Posted on December 30, 2023January 1, 2024 by Ben

This is a very subjective Ranking post and a lot more opinion-based than some of the other Ranking posts. However, over the long haul it would be neat to have a ranking for “everything” playable in the game, so this is a category I wanted to tackle. Feel free to post your own list in the comments below! You can find all the terrain rules in pages 8-10 of the Combined Set Rules (a slightly modified version of the Complete Game rules).

1. Fog Bank

Fog banks are incredible because they offer near-total protection from the hostile factors of a game. While in a fog bank, a ship can’t be shot at, rammed, or boarded; cannot be targeted by abilities that require range/line of sight, and they can stay in fog for as long as they need to. No defensive abilities ensure that level of protection from harm. For better or worse, fog banks offer probably the #1 stall tactic in the game. Rolling to determine fog exit location after being lost is a fun mechanic, and can result in some tactical maneuvering opportunities if you get a good roll. Lastly, fog banks are an essential part of the Fog-Hopping strategy, which is a fun gimmick that The Cursed have a monopoly on.

2. Whirlpool

Massive whirlpool raid during my Command the Oceans campaign game

Whirlpools have long been one of my favorite terrain pieces. They are incredible because they allow you to teleport to different places on the map. While fog banks provide an unrivaled level of protection, whirlpools provide an opportunity to move a ship faster than the fastest ships can travel. This allows for really dynamic gameplay that often spices up games quite a lot. It also opens the door to various strategies. One of my favorites is whirlpool attack squadrons that use extra actions to move and shoot coming out of a whirlpool. You can also strategize around the creation of new whirlpools during the game to expedite trips to wild islands, such as with Calypso or the Lost UT. The downside of having to lose a crew/mast/treasure 50% of the time feels like the right amount of dissuasion.

3. Reef

Shipwreck!

Reefs are probably the coolest looking terrain type. They feel like a classic and much-needed addition to the game, evoking stories of old treasure galleons that were dashed on reefs by storms and later looted by pirates. They also offer a counter to many of the game’s best ships, which are often the largest ships. Reefs are a popular way to “sabotage” islands and potentially influence someone’s home island choice during the Setup phase. They are the closest thing we got to “shallow water” rules that induce a negative for ships with deeper drafts. While shipwrecks on reefs are quite rare in my experience, they look incredible and add a distinct seafaring flair to the game.

4. Trade Current

The final terrain type to appear – only in the final set, Savage Shores. Trade currents are the only terrain type added exclusively after the game begins, usually by the Navigator generic crew type. They offer a nice little speed boost that can be beneficial many times throughout a game, lending themselves well to large games when a lot of ships can travel over them, as well as games with many return trips to wild islands. However, I do feel they have more cons than most other terrain types. They are somewhat hard to come by, and don’t look as good as the other terrain types. They can also be confusing to use, because if multiple players use trade currents, there must be something to distinguish which TC belongs to each player. Last but not least, they sometimes clutter up the board in longer games. If a navigator is able to place a lot of them, they end up littering the sea with trade currents and make the game look a bit less attractive in my opinion.

5. Sargasso Sea

These have never been all that interesting to me, and have by far the hardest rules to memorize for any specific terrain type. They’re almost like the opposite of reefs – worse for small ships but usually inconsequential for larger ships. The “seaweed” is great to place if your opponent has a lot of small ships in a swarm, since some of them might get stuck. However, they’re generally the most-avoided terrain type in my experience because they are one of the few terrain types that almost never offer a benefit to the player. Fog, whirlpools, and trade currents all have tangible benefits, while reefs and icebergs can be used to sabotage your final ship to try to end the game earlier if you know you’re winning on gold. You can technically get stuck forever in a sargasso sea and thus potentially trigger an endgame condition, but this is quite rare in my experience. Overall, they just feel like the most boring terrain type.

6. Iceberg

Styrofoam icebergs

If sargasso seas are the most boring, then icebergs are the most annoying. If at least one iceberg is in play, every player must roll a d6 at the beginning of each of their turns, every turn. Players (myself included!) forget this so often that it makes them feel like a chore. Partly because the iceberg rarely ever damages a ship. Often they don’t even move, and even when they do, it’s not very far and usually doesn’t result in anything. Although they are a decent thematic addition to the game, when they’re used they should probably be used in large quantities to make them relevant. I’d argue they’re also the terrain type most in need of house rule help, since they’re even less likely to impact games when they permanently stop at islands. It can help to have at least one of each number (1-6) in play, so that an iceberg will move every turn. This cuts down on the completely inconsequential d6 rolling that often comes from only having a couple icebergs in play. It also helps to let them continue moving after hitting islands, and possibly allowing “clusters” of icebergs to combine and move as a megaberg.

Thanks for reading! I’d be curious to know how you would rank all the terrain types!

Pirates: 2023 Year in Review

Posted on December 27, 2023December 27, 2023 by Ben

Pirates: 2023 Year in Review

Hi everyone! This is where you can share what Pirates stuff happened over the past year. It can be just about anything, from accomplishments to purchases to cool ideas. If this seems too vague, you can look at mine for an example. There’s also the option of stating your Pirates Goals for 2024.

It will be nice to look back upon the entire year and find joy and amazement in how much we’re capable of. List (possibly with links and/or a short description) everything you accomplished in 2023 in regards to Pirates that you thought was a good thing that happened. Everyone can contribute their own things that they did or are currently doing. When I think about this past week for example, I don’t really think much of it, but when I consider everything I’ve personally done in the entire year, I feel amazed! I think others could share that feeling as well if they look back at everything. Also, little things count too, so it doesn’t have to be all about one particular event or anything. Once everyone has posted, we can talk about what we accomplished as a whole community.

A7XfanBen

Pirates Goals for 2023 (set last year)
-Have not made replica ships with artwork yet.
-Released a total of 84 videos on youtube, more than twice as many as 2022 (39) and my highest total since 2018. Looking forward to improving my production/editing/video quality aspects more in 2024.
-I released 13 total podcast episodes, rather than just 2+. A huge highlight was talking to some of the most important Wizkids employees that worked on the game – Mike Mulvihill, Ethan Pasternack, and Shane Hartley!
-Pirates with Ben new account signup process is back in action (new users can actually join the site and participate in the forum more easily). There is more work to be done but the site still ranks #1 in google for the search term “Pirates CSG”.
-I did play at least one game in every month of the year.
-Played an epic CG4 turn in July!
-I taught at least four new players how to play the game. (highest total since that same number in 2017)
-I gave away some of the free hoard to players, but not as much as I would have liked to. (mostly from lack of interest, rather than me forgetting)

General accomplishments:
-Had a great year changing it up from the year prior – more content produced, more players taught, more Wizkids special guests, etc.
-Met Mike Mulvihill! (the primary architect of the game we play today)
-Brought together Pirates CSG players in Tampa after Gasparilla Pirate Fest.
-Gave away various packs to curious onlookers at public games.
-Released 84 videos and 13 podcasts.
-Collecting: Acquired some non-playable rare items – the Adventure Book and a couple new posters.
-Successfully moved collection and Epic Scale fleet from Washington to Nevada.
-Took over and revamped the Scan Project.

Games:
-Set or extended a bunch of all-time records with a ridiculous turn in VASSAL Campaign Game 4.
-Played a game against Mike Mulvihill, Tiffany O’Brien, and Becky Wilson!
-Played in 3 different states (FL, WA, NV), with Epic Scale games outdoors in 2 of them (WA, NV).
-26 games total

Pirates Goals for 2024
-Be able to make replica ships (3D printed + artwork). As a tangent, learn skills associated with small-scale production process (3D printing, artwork process with Silhouette Cameo 4 and color printer, CAD, etc).
-Get a more concrete answer on whether or not the game can come back in a substantial way. Attack my Pirates CSG goals in a more deliberate, focused, and urgent way than I ever have before.
-Release at least 104 videos. (following my current release schedule of every Friday and Sunday, every week) Improve my video quality, test out new video concepts such as live streamed physical games, and get some long-term video ideas out of my to do list queue.
-Reach 1,000+ subscribers on youtube (~800 at end of 2023).
-Release at least 4 podcasts. Continue trying to get special guests on (former Wizkids employees/etc).
-Finish working through ALL my planned improvements or edits to Pirates with Ben.
-Play at least one game in every month of the year. Would love to technically average at least one play per week (52+ plays total). Start 20th anniversary games with a Spanish Main-only game in the summer.
-Focus on games with new or exciting elements – competitive games, live streamed games, recordings of full games with chess clock, customs, etc.
-Grow the Las Vegas Pirates player base and scene.
-Host at least two major group meetup events – Dice Tower West in March being the first.
-Play my turns in CG4 when/if I am able.
-Teach at least one person how to play the game.
-Give away some of the free stuff I’ve received to players.

Feel free to comment below with your own 2023 Year in Review! Or post your submissions for the 2023 End of Year Awards!

Christmas Pirate! Pirates vs. Americans | 2×100 | 12/25/2023

Posted on December 25, 2023January 12, 2024 by Ben

Christmas Pirate! Pirates vs. Americans 2×100

12/25/2023

For the first time ever, I played Pirates CSG on Christmas Day! Big thanks to kogz03 (Stefan) for hosting! In this 2 player 100 point game, we used the Vegas house rules with the exception that we would place 5 terrain each instead of 3.

Kogz rolled to go first, leading to me picking a home island in the north. He settled just east of me and we were ready to go!

Kogz03’s Pirates
Revenant + Captain Mysion (F&S version), captain, helmsman, shipwright, oarsman
Black Pearl + Calico Cat (SM version), Hammersmith (F&S version), crew
Raven’s Neck + Le Requin, captain, helmsman, crew
Recreant + helmsman, 2 crew
Bloody Jewel + Genny Gallows, explorer
Banshee’s Cry + silver explorer
Jolly Mon + The Hag of Tortuga (CC version)

A7XfanBen’s Americans
Blackwatch + Commodore Matthew Perry, captain, helmsman, stinkpot shot
New Orleans + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Nene-nui + helmsman, explorer
Tombstone + helmsman
Kentucky + Commodore Edward Preble, captain, helmsman
Julius Caesar + captain, explorer
Coins: Grease Barrels, Runes of Thor, Jack’s Compass, 1,3,4,5,7

I lucked out with Preble on turn 1, giving an AA to Nene-nui so she was able to zoom out to the center island and explore in the first round. I found Rum and 7,3,1 at the island, with Rum stopping the ship for a turn but bumping the overall haul I could take to 14 total gold. Kentucky, Revenant and Recreant redocked, but many other ships scattered.

Raven’s Neck got SAT from Le Requin and shot a couple masts off Nene-nui with her first move action, then ducked into the fog bank with the second move action. Revenant and Recreant approached the middle, leading me to pounce. Kentucky and Blackwatch teamed up to sink Recreant, while stinkpot shot froze all of Revenant’s crew for the next Pirate turn! At the upper left, Julius Caesar and Tombstone have drained the northwestern island of its treasure (Runes of Thor + 4,1,1), but the Black Pearl looms via round earth….

With Revenant hitting on her 2L jib cannon and Raven’s Neck getting another SAT, Blackwatch is sunk!

I started a pivotal turn by rolling for Preble’s AA, but neither roll worked (Reroll via Kentucky). This prompted me to flip Runes of Thor and force the roll to a 6, giving me a much-needed AA to speed the Nene-nui back home with her impressive gold haul. I then went all-or-nothing with the Julius Caesar. Black Pearl (BP) had dismasted Tombstone, and the JC’s best shot to dismast the BP was with a Broadsides Attack. It missed with a 2, all but ensuring I would lose the western battle. I didn’t expect my cannon luck to improve, and so the Kentucky and New Orleans docked home for safety rather than pressing the attack on the Revenant + Raven’s Neck. I thought about building Thompson’s Island to help JC and repair Tombstone, but didn’t want to risk losing the fort gold to a BP double shoot via Calico Cat’s SAT.

Sure enough, the Black Pearl unleashed a devastating cannonade on Kogz’ turn, sinking both American ships at the island and sending 6 gold to the depths!

With half my fleet sunk, it would be tough to get much of the last gold scraps remaining, with Bloody Jewel and Banshee’s Cry having emptied out most of the southern islands. BC had already used Jack’s Compass to get home and still had Grease Barrels for a little boost on the next return trip. Raven’s Neck explored the middle island, with Revenant acting as escort.

It seemed as though my best play was to get eliminated to force an earlier gold count, since Kogz still had some coins on different ships. However, this process was started too late. I also thought about building Thompson’s Island in the southwest on a theoretical final turn of play to secure the last coin on that island, but BP could outrace Nene-nui there. Kentucky and New Orleans doubled back and opened fire on Revenant.

Revenant went in guns blazing, but felled two of her own masts via Mysion’s gunners backfiring! It was a Vegas-style gamble of a shoot action, with two 1’s rolled before the final cannon hit Kentucky for double damage on a 6! Raven’s Neck pulled up and finished off Kentucky, leaving New Orleans to battle alone.

Black Pearl sinks the Nene-nui!

New Orleans did manage to sink Revenant, but Kogz had already turned the tide. Various sources of income were all over his home island – Perry’s Ransom payout, silver, and Genny’s bonus in addition to regular gold.

Black Pearl sinks New Orleans to end the game!

Scores:

Kogz03: 22 gold
A7XfanBen: 14

The Christmas Pirate reigns supreme! A well-earned victory that saw him win on gold and completely eliminate my fleet as well. The final SW coin was a 2, so snagging that with a fort play wouldn’t have changed the results. Even hitting on that crucial Broadsides Attack may not have been enough for me to win. I was really happy to use stinkpot shot successfully and use the Runes of Thor to force an AA to work at a good time. Hopefully I’ll be able to use the ability of New Orleans next time I use her.

How Stefan stole Christmas! ;P Haha! After playing on Christmas Eve in 2017 and having a Sleigh game last year, perhaps it was time to play on 12/25. Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

What I Always Bring to Pirates Games

Posted on December 12, 2023June 20, 2024 by Ben

What I Always Bring to Pirates Games

Often when playing Pirates CSG at a game store, LGS, or a friend’s house, you have to pack up the necessary items to play a game of Pirates and hit the road. Hopefully you didn’t forget anything! I have accumulated many experiences with the “traveling collection”, where it’s only feasible to bring a bag or box to the game venue. The basics are easy, so I won’t spend much time discussing those. However, having played over 500 games of Wizkids Pirates since 2011, I have some additional tips on what to include in the box/tin/chest/etc that you bring to gaming events.

The Basics

-Your fleet with all ships, crew and equipment, as well as the coins you want to contribute
-Islands and terrain, especially if there are any specific ones you want to use such as Mysterious Islands, icebergs, etc.
-At least one d6
-Rules, Master Keyword List, The Pirate Code, and Reference Diagrams (you can also download PDFs of these from the bottom of my homepage for easy reference on your phone – highly recommended as this can save a lot of time when you need to look up rule text or FAQ answers)
-Spare deckplate for measuring L and S segments so you don’t need to use a deckplate from your actual fleet (more of a preference, but a great way to make sure your fleet’s deckplate area is never disrupted or confusing to other players, and you can keep crew/equipment/coins on the deckplates of your ships throughout the game without upending them)

-Forts: one of each you own! They are applicable to many games, and you never know when you’ll want to build one or more of them. In addition, you might capture a ship belonging to a faction you didn’t already have in your fleet, which would then allow you to build forts of that nationality.
-Events: great for 0LR+5 decisions. They can also be brought in via specific Mysterious Islands.
-Multiple pieces of every terrain type: great for the Setup phase with terrain contributions to ensure you don’t run out of your favorites. In the case of the Lost UT, you might want to put down 6 of a single type all at once (Lost is from the most common set, Ocean’s Edge). Extra terrain is also good to have on hand if you have “terrain creators” in your fleet, such as Calypso, smokepot specialists/shot, or navigators. Sometimes I’ve been surprised by the quantity I’ve needed.
-Equipment: factionless and therefore usable by any fleet even if there are faction-pure house rules in place. Also a decent choice for 0LR+5 contributions.
-Extra coins if using gold bonus abilities (depends on your group’s rules for tracking bonuses at home islands (HI’s)).
-Fire masts
-Pennants or tokens for marking islands explored
-Playmat/fabric for an ocean surface

Advanced

-A large selection of “essential” or oft-utilized UT’s. This stack can come in handy if you encounter Pandora’s Box or generative Mysterious Islands. The Setup rules call for placing treasure after seeing your opponent’s fleets and choosing home islands, so classics like Wolves, Lost and Plague can be great to have on hand if you want to throw in some wild cards not originally in your anticipated treasure contribution.
-A crew for the Castaway UT that is optimal for your fleet. SM Calico Cat (SAT), SM Genny Gallows (+2 Gold), and SM GC-001 El Fantasma (HI Raider) are usually good choices, along with SS Bianco’s Haulers (can’t be shot while docked) and RotF Gus Schultz (Eternal). Generic crew might be better in some cases too. Think about what UT’s other players could contribute that might be found on islands – this maximizes your preparedness for whatever could be thrown at you!
-Paper crew chips in case other players may have forgotten some generic crew
-I like to have a few tiny d6 of different colors available that I can put on the deck of ships that have been hit by special shot types. This might include green for stinkpot/Fear, orange for chainshot, etc. Helpful as a reminder for when my turn comes back around.
-Extra ships and crew in case you are providing fleets for other players. This is especially useful at open play board game events, where you never know when a new player will want to join and learn the game. Having stuff on hand to make a quick beginner fleet is a good way to ensure new players have a chance to play!

Here’s a look inside one of my well-used play tins. Usually I’ll have a second one for the ships and forts. (that Slipstream card is 3D printed, not cut haha) The large tins that were released with the Ocean’s Edge and Caribbean sets are ideal for storing a large amount of game items, and can easily be brought safely on a plane (I recommend taping down the sides with some clear shipping tape). You may be able to find some on eBay (affiliate link that helps my efforts to keep the game alive if you purchase from it. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.).

Did I forget anything that you should always have with you as a Pirates player? Feel free to comment below any thoughts you have on this topic, and thanks for reading!

Ben

First time in Las Vegas for Epic Scale Pirates CSG! (November 26th, 2023)

Posted on November 27, 2023March 26, 2024 by Ben

First time in Las Vegas for Epic Scale Pirates CSG!

11/26/2023

Captain Randy and I met up at Sunset Park in Las Vegas for the first Epic Scale game ever played in Nevada! The Epic Scale fleet has a new home after my move from Washington state. We did a draft to make 80 point fleets. As usual, we’d be using the Las Vegas house rules.

Video introduction:

Randy rolled to go first, so I picked my home island (HI) first. Here are the mixed fleets!

Captain Randy:
Revenant + captain, helmsman, musketeer, oarsman
HMS Interceptor + explorer
Crocodile + captain
Grinder + explorer
HMS Sea Phoenix + helmsman

Ben:
Muninn + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist, oarsman
Emerald Rose (custom made by PDXYAR) + Lawrence, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Terror of Gibraltar + helmsman
Fathom + helmsman, explorer
Le Coeur du Lion + helmsman
-I’ve been wanting to change up my fleets and strategies a bit, so here I was looking to run gold with the Fathom by cancelling the Mercenary keyword with Lawrence. He could use his abilities on the Emerald Rose due to her “Free Ride” ability to let crew of any nationality use their abilities on the ship. For the draft, Muninn was my first overall pick as the main warship. Terror of Gibraltar is a bit of an underwhelming ship, but helped keep the minor faction theme and added another oared ship. Coeur filled out the points since I was getting tight on cargo if I added more crew to the main ships.

4 coins per island and we were ready to start playing Epic Scale for the first time in Las Vegas! Ironically there was a bit too much wind for the ships to handle in the first half of the game, but we were able to weigh down the coins and islands/terrain with some objects as the game went on.

My fleet completely scattered away from my central HI location, while Randy had two groups of ships. Revenant, Interceptor and Sea Phoenix headed “west”, while Grinder and Crocodile went south.

I was in the mood for some decisive action! Muninn emerged from fog to blast away at Interceptor and Revenant, but only shot 2/6! She did manage to set the Interceptor aflame. Making matters worse, it appeared that my poor cannon luck would be in full swing today, as Emerald Rose shot 0/3 to completely miss the Sea Phoenix! Overall it was 2/9 shooting on cannons with an average rank of <2.5. The Muninn also failed to do ram damage on the Interceptor, making it a very poor combat showing.

As expected, swift retribution followed! Revenant used her ability to shoot through the Interceptor, and was aided by the English to sink the Muninn.

Fathom docked home a couple coins after Lawrence cancelled her Mercenary keyword as planned. Terror of Gibraltar stole a coin from the Grinder after the latter explored in the east, but took some damage for the gesture. Coeur du Lion is exploring at the outskirts. Captain Randy looks at coins with feigned despair as HMS Sea Phoenix explores for the first time.

What I lacked in cannon luck, I made up for with fog bank exit location rolls. Terror of Gibraltar (ToG) got a perfect roll to dock home her stolen loot. Emerald Rose shot a few masts off the Revenant, with HMS Interceptor struggling to contribute due to her shipboard fires. Fathom dove underwater in anticipation of chasing down HMS Sea Phoenix, who had 3 coins aboard.

From another angle:

Revenant stayed put to not have her captain cancelled by Lawrence, shooting at Emerald Rose. Emerald Rose was crippled, but managed to dismast Interceptor on the next turn. Coeur gets home with a couple coins, while Crocodile struggles to get into action with no helmsman to boost her speed. Fathom and ToG both have their sights set on HMS Sea Phoenix.

Fathom surfaces to ram and board the Sea Phoenix! A 5 is stolen! ToG gets another ideal fog exit roll and does the same, grabbing a second 5! Interceptor is doomed to burn as Revenant is dismasted by Emerald Rose. A turning point in the game (with the benefit of hindsight, and if there were stats such as predicted gold score on each round).

Grinder rams ToG to steal back a 5!

The late-game excitement continued, as HMS Sea Phoenix came to my HI to steal a 3! This marked the second time in as many days that I was robbed at my HI by an English ship! (my favorite faction) Alas, perhaps that’s a bad idea – karma against A7XfanBen doesn’t work too well. 😉 For I had the gold advantage with the goodies that Fathom brought back – her 6 gold (an extra 1 from Sea Phoenix ramming her back to try and steal the 5) transferred to Coeur (who then explored my HI) would make a big difference. Coeur then rammed the Sea Phoenix to steal the 3 back, dismasting her in the process and effectively ending the threat. Revenant was able to row at S+S and shoot her musketeer since she wasn’t derelict, but her and Crocodile couldn’t quite do enough to win the endgame. I think Sea Phoenix stole a 1 as well that got transferred to Crocodile, but I was content to let it slip away, especially with darkness falling on the game by this point.

Scores:

Ben: 20 gold
Randy: 14

Blackbeard’s descendant showing off his haul:

What a contest for the Epic Scale fleet’s first time in Las Vegas Nevada! This was one of the better Epic Scale games I’ve played so far. It had a good amount of combat and piracy in it, and if things had just gone slightly differently, Randy would have won. I was really happy with how all of my ships contributed to the victory – Muninn didn’t last long but helped neutralize Interceptor, ToG and Fathom both played essential roles exploring and stealing gold, Coeur quietly added to my total and had a clutch transfer (from Fathom) and a ram of Sea Phoenix at the end, and Emerald Rose was a workhorse throughout.

Thanks for reading! If you want to support my efforts with Pirates CSG, feel free to buy from this eBay affiliate link. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

4×80 game in Henderson Nevada (November 25th, 2023)

Posted on November 27, 2023November 27, 2023 by Ben

4×80 in Henderson

11/25/2023

I met up with Stefan (Kogz03) to play at this meetup in south Las Vegas! We were able to teach 2 new interested players, making it a 4×80 game! (4 players, 80 points) We used the Las Vegas house rules. I made a couple quick beginner fleets for the new players. Stefan and I probably had an advantage with our named crew, but we didn’t know if anyone would want to join us (fleets made in advance) and I think it can be best to avoid named crew for a player’s first game. Here are the fleets in the order of play:

Marco’s Frenchmen
La Ville de Paris + captain, helmsman
Tepant + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Cleopatre + captain, helmsman
L’Intrepide + explorer
La Courageux + captain
Le Bon Marin

Ben’s Spaniards
El Corazon Dorado + Victor de Alva (F&S), helmsman, Contessa Anita Amore (23)
El Neptuno + captain, tribal chieftain (24)
La Santa Ana + Dominic Freda (LE version), captain, helmsman, oarsman (22)
Concepcion + helmsman, explorer, oarsman (16)
Spanish native canoes
Coins: Rats, Fireworks, Weapons, 5 0’s
-My strategy was to bump up the 0 values with my gold bonus ships, which works better in a 1v1 game due to the 0’s taking up a greater percentage of the total coins in play. Rats would hopefully make it an even more low-scoring game that I could benefit from while hurting an opponent. Fireworks would be quite useful on any of my captained ships (especially Neptuno!), unlike something like HMS Gallows that already has essentially perfect cannons. I’ve always loved the high-cargo Spanish 4 masted square rigged ships, which evoke themes of Spanish treasure galleons from the Age of Sail. I often like to use them in tandem, with the Neptuno acting as a third galleon of sorts, but with some armament as well.

Spice’s English
HMS Goliath + captain, helmsman, oarsman
HMS London + captain, helmsman
HMS Sultan + captain, helmsman
HMS Lady Provost + helmsman, explorer, oarsman
HMS Bletchley

Stefan’s Cursed
Divine Dragon + Davy Jones (OE), captain, oarsman
Flying Dutchman + El Fantasma (OE), helmsman, oarsmen x3
Grinder + crew
Sea Duck

We were ready to set sail!

The English draw first blood! HMS London blasts masts off the Concepcion after she loaded some loot.

Fleets scattered about, with L’Intrepide snagging coins from the middle, leaving a 0 coin for HMS Bletchley to find. The Lady Provost has explored for 4 coins, denying the Spanish native canoes that island as HMS Sultan also round earths to provide escort protection. The Divine Dragon starts her night by shooting poorly, but eventually manages to dismast the Courageux.

The Tepant wades into the fray, deepening the Franco-Cursed conflict:

Both of my “bonus galleons” got home with 3 coins apiece, while the Neptuno explored for 3 coins of her own. El Corazon Dorado had her hands full watching both the London and Sultan. My canoes scattered, unlikely to get any gold with how fast it was flying off the wild islands. In the east, the Cleopatre takes a third mast off the Flying Dutchman while Intrepide docks home her coins. The Cursed have Grinder and Sea Duck explore.

With the nearby Spanish 4 masters all docked at home, HMS London heads east to continue her cannon barrage! She shoots 3/4 to sink two canoes and dismast the Bon Marin!

Victor de Alva didn’t give his Corazon Dorado an extra action all game, but that didn’t stop him from blasting 2 masts off the London. Concepcion is looking to “plus up” a 0 she left behind on her first gold trip. Neptuno is looking to offload her gold to Freda’s Santa Ana (to get the +2 bonus on at least one coin) and receive the Fireworks UT in return, potentially setting up a deadly weapon where Neptuno could hit on 4-6 at L+L range. HMS Lady Provost gets the English on the board, while the Goliath searches for treasure of her own. The eastern firefight has calmed down slightly – Tepant shot masts off the Divine Dragon, who explores rather than continue the bloodshed. The Cleopatre raids The Cursed home island (HI) of a coin, but is staring down a bunch of 2L cannons on the FD and Grinder.

Unfortunately time was running out, so we had to call for a last round – Stefan would get the final player turn so all players could have an equal number of turns. With this knowledge and the multiplayer rule that gold on ships counts towards victory, it got more desperate in a hurry. The following picture shows the second to last round of play.

London pivots to starboard and shoots at Corazon! Lady Provost makes a beeline for my home island, with a raid imminent! That would wreck my plans of having a gold factory and getting Neptuno set up for firework carnage (since I wanted to offload the gold but also stop Lady P if possible). Maybe the combo will work another time!

On the final round, the Spanish desperately tried to maximize their gold score while denying Lady P from stealing anything. However, Corazon only shot 1/3, and Neptuno missed all 5 shots at L+L range, with no 6’s rolled. She did dock home her 3 coins, while Santa Ana sped north to load the final coin from her previously explored wild island, in case it would matter in the final count. With 1 mast standing, Lady P was able to sneak around Corazon at S+L+S speed and steal a coin, which would count for the English in the scores.

The carnage continues out east! Cleopatre was dismasted by a Broadsides Attack from the Flying Dutchman! This allowed Grinder to capture the Cleopatre, but Tepant and Ville de Paris were on the scene to make sure The Cursed didn’t get their stolen coin back. Both ships were shot to the ocean floor! Overall the French had very good cannon luck in this game – lots of their shots hit, while a lot of enemy shots against them missed. Alas, they had only explored one island and it wasn’t very valuable.

Nearly at an end:

On their final turn, The Cursed broadsided the Ville de Paris and had Sea Duck pick up a final coin that would count towards victory.

Scores:

Spanish: 26 gold
The Cursed: 22
English: 14
French: 3

A rousing adventure to start two new pirate careers! This 4×80 game featured shooting, stealing, and plenty of good action! The gold bonuses proved key, as I believe they accounted for at least 6 of my gold. Stefan also found the Rats UT, which took a couple gold off his total. The Lady Provost’s raid only stole a low-value coin – if she had snagged the 5 instead, it would have been a very close 22-21-19 Cursed victory! However, the Spanish made up for their lack of EA and cannon luck with a big gold haul. I feel like a bunch of recent games have seen UT luck not go my way, so it was nice to have that strategy pay off a bit – I might even use a similar fleet in the future to try the Fireworks combo again. Neptuno using it could be spectacular, but Santa Ana or Corazon Dorado could have made good use of it as well.

Thanks again to all who played! For anyone reading that wants to play, let me know if you’re in Las Vegas! 😀

60 Point Games in Vegas with Kogz03! (November 17th, 2023)

Posted on November 18, 2023November 18, 2023 by Ben

60 Point Games in Vegas with Kogz03!

11/17/2023

Kogz03 and I met up at Dangerous Dave’s Vegas Board Games Meetup for a pair of 60 point games. We used the Las Vegas house rules. We both had English fleets in the first game. Kogz rolled to go first.

Kogz03 English
HMS Titan + Thomas Gunn (RotF version), Lawrence, Administror Scott Bratley
HMS London + Hermione Gold (RotF version)
Aberdeen Baron + helmsman
HMS Hound + explorer

Ben’s English
HMS Phoenix + Admiral James Norrington, helmsman, oarsman (20)
HMS Lord Kenyon + captain, helmsman (15)
HMS Rye + explorer (10)
-towing Gibraltar (7)
Honu Iki + explorer (8)
(for a lot of battle reports I just paste my fleet notes from a document into the BR, which is why sometimes there are point totals for me but not opponents)

Due to the limited table space available, it would be a tight setup. However, this promised to make the games fast and furious, and made it far more likely we’d be able to finish a second game before the Panera Bread closed at 9.

First turn carnage!! Hound and Aberdeen snag 7 coins between them, but I had to pounce to stay alive in the game. Rye snagged the final coin from the southwestern island, with Gibraltar dismasting the Hound! (I intended to capture for her gold) Phoenix (who redocked to stay safe), and Lord Kenyon (LK) teamed up to nearly dismast the Titan! Norrington’s cannon bonus was irrelevant against a fellow Briton, but LK was devastating, eliminating the maximum 3 masts from her shoot+ram barrage.

Honu Iki has explored the southeastern island.

Aberdeen couldn’t quite reach home, leaving her open to a cannonade from the Gibraltar flotilla, which knocked out 3 masts but wouldn’t prevent her from docking home her booty on the next turn. HMS London dismasted the Honu Iki, while the Titan docked at home.

Rye captured Hound after dropping her tow of the flotilla. LK risked getting a 1 on her ram roll of HMS Titan, but the gamble paid off. The Titan’s final mast fell overboard from the concussive impact, allowing Phoenix to capture the ship! (I was also gambling that the final face down crew on the Titan was some kind of captain, not an oarsman, which proved to be Thomas Gunn)

Aberdeen Baron docked home her coins. HMS London arrived on the scene to contest my capture of the Titan, but couldn’t get all cannons in range of Phoenix and took out 2 masts. This allowed Phoenix and Gibraltar to dismast London my turn, with Titan firmly switching sides with a double repair after getting towed home. Bratley would be worth 5 gold to me, but I wasn’t finding any good values even with my capture of the Hound. Since Rye had no helmsman but LK did, LK took up towing duties of the Hound while Rye went off to get meager loot from the southeast and possibly rescue Honu Iki.

With the English being my favorite faction, it felt strangely cathartic to capture some of my favorite ships in the game (Hound and Titan) and nearly snag London as well. However, the gold race was not in my favor, with Kogz finding the 6 and 4 he had contributed, among others. Hound and all the southeast gold was mine, but Aberdeen was able to get the northwest island’s gold home in just a couple short turns, with LK not wanting to dismast and end the game since I would prematurely lose. (almost nothing on my HI until the final round)

Kogz English: 26 gold
Ben’s English: 17 gold (12+5 from Ransom)

What an interesting game! I’ve had games similar to this in the past where one player can dominate the combat but lose the gold race, but usually it’s not this lopsided. (usually either a closer gold score, or the combat winner is able to control the endgame and win)

For our second game, Kogz switched to an all-Guichuan setup. I only brought one fleet and would be running the same setup. I answered a few questions about Kogz’ fleet beforehand; both players knew the entire crew setups of the other fleet before the game began.

Kogz’ Guichuan
Guichuan + The Headhunter, Davy Jones (DJC version), El Fantasma (OE version), helmsman, shipwright, explorer, oarsmen x3

We redid the island setup and actually remembered to add terrain! I rolled to go first this turn, and tried to pick a home island that had quick access to 3 of the 4 wild islands.

I did reach 3 islands on my first turn, but could only explore 2 of them since LK had no explorer. However, Fantasma was ready for slaughter, saccing to dismast Rye and then round earthing to dismast the Phoenix!

I made sure to have a huge homecoming party and all-out attack on the Guichuan! Rye rowed into position where she was within S for cancelling, but also got all of Gibraltar’s dangerous cannons in range. Combined with LK, 3 masts were shot away. Honu Iki dropped off 3 coins, while Phoenix rowed for home at S+S but couldn’t quite hide behind LK and was likely doomed.

Sure enough, Guichuan stayed in the fight and sank the Phoenix. Fantasma sacced another oarsman to repair and shoot, with Gibraltar’s flag being shot off. Fear affected both Rye and LK (6’s to limit their base moves to S on my next turn).

The English spent another turn blasting away, taking the Guichuan down to 3 masts. Fantasma sacced again to explore the northeast island and then round earthed to deposit the coins. This allowed Rye to dock home her coin and repair, while LK looked to get the rest of the gold that the Rye had found on turn 1.

Guichuan repaired two masts in a double action. LK and Honu Iki have drained the southern islands, while Rye has designs on round earthing to the northwest to snag the best coin from the final unexplored island!

Rye was able to grab a coin while Guichuan was busy copying Extended Range to blast away at the LK. We took a look at how much gold each of us had, knowing that we had contributed the same 38 total gold between us as the last game. I calculated that I could just edge out the win if I held steady with the gold currently in my possession, thankful I wouldn’t have to risk going back to the northwestern island again.

Guichuan cleaned out the NW island and LK and Rye managed to make it back with their loads!

English: 20 gold
Guichuan: 18

A very close finish! I think going first and being able to divert my ship resources across the map made up for the early loss of the Phoenix and not having any extra actions available in my fleet.

A nice pair of 60 point games! We both won, and got to use some pieces we’d been looking forward to playing. Catch us soon in Vegas for more adventures!

PS: A quick heads up that we’re planning a big Pirates weekend at Dice Tower West from 3/8-3/10/2024. Let me know if you’d like to attend and hope to see you there!

15th Anniversary of Savage Shores! 2×60 game on November 5th, 2023

Posted on November 5, 2023November 5, 2023 by Ben

15th Anniversary of Savage Shores!

11/5/2023

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the final set’s release! Savage Shores came out on November 5th 2008, so Captain Randy and I decided to play a quick little 2 player 60 point game to celebrate, using almost exclusively SS game pieces. It would be the first of many games we’ll play together in Las Vegas!

We used standard rules with the exception that whirlpool rolls would be bad on 1-3 instead of 4-6. The only non-SS game pieces permitted were terrain, and generic crew from any faction or set.

Randy rolled to go first with this mixed fleet:
Valeroso + captain, helmsman
Libellule + Capitaine Baudouin Deleflote
Speedy Return + tribal chieftain, oarsman
American native canoes

I followed with a Cursed American fleet:
Soul Crusher + Wraith, captain, helmsman
Frontier + tribal chieftain, helmsman, oarsman
American native canoes

We placed 3 SS mysterious islands each, then 3 terrain each. I put Randy’s home island (HI) in the far west, while he put me in the northeast. His canoes are on the far right, with mine just southwest of them.

I recorded Randy’s first turn:

Randy had a canoe head west, while Frontier loaded a big load of booty from the first island. I unintentionally was using game pieces that would effectively bypass the mysterious island docking criteria, since Frontier’s hoist arm and the canoes already being at an island when the game started made docking less important for my fleet to get gold.

Soul Crusher got in action and took on the other Turbine! However, all my shots missed, and only after winning the boarding party (which would normally massacre the Spanish crew) did we remember that Valeroso has Crew Protect built in. However, the ram damage took out a mast.

Various ships explored, with my canoes finding the Necklace of the Sky and Manawa no Kowhatu (which was ignored with no crew on the canoe of course).

Randy took two of his canoes with two coins each through the whirlpool to arrive in home waters. Valeroso was unable to escape Wraith’s wrath (which could be a fun ship name), with Soul Crusher ramming off her final mast. True to form, my cannon d6 rolling was abysmal as usual, as I believe I went 0/6 with Soul Crusher. I used the American native canoe ability to transfer a 7 from one canoe to a different canoe that had Necklace of the Sky, warping to the east to get away from Randy’s approaching canoes.

Valeroso was able to whirl home on turbine power, with Libellule and the canoes also returning to make for a gold-laden homecoming. However, Soul Crusher was busting up some canoes as Frontier unloaded another coin for me. Speedy Return was not living up to her namesake with no helmsman aboard.

Soon afterwards the final coins were unloaded!

Final scores:

Cursed Americans: 33 gold
Mixed SS alliance: 20

A solid quick 15th anniversary game to get us started on what should be a great year+ or many years of playing Pirates CSG in Vegas! It only took about an hour to play out, which might be a theme we experiment with over the long haul. We’ve got plans for a wide variety of things, including using timed turns, playing scenarios, and playtesting customs. Thanks for reading and we hope you stay tuned for more seafaring adventures from the desert! If you know anyone in Vegas that likes pirates and/or this kind of board game, feel free to let me know!

Lastly, feel free to grab some Savage Shores from eBay – affiliate links like that and my Patreon are some of the best ways to support my efforts to keep this game alive and hopefully revive it as well.

Pirates CSG Podcast: Mike Mulvihill Supercut

Posted on October 24, 2023March 26, 2024 by Ben

Pirates CSG Podcast: Mike Mulvihill Supercut

You can listen to the audio via Spotify for Podcasters!

You can also listen to it via Archive.org.

Marques Miguel Antonio from Davy Jones’ Curse – Mike Mulvihill’s personal crew in the game

Mike Mulvhill is one of the true giants of Wizkids Pirates CSG history, having designed the majority of the game pieces! He was heavily involved in numerous aspects of the game from Spanish Main through Rise of the Fiends, and helped with certain aspects on Fire and Steel. The game was basically his in terms of game design, concept creation, game mechanics and gameplay concepts, as well as rules, factions, and the specific individual game pieces.

Questions of the Day:
Ben: Would you buy a similar but not compatible version of the Pirates of the Spanish Main IP from Wizkids? (similar theme and artwork, but not compatible with the original CSG)
Mike: Would you be interested in a scenario model of play?
How do you play the game? Do you play it for a 30 minute quick game, or larger games that take longer?
Would you have liked to see the minor faction storylines in more of the sets?

Questions thread: https://pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/submit-your-questions-for-pirates-game-piece-creator-designer-mike-mulvihill/

Master Spreadsheet: http://bit.ly/PiratesCSGMasterSpreadsheet

Tilor’s database: https://tilorfire27.github.io/PiratesCSGDB/index.html

150 point game referenced: https://pirateswithben.com/4×150-in-redmond-washington-september-9th-2023/

Schooner stern turn example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxY_W6zkE_o

Pokeships: https://pirateswithben.com/what-is-a-pokeship/

RotF checklist: https://pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Checklist-RoF-Front-scaled.jpg

Pokeships: https://pirateswithben.com/what-is-a-pokeship/

WotC patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7201374B2/en

News article about settlement between Wizkids and WotC: https://icv2.com/articles/games/view/12811/wotc-wizkids-settle-lawsuit

Court case: https://pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Wizkids_CSG_complaint_2007.pdf

MT thread about faction discounts: https://pirateswithben.com/apparently-american-ships-automatically-costed-1-point-more-miniature-trading-forum-thread/

SimCost: https://psmlist.com/public/blog/documentation_simcost

UDC: https://psmlist.com/public/blog/documentation_udc

Game Mode options for ban lists/etc: https://pirateswithben.com/game-modes-for-playing-pirates-csg/

Customs Database: https://bit.ly/CustomsDatabase

SOE version: https://pirateswithben.com/pirates-constructible-strategy-game-online/

Wizkids Pirates forum via the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20081225232002/http://forum.wizkidsgames.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=180

Giant ships at GenCon 2007: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Gen_Con_Indy_2007_exhibit_hall_-_Pirates%21_large_scale_models.JPG

Facebook group post about the Alliance Open House announcement: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PiratesCSG/posts/7088056634567258/

Ravensburger/Villainous: https://www.ravensburger.us/discover/games/marvel-villainous/index.html

His IG: https://www.instagram.com/prime_runner/

Pirates CSG on eBay: https://ebay.us/5C1kyR (affiliate link – purchasing through it will help support my content and efforts with the game!) This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Uncut sheets:

https://pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DJC-uncut-sheets.jpg

https://pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/RV-and-BC-uncut-sheets.jpg

https://pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SCS-Uncut-sheet-about-8.25-inches-high-Matt-L-scaled.jpg

https://pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SCS-Uncut-sheet-about-11.25-inches-wide-Matt-L-scaled.jpg

Thanks for listening!

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

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The following should eventually be updated from Anchor so they will be available when they get the podcast.