This was the seventh 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. We 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). We 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. We also used an additional house rule with 40 minutes per player via a timer.
Spanish: (A7XfanBen)
La Mensajera + Hernán de Orozco, helmsman, oarsman (15)
Oro del Oeste + Antonio de Bolivares, helmsman (19)
La Grapa + captain, helmsman, oarsman (17)
El Antiguo + Febe (name later changed to Floriana), helmsman (9)
Coins: Sunken Treasure, Barbary Banner, Dead Man’s Chest, 5 3’s (worth 12 gold each)
Fuerte de la Desolación
Dutch: (Xerecs)
Friesland + helmsman, explorer
Amsterdam
Admiral Maarten de Hollander + helmsman
Rotterdam
Vers Maan + helmsman, explorer
Scores:
Dutch: 153 (60 points in play, 93 gold)
Spanish: 80 (54 points in play, 26 gold)
Observations:
-Should there ever be tournament-specific rules guidance related to the Restarting Rules?
-What is the best way to prevent the clock from being weaponized? (not a Restarting rule, just in general)
This was the sixth 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, but this game had random and smaller gold values (not the usual 60 gold per fleet). This game used early physical drafts of the Dutch ships, whose artwork and sizes would change before the set was actually released.
Fleets in the order of play: Pirates
Black Phoenix + Lord Garhelm, Fists of Fate, helmsman, oarsman (36)
Knife’s Edge + Captain Fletcher, helmsman, oarsman (12)
Dark Angel + captain (12)
-At the time this game was played, every Dutch ship in the set still had a “Dutch” keyword that gave their ships +1 gold to a treasure unloaded at home, and allowed one of their cannons to shoot twice in a turn.
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)
Dutch have slower base moves and therefore fill in the island setup more closely than the Pirates. As a note for the future, in general: with only 1L being the minimum distance between islands, speed could become less of a critical factor in the game. (later changed to 2L in the Restarting Rules)
Pirates voted 4 terrain per player, Dutch voted 2. Dutch won that roll 6-5.
Rule change: Players must place their ships at their home island immediately after choosing a home island, rather than everyone placing after all HI’s are chosen (back to the original rule, in order to minimize gamification of players jockeying for position at the same time).
To maximize the possibility of rules questions or interactions with new abilities, each fleet had to contribute 5 random UT’s. The Dutch also put in 2,2,1 and the Pirates 3,4,5.
Pirate fleet looking good courtesy of Gigi!
The Dutch set sail! First time using these full art customs in a physical game!
Pirates weren’t carrying any explorers, but they had many more open cargo spaces (just 1 open in the Dutch fleet to start the game). Princes Maria sped to the northern island as well, and explored out from under the Pirates! She took the 3 and used Shipping Charts to spy Fists of Fate on the Black Phoenix (Lord Garhelm was revealed on the Pirate turn, but failed SAT). This helped a Dutch decision soon afterwards. Runes of Destruction was likely to be irrelevant with no icebergs in play.
With Garhelm, Fists of Fate and the helmsman all revealed on the Black Phoenix and costing 17 points out of the ship’s 18 between them, the Dutch could rest assured that the final facedown crew on the BP was not a canceller. Thus, Maas was able to move in close and blast the BP!! Admiral Clementius sacced to zoom into battle, shooting off 4 masts from the Pirate flagship (4/6 overall with a 3L miss on the first action, and utilizing an extra 2L shot via the Dutch keyword). Maas also docked and used the explored island token to grab the 2 and had Hollandia on her way for backup, completing an excellent first turn for the Dutch.
Dark Angel explored in the northeast, finding a good coin and some UT’s.
Knife’s Edge couldn’t round the island properly to ram and board the Princes Maria for gold, and Black Phoenix was in no condition to properly fight the powerful Maas, so the Pirates ran for calmer waters. However, Maas sacced again to round earth and catch the Knife’s Edge, sinking her abruptly! Princes Maria returned home to plus up her 3 (extra 1 added to the HI via the Dutch keyword). Hollandia also returned home, to drop off her oarsman so the Maas could soon load it as sac fodder.
Princes Maria sped west and found more goodies, with Maps of Alexandria revealing all wild treasure in play…
… which showed the southeastern island to have Lost, Marksman’s Map, 2, 1. Hollandia headed there. Maas and Dark Angel dropped off coins as Black Phoenix repairs.
The Pirates needed some strong moves in order to even up this race, especially after losing 12 points in play from their schooner being sunk. Black Phoenix docked at the southeastern island and shot at Hollandia, but missed both 2L shots! Dark Angel headed south to join her.
The Dutch attack!! Hollandia hits Dark Angel twice, though one hit should have been ignored via the Cross of Coronado (it wouldn’t matter). Maas approached Black Phoenix and sent her to the depths! However, this triggered her “explosion”/phoenix ability as well as Eternal. All three ships within S were set aflame!
Maas wanted gold, but once her fire spread, Admiral Clementius decided it would be best to make a quick trip home to extinguish the flames. What a sight! A brand-new Dutch custom burning fiercely… evokes memories of Anglo-Dutch war paintings….
Lord Garhelm’s SAT finally triggers, allowing BP to repair 2 masts in one turn. Princes Maria explores her third island of the game, triggering Lost! She rolls a 3, with the Dutch reefing both remaining Pirate ships! However, the BP gets a 6 and Dark Angel a 4 to avoid getting wrecked. Dark Angel had a mast up off-camera once I realized the Cross of Coronado gaffe, but she promptly lost it to her “phoenix fire” mast, and would eventually succumb to the flames. Hollandia’s crew keep their fires at bay, while Maas gets ready to return to the chaotic area.
The desperate Pirates continue to press their luck! Black Phoenix successfully sails over a reef and then sets the Princes Maria aflame with a lucky 6! She wins the boarding party, with the Fists of Fate stealing both UT’s and the 2!
Maas sails over to tow Princes Maria, hitting the BP on her way east. Clementius sacs to get the ship started on the towing journey towards home, but the Maas misses her other shots against BP, keeping the 5 master alive in the contested area. Hollandia had sailed out of the way in case Maas sank the BP and triggered another huge explosion.
With no masts up, Black Phoenix couldn’t ram again, so she went home to deposit her 2 coin. Hollandia arrived at the Dutch HI shortly afterwards, ending the game with all gold worth value unloaded at HI’s.
Dutch: 67 (54 points in play, 13 gold)
Pirates: 43 (36 points in play, 7 gold)
Quite a rousing affair! The Dutch were in control for pretty much the entire game, but the Pirates fought to stay in it all the way to the end. Black Phoenix having Eternal and an oarsman helped keep their main source of points in play, but the loss of their other ships and lower gold total proved crippling. All three Dutch ships performed quite well. This is notable as the first game the Pirates have lost in Golden Seas playtesting games!
Observations:
-Random UT’s didn’t have ability interactions with the new stuff. Still worth putting some in every game to test out what might break or get compromised when various combos arise.
-Black Phoenix is quite an asset. I don’t think she’s overpowered, but being able to potentially hurt an opponent when “sinking” and then come back via Eternal is quite notable. It nearly happened twice in this game if Maas hadn’t missed shots late in the game.
-Dutch keyword almost feels like something that can be baked into Dutch ships via stats, rather than a keyword. Ex: Increasing the cargo hold of each Dutch ship by 1, which costs a similar amount of points as the +1 gold ability that is part of the Dutch keyword. (Dutch keyword was removed later)
-Overall it was fun, and I can’t think of much else in terms of feedback on the customs.
Here are the Restarting Rules and New Master Keyword List, initially developed for use with the new set (Pirates of the Golden Seas). The first draft was finished in July 2021, and underwent numerous revisions until the current version was finalized in August 2024. Woelf (the Rules Arbitrator) was consulted heavily throughout the process.
-One rules document. (not split into Start Here and Complete Game)
-2 action limit is clearly defined under “Rules of the High Seas”
-The standard build total is 60 points instead of 40.
-The “any build total can be chosen” part is underlined for emphasis.
-“Events should not be used unless all players agree to allow them.”
-Round Earth is now the default boundary rule
-Flat Earth now includes: “Players cannot voluntarily move their ships over the edge.”
-Islands must be placed at least 2L from each other (rather than 3L)
-Terrain can be placed anywhere on the play area, and each piece can touch any other piece of terrain or islands.
-The last player chooses their home island first, followed by the second to last player, and so on until the first player is the last to choose their home island.
-Changes to links: “When two linked crew are assigned to the same ship, they share a single cargo space. In the same way, if one crew is assigned to a ship to which it is linked, that crew does not take up cargo space. If multiple links are present on a ship, all crew that link share the same single cargo space. Links are considered rules rather than abilities, so they are not subject to the No-Stacking Rule, and they cannot be cancelled or copied.”
-Movement bonuses can be applied at any time during a move action, rather than just at the end after base move segments are completed (original rule only appears in The Pirate Code, not in the Start Here or Complete Game rules).
-Boarding: Winner chooses whether to take a treasure or eliminate a crew; winner chooses which treasure to take; loser chooses which crew to eliminate.
-Made it clear that towing can occur when a ship is touching the bow of a derelict, not just at the end of a move action.
-Docking a towed ship at an island or fort when the towing ship docks is now optional.
-Ships with any number of masts can now ram and board (they don’t need to have at least one mast).
-A successful ram eliminates masts – removed the part saying “(remove from the game)”.
-Treasures are always looked at when exploring.
-Treasure from a sunken ship is not split between players in a 2 player game. It is always removed from the game regardless of the number of players.
-Added: “The number of flags on a fort must match the number of cannons it has when first built.”
-Players are not required to unload regular (non-UT) treasure when they dock at friendly forts.
-Forts can repair with a shipwright in them (including when they have no flags left).
-Removed the wording around Abandoned forts because it is unnecessary (first sentence moved to Shooting section, second sentence irrelevant with shipwright-repair option).
-Icebergs can continue moving after hitting islands
-Sargasso Sea reworded for clarity
-Whirlpools are bad on rolls of 1-3 and equipment can be lost to them.
-Sea creature rules moved to the back/bottom of rules. Text heavily modified and specific game mechanics will be addressed as part of sea creature type keywords, not in the sea creature rules.
-No “more than half the starting gold” endgame condition in 2 player games.
-Endgame condition changed to only one player can give future move actions (rather than half or more players cannot give future move actions)
-Added some Pirate Code text to maximize clarity of rules.
-Some wording changes for clarity/brevity/etc.
Changes to the Master Keyword List:
-Shipwright (made better).
-Sea Monsters may move and shoot using the same move action.
-Sea creature type keywords: Revamped in various ways. Now each keyword says what that creature type can do, without overly relying on the sea creature rules to define what they can and can’t do.
-If a sea monster or titan eliminates crew via boarding, it may repair one of its segments as a free action.
-Scorpions can board sea creatures with their blade attack.
-Changed “boarding action” to “boarding party”.
Is this an official set? No, we are not Wizkids and none of this is technically official.
What do I get when I buy the set? 28 ships, 4 forts, 16 named crew. 10% chance of getting a Super Rare.
What factions are in the set? Pirates, English, Spanish and Dutch.
Will there be additional sets? Other production methods are currently being explored, and more sets are likely to be produced.
Why are there no Cursed (or insert favorite faction here) in the set? The set takes inspiration from the first 3 sets of Pirates, and I didn’t want too much of a supernatural element. It takes me back to the “glory days” of the game. Also, there wasn’t room for a lot of factions due to the sheer volume of work and time involved in actually making the set.
Why was the crew artwork generated with AI? Primarily, to save time and money. I am not a company with the money to fund an art team, nor am I a professional artist, nor am I someone who is going to let people’s opinions on AI art stop me from going after my dream of restarting the game.
-I made sure to research AI image generators, and only use the most ethical one I could find (Adobe Firefly).
-If the crew artwork was human-made, there is a good chance that the set wouldn’t be out by now, and/or would be more (possibly much more) expensive.
-I did not want a set with no crew artwork, so I was willing to take the “hit” from the anti-AI-art crowd if it meant seeing my vision for the set through to completion.
Why are there no coins in the set? The idea is to have sets that are as compatible as possible with the original sets of the game, and making coins that have identical backs, sheens, and edge textures identical to the original styrene coins is not easy. In addition, most players of the game already have more than enough coins to use for the game, so it was not a focus of production given how time-consuming it was to make everything else. Future sets and/or products might include new coins.
Why is it not collectible? Collating random booster packs by hand would be difficult for an individual, and the production method of 3D printing (additive rather than subtractive manufacturing) is not conducive to cards that get pieces punched out of them.
Why do the cards have rarities if it’s not collectible? It’s generally best to design files that are compatible with the highest amount of production and distribution methods, so I went with that as a default mode from the start. This way if a collectible distribution model becomes more feasible, the card files would be ready to go without needing to overhaul anything.
Why isn’t the set balanced? Why are some game pieces overpowered or underpowered?
Since I did nearly everything to make this set come to life, there was only so much time for playtesting. Balancing a game that already has over a thousand game pieces is difficult. The sheer volume of playtesting required to make sure a new set is “balanced” at this point is enormous. In addition, having everything be perfectly costed/etc could arguably be bad for business. Players usually gravitate towards the best game pieces, so it could be in a company’s best interest to put out awesome, memorable game pieces that attract attention (and even negative attention from overpowered game pieces could be good for the game’s publicity).
I understand that not everyone will like the new things that I make for the game. Feel free to make your own perfect custom set that is balanced against everything and that everyone loves, with all human-made art.
My design philosophy: Make all game pieces usable, or at least interesting to play. This doesn’t mean they will appear usable to everyone. This means they will be usable to me – I change up my fleets often, I’ve played games in the thousands of points where almost all game pieces eventually become usable, and I’ve played the game nearly 600 times. As a result, my definition of usable is probably different than some other players.
I can’t please everyone. Sometimes it feels like I can’t please anyone. At that point, the default becomes just making stuff that I find fun, interesting, or awesome (preferably at 2 or more of those 3). If you don’t like the direction I’m taking the game, feel free to make, design, produce, market and sell your own set(s). 🙂
Bottom line: If there were more game pieces/factions/etc in the set, it probably wouldn’t be out by now, maybe not even at all in 2024. I believe one of the reasons that nobody has ever done this is because nobody has been willing to take the plunge and work on it full-time for an extended period. For a set to be released where one person does the vast majority or all of the work, extreme amounts of time must be invested. Negative aspects of the set needed to be accepted to even get the project off the ground. Certain things were left out just to make a release possible in the first place.
Relevant comment: “Whoever is leading the charge in FFXVII’s development will make whatever Final Fantasy game they want. People will buy it. Some of those people will love it, some will hate it. A lot will compare it to its predecessors. Either way, people will be disappointed and internet arguments will be an inevitability.”
With August drawing to a close, I played a quick and goofy game to keep my consecutive months played streak alive (playing at least one game of Pirates CSG for many months in a row).
Rules were simple: 3 fleets, build total of 10 points, no forts or terrain, only one wild island. No coin contributions, but the lone wild island would have one coin each of values 1-7 along with two random UT’s.
Fleets in the order of play:
Spanish
El Algeciras (OE version) + captain
El Raton
Jolly Mon + oarsman
French
Le Coeur de Lion + helmsman
Lezard + helmsman
Pirates
Banshee’s Cry + explorer
Mermaid
Carrion Crow
The setup for a Pirate Blitz!
Banshee’s Cry explores the island first, loading Rotting Hull, Davy Jones’ Heart, and the 7 and 6!
She is quickly set upon by the other fleets, with jealousy raging! Algeciras misses both shots against BC but takes out a Carrion Crow mast with a ram. The French establish themselves, with Lezard dismasting BC with a ram and taking her 7, while Coeur loads booty from the island.
Mermaid begins towing BC, transferring the latter’s 6 to Mermaid. Carrion Crow utterly failed against the Algeciras, rolling poorly for both ram and board. The Spanish complete the game’s “domino effect”, taking center stage. The Pirates were the early leader, then the French took treasure on turn 2. Now on turn 3, the Spanish take the lead. The French are rammed out of the game!
Mermaid sees a rare opportunity to escape with gold, and drops her tow to deposit the 6. Carrion Crow rams a mast off Algeciras, but she is rammed derelict by El Raton. El Algeciras goes 0/2 again, as my typically poor cannon luck continues.
El Raton, Jolly Mon and Coeur are the best hope for the Spanish now, with Algeciras rammed out of commission by the Mermaid.
Having seen all the game’s coins from their initial explore, the Pirates realize they must get some of the final treasure home in addition to the Lezard’s 7 (else they’d end up with 13 of 28 gold, with the Spanish having 3 ships to snag the final 3 in play to get to 15/28). Mermaid docks Lezard and both ships grab a coin, leaving the wild island empty. However, trouble is brewing for the Pirates, as a Coeur repair gets her back in action (at S+S+S speed, as she still has her helmsman) and the Jolly Mon won’t be slowed by towing (or a full cargo hold) anymore.
Mermaid re-tows Lezard and makes an effort to get both ships home, even ramming a pursuant Raton derelict in the process. However, Coeur’s speed caught Mermaid easily and with a final ram, the Pirates were taken out!
Vulkan is one of the modern legends of Pirates CSG, having pioneered a DIY method of producing both custom and replica ships via 3D printing and decaling. His efforts from 2021 and beyond have been instrumental in the game’s continuation. He was also a key collaborator in the development of Pirates of the Golden Seas, as his knowledge and expertise greatly helped shorten my learning curve and 3D printing troubleshooting.
(Ben) If you design any digital artwork for Pirates CSG, which is your preferred program to use?
(Vulkan) If you make your own custom ship, what do you want it to be? (in-depth design, ship type, etc.)
These games were played on 7/28/2024, the 20th anniversary of the game! July 28th 2004 was the day Pirates of the Spanish Main first hit store shelves. (Friday was Game 1 of the celebrations)
Game 2:
Scores:
Xerecs: 32 gold
FoxTrot: 20
Stormbringer: 20
Ben: 6
Game 3:
Scores:
Ben: 16 gold
Stormbringer: 11
Throughout this decade we’ll likely have additional 20th anniversary games for the set release dates! 🙂
I met up with JW Darkhurst at Game n’ Grounds in LA (Chatsworth specifically) for a rapid-paced trio of casual games. The build total was 60 points and we used the Seattle house rules.
I used a fleet focused on variety and making sure each ship had the Captain ability:
Gale Force Nine + Hammersmith (F&S version), Le Requin, Cannonball Gallows (MI version), oarsman
Le Descharges + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Bazana + captain, helmsman
Griffin + captain
In the first game, Darkhurst used a Spanish fleet with the LE San Cristobal, La Santa Isabel, and La Joya del Sol.
The full setup – we both contributed some mysterious islands.
Gale Force Nine proved valuable immediately, with the S-exploring ability helping Bazana and the Santa Isabel taking damage from the GF9.
Bazana rolled poorly at the MI, allowing Darkhurst to move her away from my home island (HI). However, GF9 got SAT from Le Requin, sailing over to dismast the San Cristobal!
This particular MI ability gave us a new idea – if you simply redocked the enemy ship and they rolled low again, they could get trapped in a “loop” and get stuck at the island indefinitely! However, I think the only way to make sure of it would be to have Runes of Loki with Nemo’s Plans.
La Joya del Sol explored an MI of her own:
GF9 captured the SC, while Bazana decided to take advantage of her hidden Captain and dismast the Santa Isabel! Griffin is headed home with gold, while Le Descharges heads north to cut off the Joya, taking down half of her masts.
I ended up capturing the other two Spanish ships as well, with only the Griffin’s gold getting home before the game ended.
Ben: 12 gold
JW Darkhurst: 0
My luck had been far better… for now.
Games 2 and 3 featured the chess clock, with a maximum time of 20 minutes per player per game. However, we were playing quickly enough that we never ran low on time.
Game 2 featured JW switching to an all-schooner fleet. Since I was traveling (and pressed for time before my trip), I had only brought one fleet and I would be using the same fleet in all games regardless of how many we were able to play.
JW’s Neptune’s Hoard managed to get a quick gold score, while GF9 took on HMS Durham (proxied by HMS Oxford). Taking advantage of round earth to explore in the northwest, Bazana unloads her captain to load an extra coin.
Griffin explored for gold but got saddled with the same negative MI effect as Bazana in the first game. GF9 gets the better of HMS Durham, but Le Requin wants Descharges to tow the Englishman home so he and Cannonball Gallows can go off in hunt of other schooners.
Indeed they did, with Neptune’s Hoard the next domino to fall. However, JW Darkhurst had already unloaded a bunch of gold, including at least one +2 bonus from La Santa Isabel (LSI) and the Barbary Banner UT (worth 5 gold). Bazana gets me on the scoreboard, but Griffin is forced to sail into less friendly waters.
I begin to tow my prizes home, with LSI in pursuit of the captured Durham. However, it wouldn’t matter, as JW had gotten so much gold early in the game that the gold race was already out of reach.
JW Darkhurst: 40 gold
Ben: 36
Game 3 saw JW go back to his initial Spanish fleet with a slight crew change, but with a very different HI + terrain setup compared to Game 1.
Round 1 saw the fleets sail in opposite directions as exploratory efforts began:
San Cristobal got SAT and sailed over to sink Le Descharges!
True to the day’s trend, my luck had completely run out. Overall I had far better luck than JW Darkhurst in Game 1, while Game 2 saw it mostly even (JW getting better gold values while I won the battles). Game 3 was the opposite of Game 1, with my luck horrid while JW’s d6 rolling was better than usual. Requin didn’t give GF9 the SAT, and GF9 proceeded to go an abysmal 0/5 overall (including the ram damage roll), failing to dent the San Cristobal!
Spanish gold begins to pile up as my fleet continues to implode:
At the left, an iceberg nearly hits a docked Joya del Sol. Bazana reaches home safely with gold, but SC has sunk the GF9, leaving Griffin a sitting duck. She redocks, attempting to trigger the 5-6 MI effect (which would have allowed me to move the San Cristobal S+L), but fails.
San Cristobal sinks the Griffin, and the game ends soon afterwards:
Game 3:
JW Darkhurst: 31 gold
Ben: 21
A solid trio of quick matchups at Game n’ Grounds! Nice board game cafe if you’re ever in the San Fernando Valley!
