BREAKING THE GAME | + A Global Biological Terrorist Attack Threat

Posted on July 27, 2020May 13, 2024 by Ben

BREAKING THE GAME

Plus: A Global Biological Terrorist Attack Threat

If I had to pick my own “MUST READ” battle report for 2020, this is it.

VASSAL Campaign Game 4 has continued (introduction and rules here). The previous battle report is probably worth a refresher before getting into the events of this past… weekend. Indeed, my turn took up a huge portion of my weekend from Friday-Sunday. Things have spiraled out of control to a degree not seen before in any other game of Pirates CSG, at least that I know of in its recorded history. Game balance is a thing of the past. Welcome to a new era – “exploits of the power gamer”. 😉 I listened to this epic mix for most of the Pirate play turn.

A turn this long and epic deserves a long report to do it justice. Especially given the “injustices” that have taken place… and of which there are likely more to come. If you make it through the whole thing, please consider leaving a comment at the bottom, as it should help my fansite and the visibility of this post that apparently has 5625 words. It would be useful to have the newly released Customs Database available while reading, as there were a LOT of customs involved….

As usual for my turns, we start with the Pirates. The Eagle gave Resurrection Codex to the Zeus. (a pretty big deal in a more “normal” game or even a campaign game)

Having crushed Xerecs’ Spaniards in the Archipelago last turn with a grand display of powerful weaponry, their combat of this turn was mostly about cleaning up in the center of the ocean. The Deliverance got the Pirates started by eliminating two Spanish canoes (revealing Isandro Ramirez to be her captain).

From there, things quickly got… unprecedented.

The Smoke’s Hand got two actions and used the second to sink the final canoe and shoot at the Morning Star, who was dismasted by the Stormcloud. This allowed the Sapphire Sea to tow the Spanish galleon, with the Pirates capturing her! Given she was loaded with textiles (a valuable resource right now) and additional cargo, in any normal circumstance this would be a major deal and win for the Pirates. This was, however, arguably even for me the least normal turn EVER taken in a Pirates game…..

As you may have seen in the video, the Arcane herself rolled for her signature ability. “Once per turn, you may give this ship a move action, but do not move her. Instead, roll a d6. On a result of 6, you may place a Unique Treasure on any ship in your fleet.” First try of the entire round, and she got a 6. O_O

The Pirates brought in…

…

HIDDEN TROVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Xerecs’ Return of Davy Jones custom set:

Hidden Trove: Load this treasure face up, Hidden Trove is worth 2x the total number of ships in the game.

O_O

LOL!!!! Hidden Trove was placed on the Osiris, who naturally was already docked at the Pirate home island.

The report goes a bit out of order here… XD

Naturally it begs the question: how many ships are in play? Well, at the end of the Pirate play turn: 173. O_O

This means that Hidden Trove is worth 346 gold. O_O XD

But Wait, There’s More

😀 Of course there is!

The Pirates were not even CLOSE to being done yet! XD

As mentioned in the May 9th report, the Pirates have a mass surveillance program. They call it the “Global Surveillance Program”, or GSP (not to be confused with GMS). Think of it like the NSA. XD If you’ve got something and want to hide it, odds are the Pirates already know about it. I believe the Pirates know where every single face down UT on the map is. O_O They also know about most of the face down crew in play. This allows them to make focused decisions that do not rely on assumptions or wild predictions. They have also become extremely self-sufficient, not needing to bargain with other factions for intelligence purposes. The Pirates already knew about something they wanted… something that would combo perfectly with their new Hidden Trove….

The Leviathan was put into action!! In her first turn in play, The Leviathan (from vladsimpaler’s Treachery on the High Seas set) was immediately ready to show off how much of an asset she could be to the burgeoning Pirate fleet. With D movement, she was able to “fly” anywhere on the ocean at will. She got her orders to intercept a Dutch ship far from Pirate waters, off in the southwest. The Prins Willem carried Ivory, a custom UT created by the legendary Cadet-Captain Mike:

Ivory: When unloaded, this treasure is worth as much as the most valuable treasure coin currently on the ship.

O_O … You may see where this is going.

The Leviathan warped out to meet the Prins Willem, careful not to ram the ship and become pinned. She simply brushed ever so slightly up against the hull of the Dutch 3 master, and fired off a full broadside of 5 shots just for good measure, courtesy of Captain crew Gregory Rose (a custom by JW Darkhurst). All shots missed! However, blood was not what the Pirates were after. That laid elsewhere. The Prins Willem had 2 other UT’s aboard: Barrel o’ Monkeys (created by Woelf!!) and Letter of Marque.

Barrel o’ Monkeys: When this ship leaves a wild island, randomly choose one of her treasures and put it face down on that island. When this ship touches another ship, randomly choose one of this ship’s treasures and put it face down on the other ship; eliminate the treasure instead if the other ship’s cargo is full.

Emphasis added; the random part was where my Pirates needed some luck. I assigned Letter of Marque a 1-3 and Ivory a 4-6; sure enough, the d6 roll came up 6!! 😀 This put Ivory on The Leviathan!

With great haste she flew home, carefully landing to just barely touch the Osiris, who still hadn’t been given an action on the turn.

Now it was time for a true rarity: using SAT (Same Action Twice/Born Leader) to explore twice in a row. O_O I don’t know if I had ever done that in a game up until this point, but it was certainly the perfect time.

*** <a7xfanben> rolls White D6 -> [6] ***
<a7xfanben> – O_O Got Danvian Arrestelos’ SAT on the Osiris, which is suddenly key because both AA’s were already used

With SAT available, the Osiris used her first explore action to explore The Leviathan, taking Ivory. With her second explore action she targeted the home island, unloading both Hidden Trove AND Ivory at the same time!!!!!

Hidden Trove was worth 346 gold!! Ivory was worth the same amount as Hidden Trove!!

Suddenly the Pirates had a fortune on their home island!!!

692 GOLD!!!!!!!!!!

O_O XD

The Pirates also brought in a fair quantity of metals and textiles this turn, still the game’s 2 most valuable resources for now. This gave them an additional 58 gold, which would be a pretty good total for them under normal circumstances.

This left them with a grand total of….

750 GOLD.

O_O

Even in a campaign game, this is beyond belief….

Anticipating one of the biggest megalaunches in memory, Pirate ships immediately scattered away from the home island, with the Pirates desperate to make as much room at their launch points as possible. Get out of the way!! Make room, make room!! XD Despite needing more repairs, the Agnis Crystalis and Darkhawk II simply sail straight out away from the home island, with priority going to the new ships that will inevitably be launched in short order….

I almost never do bulk copy+paste of the module chat in actual battle reports, but this is one turn where I think it is fitting. 🙂

<a7xfanben> – HIDDEN TROVE HAS BEEN PLACED ON THE OSIRIS BY THE ARCANE.
<a7xfanben> – Load this treasure face up, Hidden Trove is worth 2x the total number of ships in the game.
<a7xfanben> – O_O
<a7xfanben> – !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<a7xfanben> – Its worth will be calculated….
<a7xfanben> – But first
<a7xfanben> – Time to try out the newest superweapon
<a7xfanben> – THE LEVIATHAN!!
<a7xfanben> – O_O
<a7xfanben> – Here’s hoping this works XD
<a7xfanben> – D movement
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
<a7xfanben> – (not her final location for this move)
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
* UNDO: * [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
<a7xfanben> – Placed alongside, touching but not ramming…
* **** Crew – Pirate (Gregory Rose) revealed by a7xfanben ****
<a7xfanben> – Gregory Rose: Captain. Eternal. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against English ships.

(shots miss lol)
<a7xfanben> – Now for the key, and maybe a little luck.
<a7xfanben> – Prins Willem has Barrel o’ Monkeys aboard.
<a7xfanben> – When this ship leaves a wild island, randomly choose one of her treasures and put it face down on that island. When this ship touches another ship, randomly choose one of this ship’s treasures and put it face down on the other ship; eliminate the treasure instead if the other ship’s cargo is full.
<a7xfanben> – From the Code: Barrel o’ Monkeys is not included in the random selection
<a7xfanben> – It comes down to Ivory and Letter of Marque.
<a7xfanben> – D6 roll: 1-3 Letter of Marque is transferred, 4-6 Ivory is transferred.
<a7xfanben> – Here goes
*** <a7xfanben> rolls White D6 -> [6] ***
<a7xfanben> – O_O
<a7xfanben> – Oh my god….
<a7xfanben> – This is absolutely staggering…
* Coin moves Ocean -> Player 1 Locker *
* Coin moves Player 1 Locker -> Ocean *
<a7xfanben> – Ivory goes to Leviathan
<a7xfanben> – Elizabeth’s Piece of Eight on the Jolly Mon to give The Leviathan another action!!
<a7xfanben> – Not pinned since no ram 🙂
<a7xfanben> – Bye
* Coin moves Ocean -> Player 1 Locker *
* [The Leviathan] moves Ocean -> Player 1 Locker *
<a7xfanben> – She knows just where to go…
* [The Leviathan] moves Player 1 Locker -> Ocean *
* Coin moves Player 1 Locker -> Ocean *
* Coin moved by a7xfanben*
* Coin moved by a7xfanben*
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
* [The Leviathan] moved by a7xfanben*
<a7xfanben> – Touching the Osiris
<a7xfanben> – O_O
<a7xfanben> – Her first action is to explore The Leviathan and take the Ivory
* Coin moved by a7xfanben*
<a7xfanben> – O_O
<a7xfanben> – Now her second action…
<a7xfanben> – Is used to explore the home island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<a7xfanben> – Hidden Trove: Load this treasure face up, Hidden Trove is worth 2x the total number of ships in the game.
<a7xfanben> – Ivory: When unloaded, this treasure is worth as much as the most valuable treasure coin currently on the ship.
* Coin moved by a7xfanben*
* Coin moved by a7xfanben*
<a7xfanben> – O_OOO_O_O_O_O_O_O_O
<a7xfanben> – LOLOLOLOL
<a7xfanben> – A MULTIPLIER!!!!!
<a7xfanben> – HIDDEN TROVE IS DOUBLED!!
<a7xfanben> – UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<a7xfanben> – (force lightning spews from eyes in all directions)
<a7xfanben> – The craziest part is… IT IS NOT OVER. Not for another faction………
<a7xfanben> – The Pirates have not even used their Runes of Thor this round.
<a7xfanben> – O_O
<a7xfanben> – Someone else eagerly awaits….
<a7xfanben> – All shall perish.

Things have gotten a bit strange in Pirate waters. Multiple damaged ships are almost stranded in between the two launch points of the Pirate HI and their military port, with orders not to dock at either given the mass influx of valuable new ships about to enter play. At the bottom left the Giza tries to row away from the island at an angle that will allow the maximum number of ships to be docked at the port by the end of the overall Pirate turn. The Triton’s Fury could have docked and loaded textiles but simply doesn’t. At the bottom right, 3 Pirate gunships are headed in the direction of the whirlpool created by the Tempest.

Round earthing to the other side of the Pirate home island, the Amity has unloaded 3 gold at the metals island to build Plumb Point Lighthouse!

At the end of their turn the Pirates followed through with their plan to build a fort on an Archipelago island. They built my custom Skull Valley fort, which has Extended Range. (The fort shuts down resource production on the island; this snapshot was taken before I removed the textiles token or added the 5 gold cost of the fort)

A true pirate stronghold, the Skull Valley is located on an undisclosed and unnamed island either in the Caribbean or the Pacific, depending on who you talk to. More of a town than a fortress, the valley is inside hilly terrain that prevents enemies from getting a clear look at their target. Massive mortars and a huge cache of old Spanish culverins provide ample firepower over the hills. [Ironically fitting flavor text given that the Spanish were just here and had explored that island]

Then it was time for the launch period. The Pirates had 750 gold at their disposal, more than any fleet I’ve controlled with the exception of the English in CG1. With near-unlimited options…

The Pirates spent… ALL OF IT. O_O

I didn’t know if it would be possible with just 2 launch points, but it was. The Pirates spent 750 gold in one turn, eclipsing my personal record of 628 that the English spent in CG1. 50 of it was spent on a military port upgrade, with most of the rest of it going to ships and crew of course.

The Pirates are putting Catapults (custom equipment from Xerecs’ Spherus Magna set) on their textiles island to fortify it even more (12 “island cannons” between those and the 8 3S’s from the MP). The Catapults are manned by new oarsmen. The Catapults are 3L+L cannons that can fire from only one point on the island.

The Pirates completed their fleet of 10 masters, launching the last 2 that I am aware of. Both customs of mine: the Slave Revolt and Hera. Despite the massive costs, both 10 masters actually needed “reducer” crew to make their mammoth setups work. The Slave Revolt has The Stump aboard to allow (I think) 37 points of crew to fit onto the 31 point ship. The Hera is even more extreme – Jonah had to be hired in order to fit (I think) 38 points of crew onto the 23 point ship. O_O Helping out the Slave Revolt’s poor speed was Woelf’s custom Streamlined Hull equipment, which shows up on a handful of the ships I launched this turn:

We have house ruled it to 3 points for CG4 due to the no ram damage house rule and after feedback from Woelf himself. This comes from Woelf’s Treasure Trove of Fenrir equipment set, and not the last of it you’ll see….

As ships potentially get into combat and some face down crew are eventually revealed, I hope to talk more about the crew setups on some of the ships. For now my fellow players (Xerecs and PirateAJ14) can gawk at the epicness of what is not face down (unless they have spyers of course to look at face down crew/cargo!). 🙂 I listened to Dawn of the Villains while the Pirates were launching.

From the following picture you can see that both 10’s were launched from the military port south of the Pirate HI; starting above the Giza (derelict galley) and going anti/counterclockwise from that ship, the Pirates launched (custom creator in parentheses): Deceit (Riz), Shark (mr_awesome/JuliusPepperwood), Howler (the_grandmaster/PointlessArrow), Coleoptera, Fantasia, Chasseur (vladsimpaler), Karda-Nui (JW Darkhurst), Scepter, Challenger (JW Darkhurst), Silent (mr_awesome/JuliusPepperwood). 😀

The Pirates are putting together a certain type of squadron… however, it involves so many game pieces and parts that it is not currently possible to put it in the water all at once. It will be more of an intermediate-term assembly of various things. You can see that the Pirates are massing some 10 masters; the Zeus and Hera are thematically and practically the perfect “pair”, while the Slave Revolt has some truly terrifying combos aboard. There is also a theme of submarines and cheerleaders….

But wait, there’s more! From the northern half of their home island, the Pirates launched two ships, both created by Xerecs: the Inferno and Shadow Thief. In the deckplate area you can see 7 of the new ships’ cards; the Slave Revolt is absolutely loaded.

Another 10 new ships were introduced at the southern half of the Pirate HI. Docked at the island, clockwise from lower left with custom creator name (if applicable) in parentheses: Smiling Jim, Albatross (El_Cazador), Wretched (Avery), Gale Force Nine, Turbulence+Divination+La Mosca (all by mr_awesome/JuliusPepperwood), Coastal Ranger (JW Darkhurst), Stormy Night (A7XfanBen). You can also see more of the Pirate deckplate area, which is quickly expanding and looking rather impressive.

Nearly every ship the Pirates launched is maxed out in some way – either her point cap space has been filled (14 points of crew/equipment on a 14 point ship), or her cargo hold is full. With the overstuffed 10 masters adding an excess +~21 points of crew, it’s possible (but unlikely) that I actually spent more gold on crew and equipment than ships this turn. O_O The Pirates are trying to optimize every build from the point of launch so ships don’t have to go back into port to pick up new crew/equipment they could have had the first time out. Plus, it helped to spend all the gold the Pirates took in, which was a fun goal to achieve. There are a few logistics ships in the mix, such as the Silent – carrying extra crew to replenish those who might be in need of them in the future.

In order to expedite the completion of a short-term plan, the Pirates also launched a new set of native canoes from the middle Archipelago island. These are the ones from RtSS that have the home island raiding ability built in. How crazy that 2 turns ago this area was dominated by peaceful Spaniards, with 10 of their canoes here. Now it is Pirates-only, with 10 of their canoes instead. With a 10 master and a new fort to boot!

The Pirates launched 25 total ships – 12 from their home island, 12 from their military port on the textiles island south of their home island, and RtSS native canoes at the middle Archipelago island. This left the game at 198 total ships in play….

The Pirates didn’t even need to use Runes of Thor! Or maybe… they didn’t want to….

Whew. Of course there’s MORE! That was only one of my four factions!! 😀

Now it was time for The Cursed. The Devil’s Storm came out of the fog bank she was in to shoot at the Boston! She shot 3/4 to nearly dismast the schooner. Although the fleeing Americans had lost their brief skirmish against The Cursed, the Devil’s Storm was all alone with no backup. It would be very easy for the Bonhomme Richard to blast the Devil’s Storm on the American turn.

However, there was a reason for the Cursed aggressiveness and confidence… a good reason indeed….

The Opal Shrine uses the Eye of Insanity to copy Davy Jones on the Cursed home island to her oarsman, which is used to copy the Arcane’s ability!! A 6 is rolled!!!!!!!!!

O_O

TIME TO BRING IN ANOTHER HIDDEN TROVE!!!!!!!!!

Hidden Trove was yanked into the game again, this time placed on the Maman Brigitte, fittingly one of the most hated ships in the game. She was a move action away from the home island, docking home to unload textiles and Hidden Trove.

198 ships in play x2= 396 gold for The Cursed!!

Combined with 1 gold on their HI and 30 from converted textiles…

427 GOLD. O_O

Here we go again!! Time to megalaunch!! 😀

The Cursed have a vastly different situation than the Pirates. The Pirates have been the “favorites” (in quotes because there’s been almost no combat and I believe it to still be early in the game) for a while, but The Cursed had only 8 ships in play going into this turn. Their small fleet was struggling to grow quickly. Hidden Trove would change all that.

However, the Cursed went straight to the top. Straight to the top of the customs hierarchy if you will, to the top of the heap. To something horrific and awesome at the same time. A superweapon of epic proportions…

CHIMERATRON LEGACY!!!!!!!!!

Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 90
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 12
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2S-2S-3L-3L-3L-3L-3L-3L-2S-2S
Ability: Junk. Eternal. Turbine. Sniping.* Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship gets +1 to her equipment rolls. This ship must be assigned at least 7 crew at the start of play.
Link: Any 1 10+ point Cursed named crew, (and) Aliktoril Bellen

*Sniping: You may double the range of this ship’s cannons each turn, but you must roll a 6 to hit.

Flavor text: Filled to the brim, with a ludicrously massive cargo hold, technical innovations aplenty, and well over a thousand fiends to defend her, this ship is the best of all worlds. No one knows where the ship came from, or if it was built in a visible shipyard somewhere in the world. The ship is said to be the heaviest afloat, with huge amounts of metal aboard given the technological aspects that seem to indicate that the Cursed are growing at a faster rate than even the English. With enough gunpowder to supply an entire small fleet, and some steel plating on her hull, the vessel could be the first truly “unsinkable” ship. Although her crew is made up of demons and fiends, the despicable and vicious Aliktoril Bellen has come aboard to provide a steadying hand. He plans to drive the ship to unparalleled heights of power as the Cursed machine of death revs up for a grand campaign of terror that will end human existence.

“God mode 10 master with defenses”; End of All Things

O_O XD

We are entering new territory now, sailing into new waters. The CL comes loaded like no other ship in the history of the game… but first, a look at the glorious deckplate:

A familiar theme began playing….

Now for the elaborate setup that took probably at least an hour (maybe two) to come up with and actually put in the game file:

If you don’t want to look up all the customs, here’s a summary: a 10 master that can move S+S+L+S with Captain, all rank-1 cannons (effectively) that have Extended Range and two extra 4L+L’s from the bow, super-Nemo capture, Commander Temple steal-a-ship ability, “global” Possession of cheapish crew, L-board, Sac, the potential to board up to 3 enemy ships in a turn without ramming, stinkpot shot, and more. This is a doomsday superweapon that comes with a full loadout price tag of 180 gold. 180 points!! O_O

The CL is optimized for maximum efficiency. As soon as she starts capturing crew via boarding parties and Captain Shamshere’s super-Nemo capture, she can start sacrificing them to Isaiah Van Tyne for extra actions. If they run out, Makuta can provide fodder from afar. The ship may have unparalleled striking range, likely to eventually be greater than even HMS Swallow with Power Cannons and extra actions, a combo seen in the English fleet of CG1 fame. The CL will not be operating without support….

Her speed may be aided by the Python, who carries First Mate Hamlet, a custom from the_grandmaster/PointlessArrow and his epic Back to War custom set: If a sea monster or ship begins its turn within L of this ship, it gets +L to its base move. Adding to the insanity is the classic Cursed support ship Celestine and her linked crew Master Scribe. Between them The Cursed may be able to place 2 trade currents per turn with some luck. In addition, Barst is now in play, a Lord Mycron clone created by Xerecs and placed onto my custom Tomb of Lucifer turtle ship. Between the bonuses and a guaranteed extra action (whether from Barst or eventually Sac), the Chimeratron Legacy should be able to move up to S+S+L+S+L x2 +S in one turn. O_O Python + CL will be moving at “WARP MACH SPEED”. Another theme plays…

You would think that The Cursed would want to keep such a powerful thing a secret. However, with such a massive price tag and ludicrous crew+equipment loadout, I decided to just put it all out there, at least with this setup. The ship alone is a massively intimidating presence on the water. The Cursed are basically letting everyone know that they mean serious business and are not to be trifled with. Mess with them, and you may just see the Legacy on your doorstep moments later. This is why the Devil’s Storm felt so confident going after the Americans. If she gets attacked, there is at least a chance that the CL will be able to reach the combat area next turn. Besides, if the Cursed lose the longship, it’s not a big deal because they are almost literally swimming in gold. XD

The Cursed saw the potential of the Arcane last turn with the Pirates’ exploits, which is why they rushed to hire Davy Jones. They made sure they could copy the ability as soon as possible and yank in the Trove for a massive windfall that would allow them to simultaneously beat off a possible American attack in the future, and also begin to finally put their MANY plans into place via launching and logistical efforts. For the CL was just the beginning!

I listened to Soundtrack For a Supervillain for most of the rest of the Cursed launch period. The Cursed launched the Solenostomus as well, one of my newest customs and based on nature. Uh… she is carrying a fort upgrade…. ?!

The Cursed have launched one of my favorite and oldest customs: the movie version of the Flying Dutchman!

Flying Dutchman
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 30
Number of Masts: 5
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 2L-2S-2S-2S-2L
Ability: Broadsides Attack. Fear. At the beginning of each of your turns, determine whether or not this ship is submerged. If she is submerged, her base move becomes S+L, and she may be given only move actions. She has to surface to shoot, repair, dock, and explore. While she is submerged, she cannot shot or be shot at, pin or be pinned, ram or be rammed, and tow or be towed. Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 6, you may place a unique treasure (that can be loaded) from outside the game on an enemy ship. Bow Chasers equipment does not take up cargo space on this ship.
Link: Davy Jones

The FD carries some crew, including customs Wendigo (Fear+Canceller; from Cadet-Captain Mike) and Guardian Corps (Crew Protect; from El_Cazador).

However, Davy Jones was not boarding the Dutchman… he was boarding… the Pantheon!!

Pantheon
Type: Ship
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: LE
Point Value: 40
Number of Masts: 10
Cargo Space: 8
Base Move: S
Cannons: 4S-4S-4L-4L-4L-3S-3S-2L-3S-3S
Ability: Junk. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn as long as she has all of her masts. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against forts within S of her. When this ship reaches her cargo limit, she gets +1 to her cannon rolls. If this ship’s point limit is reached by her assigned cargo, she gets +1 to her boarding rolls. If this ship is assigned at least 3 Cursed crew that cost at least 10 points each, she gets +1 to her d6 rolls.

Flavor text: There have been so many powerful Cursed officers joining the ranks that Xenthalos doesn’t always have a ship to assign them to. The Pantheon was raised from the depths of an ancient underwater Cursed city to house all manner of powerful creatures. The ship excels when crewed with great leaders, with near-certain doom befalling her enemies when fully optimized. The ship’s original constructors took the fore and after “castles” to new heights, with top-heavy stonework at the bow and stern of the ship slowing her down but making her a monster in close-quarters combat.

The Pantheon loaded up on some crew, and it was already over! Having spent an ungodly amount of gold on just a few ships and various extremely expensive crew, The Cursed were out of gold! They had spent all 427 of it on just 7 ships and the fort upgrade! O_O (even minus the fort upgrade cost of 40 gold, this comes out to a sickening 55 points per ship; 387/7)

The haul with new ships clockwise from right: Chimeratron Legacy, Solenostomus, Flying Dutchman, Celestine, Pantheon, Tomb of Lucifer, Python.

Now it was time for the Vikings. They too saw the Arcane stuff get crazy last turn. And guess what: they too have a copier!! O_O Jord from Pirates of the Kraken Sea! (created by mr_awesome/JuliusPepperwood)

Jord and Shayna Deux were hired last turn and are currently aboard the Asgard, Shayna’s ship. Although the Vikings didn’t get as lucky as the Pirates or Cursed, they look forward to using the Copier ability again next turn. The Pirate GSP/NSA did not see Jord, as she was just put in play and the Pirates weren’t looking at Viking crew this round. (The Cursed have Shipping Charts but have been using it to spy on the Americans) As a result, this is an unexpected twist that may anger both the Pirates and The Cursed. The Vikings did bring in 12 gold on their turn, combining it with 6 saved to launch the Noble Glacier, a custom icebreaker of mine from Epic Seas.

The Barbary Corsairs got home some valuable textiles and used it to launch 2 custom ships – one of mine and one from the_grandmaster’s Back to War. I purposely made this a wide shot to show the dire situation the Corsairs find themselves in… two Pirate 5 masters are just off their west coast, with the megalaunch from the military port not far off in the distance. At the lower right you can see the English have made some solid launching progress lately.

As my 4 faction turns came to a close, The Cursed had not quite yet had their fill. They made a grand announcement to ALL players and factions in the game, a “general announcement” of sorts:

(please do not be offended, this is a game and The Cursed being The Cursed)

THE CURSED ARE THREATENING TO BRING THE CORONAVIRUS INTO THE GAME.

O_O

(This is meant to shock but not offend. I am not trying to make light of the actual virus and how devastating it has been. It is an analogy given what’s happening in real life and how the Cursed are the supreme evil in Pirates CSG. Not meant to offend anyone.)

Obviously this doesn’t make much sense as the game is theoretically taking place in the Age of Sail long before the recent discovery of the virus (maybe The Cursed can see into the future?), but there it is.

The Cursed have made a global biological terror threat. O_O This is a bad day. And we thought 2020 couldn’t get worse! :/ It remains to be seen if this general threat is directed at the Americans, who are (as far as “we” know?) the only faction to have specifically annoyed The Cursed thus far in the game. It will certainly be interesting to see if The Cursed are serious about this, or if it is more of a bluff. Serious thought went into the massive, offensive threat. The Cursed considered not making it, but are determined to make other factions “play ball” their way and not do stupid things. If The Cursed are angry enough, they might release biological or chemical agents of terror into the game.

(sorry if I have “gone too far”; my passion for Pirates campaign games is intense and I have been very immersed in my turns for the game this year – it is the perfect escape from everything else)

From my notes:

After Cursed launch 7 ships, it makes for 205 total ships in play.
Increased to 207 total after Vikings and Corsairs launch one ship each.
-From Pirate launch of 25 ships, this netted the Cursed an extra 50 gold!
Total gold spent this turn between my four factions: 1,236!!!! (Pirates: 750, Cursed: 427, Vikings: 18, Corsairs: 41)
-Total income: 1223 gold
34 ships launched (Pirates: 25, Cursed: 7, Vikings: 1, Corsairs: 1). This rounds up to a 20% increase in one round (34/173=19.65%).
-Will have to do a point count this year to top CG1 as the biggest overall virtual CG ever!

The 1,236 total gold spent in one round may be my highest total ever; realistically only Command the Oceans could be higher.

Throughout the turn I was stunned and in disbelief. All previous standards have been completely shattered. If the game was an egg that the Pirates had been poking holes in with a fork, as of this weekend they have obliterated the egg with a massive sledgehammer.

It’s almost like the game has been broken into a thousand pieces, or; a thousand gold pieces that have gloriously fallen into Pirate and Cursed coffers.

The Pirates are trying to create “closed loop systems” of ultimate efficiency. That way, the beast feeds itself. Each combo feeds into the next so that abilities and UT’s aren’t wasted. Every time Hidden Trove is brought into the game and used to launch ships, it makes the next Hidden Trove windfall payout even bigger. You can already see this happening – the Pirates’ Hidden Trove was worth 346 gold, but now with 207 ships in play, the next Trove will be worth at least 414 gold – an increase of 68 gold, enough to launch a fully loaded 10 master. Or better yet, perhaps 7 ships that make the next Trove worth 14 more gold than the last. XD The beast feeds itself!!

I am topping even my prior VASSAL campaign game efforts now. I am arguably putting more effort into the game than I need to, simply because I LOVE it so much. I love optimizing fleets, strategy and epicness in campaign games above almost all else.
Compounding Combos. I love how none of this is my fault. The game pieces involved are basically not mine at all. Arcane, Hidden Trove, The Leviathan, Ivory – none of the absolutely key customs used to pull off this insanity came from me. XD

From the report prior to this one:

In time, it could become surreal and bizarre unlike anything anyone has ever seen in Pirates CSG.

Yes, yes indeed. XD 😀 And this “part” is still in the very early stages…

Finally, a view of the huge ocean. 1,236 additional points worth of stuff is in play, though a huge percentage of that is concentrated in the deckplate areas. Four new 10 masters in play!

Thanks for reading! Please consider leaving a comment below with your thoughts! What did you think of my turns? What was the craziest part? Who are you rooting for? What do you think will happen next?? 😀

Proxy War! 3 Fleets at 80 Points on November 1st, 2015

Posted on June 28, 2019June 28, 2019 by Ben

Well, I’ve gone crazy with unreleased stuff again, but this time everything was from either Return to Savage Shores, one item from Pirates of the Age of Sail, and The Vengeance of the Cadet Captain (reminiscent of Economy Edition).

Using unreleased and custom game pieces may become somewhat common, so please give me feedback on how you like the “fleets” area where I detail what is in each fleet. Would you rather have the fleets listed with everything in a small space first, and then list the details of each piece below, OR just like I’m doing here and have the information on each game piece within the specific fleet section? There’s also the option of doing it the way it is here, but with fleet titles (ex: English, Fleet 1, etc.) bigger in size so it’s easier to differentiate between each fleet and the associated parts of it.

(Warning: the sheer amount of new stuff you may not be aware of can make this a somewhat challenging or chaotic battle report, and I put a lot of effort into all of the different aspects of these types of reports. I feel like a link wizard or something! Lastly, any advice on how to improve is always appreciated, though I like how I do things now.)

It was an 80 point game with 3 fleets, sailing in this order:

Spanish:
Rocinante + Sebastian Rojo, captain, helmsman, oarsman x3
Babieca + Antonio de Silva (RtSS), Dominic Freda, helmsman
San Martin + Luis Zuan, helmsman, explorer

Rocinante
RtSS-005, Rare
Spanish
Points: 18
Masts: 3 (Hoist)
Cargo: 7
Move: S+S
Cannons: 4S-4S-4S
Ability: Hoist. Secret Hold. This ship can’t be pinned.

Flavor: The heroic vessel Rocinante launched from Spain amid a roar of applause. The hopes and dreams of a new age of Spanish glory go with her.

Sebastián Rojo
RtSS-027b, Common
Spanish
Points: 9
Ability: Marine. Once per turn, you can eliminate one of this ship’s crew to give her an extra action.

Flavor: Rojo’s past is steeped in blood. An expert at dealing with natives and policing those disloyal to Spain, Rojo has dedicated himself to ensure that the conquest of the South Pacific is successful.

Babieca
RtSS-050, Special Edition
Spanish
Points: 13
Masts: 3 (Windcatcher)
Cargo: 5
Move: L
Cannons: 3L-2S-3L
Ability: Windcatcher. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn as long as she has all of her masts.

Flavor: Named in honor of the warhorse of the legendary Spanish hero, El Cid, the Babieca displays strength and stamina in combat fitting of her namesake.

Commandante Antonio de Silva
RtSS-011, Rare
Spanish
Points: 6
Ability: Captain. Musketeer.

Flavor: Still devoted to protecting the interests of the Crown, De Silva fights to forge a new era of prosperity for Spain.

San Martin
PotAoS – Limited Edition
Spanish
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 5
Move: L
Cannons: 3S-2S-2S-3S
Ability: Cannoneer. This ship’s base move becomes S if she reaches her cargo limit.

Pirates:
Cuerno de la Cabra + Cursed Captain Barbossa, Capitaine Chevalle, helmsman
Hispaniola + captain
Sea King + Bartholomew Roberts, oarsman
Centurion + Thomas Tew, helmsman
Beast’s Belly + helmsman

Cuerno de la Cabra
RtSS-023, Common
Pirate
Points: 11
Masts: 2 (Junk)
Cargo: 3
Move: L
Cannons: 2L-2L
Ability: Junk. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts.

Flavor: Arrogant sailors of every nation have mistaken the small size of the “Goat’s Horn” for weakness—and their pockets have paid dearly for it.

Hispaniola
VotCC #015, Uncommon
Pirate
Points: 8
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Move: S+L
Cannons: 3S-3L-3S
Ability: Explorer.

Sea King
VotCC #014, Uncommon
Pirate
Points: 14
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Move: S+L
Cannons: 2S-3L-3L-2S
Ability: If this ship wins a boarding party, it can take as much treasure as it can carry. (Hoarding Gold)

Bartholomew Roberts
VotCC #020, Rare
Pirate
Points: 5
Ability: Captain. Cannoneer.

Americans:
Mongrel + Joshua Humphreys, explorer
Paul Revere + Commodore Peregrine Stern, Wayne Nolan, helmsman, firepot specialist
Providence + Huang Bai (I once again forgot about the Ex-Patriot keyword), helmsman, oarsmen x3
USS Valley Forge + captain, helmsman

Mongrel
RtSS-021, Common
American
Points: 13
Masts: 3 (Junk)
Cargo: 4
Move: S+S
Cannons: 2S-3L-2S
Ability: Junk. If this ship is within S of a friendly ship when this ship is given a move action, she gets +S to her base move.

Flavor: She’s no beauty, but the Mongrel has a lot more to offer than the pretty faces of her crew. She is frequently set upon enemy vessels to ensure safe passage.

Joshua Humphreys
VotCC #066B, Common
American
Points: 3
Ability: This ship gets +L to its base move if no Helmsman crew are aboard.

Huang Bai
RtSS-051, Limited Edition
Mercenary
Points: 5
Ability: Ex-Patriot. Hostile: Spain. Once per turn, you can eliminate one of this ship’s crew to give her an extra action. After looking at treasure on a wild island, you can trade any one treasure from that island for a random treasure on any other wild island. This ship must load the traded treasure.

Flavor: Unwilling to cede the end of the Jade Empire, Huang Bai nonetheless realizes the need to pause and rebuild—as a mercenary. His first customer, America, is eager to pit him and “Golden Axe” against the expanding Spanish empire.

Now that the pieces are out of the way, onto the game!

The setup featured all three home islands close together at one end, with a big wild island with three separate beaches at the other end. The island was completely surrounded by reefs and, on the far side, icebergs that wouldn’t move. Each beach held 7 coins, and 5 UT’s were included as well. 10 preselected UT’s were mixed around, and 5 were randomly chosen to be in the game.

The Spanish are at the bottom right, with the Pirates in the middle and the Americans up top.

Proxies: Buscador=Rocinante, Mystic=Babieca, Matthias Vospero=San Martin, Ranger=Sea King, Kin Tai Fong=Cuerno de la Cabra, Nancy Nox=Hispaniola, Sea Wind=Mongrel.

The Rocinante used the sac-marine Sebastian Rojo to jump out ahead of the rest of the Spanish fleet. The Pirates purposely created a fleet where every ship would move L+S, planning to stay in a wolf pack. The Americans also had major speed, with the Paul Revere and Providence capable of extra actions at S+L+S, and the Mongrel moving S+S+S+L between her ability and Humphreys (one of the fastest ships to sail without a helmsman).

With the Spanish going first, it surprised no captain that the Rocinante was the first to reach the island. She passed over the reefs without harm, but only took one treasure from the nearest beach.

The Mongrel was the second ship to reach the reefs, as the Paul Revere maneuvered to guard the American gold ships.

The Rocinante explored another beach, and was more satisfied with this hoard than the last one: she took a 5, a 2, Exploding Shot via Ammunition, and Claw Cannon. The hoist now had some good UT’s in addition to the marine and captain abilities, making her an intriguing and diverse offensive threat (she’s also a good gold raider ship with her secondary abilities of Secret Hold and not being pinned). This put a target on her back.

Up to this point, the fleets hadn’t shot at each other despite the close quarters race to the island. Predictably, the game started to devolve into chaos (one of my favorite phrases!).

Basically, Stern on board the Paul Revere got bored and wanted to put his S+L+S x2 speed to good use. The Rocinante was the only enemy ship with gold, so the Paul Revere sped over the reef (losing a mast) and attacked! Her remaining guns rang true with the help of Wayne Nolan, and the Rocinante was reduced to a burning hulk, losing her final oarsman in the S-board as well.

In the meantime, the Mongrel was busy grabbing a coin and a Castaway captain from the last unexplored beach, as the Providence sailed over a reef. She was undamaged, but the Hispaniola wasn’t so lucky. The Pirate ship lost two masts on a 1, and then was dismasted by the Paul Revere’s first action as the PR sped over to the Rocinante.

The Spanish were quick to exact revenge on the Americans, with the combined might of Rojo, Babieca and San Martin sinking the Paul Revere. This was evidently going to turn into a bloody game, possibly even more brutal than the last one.

As the Pirates made their way onto the reefs, the Cuerno de la Cabra (Cuerno) began towing the Hispaniola, who was the only true Pirate gold runner. However, they had a flexible fleet with cargo spaces open on all their ships, so they weren’t going to let the reef stop them.

The Mongrel headed for home as the Providence docked and explored the nearest beach with an extra action from Huang Bai. The Valley Forge rolled an unlucky 1 to lose a mast.

The Babieca was the next ship to lose a mast to a reef, but the Spanish had a good turn, with the Rocinante hoisting crew and gold all over the place. When it was all over, the beach was empty, with gold on each of the three Spanish ships (most on the Babieca and San Martin now that the Rocinante was derelict). The hoist was able to move into position with her oarsman and helmsman, and then transferred the Exploding Shot and Claw Cannon to the Babieca. There was also a small crew transfer – I believe the Rocinante took the San Martin’s explorer, but there may have been an additional swap. Either way, Rojo knew that his best place was on the Rocinante with no gold left to protect on the beach and a derelict hoist to row home.

Then the Pirates attacked! The Sea King went a perfect 4/4 to dismast the Providence, and then used her ability to rob the ship of both her coins! To make matters worse for the Americans, the Centurion and Beast’s Belly docked at the same beach and planned to explore on the next turn. However, the Americans had a sudden realization!

The Mongrel had already explored the other beach, so the Americans knew what treasures were there. The Providence used one of her oarsmen and her helmsman to limp over and dock at the beach. For the first time in a long time (possibly the first time ever), Trees was used to great effect!! (usually it just sits face down on the island the whole game)

With a fully repaired Providence (who also took aboard a few more coins to replace those she had lost to the Sea King), the Americans were back in the running! (sailing?)

With great trepidation, the Rocinante sailed over a reef… and rolled a 4! (I’ve become slightly obsessed with wrecks if you couldn’t already tell from the last few games)

Now all three fleets had some ships going home. The Pirates weren’t playing nice, and the Sea King dismasted the Providence once again!

The Sea King also took another coin from the Providence, who turned around and headed back to the beach. There were no Trees to help her, but she did find Screw Engine in addition to picking up a coin to fill her hold. The Valley Forge tried to guard her and took a mast off the Sea King.

Ships continued to take a beating. The Providence headed home, but rolled a 2 on a reef, and finally, at long last, there was a wreck in one of my games! In the meantime, the Centurion dismasted the Valley Forge but lost a mast herself to a different reef.

With gold still on the Providence, the Mongrel immediately headed back out.

As the Mongrel sped out, she couldn’t resist taking some revenge on the Pirates, making the Centurion derelict. You can see the Pirates have a slight edge over the Spanish in the race for home (including the Cuerno and Hispaniola), which would make things very interesting in the near future. The Cuerno has finally docked home the Hispaniola.

You can see the ocean littered with masts:

The Sea King battered the San Martin, and the Hispaniola and Cuerno de la Cabra moved into position. However, none of their combined 3 guns could hit! Barbossa’s Fear slowed the Babieca, but she was too close to her HI for it to matter.

The Beast’s Belly turned around to tow the Centurion, as the Mongrel approached the wreck of the Providence.

The Spanish docked the Babieca first, who successfully hit twice to land an exploding shot on the durable Cuerno. Following her lead, the San Martin docked and dismasted the Hispaniola. The Spanish had accomplished their plan of getting their gold home, as the Rocinante had purposely only kept a 1 earlier in the game knowing she was going to be the last ship to get home.

Nothing like some late-game excitement!

The Mongrel explored the wrecked Providence, and considered her options. After a shuffle, her hold was full with crew and gold. The Cuerno planned to sink the Rocinante, but was foiled by the spreading fire.

The Rocinante docked home, and the Mongrel used Huang Bai to sink the Centurion!

At this point the Pirates had unloaded their gold, and it was accepted that the final 1 left on a beach wasn’t worth fighting over.

Spanish: 11 gold
Pirates: 8
Americans: 6

This was a fun game (truly a “proxy war”) that saw many great new pieces introduced. I liked all of them!

Halloween Game – 4 Fleets at 60 Points on October 31st, 2015

Posted on June 27, 2019June 27, 2019 by Ben

This game was interesting. I wanted to play a game on Halloween, and naturally the Cursed were involved. It turned out to be a oddly brutal game… there was a strange sense of hostility present throughout. The setup didn’t turn out quite as well as I hoped, but it was still a memorable game.

All custom pieces courtesy of el_cazador. He’s working on a huge custom set right now, which looks quite interesting.

4 fleets at 60 points each, going in this order:

(all Wizkids game pieces can be found in the Master Spreadsheet)

Mercenaries:
Tenfold + Zedekiah, helmsman
Fathom + Herr Fuchs, helmsman, shipwright
Hare’s Luck + helmsman, explorer

Tenfold
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 18
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L,3S,3S
Link: Zedekiah
Mercenary, Hostile: Caesar, Hoist, Turbine. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.

Flavor: Zedekiah’s ironclad ship has been in the employ of several nations, most recently the French. His hope is to repurchase the ancient land of the Jews with the lucrative profits he makes from shipping. As he is fond of saying, if you hire him, your investment will repay tenfold.

(The Buscador is the proxy for the Tenfold.)

Zedekiah
Type: Crew
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 6
Link: Tenfold
Ex-Patriot, Hostile: Barbary Corsairs, Cursed, Pirate, Viking; Captain. One of this ship’s treasures is worth +2 gold when unloaded at your home island.

Flavor: Zedekiah has had run-ins with all the worst on the seas yet always comes out ahead. He captains his ship well but prefers to play the tunes of his people on his clarinet.

Cursed:
Nightmare + captain, shipwright, double shot
Silver Coffin
Maman Brigitte + helmsman, explorer
Tsuro

French:
L’Aube + captain, helmsman, fire shot, grapple shot
Le Pluton + helmsman, explorer
Le Rochefort + Princess Arii Auraa, chieftain, navigator
French Native Canoes

Canots Indigènes
Nation: France
Points: X (13)
Masts: X
Cargo: 1 (x5)
Move: S+S
Cannon: 3L (x5)
Link: None
Native Canoes, Captain

Flavor: The natives of Indonesia have been trained in the art of war by French capitaines, and they pursue the monsters of the deep.

Chef de Tribu
Nation: France
Points: 13
Link: None
Tribal Chieftain
Before you give any of this chieftain’s canoes an action, roll a d6. On a 5-6 they may shoot at submerged ships.

Flavor: This chieftain’s men have had contact with the Monster Hunter’s guild.

(The Cursed native canoes represent the French ones.)

English:
Maui’s Fishhook + Captain Percival Blake, Commodore Rhys Gryffin Owen, Professor Clive Defoe, helmsman
HMS Interceptor + Thomas Gunn, explorer

The Mercenaries were using a brand-new hoist, which featured a rather grand set of abilities and combos. Their support ships were capable of running a little bit of gold, though Herr Fuchs would have the Fathom keep a close watch on the Tenfold.

The Cursed looked slow but intimidating, with 16 total cannons available. Typical of their fleets, they also had some fun abilities at their disposal.

The French looked ready for battle, with some interesting new canoes in addition to their 5 masted flagship. Le Pluton’s size and guns only added to their heavy armament, while the Rochefort was playing the character of Le Coeur du Lion.

The English only had two ships, but they included a decked-out Maui’s Fishhook and the speedy and versatile Interceptor.

The setup was somewhat intricate, and in hindsight perhaps overthought. It featured 6 mysterious islands with 4 coins each, and two shipwrecks with 6 coins each. The sea was littered with reefs, and fog only made things even more dangerous. There were all sorts of fun treasures to be found!

(I forgot to put the Merc ships S away from their home island.)

The Tenfold started the game by hoisting some treasure into her cavernous cargo hold, and with a +2 bonus from her linked crew, looked to be perhaps the best Mercenary treasure runner of them all.

However, the Cursed had other plans. Tsuro started off their game with a 6, and the new Mercenary hoist was immediately thrown onto a nearby reef by the Cursed’s powers, though she wasn’t damaged. On Halloween, the Cursed wanted to feast on human flesh rather than candy.

All the fleets spread out, with the MF (Maui’s Fishhook) able to grab a coin with her own hoist crane.

The Tenfold was quickly back with a big load of gold, and her hoist arm meant she was the Mercs’ only hope of winning the game. The Fathom surfaced to dock, and you can just make out the Hare’s Luck at the upper left successfully exploring one of the shipwrecks.

On the second turn, Tsuro continued its devious ways, moving the Tenfold back onto a reef! This time the Tenfold lost a mast, and the Cursed’s strategy was working so far. They knew it would be difficult to catch and dismast the Tenfold just by shooting, so instead they used reefs to bypass her defenses.

However, the Cursed would soon see a change in their luck, as the Maman Brigitte found Enemy of the State and Albatross! The Nightmare turned around to take the Enemy of the State UT so the Brigitte could dock, but the Cursed were off to a typically slow gold running start.

In the meantime, HMS Interceptor found Barrel o’ Monkeys, so the randomly selected UT’s weren’t making things fun so far! This and the rising tension made for a somewhat nasty game.

The French were running into their own problems, with the Pluton losing the maximum 3 masts after she sailed over the reef that held the infamous Duke shipwreck!

The Tenfold now used her hoist arm to grab the treasure from the Fathom. She also had Letter of Marque aboard, which would help her repair if she got into trouble.

Thanks to the Cursed, trouble found her very quickly, as Tsuro rolled yet another 5/6! This time the Tenfold really felt it, as a 1 knocked out both of her remaining masts. The reef was wearing away her defenses, and Zedekiah signalled the Fathom to come to her assistance.

The Cursed ships pair up, with the Nightmare taking Enemy of the State so the Maman Brigitte can dock on the next turn.

Unable to move, the Tenfold again survived, with the Fathom coming into the range of her hoist arm. The Tenfold plucked out the Merc shipwright stationed on the Fathom, and soon her mainmast was repaired. The Hare’s Luck eagerly awaited the Tenfold to do a gold transfer. To the right, the Pluton limps home with some good gold.

Some French canoes are back with gold, but one of them found Wet Gunpowder, and the French don’t want to waste an entire turn “repairing” one canoe. The Interceptor is exploring the Sultan wreck, but Barrel of Monkeys is proving to be frustrating. Things weren’t about to get sunnier.

The Tenfold unloaded both her gold and the gold from the Hare’s Luck as the Fathom dived. However, the Aube sailed around a fog bank and promptly sank the Hare’s Luck! This was the first direct combat of the game, and continued the anti-Mercenary theme (not on purpose!). In the background, two French canoes are exploring the Duke shipwreck.

The Cursed have finally figured things out, while the Interceptor docks home more gold for the English.

At this point, the Mercenaries had a choice to make. They had the durable but offensively weak (especially with just one mast remaining) Tenfold, and the decently armed Fathom, who could use her ability if the Tenfold attacked the Aube first. It would have been easy to send both ships into the safety of the fog.

The Mercs considered the possibility of the Tenfold surviving the counterattack, since this was the main issue. If the Tenfold was sunk, the Mercs would have very little chance of winning the game.

With the Tenfold’s defensive ability, it would take at least three shots from the Aube to sink her. The Mercs deliberated, and then decided to attack! They hoped the combined power of their two ships would take out at least three masts on the Aube.

With a vengeance, the Tenfold slammed into the Aube, and incredibly both the shot and the ram worked! This left the ship ready to be attacked by the Fathom…

… and the Fathom scored a perfect 3/3 without even needing Herr Fuchs’ cannoneer ability! The French flagship laid in tatters, with wreckage strewn around the Merc HI.

A huge moment in the game:

The Interceptor now used her L+L+S speed to surprise the Cursed, shooting two masts off the Nightmare. The Maman Brigitte turned around, seeing how much gold was on a western island and the Sultan wreck right next to it.

The Cursed had another streak of lucky die rolls, going 3/3 with the Nightmare’s double shot and sinking the Interceptor with the Silver Coffin!

The Tenfold repaired a mast, but the angry French were on their way. One of their canoes had found an abandoned captain, and looked to give it to the Pluton, who had almost finished repairing.

Tsuro finally left his post at the Cursed HI, but it wasn’t long before he stopped and resumed messing with opposing ships.

Herr Fuchs knew the Cursed had no counter against the Fathom, and the Fathom unsuccessfully rammed the Nightmare. The Tenfold set a course for the Sultan wreck.

For the first time in the game, a fleet took advantage of the whirlpools. The Nightmare dragged the Silver Coffin through one, emerging close to the Tenfold. It was the best move the Cursed could make, but it failed miserably. The Nightmare and flotilla both lost masts to the whirlpool, and the Silver Coffin’s inaccurate guns couldn’t dent the Tenfold’s armor.

At this point, the Maman Brigitte settled for UT farming, with the Fathom lurking about. Even with Tsuro’s help, the Cursed had trouble duplicating their early-game luck moving opponent’s ships around. With the Nightmare limping about and almost no gold on their home island, they knew they were out of the race.

In a beautiful turn for the Mercenaries, the Tenfold dismasted the Nightmare while simultaneously taking gold off the wreck of the Sultan. The Fathom explored a mysterious island and was looking to get the gold home via the Tenfold. However, the Mercs would still run into more trouble.

The Maui’s Fishhook came out of nowhere to sink the Nightmare and grab gold, similar to what the Tenfold had just done. The Maman Brigitte forced the Tenfold onto the Sultan’s reef, but no damage was done. In the meantime, 3 of the French canoes had finally reached Mercenary waters, and they hoped to block the Fathom and potentially use their chieftain to sink the sub.

With the Tenfold on a reef, the English saw a chance to eliminate a huge gold threat. Percival Blake gave the order, and a thunderous Broadsides Attack ripped through the Tenfold’s defenses and sent her to Davy Jones’ locker!

To complicate matters even more for the Mercs, the Fathom didn’t have an explorer and had to wait an extra turn at her MI, with the French native canoes waiting for her back at her HI, although now with the Tenfold gone she wouldn’t even be able to get the gold home. The French just wanted revenge. The Pluton and remaining two canoes were also making all speed towards the Fathom.

The Cursed knocked the MF onto a reef, where she lost two masts. The French canoes cornered the Fathom, blocked her path, and began blasting her apart.

The Fathom took a canoe with her but couldn’t withstand the French attack. This meant the Mercs were the first fleet out of the game! It looked like more would follow, with not much gold left and a weakened MF looking to go out again for more gold.

The French now turned their Pluton and canoe piranhas on the Cursed, but only hit 2/7 against the Maman Brigitte!

In the meantime, the MF grabbed some Rum, which was now worth 4 gold after she left Blake and Defoe on her home island. However, Owen and the helmsman drank it all by themselves, immobilizing the ship and making her vulnerable to the nearby French.

The French now dominated what was left of the carnage-filled ocean, dismasting the MF.

The game was basically over, but the Cursed had to at least try and wreak some more havoc. Tsuro lost its tail in a whirlpool and was then destroyed by the Pluton, who then towed the MF home to end the game!

The game went down to the wire! The Rum mattered!

French: 25 gold
Mercenaries: 24
English: 16
Cursed: 3

The French had 21 gold before the Rum boosted their score, so they won by not giving up and making sure they did everything and anything they could to win. The Mercs brought in a lot of gold early with the Tenfold, including 4 extra from Zedekiah’s ability.

The English played a decent game but were predictably hampered by a scarcity of cargo available, as well as some named crew that didn’t really affect the game (Owen and Defoe). The Cursed had good luck with the dice but bad luck with treasure and slow ships. Not only did the Maman Brigitte find Enemy of the State and Albatross on that single island, but the other two treasures were a 3 and a 0!

Overall this was a fun game, and it became brutal as it went on. The Tenfold is fantastic, and quite possibly slightly overpowered especially with her link. However, more playtesting is needed before changing anything. The French native canoes were fun and seemed about right for their cost, and the navigator really helped the French fleet.

Looking forward to more soon!

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

Posted on January 26, 2019March 26, 2024 by Ben

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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://ebay.us/KHI2jl This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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

A7XfanBen’s Entry for Ocean Terrain Contest #3

Posted on November 20, 2018November 20, 2018 by Ben

A7XfanBen’s Entry for Ocean Terrain Contest #3

Ocean Terrain Contest #3

Introduction

Literally my entire goal in the whole process was to $ave Dat Money. (Normally I hate songs with autotune but that song just hits me in a way that no other song has lol) That became my theme song and “anthem” if you will when I thought about making stuff. All corners would be cut, all the monies would be saved and nearly zero dollars would be spent.

With that in mind, how would I go about making stuff on such an insanely strict budget? I’m more of an Englishman than a pirate, so stealing stuff was out of the question.

Well, the perfect combination was already in place. I worked part-time at an Ace Hardware store. So then, how could that translate to saving money on the mammoth project?

-Free foam sourced from the dumpsters and trash cans (almost none of it dirty and the rest very easily cleaned off)
-Infinite amount of free cardboard
-Spray paint was bought on sale AND with my 20% off employee discount (would have spent $8+, instead got it for around $5.50) (I considered trying to get it cheaper somehow or waiting until someone would bring in a defective can or something lol, but wanted to get stuff done so I could start Command the Oceans)
-Use only tools and things I already owned:
–Utility knife that I used for most of the foam cutting and sculpting was literally given to me as a gift by a former Ace employee who had left the store about 4 years prior
–Durabuilt toolbox was also a gift so no money spent there
–Crayola scissors from childhood (likely not purchased with my money lol) didn’t get used much but since they’re in some pictures I’ll just emphasize that they weren’t bought for the project either lol

The second “main idea” of my projects was something that speaks to me on a personal level for the Pirates CSG world as a whole: GAMEPLAY TRUMPS EVERYTHING. By that, I mean that using my stuff in games is far more important than how aesthetic it looks. I want to be able to use epic and unique custom stuff that functions properly and in an “epic” way when I play Pirates. As with other things in Pirates (custom ships, etc), I think it is best to play, not just ponder and pontificate. I realize that this mindset is completely contradictory to how to win this contest, as the most aesthetically beautiful entry will likely win. However, to me playing the game is the most important thing; if the stuff doesn’t get used, why bother making it? (other than selling it for a profit haha)

Full disclaimer: I don’t expect to do particularly well in this contest, because a lot of my stuff is not as aesthetic as what other people make. However, the experiences of playing are second to none for me.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: Command the Oceans is the game I played with the stuff I made for this contest. I originally started the game to show off my creations, but it quickly morphed into something FAR bigger than that, both literally and figuratively. I HIGHLY recommend checking out the battle reports for that game to see how this stuff functions in a real game. It was the biggest game of Pirates ever up to this point, and one of the best games I’ve ever played.
MAJOR SPOILERS for CTO are within this post, so read about the game first if you want. (or just don’t look too hard at the “in action” pictures, and avoid most of the videos XD)

VIDEO VERSION OF POST

So, just how much foam did I really have?

A LOT.

Thought you might need a ship for scale! XD

Just immense, immense quantities.

4 or 5 feet in the air!

Tools of the trade. Although, the utility knife and large scissors were used far more than anything else. I did try a few “hammer shots” lol, but it just kicked up a ton of the foam beads into the air. In case you’re wondering, that black plastic sheeting was also free. I took it off the top of the pallets we have outside when it covers the mulches and rocks. It came in VERY handy as a foam catcher/workspace/dropcloth for all of the messy work.

Very strong and very thick corrugated cardboard. Had no idea what I would use this for, for a decent amount of time, until I thought about DOCKS!

Captain Mission’s Pirate Kingdom

That big middle chunk turned into an awesome Pirate base…

… but I had to start somewhere. Once I looked at the block from this angle, I knew what I wanted to do. I always try to take what the foam/cardboard is giving me and go from there. So, I thought it could be cool if I hollowed out the middle part for a “cave” type hideout location, with a raised area for troops/defenses higher up where you see the crescent on the left.

The bottom was far less inspiring, but it seemed like a solid idea to create arches on both sides of the enclosed area.

The messy part. Tons of shaving and hacking.

It took a lot to get it less blocky and manmade-looking.

The Kingdom after being blasted with spraypaint. As I said in the CTO thread, I did NOT intend for that “melted” look haha. The paint partially affected the foam a bit to create that on its own. However, some people like it so it worked out fine.

The unfinished Pirate Kingdom from the front. I purposely kept that “pillar” thing in the middle since maybe it could protect ships inside from potential mortar fire/etc. XD At the bottom you can see the ledge I glued on, specifically for a situation that would soon arise….

Showing the double archways:

THE PIRATE KINGDOM IN PLAY! Command the Oceans began with the first of many grand reveals, and the Pirates were up first.

Using the ledge to get some shipwrights onto ships waiting below. That way they don’t have to go inside and experience the traffic jam of gold runners. XD

There’s a decent amount of space inside, especially for a more reasonably sized game:

The ledge was added partly for this reason: perfect for a fortress!

A great place to come home to with Eternal. I think Gollum would like it, rather dark and evil. XD

Over the course of Command the Oceans, it truly became a Pirate Kingdom!

Large enough to sustain considerable operations of a decent-size fleet, with coins, resources, ladders and army units on/inside it as well.

Sometimes it’s hard to see the cool gold waterfall inside!
Making the gold waterfall

You can also see it in action here:
The biggest fleet ever seen in a game…

Captain Nemo’s Mercenary Submarine Hideout

I loved the idea of having this cardboard molding used as a hideout. The openings at the bottom are perfect for submarines, whether they’re underwater or on the surface.

After getting the right cut, I used the spray paint to get it looking more “natural”, almost like a volcanic island with sea caves. As this picture shows, I cut cardboard doors to put in the openings in the “rock”!

The current piece, with Nemo and his Mercenaries operating the doors from within to protect the submarines inside.

Shoot me if you can! The metal doors are resistant to cannon fire.

The doors/openings are the perfect size for keeping submarines safe and keeping ships out!

You can just see some subs entering here. Lightweight and relatively small, it’s easy to take the Sub Hideout off the ocean to get at the stuff inside. For example, I let the Mercenary submarines repair while inside.

The Tunnel

Here is the GIANT piece of foam that was eventually turned into the Tunnel, one of my personal favorites of the project!

The Tunnel! After being cut out, having a fitted piece glued onto the open wall to close it off, and getting spray painted.

The fitted piece was actually the hardest part because it was difficult to make right, with plenty of trial and error finally leading to a decent but not perfect piece that worked well enough for my satisfaction. I LOVED how the Tunnel was not the same on both sides up top – one side has a wall going up from the flat part, while the other is not enclosed and is a sheer drop. The ends were great too since they were also different without me having to do anything. One is a sloped wall while the other is a nice little opening and the perfect spot for a cannon to fire from!

As previewed on my Instagram before CTO even started….

Things got even more interesting when I realized that things could be dropped down from the top. Cutting a very thin piece of screen makes a perfect ladder, which could be used to get supplies or troops from the top to ships waiting below, or vice versa to supply and reinforce a garrison defending the Tunnel!

Inside the Tunnel is dark and foreboding…

I really enjoyed adding to the top of it. After painting it to get a rocky black look, I wanted to make it look more natural with rocks and some sparse grass.

Overall the Tunnel is one of my favorite things I’ve ever made for Pirates.

The Tunnel in play

The top is great as a platform for troops and artillery:

One end shrouded in fog for maximum mystique:

VERY tall inside, to the point where you could comfortably fit multiple 10 masters side by side! This makes the top very difficult to access, which is cool from a logistics perspective.

The Pirates wanted to “tunnel” through the Tunnel!

After much hard work, they finally made it through! O_O

Doesn’t get much more epic than this. A HUGE battle happening INSIDE and around the Tunnel, with the Pirates firing down on the Cursed from the fort they built in the new opening at the top.

Angelica used flamethrower to set the fort alight and burn some of the Pirate infantry!

Overall the Tunnel is very unique to me because I want it to have a “story” as a “legacy piece” that encompasses all the games it is involved in. Command the Oceans was hopefully just the beginning for this epic terrain piece. I have many more ideas with it, so more modifications will take place in future epic games.

Check out a short video with the Tunnel in it!
The War for the Sea of Allost (Command the Oceans)

The Harbor

This idea was borne from this piece of foam. It originally sat on top of another piece of foam as a sort of box top for the thing inside. However, once I flipped it over and saw how the middle could get punched out (notice the cracks towards the top), my mind was off to the races. I was still unsure of what to do with it for a while, but I took this picture once I had a vague idea. It could be a massive harbor structure with high walls on all sides except for a double entrance at the front! That idea is illustrated here before I did any of the cutting.

I cut out the middle area and did a quick blast-over with paint for the basic premise.

An example of my “workshop” area, showing the concept of a giant jetty/pier going all the way out of the Harbor and into the ocean!

Tunnel and Harbor, two peas of the same pod! XD Before really delving into the Tunnel idea, I really considered a ton of options with the bigger piece here. I nearly left it completely intact so it could be a double tunnel thing with a side alley where a big fleet could be contained within (imagine it upside down). I decided it would be far too boxxy from any angle, but worse, it would be a NIGHTMARE for gameplay unless I developed an elaborate system with multiple removable tops (but I would want things on top during gameplay, which would be difficult with RISK army units and whatnot. In the end, I cut it nearly down the middle and then glued a separate piece to cover the opening of the Tunnel to complete that piece, setting the other big chunk aside for a while.

The Harbor in play

The French had the Harbor as their “home island”/base in CTO, and here you can see the completed dock system (they started with just one dock and bought them for 10 gold apiece) at nearly full capacity:

Overhead view from the back:

Truly a gigantic and amazing piece, I love the modular customizability of it!

I LOVE how the docks are perfect for carnage, debris, and destruction.

An invasion by a hostile nation can SEVERELY complicate things!

Videos including the Harbor:
Sea of Karkuda on Turn 72 (Command the Oceans)

The Roost

With this HUGE piece of foam, I wanted to do something epic with it.

Here you can see it upside down at the upper left with some other stuff:

I cut some of the sides and part of the back out to have 4 ways to get into the huge tall “hall” of sorts. Then I hacked at some of it (mostly the top/upper structure) to get a jagged, sinister look. Then I blasted it with black spray paint because I had decided the height and evilness would be perfect for a Cursed sea dragon roosting area!

The “front” top area, where dragons can nest in the slots:

The Monkey’s Paw sailing into the intimidating structure:

The Roost in CTO!

I love how huge ladders can be dropped down through the holes to put Cursed infantry on unsuspecting enemies waiting below!!

A Sea Dragon nest!

Videos with the Roost:
SHAL-BALA SWOOPS IN WITH CURSED TROOPS!! (Command the Oceans)

The Castles

Not in the original form here, these were cardboard protectors for candles or something like that.

Once I thought about flipping them upside down, I thought about making castles!

The bottoms and scraps of those cardboard cutouts used to hold candles or whatever was inside them.

At the right you can see the main Castle that features heavily in Command the Oceans. There’s a ton of great stuff you can do to customize these, similar to the modular nature of the Harbor. Bridges, extra docks, artillery/sharpshooter platforms, roofs, a town/citadel inside, etc. Lots of great possibilities, most of which still need to be explored in future games.

There’s not a ton of space for ships on the inside “harbor” portions of the Castle, but it further suggests the more defensive nature.

A roof over the main command station, or even crazier – a retractable roof that doubles as a bridge to a castle extension!! O_O

The Castle in play

Inside:

I love how the archways going through are low enough to let shorter ships through, but not the bigger ships:

The Americans took over the former Spanish Castle and made it into a base of their own!

So many cool things you can do with something like this. Blast a hole in the wall, station troops and artillery on the walls and ramparts, and set it on fire! XD

Like a sea castle with medieval siege ramifications:

With a Castle extension! O_O

With a “moat” or bridge high enough for tall ships to pass underneath!

With enough time and resources it could become a sprawling fortress of epic proportions:

The Castle in all its glory:

Videos of the Castle in play!!
American operations on Turn 70 (Command the Oceans)
The War for Karkuda (Command the Oceans)

Broken Horn Island
At first I was excited about Broken Horn Island as one of my easily made customs, but I didn’t like the way it turned out and I may put more effort into it after the game to make it a little better. It’s a sloped piece of foamy material (not at all like the regular foam though, way stronger, almost impossible to cut, and not as beady/messy) that held screwdrivers so I left some of those holes and just put stuff I found in my childhood in place of them. I cut a slope down to the water level where ships can now dock.

The island is pretty large, and I might edit it more in the future. The Cursed used it as a resource island/gold island, the latter due to the Gold Ship.

Icewrecks
These are icebergs with shipwrecks attached to them – in Command the Oceans, the ships were Cursed and still “possessed”, meaning the Cursed could move the icebergs S in the direction they wanted, rather than a random direction.

This is how I reused some of the wrecks from my Economy Edition game, at the left you can see a broken 4 masted galley icewreck driving a regular iceberg into the Clear Wind:

These work great in games and add a nice 3 dimensional aspect to things:

(wood cracking and splintering sound)

Scary to face a faceless, possessed foe:

This shows 3 of the icewrecks:

Lighthouses

Inspired by the custom Lighthouse idea from Vixenishcoder66, I decided to try making a few of my own for potential use in Command the Oceans!

A lot of cardboard cylinders could be used for making lighthouses. The ones used for paper towels and toilet paper are a bit wide, but could still work. I was able to find some thin cylinders with thick walls. This meant they would be a decent width (still a little too wide to be realistic), but punching holes in the sides for “light” and windows proved somewhat difficult without ruining the small structures.

To get the windows, I usually started with a small screwdriver and sometimes widened it after with unopened scissors. Gets a little gnarly inside, but the exterior ends up looking decent.

Nobody wants a hollow lighthouse with rain pouring in, so I had to figure out a practical idea for tops. I traced a line with pencil on the thinnest corrugated cardboard I have, then cut the circle out. Some of the roofs fit better than others but it works well enough! This also allows for fun things like hiding coins in the lighthouse during games, or perhaps something even more fun….

The French introduced the first lighthouse in Command the Oceans, on an island made years ago by RossinAZ.

Blue striping makes it a good option for a French or American lighthouse. A bit stocky/stubby, but small enough to fit on an island and not look obscene.

I used an L-range straw from the lighthouse to simulate the effect of the ability:

The Pirates built a black lighthouse of their own on another of RossinAZ’s custom islands. (ISLAND NOT MADE BY ME, NOT PART OF MY ENTRY!)

Here are all of the lighthouses I made:

The red one is based on Smeaton’s Tower.

I made sure to make each one slightly different between height/paint/width/windows. The black one also has a depressed roof.

One of my favorite pictures from Command the Oceans, Google Photos edited the coloring on this one for me for some reason.

Minor additions

I also used some old rocks in Command the Oceans, though even this one could hardly be considered “custom terrain”. No need to factor these into your voting on my entry, but they were glued together during the contest period. XD
Luck Island (rocks with holes in them are considered “lucky stones” by some; you can also see a tiny fossil or two)

Top left: Pearl Island
Bottom left: Fish Island
Top right: icewreck

Grand Shots

Some pictures showing more than one of my creations at a time. These really show how large and dominant the pieces are, and how fun and “commanding” they are during gameplay.

The Sea of Allost, showing the Roost, Tunnel, Kingdom, and part of Broken Horn Island. (other islands/terrain not to be considered for the contest!)

Tunnel and Roost! (island in foreground made by RossinAZ, obviously not for my entry)

Here you can see the Tunnel, Kingdom, and Pirate lighthouse:

Kingdom and lighthouse:

With fort:

Kingdom of Heaven?

The Sea of Karkuda, showing the Castle, Hideout, and Harbor. (other stuff in picture (outside of the lighthouse) not to be considered for the contest!)

Along with the lighthouse:

Another angle focusing on the Castle:

So! How much did I spend? Well, approximately $5.18 for the whole project. O_O AKA the spray paint, which is pretty much the only thing I spent money on. Everything else I either already had, or sourced for free.

Sadly I haven’t even used this stuff yet, as almost all of the stuff I made was worked on in August 2017. I used a $20 gift card at Michael’s on some more stuff, but I’ll have to use it another time. Still, I’m even saving money on future ocean/terrain projects!! XD

Huzzah! Hopefully someday there will be an “OTC4”! XD

My Custom Stuff for Pirates CSG

My Basic Rules – Custom Rules for Pirates CSG

Posted on November 15, 2018November 15, 2018 by Ben

My Basic Rules

My Basic Rules (not Windlass) (.pdf file with more common fonts)

Basic Rules (.docx file download, with the Windlass font)

This is my attempt to combine the Start Here rules and Complete Game rules into one document, while simultaneously changing a few things that I believe are the best house rules, and also keeping the overall document relatively short by saving space where practical. These are the basic rules that I intend to teach new players with. I talk about some of the changes in the video below.

Custom Board Game Pieces – Ships, islands, and more!

Posted on November 1, 2018November 1, 2018 by Ben

Custom Board Game Pieces – Ships, islands, and more!

In my vast experience with Pirates CSG, I have made a LOT of custom board game pieces. By “pieces” I mean both physical and “virtual” items that help me enjoy Pirates Constructible Strategy Game to the fullest. This includes custom made islands and terrain for the game, in addition to game pieces that can be proxied into the playing experience or used easily on the VASSAL module.

Islands

Making custom islands for board games can be pretty fun! There are a variety of building materials to choose from, not to mention the variety of supplies and accessories to consider. I’ve had some success with various types of foam (not all of it will melt under spray paint, but be careful!), along with various cardboard chunks and molds.

Here’s an example:

Custom island I made for Pirates CSG

For this island, I took a thin flat piece of somewhat weak foam and modified it in various ways. I cut out a shape that I liked, then added a coat of black spray paint (some more porous foams may melt when applying spray paint, so test outside or simply avoid using spray paint in general if you plan to make your own islands). Some grasses and sands (found at Hobby Lobby; Amazon has similar) came in handy for the realistic layer above the paint. I applied the powdery grass and sand with spray glue (glue and water in a small spray bottle that came in the kit I bought), and then added some rocks or “boulders” as well. You can see them on the shore at the bottom of the picture. Towards the top (where the action is happening) I added some bushes for a more 3D landscape.

Custom game pieces for use

I’ve made a LOT of custom ships, crew, and other game pieces for Pirates CSG. There is nothing wrong with creating your own stats and abilities for your very own creations. I am consistently working on a historical custom set (Pirates of the Age of Sail) that I hope will eventually encompass nearly all known ships and historical figures (crew) that played a part in the Age of Sail time period. I also sporadically work on my custom fantasy set, Pirates of the Epic Seas. This is where my creativity shines more (though I’m not normally a very creative person), as I make all sorts of interesting stuff.

The first handful of historical customs in my first set, Pirates of the Age of Sail

If you like playing Pirates CSG, I highly recommend experimenting with making your own custom board game pieces. Both islands and customs (shorthand for custom ships/crew/equipment/etc.) are fun to make and very rewarding to use in games. Although I haven’t made any of my customs into physical form, there are various ways to do so if you’re inclined (stickers, marker, 3D printing, etc). If you still feel hesitant to get started, you could watch a tutorial or buy some islands, not to mention using other people’s custom sets!

You can check out the My Custom Stuff page for even more details on my personal contributions.

Ring of Fire – Pirates CSG customs post (10/12/2018)

Posted on October 12, 2018October 12, 2018 by Ben

This has already been posted in the forum, but occasionally I plan to convert larger posts of mine there into general posts as well.

Lately I’ve been going through Pirates of the Epic Seas and doing one game piece per faction (or UT/etc) at a time. I’ve gotten down to the SE’s again, and there are so many “unreleased” that I like, it’s tough to know what to reveal! XD I made some more fantasy customs today, some of which are rather amusing. For today, I’m in the mood to go out of order and reveal something I just created today. I’ve wanted to make something with a “Ring of Fire” theme for a while now, somewhat based on the real life volcano chain.

Ring of Fire (Islands)
Place these 5 Mysterious Islands in a circle during setup. These islands cannot be chosen as home islands, and should be placed 2L or 3L apart. When a ship docks at this island, roll a d6.
1 – Catastrophic Eruption: All ships docked at this island have all of their masts (including eliminated ones) replaced with fire masts. All ships within 3L of this island receive 3 fire masts; this effect can sink ships. Eliminate all crew and forts on this island.
2 – Violent Eruption: All ships docked at this island receive 3 fire masts. Ships within 2L of this island receive 2 fire masts. Eliminate all crew and forts on this island.
3/4 – Eruption: All ships docked at this island receive 2 fire masts. Ships within L of this island receive 1 fire mast. Eliminate all crew on this island.
5/6 – No effect.
*Game pieces that are submerged are not subject to receiving fire masts.

Ring of Fire (Canoes)
Faction Affiliation: Mercenary
Rarity: U
Type: Ship
Point Value: 14
Number of Masts: 1
Cargo Space: 1
Base Move: S+S+S
Cannons: 3L
Ability: Mercenary. Native Canoe. Captain. Fire Shot.

Flavor text: Hailing from the most volcanic region in the world, these tribal natives have preyed on worried sailors for centuries. They have learned to detect when an eruption is imminent, and then use the chaos and death of such a cataclysmic event to pillage both victims and survivors. Named after the devastating region they sail around, there have been reports of canoe”rings” surrounding enemy ships and lighting the sails and rigging on fire with flaming arrows, watching from afar as the crew are burned alive and the ship is burnt to the waterline. They are known as perhaps the most clever and secretly evil tribe in the Pacific, and use the speed and agility of their canoes to avoid being wiped out by the frequent eruptions.

Kinda overdid the flavor text, but it really helps give context to their background and the fleshing out of the “Ring of Fire” concept, especially with Epic Seas having a more Mercenary/tribal/Pacific slant the past few months.

The last piece of the “saga”, at least for now….

Ring of Fire
Unique Treasure
Ability: When discovered, assign this game piece to a named crew on this ship. If this ship isn’t assigned a named crew, place this treasure face down on a random wild island without revealing the treasure to any players. Once this treasure is assigned to a named crew, it is treated as equipment and cannot be removed from this ship unless the crew is removed. If the assigned crew is eliminated, eliminate this game piece. When this ship shoots, up to 3 hits may be fire hits instead of regular hits (you must declare which cannons are shooting fire shot before rolling). If this ship is within L of a Volcano island, you may eliminate one crew on this ship – if so, one enemy ship within L of this ship cannot move on their next turn.

Flavor text: This mysterious ring bears an inscription that starts with a “V”… many scholars have attempted to decode what the name means, but they always end up murdered for the ring’s power. Multiple “giants” have been seen wielding the ring for evil purposes in the Pacific, leaving a trail of smoke in their wake….

So there you have it. Pretty convoluted already, and it might get more wordy and complicated if I add things to the concept. Funny enough I already have an epic volcano-based 10 master with linked crew combo, so if I get them involved… yikes…. O_O

Man, sometimes I find it surprisingly easy to create a lot of fantasy customs. So many things to draw inspiration from, either just a simple word like “dove” or some complex convoluted backstory of chaos. XD Just looking up “cursed art” in google images gives me plenty of random ideas! Epic Seas is about to reach 700 total game pieces, and it’s inevitable that someday I will break 1,000 on that set, and eventually many more I hope. In times like this I have to consciously try to stop staring at what I’ve created or plan to create, just so I don’t spend many hours a day doing it! XD

~~~~~

Historical Custom of the Day #248

John Watling
Pirate
Crew
3 points
Ability: Captain. This ship gets +1 to her d6 rolls against ships with the Chieftain keyword aboard. This ship gets -1 to her d6 rolls against forts.
Link: Bartholomew Sharp

Strange abilities, but read his brief and strange story for why I gave them to him. Almost some weird parallels with Captain Jack Sparrow.

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

Game Ideas – Pirates Constructible Strategy Game

Game Ideas

This is a page for all the different ideas for games that I have heard about or created. I think it will be useful for reference in case any players want some fresh takes on Pirates CSG. Hopefully it will also spark interest for people to start playing. 😀 If anyone has more ideas, please post them here!

Scenarios:
–Huge compilation of scenarios all in one document (tocoking)

–Cadet-Captain Mike’s Pirates Page (there are a few scenarios that aren’t listed in the above document)

–PotCS Adventure Book Game Scenarios

–Scenarios at Pojo

-There are some scenarios towards the bottom of this page from the old Wizkids site

–ChaosReaper’s scenarios

–captain_vendari’s scenarios

–Defence of St. Helens (deathmatch scenario) (Gustawicyryl)

–Circle of Blood scenario (Riz’s website was taken down, but luckily I copied the scenario into my Pirates google doc.)

–Water World (brettb45)

–Uncharted Territories

–Scenarios from a fansite (docbrown)

–The Curse of the Flying Dutchman Scenario (Prince Rana)

–The Governer’s Daughter Scenario! (CasualSax)

–Hole in the bottom of the sea (marhawkman)

–Race scenario (BootStrapBill)

–Jade Invaders (el_cazador)

–Joyful Seas (marhawkman)

–Balancing Secret Missions Scenario (unknown)

–Captain Nemo scenario (captainhawkins)

–Luxury Goods to Ports Square Scenario (Ed+Capin’Gerg)

–9 Pirate Lords Free for All (Captain Randy)

–Maelstrom scenarios inspired by At World’s End (A7XfanBen)

–Hunt of the Black Pearl (T26E4)

Campaign Games:

–Economy Edition (cannonfury) (absolutely amazing campaign game that I played in June 2015) (original post) (Battle Report of Xerecs’ Economy Edition game)

–Century of the Empires (Sariouriel) (fantastic ruleset with a battle report that gives an idea of how the game would play) (Battle Report of Xerecs’ CotE game)

–Century of Economy (Xerecs’ fusion of Economy Edition and Century of the Empires)

–The Caribbean Game (A7XfanBen and Xerecs) (+the similarly delayed World Game)

–Pirates CSG combined with the board game RISK (A7XfanBen)

–Pirates of the Cursed Seas Campaign (Captain_Vendari)

–Series Campaign (Captain_Vendari)

–Colonize the Caribbean (louisxiv)

–ARMADA (Wired_Wolf)

–Supremacy (Parker)

-Cumulative games – treasure is spent as the game progresses, making the game bigger and bigger (these games usually either end with a time limit where you count up how many points each player has, or it devolves into a deathmatch).

To check out how fun, grand, and long these games can get, check out The Huge Game Legacy Thread.

Variant Rulesets:
–The Pirates of Catan (Pirates CSG combined with the game Settlers of Catan) (Woelf) (Quick Reference Guide)

–Tattered Sails and Shattered Gunwales (Custom rules that incorporate the effect of wind) (ThomasC)

–Complete Alternate Rules (EarthwormJim)

–Buccaneer (crikeymiles)

–Letter of Marque (Uethym)

–Wooden Ships and Iron Men (scribidinus)

–Master Mariner (Tim Kask)

–The Pirate Lab (collection of various house rules and game ideas/etc.) (Jeff McDowall)

Custom Sets: (Use existing ships as proxies, or create your own game pieces)

Most of these are now in the Customs Database!

–Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas (A7XfanBen)

–Return of Davy Jones (Xerecs)

–Fiends of the Blood Islands (Xerecs and j_w_darkhurst)

–Pirates of Spherus Magna

–Cadet-Captain Mike’s Set

–Pirates of the Cursed Seas: The Great Sea (el_cazador)

–Pirates of the Cursed Seas: Rise of the Moon Sorcerer (el_cazador)

–Pirates: Treachery on the High Seas (vladsimpaler)

–Pirates: The Golden Age (vladsimpaler)

–Pirates: Back to War (Player-Made Set) (the_grandmaster)

–Pirates of the Kraken Sea (mr_awesome) (original discussion thread)

–Pirates of the Tolling Depths (alanqsmithee)

–Pirates of the Forgotten Coast (Riz)

–Custom Ships Organized Version (Custom Ships; Custom Ships 2, PwB version)

Other:

–Cadet-Captain Mike’s Random Setup Tables

–New Pirates CSG Concepts for a New Age (in picture form here)

–Multiplayer setups thread (linked to the post concerning custom terrain rules, but there are other ideas throughout the thread as well; pictures of thread here)

-Have a Sealed Pack game! You could also consider combining it with a draft based on the packs opened. (Brian)

–Play with real money.

-Look up fleets and use them.

-Pick your absolute favourite game pieces and create fleets just for fun. Also check out Miniature Reviews of game pieces you have to inspire their usage!

-Use the Return to Savage Shores game pieces by using proxies. (found in the Master Spreadsheet)

-500 point games – these are huge games that take a while but are quite fun. I’ve played 3, including one as the Defence of St. Helens scenario, but the first one was the best.

-300 point games pitting a fleet of huge ships against a fleet of small and tiny ships. The third paragraph of this post gives a brief insight into my experience with this idea.

-100 point deathmatches (when you’re looking for a bloody battle without gold)

-Regular 40 point games. What I like to do is have a 3-game series between the fleets to determine which one is better. Sometimes I do a tournament with at least four fleets, and one time I did eight.

-Make fleets using ONLY game pieces that you’ve never used before. This will open your eyes to some ships and crew that are overlooked and underrated, not to mention that it’s actually fun to change things up and stop using your HMS Titan and La Monarca.

-Vary the playing area. Use a bigger table/floor space than you usually do, or confine the game to a very small space.

–Points in play + gold for the win. (Whoever has the most points in play AND gold in play at the end of the game is the winner.)

–Keen eyes in the fog (Ritterton)

–Wind Rules v1.1 (LionFish42)

–Simultaneous movement and phased turns (Lufbery)

–Hiring Mercenaries during the game (etcmn)

–Alternate abilities for mysterious islands (woelf)
–New ideas for Mysterious Islands (louisxiv)

–Aaaar Me Hearties! (Chris H)

–Pirates of the Cerulean Seas: Miscellaneous House Rules (Ryan Hackel)

-An idea by godmason to have a single wild island with at least 100 gold on it, surrounded by terrain and possibly some forts and flotillas.

I had a flurry of ideas once I heard about and played Water World. This is what I wrote down; I may expand upon it or explain myself better in the future:
-Fog home islands (HI’s move around, combine with HI raiding)
-One HI for all fleets (+ one HI for all fleets but with islands that have multiple beaches (inspired by rossinaz’s islands))
-Sea is entirely made of terrain – no open ocean (maybe with icebergs) (example game)
-Every ship automatically has the HI raiding ability (maybe with one HI for all fleets, fog HI’s)
-All gold starts on HI’s, players rob each other (probably have every ship get the HI raiding ability)
-Use only Unique Treasures, possibly with just 1 wild island (tested out)

-Round earth with home islands close together on edges of map, HI Raiders mandatory/every ship has HI Raider. Include Wine as well.

–Prize value/incentivize captures

-All sunken ships become wrecks at the bottom of the ocean. Submerged submarines can be given explore actions underwater where they sunk to recover gold (which is NOT revealed when ship is sunk), + crew that now have Ghost Ship or Eternal keywords. If shipwreck within S of an island, can use an action to try and raise it (only works on 5-6 or with Hoist ship, etc).

-Uneven tables at different heights. Waterfall into bay. Can only go down onto lower ocean, not back up unless Turbine/Submarine (perhaps sea creatures too). 1 whirlpool on lower table that can be used to get to 2+ whirlpools on higher table.

-Table bottleneck – line up 2 tables diagonally with small space connecting them. Can also create a bottleneck with land dividing ocean with tables still aligned.

-Team-based play: “games with teamates and allies having to work together towards a goal in hybrid style games more along a campaign or 2 vs 2 match.” (Daddy Garand)

-Have treasure in the water, and ships pick up coins as they sail over them. (similar to video games like Sonic where in-game currency is accumulated as you speed through a map) When a ship is made derelict or sinks, she could spill all the coins in her cargo hold!

-Blitz/Speed Pirates: time limit on turns. (ex: each player only has 2 minutes to finish all their actions with the exception of die rolls/etc resulting from their final action; no actions can be taken past the time limit) (use chess clock/etc)

-“Open Strategy” game. Players are encourage to talk about every minute aspect of the tactical and strategic elements of the gameplay. Great for learning and “what if” scenarios/etc.

-Expanding on Captain Randy’s 9 Pirate Lords idea, have a PotC themed game where the 9 Pirate Lords battle against the antagonist alliance from At World’s End – Lord Beckett’s English fleet led by Davy Jones. (regular game or deathmatch, with a build total likely in the 100-200 point range)

-“A very underused game mechanic in my opinion is the you cut I choose method. My playgroup usually likes to take turns having one person set up the game board, but the person who does gets to choose his/her home island last.
It creates cool map layouts as it allows for one person to be creative, but at the same time balance as the person making the map doesn’t want to be left with the worst position on the board so it encourages the person setting up to be as fair as possible.” (MangoSmoothie)

–Defensive shields (MangoSmoothie)

–Simultaneous actions/hidden movement (Mechavelli)

-Expanding upon the Race scenario linked above: line (“drag race”) vs. circle/oval (or other!), have islands with UT’s on them (power-ups/upgrades/etc), shortcut opportunities, NPC creatures.

Setup for the Circle of Blood scenario:

My Custom Stuff

On this page you can find my customized “things” for Pirates CSG. This includes my custom game pieces, my Basic Rules, and custom islands, terrain, and structures I’ve made.

My Basic Rules

My Basic Rules (not Windlass) (.pdf file with more common fonts)

Basic Rules (.docx file download, with the Windlass font)

Please disregard the Explore Action part of the “Start Here” snippet at the bottom of the first page of my Basic Rules. You should always play by the full exploring rules where ships look at the treasures on the island and choose which to take.

Sets

My Custom Sets

–Pirates of the Age of Sail (PotAoS, or AoS) is my first custom set, which I started in 2011. I have since been modifying and adding to it. The set is entirely historical in nature, encompassing a huge number of ships, historical figures (as crew), forts, and equipment from the real Age of Sail. The total number of game pieces is therefore only limited to the amount of historical knowledge that is available on the topic and can be discovered. The current Custom Ships thread has some of my daily “releases”. This set will continue to undergo changes and additions, and due to the sheer number of game pieces still to add, it may never be “complete”. Any suggestions are welcome. You can find the set on the 2nd sheet of the Customs Database, with keyword abbreviations on the 1st sheet.

–Pirates of the Epic Seas (PotES or ES) is my second custom set, which I started in 2018. It is the complete opposite of the Age of Sail set, containing only fictional game pieces. The set is based on “epic” things and a general theme of global war, or at least the grand threat of it. Just like Age of Sail, the set is currently “under construction”, though much more complete than Age of Sail. You can find the set on the 3rd sheet of the Customs Database, with keyword abbreviations on the 1st sheet.

Custom Islands, Terrain, and Structures

Normally I would leave out the structures part, but I’ve found myself building an increasing amount of man-made things that cannot be classified as islands or terrain.

Custom Islands and Terrain thread

Ocean Terrain Contest #3 (ended August 1st 2018)

–My entry for OTC3 (details the stuff I made in 2017 – a lot of my cooler stuff!)

Also, feel to reach out to Ross in AZ; many of the islands you see in my battle reports were made by him!

Here is the video I made for my OTC3 entry:

Grand Shots

Some pictures showing more than one of my creations at a time. These really show how large and dominant the pieces are, and how fun and “commanding” they are during gameplay.

The Sea of Allost, showing the Roost, Tunnel, Kingdom, and part of Broken Horn Island.

Tunnel and Roost! (island in foreground made by RossinAZ)

Here you can see the Tunnel, Kingdom, and Pirate lighthouse:

Kingdom and lighthouse:

With fort:

Kingdom of Heaven?

The Sea of Karkuda, showing the Castle, Hideout, and Harbor.

Along with the lighthouse:

Another angle focusing on the Castle:

Top left: Pearl Island
Bottom left: Fish Island
Top right: icewreck

Custom Lighthouses – idea by vixenishcoder66 of Miniature Trading

Some of my older stuff made in 2015!

My Custom Stuff (islands and terrain) from 2015

Some of the islands and terrain I’ve made. The arches are quite fun. In the middle is a large sandbar. White foam looks perfect for icebergs. Custom shipwrecks (often on reefs) can make the game look really neat.

The Duke shipwreck. I put a few drops of metallic gold paint down the center of the hull to create the spilled gold effect.

Custom Shipwreck Cove Pirates CSG version

My version of “shipwreck cove”, inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean and created with lots of glue, reefs, and shipwrecks.

A busy Franco-Spanish military port atop one of my custom islands during Economy Edition.

The Lagoon, which was used for the Economy Edition game. This is a fun concept, especially if you only make it accessible to submersibles (submarines and sea monsters).

The Arch. This is a triple archway with 3 different levels for clearance height. The highest arch is passable by almost all ships, while the smaller two can only be traversed by ships with lower mast height. The low are was a perfect spot for gold. This was created with two chunks of styrofoam from a keyboard box, spraypainted black, which were glued together at an angle (you can still see the remains of some glue on top of the right archway).

This gives an idea of the main middle archway, as well as the height of the entire arch. As you can see, it’s also the perfect spot for a well-positioned fort!

You could probably add physical Bow Chasers with a variety of different pieces; here I’ve used spare Bombardier cannons and attached them to the bow of a ship.