Pirates CSG Podcast #37: Optimizing and Using Lesser Ships and Crew | Circle of Blood Review

Question of the Day: How do you get lesser ships and crew into action?

ShoutEngine: http://shoutengine.com/PiratesCSGPodcast/pirates-csg-podcast-37-optimizing-and-using-less-70984

YouTube: 

Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/PiratesCSGPodcast37

“thoughts on optimizing less/not utilized ships”

-MUST have speed, so helmsmen pretty much always necessary (especially since a lot of lesser ships are slow). Beyond that, try to find a niche use for specific game pieces. For example, 1 cargo and fast speed? (Dark Fox) Scout explorer with crew or S-Explorer. OR, flotilla tug with surprise crew face down (canceller/captain/etc).

Slow with high cargo – home waters hybrid to get nearby gold and protect HI, potentially use with navigator. Could also use with gold factory bonus strategy, especially in case of Spanish “treasure galleons” such as Isabela, Concepcion, etc.

-Keep in mind that your competition will not want to dumb things down (people like to win and often use the same OP ships all the time), so have realistic outcome expectations and propose alternative game ideas like “make worst fleet possible, pass to other player” to get lesser ships/crew into action. Other than that, more points = more points to use on gimmicks and suboptimal experiments

“Rules variants to get the ships on the table.”

-Require specific base move – Challenge of Snails, all L, etc.

-Require all cargo holds to be full during setup – force players to make tradeoffs on when to dump crew – right at start, at wild islands (making them accessible to other players), or go with total war/all combat strategy? Con-exacerbates how OP Sac already is.

-Require each player to use ONLY ships AND named crew they’ve never used before (for starters, look through what you’ve never punched out!), or a pure faction fleet from a faction you’ve never played.

-Look through Fleet Challenge Archives to find fun restrictions http://www.miniaturetrading.com/im/forum/viewtopic/t=8492///

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Pirates CSG Podcast #36 – News, Recent Rulings, How to Use Synergistic Pieces, and Norvegia

Question of the Day: How do you use pieces synergistically? (combos/etc)

ShoutEngine

Archive.org

News

-HWG out of DJC SE 4 box lot for $20 (Hill’s Wholesale Gaming: http://www.wholesalegaming.biz/pirates/)

-New posts up at Pirates with Ben – comments on posts/pages will help the site with rankings/etc.  https://pirateswithben.com/ranking-pirates-of-the-caribbean-movies/

-Submit your 2018 Pirates CSG Hall of Fame ballot! https://pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/pirates-csg-hall-of-fame-2018-voting/

-Set Reviews now officially done, so we’ve literally discussed ALL existing game pieces PLUS nearly all the Unreleased game pieces that are publicly known (covers various “game piece reviews” mentioned in suggestions, plus you can see additional thoughts on most game pieces in my Collection Review Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRq8fy93o3wHNqZMSQzR342yP4WX_LHzq)

-Nobody has requested custom game piece reviews, and one person even said they wanted less, so might do less of that moving forward.  Link to Podcast survey is below – please provide idea suggestions!

Recent Rulings: https://pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/questions-about-game-rules-the-pirate-code-the-no-duplicates-list/

How to use synergistic pieces: +1 to cargo on flotillas – devastating combos available

Norvegia –

http://www.miniaturetrading.com/im/showDeck/deck_id/375/grouping/0/extended_format/true

Norvegia vs. Altar of the Loa at 40 points: https://pirateswithben.com/norvegia-vs-altar-of-the-loa-2013/

Strategy talk: who to annoy or help in various situations you don’t expect – should you help or hurt certain opponents at various times? Especially in multiplayer.  Examples include Pandora’s Box, Message in a Bottle with tied islands, Maps of Hades, etc. (with Maps – could go back and forth to toy with opponent)

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Norvegia in action during VASSAL Tournament #2.

The San Cristobal (SC) caught the NH and blasted most of her masts off. Luckily for the Pirates, the final mast standing meant the NH could return home with a sac action. The Star of Siam docked home gold on the turn as well, giving Norvegia a bit of a windfall. The Banshee’s Cry (BC) is hiding from the SC while the Monarca runs gold.