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Fleet Showcase: The Jades can use Calypso too!

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Fleet Showcase: The Jades can use Calypso too!

Here’s another Fleet Showcase video from youtube!

Got this idea during the 12th episode of the podcast.

Pirates CSG Calypso

Get Calypso for your own fleets!

The perfectly costed Tiger’s Paw allows the use of Pirate crew, providing a niche use for one of the game’s lesser ships. Calypso comes aboard, with Ms. Cheng providing a “free” reroll for the ability to maximize the number of whirlpools put in play. Ms. Cheng would be linked to the captain of the Virtuous Wind, since it does not say that the crew have to be on the same ship. The TP will sit at home and create as many lanes as possible to provide opportunities for the other ships. The Turtle Ship keyword should provide insurance against ramming and boarding, making it a relatively safe place for Calypso.

I originally had the East Wind with a captain and oarsman as the main gunship, but then I didn’t have enough points to add the Sea Crane AND the Tiger’s Breath. Well, at that point, why not substitute for the best Jade Rebel ship in the game, the Virtuous Wind? She has a hybrid complement of crew, with 3 spaces left open for treasure. She will be tasked with a big workload – protect Calypso and the Tiger’s Breath, grab gold from islands (including enemy home islands), and fight the best enemy warship if necessary. What I like about the whirlpool exploration strategy is that you don’t need as much speed: since the whirlpools are placed within L of wild islands, you don’t need much speed from there (just S can work depending on the length of the ship’s hull measured out from the whirlpool) to reach the wild island. Hence the explorers instead of helmsmen (my usual preference) on the gold runners. By placing a whirlpool L away from a wild island and as close as possible to an enemy HI, it could be very easy to allow the Virtuous Wind to steal gold. However, as soon as Calypso is revealed, your opponent will know this.

The Tiger’s Breath completes the unintentional “tiger” theme of this fleet, but more importantly gives a true gold runner. The Tiger’s Breath will go into a whirlpool and out of the other on one turn, and then move to dock and explore an island on the next turn. The oarsman was transferred to the TB so she can get home even with bad whirl rolls on the way there and on the way back.

UT’s are pretty basic – I’m counting on the speedy whirlpool travel to allow me to find Jade, and Marksman’s Map could determine where future whirlpools are placed (and help me to know if I should bother raiding an enemy HI). The Protection will make the journeys less treacherous, since a couple bad rolls could really mess with the crew setups and even dismast the Tiger’s Breath.

One weakness would be fellow HI raiders – they can raid easily with all the whirlpools near the Tiger’s Paw, and could use the same whirlpools to make fast getaways.

I definitely want to test this fleet out at some point, since I think it has the potential to get some gold quickly. I was surprised by how effective the concept worked in this game.

Please comment and vote!!!! (on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best)

Question of the Day: Have you tried using Calypso in a small game? (less than 60 points for example)

-Also let me know if you’d like to see more Fleet Showcase videos!  I could also review fleets that aren’t my own!

The fleet: http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/showDeck/deck_id/830152/grouping/0/extended_format/true

Pirates packs on eBay: https://ebay.us/KHI2jl This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
– I HIGHLY recommend getting Calypso – she’s super unique and a ton of fun to use.
Tiger’s Paw: https://goo.gl/TywyQn

Battle Report mentioned: https://pirateswithben.com/the-jades-can-use-calypso-too-a-good-game-may-4th-2018/
Another example of using Calypso in a small game: https://pirateswithben.com/testing-a-gimmick-fleet-june-27th-2017/

Fleet Showcase: The Jades can use Calypso too!

Fleet on Miniature Trading

Naval Wars: The Last Campaign (A Pirate’s Story)

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Naval Wars: The Last Campaign (A Pirate’s Story)

This is my first attempt at actually “making” a video through editing and putting something together versus just recording. Although the quality may be a joke compared to many of the epic things on youtube, I’ve been VERY excited about it and it’s been AWESOME to make it and watch it. Please give feedback! I want to make more videos like this and improve if possible.

This is a parody of sorts – CG4 is NOT meant as the last campaign game (VASSAL or otherwise) of Pirates CSG. Just wanted to have the title connection. I combined the titles of both “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” to get the title the way I wanted it. (worked out perfectly!)

I got the idea from some of the other epic trailer-style videos, especially these:
NFL 2017: The Last Quarterback – A Star Wars NFL Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrByNSyjB5Y
2018 Yankees Hype Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1h59_bBS3g
Xerecs’ Savage Seas trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnP8hWWd7Sk

I’ve always loved epic stuff so this sort of thing is exactly what I want to create. I LOVE this game and campaign games are my favorite thing about the world of Pirates CSG, so naturally I’m excited about both the past and future of them. I thought it would be cool to showcase my illustrious history of playing campaign games, while using that as a way to preview this upcoming game.

I know there are some inconsistencies with the character parallels, but naturally I have to portray myself as the “First Order” with the other CG4 players as the rebels. With the “it does now”, I was originally going to have that feature my own avatar with the two player 1000 point game post by mastercommander before it, but I decided it would be much better to showcase a current player. Plus, it makes Xerecs seem epic XD, which his games have been. I also was going to have a picture from one of his games fade in right after his avatar first appears, but I think it would be too fast before the next transition. Funny enough my name is Ben, which is perfect for the Ben Solo comparison. (I actually hate Kylo Ren though haha) Baseball is the only sport I really care about at this point, but I’m a Yankees and Patriots fan (go dynasties!!), and Tom Brady was 3-0 through his first 3 Super Bowls, just as I am 3-0 in my first 3 non-solo campaign games, thus why I’m the “Tom Brady of campaign games”. (it also acts as an homage to the Patriots hype videos that partially inspired this one)

Since this is my first real “edited” video, I hope to improve in the future. I already have a solid half-dozen more ideas for this kind of video, but it will take a while to make each of them. Indeed, I was actually going to make retrospective videos for CG1/2/3 before this one, with this video as an epic “finale” of sorts that outdoes all the rest.  However, a number of things have led to this being first, although this is the one I’m most excited about anyway.

Disclaimer: Not trying to take credit from Disney or Star Wars. XD

Leave a like and subscribe if you want to see more!  You can see the CG1/CG2/CG3 retrospective videos in the Epic Videos playlist.

Naval Wars - The Last Campaign - VASSAL Campaign Game 4

VASSAL Campaign Game 4 has begun!

Pirates CSG Megacards – Collection Review #21

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Collection Review Episode 21: Pirates CSG MEGACARDS!! (Wizkids Pirates CSG)

Question of the Day: What is your favorite of all the Pirates CSG megacards?

It can be tough to narrow down the search without looking for specific ships, but eBay is your friend for collecting: https://ebay.us/5C1kyR This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Additional QOTD: How man CRS episodes do you think are left?

~~~~~

Recently I did another “video blast” with lots of content produced, so I’ll have plenty of videos for the foreseeable future in addition to the podcast and Hourly Campaign. The Start Here Rules tutorial is now above 2000 views, so that’s great!

 

Here’s the picture I decided to include in the youtube thumbnail.  It shows all 5 of my 10 masters (Celtic Fury barely visible beyond the Baochuan) in play during Command the Oceans (click the picture to read the battle reports).  Really shows what can be achieved in this game with massive scale.

Pirates CSG 10 masters

Pure epicness.

Serpent’s Fang – First Video Review! (Miniature Review)

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Published to Miniature Trading on June 3rd, 2018

Miniature Review: Serpent’s Fang – First Video Review!

Serpent's Fang

Serpent’s Fang
Set: Pirates of the Frozen North
Collector’s Number: 301
Faction Affiliation: Cursed
Rarity: PR
Type: Ship
Point Value: 13
Number of Masts: 2
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L-3L
Ability: Longship. If a sea monster begins its move within L of this ship, it gets +L to its base move.
Flavor: Stories abound that Jormungandr, the World Serpent, spit out the Serpent’s Fang, fully intact with crew. Her singular purpose is to slaughter Vikings and leave the dead to fill the belly of her monstrous parent.

QOTD: What do you think of the Serpent’s Fang?

I should have mentioned – good luck finding her though! She’s part of the very rare Nordic Raiders pack, which has gone for as much as $57 on eBay! (averages around $35.83 though) I was extremely fortunate to receive a Nordic Raiders pack as a gift from Miniature Trading user Trox due to my battle report quantity and quality.
http://m.miniaturetrading.com/user/trox

My fleets using her – comment and vote on them!
http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/showDeck/deck_id/665465/grouping/0/extended_format/true

http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/showDeck/deck_id/745160/grouping/0/extended_format/true

Ship page at MT: http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/selectCard/card_id/111590

Xerecs’ review of the Dark Pact: http://m.miniaturetrading.com/im/showCardReview/review_id/7825

My YouTube Channel

I started making Pirates CSG videos in May 2017 and cannot seem to stop!  There are a bunch of playlists sorted by various topics.  I LOVE making youtube videos about Pirates CSG, so feel free to send me suggestions for videos I should make!  (take the video survey, comment here or email me – a7xfanben@gmail.com)  Thanks for watching, feel free to like and subscribe!  Check out the channel itself for all videos.

(The following are affiliate links.)

GEAR I USE:
Laptop
Camera
Yes, that is it. The computer audio input and output has worked great for both videos and the podcasts. Camera doesn’t have great battery life for videos but it works well enough.

I did get an SSD for my old laptop in early 2018.

As you might be able to see from some of the videos, I use OBS Studio for my screen capture videos.