#029, Ardeau, is linked to one of the most powerful if not the most powerful French warship in the set. He gives the SAT cost for 1 less than it should, but like Le Patriote if this was actually to be produced he wouldn't be very common.
#030, the Sans Culottes, combines a mediocre musketeer ability with the Spanish Main point cost for a boarder in one piece. You're unlikely to use that cannon unless you're facing a cannot-be-shot-by-L-range cannons ship or if you're really desperate. The boarding comes in a bit handy if you're that kind of player, and overall the cheap point cost means this crew thanks to the Generic ability can see much action.
As I'm rather busy today I'm going to stop here with the French for today.
Tomorrow we begin with the British, with some new options for treasure running and combat.
To quote about the next batch of-to-be-revealed ships from my previous post:
Quote:
...United Kingdom. In case you think that then next two crew are disappointing, the British get another good HMS Titan-Algernon class warship and an Aberdeen Baron class treasure ship, to say nothing of the several four-masted square-rigged ships...
Looks like a very nice set - I haven't seen anything yet that WK wouldn't have tried to foist on us.
(I did notice a typo with Rosalkov, unless it is intended for him to damage his own ship?)
Some of the more questionably low point values could be explained as being due to the simple fact they're French. Speaking of which, I am glad they are being given their own sub in this one - always using the Slipstream to carry my French marines is wearing a little thin.
A response to Lord_Stu's remarks:
-Your statement confuses me; do you think more custom abilities should be used and less Wizkids-ish ones or are you praising the Wizkids-like abilities?
-Are you supporting any assertion of the finalized modified point costs or the vanilla point costs for the French?
-Rosalkov's ability should be that the penalty happens to the other ship. Thanks for the correction!
Enter the British:
In contrast to the French, the British early-on in the Napoleonic Wars had strong, experienced crews but smaller ships, but because of British skill and tactics they eventually overcame the French following Trafalgar in 1805. The British hosted a wide variety of commanders from Cuthbert Collingwood to Horatio Nelson to Hyde Parker to Thomas Cochrane, which is reflect in this set by a reduced amount of crew with the captain keyword but more with special tactical abilities (in other words, more combat abilities and less captain abilities).
With this in mind, expect the British to have ships with strong accuracy and lower amounts of cannons graphic-wise to the French for historical players and few crews that enable the move-and-shoot ability and more "special" crews.
When's all been said and done...time to present cards numbers #030 and #031!
#031, the HMS Bristol, is a treasure ship capable of defending itself comparable to the Abderdeen Baron except that without cargo she can move faster and also have a larger cargo space for treasure. Naturally, it wouldn't be brilliant to use this ship for more than treasure hauling, but she has a 165% chance of making at least one hit per turn. The greatest aspect of this ship however is that she can be used with the Abderdeen Baron in a 40 point game.
#032, the HMS Majestic, upon looking at completed factions so far (not published and finalized cards, just all proposed pieces), is the loudest and greatest answer to Le Napoleon. Although she's both cheaper and has a smaller cargo space, both ships will miss on a roll of 1, and their abilities will allow them at most to have rank 1 cannons. Although this ship isn't as notable as her predecessors the HMS Titan and HMS Endeavour, for 16 points she's definitely not 16 points wasted.
Unfortunately, the forum exited out of this post when I was trying to preview its final version, so it took me a bit longer than expected to post these next four, #033-#036:
#033, HMS Shrewsbury, is an ode to Charles Di-ck-en's novel A Tale of Two Cities, in which the two characters Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver began their study of the Law in Shrewsbury. She's a fast four mast with an okay cargo space, but the ability to do a rum bomb is powerful.
#034, HMS Tiger , is a hybrid ship similar to Franc's Charlotte except she's a point more expensive and that S slower and has better cannons. You can definitely use her ability, and better yet using her yet-to-be-revealed named linked crew Captain Sullivan.
#035, HMS Patriot, is a cargo-space less than her French counterpart, but she has a strong ability and the same speed. Because both ships are really strong, the two ships may cause some controversy. You can consider these two as some of the star flavor text ships in the set.
#036, HMS Bastille, is the final ship for today, giving the British their first major warship with this "2-hits-from-the-same-shoot-action" ability. She's comparable to the French ship La Corse, with better cannons (except that random 3L in the aft). I like this ship's flavor text, except that I find #037 (to be announced) to have a better one. Due to the fact she's 2 points cheaper than La Corse I might increase the point cost to 17 points, depending on the user consensus.
Tomorrow, introducing a new, previously-suggested ship-type ability (but as of now, no new constructible ship type for it), a reference to a famous prime minister/general, and a promising treasure ship with a baaaad base move.
This set is really looking great so far! One of the things I've noticed is how similar the flavour text is to the tone Wizkids had.
HMS Bristol is intriguing; I would probably put a helmsman/explorer combo on her, but you could run her empty to the nearest two wild islands, taking advantage of her ability, with the con of having her slow down on the return trip.
I love when twos hit (rank-two guns with some kind of +1), so I could see myself using HMS Majestic in games, as well as HMS Patriot.
HMS Tiger looks incredible-a lethal combination of good guns, a solid move, big cargo hold, and game-changing ability. That might just be the problem, however, because she is almost as good as she can plausibly be in every category!
I might up the point cost of HMS Bastille, as you mentioned, because even though she has less cargo space than La Corse, she has better guns.
A7xfanben:
-Reading the flavor texts of the real WK cards helped me with perfecting the syntax.
-Looking in retrospect the HMS Tiger is a bit too good, but how much does a "touching" ability cost? I know that the "any" doubles it (+1 boarding as opposed to +1 vs ______ and +1 cannon rolls as opposed to +1 vs _____ ). Can anyone confirm?
-The target point cost will probably be around 16 points; not sure yet.
Presenting numbers #037-#040:
A new, but often proposed ability: Ship-of-the-Line. A ship-of-the-line is ship-type keyword, but as of now there is no special prototype reflecting this (if I ever have time to actually develop this set's sequel it might...). Ships with this ability gain 3 core abilities: the ability to move-and-shoot, the Broadsides Attack keyword, and +1 to their cannon rolls, period. The point cost of the core ability is therefore around 11 points, but the actual ship point cost varies depending on its armament.
#037, HMS Iron Duke, was originally made under some modified rules in which cannons and masts were separate entities; if a cannon hit it had to be higher than the opponent's cannon rank (therefore, a ship may roll a 4 and hit but if the enemy cannon rank is a 4 it stays there), but then I realized it became too complicated and favored treasure ships so I removed that revision. I'm not yet certain whether or not the ship is too cheap, as the ability seems inexpensive on small ships and expensive on large ones. Definitely not the worst British warship out there. As for the name, "Iron Duke" refers to Arthur Wellesley, who besides being the Duke of Wellington also ran for Prime Minister in the 1820's/1830's and served in the position. In spite of military skill he proved to very unpopular in politics, and eventually had to have iron shutters placed on his carriage doors to prevent damage to them in passing.
#038, HMS Honourable, is a beginner's ship and also a "why me?" ship. If the set was to be produced this would be as common as the infamous DJC Orca. Honestly, not an extremely horrific ship, but the promising six cargo and mediocre cannons countered by a bad base move relegates this ship to the lowest ranks.
#039,HMS Copenhagen, is meant to be a cheap warship for a pro-British player to field in battle. The flavor text refers to the fact that the First Battle of Copenhagen (1801) observed the running aground of several British ships due to the terrain around Copenhagen.
#040,HMS Indomitable, is the first ship in this set to bear this keyword, and is as highly desirable as the HMS Patriot or La Liberte. Graphic-wise I'd probably make this ship a 48 or a 64, some low-rate ship-of-the-line.
That's all for today, but tomorrow we begin with a warship that did exist (although the ability refers to its Crimson Coast homonym), a mediocre combat yet powerful sniping ship, Britain's only two masted ship (also a historical vessel) in this set, and Britain's first ship that gives friendly ships +1 to their cannon rolls...for a not-so-bad price!
If anyone wishes me to proceed a bit faster, having just finished 50% of all factions (almost done with the United States), please tell me so.
#041-#044:
#041, HMS Swiftsure, did exist historically (Britain built two versions during the Napoleonic Wars, one was captured by the French and both fought each other at Trafalgar). However, I liked the ability of the sloop from Crimson Coast, so I have kept it. She has the ability to hit from L without being able to be hit back by L, which is nice (although it puts her at risk of falling victim by a ship with her exact same ability). Four cargo's nothing to sneer at either.
#042, HMS Hannover , refers to the KGL (King's German Legion) that fought for the British during the Napoleonic Wars. Hannover had been a basis from which Britain recruited its marskmen before its capture, hence both the name and ability of the ship. It's true the ship ought to have better cannons if her crew are so accurate, but I wanted to create a fast moving ship made just to snipe at the enemy.
#043, HMS Beagle , also did exist as a Cherokee -class Sloop-of-War. Most notable for Darwin's voyage aboard her.
#044, HMS Royal, is a nice ship in her own right. A good cannon, a good speed to keep up with the fleet, and 1 cargo for something random.
Tomorrow:
-One of the most accurate flotillas in the game.
-Britain's own submarine (alas, a bit on the cheap side).
-A fort with a play on an old fort ability.
-Cheap marines without the Hostile: keyword.
Very well then; I will not hurry (at least until people start getting bored of this thread; then I will post by faction).
As I will be busy tomorrow I'm posting 8 pieces today:
The final ship and fort pieces, #045-#048:
#045, Pompadeur, reuses the good old bounty-hunting ability that the Jade Rebellion had introduced (if this ship shoots at a ship previously shot at by another ship this turn....). Presuming you attach this flotilla to a fast sloop-of-war like the HMS Greyhound or the CC HMS Swiftsure, that's 2S, 2L, 1S, 1L cannon's you're looking at in the eye.
Tired of using Mercenary submarines for your British marines or simply want to expand your submarine fleet? Thanks to Jacques Villier Britain gets its own submarine! #046 is a bit on the cheap side though at 10 points, okay cannons, and okay speed, but it's still a useful submarine as it has enough space for two 5-point marines.
#047, Tennyson-Upon-Newbank, had the poet Alfred Tennyson in mind. The fort has bad cannons, but if any ship unloads cargo there it can move its base move...did your HMS Titan just take Jules de Cissey or the Hag of Tortuga? That'd be a nice surprise.
#048, Royal Marines introduces most likely the cheapest marines in the set but also the weakest ones in that they don't have any special bonuses. They were cheap because they were intended to be used on many ships as in the Navy, but I'm starting to wonder if eventually they'll be as loved as Lord Mycron...
The first named crew, #049-#052:
#049, Wesley Samson, was based on a rough estimate of the "Two hits from the same shoot action" ability. This crew makes everything much harder for your opponent as now that ability's mobile without the DJC Davy Jones. Although I find the point cost fair, in case some people find him broken just add the Limit keyword to his ability as a house rule. Just as a head's up, this guy returns in quite a few flavor texts...
I'm amazed with how few extra action guys Britain got (they got 1, to be exact...), so I added this guy in. #050, William Roberts adds in the ability with no unwanted extras. As for the flavor text, The Battle of New Orleans was one of the final engagements of the War of 1812 in which the British were soundly defeated due to various reasons (including forgetting the ladders).
#051, Godwinson was created mainly for his flavor text, but in case some people just couldn't get enough of Carbon Charlie from Spanish Main here's another one.
The #052 Signal Officer may be considered a dramatic waste of points as the ability's overpriced, but in reality it's a huge benefit in contrast to the ships. This crew can be placed wherever you want on whatever ship you want.
Tuesday:
-Britain receives Superior Boarders with their new generic crew.
-A portable ranged specialist.
-An explorer with the eternal ability.
-A captain crew so that Britain keeps pace with France.
#053, British Sailors, will probably be a disappointment for most (after all, when will that +2 come in handy), but in theory if you play the pieces correctly, especially with ships that get +1 for every friendly ship within S, you're looking a near-automatic bonus.
#054, Harris Harrison brings a mobile version of the "double the range cannons" ability- I'm not sure how much the ability costs in theory but 4 points seems decent enough for me (some ships have it as worth 1 [El Neptuno], others -2 [Le Pique]). The text refers to the Lines of Torre Vedras, a defensive line around Portugal made in 1809 in pure secret. The Lines astonished the French to the point the commanding French general demanded if Wellington could make mountains. Quite a turning point in the Peninsular War.
#055, Robin Woolsley, is rather self explanatory: he offers the eternal to Britain without crew of any nationality abilities and also to boot is promoted for usage on treasure ships such as the Lady Provost.
#056, Captain Sullivan, provides Britain with a captain to keep touch with the French officers in addition to a nice little boarding bonus (at Spanish Main point cost) which comes in real handy with his link HMS Tiger.
Tomorrow:
-Introducing specialty bonuses to combat bonuses (i.e. if a ship has a +1 cannon roll bonus, then it also gains the ability to choose which mast is eliminated).
-Another 0LR crew.
-In case you couldn't get Mercer from DPotC, here's another SAC crew.
-A captain + action combo crew.
A response to Lord_Stu's remarks:
-Your statement confuses me; do you think more custom abilities should be used and less Wizkids-ish ones or are you praising the Wizkids-like abilities?
-Are you supporting any assertion of the finalized modified point costs or the vanilla point costs for the French?
Just to clarify, I wasn't denigrating the abilities or the point costs you've chosen, as it seems to me as though you have thought them through fairly well. What I was trying to say is that for the ones that might seem to be questionably low/high/too powerful, it is good to remember that no Pirates release I'm aware of was without its share of controversial pieces, so I would consider it a success if you're able to continue carrying on the tradition without overly offending our sensibilities.
Note: For the British Sailors, it might be better to call them British Tars, as every nation had "sailors", but only Britain had the tars!
To Lord_Stu:
-As I kindly believed, Lord_Stu ; do not worry, there was never an offense taken but a request for clarification, hence the .
-Many pieces in here had everything handpicked (no generators unless I was really unsure of the point cost balance) with the exception of some of the Barbary Corsairs crew, whose culture I am not familiar with and therefore had to use a .loc encyclopedia for a historical computer game.
-Will do! As this is the first version (I have finally successfully recreated the link icon and am toying with creating a black background for some of the stat boxes which will be added in the final version of this set-that will most likely be sometime at the end of this month and all factions will be group together and posted per faction) that is readily editable. I have never heard of this title, but upon some research quite an interesting one indeed.
In my joy of posting the British I forgot they only go up to #060, and thus we conclude the British with the final pieces #057-#060, which unfortunately had been uploaded before a major misprinting with the numbers had been fixed, so disregard the numbers printed (or just add +4 to each).
#057, Irwin MacDonald...remember crew members like Pierre Laffite who got to choose which mast was eliminated on a successful hit? Now you have one similar when you win a boarding action- this is rather similar to Rizz's and Woelf's equipment piece Captain's Hat, except it comes with no penalty if you lose the boarding action besides the signatory crew or treasure. We also have a potential challenger for Heinrich...we'll see what happens when the two meet... ...use your imagination.
#058, The Crown Prince Regent is a 0LR if you don't like the Commodore from BC or have an allergic reaction to Doone. Not much to say about this fellow.
#059, Peter Locksley...one of those awesome vengeful crews. In case you've never heard of it, the Spithead Mutiny was a mutiny that occurred in the final years of the 18th century during the transition from the French Revolutionary Government to the Napoleonic Empire. The crew demanded better conditions , and when ignored, sent some of the detestable officers ashore all the while agreeing to act as true countrymen and defend Britain in the case of an attack. The mutiny was more a protest than one like the HMS Bounty under Captain Bligh, but nonetheless if a sac crew's killing other crew then it makes perfect sense for him to be sent ashore! Also comes with a +1 against the French, though probably not too useful. Also links Ardeau into the picture.
And #060, Victor Collingwood (not intended to be related to Cuthbert Collingwood, the other commander at Trafalgar). Captain and SAT crew, all in one package. Pretty good asset for Britain in a set that will be dominated by captains. He's also fairly priced.
And so we say goodbye to the British.
Who's for tomorrow? El Navio de Espańa is next! [Or in other words, Spain].
If Woelf or some other pro-Spanish player is still keeping in touch with this thread, please inform me if you believe that the Spanish get shafted in this release. I happened to scroll through some of the oldest posts on this forum and came across Vladsimpaler's huge rant about Wizkids' shafting of Spain, and worked hard to remedy it in this set.
A sneakpeak at tomorrow's Spanish ships:
-A companion for the Spanish version of the Morning Star, with better cannons and cargo (but also more expensive).
-Spain's own version of the HMS Swallow WITHOUT rank 4 cannons.
-Spain gets an interesting on La Santa Ana from SCS.
-A familiar ability put on a...schooner?
If Woelf or some other pro-Spanish player is still keeping in touch with this thread, please inform me if you believe that the Spanish get shafted in this release. I happened to scroll through some of the oldest posts on this forum and came across Vladsimpaler's huge rant about Wizkids' shafting of Spain, and worked hard to remedy it in this set.
No need to worry about Spain. They did fall behind for a while after Revolution, but more than made up for it in the final few sets.
No need to worry about Spain. They did fall behind for a while after Revolution, but more than made up for it in the final few sets.
Very well then, what the Spanish player sees is what the Spanish player gets.
The Characteristics of Spain in the Set:
Spain gets the polarized ends as their strengths in this set: they either have really big ships or really small ships, there's nothing special in between (or to me; I've noticed that some crew and ships have attracted attention that I would normally ignore-like the HMS Tiger, for example).
The crew tend to be focused on either defensive combat or treasure hauling (in the true spirit of the Spanish Main release), but I'm also putting out that some useful crew have been added in addition to some cheaper and more cost-efficient versions of older abilities.
Spain's pieces tend to focus more on pre- and post- Trafalgar rather than Trafalgar itself.
#061-#064:
#061, The Flying Moon, is bound to produce interest. Her cannons scream gunship, but with the risk of losing everything after being derelict...that's a tough decision. The greatest uses for this ship would be as a well-armored and slow treasure hauler alongside ships like La Monarca that can ward of raiders...or if there's a platform ship being used like the Dolphin from PotC then the ship can be used as protection.
#062, The White Hunter, okay, okay, it's not a rank 2 Broadsides Attack ship, but compared to the El Argonauta and La Voz de Dios she's definitely worth her points. That and the traditionally expensive Ghost Ship keyword is quite helpful in preventing boarding attacks.
#063, Santa Angela, is this set's version of the SCS Santa Ana with the cheaper version of the ability, the SAT. I wouldn't surprised if this saw much action.
#064, The Emerald, places a defensive ability on a schooner that's not "can't be shot within S". Although on the slow side, I've often imagined this ship to be as potential as the SCS USS Hudson.
Tomorrow:
-The Spanish Inquisition returns with two new ships (I am yet to decide whether to add the Inquisitor or not after seeing his cards so many times).
-2 Capacious Treasure Ships.
#065, The Chapel of the Sea, brings crew-killing to the table. Certainly not a magnificent ship with her rank 4 cannons and at a whopping 15 Points, but there's a few things to consider: 1) Spain does get a few boarders/melee specialists that aren't necessarily the typical +1 boarders in this set, plus you're looking at 6 cargo. Definitely not an ugly ship.
#066, The Queen of the Heart is meant to be an improved version of the Heart of the Sea from Spanish Main. Also really nice cargo AND guns for a one-digit price.
#067, The Reason, just Spain hating the Cursed. Nothing special (except the 1 digit point cost again). For those who don't know after Napoleon invaded Spain he placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte (sometimes known as Pepe Botella in Spain); the Spanish Inquisition was also abolished under the Afrancesado regime.
#068, Ferdinand VII has very similar stats to the Chapel of the Sea except that she has a cheaper ability. As a sneak peak to the crew, the crew has some neat potential.
Tomorrow, the core Spanish Treasure Fleet in this set will be revealed (~8 pieces in total). Expect a bunch of two and one masters, but with some following perks:
-The first two-mast eliminator with rank 2S cannons.
-Spain's first 2-hits from the same shoot action with 3S cannons.
-Ships with S benefits.
-The piece that I'd like Woelf or some other master point detector to look at: the soon-to-be-notorious La Roca.
-If that's not enough, then the other sloop will also be of interest to you...
#069, The Wolf, may be interpreted as my homage to Woelf, but that homage appears elsewhere in this set (however, Woelf may choose which piece he likes better). The Wolf is named for her firepower, which is strong enough to bring down a typical 4-masted ship in one go. Decent cargo as well.
#070, La Alhambra, is named in honor of the location described in the text. Good defensive ship in its own right.
#071, La Galicia, refers to fisherman from the province of Galicia. Good all-around small ship.
#072, The Gold Seller, is handy when UT's such as Enemy of the State hit treasure haulers.
Cards #073-#076:
#073, La Manche, refers to the novel Don Quixote. Pretty decent ship in its own right with its rank 2S cannons.
#074...the ship you've been waiting for...The Rock. The Rock refers Gibraltar, and comes with a near-automatic +L bonus (you either have all of your masts or you're derelict). However, it already moves L+L, so it can pretty much move L+L+L on its own (imagine helmsman AND navigator AND SAT). Oh, and did I say 4 Cargo? This ship will either be really despised or abruptly increase the demand for the UT Odin's Revenge. A counter may be created later in development. Also, master point determiners such as Woelf please offer some advice on whether the price is good or it needs to be spiked up.
Developer's Trivia: This ship originally had the ability "ramming cannot eliminate this ship's masts", but that was changed out of fear of shafting Spain. Even though I was informed that Spain was fine by the game's end, the ability stuck.
#075, The Harmony, is also a dirt-cheap treasure runner, but because it has the worst cannon possible and sails at half the rate of the Rock it's pretty balanced. Plus, you can't really spam it with a helmsman or extra action crew because it only costs 2 points. You can either move S+S+S+S and wait a turn before exploring or only move S+S+S but explore in the same turn.
Finally, Spain's new flotilla, #076, The Red Witch. I'm considering boosting the point cost by 2 to make her 8 Points since Fear costs on its own 6 points. Pretty accurate flotilla, with a really sweet flavor text.
Tomorrow:
-Spain FINALLY gets a Sac Captain...with a justified excuse through its flavor text.
-Another S-Explorer.
-A Fort and a Submarine with the strangest abilities ever.
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Speaking of which, I am glad they are being given their own sub in this one - always using the 
, and thus we conclude the 
...use your imagination.
