General description:
I became a fan of the eponymous "mysterious islands" the first time I laid eyes on them. Who knew just how the dice would roll? Would you end up tasting their sugar or their vinegar? Fire & Steel has brought something new to the world of Pirates of the Branding Purposes and it made me reevaluate the usefulness of mysterious islands; particularly I05. After examining the wordings of the game pieces, I am so certain that it works the way I believe it works that I am putting my reputation on the line and writing this review as though it was the gospel truth. (I don't visit the Wizkids forums anymore so if this has already been covered there, I apologize) I will sulk for weeks if I am mistaken so correct me gently. But all of that aside, I couldn't resist the opportunity to be a pioneer of sorts: the first MT member to write a review on an island. That is, the review is about an island; I did not write this review while stationed physically *on* an island. You get my meaning.
Uses:
It goes without saying that exploring a wild island with ten treasure coins (as opposed to four) maximizes your options. But, dream the impossible dream... do ye dare try for sixteen, laddie? What makes it richer is that you increase your coin yield by 150% while simultaneously decreasing the coin yield at each other wild island by 50%. Nowhere else in the game does such an ability exist -- and for good reason! All it takes is a dock at I05 and a roll of a die. An extra action means a departure and another docking and -- if you are super lucky -- a chance to sweep three islands clear of coins in a single turn. (insert diabolic laughter here)
Strategies and game play:
During island placement, measure your islands as closely to 3L apart from one another as possible, making sure to place your other 2 islands around I05. If you can give your ship an extra action after docking at I05 and nailing the 5 or 6 the first , you have EVERYTHING to gain by trying your luck a second time. Nailing a 5 or 6 for the second consecutive positive mysterious island effect in the early game will mean that you will have mysteriously teleported every gold coin from three other wild islands to I05.
Combos with other miniatures:
Because it's just an island, I05 is heavily dependent upon other elements to reap the whirlwind. Apart from a ship with a generous cargo hold to tote coins back to your home island, the most important game piece you can have to make I05 work for you - the piece which made me reexamine is either one of the Fire & Steel versions of both Hermione Gold and Diamond Nelson Turner, who have identical costs and abilities, although Turner has a Loyal:America keyword. Up until now, re-rolls were limited to die rolls "made for this ship" and could not affect mysterious island rolls because they were not made for the ship; rather, the rolls were made unto themselves. Gold and Turner let you roll 2d6 in place of a d6 once each time their ship is given an action and you may then choose the result you want to use. As long as the dock happens as a result of a move action, they can give you two shots at getting the positive effect. They can't guarantee you a 5 or 6 but now you have an additional shot at avoiding a 1 or 2. Also out of Fire & Steel, Lord Mycron can give any ship in your fleet two actions instead of giving his own ship an action. Robinson and Lord Mycron aboard an HMS Patagonia permanently in dry dock might be something to consider. "Don" Pedro Gilbert/SCS Zheng Li Kwan can do two things for your ship:get you to I05 faster by saccing a crew for an extra action and swapping out a negative unique before it takes effect. Aside from crew, if you're lucky enough to have I05 as the closest wild island to your home island, the event Hidden Cove can dock your ship there at the beginning of your turn but because the dock which HC provides is not the result of an action, neither Gold nor Turner can use their ability to help you with the island effect roll. The UT Nemo's Charts adds 2 to mysterious island effect rolls, putting you past the range of resulting in a negative effect. Both Jack's Compass and Homing Beacon get you home in a jiffy so it might not be the worst thing in the world to contribute both in your treasure pool. If your opponents generally go heavy on negative uniques, you might just want to contribute a Kharmic Idol into the treasure pool and nuke all uniques, good or bad, leaving nothing but game-winning gold behind. And last but not least, Ex-Patriot crew aboard ships to which they are linked add 1 to mysterious island effect rolls when their ship docks at them. As to which ship would be ideally suited to carry out Operation Golden Rain... well, there are obviously quite a lot. Since Hermione is English, the ship in question would have to be English, English-friendly or "any nationality" friendly. Whether you prefer to use such a ship with that ability or use a crew like Anamaria or RotF's Crimson Angel is entirely up to your own personal taste. Needless to say, choose a fast ship and one which has an above average cargo rating. I realize that leaving ship selection up to you, the readers, might sound like a cop-out but I look at it this way: reviewing an island is HARD!! Try it and you'll see what I mean!
Ways to counteract it:
Because it's just an island, I05 isn't so much the threat as the ships raking in the loot so this section will include ways to counteract the ships carrying out the dirty deeds rather than the island itself. The events Mermaids and Becalmed can slow down Operation Golden Rain but, of the two, Mermaids is usually canceled out by Favor of the Gods which, for you newbies out there, removes all face up events from the game. While Mermaids and Becalmed can cause difficulties, the most cold-hearted event which could be used against you is False Treasure. Due to its high point cost of 10 (the most expensive of the events), it's seldom seen in a 40 point game. Wolves can hold coins hostage until fired upon by a Musketeer or a Marine, Enemy of the State can rob you of your ability to dock at your home island and crew killing UTs such as Missionary,Cursed Natives, Blood Money or Plague will ruin your day but good.
Strengths/Pros:
- All the coins = a potential dream haul.
- Its negative effect does not cause a loss of much needed masts.
- Its negative effect has better odds at beating the loss of your next move action than I06.
- Its negative effect doesn't undo what the positive effects have done like I01.
- Its negative effect is determined later on by a roll of a d6, meaning your lost move action isn't written in stone and because it happens when the ship is given a move action, Gold and Turner can use their ability and possibly help you avoid being detained.
Weaknesses/Cons:
- Your opponent may choose your I05 as your home island, bringing Operation Golden Rain to a premature end.
- Using multiple copies makes it possible for your opponent to beat you to the punch.
- One successful headhunter campaign will humble you and worsen your odds.
- Your opponent might choose a distant island as your home island which will be too far from I05 to run Operation Golden Rain
- Your opponent isn't stupid. Even if Operation Golden Rain goes off without a hitch, he or she will go all out to prevent your coin-laden ship from returning to your home island with the cream of the crop of coins.
Artwork and aesthetics:
I've affectionately named this island design Male Elephant Seal Island.
Please tell me that you see the resemblance. You DON'T?!? For goodness' sake, however did you find Waldo?
Overall rating:
It might be a pipe dream to have all 16 coins in your greedy little mitts but if you find yourself playing the same game and going through the motions, why not give it a shot? If you fail, you lose a game. But if you succeed... victory and bragging rights! Rating this island is trickier than rating any other game piece because a proper fleet build will make all the difference -- as will the longevity of Gold or Turner. I'd give it a 9 out of 10 in the mysterious islands category but a 4 as a game piece on its own.
Miniature Trading
