Pirates the Constructible Strategy Game™ Rise of the Fiends Sneak Peek #2

Here is sneak peek #2, lots of good Pirate fun!!

Pirates of the Cursed Seas: Rise of the Fiends PocketModel GameSneak Peek #2

By Kelly Bonilla

With the Pirates of the Cursed Seas: Rise of the Fiends expansion, the Cursed get a boost in their bid to control the seas, and have even found another relic sure to aid them. Watch your crew carefully, for at any time they may fall prey to the Voodoo Doll.

The unique treasure Voodoo Doll (#064) can mean bad news for ANY crew member, unless they happen to be Cursed. At the beginning of each of their turns, the Voodoo Doll holder chooses a non–Cursed enemy crew member and rolls a d6. On a 5 or 6, that crew is turned face down and can’t use their abilities on their next turn. No doubt they’re too busy trying to dig phantom cutlasses out of their backs.

The evil Cursed leader El Fantasma has also added to his ranks of crew with the corruption of the Hag of Tortuga (#018, 4 points), gaining the ability to speak with the foul monsters of the sea. The Hag of Tortuga will add +L to the base move of any sea monsters within L of her ship, making her an excellent way to guide beasties to their next meal.

But perhaps the most sinister addition to the fleets of the Cursed will become clear as men of the sea turn their eyes to the ocean and spy only a wicked blade coming over the horizon to reap their souls; the scorpion ships have arrived! Equipped with a long, movable scythe on their bows, the scorpion ships excel at pinning and boarding enemy ships without becoming pinned themselves. After a scorpion ship completes a shoot action or move action (without ramming), if you can move her blade so that it touches an opposing ship, you can immediately attack that ship as a free action using the blade. If you do, the opposing ship must eliminate a mast. No ability can prevent this! The opposing ship is pinned and can be boarded, though the scorpion ship itself isn’t pinned. And, even though it can’t board them afterwards, scorpion ships can even pin sea creatures!

One of the scorpion ships now prowling the seas is Pestilence (#009, 17 points). The priciest of the Cursed’s new toys, she bears the Scorpion and Fear keywords and a base move of L, as well as a cargo of 3 should she need to escort treasure back to a home island. Pestilence also features two rank 3 cannons with long range and a rank 4 cannon with short range. Put these things together and you have just the thing to intimidate would-be adventurers of the seas.

The very first scorpion ship of the line (or point, as the case may be) is Scorpion (#011, 15 points). She brings the Eternal keyword along with scorpion, making her a pox for your opponents for the length of your game. Though she’s slower with a base move of S, she has four cargo spaces awaiting crew, equipment, or treasure. Three excellent rank 3 cannons at long range round out this deck piercing fiend. But Rise of the Fiends also has some excellent standard ships just waiting to leave port, as we’ll soon see.

Pirates the Constructible Strategy Game™ Rise of the Fiends Sneak Peek #1

Wizkids has posted a couple snek peeks, here is the first:

Pirates of the Cursed Seas: Rise of the Fiends PocketModel GameSneak Peek #1

By Kelly Bonilla
Looming on the horizon is first release of the rebranded Pirates PocketModel game: Pirates of the Cursed Seas: Rise of the Fiends. This set is shaping up to be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Or, at the very least, it will have a Barrel o’ Monkeys!

The unique treasure Barrel o’ Monkeys (#065) won’t be so fun for the one who finds it. These mischievous minions will randomly toss one of your hard-earned treasures onto any wild island you sail away from—and to any other ship your ship touches! If there’s no room on the other ship to receive the treasure, these pernicious primates will just toss it overboard and eliminate it!

Also appearing in Rise of the Fiends is Trevor van Tyne (#058, 2 pts.) of England, a once-lost (and -cursed) soul who’s found redemption through love of Hermione Gold. Such is the fierce power of this love that Van Tyne will join your fleet only if you have another English ship or crew, and will not join your fleet if you have any Cursed ships or crew. Van Tyne also brings with him the Musketeer keyword and a link to the fiery Hermione Gold herself.

Other crew in Rise of the Fiends will have similar fleet requirements, easily spotted by the “Loyal” or “Hostile” keyword. Crew that are “Loyal” to something will require that something, whether that be a specific crew, ship, or any game piece of a specific nation, to be in the same fleet with them. “Hostile” crew will not join your fleet if the something that they happen to be hostile to is in your fleet. It’s a simple and flavorful new challenge to fleet construction.

Are you protective of your newly explored islands? Looking to control some shipping lanes in your next game? Rise of the Fiends is prepared to handle your needs with the introduction of a new game piece: the flotilla! Flotillas are floating gun platforms that are towed into place by other ships. They can be given only shoot actions and repair actions (they can repair at sea), and they also have no masts. Instead they have flags, which can be eliminated only if the flotilla is hit twice on the same turn from the same shoot action. When a flotilla has no flag, any hit sinks it, but a flotilla can be given shoot actions even if it has no flag.

You might still be wondering why you’d want to invest any points in something that A) doesn’t move without help and B) can’t carry treasure. Did we mention that flotillas double their printed cannon ranges? No? Well, there you go. A minimal amount spent to control upwards of 2S to 2L of the sea.

How minimal an investment, you might ask? Well, for 7 points you can add the English Gibraltar (#015) flotilla to your fleet. With four rank 2 cannons all at short range, ships are sure to think twice about getting into its range, perhaps buying valuable time for a friendly vessel to pass under its protective watch.

If you think you need just a bit more range, your 7 points can instead add the American Minuteman (#016) to your fleet. Though its cannon ranks are a little different, it offers ranges that any discerning tyrant of the seas can love: two short-range rank 2 cannons and two long-range rank 4 cannons—the only flotilla thus far to offer long ranges.

Two more flotillas round out those found in Rise of the Fiends, each also a mere 7 points. But flotillas aren’t the only new fiendish surprises to be prowling the cursed seas . . . .

Pirates of the Caribbean Pocket Model Game

I missed this over at the Wizkids site so it's about a week late:

WIZKIDS ANNOUNCES
DISNEY’S PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN IN STORES TODAY!
November 7, 2007 (SEATTLE) — WizKids Inc. announces that Disney’s Pirates of
the Caribbean PocketModel Game is available in stores today!

Pirates fans will recognize their favorite constructible strategy game with a
new look and name. The Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean PocketModel game
brings to life players’ favorite ships and characters from all three Disney’s
Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Experience the adventure by building the
Black Pearl and setting sail with Captain Jack Sparrow! The Disney’s Pirates
of the Caribbean PocketModel game is completely compatible with all previous
WizKids Pirates releases.
Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean PocketModel game packs (MSRP $3.99) contain
two Pirates of the Caribbean PocketModels, one island/whirlpool card, one crew
or treasure card, complete game rules and one die. To find a local hobby or
gaming store near you, visit http://www.wizkidsgames.com/.

Everyone's favorite pirate girls Elizabeth Swan gives her approval:

USS Denver Gift With Purchase Promotion!

Some news for those of you who play the Pirates CSG:

Pirates CSG Online is proud to offer players the USS Denver digital and physical promotional ship as a gift with purchase. For each purchase of $25 or more made from the Pirates CSG Online between November 1st - 25th, 2007 players will receive one (1) digital copy of the ship added to their online collection and a redemption offer for one (1) physical copy of the USS Denver promotional ship. This physical ship redemption offer is only available through Pirates CSG Online courtesy of WizKids and SOE.

USS DenverType: ShipPoint Value: 20Collector’s Number: SOE 07Rarity: SpecialCargo Space: 4Cannons: 4x 3LMove: LNumber of Masts: 4

Special Abilities: Friendly ships within S of this ship get a +1 on their cannon rolls.

WIZKIDS’ ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW ORGANIZED PLAY PROGRAM

Some interesting news from Wizkids:

WIZKIDS’ ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OFNEW ORGANIZED PLAY PROGRAM!
October 26, 2007 (SEATTLE) — WizKids Inc. announces the launch of its new Organized Play Program, offering new features like Casual Play events and player ratings and rankings to be integrated across all game lines.
“Retailers and consumers alike have asked for a system that tracks events and ranks players,” said Joe Hauck, WizKids® EVP of Sales, Marketing and Product Development. “This is the beginning of a fantastic Organized Play Program that not only tracks events and ranks players, but will give players more options and easier ways to compete and build communities.”
The WizKids Organized Play Program is designed to foster community and healthy competition among players and collectors of WizKids games. With a new event scheduling option, Casual Events, casual pick-up games can be recorded with the WizKids Organized Play Program during or after the event. This allows registered venues and event organizers greater flexibility in scheduling events.
WizKids will begin the Organized Play Program with Star Wars PocketModel TCG: Ground Assault and Halo ActionClix events, which will be scheduled in all formats beginning November 1, 2007. Players participating in sanctioned Ground Assault and Halo ActionClix events will receive ratings and rankings points.
WizKids Approved Play system will now be known as the Organized Play Program. WizKids maintains an informational website regarding its promotions and organized play activities, as well as active discussion forums at http://www.wizkidsgames.com/. WizKids offers free online registration to make full use of these resources, but a great deal of information is available to non-program participants. Any questions or comments regarding the Organized Play Program should be directed to organizedplay@wizkidsgames.com, organizedplayEU@wizkidsgames.com, or organizedplayROW@wizkidsgames.com (all Approved Play email addresses will be redirected to Organized Play email accounts).