Here are the Start Here rules for Pirates CSG: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/pirates-quickreference_uk.pdf Here are the Complete Game rules: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Combined-Set-Rules.pdf You can find the other useful Pirates documents towards the bottom of this page: pirateswithben.com/ Disclaimer: I do not own those documents and I did not create this game!
When I'm a millionaire, I'm going to buy the rights to this game and start production on a new set. Idc if we lose money on it this game must continue!
Talk to Games Workshop and see if you can talk them into licensing Dreadfleet/Man O'War for an expansion. Would have exotic models and abilities though.
I forgot how simply elegant this game system was. Lots of great memories of this game, so much so I picked up a few packs to get started again. Well done!
Thanks! Hope you have fun with it again! Lots of extra info at my site if you ever want to delve deep into various combos and whatnot. pirateswithben.com/building-a-fleet/
Those were the days! The past 2-4 years I think I've pretty much only heard of people finding them at card shops/LGS's, etc. I did hear some reports of packs at Five Below, but possibly not since 2017 or earlier.
Got myself a whole box of boosters coming when I was young I always wanted to play this game, now I will have the opportunity to play this with my Daughter and wife, thanks for your amazing instruction videos
I just went and downloaded the complete rules from your site. Thanks for keeping that up for returning players like me. It's been years since I last played, but I'm trying to drag some friends into the game.
Found my old box of ships and am trying to pick the game back up, I remember playing this game a ton as a kid. Don't know what happened. But this game solidified my love of all things maritime, and am even on course to become a maritime engineer
That is awesome! If you want to discuss the game, feel free to join the Forum at Pirates with Ben: pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/introduce-yourself-join-the-crew/
It's great. There are a handful of people still playing, including virtually with the VASSAL module. Feel free to join the community at Miniature Trading: m.miniaturetrading.com/phpbb.php?action=forum&sub_action=viewforum&extra_params=f%3D9%2F/?referrer_name=a7xfanben
I found two boxes of ships and stuff at home from ages ago, but no rules. This video helps with understanding the rules so I can play with my children :)
seeing this brings back alot of memories of me and my younger brother playing modified rules. we still know the modified ones to this day, we use unlimited build total so that part was always ignored, we both got 15-20 value in gold and we chose our nation to start, our home port was used to buy more ships, crew, and later other things, we had like 600+ value of gold among 20 islands and it became a race to either sink/capture the other's ships or get more gold than the other in 3 hours or less winner has to have more gold and at least 1 ship left
Because I find the masts brake easily (maybe I'm just clumsy), we put damage tokens on the ships deck plate instead of removing the masts. Thank you so much for this video!
man, what a blast from the past. played this so much as a kid. i still have an absolutely enormous collection sitting in a box, been wondering if i should throw it away or if anyone would buy that stuff still these days. looks like i should maybe check if i can sell them, haha
Thank you for watching! You can play virtually with VASSAL if you want: m.miniaturetrading.com/im/forum/viewtopic/t=8786/// Other players and collectors can be found at Miniature Trading: m.miniaturetrading.com/phpbb.php?action=forum&sub_action=viewforum&extra_params=f%3D9%2F/?referrer_name=a7xfanben
@@a7xfanben My wife and I opened our OE packs and we got both the HMS Grand Temple and the Divine Dragon! We had a blast opening the packs. We're cataloging our pulls now and I will list my extras on the forum for trades for stuff we didn't get.
Good job. I have been playing this game about 10 years and it is more fun than Sea of Pirates...trust me! I add Pirate ships that any player can move/shoot! Every turn, a play moves their ship and ALL pirate ships. If you play solitaire, make your fleet from a Nation and add Pirates that you have attack your own ships. Be honest and fair...I only put 1 or 2 pirate ships valued at an equal amount of my ships. When playing with 2 players, each player can move the pirate ships. With 3 player, if one player isn't playing as another Nation, they can be pirates. Of course, if a player wants to be pirates, then only that player controls the Pirates. I like not having an players being the Pirates, because it adds flavor to the game. Usually, most player will move the pirates away from their ships and towards their opponents ships (day)!
Interesting. I don't think I would want to play that way, simply because of what you explained at the end of your comment. NPC's work best for solitaire games when you're not directly competing against another person.
You can't beat how games were in the early 00s. It was a perfect blend of online gaming and actually in person games like this. Nowadays, everything is too focused about online.
I recently just broke out my old boats and repaired the masts cause I had these when I was little and was a brutal owner and had to repair a good bit of the ships masts lol but all of my boats but one are repaired and ready for action
Hey bro you seem to be the most knowledgable source on here as far as this game goes. I picked this game back up with my dad and he has a bunch of ships that eliminate two masts with one hit. Specifically the endevor from potc and the hms leichester i think its called from spanish main. I was wondering if theres a way to not get absolutely destroyed by those ships lmao maybe its just cuz i dont have a very powerful collection but those two ships especially the endevor just seem really overpowered to me. Is there a way to counter it basically is what im asking
Yeah, there's numerous options to beat them with, but keep in mind they're still very good gunships. The Endeavour in particular is up there with the absolute best gunships in the game. -Use very fast gold runners to evade them and win the gold race. -L-immunity ships like the Jarvis. (can't be hit by L-range guns) -Other defensive abilities like El Acorazado (requires two hits to eliminate a mast, best paired with Joaquin Vega also from Spanish Main) -Cancellers can cancel that offensive ability if the ship is within S (tougher against the Endeavour of course) -Play some games where both of you must use ships you've never used before, or at least different fleets than you usually use. Helps to change things up, make the games more unique and less stale, and opens players up to new strategies/abilities/etc.
@@a7xfanben replies like this make me really interested in getting into the game - seeing a glimpse into the depth of strategy is really exciting, as someone who plays a lot of Magic and Warhammer
@@michaelfowler9467 Awesome! Love hearing that. The BR Compendium is a good thing to check out to learn about how the strategic aspects play out, but specifically: T2 for competitive/standard (1v1 @40 points) strategy: pirateswithben.com/vassal-tournament-2/ Campaign games for what I truly prefer, "Grand Strategy" :D VASSAL CG's 1-4 are not solo games, though the solo ones are more aesthetically pleasing. pirateswithben.com/battle-reports-compendium/
I usually play three games, where each player has a score generated by treasure score... Game 1. Game 2. Game 3 Player 1=6 gold. 3 gold. 6 gold = 15 gold. Player 1 wins! Player 2=4 gold. 5 gold. 2 gold = 11 gold Player 3=2 gold 7 gold. 4 gold = 13 gold I have each play start with 5 (points)gold piece x 1 coin 2 (points)gold piece x 3 coins 1 (points)gold piece x 6 coins Or 10 gold pieces at 17 points Each player randomly distributes the treasure coins to each island, but not home bases...each player can place any amount of coins to any island but no players gets to see the value of each treasure coin! However, each player can not put more than 3 coins on anyone island!
Yes, I've got a ton of resources on my Information and Stats page. The Master Spreadsheet is generally the most comprehensive ship list, and you can find all the rules and keywords from the rules document on this page: pirateswithben.com/information-and-stats/
Hey Ben. I'm still learning the game. Question?? I know a Captain on a ship has the move/shoot ability but when can a non Captain ship fire on another ship? I'm confused on when a non Captain ship moves in on another ship. How mamy actions does a ship have?
Each ship gets 1 action per turn. If a ship is in range of another ship, she can fire on that ship as a shoot action. Captain just combines moving and shooting into one action instead of separate. Here are the Start Here rules if you don't have them already: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/pirates-quickreference_uk.pdf (they changed "attack" action to shoot action, they're the same thing)
The Antelope sloop was a sickening sight How I wish I were in Sherbrooke now She had a list to the port And her sails in rags With a cook in the scuppers With the staggers and jags Goddamn them all I was told we'd cruise the seas For American gold We'd fire no guns Shed no tears Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier The last of Barrett's privateers
a7xfanben I plan on posting videos of this game on youtube as well as scaling some forts and massive ships using cardboard. I am a huge tabletop player and this is like top 3 games hands down so Id love to.
I’m wondering if there can be too much wear and tear when constantly removing the masts to show damage. Also, there’s the danger of snapping those fragile masts. Perhaps there could be a different damage system used?
Not in my experience, you just want to be a little careful when you're new to it. Some people do things like a tiny rubber band on masts that are eliminated, but I prefer playing the original way.
@@a7xfanben ah cool I had found a lot of unpunched cards that belonged to my brothers. Theyre kinda difficult to put together at first, also I ended up scratching the paint job on a lot of the ships, just from trying to put them together 😢 But I have a lot of ships now, can’t wait to try it! 😃
Must be the former for Captain. An ability informally called "Reverse Captain" lets you do the latter, but you cannot combine them in one action. The Pirate Code by Woelf explains it well: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Pirate-Code-FAQ-Dec-2016.pdf Thanks for watching!
Wow! You could get them out and use them! Feel free to join the Forum at my fansite to talk about your experiences with the game: pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/
@@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603 Haha!! Prices have been a bit higher since around 2015, but plenty of packs still sell for less than the original MSRP of $3.99. Most expensive ship I've seen is the Obago Deuce, which sold for $500 in January. But there are supposedly only about 30 of those in existence. 🙂
Hey! I would buy some packs, learn the rules, and make sure you enjoy playing the game. I wrote a Beginner's Guide that should help: pirateswithben.com/beginners-guide-to-pirates-csg/ Have fun! Ben
What do you mean? For the ship to go forward, the wind has to be blowing from behind the ship. Therefore the pennant flags should blow towards the front of the ships. Look at my avatar, one of the most iconic illustrations of sailing ships ever. cdn.britannica.com/02/60702-050-48A1465F.jpg
Here are the Start Here rules for Pirates CSG: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/pirates-quickreference_uk.pdf
Here are the Complete Game rules: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Combined-Set-Rules.pdf
You can find the other useful Pirates documents towards the bottom of this page: pirateswithben.com/
Disclaimer: I do not own those documents and I did not create this game!
a7xfanben wasn’t this game originally called: Pirates!
@@atalkinglemon3679 Not that I can recall, though Pirates is a general shorthand name for it. The first set is called Pirates of the Spanish Main.
a7xfanben k thanks
When I'm a millionaire, I'm going to buy the rights to this game and start production on a new set. Idc if we lose money on it this game must continue!
lol, indeed. Pretty much the exact same thought I've had many times before. (not to mention Xerecs, and others)
Please....PLEASE!
Talk to Games Workshop and see if you can talk them into licensing Dreadfleet/Man O'War for an expansion. Would have exotic models and abilities though.
Why wait? If a competent team were assembled you could start a go fund me and reboot it now ;D
@@AKmacintosh The team has definitely been coming together lately, but copyright remains an issue for now.
I forgot how simply elegant this game system was. Lots of great memories of this game, so much so I picked up a few packs to get started again. Well done!
Thanks! Hope you have fun with it again! Lots of extra info at my site if you ever want to delve deep into various combos and whatnot. pirateswithben.com/building-a-fleet/
It’s great to see that someone is still making videos on this game in 2019
Agreed haha! I'm happy with how much content I've made. Thanks for watching! ruclips.net/user/a7xfanbenvideos
Hello from the future xD
@@tahyang Hello there
I’ve always loved the little ships. I didn’t have too many people to play with way back when, but collecting the ships was always fun.
It's still a super fun game, new fleets are being created every week! :)
man I miss finding these at Target
Those were the days! The past 2-4 years I think I've pretty much only heard of people finding them at card shops/LGS's, etc. I did hear some reports of packs at Five Below, but possibly not since 2017 or earlier.
Got myself a whole box of boosters coming when I was young I always wanted to play this game, now I will have the opportunity to play this with my Daughter and wife, thanks for your amazing instruction videos
Glad to hear it, thanks for watching!
I remember playing this with my brother and sister when I was 8 brings back good memories
Maybe it's time to bust out the old ships! 😁
Thanks for commenting!
I just went and downloaded the complete rules from your site. Thanks for keeping that up for returning players like me. It's been years since I last played, but I'm trying to drag some friends into the game.
Awesome! I hope you're able to play with them soon! Glad I could help! 😀
Just found like 15 packs at my hobby store buying them little at a time was glade to find more this was a great game still love it
Glad to hear it! It's still super fun, I just played last night! :)
Found my old box of ships and am trying to pick the game back up, I remember playing this game a ton as a kid. Don't know what happened. But this game solidified my love of all things maritime, and am even on course to become a maritime engineer
That is awesome! If you want to discuss the game, feel free to join the Forum at Pirates with Ben: pirateswithben.com/forums/topic/introduce-yourself-join-the-crew/
I used to play this game all the time. Hours of fun with friends man.
It's great. There are a handful of people still playing, including virtually with the VASSAL module. Feel free to join the community at Miniature Trading: m.miniaturetrading.com/phpbb.php?action=forum&sub_action=viewforum&extra_params=f%3D9%2F/?referrer_name=a7xfanben
oh man i just downloaded lmao
Awesome! XD
I found two boxes of ships and stuff at home from ages ago, but no rules. This video helps with understanding the rules so I can play with my children :)
Awesome, glad to hear it!
seeing this brings back alot of memories of me and my younger brother playing modified rules. we still know the modified ones to this day, we use unlimited build total so that part was always ignored, we both got 15-20 value in gold and we chose our nation to start, our home port was used to buy more ships, crew, and later other things, we had like 600+ value of gold among 20 islands and it became a race to either sink/capture the other's ships or get more gold than the other in 3 hours or less winner has to have more gold and at least 1 ship left
Neat, sounds similar to a campaign/cumulative game.
@@a7xfanben more or less thats what it would be
Because I find the masts brake easily (maybe I'm just clumsy), we put damage tokens on the ships deck plate instead of removing the masts. Thank you so much for this video!
Thanks for watching! Feel free to join the Forum at Pirates with Ben! pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/
man, what a blast from the past. played this so much as a kid.
i still have an absolutely enormous collection sitting in a box, been wondering if i should throw it away or if anyone would buy that stuff still these days. looks like i should maybe check if i can sell them, haha
I would buy them! Let me know if they're still available: a7xfanben@gmail.com
Thanks for these videos! I've missed playing this game!
Thank you for watching! You can play virtually with VASSAL if you want: m.miniaturetrading.com/im/forum/viewtopic/t=8786///
Other players and collectors can be found at Miniature Trading: m.miniaturetrading.com/phpbb.php?action=forum&sub_action=viewforum&extra_params=f%3D9%2F/?referrer_name=a7xfanben
Thanks for the demo. I recommend a dice tower.
Thanks for watching and for the tip!
Just now discovered this game and am interested in getting into it. This game looks like a blast to play.
It is a blast! Feel free to sign up at my Forum! pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/
Welcome aboard!
Ben
@@a7xfanben I registered on the forum "CaptainValen". I can't play yet as I have no game pieces, but I am looking around for sealed product.
@@a7xfanben I ordered a box of OE! Super stoked to get the ship built and start playing.
@@captainvalen5429 Great, I look forward to hearing about it! :D
@@a7xfanben My wife and I opened our OE packs and we got both the HMS Grand Temple and the Divine Dragon! We had a blast opening the packs. We're cataloging our pulls now and I will list my extras on the forum for trades for stuff we didn't get.
Good job. I have been playing this game about 10 years and it is more fun than Sea of Pirates...trust me! I add Pirate ships that any player can move/shoot! Every turn, a play moves their ship and ALL pirate ships. If you play solitaire, make your fleet from a Nation and add Pirates that you have attack your own ships. Be honest and fair...I only put 1 or 2 pirate ships valued at an equal amount of my ships. When playing with 2 players, each player can move the pirate ships. With 3 player, if one player isn't playing as another Nation, they can be pirates. Of course, if a player wants to be pirates, then only that player controls the Pirates. I like not having an players being the Pirates, because it adds flavor to the game. Usually, most player will move the pirates away from their ships and towards their opponents ships (day)!
Interesting. I don't think I would want to play that way, simply because of what you explained at the end of your comment. NPC's work best for solitaire games when you're not directly competing against another person.
You can't beat how games were in the early 00s. It was a perfect blend of online gaming and actually in person games like this. Nowadays, everything is too focused about online.
Fair point!
I recently just broke out my old boats and repaired the masts cause I had these when I was little and was a brutal owner and had to repair a good bit of the ships masts lol but all of my boats but one are repaired and ready for action
Scratch that last bit of all but one I repaired the final ship and made it functional again for the game table
Nice! Glad you and your ships are back in action!!
Thanks! Great video man
Thank you for watching!
Great overview
Thank you!
Informative video! Where can I pick up a blue cloth play mat like that?
I got them at Joann Fabrics. About 5 yards of 5 different blue fabrics for ~$17.
Thanks for checking it out! 😀
Ben
Hey bro you seem to be the most knowledgable source on here as far as this game goes. I picked this game back up with my dad and he has a bunch of ships that eliminate two masts with one hit. Specifically the endevor from potc and the hms leichester i think its called from spanish main. I was wondering if theres a way to not get absolutely destroyed by those ships lmao maybe its just cuz i dont have a very powerful collection but those two ships especially the endevor just seem really overpowered to me. Is there a way to counter it basically is what im asking
Yeah, there's numerous options to beat them with, but keep in mind they're still very good gunships. The Endeavour in particular is up there with the absolute best gunships in the game.
-Use very fast gold runners to evade them and win the gold race.
-L-immunity ships like the Jarvis. (can't be hit by L-range guns)
-Other defensive abilities like El Acorazado (requires two hits to eliminate a mast, best paired with Joaquin Vega also from Spanish Main)
-Cancellers can cancel that offensive ability if the ship is within S (tougher against the Endeavour of course)
-Play some games where both of you must use ships you've never used before, or at least different fleets than you usually use. Helps to change things up, make the games more unique and less stale, and opens players up to new strategies/abilities/etc.
@@a7xfanben replies like this make me really interested in getting into the game - seeing a glimpse into the depth of strategy is really exciting, as someone who plays a lot of Magic and Warhammer
@@michaelfowler9467 Awesome! Love hearing that. The BR Compendium is a good thing to check out to learn about how the strategic aspects play out, but specifically:
T2 for competitive/standard (1v1 @40 points) strategy: pirateswithben.com/vassal-tournament-2/
Campaign games for what I truly prefer, "Grand Strategy" :D VASSAL CG's 1-4 are not solo games, though the solo ones are more aesthetically pleasing. pirateswithben.com/battle-reports-compendium/
I usually play three games, where each player has a score generated by treasure score...
Game 1. Game 2. Game 3
Player 1=6 gold. 3 gold. 6 gold = 15 gold. Player 1 wins!
Player 2=4 gold. 5 gold. 2 gold = 11 gold
Player 3=2 gold 7 gold. 4 gold = 13 gold
I have each play start with
5 (points)gold piece x 1 coin
2 (points)gold piece x 3 coins
1 (points)gold piece x 6 coins
Or 10 gold pieces at 17 points
Each player randomly distributes the treasure coins to each island, but not home bases...each player can place any amount of coins to any island but no players gets to see the value of each treasure coin! However, each player can not put more than 3 coins on anyone island!
Sounds like a unique variation on the gold rules.
Is there a list of ship stats, special rules etc? I may have lost the cards to a few of my ships?
Yes, I've got a ton of resources on my Information and Stats page. The Master Spreadsheet is generally the most comprehensive ship list, and you can find all the rules and keywords from the rules document on this page: pirateswithben.com/information-and-stats/
Hey Ben. I'm still learning the game. Question?? I know a Captain on a ship has the move/shoot ability but when can a non Captain ship fire on another ship? I'm confused on when a non Captain ship moves in on another ship. How mamy actions does a ship have?
Each ship gets 1 action per turn. If a ship is in range of another ship, she can fire on that ship as a shoot action. Captain just combines moving and shooting into one action instead of separate.
Here are the Start Here rules if you don't have them already: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/pirates-quickreference_uk.pdf
(they changed "attack" action to shoot action, they're the same thing)
@@a7xfanben Ok. You can only do one per turn. Move or shoot unless you have a Captain on board.
Thanks. I'll print them out.
The Antelope sloop was a sickening sight
How I wish I were in Sherbrooke now
She had a list to the port
And her sails in rags
With a cook in the scuppers
With the staggers and jags
Goddamn them all
I was told we'd cruise the seas
For American gold
We'd fire no guns
Shed no tears
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett's privateers
Harr, I know that from Alestorm.
i absolutely adore this game. It needs an updateee
How about discussing the possibility of that on the Forum at Pirates with Ben? pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/
a7xfanben I plan on posting videos of this game on youtube as well as scaling some forts and massive ships using cardboard. I am a huge tabletop player and this is like top 3 games hands down so Id love to.
@@battlefieldcustoms873 Awesome, looking forward to seeing that! :D
I’m wondering if there can be too much wear and tear when constantly removing the masts to show damage.
Also, there’s the danger of snapping those fragile masts.
Perhaps there could be a different damage system used?
Not in my experience, you just want to be a little careful when you're new to it.
Some people do things like a tiny rubber band on masts that are eliminated, but I prefer playing the original way.
@@a7xfanben ah cool
I had found a lot of unpunched cards that belonged to my brothers. Theyre kinda difficult to put together at first, also I ended up scratching the paint job on a lot of the ships, just from trying to put them together 😢
But I have a lot of ships now, can’t wait to try it! 😃
Hey if my ship is hit by a fire pot Can my ship still move or does it just stay even though I have another mast?
You can still move, a ship isn't derelict until it has no masts (and no oarsman). pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Combined-Set-Rules.pdf
Can a ship shoot another ship while docked at an island? Like using coral which can’t be attacked while docked, make it impossible to conquer ?
Yes ships can shoot while they're docked. The Coral could still be rammed/boarded/etc while docked. What do you mean by impossible to conquer?
Captain lets you move AND shoot in one action...so does it also work to shoot THEN move or do I must do them in that order?
Must be the former for Captain. An ability informally called "Reverse Captain" lets you do the latter, but you cannot combine them in one action. The Pirate Code by Woelf explains it well: pirateswithben.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Pirate-Code-FAQ-Dec-2016.pdf
Thanks for watching!
I have 40 odd ships from Spanish main ? Been sitting in a cupboard for years
Wow! You could get them out and use them! Feel free to join the Forum at my fansite to talk about your experiences with the game: pirateswithben.com/forums/forum/pirates-csg/
@@a7xfanben I was thinking they be worth millions in a few years 😀
@@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603 Haha!! Prices have been a bit higher since around 2015, but plenty of packs still sell for less than the original MSRP of $3.99. Most expensive ship I've seen is the Obago Deuce, which sold for $500 in January. But there are supposedly only about 30 of those in existence. 🙂
@@thebelfastvikingmartinbrow3603 You can check out my eBay history spreadsheet for some past auction prices: goo.gl/fLVoUZ
How would you recommend starting in PofTSM?
Hey! I would buy some packs, learn the rules, and make sure you enjoy playing the game. I wrote a Beginner's Guide that should help: pirateswithben.com/beginners-guide-to-pirates-csg/
Have fun!
Ben
Thanks, I got 3 Pirates of the Spanish Main packs.
@@singpizza8547 Awesome, perfect set to start with! :D
What ships does the US get in this game? They any good?
Yes they are, you can see them all here by selecting American and hitting Search: tilorfire27.github.io/PiratesCSGDB/index.html
Do you have to move the full distance of the card?
No, you can move any distance up to the full measurement of S or L, or skip entire movement segments if desired.
I wish I watched this before I asked you questions lol
It's OK, thanks for watching!
What was the Star wars version called?
I think just Star Wars Pocketmodels, I've never played it.
Having the pennants flying into the wind is doing my had in.
What do you mean? For the ship to go forward, the wind has to be blowing from behind the ship. Therefore the pennant flags should blow towards the front of the ships. Look at my avatar, one of the most iconic illustrations of sailing ships ever. cdn.britannica.com/02/60702-050-48A1465F.jpg
5 mins in and I can't watch this anymore.
Not because the game but you have your pendants backward.
No, they're facing the right direction, wind pushes the ships forward.
@@a7xfanben so your ensign is wrong.