Pirates Constructible Strategy Game
Oversized Pirates models at Gen Con Indy 2007
Players2–9
Setup timevaries, usually 10 minutes
Playing time30–180 minutes
ChanceConsiderable
Age range8+
SkillsStrategy, Dice rolling, Collecting

The Pirates Constructible Strategy Game is a tabletop game manufactured by WizKids, Inc., with aspects of both miniatures game and collectible card game genres: a constructible strategy game produced by WizKids. "Pirates of the Spanish Main" (the initial release of the Pirates line) is claimed to be the world's first "constructible strategy game," referring to the mechanics of creating game pieces from components that punch out of styrene cards. The game was created by Jordan Weisman[1] and designed by Mike Mulvihill, Ethan Pasternack, James Ernest, and Mike Selinker. It was released in early July 2004.[1] An online computer game based on Pirates of the Spanish Main by Sony Online Entertainment called Pirates CSG Online was also created, which ended on January 31, 2011. Pirates of the Cursed Seas is a tabletop strategy game depicting naval battles and a 17th century hunt for treasure in the Caribbean.[2] On September 14, 2009, collectible maker National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced the purchase of the Wizkids name and properties from Topps, specifically including the Pirates line,[3] which was then canceled.[4]

Gameplay

The general goal of Pirates is to collect more gold than one's opponents,[1] or with variants, to achieve a given objective or destroy all enemy ships. Additional scenarios also exist, created by WizKids and others. The game's pieces include ships, forts, sea monsters, crew, islands and other terrain markers, events, gold and other treasure tokens.

A distinguishing feature of Pirates is the 'constructible' element of the game; each game piece (except for terrain) is created by popping out the small polystyrene pieces from placeholder cards and assembling them. As the ship, fort or sea monster is damaged by enemies during the course of game play, pieces of it are removed to record how much damage it has sustained, giving the game piece itself the appearance of slowly being destroyed. The elements removed from the piece - for example, a ship's masts - can no longer be used in the game unless another game element allows it to be replaced later.

Each game piece has a point value that is related to its overall power. A more powerful a piece has a higher point value. Players assemble fleets of ships, monsters, forts, and crew based an agreed-upon point total, similar to the manner in which many miniature war games are played. This helps balance each player's fleet, and means that the construction of a fleet can be as strategically important as the gameplay itself.

The action takes place on a tabletop or similar flat surface rather than a game board; before play begins, players take turns populating the play area with various pieces of terrain like islands, fog banks, and sargasso seas. Face-down gold or treasure tokens are then placed on each island. After creating the play area, players then place their fleets and gameplay begins.

Players take turns moving their ships around the play area, landing on islands and exploring them, which reveals the value of the gold and treasure tokens on that island. Ships then collect treasure and attempt to return it to their home islands before their opponents. Since the game's victory conditions include both gold collection and the destruction of all enemy fleets, there are several different strategies that can lead to victory: trying to destroy an opponent before they can gather gold; building a fast and strong enough fleet to avoid being destroyed; or, most common, a mix of both.

The game is packaged so that one person may play the game with only one game pack, but several more packs are required to play using the full rules. Additionally, the game is far more enjoyable and balanced when each player has a larger selection of game pieces from which to choose when assembling their fleets.

The recommended "sweet spot" for playability appears to be three to five players on a 90 cm by 90 cm (3 foot by 3 foot) 'ocean'.

Configurations

The game is primarily sold in "game packs", foil-wrapped packs of randomized styrene cards and other game components roughly the same size as a pack of baseball cards or other trading card game packs such as Magic: The Gathering. Each pack includes a randomized combination of two constructible game pieces: ships (including forts and sea monsters), and various crew, treasure and terrain. These game pieces are numbered and collectible, and come in multiple levels of rarity designated by a color-coded triangle on each card's corner - the most common rarities for standard booster pack items are : Common (white for generic crew, red for ships), Uncommon (silver-grey), Rare (yellow), or Super Rare (black). Other rarity designations for non-pack ships include "Special Edition" (green), a one-off Promo (purple), and "Limited Edition" (copper) for tournament prize ships.

Unlike most trading card games, due to the limited number of game pieces in each pack, some packs do not contain any Rare or Super Rare game pieces, or may contain multiple Rares. Any given set's Super-Rares will always come all together in the same pack. Each pack also contains a cardboard island (the reverse side in later sets has printed terrain such as a fog bank, sargasso sea, or reef), a checklist and set of rules, a crew/treasure card (which may include gold pieces for use in the game), and a mini-die. Each pack generally costs $4 US.

WizKids released other game configurations as well, mostly into mass market channels such as Toys "R" Us, Target and Wal-Mart. These include but are not limited to:

  • Promotional pieces and packs: Various ships since the game's inception have been sent to retailers to be given away, usually in a clear plastic wrappers. Some of these are Limited Edition items, and some are duplicates of items found in common booster packs.
  • Tins: A small tin box decorated with Pirates artwork which contains multiple Pirates booster packs. With Ocean's Edge, some Special Edition tin exclusive card packs were also included in the tins. Also released were "Mega Tins" - slightly larger tins containing Ocean's Edge booster packs, and a special plastic wrapped pack containing faction-specific junk ships and crew. Two of the factions were only available in Tins exclusive to specific US retailers, Wal-Mart and Target. Finally, Rise of the Fiends "Treasure Chest Tins" contained one of four Megacards.
  • Value Boxes: A small cardboard box with a window in it, typically containing one of four possible Special Edition prebuilt ship, crew, standard gold treasure, islands, and occasionally a full-sized die. The prebuilt ships have a green corner rarity indicator which is referred to as "Special Edition". These have been released for a number of sets since Revolution.
  • Megapacks: A booster pack twice the size of normal packs, containing four ships or monsters, a megacard (double-sized card), one mini-die, and several terrain. Released so far only for Oceans' Edge.

On October 25, 2006, WizKids released "Pirates: Quest For Davy Jones' Gold", a non-collectible board game version of the Pirates game that uses gameplay elements and game pieces from the constructible strategy game, but is designed to be simplified, self-contained and sold in the board game section of retail stores.

Factions

Ships, forts, sea monsters and crew are members of various factions. The factions exist largely for fictional purposes, but there are certain game mechanics that use the factions as well.

  • The Pirates, representing the popular view of Pirates around the "Golden Age of Piracy". They are absent in Pirates of the Barbary Coast.
  • The English, representing England and later the British Empire.
  • The Spanish, representing Spain and its empire in the new world.
  • The French, introduced in "Pirates of the Crimson Coast", representing first the French empire and then the Napoleonic empire in later expansions.
  • The Americans, introduced in "Pirates of the Revolution", who represent the American colonies during and after the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
  • The Barbary Corsairs, who represent the pirates that operated in the Mediterranean Sea during this time period. They only appear in "Pirates of the Barbary Coast".
  • The Jade Rebellion, a fictional group representing a confederation of Asian pirate-revolutionaries in the South China Sea. They only appear in "Pirates of the South China Seas", with the exception of a super-rare "intro" pack from "Barbary Coast".
  • The Cursed, consisting of ghosts and other supernatural characters, ships and sea monsters.
  • The Mercenaries, introduced in "Pirates of the Mysterious Islands", a collection of steampunk-like scientists, revolutionaries and ships, including submarines.
  • The Vikings, introduced in "Pirates of the Frozen North", which are not historical Vikings but Norse sailors who use Viking mythology, symbols and names for their ships.

Releases and expansion sets

  • Pirates of the Spanish Main - first release, on July 28, 2004. At the 2004 Origins Awards Pirates of the Spanish Main was one of the winners of the Vanguard Awards.[5]
  • Pirates of the Crimson Coast - second set and the first expansion to the Pirates of the Spanish Main, released March 2, 2005
  • Pirates of the Spanish Main—Unlimited Edition - released March 15, 2005, as a second reprint of the cards from the original "Pirates of the Spanish Main".
  • Pirates of the Revolution - third installment of Pirates of the Spanish Main, released in June 2005
  • Pirates of the Barbary Coast - released October 26, 2005
  • Pirates of the South China Seas - released February 22, 2006
  • Pirates of Davy Jones' Curse - released May 31, 2006
  • Pirates of the Mysterious Islands - released November 15, 2006
  • Pirates of the Frozen North - released February 14, 2007
  • Pirates at Ocean's Edge - ninth expansion in the series, released April 18, 2007
  • Pirates of the Caribbean PocketModel Game - released November 6, 2007 as a tie-in to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies
  • Rise of the Fiends - released January 30, 2008
  • Fire and Steel - released April 9, 2008
  • Savage Shores - final expansion, released November 5, 2008
  • Return to Savage Shores - scheduled for release in early 2009, but never released

RPG

In 2007 Pinnacle Entertainment Group released The Pirates of the Spanish Main, a source book for their Savage Worlds role playing game, set in the same world as the CSG.[6]

Awards

The game won the Origins Vanguard Award, 2005.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "WizKids Plans Pirate Game". icv2.com. ICV2. 2004-03-18. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  2. ↑ Wizkids plans Pirate game; 2004
  3. ↑ NECA Acquires Wizkids; 2009
  4. ↑ Topps closes Wizkids, 2008
  5. ↑ "Origins Award Winners (2004)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on June 3, 2008. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  6. ↑ "The Many Worlds of Pinnacle Entertainment Group". Archived from the original on 2010-06-29. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
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