Pojo's Pirates news, tips, strategies and more!

Pirates Home Page
Message Board
News
Pojo's Books

Card Game
Card of the Day
Pirates Cove - WildWill
Chaos Reaper
CCG Strategies
Top 10 Lists
Fan Customs
Contact Us
IntelliTXT

Magic
DBZ
Pokemon
Pirates
Yu Yu Hakusho
NeoPets
HeroClix
Harry Potter
Anime
Vs. System
Megaman

This Space
For Rent

Pirate Piece of the Day

Admiral Alarcio Castro
Spanish - Barbary Coast

Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship may be given an extra action.

Type - Crew
Collector's Number - 071

Piece Ratings:

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.

Date Reviewed - 11.23.05

Duque Marcus Vacarro
Spanish - Barbary Coast

Limit, Ransom. Choose one Spanish crew during setup; this crew is linked to that crew. Once per turn, you may reroll any die roll you make for this ship; you must use the second die roll result.

Type - Crew
Collector's Number - 072

Piece Ratings:

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.

Date Reviewed - 11.23.05

WildWill

Pirates of the Barbary Coast – Admiral Alarcio Castro #71

Name: Admiral Alarcio Castro

Set: PBC

Card #: 071

Rarity: Rare

Type: Crew

Cost: 5 Points

Faction: Spanish

Link: Castro’s Loyalists, Granada

Ability: “Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship may be given an extra action”

Flavor Text: “Promoted and transferred to the Barbary Coast, Admiral Castro’s plans to destroy every Castilian who opposed him has softened, as he has become a welcome fixture in the royal court and drawing rooms of a new Spain.”

As I mentioned in yesterday’s review of Granada, if you aren’t playing this piece on that ship, it’s a crime. A minor one, but one nonetheless. If you utilize this linked piece in the manner WK designed for it, you’ve got a heckova ship. But the bad thing is, if you don’t have Granada, this piece costs two points more than every other character with the same ability. So you’re paying 2 points for that link. Heck even his original version is only 3 points. Bah!

WildWill’s Patented Ebay Auction Report 11-21-05

# Sold Items: 3 (total # of auctions 7)

High Sale Amount: $1.25

Low Sale Amount: $0.29
Average Sale Amount: $0.87

Obviously, most collectors are shying away from the good old Admiral. Probably because of that 2 point extra cost.

My Ratings:

Playability 3 of 5

Collectability 2 of 5

Pirates of the Barbary Coast – Duque Marcus Vacarro #72

Name: Duque Marcus Vacarro

Set: PBC

Card #: 72

Cost: 0

Faction: Spanish

Rarity: Common

Ability: “Limit, Ransom. Choose one Spanish crew during setup; this crew is linked to that crew. Once per turn, you may reroll any die roll you make for this ship; you must use the second die roll result.

Flavor Text: “Duque Vaccaro, also known as the “Golden Tongue,” is Spain’s most important negotiator. He alone can interrupt the king at any hour, and his imperatives often become reality. He has been dispatched to the Italian city-states, the Knights of Malta, and even to England and France.”

Love me some zero point crew members. Sure it’s always a risk playing them, and you have to choose which one you want, with that “limit” keyword, but hey, it’s usually worth the risk. I’d have to play-test this one before I made any firm decisions, but I can’t say I wouldn’t do so. Re-rolling any die for the ship he’s on can come in very handy indeed. Maybe not as great as an additional 5 points of ship build, but still pretty fun.

I don’t rate commons anymore on pricing. You should know by now how much to pay for a common!

My Ratings:

Playability 3.5 of 5

Collectability 2 of 5

Friday – Our Spanish week concludes, with, what else, a 1 master. Join us won’t you?

Aethereal

Admiral Alarico Castro

A 5-point crew member that gives the ship the Enterprise/Titan ability to have an extra action on a roll of a 5 or 6. Eh. This might go good on a big treasure hauler, but it's taking up a valuable cargo space in that situation. It can go good on a gunship, but honestly, I'd probably rather just play a copy of the HMS Titan or the Enterprise instead of using up five points to play this (unless it's a high point game). Not bad, and a common too so he's not too hard to find. Much better in high point games than in normal point games, though.

Rating: 3/5

Duque Marcus Vaccaro

Zero points is never a bad thing. This guy comes attached with a different price - the Limit and the Ransom abilities. That means if you play this dude, you can't play any other Ransom crew. Fair enough. He also can link to any crew, meaning that's a free cargo space. Cool.
Finally, once per turn, this ship can re-roll any die. Again, cool. The ability is great, but you have to take into account the fact that this is a Ransom crew and is worth gold to the opponent. That said, I would put this guy on your best gunship, especially if you can somehow keep the gunship protected, and lay waste to your opponents. Not bad at all.
I personally don't usually use any Ransom crew, but this might change my mind.

Rating: 3.5/5

Richard

Admiral Alarico Castro
5 points
Common
Link – Granada and Castro’s Loyalists
Ability: Once per turn, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship may be given an extra action

Well, Alarico’s advancement from Captain to Admiral in the Barbary Coast set, has had one very clear-cut effect: El Duque Rafael de Moreno y Rivera from the Crimson Coast set has suddenly become redunadant, since he has exactly the same ability but costs 6 points, whereas Admiral Castro gives you the identical extra action on a re-roll of 5 or 6, for a mere 5 points.
This finally gives the Spanish parity with the other nations who already had a ‘roll 5 or 6 for an extra action for 5 points’ capability - so I suppose you could say it’s a good thing.

Alternatively, you might wonder why El Duque Rafael was so overpriced in the first place, and regard the advent of Admiral Castro as a bit of a lazy effort on the part of the designers - given that he not only possesses a well-worn and familiar ability, but they even re-treaded an existing character!
In terms of pure playability, well – a 1 in 3 chance of an extra action is certainly very useful, although I prefer Castro’s younger self, which for only 3 points, allows you to repeat an action on a roll of 5 or 6. Now in my experience, the distinction between a repeat action and an extra action rarely counts for much, since either way, the action that is either ‘extra’ or ‘repeated’ is invariably a move and shoot combo, so for my money, the younger incarnation of Castro is better value.

My rating: 3/5. Spare a thought for all those El Duque Rafaels who will never see the deckplate of a ship again.