The Captain's Logbook

Many years ago, in Autoduel Quarterly (a magazine dedicated to the Car Wars board game), there was an article titled “Lions, Vultures and Bunnies”. The article described several types of vehicles you could build in the game: the Lion (big guns, quick kills), the Vulture (faster, decent guns, killed weakened opponents), and Bunnies (speed, speed and more speed).

I was thinking recently that these persona could be applied to various Pirates of the Spanish Main ships. Plus, in PotSM, gold cargo is important, so I added an additional catagory for the Mules (slow, but able to carry lots of gold). So, here is the first installment of what will hopefully be a recurring series of articles: Lions and Vultures, Bunnies and Mules in PotSM: Part 1 – Pirate Lions.

I decided to start out with the largest, and my favorite, faction, the Pirates. The Pirate’s nation has be represented in all of the PotSM expansion sets, and has more ships than any other faction. First up is the Lions!

The Lions!

Lions are your big guns ships. They might not be fast, but they can hit hard and sink opponents quickly. Adding a Helmsman or a sacrifice crew (or both) to a Lion makes the ship faster, and more dangerous. And, double/extra action crew, and sacrifice crew, can give your Lions another Shoot action, and another chance to sink her target.

Probably one of the best examples of a Lion is the Pirate ship The Revenant. With 5 #2 guns (3 short, 2 long), and the special ability of “Other ships do not block this ship’s line of fire,” this ship can pack a punch when needed. A single L movement (but you can add a Helmsman for more speed), and 4 cargo spaces, this ship can hold enough crew to make it a fearsome weapon in your fleet. It’s cost of 15pts might seem like a lot, especially in 40pt games, but if you are packing the Revenant in your fleet, you probably aren’t gold running. Instead, you should be concentrating on sinking the other guys gold runners, and getting the larger share of their gold onto your Home Island.

Other good Lions are the Spanish Main version of the Harbinger (17pts, 5 masts and 5 cargo), or possibly La Victorie (14pts, 5 masts and 6 cargo). With the right crew, you could even use the mighty Zeus as a Lion. Even though it’s guns are all Short #3s, you could add a world-hater (any crew that gives you a +1 to your guns rolls against other nations) to make the guns very effective.

How to handle them: When you put a Lion in your fleet, you are looking for a fight. Either you are looking to sink lots of ships, or prevent the other guys gold runners from getting home. Or, you might be playing a no-gold, all out fight scenario. Anyway you play it, your Lion ships are there to put the hurt on the other guy’s fleet.

Tactically, you want to get your Lions into a position to sail in and destroy a ship before the other guy has a chance to move the ship away. Look for isolated ships, separated from the rest of his fleet. Or, maybe you can use another one of your ships, typically a Bunny decoy ship, to lure away his guard/gun ships so that your Lion can move in for the kill!

Now, if your opponent has the Lions, you have a few options to stop his ships in their tracks. Cancellers (crew that can stop an opponents ability) are great for this. Wait for his Lion to sail up, and when he declares a shoot action from his Captain, you cancel it with your canceller. Also, ships that “cannot be shot by ships within S,” like the Sister’s Rage, are useful. Bu, be careful, some Lions have long range cannons, and can sit outside the S range and take shots at you.

Next time, the Pirate Vultures!