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

Diego Cesar Olano
Spanish - Revolution

Marine. This crew gets +1 to its gun rolls against Pirate ships, forts, and crew.

Type - Crew
Collector's Number -  044

Piece Ratings: 4

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


Date Reviewed - 08.11.05

Master Gunner
Rogelio Vazquez
Spanish - Spanish Main

All of this ship's cannons have __ range.

Type - Crew
Collector's Number - 044

Piece Ratings: 3

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


Date Reviewed - 08.11.05
 

 

 WildWill

Pirates of the Revolution – Diego Cesar Olano #044

 

Name: Diego Cesar Olano

Set: POR

Card #s: 044

Type: Crew

Cost: 7 Points

Rarity: Rare

Faction: Spanish

Ability: “Marine. This crew gets +1 to its gun rolls against Pirate ships, forts, and crew.

Flavor Text:  Haunted by the abuse he suffered when captured by pirates on his first tour of duty, Olano has vowed to hunt down every pirate on sea or land and exact his revenge.

Today I thought we’d take a look at the crew members I suggested go on the El Garante, to make her a formidable gunship.  First off is our very first review of a Marine!  Marines, as in real life, are hardy individuals who are crack shots.  Semper Fi Indeeed!  The Marine keyword indicates the following:

A crew with this keyword may be dropped off on any island (except on an opponent’s home island). Whether on a ship or an island, it may be given its own shoot action each turn, just like a ship; it has a short-range, 2-rank gun. Opposing players may target this crew with shoot actions only if it is on an island, but it must be hit twice in the same turn in order to be eliminated—a single hit has no effect. Unlike other abilities, the Marine ability does stack. For example, if two crew with Marine are assigned to the same ship, they may both use it on the same turn.

So marines are nasty as all get out, and hard to kill.  But are they worth the points?  We’re talking about a HUGE 7 points per Marine, and since the uniqueness rule applies, you can only have one per faction in each fleet right now (and the Pirates and Americans don’t have a marine yet).  Worthy of your fleet build?  Heck yes.  Any time you have a moveable 2 rank gun, no matter what the range, you’ve got it made.  Throw him on a smaller ship that just transports him around, and let him be a sniper.  Put him on a larger ship like the aforementioned El Garante and you’re adding a sixth gun, that can’t be eliminated, unless the entire ship is.  Plus on top of that, he gets +1 to his rolls against ANY Pirate faction piece.  So basically, unless you roll a 1, you hit Pirates.  Yee Haw.

Personally I don’t have any Marines quite yet, but as soon as I pull one, I’m making a new fleet of whatever faction that is.

Price wise, Diego is really inexpensive at the moment.  I would suspect that when more marines hit the market (and I’m kind of assuming more marines will be available in Barbary Coast, because, well you know the U.S. Marine’s official song that starts, “From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli”?  Well the shores of Tripoli are ON THE BARBARY COAST!  And in fact that’s where the U.S. Marines made their first world-wide impact.)  Diego will go up in value.  Currently he can be had for a couple bucks or less.  Strangely, of the three Marines included in the Revolution set, two are rares (Lt. Nigel Hardwicke, the British Marine is also a rare), but the French Marine, Michel Bordeaux is a common.  I guess the French really are easy?

 

My Ratings

Playability 4 of 5

Collectability 3.5 of 5

 

Pirates of the Spanish Main – Master Gunner Rogelio Vazquez #SS-03

 

Name: Master Gunner Rogelio Vazquez

Set: POR

Card #s: 044

Type: Crew

Cost: 5 Points

Rarity: Common

Faction: Spanish

Ability: “All of this ship's cannons have L range. “

Flavor Text: “Vazquez can hit a wine glass with a cannonball at 500 yards. He secretly desires to own a weapon made by the master himself, Charles Southwyn, so he searches through every treasure haul, looking for items made by the English legend.”

Our Master Gunner here has the same ability and statistics as Commander Albert Crenshaw, who we reviewed here: http://pojo.com/pirates/CotD/July/06.shtml.  If I had realized that earlier in the week I wouldn’t have chosen him to review today.  But I did, and I’ll have to deal with my own mistakes won’t I.

 

So yeah…This crew is basically the same as the American version, and on the right ship, i.e. one with limited range guns, he can be a welcome addition.  But again, at 5 points, he’s bloody expensive.

 

He gets the same ratings as good old Crenshaw:

 

Playability 3 of 5

Collectability 2 of 5.

 

 

Next Time:

A review of a piece type we’ve NEVER reviewed before (“Two in one week, dang Cap’n you’re spoiling the men again.”

 

“Never mind you.  A’ll be the one who spoils THIS crew.” {thwack} “Oh thank ye Cap’n, thank ye.”

 

What WILL it be?  What WILL it be?

 

 
Pippin Master Gunner Rogelio Vazquez
5 points
Spanish

All of this ship's cannons have (L) range.

Vazquez can hit a wine glass with a cannonball at 500 yards. He secretly desires to own a weapon made by the master himself, Charles Southwyn, so he searches through every treasure haul, looking for items made by the English legend.

Ah, Master Gunner. A great sniper figure that boasts remarkable marksmanship. Unfortunately his effect has nothing to do with accuracy, simply range. His affect is a good one all around, except for the few ships that cannot be hit by L range cannons. The Santa Theresa from Spanish Main would own any ship that has this man aboard.

Other than that he is a fine addition, if you can afford him. For 5 points, there are better crewmen (and women). With today's game being more and more about point efficiency, 5 points for any effect had better be dang worth it (such as Thomas Gunn the Younger, 5 points, move-shoot, and kill-a-crew).
Being a common weighs in his favor as you can readily find one. If you have been collecting for a bit you should already have one.

But as for a final analysis, you would probably want to use this on a ship that has nothing but short range cannons (he's the Enzite for cannons: the natural way to cannon enhancement). Unfortunately, he may not earn any "well earned respect from the neighbors". I don't see any fleets being built around him, but if you find yourself 5 points shy of 40, check him out. You could put him on Asesino de la Nave with its 3 2S cannons, making 3 2L cannons and the kill-a-cargo feature. But then again, 5 points could be a captain and a helmsman.

1/5 for points. If it were 2 points or maybe 3, it may have seen more play, but such as it is, no.

4/5 for ability. On the right ship, he is DEFINATELY a boost.

1/5 for collectibility. He's a dime a dozen (maybe even a nickle)

ALL TOGETHER 2/5. His ability just cannot outweigh that 5 point burden.

Diego Cesar Olano
Marine. This crew gets +1 to its gun rolls against Pirate ships, forts, and crew.

Haunted by the abuse he suffered when captured by pirates on his first tour of duty, Olano has vowed to hunt down every pirate on sea or land and exact
his revenge.  

Nifty thing to have in a pinch those marines are. I seem to like this guy.
I dunno why but I think I can relate to him. I know people that look like him, and some that say I look like him. But whos counting.

Anywho, his effect is pretty much like other marines, +1 to a cannon roll agains (generic national name here). This one happens to be against pirates.
It is said he was tortured by pirates when he was captured, I think they subjected him to increasingly bad hair days and detal work by a first year student from the Pirates School of Dental Care.

His effect, other than being a marine, is situational and is not used heavily. But being a marine means that he is usefull whether your opponant is Pirate or not.

That cost is the only thing that holds him down. 7 points is awful steap, and can be well managed on other things. If you only plan on using him as an extra cannon on a ship, use a musketeer, 4 points cheaper.

Final Exam: (turn yer hed and cough)

1/5 for points. 7 points is a bit tight to manage, but do able. Maybe in with the release of other marines, he may become a bit more usefull and worth his cost.

3/5 Text ability; 4/5 Marine ability; 3.5/5 Overall ability. The marines add a dynamic to the game that is really interesting and unique. I like em, and like I said, he could be my brother.

5/5 for collectability. People are snatching up the rare, the big, and the unique. This guy is all three. Rare, Big, points-wise and new type-wise, and unique,

3.2/5 Overall: Not bad, but in the right settings.
 
Until next time, take what ya can, Give Nothing BACK!

Pippin of Pippin's Privateers
 
I M Einstein Diego Cesar Olano-Revolution-Spanish

For the crew in spanish week 2 we have Diego Cesar Olano. This crew simply kills pirates with it's ability. The marine ability is great in my opinion. I think that you can dock at an island close to a ship, unload this crew and attack on the same turn(with a captain). The only downside is that it costs 7 points.3.5/5

Master Gunner Rogelio Vazquez-Spanish Main-Spanish

The second crew is Rogelio Vazquez- a 5 pointer from SM. All of the cannons are L range on the ship. I don't find any usefulness in this ability because if you focus on attacking why would you need protection against a counter attack? This crew is too situational for it's cost. 1.75/5
 
Aethereal Diego Cesar Olano

At 7 points, this guy is very expensive to include in your fleet (especially in a 40-50 point game), but it is worth it in the correct build. The ability to

add a free gun that hits on a 3 or higher to a ship, or drop it off on an island and start shooting from there, is very good. Even better is the fact that

Marines are hard as nuts to kill, requiring two hits on the same turn to take out. A good gunship should have no trouble taking out a Marine, but most ships

will find this guy to be really annoying.

My only gripe with the Marine ability is that, on a gunship, a Musketeer is usually a better choice (and a lot cheaper). The better hit rate against Pirates

can be a nice bonus, but not really. He's a little too expensive for what he does in my opinion, but he's not a bad choice for a fleet at all.

Rating: 3/5

Master Gunner Rogelio Vazquez

For 5 points, you get to make the ship have all L-range cannons. This is a great ability, but we're talking about 5 points here. Honestly, I don't think

it's worth it except *maybe* on the El Garante. With the El Garante, you want to have some ships within S of her, and turning all of her cannons to L-range

can allow you to dish out death while reducing the risk that your other ships might get attacked (mostly in a high point game). Most of the worthy gunships

in 40-50 point games have at least 2 or 3 L-range cannons, so with those you're paying 5 points to turn 2-3 cannons into L-range? Nah.
Crenshaw (the

American version of this guy) is better because the Enterprise has all S-range cannons, so Vazquez doesn't get as good a rating.

Rating: 2.5/5
 

Copyright© 1998-2005 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.