Pirates of the Revolution – ASP #141

Name: Asp

Set: POR

Card #s: #141

Type: Ship

Cost: 11Points

Masts: 3

Cannons: 3S, 5S, 6S

Cargo: 4

Movement: S+S

Faction: Pirate

Ability: Galley.  This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls.

Flavor Text:  “American sailors returning from the Barbary Coast say that this galley, captianed by Kal Bhed and his cutthroats, delivers a lethal bite to anyone who stands in her way.”

This week was Nebulous’ turn to pick ships, but he didn’t, so I did.  And we’re going to look at the special Super-Rare pack from Pirates of the Revolution.  What’s that?  You don’t know what I’m talking about?  Well, sit back, relax and I’ll explain:

The fourth set for Pirates is called Pirates of the Barbary Coast and will be released in October.  We’ll see some new game mechanics, as always, and to preview this set, WizKids decided to add a little special something to our Pirates of the Revolution set, a full pack of Barbary Coast cards, several months before the release.  These ships are unlike any we’ve seen so far, both in statistics and actual shape (I wouldn’t call these sculpts, but maybe you would).  All of the cards we’ll be looking at this week are Super-Rares, and they all come in the same pack, that you would be unable to differentiate from any other Revolution pack, with the exception of the card-size slip of paper that says, “Congratulations you received a Super-Rare bonus Pack”.  The pack, however, is seeded at a ratio of LESS than one per box.  When Revolution hit the street, there were a lot of threads at the WizKids official board attempting to figure out the exact ratio.  It appears to me to be about one per two boxes, though I could be wrong.  Just last week my wife bought me three packs of Revolution from a brand new box, and in those 3 was my bonus pack.  So there. 

The Asp definitely has a unique style to her.  She’s got those oars on the side, and she’s a Galley, which means even if all three sales get removed, she can still move a base of 1S.  Sure 11 points is cheap, and as I’ve often said, you get what you pay for.  Four card isn’t bad, and with a helmsman you can go 3S movements in one turn. So she’s swift, but can’t really hold much.  Her guns are really nothing to write home about either, ESPECIALLY that Level 6 cannon.  That one cannon has caused more controversy than any other gun, except for maybe the gun that fired “the shot heard round the world.”  OK maybe I’m exaggerating, but really, you’d think WK made a terrible move.  In reality, what they did was give a two masted-ship an extra hit-point.  Sure you could fire that gun, as long as you had a modifier to add to it.  Otherwise it’s an instant miss.  And why would you do that?

All things being equal, this is not a great ship, not for playing anyway.  But for collecting, well that’s another story all together.

ASP (141) Completed Auction Review – 8-1-05

# of completed Auctions: 5

High Amount: $12.00

Low Amount:  $  8.16

Average Amount $10.41

If you actually break up the pack, you’ll see that you get more for your money.  If you buy the pack as one unit, you’ll pay less.  If you pull the pack from a box, you’ll be much happier I suspect.  The Super-Rare ships aren’t really anything to write home about, they’re really just collectables, and as such, since they are the flavor of the month, they’re hot.  Right now.  You won’t find this for under 10 bucks a pop, that low auction up there is what we call a statistical anomaly.  Will they be worth ten bucks a year from now?  Probably not.  Completists will want them, but as soon as these ships come out in Barbary Coast, their value will drop.  Probably not much, but it will drop.  For now, they’re highly collectable and desirable.  Glad I got mine!

My Ratings

Playability 3 of 5