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“I Sold My Soul For Some Pieces O’ Eight”
A Review of the Unique Treasures Available in Pirates
Part 2 of 3
By
Cap’n William ‘WildWill’ Noetling

TREASURES OF THE CRIMSON COAST (9 RARE 2 LE)

Wizkids upped the ante in the second expansion, giving us 33% more treasures in this set. How do they stack up? Is more really better? Are these treasures worth playing? Read on landlubber!
 

Card #	Name	Effect	Commentary	Hi $	Lo $
92	Scurvy	Roll a d6 at the beginning of each of your turns. On results of 4–6, eliminate a crew on this ship. Remove Scurvy from the game when this ship docks at her home island.	Not quite as nasty as Plague, but almost as bad. Use as an offensive weapon only.	3	1
93	Letter of Marque	Your ship may dock at an enemy home island and be given repair actions (only) while there. Forts cannot fire on this ship unless this ship fires on them first.	This treasure is more useful than it appears at first. Being able to dock at an enemy home island isn’t all that great, because unless you have a character or ship that allows you to steal a treasure, all you can do is repair. No the key part of this treasure is the second ability, forts cannot fire on this ship unless the ship fires first. This is a key ability in a fort-heavy meta (and aren’t they all?) Definitely one of the more useful abilities.	3	1
94	Buried Treasure	This ship may not be given an action the turn after loading Buried Treasure. After loading Buried Treasure, roll a d6; Buried Treasure is worth gold equal to the result.	Very similar to Rum, though slightly less effective, unless you’re lucky at rolling your die.	4	1
95	Dry Powder	Load this treasure face down. On any one of your turns, you may turn Dry Powder face up to give this ship an extra shoot action that turn. If you do, remove Dry Powder from the game.	Free shoot action? Sign me up. Often a staple of tournament play.	2	1
95	Dry Powder	Same as above	LE Version of the same card, available in some packs.	5	3
96	Trees	Trees may remain face-down on its island if the ship that explores that island has all of its masts. When Trees is revealed, fully repair this ship, and then remove Trees from the game.	Another of the new “reset” treasures. If a damaged ship finds this treasure, it becomes fully repaired instantly. Pretty cool, but as with the other “reset” treasures, if you’re relying on them for your strategy, rethink it!	2	1
97	Grease Barrels	Load this treasure face down. On any one of your turns, you may turn Grease Barrels face up to give this ship +<L> to her base move that turn. If you do, remove Grease Barrels from the game.	A one time boost in speed. Not great, but nothing to sneeze at either. Again, its game play value is determined by which player manages to actually snag it. If you get it, fantastic…if your opponent gets it, not so great.	4	1
98	Abandoned Crew	When placing treasure, you may place one or more of these crew rather than a treasure, on a one-for-one basis; you must still place the required value of gold. These crew may use their abilities on any ship. Follow all other treasure-placement and crew rules. Note on the 10 treasure card you will find the following: Cannoneer (2), Explorer, Helmsman(2), Musketeer (2), Captain, Shipwright, Oarsman	In order to write this commentary I actually had to check out the rulings on this particular treasure, since, it’s strange. According to the official rules arbitrator Piranha at the WK site, “These are unique treasure & must be loaded as such. Until you use them as crew, they take no space as they are still considered unique treasure. As soon as you do use them as crew, they are no longer unique treasure & they do take up cargo space like any other basic crew of the same name. “ So basically as long as you can provide the rest of the required gold (and with new 7 point gold pieces, you can do that in 3 coins), you can place up to 5 crew on islands instead. Want to build a fleet with helmsmen and captains but don’t have them or can’t afford them in your build cost? Use Abandoned Crew. Might be one of the most versatile Treasure cards around. ESPECIALLY since when you load them, before you flip them, they take up NO cargo space! Personally, I’m thinking of acquiring one REAL soon.	4	1
99	Ghostly Encounter	Once after revealing, roll a d6 for each crew on the ship. On a result of 1, that crew is eliminated. Ghostly Encounter is worth gold equal to the crew remaining on the ship after all dice are rolled.	More or less a reprint of the LE version in Spanish Main, without the cool flavor text. Still, at least you can play this one more often.	2	1
100	Neptune's Figurehead	If this ship sinks, dock it fully repaired at its home island, then remove Neptune's Figurehead from the game.	Your basic free pass. Find it, keep it. Use it. Ship sinks? Nope, extra life! Demoralizing for your opponent, but if you’re relying on it for your strategy to work, get a better strategy.	2	1
204	Resurrection Codex	If this ship sinks, dock it fully repaired at its home island, then remove Resurrection Codex from the game. Some ancient magic’s work.	Same as the Neptune’s Figurehead above. LE Tournament prize with silver coins. VERY collectable. Only playable in a silver coin game.	15	4

Several “reset” treasures can see limited use, and are especially fun to use as flavor enhancers in friendly games. Abandoned crew is the outstanding piece of the bunch. At least they went away from treasures merely being less costly crew abilities. These treasures actually have some game play value Unless you’re a completist, you won’t go out of your way to get the Resurrection Codex, one of the most expensive single cards in the game.

(to be continued matey ...)