Game: 7th Sea

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

mjornelles — 2008-11-28T22:48:11+00:00

I tons of extra decks and expansion packs at a game store in Fresno CA on Olive Street. I think it was called gamescape but I don't remember the name. Check it out on the web and maybe you can find it.

Thread: Curse of the Syrneth Tiller (Montaigne vs Brotherhood)

Cecrow — 2008-11-16T20:28:04+00:00

Admiral Alazais Valiox-Praisse III appears on the deck of La Predateur des Mers, toast of the Montaigne navy, here in the Frothing Sea. Tis a fine day for sailing. He’s accompanied onboard today by Timothy le Beau, who fetched a pretty farthing to become part of the initial crew - so much in fact, the only others on board are some scury Marketeers and the usual Brutes.

Two seas away in the Forbidden, Jeremiah Berek raises the sails of the Falcon’s Roost on behalf of the Brotherhood. Grendel Thorton is his guest of honour, a specialist in quickly helping him round up additional crew members, and who will be assisted in this endeavour by some Marketeers. Talia del Emelia has also been hired aboard to provide some cannon skill, and the Brutes are lending muscle.

Round One
1-1-1 Jeremiah sets Grendel to work with immediately expanding the crew roster, tacking him to hire on some Brotherhood Buccaneers.
1-1-2 Admiral Alezois bestows a Special Gift knack attachment on Timothy.
1-2-1 Jeremiah rounds up some Local Assistance (Captain Attachment) to help protect him in home waters.
1-2-2 Timothy acquires a second Special Gift.
1-3-1 Jeremiah frowns at the goings-on in the Frothing. He plays Syrneth Tiller to La Boca, its ideal sea.
1-3-2 Timothy acquires Long Hand, already his third knack attachment, which allows some adventuring advantage. Jeremiah questions how well the Admiral shuffled his deck, despite having witnessed it himself.
1-4-1 Jeremiah seems uncertain of his next move; he passes.
1-4-2 The Admiral personally hires on Gilles Allais du Crieux, a skilled man of all trades (except for sailing).
1-5-1 Jeremiah similarly tacks to use his influence as well, hiring Naughty Dan.
1-5-2 The Admiral plays Winds of Fate (sailing adventure) to La Boca (ideal sea), alongside Jeremiah’s tiller.
1-6-1 Jeremiah passes, still feeling uncertain about entering La Boca.
1-6-2 The Admiral mulls things over - then Timothy tacks to inflict a long-distance hit on the Brotherhood. Jeremiah’s Marketeers absorb it by tacking.
1-7-1 Jeremiah wants his Tiller, but those Special Gifts have him worried. It seems hiring Naughty Dan has committed him to immobility, so he passes.
1-7-2 The Admiral senses an upper hand. He commits himself where Jeremiah hesitated, cruising into La Boca by tacking Le Predateur and trusting to Timothy’s Porte knacks to defend him. As his action, the Admiral tacks Long Hand to put the Winds of Fate on Gilles Allais. Now that boy’s capable of anything.
1-8-1 Jeremiah believes the Admiral has made a mistake and stuck his head in the La Boca noose. He ambitiously takes his ship in after the Admiral, declaring cannon fire with Talia. He plays Brotherhood Pride to boost her cannon skill to six. The Admiral coughs politely, pointing out that Brotherhood Pride constitutes its own action and is not played as a react. Following negotiations, he politely allows Jeremiah to retract the play (back to Forbidden Sea, Brotherhood Pride returns to hand, Talia and ship untacked). Feeling chastened, Jeremiah declares a pass instead.
1-8-2 The Admiral’s now seen the trick up Jeremiah’s sleeve, but if he retreats from La Boca he’ll be giving the Brotherhood an open shot at grabbing their Tiller. He pictures an exchange of cannon fire and grudgingly decides he’ll have to retreat if the Brotherhood plays their Pride. In the meantime, he plays Eisen Cannons back to the Frothing Sea behind him (its ideal sea) and then waits to see if Jeremiah commits.
1-9-1 Jeremiah does indeed; again he believes the Admiral has made a strategic error. Poker face in effect, he plays Brotherhood Pride on Talia and her cannon skill becomes six until the end of the round.
1-9-2 As planned for this eventuality, the Admiral directs Gilles to sail Le Predateur back to the Frothing, safely out of range.
1-10-1 Jeremiah tacks the Falcon’s Roost and advances into La Boca; for his action, the Buccaneers use their adventuring skill to pick up the Syrneth Tiller and attach it to the ship. Now Jeremiah can’t help smirking a little, although a bit apologetically after the Admiral’s recent generosity.
1-10-2 The Admiral sees his mistake too late - he’s not out of range after all. He still has available the Marketeers and the Brutes, two Special Gifts. That offers him a good deal of damage absorption and a bit of deterrent, but will it be enough? His hand is reduced to one unhelpful card at the moment. All he can do is hope, and pass.
1-11-1 Jeremiah sinks the Syrneth Tiller and sails into the Frothing with him.
1-11-2 The Admiral strikes first, with a Special Gift. Naughty Dan absorbs the single point of damage by tacking - a subtle hint of what else Naughty Dan is capable of, perhaps.
1-12-1 Jeremiah unleashes Talia’s cannon fire on the hapless Montaigne crew. The Brutes and Marketeers both tack and sink to absorb the six damage. Well, says the Admiral, it’s what they’re paid for.
1-12-2 The Admiral still has a second Special Gift, but the Brotherhood still has an untacked Brutes to absorb it if he tries - or even worse, might sink Naughty Dan to turn the last hit back on his tacked-out crew. The Admiral passes.
1-13-1 Jeremiah plays another Syrneth Tiller to La Boca.
1-13-2 The Admiral passes.
1-14-1 Jeremiah passes, ending Round One. Both sides played themselves down to one card each, suggesting two well-drawn hands.

Round Two
2-1-1 After drawing cards and untacking, it turns out that the Admiral has the most sails (six vs. four), lucky for him. The smart thing to do would be to run, he thinks. He could strike Jeremiah five different ways right now (cannons or Special Gifts), but the Brotherhood crew heavily outnumbers his (seven to three). Still, the Brotherhood has no large cannons unless they’ve another Brotherhood Pride in store. The Admiral tacks Long Hand to pick up the Eisen Cannons instead of doing either, wanting to nab it while he can - but realizes it isn’t obvious who to put it on. He wants to keep his sailors (Captain and Gilles) available while maintaining cannon deterrent, so he bestows it on Timothy.
2-1-2 Jeremiah smells blood - but how to taste it? He tacks Talia to fire two points of cannon. The Admiral finds himself absorbing it with Timothy of course, to preserve his sailing power, and the Eisen Cannons become useless. Valuable lesson learned.
2-2-1 The Admiral tacks his ship like he should have done in the first place, and Gilles Allais also, moving swiftly to the Forbidden Sea.
2-2-2 Jeremiah wonders privately whether he’ll pull off the same ruse two rounds in a row. He tacks himself and sails to La Boca.
2-3-1 The Admiral hesitates over his next action, then tacks the Admiral to hire Alec Mercer of the Crimson Rogers. Alec has sailing power, a point of cannon, and he can absorb three points of damage. The crew is expanding, and the Admiral’s lost sails (while he’s tacked) are made up for with Alec, so it seems to be what the Montaigne need.
2-3-2 Jeremiah gets the Tiller with his Buccaneers (always count on them to be adventuresome!)
2-4-1 The Admiral plays a second Long Hand on Timothy.
2-4-2 Jeremiah tacks Grendel Thorton to hire Denny La Bree, adding extra sailing power.
2-5-1 The Admiral sees that now he can’t escape Jeremiah, but at least the Brotherhood won’t have any untacked cannons or sails left when they get to him, so he should be safe (however, he’ll have some worries in the next round when they start in the same sea, with the Brotherhood’s superior sailing power). He passes for now.
2-5-2 Jeremiah plays Castilian Merchant Ship to the Forbidden Sea.
2-6-1 Now the Admiral has a renewed threat on his hands, but what can he do? Pass.
2-6-2 Jeremiah tacks his ship and sails into the Forbidden Sea. As he arrives, he reminds the Admiral what Local Assistance does. He also reminds the Admiral that the Forbidden Sea is Jeremiah’s home turf. The Local Assistance attachment gets tacked, blasting into the Montaigne for three points of damage. The Admiral can’t tack Alec and risk a boarding led by Denny La Bree, so he has to sink Gilles Allais and his Winds of Fate. The Admiral concedes this is the beginning of the end. Jeremiah says no, that was last round. Ouch.
2-7-1 The Admiral flees into The Mirror with Alec; now his crew is all tacked out.
2-7-2 Jeremiah uses Denny La Bree to pick up the Castillian Merchant Ship, which he attaches to Naughty Dan (his only untacked crew that can accept attachments).
2-8-1 The Admiral can do naught but pass.
2-8-2 Jeremiah sinks the Syrneth Tiller to join him in The Mirror. He still has Naughty Dan, the Marketeers and the Brutes untacked.
2-9-1 The Admiral braces for impact (pass).
2-9-2 Jeremiah’s Naughty Dan broadsides the Montaigne with three points of cannon. Alex Mercer screams as he falls overboard.
2-10-1 The Admiral hits back with a Special Gift, just to be spiteful - and Jeremiah responds by sinking Naughty Dan (goodbye, cannon attachment, you’ve done your work), flinging the one point of damage back at the Montaigne. Timothy is struck and killed, sunk together with all five of his attachments. Jeremiah salutes Naughty Dan’s worthy sacrifice.
2-10-2 The Admiral passes glumly.
2-11-1 Jeremiah passes, and the round ends.

Round Three
The Admiral draws three cards, looks them over, then shakes his head and offers to concede. Jeremiah prefers to play it out however, so the Admiral resigns himself to going through the motions.
3-1-1 Talia fires with two points of cannon. The Admiral tacks himself (since that’s all the crew he has).
3-1-2 The Admiral tacks La Predateur and sails from The Mirror back to the Forbidden, playing Winds of Fate to La Boca as his action.
3-2-1 Jeremiah tacks the Falcon’s Roost to follow him, and Local Uprising ends the game.

The Admiral can’t stop cursing himself for first overlooking and then underestimating the Syrneth Tillers. He promises his deck will work better next time. Jeremiah shugs, grins, and the shuffling begins …

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RoamDog — 2008-11-05T21:27:13+00:00

Horizon's Edge booster pack. 7th Sea had 12 different expansions. There are 115 cards in the Horizon's Edge expansion.

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RoamDog — 2008-10-26T04:58:49+00:00

Iron Shadow booster pack. 7th Sea had 12 different expansions. There are 623 cards in the Iron Shadow expansion.

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RoamDog — 2008-10-26T04:56:51+00:00

Syrneth Secret booster pack. 7th Sea had 12 different expansions. There are 169 cards in the Syrneth Secret expansion.

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RoamDog — 2008-10-26T04:53:55+00:00

Shifting Tides booster pack. 7th Sea had 12 different expansions. There are 161 cards in the Shifting Tides expansion.

Thread: Re: Love the idea but...

flapjackmachine — 2008-10-15T12:53:14+00:00

Or using a set of sea cards for and in front of each player.

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

Mj23Kb8 — 2008-10-09T21:56:41+00:00

Yeah, I played it since it came out. I played when the tournaments at the conventions and card shops were shaping the storyline. It was a lot of fun then, as it still is. It was also very competitive and got many people to pick up factions and build decks and strategies to win. I remember a bunch of old friends that would get together to play. I used to play online and I'm hoping to find many people to play. I'm sure that there are others that still love the game. I still have my cards and still mess with them time to time. The game gives you a lot of options and playability for so many captains and ships. Keep playing, I know I will and hope to play with some of you online. Great game!

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

Cecrow — 2008-09-26T00:18:01+00:00

Yes, it's been out of print for a few years now. I don't know what its popularity or sales were like in Australia, so I couldn't say how hard it would be for you to find, but most likely it won't be in stock anywhere. You'd have to poke around for it second-hand.

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

JBTheChamp — 2008-09-23T06:20:52+00:00

Sounds like a great game but where can I find it Down Under ? Its out of print now right ?

Thread: Re: Three players, all first-time players

Cecrow — 2008-09-21T13:29:58+00:00

Starting with pricey crew isn't necessarily bad, as long as at least one of them or your captain has a heap of influence for hiring on new crew. About a third of your deck should be crew, is the rule of thumb I use (e.g. 20 out of 60).

Look for cards like 'Bad Powder' to mess up your opponent's cannon fire; there's plenty of other common action cards that will help you escape a death blow by cannon too.

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

Cecrow — 2008-09-21T13:01:30+00:00

I find a free-for-all multiplayer match is even worse than 1-on-1 for everybody holding back; because you're best off if you can get everyone else to damage each first and then wade in to clean up the leftovers.

Four-player Team multiplayer is pretty sweet if your team is composed of a fast cannon/boarder and the other ship has a longer-term strategy. The smaller partner is the gunboat that hits and runs, and while it's ducking back it takes shelter with the larger partner.

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

Almalik — 2008-09-21T04:09:35+00:00

My group is just getting into this great game (we also play an enjoy several other AEG games - Burning Sands, Warlord and Doomtown) and I heartily agree. It also helps that you can eBay card lots for it dirt cheap to get a shared pool with your group (a month ago I picked up 4000+ cards for $20 )

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

Monkatron — 2008-09-20T19:46:53+00:00

I can't get over the art - much of it is really awful.

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

B Weage — 2008-09-20T19:09:05+00:00

Good review: I'd be interested in a little more discussion on playing with more than 2 players. I played a 3-player game when I had only played the 2-player game a couple times. Both other players were new to 7th Sea and had only slim experience with CCGs in general - so essentially three noobs - and the game went way too long. I think two of us were tired and ready to call it quits, but the real pirate in the game insisted we keep going far into the wee hours of the morning. It wasn't a bad experience even so, and I suspect a lot of the game length was caused by not attacking early enough as everybody felt their way through the mechanisms, and then holding back from a full-scale assault because of the third player. Two-team play wouldn't have created the same problems, but I would prefer an "every man for himself" game if that can actually work well. (I've only played 2-player games since then.) Any thoughts?

Thread: Re: The Perfect CCG?

mpetty31 — 2008-09-20T11:03:31+00:00

I never got into too many CCGs myself, but I have to agree 7th Sea had a lot to love. We almost always played two-player games, so for us it was rivaled only by Netrunner. The fantasy pirate setting was excellent too.

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Almalik — 2008-09-20T05:48:35+00:00

Wooden Promo Ship "The Hanged Man" and Ship Token

Thread: The Perfect CCG?

Cecrow — 2008-09-20T01:26:43+00:00

It’s only fair to begin with the confession that I’m relatively unexposed to card games. I was there participating when Magic first game out, through its first eight or nine expansions or so. And I collected the Star Wars CCG from Decipher from its release in 1995 through to the end of its Death Star expansion. Other than those, and 7th Sea, I’ve never seriously explored the wide world of CCGs. But - even speaking from that limited experience, I nonetheless feel confident in saying that 7th Sea is virtually perfect.

Its design flexibility is immediately demonstrable. For starters, I can invite any number of players to the table. Star Wars CCG was always seriously hobbled by being limited to two, and I expect many other card games have their limits, but as many people can sail the 7 seas as can fit around the table. Then, although each deck must have a captain, a ship, and a starting crew totalling a certain number in value depending on the captain chosen, after that you can build your deck using virtually any combination and number of card types you prefer. Some choices are wiser than others, naturally, and generally you’ll want a certain number of crew cards, although some deck designs can forgo even those. That degree of freedom is valuable not only to beginners, but also to experienced players who will ever face a world of unexplored possibilities when designing their next deck.

With your ship, captain and starting crew on the table before you, you will quickly see the next admirable design element: while many CCGs have cards from which to draw power, and many have characters, few combine them. This is a key design element of 7th Sea - that you must tire out your crew, so to speak, in order to perform actions. This provides a very elegant solution to several design problems: it ensures a limit to the power you have at your disposal (always essential), it forces critical choices upon you (do you want that crew member to remain ready? Can you afford to tire them?), and it lends a hint of role play (each crew member is assigned to fulfil a task). All players will take turns committing to an action or passing, until all have passed. Then crew are refreshed and the choices resume.

Look closer at the crew, and you’ll see this game’s depth: each crew member has a value in one of five different traits: cannon fire, sailing, adventuring, influencing, and sword fighting. This adds an additional layer to the game: now you must decide not only whether to tire out that crew member, but also which skill to have them utilize in the process. On a ship that begins with your captain and three crew, you already have twenty options at your immediate disposal (assuming they each have at least one point of skill in all five traits), amongst which you may choose to do no more than four - but do you dare choose even that many, tiring out all your crew and leaving your ship vulnerable?

For vulnerable you will be. An opponent whose ship occupies the same sea may use a crew member’s cannon skill to fire at you, or sailing to attempt boarding you, or sword fighting once on board. A crew member not yet tired may absorb damage by tiring itself, but a tired crew member can only absorb damage by … you guessed it … leaving a vacancy in the crew roster.

The number of things you can do to your opponent is staggering, and what’s even more amazing (another comparison that doesn’t favour Star Wars CCG), the mechanics to do any of these things are relatively simple. You can fire a cannon, leap aboard, challenge to a duel, wield magic to hurl a storm or sea monster at the enemy. On board the other’s ship, your character can (specifically) punch, thrust, slash, dagger, club and riposte their way to victory. Or simply pull out a pistol or a musket and let someone have it. Don’t want to step aboard? There’s more than one way to volley a cannon - in fact there’s more ways than I can readily count or even remember. Maybe you’d prefer to simply ram them with your prow? Maybe you’ll let them sail away - for now - so you can go adventuring to build up your crew’s skills, or hire additional crew members up to the maximum size of your ship.

Relatively soon you’ll find which of the above methods you most enjoy using, and build a deck to suit. Maybe you want all your crew to be proficient with firing cannons. Maybe every one of them is capable of sailing your ship and loves adventuring. Maybe they are master swordfighters, one and all. Or perhaps the call of magic beckons. Whichever you want to try (or whichever combination) of these or other approaches, there’s probably an ideal captain and ship waiting for you with abilities to supplement your stratagem. Or you can try the reverse (as I like to) and select a long-neglected captain and ship, then devise a deck that will make the most of their particular strengths.

Your opponent can run or attempt to outmanoeuvre you, but they can’t hide. Despite the game’s title there’s only five seas and they are always placed linearly adjacent, which means there are two dead ends. There’s no where to go when you’re being cornered except to out-sail the enemy. Hope you’ve chosen a lighter, faster ship - but then, you’ll be limited to a fewer number of crew on board, which isn’t so good if you do get caught. Maybe you’ll want an enormous vessel with a virtual army of crew on board - but can you fill it up fast enough when unexpectedly faced with a smaller ship that’s armed and ready with cannons on the first round?

I mentioned earlier that any number can play, and it’s true. You can play as a free-for-all, a host of ships sailing independently about; or (my personal favourite) you’ve formed two or more pre-arranged armadas fighting for team victory, with ships that complement each other’s abilities. Victory means all of your opponents are sunk, and sunk means every crew member was violently removed, up to and including (always last of all), their captain. But (thanks to the expansions) an alternative presents itself - go for a Control victory, if you think you can afford the expense while defending yourself and your investments at the same time.

I played this game for years, never met an expansion I didn’t like, never encountered a card I thought unfairly powerful, never found a situation too complex for the rules to easily explain or a quick discussion to resolve, and I’d still be playing it today if life in general hadn’t come between me and my fellow collectors. My cards may be gathering dust in dry dock for now, but some day the seas shall rise, the sails unfurl, and the pirate flags will fly again.

My rating: 10/10

Thread: Re: Rules . . ?

Robbage — 2008-09-05T03:51:40+00:00

Kind of you Dave:

Rob Lyon
4161 Lopez Sound Road
Lopez, WA 98261

Thread: Re: Rules . . ?

cedric18 — 2008-09-05T03:31:41+00:00

A rulebook was included with every starter deck for this game. I have a few spares kicking around. Send me your address and I'll shoot it off to you.

Regards,

Dave

Thread: Rules . . ?

Robbage — 2008-09-04T22:58:42+00:00

Where does one find the rules for this curious looking game?

robbage

Thread: Re: Black Sails and Captain Necros?

Almalik — 2008-08-26T15:10:33+00:00

That would be great, pm sent!

Thread: Re: Black Sails and Captain Necros?

ZarathosNY — 2008-08-26T12:19:42+00:00

That'd be great! I've been keeping an eye on Ebay for a starter deck, but all I ever see on there is the booster.

Thread: Re: Black Sails and Captain Necros?

Cyanide — 2008-08-26T05:04:28+00:00

Chris' answer is spot on. There is a starter, which has the Captain and the ship, and all the usual common cards that are in a typical starter have different, undead art. There is a booster "pack," that is 50 cards big, and has a complete play set of all the other unique cards in the set. I've got plenty of extras, so if you guys get me your addresses, I'll get a starter and booster out in the mail to you.

Thread: Re: Black Sails and Captain Necros?

ZarathosNY — 2008-08-25T19:08:49+00:00

I think there were two packs, a started and a booster. I have the booster and don't have the captain or ship either.

Thread: Black Sails and Captain Necros?

Almalik — 2008-08-25T15:47:36+00:00

Quick Question:

I thought that all cards from the Black Sails expansion were fixed and included in a single pack, but I have purchased two packs and neither one had either Captain Necros or the Black Freighter. The Black Sails list at Tradecardsonline lists 54 cards in the set (all fixed), and each pack has 50 cards. How do I get the other cards (especially the captain and the ship)? Thanks in advance.

Thread: Re: Starter Set Card Lists

SoundWave — 2008-06-18T14:16:53+00:00

This site has most of the starter decks listed:
http://ccggamez.com/index.php?opcja=talie&idgry=60

Thread: Re: Starter Set Card Lists

LostDice — 2008-06-16T01:45:05+00:00

Expansion: Shifting Tides
Deck: L'Empereur's Royal Navy

Captain: Amiral Alazais Valoxi-Praisse III
Ship: Le Predateur des Mers

Seas:
Forbidden Sea
Frothing Sea
La Boca
The Mirror
Trade Sea

Cards:
12-Pound Cannon Volley
A Sailor's Quarrel
Adventuring Galley
Ambroise Praisse du Richetoisse
Armed Brig
Armed Frigate
Babette
Barcino Fortress
Bolts of Fine Cloth
Brutes (x2)
Bully Boys
Carousing
Castillian Merchant Ship
Castillian Swordmaster
Close Range Cannon Volley
Fancy Dans
Franzini's Lost Notebooks
Gilles Allais du Crieux
Good Shot!
High Seas Boarding
I Fight Better Drunk
Louis Sices du Sices (x2)
Marcel Entour (x2)
Marketeers (x2)
Montaigne Puzzle Sword
Musketeers
Narrow Escape
Near Miss
Quick Tack (x2)
Red
Reporting Drunk
Scurvy Dogs
Shellbacks
Speedy Courier
Storms Make Sailors
Timothy le Beau
Wenching
Wind at Your Back

15 Random Inserts

Thread: Re: Starter Set Card Lists

LostDice — 2008-06-16T01:27:15+00:00

Expansion: Shifting Tides
Deck: Vesten Raiders

Captain: Yngvild Olafssdottir
Ship: The Revensj

Seas:
Forbidden Sea
Frothing Sea
La Boca
The Mirror
Trade Sea

Cards:
"Lucky" Vandrad Hallvardson (x2)
12-Pound Cannon Volley
A Sailor's Quarrel
Arnlaug Rijs Bragison
Bolts of Fine Cloth
Brutes
Bully Boys (x2)
Calm Before the Storm
Carousing
Castillian Merchant Ship
Castillian Swordmaster
Egil Bergljot Larrson
Fancy Dans (x2)
Franzini's Lost Notebooks
Good Shot
Gris Hallisdottir
High Seas Boarding
I Fights Better Drunk
Into the Fog
Kjott (Flesh)
Marketeers
Master Gunner
Montaigne Valet
Musketeers
Narrow Escape
Near Miss (x2)
Orm Greybeard
Quick Tack
Red the Adventurer
Stans (Calm)
Steal Their Wind
Stolen Guns
Storms Make Sailors
Thordis Bjerregaard
Valkyries (x2)
Villskap (Fury)
Wind at Your Back

15 Random Inserts

Thread: Starter Set Card Lists

LostDice — 2008-06-16T01:17:14+00:00

Please post starter set card lists that you have here. Please follow the format below.

Thread: Picked up from Chimera Hobbies

otaku — 2008-05-05T00:48:21+00:00

Just got a box load of this - 2 starter boxes (Strange Vistas & Shifting Tides), 4 booster boxes (SV, ST, Broadsides, & Black Sails) from Chimera Hobbies.

They were going really cheap so the $50 US postage cost to Australia for a Pirate Game fan like me seemed worth it. Robert from Chimera was good to deal with as his website didn't deal with Non-Us addresses but he still took the time to work out costs for me - Thanks Robert!

Once I work out what I want to do with this stuff I imagine I'll have several starters for trade. I already have the 6 Broadside Starters on their way from Canada (Thanks Rootbeer).

Thread: Re: Love the idea but...

ScottB — 2008-04-13T05:00:47+00:00

sandyxavier wrote:
I still find playing a games with more that just two people a little hectic, its seems that two player (with the seas set as as they are is one thing but 3 or 4 players, how do you keep whos cars is whos seperate
Xavier

Our group never really had this problem - it was relatively rare to have duplicate cards on the sea track. Of course, we had a lot of different decks going on as well. Really, you're only talking about a small subset of cards - adventures, certain attachments, and ships, right?

Have you thought about using different colored sleeves?

Thread: Love the idea but...

sandyxavier — 2008-04-12T01:46:27+00:00

I still find playing a games with more that just two people a little hectic, its seems that two player (with the seas set as as they are is one thing but 3 or 4 players, how do you keep whos cars is whos seperate
Xavier

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buffmeister — 2008-01-21T13:16:22+00:00

The Explorer's Society

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buffmeister — 2008-01-21T13:15:28+00:00

Gosse's Gentleman

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buffmeister — 2008-01-20T17:02:58+00:00

Corsairs (2)

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buffmeister — 2008-01-20T17:01:26+00:00

Corsairs (1)

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buffmeister — 2008-01-20T15:52:57+00:00

Vesten Raiders

Thread: Re: Getting a starter (or two)

MsbS — 2007-12-26T17:52:42+00:00

Thanks a lot. Finally I ended up getting 6 (sic!) starters. Talk about impulse shopping! But seriously - I am going to play this quite a bit in a 4-player party, so 4 decks are a must, and for some diversity I got an extra pair.

Thread: Re: Getting a starter (or two)

Jormi_Boced — 2007-12-26T16:07:43+00:00

You could play any of those against each other. I would say just pick the one that has the theme you would most like.

Thread: Getting a starter (or two)

MsbS — 2007-12-26T15:49:46+00:00

I just decided to get a few starters for the 7th sea. I'm not planning to get any boosters - it's just for casual gaming with my wife & friends. After a brief scan of ebay, I don't quite know what to get. I was thinking of a two-starter set (or two such sets = four starters). But the choice is sooo wide.
There's Horizon's Edge (THE EXPLORER'S SOCIETY & GOSSE'S GENTLEMEN), Shifting Tides (L'EMPEREUR'S ROYAL NAVY & VESTEN RAIDERS), Strange Vistas (GOSSE'S GENTLEMEN & THE CORSAIRS), Fate's Debt (THE CORSAIRS & THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE COAST), and Scarlet Seas (SEA DOGS & CRIMSON ROGERS).
Now - are all these sets fully compatible? Can I play any of these vs any other deck? Are the two Corsair decks the same? Which of these starters would you buy?

In the words of Leloo Dallas: "Pleeease... helpppp..."

Thread: Re: User Review

benny275 — 2007-08-24T00:54:14+00:00

My wife and I just picked up a couple of starter decks, we figured for $10 why not. I had a chance to play it with a friend of mine and it went along well, we were both scared of boarding though, but now that I read about it, i think it will be alot more fun to play with the four people in our group, it seems like an interesting game for sure. Thanks for the review.

Thread: Re: What set has the better starters?

Weapon — 2006-12-09T05:16:34+00:00

Dave wrote:
Weapon wrote:
I have the option of getting a starter box of No Quarter, Strange Vistas, or Shifting Tides. Which is the better starters? I won't be getting boosters probably, just starters. Is the game still ok just out of starters?

Starters are okay to get a taste for the game. I'm tempted to be harsher than that but my perspective may be whack because I've been spoiled by years of constructed play (I still play regularly).

SV and ST starter boxes have only two factions each, so you will repeat boxes. Best is to go with NQ since you'll get more different factions in the box.

- d

Sweet, cause thats what I ordered. It was like 12 bucks for a starter box, not bad. I didn't really need more than a taste, I'm already head deep (or more) in MTG for years, and have all sorts of other CCGs lying around. I just was gonna get a starter box when I got a Hecatomb booster box. Thanks for theinfo.

Thread: Re: What set has the better starters?

Dave — 2006-12-09T04:48:02+00:00

Weapon wrote:
I have the option of getting a starter box of No Quarter, Strange Vistas, or Shifting Tides. Which is the better starters? I won't be getting boosters probably, just starters. Is the game still ok just out of starters?

Starters are okay to get a taste for the game. I'm tempted to be harsher than that but my perspective may be whack because I've been spoiled by years of constructed play (I still play regularly).

SV and ST starter boxes have only two factions each, so you will repeat boxes. Best is to go with NQ since you'll get more different factions in the box.

- d

Thread: What set has the better starters?

Weapon — 2006-12-09T01:58:37+00:00

I have the option of getting a starter box of No Quarter, Strange Vistas, or Shifting Tides. Which is the better starters? I won't be getting boosters probably, just starters. Is the game still ok just out of starters?

Thread: Re: 2 New Players, First Game

Dave — 2006-07-23T18:06:09+00:00

Sounds like fun!

As you get more cards into the mix, you will probably find the Cannon Volley family of cards too vulnerable to cancels (not to mention Betrayal!), so you will need something like Take It Like A Man to make it stick. As long as you have enough sailors to prevent boarding, you should find the "cannon ping" strategy effective enough without having to combine into a single attack. I would rather have a card that gave me 2 extra cannon (or 3 with a Gunner). But it's certainly fun to try to get those big attacks off.

Welcome to 7th Sea!

Thread: Re: 2 New Players, First Game

Kalidor — 2006-07-23T18:00:04+00:00

This was/is a fantastic game. I truly enjoyed 7th Sea, played it ALOT when it was big and wish I still played often, if at all.
I still have all my cards, and am poised for when others near me are introduced to the wonderful world of 7th Sea...either by me or by accident, I suppose (like you).

Anyways, the game suffered eventually, from being locked in by the 5 seas...they could/should have introduced Land Locations, that the Crew could have left the ship and accomplished adventures, quests, etc.
Think of the possibilities...
searching for buried treasure
pub fights
lady hunting
carousing
cutting deals with local governments, etc.

Oh well...what could have been!

I also played a tight Cannon deck with Reis and the Rogers as my main deck and it served me fairly well.
I also dabbled in a Sea Dog sailing/adventure deck and a Gosse boarding deck, that was fun.
My main opponent loved his Corsair boarders alot...The Brothehood was fun as well...also the way storylines were affected by league play and then realized in expansion cards...the most famous example being Allende (if I recall correctly)...

Some ideas for you guys, maybe...

Have fun with this underrated ccg!

Thread: 2 New Players, First Game

Grungydan — 2006-07-23T13:06:39+00:00

A friend and I managed to get about eight starter decks and 20+ boosters from a gaming shop for about twenty dollars, so we decided we'd give the game a shot.

After each reading through the rule book and discussing questions, we settled in to play.

I played the default Crimson Rogers starter deck from the Broadsides set, and my friend played a default Armada starter deck from the No Quarter set.

It was obvious at the outset that his crew was made up of good sailors, while my crew seemed to be heavily geared toward cannons. This proved to be the case throughout the game.

He started with more crew on deck, opting to go for high initial sailing prowess and the ability to take a few hits. I began the game with only two crew members (outside my captain), both with the sole purpose of producing influence for more crew. (One being Pepin, from another faction, but as we were playing sealed deck, the rules said to ignore faction loyalty; Pepin tacks to untack another crew member, and when combined with a crew member that gives 2 influence, I was able to produce eight points in my first turn.)

I quickly hired a few more crew members and attacked (first blood mine!), causing him to sink several crew members. He rallied by hiring three replacements and completing an adventure. After this, he began focusing on playing and completing adventures, whereas I had drawn a 20 pound cannon volley card, and so focused on hiring enough crew to gain the cannon points required for using it.

On the next turn, I was able to hire more crew, and was only two points of cannon away from using my powerful attack card. He completed another adventure and sailed away from me, but to no avail. He ended this turn with several crew tacked, and therefore unable to soak as much damage...I was poised to strike.

On the third and final turn, I hired the final crew member needed to power my 20 pound cannon volley and unleashed it. With his crew mostly tacked and out of the running, I produced a net of 5 more hits than I needed to sink his ship. Victory was mine!

A fun game, I look forward to introducing other players to 7th Sea.

Thread: Three players, all first-time players

ctalbot — 2005-09-20T12:55:18+00:00

In celebration of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, three of us sat down last night to play 7th Sea. Although the one player had owned several decks of cards, as well as a couple of boxes full of loose cards, none of us had ever played it before.

We laid out the five seas as the rules booklet suggested, and then we wondered aloud why there were only five seas if the game was called 7th Sea. As we finished, we each broke out our decks, pulled out our captains, ships and our first crew members. Vince (to my left) and Xavier (to my right) ended up sticking with crew of lower point values, so they were able to field more of them than I could, as I pulled out a crew worth more points.

The game began, and we quickly figured out how to maneuver, play cards and take actions. Vince focused on the right side of the map where The Mirror Sea was located, while Xavier and I headed into the left side of the sea cards. While both of them focused on building out their crews and cannons, I was struggling to get any crew up. For the first several turns, I was able to do very little, but eventually I had a crew mostly full of rowers (I was playing the Corsairs) and was able to move around fairly well.

However, Xavier and Vince were pulling and playing ally cards. I avoided Vince's allies, but I went toe-to-toe with Xavier's allies, setting me even further back and using up a lot of resources just to get rid of them. As I struggled with Xavier's allies, Xavier built up his crew and gunners and then moved in for the attack.

Meanwhile, Vince built up his crew and cannons. By the time Xavier had finally wiped me out, Vince's best gunner had about fifteen points in cannon. With me dead in the water after Xavier blasted away at my broadsides, Vince and Xavier came together, maneuvering and using cards to get the best advantage. However, because of Vince's plans and the fact that his gunner with strong cannoneering skills could also use his cannon skill in boarding, Xavier's ship was sunk after a couple of turns of fighting.

For a first time out, I think we did fairly well. I struggled with the deck I had, but I think part of my problem was that I chose crew that were too high in point to cost to begin -- and neither of them had much in the way of swashbuckling skill, meaning defending against cannons was quite difficult.

Chris

Thread: User Review

Dangervacuum — 2004-06-06T17:35:20+00:00

7TH SEA
Publisher: AEG
Starter Price: £ 5.99
Booster Price: £ 2.20
Players: 2+
Background
The Mystical seas of Theah are home to pirate captains, warships and Mages aplenty-each looking for adventure and gold on the high seas. Each player takes the helm of a seafaring vessel and attempts to rule the high seas, by sending the opposition to a watery grave. Cards are laid out to make up the six seas of Theah, then each player takes a ship and captain, recruiting crew with a set amount of gold. They then take it in turns to play cards and attempt actions until everyone passes. Adventure cards are placed on the map to be completed, doing so enhances the completing crew. Attacks can be made by boarding or firing at the opposing vessels. Cannon attacks are a simple matter of tapping the firing crew, the shot power can then be increased or negated by cards such as “Crossing The T” or “ 12lb Cannon Volley”. Hits are then absorbed by tapping or placing out of play, crew. Once all the crew and captain have been placed out of play, the vessel is sunk and the controlling player is out of the game. Boarding attacks are more fun; each captain must push forward a crew member and, starting with the attacker, lay down any card in their hand to start the attack. All cards in a deck have three lettered symbols on the left side, T for thrust, C for club e.t.c. The bold symbol is the strike, whilst the lower two symbols defend against the attack. Cards are placed until a player cannot defend a strike. Hits are then absorbed in the same way as cannon fire.
The game is highly crew orientated, as nearly all actions depend on their various skills. Recruiting requires Influence, Sword fighting requires swash buckling, adventuring is needed to complete adventures and sailing is of course required to move your vessel.
Plays ****
With three extra cards, then a discard at the end of each round, card cycling is not a problem. Your starting crew can win or lose the game. They need to be chosen wisely to avoid having cards in your hand, that you lack the skills to play. Ships with larger crew capacity are at an advantage to the smaller ones, though small ships can move faster, which is handy when completing adventures. It’s a pretty smooth game with two players, though it can get a bit bogged down with a larger number.
Looks ***
I don’t know whose idea the ruddy brown borders were, but- big mistake! The cards themselves are pretty concise and well laid out. Artwork is of the usual AEG high standard. Characters are well realised and the flavour text is often very humorous.
Difficulty **
The toughest thing to learn is boarding. Once you have it down, the rest of the instructions are on the cards. Simply tack (tap) your cards to activate cards and produce attacks. Complete adventures to increase your stats, then wade in and give the enemy a lungful O’ Grapeshot.
Collectability ***
Eight expansion sets and a reprinted starter set, plus a couple of foil promos with various magazines. If you are determined it shouldn’t take you long to hunt them all down. As the game is out of print, you should be able to get a few boxes cheap on E-bay.
Overall ***
A tidy game with few flaws. I recommend playing it with your best salty seadog accent. Jolly Rogering good fun!