Slitherine

Having had some buccaneers bring a ship which they only got out once, only shot once, we feel that 30pts is very high. Maybe 15 would be more like it, after all they have 6" range and 2 dice. makes them slightly better than Lt Artillery w/o the range, but much easier to stay away from, and they don't add a unit to the army total. And they have to have a coast to work from, where the opponent as a 1 in 3 chance of removing.

Again agreed. Might actually make people use them!

spedders wrote:Again agreed. Might actually make people use them!

I've always used them in every army where they were allowed !

Realistically you are paying 30 points to make the table 6" narrower in some of the games you play, as no-one ventures into the shooting zone anyway. Can't quite remember the terrain rules offhand, but say half the time?

30 points therefore costs around 4% of the army value for an 8% reduction in frontage (when it comes off) and totally removes the chance of being outflanked by mounted on one wing, or suffering threatened flank there too. It forces the opponent to to deploy in a more predictable way as a result too. They are all good outcomes if you play for them.

For some armies (and/or list selections) that's already not a bad deal if you think about it ....Pirates will always pick them anyway, other armies they are a cute trick, but not really over pointed - well, maybe a little, but arguably they were incredibly rare in real battles so should be a tad overpriced to discourage them appearing too much.

If you want to see more ships, you can fix that by making them 20 points, but if we make them better then everyone will start using them and it becomes a game of who has the most novelty items.

To place a waterway, you need to win the initiative. In the majority of games Buccaneer's opponents will have a better modifier for their initiative. Therefore they will usually lose. Other armies with naval aren't as badly off. Even when you win the initiative, your opponent has a 1 in 3 chance of removing it. So you rarely get to use your ships which makes them a bit too expensive.

20 points and a 50:50 chance for Buccaneers to use them would be fairer, perhaps a 50:50 chance of waterway if one of the armies is Buccaneer? As would allowing enfilade (why isn't that permitted in the first place?).