It looks like the Spanish are indeed getting some love! the WizKids Card Gallery has been updated with more Rise of the Fiends cards (A Sneak Peek #3 coming soon?), and four of the cards are Spain specific: Blood Money, Concepcion, Inquisitor, and San Esteban.
"Blood Money" - A killer treasure!
"Concepcion" - Typical treasure ship
"Inquisitor" - He's baaack!
"San Esteban" - Typical ship with nice sails
I'm cruising the WizKids forum tonight, and I found this little response from Woelf, a WizKids Rules Arbiter:
That response could either mean an indirect confirmation, or he/she could just be jacking with us. I want to be positive and think that Woelf is trying to "tell" us that the Spanish Nation in the Pirates Pocketmodel game is finally going to get some better ships.
For too long now, the Spanish have been getting the shaft when it comes to ship stats and distribution, and WizKids takes joy in reinforcing that fact by printing it on the Spanish card's flavor text! Yeah, yeah, historically we all know that Spain was on the decline, but geez, it's a game. Who really wants to play a faction that has maybe only two or three good ships from a game that's covered ten expansions?!? With WizKids leaning towards a more "fantasy" theme to its game, let's hope that Spain will finally be able to sit at the "grown-up table"...
Today, WizKids announced a second Sneak Peek is now available for the upcoming expansion to their Pirates of the Cursed Seas Pocketmodel Game, Rise of the Fiends. Their second preview offers one unique treasure, a crew member, and two ships. Take a look now at what's to come towards the end of January!
I have been following this game since its release back in 2004, when it was originally called Pirates of the Spanish Main CSG (They changed their game name to Pockmodel to avoid copyright infringement with Wizards of the Coast). I don't play much, I mainly collect the styrene cards more for the cool little ships you can build from them. It's pretty addicting to collect!
Jump on board Sony Online Entertainment's latest MMORPG, Pirates Of The Burning Sea, for their Pre-Boarding Party! I checked their pre-order page, and it has been updated with download links of their install program and files. If you purchased a pre-order package (I've seen them on sale for as cheap as $5), you can play up to two weeks before the official release! You also get some cool stuff such as parrot, and the soundtrack on CD! From what I understand, you can also carry over your character and stuff when the game is officially opened!
I'm at work at the moment, so I can't join in the fun just yet. Fortunately, since I played during the beta, I don't have to re-download all those files again (at least 5gigs worth!), just the patch files. As soon as I get home, and the munchkins are fed and happy (maybe I'll shovel the munckins a quick Happy Meal so I can play sooner... j/k!), I'll be logging in to re-create my Spanish Freetrader, Inigo (a no-prize bonus to whoever can tell me where the name comes from!), and setting sail to exotic destinations in the Caribbean! Hope to see you in port or maybe on the other side of me cannon! Arrrr!
The Pirates of the Burning Sea MMORPG is ready to sail later this January, but you can access the game through a pre-order as early as this coming Monday, January 7th! I participated during the open beta period this past month, and I had a blast playing! The sailing portion of the game is very similar (and fun!) to Sid Meir's Pirates! computer game, and the off-ship portion of the game is pretty much your typical MMORPG affair.
After trying out the beta, I went to my local Best Buy and got a pre-order copy for ten bucks. The pre-order package includes a code you can enter to access the Pre-Boarding Party as early as January 7th, which basically gives you early access to the game before the official launch later this month. The package also includes a soundtrack CD of the in-game music, which is pretty cool. I'll post a review of the CD sometime later.
If you're into computer games and playing the role of a sea captain during the swashbucking days of the bucaneer, check out the game!
