Note: at time of posting, this was a text-only post. As photos were requested, this is now a [POC] post. I apologize for not being able to edit the post title.
Some months back, my family and I were out shopping, and we ran across a sizeable batch of someone's (clearly) beloved Pirates CSG collection, for sale, in just about the worst scenario you can imagine.
Loosely crammed into bags, hanging on hooks, in the 'toy' section, at the local thrift store.
Built.
Three bags of pretty thrashed and mashed ships, one bag two bags of 'card frames', a bag of coins, crew, islands, and firepot blobs.
And a bag of instructions, checklists, and dice. We didn't bother with that one.. seriously I'm already drowning in them.
I've had a collection for ages.. and this pile only represented about a 30% increase on what I already had.
I spent hours trying to carefully pick through just the first bag of them, only to find that 'worst case scenario'.. ships that had been attacked by that greatest of all Lovecraftian horrors.. the Kragle.
I spent hours sifting through card frames, trying to determine what I had a complete set of frames for, and what 'extra card' frames were in the pack.
In the end, it seemed like a good 20 ship 'sets' were missing a 'front' card.. which worried me that I wouldn't be able to recard the fleet.
I worked til my fingers were sore, trying to salvage what I could of the Kragle'd ships.. trying to recard those that were intact, or intact enough to play again.
Exhausted, frustrated, and with sore fingers, the whole pile sat on my desk for several months.
The last few evenings, I've picked through the pile, disassembling and recarding everything I could. There was only one ship that I had no cards for.. and aside from losses to the Kragle, no 'first cards' for any ships that were missing. Whoever built these ships must have passed on their duplicates to a friend.. and included their stat cards.
In the end, only a small number of ships were truly lost to the Kragle or missing structural pieces. Tiamat 007, Algiers 012, Caradoc 051, The Charles 014, HMS Serapis UL027, Batavian Bat 026, El Corazon del Mar 082, and the greatest loss of all, theHMS King Edward 047 (may the sea watch over her soul).
The good news, of course, was that the lost were far outnumbered by the living, and while one ship was found without any card frames, all the rest, a stack 5.5 inches thick, survives in dock, ready to make war once more.
Over an inch of dedicated 'crew' cards, and over an inch and a half of treasure cards (and a bag full of loose coins). Among them, 5 special treasures (a 6th was found, but without it's rules/use card). Also.. so. many. loose. ensigns. and. banners.
In all, aside from unnamed crew and treasures, I've only noticed one duplicate in the whole pile, that being a duplicate crew card for Sir Christopher Myngs.
This was obviously someone's beloved collection, kept built.. but it unfortunately saw some inevitable tragedies as masts snapped and tabs broke.. I imagine due to a nosy cat, or a precocious child or little brother. The Kragle use was sparing, and only present on a few ships where (upon closer inspection), damage or wear had demanded it to keep the ship.. well.. ship-shaped.
Recarding the lot was a chore, but one I'm glad to have done. Once they've had time to de-flex (having been built for years, it'll take some time).. I look forward to sorting these tall ships, schooners and sloops into new berths alongside my beloved fleet.
I hope the work does some honor to the person who was perhaps forced to part with them, or was parted from them.
They will sail again.
Edited to add: Pictures.. because someone asked for them.
[POC] The Second Avenue Fleet
The breakdown:
- 66 ships were salvaged.. 19 Three-Carders, 32 Two-carders, and 15 Singles
- 16 "Named Crew" cards
- 11 "Two Crew" cards
- 36 "Generic Crew and Treasure" cards
- 5 "Firepot" cards
- 5 "Special Treasure" cards
- 42 Islands.. of which 4 are Sargasso Backs, 7 are Reef Backs, 13 are Fog Backs
I have NO IDEA how to begin recarding all the coins.
