L’ANGE DE LA MER (#075)
Card Type: 4-masted schooner
Nationality: France
Rarity: Uncommon
Cargo Capacity: 4
Base Speed: S+S
Cannons (fore to aft): 3S, 3L, 3L, 3S
Point Cost: 13

Rules Text
Schooner. If this ship has a Captain crew, she gets +1 to her cannon rolls.

Flavor Text
L’Ange de la Mer survived battles with the English that sent many of her sister ships to the bottom of the sea. She has earned the distinction of flagship on the Barbary Coast.

Additional Notes
To the French, the Mediterranean Sea was less about the Barbary Corsairs and more about what their sworn enemy, England, was doing. Battles off the coast of Egypt, Marseilles, and even near Gibraltar were of utmost importance to the French. If Barbary Corsairs got in the way, they were destroyed. If they helped the French by annoying the English, then they were tolerated.

The French saw the Mediterranean as a “closed area” that they could use to their advantage against the English, a place where their smaller, faster schooners and their own corsairs could reign.

L’Ange de la Mer is a threat to anyone with her guns, which have an average rank of 3 and which become powerful rank 2 guns when a French Captain is aboard. Her Schooner ability allows her to hit a target and then move out of range of its counterstrike. Although her base speed is lower than some, her cargo capacity of 4 is decent, and with a Captain she becomes a fearsome ship in the waters off the Barbary Coast.

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WOLVES (#103)
Card Type: Unique Treasure
Rarity: Rare

Rules Text
No treasure may be loaded from this wild island until Wolves is eliminated. Wolves is eliminated if successfully hit once by either a Musketeer or a crew with the Marine keyword.

Additional Notes
The days of waltzing free on abandoned islands and plundering treasure for whatever flag you sail for are over. These rabid dogs are feared by sailors and military men alike, and they are always hungry and on the prowl. Wolves prevent sailors from exploring the island unless they can be eliminated from the game by either Musketeers or crew with the Marine keyword.

Wolves was created to slow down speed fleets and to force those players to create fleets with crew (which also take up cargo space). Wolves will likely become a staple in any fleet that values brawn over speed.

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ADMIRAL ROBERT BLAKE (#055)
Card Type: Character
Nationality: England
Rarity: Rare
Point Cost: 5

Rules Text
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against Barbary Corsair ships. Once per turn before you give this ship an action, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, this ship may be given the same action twice.

Flavor Text
Given the title “General of the Sea” by the Crown, Admiral Blake is the supreme commander of the English fleets. With a selfless sense of duty, he has created the greatest naval force the world has seen, and yet he is still considered a gentleman, a sailor, and a scholar.

Additional Notes
Admiral Robert Blake is the supreme commander of the Royal Navy. Patrolling the seas near his beloved England, Blake uses the navy as both a weapon and an ambassador. His singular goal is to take the seas in England’s name. To do that, he means to make sure that each and every ship, from the smallest merchant ship to the grandest naval warship, makes it through the Barbary Coast with her crew and cargo intact.

In Blake you have a 5-point crew that takes up no cargo space (he’s linked to every English ship) and offers both increased effectiveness against the Barbary Corsairs and the ability to give other ships extra movement (or shots) on your turn. The unique thing about Blake is that he can aid both speed fleets (no cargo requirements and an extra turn) or combat fleets (more combat options and added bonuses against Barbary Corsairs).

The ship: La Possession with Schooning...solid but unspectacular. Unimpressed with it as a Sneak Peek, I think Wizkids should show us something more interesting to hook people. So far I couldn't say what will be different in this set because it's only be alluded to. (Galleys? Marines? Nope...)

The treasure: you want shooty-shoot? Yes? Right, take Wolves! I like this, it provides options.

The crew: most interesting is his "no space" ability. Makes you wonder though - if he gets +1 vs. Corsairs, either Corsairs will be sticking around, OR that part of Blakey's ability will become obsolete in future sets. Hmmmmm...

Would love to see an English Galley next - would they give it rubbish cannons, or not? We shall see!!

Wow. Now you are pretty much forced to play a mixed fleet.(treasure/military, not nationality)

This unique gives several other ships that normally would have received a bad grade (for not being fast enough, or having too small of a cargo,) a better ranking. I love how they keeping pulling the pages out of the old star wars ccg. If something is broken, you fix it in the next set. This will definately slow down the game. Just the threat alone will.

Out of curiosity, Gilbert's ability won't be able to triger on an island with wolves, would it?

I like these previews. Good ship. Fantastic treasure! Decent crew.

"Angel of the Ocean"...it's a ship I'd play with.

Wolves is great, I dig treasures that mess up treasure running.

-Q

Merde! I'll correct myself before someone else does...

I believe "L’ANGE DE LA MER" is "Angel of the Sea".

-Q

The way it is worded, it sound like he would still be able to trade...

but who knows how the ruling will turn out.

Now that I look back at Gilbert and the Hoard, I can see that it would be able to trade off the wolf. Too bad.

But at least it it's a speed bump. Chances are Wolves will get printed/errata to make it immune to such tactics, I mean, Wolves is specifically built to fight these sorts of tactics in the first place, right?

I also like Blake, the extra action at no cost to cargo makes all those cramped English vessels that much more flexible. I'm thinking about the Goliath and London specifically.

Sorry, I meant the Algernon, not the Goliath.

Notice that in the actual card text they do not mention that he links with ships. the link is not mentioned until we get to the author's notes on the guy. I hope that the link part is not just a mistake on the part of PR.

just to change the subject, isn't it interesting that this sneak peek has failed to generate as much interest as the other two? the others have 3 pages of comments, but this barely has managed 1. do you think that that because there is nothing of any real interest here? or because there's simply nothing to complain about? or because people have been so off put by the others that they didn't feel it worth discussing?

maybe this is a sign that WK out to be aware of.

So far there has been nothing much that raises rules questions. ( a modified "nothing to complain about")

There is a much longer thread on the WizKids site, but it has more to do with poor sportmanship and end game conditions. (UT Wolf can make it impossible to pick up more than half for both players)

That became a very long and mostly pointless thread too, so it's not really worth reading all of it unless you enjoy seeing how many different ways the exact same concept can be explained to someone.


The lack of posts here is probably because everyone is still waiting to see the stuff that was hinted at in the other previews - Janissaries' Blood in particular.

Where have the snaek previews gone anyways... We haven't seen one in like 10 days...

Capt. Hunter has a point. While there may not be much controversy here, the latest round of previews + my own contribution in 3.5 hasn't generated much excitement. We even have a chance to address/debate old flag pirates v. barbary coast pirates and how interchangeable they are and it hasn't even elicited a debate. I find that odd since that was one of the biggest complaints on the forums.

Pirates seems to be dieing down. Wizkids seems to dropping the ball on promoting this product (sneak peak 4 is definately late). The realms doesn't even seem to have much life at the moment and at this point for past sets it was kicking pretty good.

Also, I don't like that they now just have participation prizes, rather than competitive prizes. It gives me the impression that the importance of the game has been downgraded even more. I can only hope that my fears are unfounded and the participation prizes are part of a grand promotional scheme to drum up new interest in the game.