Nuevo Espana! A Spanish Preview for ‘Raise the Black’

By Tyler

We’ve just wrapped up the first month of the global ‘Summer of Plunder’ campaign, and the Spanish faction has grabbed the lead and ran with it. This left us wondering: how do we reward every player of a faction? Well, with previews, of course! The ‘Raise the Black’ kickstarter is well on its way to a projected September-November release date, and with it will come several new factions to move the game into the early 18th century.

During the June episode of the Tales of the Sail podcast, we looked at the upcoming Spanish factions. Today, let’s take a deeper dive into two of those new factions, connected by one very unique commander – the legendary Amaro Pargo.

Historical Overview – The Corsarios

Spain in the early 18th century is a nation in flames. A civil war rages across Europe. The last Hapsburg king, Charles II, has died. The Bourbon prince, Philip of Anjou, grandson of King Louis XIV, has been proclaimed heir to the throne of Spain. His rival claimant is another Hapsburg, Archduke Charles of Austria. Philip – now Felipe V of Spain – can call upon his French family as allies.

Charles of Austria has called upon the kingdom of Aragon, as well as the Portuguese, English, and Dutch. Spain, the Low Countries, and Italy burn. Madrid is unable to supply aid to the far away colonies of the New World. They have no navy, and barely a military presence. Just as their enemies had in the previous century, Spain is forced to rely upon privateers, quasi-legal mercenaries of the high seas. The Guarda Costas go on the offensive, raiding shipping and settlements throughout the New World. Bold captains stand to make a name for themselves, and more importantly, a fortune.

One such captain is Amaro Pargo. Amaro is 23 at the outbreak of the war, and the captain of a trading vessel. He quickly takes to raiding merchant shipping. To Spain, he is a heroic privateer, to their enemies – he is a pirate and a very successful one at that.

Pargo raids shipping for decades, allegedly amassing a treasure of half a million pieces of eight, still buried somewhere in the Caribbean. He is even rumored to have fought against Blackbeard and lived. Like so many pirates of this era, Amaro’s legend grew quickly, fueled by rumor, hearsay, and no small amount of exaggeration. Unlike many pirates of this era, however, Amaro retired comfortably with his prizes, until he died peacefully at the ripe old age of 69.

New Commanders

In-game, Amaro is a pricey commander at 34 points. His special rules are quite good. Having God’s Blessing (thanks to large donations to the Catholic Church) means that he’ll start the game with an extra Fortune Point. Felicitous means that if he ever begins a turn without his Fortune Points, he automatically gains one. Inspiring and Commodore are fairly run-of-the-mill for a big naval commander, and Well-Equipped is a Spanish staple. In all, he’s an excellent captain, either in his unique force, or as the leader of the Guarda Costas if you’re not using a generic commander.

The Spanish commanders follow the same convention as all new ‘Raise the Black’ commanders – they have base stats, with the option to add special rules from a national list. Of course, Spanish captains are all Ruthless, but their selection of Special Rules allows them all of the old standby’s as well.

Swordsman, Well-Equipped, and the usual “Commander Suite” of Commodore, Broadside, and Inspiring let you recreate any of the current Spanish commanders. Rules like Guerilla Commander, Bold, and Resilient even let you recreate some of the named ones. One interesting thing to note is that in ‘Raise the Black,’ generic commanders are always armed in the same way as the unit they join. So although Amaro is toting a brace of pistols, a generic Spanish captain could carry a Carbine alongside some Hostigadores.

New Units

This preview isn’t going to spoil all of the cool new units that Spain is getting with ‘Raise the Black.’ For example, we’re leaving the Milicianos Indios de la Florida (affectionately: Indios mas Crappos) out of this preview. We’re also skipping over a lot of the professional soldiers. But, if you want to put a Amaro Pargo on the table a few months early? Well, you’re gonna need these guys:

Spain gets a total of three new Milicianos units (remember, not sharing the Indios). Both are actually surprisingly solid. We finally see Spanish troops with Plug Bayonets, which are a welcome addition. Most melee units are garbage at shooting, so fixing bayonets and sending them into melee is the standard tactic – especially with the Fight 5 on the Milicianos Negros. Of course, they’re sticking with Poorly Equipped. Luckily for us, our factions don’t necessarily have to worry about this, but it will still be a problem for some land forces. In those cases, I would definitely switch Drilled for Elusive.

The Milicianos Negros being able to downgrade to Lances is a neat rule. Downgrades are a lot more common in ‘Raise the Black’, particularly among the “army” troops. But these guys, with pointy sticks and Elusive? They’re almost Lanceros. Not bad at all.

This is a unit that I was particularly excited for – Vizcainos, or Biscayans. No proper Corsario list would be complete without these able seamen, and now the Spanish finally have a “Boarding Party” to rival the Enter Ploeg and Forlorn Hope units of other nations.

At 6-points each, they come in hot, but they’ve got great stats (Fight 5, Shoot Save 6!) and they’re Veterans. I expect that most players will drop them to Trained.

The choice to swap for muskets and plug bayonets feels like a trap. These guys have Expert Sailors and Artillery Crew, so there’s plenty for them to do while you get into boarding range and they can let those pistols doing the talking.

The wording for their explosives is a bit tricky – 1 in for models can have either Fire or Stink pots, or Grenadoes. In the past, these have usually been two separate entries, allowing a unit of four to have a guy carrying pots, and another with bombs. In exchange though, 2/3 of the unit can roll up with blunderbusses. They’re almost a Blood & Valor assault team, with their shotguns and grenades.

I see this unit replacing Corsarios in many lists. Especially because I think that the original Corsarios were always intended to just be “generic-brand Vizcainos.” Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but they’re a pale imitation nonetheless.

New Force Lists

If you’re planning to use Amaro Pargo, he can lead either his own Marineros, or Guarda Costa. People have been asking if the current Blood & Plunder units will be made obsolete, or get “phased out.” These force lists should put those fears to bed, as you’ll notice that both of them include several existing units from both the Core Rules and ‘No Peace Beyond the Line.’

Let’s start off with the simpler of the two forces – Pargo’s Marineros. This is Pargo’s personal force, and only he may lead it. Expert Sailors and being able to re-throw Grapples is pretty great. The big “wow factor” is the ability to add three pair of Heavy Cannons to any Size 3 ship. Do you want a Brigantine with Heavy Guns? I kinda want a Brigantine with Heavy Guns…

Still, this is a boarding-centric force. Like my beloved French, the Spanish have a difficult time loading big guns, lacking Expert Artillery Crew. And with the pistol-packing Vizcainos as Core, you’re going to want to get stuck in ASAP.

Our next force will be the Guarda Costa. This force has a lot going on, so I had a hard time snipping it from our preview.

Do you see that force list? I had to read over these rules a few times before really I understood what was going on. Then again, I drink a lot of rum.

Firstly, there are two force options, and neither is mandatory. You can go with the Foreign Service list, or Spanish Corsairs, or you can be “just” Guarda Costa. The downside to sticking with the basics, is that everyone is Poorly Equipped. That’s a tough sell compared to the other two options.

If you use the ‘Foreign Service’ rules, then your force becomes an entirely different nationality, essentially; all the Spanish become Support units, while the chosen Nationality becomes Core. You don’t lose the other nationality Supports though – choosing English means that SeaDogs become Core, but you still have your Kapers and Later Flibustiers in Support. This faction is almost the new ‘Brethren of the Coast,’ for their ability to cherry-pick commanders and units from each faction.

With our preview though, you’re probably sticking with Spanish commanders. No sense in switching to English when I didn’t show you what the Later Freebooters get, huh?

‘Spanish Corsairs’ also lose Poorly Equipped but sacrifice a few unit choices to do it. No Milicianos allowed in the Corsair club, kids. Still, you get to keep your Vizcainos and Marineros. Plus, all the crazy, multi-national Support options.

No matter which force you choose, you’ll have Expert Sailors across the board and rerolls on throwing grapples. Unlike Amaro’s force though, you get the +1 Movement when pulling with Sweeps. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with using flotillas of Piraguas in my Sea Games, and if I weren’t the French commander, I would probably be running this list. Having Amaro at the helm in such a list would be amazing – Commodore is excellent in a boat list, and Broadside is a scary thought considering all the swivels that Piraguas can get.

Thoughts

Well, there’s your preview and your reward for being low-down, dirty, poorly equipped Spanish players. What do you think?

Don’t worry, this isn’t everything that the Spanish are getting. The Guarda Costa force list is a good indicator of that. I previewed less than half of the new units, and there are still six Historic Commanders, plus new Fighting Men for you to discover when ‘Raise the Black’ hits shelves worldwide.

For a “headline personality,” I think that Amaro is a very solid choice. I barely touched on his backstory, and his rules are excellent. The forces he can lead are also lots of fun. Since we haven’t gotten the plastics yet, I’ll have to proxy those pistol-whipping Vizcainos, but I hope to get one of these lists on the table soon and maybe put together a battle report. Of course, if one of you beats me to it, you could always share it with the Summer of Plunder campaign. Oh, and how about the new plastic minis on display all throughout this preview? Looking good