Ahoy thar my fellow corsairs, buccaneers, pirates, and other ne’er-do-wells! Today we will be covering one of the new Pirate Nationality Factions from Raise the Black: The Flying Gang! They are a unique Pirate Faction that focuses on smaller vessels with a colorful selection of commanders!

Force Special Rules

The Flying Gang has several unique Special Rules that give you a historical flavor of what this Faction is about. First off, no Size 3 or Larger Ships. So no Brigantines, Frigates, Fluyts, or Galleons, which might seem like kind of a downer. However, this means you can run as many Bermuda Sloops, Balandras, Tartanas, Sloops, Corvettes, and Barks as you want! Furthermore, all ships gain Shallow Draft, letting you roll 2d10 and take the better result to test to Run Aground.

Additionally, if you are the attacker in a Scenario, once per game the player may discard their entire Activation Hand and draw new cards without a Fortune point. If you’re the attacker, this is great! If you’re the defender (which is likely, as the Flying Gang has no attacker modifiers) then this means nothing to you. As their final bonus, all units in the Force gain Ruthless, which is amazing! This will instantly improve all of your units and reward skillful gameplay.

Unlike the Golden Age Pirates, they lack the rule that they may be drunk as the defender in a scenario. This makes being the defender less game-ruining if you plan to use cannons or muskets!

Force Options

The only Force Option available to The Flying Gang is the ability to take Grapeshot. And if you take it, you can and only Grapeshot for all Artillery included in the Force. If you are planning on boarding this is fantastic. However, since you have a limit of size 2 ships. This means, that if you run a Sloop (or any of its Alternate Rigging options) or a Corvette,  you gain access to Medium Cannons. An entire broadside of Medium Cannons with grapeshot can hurt!  Downsizing to Light cannons makes them cheaper than swivels (7pts for 2 vs 8 points for 2 Swivels). But remember that you are limited to one side of the ship so you are really only firing a single cannon.

Core Units

Author’s Note: All 3 of the Core Units mentioned here can be built from the Sailors Box. Sea Dogs may also be purchased on their own, coming in 4 model packs. These single-piece Sea Dog models add a bit of variety to your force. And make it easier to distinguish between the Pirates and Jamaican Privateers. That said, it’s your hobby so build and paint how you like!

Sea Dogs

• Since the Flying Gang is predominantly English, it’s no surprise we have a majority of English units to select from as Core Units. Sea Dogs are normally great for running cannons and not much else. However, they gain Ruthless, which makes them more useful in melee! Sea Dogs cost 4 points per model, have a 6/6 Fight, a 7/7 Shoot, a Resolve of 5. Armed with Pistols and Standard Melee Weapons for primary weapons. For Special Rules they have:
  • Expert Artillery Crew: This unit gets a Free Reload Action when Activated on a Spade or a Heart when assigned to Artillery.
  • Sailors: The target number for any Advanced Maneuver or Sail Setting Test is reduced from a 7+ to a 5+
  • Brawlers: Roll an additional hit during a Fight Test whenever a Natural 10 is rolled.

If you are running a Cannon List, these guys are your bread and butter due to Expert Artillery Crew. If you take them for this purpose, go ahead and save some points by taking away their Pistols. They also make a great boarding unit due to their 5 Resolve and Ruthless. Giving them Stinkpots or Grenades will also provide some support when trying to board an enemy vessel.

Jamaican Privateers

While the Jamaican Privateers may look like a musket unit, they are surprisingly versatile. They cost 4 points per model, are armed with Firelock Muskets and Standard Melee Weapons. They have a 6/6 Fight, a 7/7 Shoot, and Resolve 5, just like the Sea Dogs. The main difference is that they only have the Expert Sailors Special Rule. The benefit is that the target number for any Advanced Maneuver or Sail Setting Test drops from 7+ to a 4+.

What makes them stand out is their options for equipment. While they can provide decent musket fire, changing the muskets for Brace of Pistols turns them into a mean boarding unit. This is especially true with the newly acquired Ruthless Special Rule from the Faction bonus.

Adding a Blunderbuss to 1 in every 4 models for free also adds to their firepower when shooting at close range! This is an excellent first-shot weapon when at close range before boarding. Same as with the Sea Dogs, taking Stinkpots or Granados doesn’t hurt either if you have the points to spare. If you’d prefer more ranged firepower, swapping the Firelock Muskets for Buccaneer Guns, increasing their range from 24” to 28”. This tactic will help you reach out in the early phases of a game. The only thing they aren’t good at is running Artillery since they lack any Special Rules to help with reloads.

Pirates

Pirates may seem super killy, as they are a simple way to hoard up on a cheap unit armed with Brace of Pistols. However, with their 7/7 Fight and Shoot along with 6 Resolve, they are easily Fatigued. Meaning they aren’t reliable enough in combat by themselves. They have the Sailors, Artillery Crew, and War Cry Special Rules. When the unit charges War Cry forces the enemy unit must roll an additional D10 when taking their Fatigue Test.

Their shoddy stat line makes it a bad idea to upgrade to Veteran as they die quickly. However, it is an effective upgrade if you plan on running Artillery! Tyler Stone from Dead Man’s Chest tested this out and it was hilariously effective! And arming them up with lots of upgrades may seem cool, but unless you’re running a boarding list there’s no need. Where they do shine, however, is getting a model with a Buccaneer Gun for 3 points each! Pirates with Buccaneer Guns essentially become militia but with a better range!

While they lack the Drilled Special Rule, you will have LOTS of models able to shoot at a 28” range. For boarding lists, my top 3 Character recommendations are:

• a Grizzled Veteran who gives Battle Hardened and Tough
• Son of Neptune to give Expert Sailors and Tough
• A Loyal/Scheming Quartermaster to gain Hard Chargers and Elan

In my opinion, the best use for Pirates in the Flying Gang is to overwhelm your opponent with sheer numbers. Whether you are engaging in melee or with musket fire, your goal is to win with overwhelming odds. More bodies roll more attack dice and give you more men to absorb incoming fire.

Support Units for The Flying Gang

Marins

Marins make for a solid boarding unit when on a budget. While they may not have Brace of Pistols, they have Hard Chargers. This is a big deal in Melee as it drops their Fight from a 5 to a 4 when they Charge (3 with Ruthless!). When using Pistols, this means you’re hitting on 4s with re-rolls. However, their Fight Save is a 7 not good. Meaning, if you do not eliminate the enemy unit or make them shaken, your may not survive the counterattack. Their 7/7 Shoot is pretty standard for sailors. If you’re looking to arm them with Buccaneer Guns, I would use the Pirates instead because they are 1 pt cheaper per model. Arming Marins with Stinkpots will also help make sure they don’t get destroyed by Defensive Fire when Charging.

Zeeliden

While I have praised the Zeeliden more times than I can count, they aren’t a very good Support unit for this faction. A 6/6 Fight, a 7/7 Shoot, and a 5 Resolve is a decent stat line. Having Expert Artillery Crew, Expert Sailors, and Hard Chargers are all solid rules. But, Sea Dogs already filled the cannon/swivel crew role and have Expert Artillery Crew. Jamaican Privateers have Expert Sailors, filling out that role as well. If you’re really desperate for some Dutchmen, they can be a good Boarding Party, as their Fight Save of 6 is leagues better than the Marin’s 7.

Pressed Men

If you enjoy hoard lists, then Pressed Men are THE Support unit for you! 2 points a model means you can load up on these guys if you want to. Unfortunately, they are a Support Unit so you can’t take too many units of them. Bit you can build large units of cheap models. In practice, Pressed Men are terrible. A 7/8 Fight and 7/7 Shoot are abysmal, and the Resolve of 7 means that sneezing is enough to Fatigue them. However, it can be fun to take a ton of Pirates and combine them with blobs of  Pressed Men. But, don’t expect them to do anything but take Fatigue and die. They are meat shields to absorb hits and keep the rest of your men fighting.

African Warriors

African Warriors are a great unit on their own. However, when coupled with Ruthless, it elevates them further. They have a solid stat line at a 6/6 Fight and Soot, a Resolve of 5, and come with Elusive, Skirmishers, Quick, and Scouts. Unfortunately, both Scouts and Elusive are meaningless on a ship. Skirmishers and Quick, can be used to easily harass units trying to board your ship or when boarding an enemy vessel. If you choose to keep their bows, they can help lay Fatigue on problem units. Arming them with muskets may be tempting, but Slow Reload will keep the rate of fire low compared to bows.

Roundsmen

Roundsmen make a solid melee unit for their points cost. Their 6/6 Fight and 7/7 Shoot makes them better than the Pirates unit as far as saves go. They also have a 5 Resolve so they don’t scare or retreat as easily. Adding Buccaneer Guns seems tempting, but a 7 Shoot on a Support Unit means 7 Points per model is inefficient. The Expert Sailors, Artillery Crew, and War Cry Special Rules are standard pirate fare. So your Roundsmen can run Sail Setting Checks or Perform Advanced Maneuvers as needed.

For best results, arm the unit with Blunderbusses and Stinkpots. Then make sure you shoot the unit you intend to charge or throw over Stinkpots to prevent any Defensive Fire if you don’t stack 2 Fatigue on them. They shine because they are Veterans without upgrades giving you more actions and faster rates of fire.

European Sailors

European Sailors are your only way to get an efficient unit with a 6 Shoot and Muskets. Having a 6/7 for Fighting and Shooting is solid, as is their 5 Resolve. Battle Hardened allows them to roll 1 less Fatigue Dice if the test is the result of a Fight Action, so they have good staying power. While they make a handy boarding unit, as mentioned before, arming them with Muskets and giving them the Sharpshooter Fighting Man makes them feel like Freebooters (a very solid English Musket unit). Even without the Sharpshooter, a 6 Shoot is a great starting point.

Command Options

The Flying Gang has a wide variety of command options, from the Standard Pirate Commander to named Characters like Benjamin Hornigold to Legendary Commanders like “Black Sam” Bellamy! This gives The Flying Gang even more ways to play!

Standard Pirate Commander

The Standard Pirate Commander is a way for the Player to create their own commander based on their playstyle, and have quite a few tasty Special Rules to pick from! To make things easy, I’ll be breaking them down into categories based on popular playstyles.

Standard Commander Ability Suggestions for Your List Type

Cannon Lists: Broadside! (All Artillery fired during the commander’s activation is rolled simultaneously in order to increase the likelihood of Critical Hits) is a no-brainer if you are using a ship that has more than one deck of cannons. However, if run a ship with only 1 deck of guns, take something else.

If bringing more than 1 Ship. Commodore (increases the Commander’s Command Range by 12” when Issuing a Command Point to another Ship) works best if you have multiple ships and it DOES stack with Broadside! That allows you to roll all the attacks from 2 separate ships simultaneously!

Boarding or Musket Lists: The top two rules to take are Brawlers and Terror. Terror affects every enemy unit on the first turn, potentially putting fatigue on units before the game even starts! While at sea, this may seem trivial, it’s another thing for the opponent to deal with while you close in. They must either waste a turn Rallying or try to Rally later. If they take Fatigue and you are armed with Buccaneer Guns, you may get a Ruthless bonus on Turn 1 hitting on 9s instead of 10s!

If you don’t want Terror, then Resilient (-1 on a Strike Test roll) will help keep your Commander from Striking if you have a bad Turn. Brawlers will help whatever unit the Commander Attaches themselves to in combat. If you’re running a Musket list and you get boarded, Brawlers has the potential to help you on your counter attacks.

Secondary Commander Abilities to Consider

Auxiliary Rules: These are Special Rules that can fit with any list but don’t have a defined role. Lucky allows you to not spend a Fortune Point if the reroll is worse than the original roll. This can be a lifesaver if you use your last Fortune Point on a Charge or an Initial Hit with Artillery and you roll terribly, or are feeling lucky (pun intended!). Resilient is solid if your Commander is with a unit with poor resolve, allowing them to potentially overcome that poor Resolve value by rolling 2 dice for a Strike test. Terror can be taken to try and get Fatigue on the enemy for some cheesy Musket Shots, but is really hit or miss. Sailors is pointless because all of your Core Units have Sailors or Expert Sailors

Benjamin Hornigold

Benjamin Hornigold is a fantastic Commander! Unfortunately, Cold Blooded is wasted on The Flying Gang since all your units already have Ruthless (Cold Blooded gives the Commander Ruthless and any unit the Commander tells to Shoot or Fight also gains Ruthless), Bold (Allows the Commander to give out Command Points even when locked in melee), Inspiring (When the Commander uses a Command point to tell a unit to Rally, they may reroll any dice that failed) and God’s Blessing or the Devil’s Luck (The Commander gets 4 Fortune Points instead of 3) are certainly not wasted! Hornigold is more comfortable with a boarding list, but Inspiring makes him great for cannon or musket lists as well! His 12” Command Range is great for being on a ship and his 3 Command Points allow him to issue those sweet sweet extra actions all over the place!

Henry Jennings

Hornigold’s Rival isn’t quite as flavorful and has all the Same Special Rules except for Cold Blooded and Inspiring. The latter has been upgraded to Very Inspiring, and he is the only Pirate Commanbder with this rule! The Pirates’ biggest weakness is that abysmal 6 Resolve, so this is a Godsend (or Devilsend, you are a pirate after all) for his men. For The Flying Gang, he serves the same role as Hornigold, being able to Captain both boarding and cannon/musket lists. He even has the same Command Range and Command Points as Hornigold! His main advantage is he will be better for brawls, as he is better at managing Fatigue. While 30 points is a hard sell, Very Inspiring helps justify that cost a bit. If Henry Jennings is your favorite Pirate feel free to take him! You won’t be disappointed.

Charles Vane

Charles Vane is the commander to play against your friend that plays the English. For 18 Points, he gets 3 Special Rules: Cold Blooded, Terror, and Vendetta: English (This means whenever any unit takes a Rally Test when playing against the English, they may re-roll one failed die). As mentioned before: Cold Blooded is wasted on this Faction, so Terror and Vendetta are what we are judging him by. If you’re playing against the English, Vane will give some solid Fatigue Management to your Force. When you’re not fighting the English, he essentially just ahs Terror which isn’t great for the 18 points you’re spending. If you aren’t playing against an English Force and really want terror, just pay 10 Points for the Experienced Pirate Commander and take Terror as your Special Rule, as it’ll save you 8 points.

“Calico” Jack Rackham

Now at first, Calico Jack may seem a little lackluster with only 1 Command Point and an 8” Command Range. However, his relatively Cheap points cost comes with some major boons! While Terror is an okay rule, Felicitous is amazing! This allows you to gain a Fortune Point at the beginning of every turn, so long as you have no Fortune Points left in your pool. This means you could spend 8 Fortune points over the course of a game! All of that for only 8 Points is a steal. However, that is just one part of Calico Jack’s ruleset. For those who want to add some Characters to their Force, Calico Jack allows you to bring Anne Bonny and Mary Read (Stats below)! For a mere total of 14 Points, you get a Commander and two special Characters that can turn any Force into a boarding monster.

Anne Bonny

Mary Read

Olivier “La Buse” Levasseur

Adding some French Flavor to the Flying Gang, Olivier “La Buse” Levasseur is a solid commander for 30 points. While his Special Rules are less flashy, he has a 12″ Command Range and 3 Command Points, making him very good at tossing actions around the ships and/or boats in your fleet. La Buse comes with Broadside!, Terror, and God’s Blessing or the Devil’s Luck. His real value however, comes from his Unorthodox Force Special Rule. He allows you to bring Marins and Later Filibusters as Core Units! As discussed earlier, Marins + Ruthless = potentially hitting on 3s on a Charge. The Later Filibusters are also a solid unit, and Ruthless makes them even better! Use them as slightly better armed Jamaican Privateers to lay down musket fire and then charge with their Brace of Pistols! If you already have some French minis laying around, La Buse will let you bring them to the fight and make your foe suffer for it!

Black Sam Bellamy

Last, but not least, we have raven-haired, pipe-smoking Black Sam Bellamy. If it’s a flotilla you’re bringing, Bellamy is your man. With both Commodore and Broadside, he is a heavy hitter for cannon based Forces.

Vendetta: English, Spanish offer Fatigue Management if you play against two fairly popular Nationalities. Misfortune at Sea always rubs me the wrong way, but I’d rather have it on a 25-point Legendary Commander than a 42pt Legendary Commander (Looking at you Henry Morgan!). Misfortune at Sea makes it so a Fortune Point cannot be used to reroll failed checks to Run Aground, attempted Repair Actions, failed change Sail Setting Tests, or failed Advanced Maneuver tests. While this may seem minor, I find it usually bites you when you need one of these tests the most. However, a 24” Range Command  Range for other Ships is awesome, as is the ability to potentially tell 3 ships to broadside an enemy, so having to deal with Misfortune at Sea is worth it in this pirate’s book.

Tips and Tricks for List Building:

Boarding List Suggestions

For boarding lists, the key is numbers. You want as many bodies on deck as possible. Since the Bermuda Sloop and Balandra can carry a whopping 8 Swivel Guns, placing Enough Sea Dogs to soften up your enemy’s deck or to try and suppress a cannon crew with fatigue is crucial to avoid becoming driftwood.

Boarding List Fighting Men Suggestions

• The Boatswain can help get one of your units off of the cannons or sheets and shrouds since he can give a extra action to Assign or Abandon.
• Putting a Loyal or Scheming (if you feel like your dice will not betray you). Quartermaster with a unit of Sea Dogs grants them Hard Chargers, which turns them into a mean boarding unit. This means they now have Brawlers, Ruthless, and Hard Chargers. Giving any unit Hard Chargers in this Force can lead to devastating results.
• The Grizzled Veteran and Son of Neptune Characters pair well with the Pirates as it grants them Tough, which may help offset their poor Resolve and keep Fatigue off.
• The Reformado Character can give an extra Grapple, Charge, or Fight to any unit within 3”, so he is a just-have for trying to get a Grapple test done before you’re out of actions.

For the truly bold, running a Bermuda sloop and then several Pariaguas in larger games can put an opponent off-balance as there’s a potential for multiple boats grappling and boarding if you’re facing one ship. Make sure you pick vessels with a 5” movement or have the Swift Special Rule so you can close in quickly. African Warriors can also help stack Fatigue before charging into the fray! If you really want to be cheeky, taking nothing but Pariaguas for their 5” move and mass boarding is not only viable, and most players with only 1 vessel will be hard pressed to pick their targets wisely. 

Using Cannons with the Flying Gang

Cannons: As mentioned earlier, Sea Dogs allow the use of Cannons in an efficient manner. While the Faction is limited to size 2 ships, Expert Artillery Crew works for both Swivels and Cannons. In games up to 200 Points, a Heavy Bark (alternate rigging option of the standard Sloop) with 3 pairs of Medium Guns and 4 Swivel Guns on the rear deck is nothing to scoff at, and taking away your Sea Dogs’ pistols makes them 3 points per model. The Heavy Bark is your best bet since it’s just as durable as a Brigantine.

If you scale up to larger point games (300 points or greater) running multiple ships and taking advantage of Commodore is a good way to stay relevant since you can’t take any of the Size 3 Ships. Always include a Master Gunner Fighting man on your cannons so you get that coveted -1 Bonus to the Initial Hit. An Officer, while expensive, can help tell other units to reload as well. In an attempt to try and keep your rate of fire high.

Focusing on Muskets and Long-Range Small Arms

Muskets: The sheer amount of models armed with muskets this force can take is staggering. From 3-point Pirates who replace their Brace of Pistols with Buccaneer Guns, to Jamaican Privateers who have paid 1 point to swap out their Fireluck Muskets for Buccaneer Guns, this force can pile on the shot. If one of your ships has 4 swivels, be sure to man those as well just for the amount of dice they can throw. When facing a Force with Cannons, you should make sure to focus all of your fire on that cannon crew, to hopefully make them waste actions on Rallies and slow their ability to reload artillery effectively.

If your opponent brings a unit of dedicated boarding units like Enter Ploeg, Les Effant Perdue, or Forlorn Hope, try to focus on them first. Les Enfant Perdue are super susceptible to musket fire due to their poor saves, but there’s a good chance that any of those units will never see Fatigue, so your aim should be to eliminate them or reduce their numbers down to where charging would be a bad idea.

Sharpshooters Fighting Man Tactic Suggestions

Sticking a Sharpshooter with some European Sailors is a great way to get a 6 Shoot with not many negatives and sticking a Sharpshooter with them grants them Marksmen (Spend an extra Shoot Action to get a -1 bonus on any Shoot Test) and Deadeye (Spend an additional action to give the unit you’re shooting at a +1 Penalty to their Shoot Saves. Yes, this does stack with Marksmen!). You should aim to be about mid-range (12-16”) with your opponent while making sure to keep enough distance so they can’t just board you. If you see a boarding list coming towards you, make sure you’re loaded before they charge, as having lots of muskets firing on the defense can break a charge or at least make them easier to route.

Conclusion

The Flying Gang is a solid faction with plenty of (non-drunk) options to play with. It’ll never get boring since the Faction’s units and Commanders offer an abundance of tactical options for any scheming pirate. From roaring cannons and massed musket fire, to brutal, bloody boarding actions, The Flying Gang has all your piratical needs covered.

Written by Dan Carlson

Additional Content Suggestions

• Faction Overview- English Royal Navy
• English Buccaneers Faction Overview on Youtube
• Faction Overview- Golden Age Pirates
• Benjamin Hornigold: Notorious Pirate & Privateer of the Caribbean

Related Products

• 2 Player Starter Set
• 1 Player Starter Bundle
• Crew Bundle (for adding to your existing collection!)
• Plastic Sailors Box
• Resin Sea Dogs Unit
• Exclusive Resin English Commander (He works for a Pirate Commander too!)