This article is a general discussion of the Spanish Guarda Costa in Port Royal. Content will cover their stats, strengths, easily built archetypes, and an example of an initial Company you can use for a campaign build.
Faction Overview
The Spanish have controlled vast swatches of the New World for well over one hundred years. They have tapped untold riches of gold, silver, and jewels which has propped up their dying empire for decades. This vast but poorly defended wealth has made them a target for sea-roving French, English, and Dutch sailors seeking to make their fortunes, and many did just that! It is this treasure, brought in by those adventurers that has prospered Port Royal to the state of excess in which it was until its destruction. Spain did very little to fight back against these thefts of its wealth, but they were not totally idle.
The Guardas Costas or “Coast Guards” were established to fight back against these interlopers. The Guarda Costas were issued commissions to board any non-Spanish ship in search of contraband. Although their original aim was hunting down pirates and privateers preying on the Spanish, they often focused on merchants and traders instead as they were far easier prey.
Strengths and Archetypal Role of the Spanish Guarda Costa
- Keep it Reale with strong offensive and defensive melee capabilities.
- Core fighting force of Corsairs and Biscayers have strong stat-lines for their cost.
- Rewards setup and smart-play with a powerful once-a-game tempo swing move of Santiago! to take advantage of holes in your opponents’ defense.
Faction Abilities of the Guarda Costa
- Santiago!: Once per game, this Company’s Commander may spend 2 Fortune Points to utter the famous Spanish Battle cry of Santiago! When this is done, every Friendly Character within 8″ of the Commander may take a free Shoot, Move or Charge action.
- Poor Powder: If an attack using a Black Powder weapon ever rolls a 1 on any D10, the opposing player may spend 1 Fortune Point to treat that dice as the primary dice.
Would you even be playing Spanish if you couldn’t yell Santiago? This ability allows for a large tempo-swing at any point in the game. Unlike most of the other “Once per game” Faction Abilities, Santiago! can be utilized at any point during the Commander’s Activation to push forward offensively. Limited to Shoot, Move or Charge, Santiago! is best used with a little bit of setup to maximize destructive capability – having a group fully reloaded to unload a salvo of fire or utilizing the free Charge actions to close on your opponent with several characters. You can also use Santiago! to retreat with Move actions, but you’ll certainly take a serious hit to your Spanish pride.
Poor Powder is a bit of a negative rule, allowing your opponent to seriously hurt down a critical character with an extra reload marker. It is important to always keep an eye on the Fortune Points available to you and your opponent, keeping one Reale in your back pocket to reroll that 1 in case you roll a 1 at an inopportune moment and your opponent is eyeing theirs.
Company Options
“Unless the enemy has studies his Agrippa…”
-Inigo
Guarda Costa Company Options
The following options represent the company’s ranking members.
The Captain
| Pieces 5 | Exp: 5 | Fight: 5/6 | Shoot: 7/7 | Resolve: 5 | Command, Fate(1), Ruthless |
At home fencing your opponent, the Spanish Captain is a swordsman at heart with a 5/6 Fight stat line and the Ruthless keyword. With a sword or rapier in hand, your Captain can Parry with critical blocks on 9’s and 10’s. I would recommend the latter, giving you a base 4 Fight which goes down to 3 with Ruthless. The captain has a decent chance of laying on some fatigue! Dual wielding rapiers enhances this even further, reducing you to a 2+ melee attack! However, the Spanish Captain suffers on the Shoot side of things with a 7/7 stat line. My recommendation is to get close in personal and stay there with your fantastic 5 resolve.
Lieutenant (1) and Mate (2) (and Corsair)
| Pieces 4 | Exp: 5 | Fight: 6/6 | Shoot: 7/7 | Resolve: 5 | Ruthless |
| 4 | 5 | 6/6 | 6/7 | 6 | Ruthless |
| 4 | 5 | 5/6 | 6/7 | 5 | Ruthless |
With nearly the same stat line, the choice between the Spanish Lieutenant and Mate boils down to how you build your force. The Lieutenant has a 10% better Resolve while the Mate is 10% better at shooting. Across the Spanish Units in Port Royal, the Mate has the best Shoot Skill and is best used as a Musketeer or a Dual Pistol shooting Officer while your Lieutenant is best used as a Melee focused character who can stay in the fight slightly longer.
However, for the same Pieces of Eight cost, the Corsair Crew Character is better in nearly every way than both the Lieutenant and Cabin Boy. The Corsair’s stat line combines the Shoot Skill of the Mate and the low Resolve of the Lieutenant with an additional benefit of a 5 Fight Skill (10% bonus)! The only reason to take Lieutenants and Cabin Boys over additional Corsairs is for the accelerated Officer Advancement track. Ultimately, the Corsair is the backbone of your force and can be effective in melee or ranged combat.
Cabin Boy and Militiaman
| Pieces 2 | Exp: 6 | Fight: 6/7 | Shoot: 7/7 | Resolve: 6 | Ruthless |
The Spanish Cabin Boy and Militiaman Inexperienced characters have the same stat line and are rather lackluster characters. They are best taken as Plunder runners or one-charge wonders on the way to Plunder. With Ruthless and a base Fight Skill of 6, the Inexperienced Characters can be useful in melee combat against a weakened opponent, particularly while dual-wielding, but will struggle to survive with Save Skills of 7 and a Resolve of 6. Perhaps even as chaff to inflict a Fatigue or two before your Corsairs enter the fray.
Sailor
| Pieces 3 | Exp: 5 | Fight: 5/7 | Shoot: 7/7 | Resolve: 5 | Ruthless |
Experience 5 Characters with 5 Fight Skill, 5 Resolve, and Ruthless, the Sailors (Marineros) are a fantastic melee unit for only 3 Pieces of Eight. You could buff out your Crew numbers with Spanish Sailors, but then you would be asking yourself why you didn’t spend 1 more Piece of Eight for a Corsair for a 10% better Fight Save and Shoot Skill and a much more well-rounded character.
Biscayer (3)
| Pieces 5 | Exp: 4 | Fight: 5/6 | Shoot: 7/6 | Resolve: 5 | Ruthless Hard Charger |
The Spanish Veteran, the Biscayer, is a strong option for your crew. For 1 Piece of Eight over the Corsair, you trade 1 Shoot Skill for 1 Shoot Save and pickup Hard Charger and a 4 Experience level. This makes the Biscayer slightly less all-rounder than the Corsair, instead focusing in on a melee strategy in a strong way. The Biscayer is great at this however, leveraging Experience 4 to close gaps with Reactions and then Charging on an activation or Santiago!. With a Fight Skill of 5, dual-wielded Accurate Rapiers, Ruthless and Hard Charger, it is easily possible for your Biscayer to be hitting your target on a 1+ success rate. Swapping out the Rapiers for a Lance is also a good option to trade some hit potential for kill potential with Impaling.
Example Crew Member Names
Naming character models adds a personal touch, making your crew more immersive and memorable. Here are some traditionally classic Spanish names you can use to draw inspiration. Creative nicknames like are good for helping keep the function of your models in perspective, such as “Henri the Hammer” for a Melee expert. Names that reflect each character’s skills or personality, adding depth to your campaign’s storytelling.
First Names
Francisco, Diego, Harnando, Hernán, Gaspar, Agustín, Marcos, Benito, Eyague, Frutos, Miguel, Hector, Pascual
Teresa, Luisa, Margarita, Marina, Catalina, Mayor, Sancha, Floriana, Marina, Juliana, Enrique
Family Names
de la Cruz (de <locale>), Caballero, Pinto, del Canto, Vaca, Leungo, Marqués, González, Gutiérrez, Ramírez, de la espada
Example 30 Pieces of Eight Starter Build
Company Name: “Caballeros de la Espada”
By Erich Goebel.
| Item | Pieces |
|---|---|
| OFFICERS | |
| Captain Two Rapiers 4 Experience Points for an immediate Advancement | 7 2 |
| CREW | 4 each 1 each |
| 3x Corsair A Rapier each | 12 (4 each) 3 (1 each) |
| Biscayer Lance | 5 1 |
Play Style Recommendations for Starter Company
This Guarda Costa force is more of a thematic force designed to lean into the identity of an elite swordsman squad. It has strengths in close combat both offensively and defensively.
- Exclusively melee units make for an aggressive play style
- Can exchange the starting experience on the Captain for two pistols on Corsairs
- The Captain is the powerhouse of this list, use it to get up close and personal without fear due to Fate (1). An immediate Advancement should power him up even more – with any luck you can pick up Aggressive Commander or Vast Experience.
- Your Corsairs are your shock troops, keep one with your captain and the other two to cover more ground. Movement is key to avoid getting shot at during reactions.
- The Biscayer is your finisher, with a lance to hopefully land kills on fatigued units.
- With initial Pieces of Eight after your first game, prioritize additional rapiers or pistols to give yourself a ranged option.
Company Name: “Suppress & Oppress”
By Jason Klotz.
| Item | Pieces |
|---|---|
| OFFICERS | |
| Captain Rapier Pistol | 5 1 1 |
| Mate 2x Pistol Dagger | 4 2 0 (Bonus Weapon) |
| CREW | |
| Militiamen x2 Musket Dagger | 4 (2 each) 2 (1 each) 0 (Bonus Weapon) |
| Sailor Lance Pistol | 3 1 1 |
| Corsair Blunderbuss Axe | 4 1 1 |
Play Style Recommendations for Starter Company
This force is primarily designed to take advantage of Ruthless by using two weapon combos. Hit your opponent with the ranged weapon and if they don’t die, charge in and finish them with your melee weapon. Hopefully, after they have taken Fatigue from the first shot with your ranged weapons
- The Captain is nothing special, a Rapier for flare and Parry for defense. A pistol more for defensive Reactions. You could also trade the pistol for two starting experience.
- The Mate has double pistols to provide multiple shots. I would use one for offense and keep the other for defense if someone gets too close.
- Spread the two Militiamen to opposite halves of the board to provide fire support and overwatch for the rest of the company. They may not be great shots but they are cheap. Once your main melee Characters grab loot you can pass it to them to take off the board and send the Melee crew back into the fray.
- The Sailor has Lance to help extend his melee effectiveness just a little farther and potentially block off choke points on the board.
- The Corsair has Blunderbuss and Ax for upclose and personal mayhem.
- Send the Captain, Sailor, and Corsair up the gut and then launch Santiago! to lay into your opponent. Use some Fortune Points for push to 3 actions apiece as they activate.
“Dios te bendiga. Que tus espadas sean rápidas.”
Spanish Campaign Sheets
Additional Content Suggestions
- Contending Factions of Port Royal – learn more about each of the core factions available in Port Royal.
Product Recommendations
- Raise the Black Sailor Box: 12 Sailor-like characters that can be built with pistols, swords, muskets, and explosives.
- Blood and Plunder Spanish Line: One-piece models that you cannot custom build, but each has lots of Faction Flavor. Highlights: Marins, Boucaniers and European Sailors.
- Spanish Activation Tokens from Blood and Pigment
- Spanish Replica Coins from Blood and Pigment
- Unique Option: There is a sweet limited edition Manuel Rivero de Pardal model from the 2016 Blood & Plunder Kickstarter that makes for a cool double pistol packing model. While it’s a rare mini, the new Pardal model could be kitbashed to match by swapping the current hands of the existing model with pistol hands from the Core Box sprue.