Commodore Delahaye
If you have the Shades token set you might be thinking, "What's this Black Spot token thing?" Well, step aboard, Commodore Delahaye!
‘Worlds Old and New’
The Commodore brings the old Pirate Keyword to the new Shades Faction and has a unique pirate-y playstyle too. In fact, with 'Worlds Old & New', the bonuses he brings to Shades and Dominion are explicitly different.
Within the Shades, the Commodore can manipulate murky tides and waters of the accursed Shades, which allows him to put a Water Feature into play at the start of the game. This is excellent for Sen'Ara, and possibly future models who love having Water Features. These characters may not be Pirates, but with the Commodore in Shades, they're certainly honorary Pirates!
Meanwhile, in the Dominion, Delahaye builds on the Faction’s already great mobility, allowing one of his pirates to ignore ‘Slow’ once per turn. This is of particular interest to his daughter Peggy. Although she can't use it with 'Treasure Map' (as that is before a turn starts), once the game begins, she can more easily move up the board in turn 1 and get stuck into melee. Alternatively, a Pirate overloaded with moonstones can now jog slightly faster, potentially letting Swash get into melee where a slow jog may not have allowed this.
“Up thar? Aye!”
The Black… Spot…
Beyond this flexible passive ability, Commodore Delahaye also has the usual 'Reload [Shoot Pistol]' and Shoot Pistol found on many Pirates. Unlike other Pirates, though, the Commodore has an excellent active ability, which allows the Pirates to lean into their ranged prowess more than ever.
'Old Pirate Curse' lets him put the feared ‘Black Spot’ on one of his enemies. This curse can only be on one enemy at a time, but for the unlucky soul that has been marked for death by the pirates, they are in for a world of pain! As well as the 1 Wd suffered at the end of the turn, Pirates also gain bonus Arcane when firing at the enemy with the Black Spot. This means more accurate and more damaging pistols than ever. This allows the Pirates to effectively assassinate problematic characters as part of their game plan. As a player, if you Black Spot a crucial model for your opponent, then you can fill it with bullet holes!
A Pistol Signature
“Ye line 'em up pa, 'n I'll shoot 'em down!”
Is that it for pistol tricks, though? No! Commodore Delahaye has one more pistol trick to round out his toolbox of ranged and pistol-focused gameplay for the pirates. For his signature, the Commodore makes no use of his 'Cutlass' and instead goes for his pistol... along with any other pirates within shouting range of him. With a large number of pirate pistols nearby, he can achieve some very scary impact damage and make some characters think twice before engaging the pistol-wielding pirate in melee.
With all these skills in tow, Commodore Delahaye can increase the effectiveness of all your pistol Pirates, and water-bound Shade allies, and assassinate problematic characters with ease, paving the Pirates path to victory!
