Paul Grogan
United Kingdom
Cullompton
Devon
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Got the game, played the game, like the game, know the rules.
However, the dude who allows you to place a ship on the ships area I just dont get. Which means when I try to teach new people, they also have no idea what this is all about because I dont really understand it 
Can someone explain what exactly he does and a glimmer of some kind of idea about when to use it to your advantage.
Thanks all
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Nuno Sentieiro
Portugal
Leiria
Madeira - Pearl of the Atlantic - the Board Game - ESSEN 2012 !
#nbs#
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To me Sernigi is the most important character in the game !
- It allows you to gain bonus (like crew, captain, or projects) without spending an action disc in that area...
- Allows you to "hurt" other players by blocking the available navigation spaces above their ships.
- Allows you to "force" your ships to navigate by using the action in the beginning of the navigation phase...
In my games is always a character that everyone wants and is always changing hands...it's true in first games everyone seemed to overlook it's power, but soon we realised it's value...
Hope this helps
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Drew
United States
Eau Claire
Wisconsin
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I agree that he seems a very important character.
The player who starts with him gets the first of the merchant ships and must place it at a landing (receiving the bonus) at the beginning of the game. Note that each player gets a starting bonus of some sort based on which character they start with. Starting with the merchant kind of gives you a choice of bonuses depending on the landing you choose. (I always grab a bonus captain.)
Then, whoever takes him on a round can immediately place the merchant ship, or wait until just before the Navigation phase to place the merchant ship. Again, every time the merchant ship is placed, that player receives the landing bonus item.
Now, aside from using the merchant to block slots at landings, I also think he's a great way to instantly nab something you couldn't get by any other means -- e.g., a captain or a crew member or a ship project. I think this gives him a lot of power. In the games I've played, it seems like no one bothers using him. He's always been my choice of character.
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Brian Bennett
United States
West Bloomfield
Michigan
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Having Girolamo Sernigi allows a player to place a ship on a port from the stack of 6 ships next to his picture. These ships are shuffled and placed in a stack to start the game.
These ships are different from the regular ships in a few ways. First, you do not put a captain on them, which means that these ships are not owned by anyone. When placing these ships, no victory points are scored. The only thing that happens is that the player placing the ship gets the advantage of the port that he placed it in, I.E. if he places the ship in the bottom port, (i don't have the board in front of me, so I don't know the name) he will get to select one project from the available projects.
The other advantage of using this ability, and often more important, is the fact that you get to fill a spot. This may fill a spot that another player wants to use or it may fill a spot that fills a row and then allows you to score and move your other ships up. This can be a great advantage later in the game when you are fighting to get your ships to fill that top row for the 5VP bonus! Again, these ships don't score ANYTHING other than the first bonus when you play it.
When a player uses his action to host Girolamo Sernigi he gets to choose whether to IMMEDIATALY place a ship or to place the ship right before the ship scoring occurs. This option is also allowed for a player choosing to host Girolamo Sernigi when they already have him, to protect someone from taking him or if they need to place the ship NOW instead of later. The key thing to note here is that this action will likely occur before players actions that allow them to sail ships. This can allow you fill up spots that someone else was looking to take. It also can help you get that one thing you need that you find that you otherwise can't. For example, you realized that you need a captain and you can't afford to buy a captain this round since you are going to buy too many workers and the price of the captain goes up as you buy more workers. Using Girolamo Sernigi's advantage as soon as you host him would allow you to sail a ship on the row that gets you a free captain, now you have the captain you need to later sail the ship you were planning.
I hope this makes sense. It usually isn't a great advantage, but when used at the right time or for the right reason, it can give a significant advantage.
Also, make sure that the player starting the game with Girolamo Sernigi gets to place the top ship from the stack on a port before the game starts, that is why there are 6 ships for 5 rounds. Two go out the first round. Just like the player with the +2VPs get them to start the game.
Regards,
Brian
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Steve Duff
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
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Nuno summarized it well. The Ship guy puts 1 ship on the tracks once per round. This gives you, the person controlling him:
1) A bonus immediately for placing it (cash, points, a captain, whichever you need/want). Getting an extra captain or ship can be huge at this point, as you might be able to launch one extra ship this turn.
2) Control. You can fill in a spot, taking spots away from your opponent, so they can't play. "Aw, no place to put that lovely 6 ship fully loaded with captain and crew? That's too bad..." 
Or, you can fill up a line, causing that line to move up the board, giving you points for your ships that move up.
EGGR0LL wrote: Also, make sure that the player starting the game with Girolamo Sernigi gets to place the top ship from the stack on a port before the game starts, that is why there are 6 ships for 5 rounds. Two go out the first round.
It's better to just leave it as in your first sentence, one gets placed during setup, and one goes out the first round. Saying two go out in round 1 confuses people.
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