Just played 2 games on VASSAL with pirateaj14!
The first game was at 45 points, and featured these fleets.
a7xfanben:
Large Fry – Spanish Swarm (due to the higher build total I swapped in a regular captain and put an explorer on the Morning Star)
pirateaj14:
Enterprise + captain
La Vengeance + captain
La Monarca
5 wild islands with 4 coins each:
The San Cristobal managed to get the first shot against the Enterprise, dismasting her after a brief battle. Though, she was lucky that the Enterprise didn’t get an extra action on the allies’ turn. The Vengeance has set upon the Neptuno, but fares poorly. This game featured above-average luck for me, as I rolled to go first and experienced accurate gunnery with the San Cristobal’s average cannons.
The Vengeance hit 3/3 to take the Neptuno down to one mast, but with the help of the SC, the Spanish teamed up to dismast the Vengeance. Both her and the Enterprise were captured, leaving the allies with just La Monarca.
In the end the Spanish won 47-30!
Game 2
pirateaj14:
USS Kettering + captain
HMS Apollo + captain
Bloody Jewel
a7xfanben:
Cyclops + captain, fire shot
Dark Pact + El Fantasma (SCS) + helmsman
Nightmare + fire shot
This was a somewhat unique 41 point game, to accommodate the extra stuff we wanted in our fleets. (the treasure distribution was the same but with different coins)
The allied gunships were content to run gold, so the Cyclops had an easy escort duty protecting the Dark Pact.
This is where things got interesting – all 4 larger ships meet near the middle, with El Fantasma looking to use a ghostly surprise and somehow evade the powerful gunships in the opposing fleet. The Kettering’s canceller and the Cyclops as a potential sacrificial/blocking ship loomed large.
The Kettering hits the Cyclops, but the Cyclops returns the favor by hitting with fire shot! The longship is set aflame while the Dark Pact uses Ghost Ship (a tiny bit lol, tough to maneuver at S+S speed) to make a break around the quiet northern side of the island.
The Kettering and Apollo dismast the Cyclops, but that lets the Nightmare get her 2L cannon in range of the Apollo. However, her fire shot misses.
In a small miracle, the Kettering’s fire spread, she missed her shots against the Nightmare, and the Nightmare set her final mast aflame before sinking her for good! The Cyclops also sank, but the Dark Pact gave the Cursed hope – she made it to the allied home island!
The Dark Pact grabbed a coin with El Fantasma before being blasted by the Bloody Jewel and Apollo. The Ghost Ship keyword came in handy here, giving the Dark Pact a better chance at survival than if she had simply turned around. (she went through the allied home island)
Here we ruled that the Bloody Jewel could shoot at the Dark Pact because she had a clear line of fire between the two islands that made up the larger allied HI. The Apollo later dismasted the Dark Pact to end the game!
The gold was counted and the allies had won a 29-23 victory! (32-23 if the Dark Pact and her stolen coin was recaptured) The Cursed nearly pulled off an upset, but their slow speeds and English gunnery made it impossible. This was also the first games where I’ve used the snipping tool to take pictures rather than just using the picture function within the module (taking screenshots rather than editing pictures of the whole ocean). It definitely saved time and is very useful for anyone who looks to take pictures on VASSAL in the future.
This was a fun day of piracy that saw a new player on VASSAL. Welcome him into the community and we hope to play again soon! Join us on VASSAL!