Just played a 20 Point Game game of Water World on VASSAL with repkosai!
Each of us controlled 2 fleets that would be played independently of one another. The build total was a small but exciting 20 points!
The order of play: (all game pieces found in the Master Spreadsheet)
6 gold bonuses at 20 points (a7xfanben)
Corsairs (repkosai)
Queen of Sheba + captain, cannoneer
Arrogant + captain, shipwright
Pirates (repkosai)
Cursed Blade + Coconut, captain, helmsman
Feisty Libellule + Rover (a7xfanben)
4 wild islands with 8 coins apiece, and 4 home forts with 8 cannons apiece.
The game begins, and the Libellule proves feisty indeed! I know how much of a game-winner the gold bonus abilities are, and with a lucky SAT from Roimata I was able to cripple my other fleet on the first turn! The Libellule missed her shots and ram, but the boarding part was what mattered. The chieftain was eliminated and rolled a 6 to eliminate 3 of his native canoes!!
Another SAT, and more carnage in the north: the Libellule wreaks further havoc, blasting masts off the Alquimista and Queen of Sheba and eliminating a canoe.
With more extreme luck on my part, the French absolutely dominate! The Libellule is a one-ship wrecking crew, eliminating the Spanish by taking out their last canoe and dismasting the Alquimista! The Arrogant looks to salvage the Queen of Sheba, while the French have even more luck! The Mermaid finds Turtles in the southeast! However, this allows the Cursed Blade to fly under the radar….
After capturing the Alquimista and QoS, Roimata sets her sights on the Arrogant.
The female named crew of the Libellule prove effective once more, as the Arrogant falls and so do the Corsairs! At this point, the Libellule has single-handedly eliminated half of the starting fleets and captured 3 ships.
The Turtles reached the French home fort, where the Alquimista and QoS looked to repair. The French hastily made plans for a possible attack….
The Pirates continue to run gold, while the French amass an empire relative to the tiny build total! Here they control 45 points total, more than twice what they started with. With 5 now-healthy ships, they look to the southwest and the Pirate fort that is burgeoning with shiny coins.
The Cursed Blade is about to round earth to the southeast, while the Alquimista stays behind to finish a little gold factory operation.
The fun of round earth! The Cursed Blade gets Homing Beacon, but can’t quite use it.
The Mermaid tries to block the Cursed Blade’s route home, while the Libellule waits for an SAT from Roimata to start the assault on the fort.
Attack!! Sudden chaos at the Pirate home fort! The Cursed Blade got home via Homing Beacon (not using round earth), but the French attacked in full force. The first bombardment took out 3 of the fort’s 8 cannons, while the Arrogant, Mermaid, and Alquimista tried to get into position.
The Cursed Blade dismasts the Mermaid and damages the QoS. The fort sank the Libellule, ending her string of luck and taking out the surefire MVS (Most Valuable Ship) of this contest. The Alquimista and Arrogant battled the fort for a few more turns, but eventually were overcome by the superior firepower. The Arrogant barely escaped…
… but she was cornered by the Cursed Blade to end the game! Despite the 10 gold from Turtles and 6 gold from the Alquimista’s bonus, it wasn’t even close. The Pirates had found all the good coins for a whopping 59-31 victory!
This was a fun and unique game that saw absolute domination by a single ship until the actual gold was counted. Repkosai enjoyed the introduction to the Water World rules, and we look forward to playing more unique games in the future! Hope to see you on VASSAL on August 11th-13th!