Spanish:
Napolitana + captain, helmsman, oarsman, fire shot
Batavian Bat + oarsman
San Pedro + explorer, oarsman
Antamasia + captain, helmsman, oarsman
English:
HMS King Edward + captain, helmsman, explorer, fire shot
HMS Dover + captain, helmsman, explorer, fire shot
La Santa Ana + Fernando Sanchez, Bianco’s Haulers, helmsman, oarsman
There were 4 home islands, 4 wild islands, 2 whirlpools, and a string of terrain in the middle of the sea. Each wild island had 6 coins on it. Round earth rules were used.
The Corsairs quickly used round earth to explore a southern wild island that the Harbinger and Comet appeared to be headed towards.
The Pirates split up, while the English stick together.
The Harbinger is back in action!
But the Cursed Corsairs go 5/5 between the Freedom’s Hand and the Cat’s Claw to dismast the new ship! (the Claw had a successful ram)
Early-game carnage:
The Comet shoots a mast off the Cat’s Claw, but the Corsairs have other issues.
As the English explore the northwestern island, the Pirate Antamasia wants no part of them. The English send the Santa Ana through a whirlpool to raid the Corsairs’ HI. The submerged Pyre failed to ram a mast off the Meresman.
The Freedom’s Hand engages the Antamasia at S+S range while the Santa Ana is free to return home with stolen loot after Bianco’s Haulers prevented the ship from being shot at while it was docked at the Corsairs’ HI. The Harbinger is rowing home as the Spanish fleet accumulates gold.
Above the mainmast of the King Edward, the proud HMS Dover docks home gold. In the distance, the Pyre has surfaced to engage the Meresman, but she’s unsuccessful.
The Pirate Antamasia answered with a 2/2 to beat the Freedom’s Hand.
Only a few coins remain on islands as the endgame approaches.
The final count for this game with 4 players:
1. English: 27 gold
2. Pirates: 22
3. Spanish: 19
4. Cursed Corsairs: 6
The setup featured home islands at opposite ends, and three wild islands in the middle. The island in the center of the ocean was surrounded by a combination of fog and reefs, but it had 8 coins compared to 5 coins each for the other two islands.
The eastern island is off to the right of the frame.
Ships headed for the islands. The Flamberge ducked into a fog bank to avoid the Bruja.
As the Orca struggled to exit the fog in the correct direction, the Satisfaction and Nightmare cleaned out the eastern island. The Flamberge actually beat her comrade (the Orca) to the middle island, meaning that the western island was the last to be explored. The Bruja, with no cargo space available, waited to ambush the French Pirates.
The Satisfaction gambled, hoping that the Bruja’s average cannons would either miss at least half the time or not get completely in range.
And she paid the price! The Bruja sailed up and broadsided the Satisfaction, eliminating all three masts, both coins, and her helmsman.
The Bruja sunk the now-empty Satisfaction as the Nightmare returned home with gold. Now with 2 ships, the French Pirates looked to unload some gold of their own. Luckily for them, the Flamberge and Orca had 10 gold between their 2 coins! Still, the French Pirates were facing an uphill battle after their main gold runner was sunk.
The Flamberge returned home, taking a mast off the Bruja on the way by. Guy LaPlante led a boarding party which killed the Bruja’s helmsman. The Bruja had no choice but to duck into a fog bank. The Flamberge headed west this time, as the Orca and Nightmare sailed in and out of the fog.
Here, the Bruja has repaired, while the Flamberge and Orca make trips to the western island, which they’ve discovered has a lot of high-value coins on it.
With the Bruja and Nightmare now heading to the western island, the Flamberge and Orca go back to the center.
LaPlante was getting bored, and decided to attack! His cannons took out three masts from the Bruja, and his S-boarding stole a coin from the Nightmare.
However, the Cursed got their revenge on the next turn, with the two ships teaming up to crush the Flamberge. The Bruja’s Fear keyword was a 5, meaning that the Flamberge was almost useless for the following turn. The Nightmare’s ram and board meant that the coin changed hands again back to the Nightmare.
The Flamberge headed home, and the Nightmare took the Bruja under tow.
As the Bruja repaired, the Flamberge was unlucky enough to hit a reef and roll a 3, meaning that she was derelict and pretty much out of the game. The Nightmare returned to the center island to grab the last coin.
1. Cursed Pirates: 26 gold
2. French Pirates: 25 gold
Wow! That last 1 coin mattered, giving the Cursed Pirates the victory! The French Pirates found some coins of very high values, but the Cursed Pirates had more gold overall.
Warning: Unfortunately I can only find one picture from this game, so the republished report is extremely flawed with basically no pictures.
This game was played on 11/16, and featured similar fleets as the last game, but this time the build total was 80 points.
The fleets went in the order as follows; note some changes from the last game:
Mercenaries:
Gladius Dei (cazador) + Caesar (cazador), helmsman
Terror + captain, helmsman, shipwright
Bashaw Folly + Osvaldo de Deus Celemente, oarsman
Devil Ray, oarsman
Gladius Dei
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Submarine
Points: 15
Masts: 3
Cannons: 4S,4S,5S
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Link: Caesar
Mercenary, Submarine
This ship gets +S to her base move and +1 cargo spaces if she doesn’t carry crew.
Flavor: The “Sword of God” is rumored to have been built by the Vatican in an attempt to safely move Catholic wealth and artifacts around the globe.
Caesar
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Crew
Points: 9
Link: Gladius Dei
Limit, Ex-Patriot, Navigator
As a free action, friendly Mercenary-faction ships may unload treasure at your home island if they are within S of it. Gold unloaded in this way loses one point of value, to a minimum of zero.
Flavor: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Mark 12:17 – Caesar draws Ex-Patriots to himself like few others, often leading cooperative efforts to gather the wealth needed by his fellow exiles. Caesar takes twenty percent of the haul as his dues; what few know is that he gives half of that to parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.
French:
Froide Vengeance (selxaxri) + Phillipe Jordan (el_cazador), Mademoiselle Josephine Godiva, helmsman, shipwright
Le Gaule (cazador) + Michel Dubois (cazador), chieftain
Native Canoes (cazador) + one canoe with Exploding Shot
La Crete Argentee + helmsman
Froide Vengeance (proxied at 15 points for this game)
Nat. French
Masts 3
Cannons 3L-2S-4S
Cargo 3
Movement L
Icebreaker
This ship may tow Icebergs.
Still at war with the English, one general who skirted the floes of the northern waters concocted a hare-brained scheme- blockading the british fleet using the floes themselves.
Phillipe Jordan
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 8
Link: (The Submarine)
Ex-patriot, Captain
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against any ship.
Flavor: Jordan’s anger at the French Admiralty’s decisions has led him to dock at French ports as rarely as possible, instead resupplying at islands and foreign ports.
Le Gaule
Type: 5-mast
Nation: France
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L,2S,2S,2S,3L
Link: None
When this ship sinks another ship, give this ship a free move action.
Flavor: After decisive action against the Cursed near the coast of French Indochina, this legendary vessel has come to the Atlantic to fight the English.
Michel Dubois
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 4
Link: None
Captain, Explorer
Flavor: Dubois fights for gold and will turn down opportunities to sink the English in favor of obtaining more money.
Canots Indigènes
Nation: France
Points: X (13)
Masts: X
Cargo: 1 (x5)
Move: S+S
Cannon: 3L (x5)
Link: None
Native Canoes, Captain
Flavor: The natives of Indonesia have been trained in the art of war by French capitaines, and they pursue the monsters of the deep.
Chef de Tribu
Nation: France
Points: 13
Link: None
Tribal Chieftain
Before you give any of this chieftain’s canoes an action, roll a d6. On a 5-6 they may shoot at submerged ships.
Flavor: This chieftain’s men have had conact with the Monster Hunter’s guild.
Tenfold
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 22
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L,3S,3S
Link: Zedekiah
Mercenary, Hostile: Caesar, Hoist, Turbine. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.
Flavor: Zedekiah’s ironclad ship has been in the employ of several nations, most recently the French. His hope is to repurchase the ancient land of the Jews with the lucrative profits he makes from shipping. As he is fond of saying, if you hire him, your investment will repay tenfold.
Onox
Type: Crew
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 5
Link: Ganondorf’s Revenge
Ganonite, Ex-Patriot, Black Mark, Captain.
Pirate crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Onox is secretly recruiting men for Ganondorf’s future Second Gerudo Empire. It is said that there is no ruthless, traitorous fiend he won’t turn down.
Koloktos
Nation: Cursed
Points: 8
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. This ship may dock at an enemy home island and take as much treasure as she can carry. She must leave (if able) on her next turn.
Flavor: The dark magic that powers this automaton has given it a keen sense of when to raid enemy ports.
Rusty Hook
Nation: Pirate
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L, 2S, 2S, 2S
Ability: You opponent cannot initiate a boarding party against this ship.
Flavor Text: ???
Link: Donovan Richtarian
Tetra
Type: Crew
Nation: Pirate
Points: 6
Link: Arbiter
Hostile: Cursed, Captain, Explorer. Hylian crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Tetra had been captaining for years before Hyrule emerged as a sea power. While not all of her work has been ethical, she is effective at what she does and is always willing to lend Hyrule her aid against the Cursed.
Purlo
Type: Crew
Nation: Hyrule
Points: 5
Link: None
Hostile: Cursed, Helmsman. Once per turn, this ship may randomly take one treasure from any ship she touches.
Flavor: Purlo was a con artist in Castleton until he was caught by the Ranging and Enforcement corps. Noting his skill, they referred him to the navy, where he began a new life leading boarding parties and raids.
Dead Man’s Revenge
Pirate
20 pts
Masts: 3
Cargo: 2
Movement: L+L
Canon: 3L-2S-3L
Ability: Shipburner – Once per game if this ship is within S of enemy ships, roll a d6. On 4-6 she explodes, remove her immediately from the game and for every enemy ship within S, eliminate one mast, replace another with a fire mast, and eliminate one crew, cargo or equipment. On a 1-3 remove all of this ships masts and eliminate all her crew.
Torpedo
Pirate
18 pts
Masts: 2
Cargo: 1
Movement: L+L
Cannon: 4S-4S
Ability: Portburner – This ship may dock at an enemy Home Island, and roll a d6. On a 4-6 she explodes and is immediately eliminated from the game. Roll another d6 the result is the number of treasure coins removed from the Home Island. On a 1-3 she may take one treasure and leave on her next turn if able.
English:
HMS Fatalis (cazador) + Hermione Gold, helmsman
HMS Puma (cazador) + Thomas Gunn, explorer
Edelweiss (cazador) + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
HMS Growler (cazador) + explorer
HMS Fatalis
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: England
Points: 16
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: L
Cannons: 4L,4L,4S
Link: None
Hoist
This ship eliminates two masts with one hit.
Flavor: The HMS Fatalis was comissioned to pillage and plunder and and rifle and loot; occasionally she even burns the town down. She’s really a fright.
HMS Puma
Type: 4-mast
Nation: England
Points: 13
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3L,3L,3L,3L
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against crew, forts, and ships within S of her.
Flavor: The HMS Puma’s captain has little patience and will often sail straight into combat, even though the Puma carries long-range cannons.
Edelweiss
Nation: Gallia/England
Type: 3-mast Windcatcher
Points: 18
Masts: 3
Cargo: 3
Move: S+S
Cannons: 2L,3L,2S
Link: Alicia Melchiott, Welkin Gunther
Windcatcher. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.
Flavor: Purchased from the Americans and modified by Gallian nautical engineers, the Edelweiss has proved a capable ship. Her high price is all that has precluded further orders by the Principality of Gallia.
HMS Growler
Type: 3-mast square rigged
Nation: England
Points: 10
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,3S,3S
Link: None
Schooner. This ship gets +L to her base move if she starts her move action within S of an island.
Flavor: The Growler, called by some the Prowler, slinks along coasts and archipelagos, looking to use her relatively shallow draft to seize a first strike.
I purposely made the setup the opposite of the last game. The play area featured 5 separate home islands around the borders of the sea, which would once again utilize round earth rules. A whopping 17 coins were placed on the middle island. The northern and southern island both received 8 coins, while a wreck of HMS Sultan received 5. Some UT’s were present, which would affect the game once again. All of the icebergs used were either 1’s, 2’s, or 3’s, with a total of 9. The custom icebergs would again function as “1” icebergs. Two whirlpools and a few reefs were placed as well.
You can see the double arch to the left of the middle island, beneath which the shipwreck lies. The arch to the right is a difficult one to use since it’s so low and difficult to maneuver in, but it adds a nice scenic touch. The Mercenaries picked their home island last, but luckily for them, nobody picked the northeastern HI, which was closest to the arch. Everybody else wanted to avoid the low arch with their tall ships, while the Mercs knew they’d have no problem with it in their sleek submarines. The English are at the lower right, while the west is comprised (bottom to top) of the Cursed, Pirates, and French.
On the very first turn, the Mercenaries have entered the arch! The Bashaw Folly is short enough to make it through, while the Gladius Dei and Devil Ray lead the way. The Terror has gone slightly to the south out of the frame.
This is a fantastic view of this great setup. At the left foreground, the dangerous reef that the Sultan fell victim to. At the far left, the edge of the huge iceberg can be seen. The main arch in the foreground is a double archway, and you can see how the wider arch slopes a bit, leaving more clearance towards the right (I thought of doing that while making the arch so it’s not universally accessible at every point of the arch!). At the far right, the other archway is taller but rather narrow. In the middle of the ocean, a gold-laden island beckons. Beyond, you can see the Mercs making their way through the other arch, which is wavy inside from all of the water ricocheting back and forth. To the right of the arch, you can just see the submerged Terror going the long way.
All of the fleets have begun sailing! The Froide Vengeance grabs the huge iceberg and starts towing it. At the right, HMS Puma sails north instead of west with the rest of the fleet.
On the second turn the Gladius Dei is the first ship to dock at the middle island!
The Tenfold uses her hoist to explore the southern island, finding some nice UT’s: Wine, Power Cannons, and English Royal Decree.
With HI raider Koloktos already on board, the Tenfold transfers Wine to the Lamprey:
The French canoes have explored the northern island, finding Spices in addition to an abandoned musketeer.
The Terror has rejoined the Mercs. At the left, the two Pirate gunships guard the Torpedo, who prepares to explore the Sultan wreck.
The Mercs have deduced that no other fleet can explore the middle island next turn either, and therefore the Devil Ray surfaces to dock, while the Gladius Dei submerges and allows Caesar to place a trade current behind the eastern arch.
First blood goes to the French! The Froide Vengeance turns around and hits 2/2 against the Rusty Hook. In addition, the Hare’s Luck turned around and shot at the Skipping Stone, but was foiled by the Catamaran’s defenses!
The Pirates tried to get revenge, but failed miserably. The Rusty Hook executed a shoot and ram against the Froide, but only succeeded in taking out one mast, while the boarding party was a tie. The Dead Man’s Chest sails north to help the Rusty Hook, but that leaves the Torpedo vulnerable to the nearby Calypsos. The Skipping Stone shoots 1/2 against the Hare’s Luck.
There are some developments in the south as well: an iceberg moved right into the path of the Fatalis and Edelweiss, forcing the English to take a different route to avoid possible attacks by the Tenfold or Terror. The Growler has explored the southern island as the Cursed turn around. HMS Puma also turns, realizing that the French native canoes have taken most of the northern gold, and if the Puma went through the whirlpool, she would be an easy target for Le Gaule.
To start the next turn, the Devil Ray became the first ship to explore the middle island!
The most important one was Wolves, which meant that the Devil Ray couldn’t take any gold. Also, the other abandoned musketeer was on the island as well, meaning that the first abandoned musketeer, aboard a French canoe, was the only way to take out the wolves and access the treasure on the middle island!
Trouble in the south! The Bashaw Folly takes advantage of one of Caesar’s trade currents to surprise the Edelweiss, just getting both cannons in range. Celemente’s Broadsides Attack hit! The Edelweiss’ defenses were irrelevant for the time being, and the submerged Terror wasn’t far behind.
Although a conflict had begun in the south, the west was still the location of the hottest action. As you can see from the next picture, total chaos has erupted. The French moved first, using the Froide Vengeance to first tow the huge iceberg right into the Rusty Hook! This left the Hook with one mast standing. Then, Phillipe Jordan’s +1 cannon bonus gave the Froide a perfect 2/2 to send the Rusty Hook to the bottom! For the second straight game, the Rusty Hook had been easily sunk by the aggressive French. The French weren’t done though. The Gaule sailed up to the Devil Ray and surprised the Mercs with a brutal attack! The Devil Ray was no match for the French gunship, and sunk below the waves. The Gaule then used her unique ability to move again, which put her in range of the Skipping Stone. The Gaule’s guns opened fire once again, shattering the outrigger of the Skipping Stone and leaving her with just one mast. At the far left, the Dead Man’s Revenge has taken an iceberg hit, further increasing the woes of the Pirates.
For the second game in a row, Wolves and Le Gaule have destroyed the plans of the Mercs.
The Cursed were up next, right before the Pirates. The Hare’s Luck shot with her final cannon, and miraculously landed a firepot on the Skipping Stone! This left the catamaran a burning derelict.
The Cursed gave the Tenfold a move action to deposit her gold on the home island. The Lamprey continued west to the puzzlement of the other fleets. In the background, Calypsos has taken a mast off the Torpedo and stolen her lone coin.
The Pirates are in major trouble.
The Pirates took their turn, which made their situation even worse, as if that were possible! The Skipping Stone was automatically scuttled having all fire masts, and the Rusty Hook was gone. The Torpedo actually managed to hit Calypsos with her remaining 4S cannon, but was pinned and a sitting duck.
Where did the Dead Man’s Revenge go? As you may have guessed, she blew up! True to her name, the Pirates wanted revenge against the French, who had ruined their plans for the second game in a row. However, once again, the Pirates couldn’t do much of anything about it. The Dead Man’s Revenge maneuvered herself near the reef edge of the arch and the big iceberg, just barely getting within S of both the Froide Vengeance and Gaule. Her captain missed with both cannons, and the shipburner ability failed, eliminating the DMR from the game and leaving the French as healthy as before.
The English had enough firepower to get revenge on the Mercenaries, blasting the Bashaw Folly with the Fatalis while the Edelweiss was towed by the Puma.
The overall situation. The Mercs have already lost the Devil Ray and Bashaw Folly, while the Pirates have essentially been eliminated from the game.
The Terror joins the Gladius Dei while the French regroup and unload treasure.
Calypsos has finished off the Torpedo, and the Tenfold grabs the coin. The Lamprey appears to be on a round earth mission, but which home island is she after?
The Cursed suddenly make their intentions clear! The Tenfold uses Power Cannons to stun the French and sink the Froide Vengeance with an improbable 3/3, which also nets them a coin from the middle island due to the English Royal Decree. The Lamprey emerges from the south to come out of the northwest, looking to exchange Wine for a high-value coin!
The English have brought back a small amount of gold via the Growler and look to get the Edelweiss back in action.
After the early-game battles, the sea doesn’t look crowded enough…
With help from a trade current, the Terror has emerged from the depths to attack Le Gaule! The Mercs were hoping to kill the tribal chieftain and therefore gain some control of the canoe that carried the vital musketeer. The attack knocked over two masts and killed Michel Dubois, leaving the Gaule vulnerable. The Terror declined to use Fear out of the fear (pun intended) of cancelling the chieftain, which can actually make the canoes more dangerous.
The Gladius Dei has resurfaced at a safer point of the island in case the French try to eliminate the wolves.
The canoes team with Le Gaule to sink the Terror, leaving the Mercs with just the Gladius Dei.
But the French also have to deal with the Cursed! Luckily for the French, the Tenfold misses her shots against the canoes. The Lamprey unloads Wine for a 3 at the French HI.
As the game progresses, one thing is clear: the English are coming.
Le Gaule didn’t have access to the captain ability, but the canoes did, and the Tenfold lost a mast. The Gaule won the boarding party to steal the 3 that Calypsos originally took from the Torpedo. The canoes also wounded Calypsos.
Calypsos runs a suicidal interference mission, pinning the Gaule but failing to remove a mast or kill the chieftain. The Tenfold uses the opportunity to move away from the action and grab some gold from the shipwreck without having to roll for the reef. At the top of the picture you can see the Lamprey escaping.
The English have entered the center area, and the Gladius Dei is forced to submerge in their presence. The Edelweiss has finished repairing and it won’t be long before she joins her fleetmates. However, most of the gold lies on the home islands of the Cursed and French, while the middle island is largely untouched. The French still have the abandoned musketeer, the key to the late game chaos that approaches.
The canoes take another mast off the Tenfold, while the Gaule repairs with an abandoned shipwright (from the northern island) transferred to her by the Crete Argentee, whose bonus was important in the sinking of the Terror and the shots against the Tenfold and Calypsos, who is now dead. Seeing the gold on the Cursed HI, the Gladius Dei is hoping to take out the Tenfold, but needs to avoid the dangerous canoes on the way.
The Lamprey brought back her gold from the French HI, and the Tenfold unloaded her shipwrecked treasure, giving the Cursed a gold advantage. Then, they both sailed south to round-earth their way to the northwest, where the French began sailing. At this point, the Fatalis was pretty much going after the French, while the Growler sailed north to try and grab the last coins from the northern island. The English had the luxury of being able to split their forces, but they needed to since there were so many threats. Also, the Cursed and French both had more gold than the English.
The Puma takes out two canoes, with the Edelweiss following her under the arch. As with the previous game, the French chieftain continually failed to allow the canoes to shoot at submerged ships, and the Gladius Dei pursued the Tenfold. The game was becoming more urgent in nature, with exciting developments occurring.
The Tenfold and Lamprey split up in the north! The Lamprey sailed east to deter the Growler, while the Tenfold headed west, making it fairly obvious she intended to raid the English HI rather than the French. This was probably the Cursed’s plan all along, but the French confirmed it by docking the Gaule home. She unloaded treasure and provided a deterrent to any would-be raiders. The Gaule was temporarily invulnerable, but the Crete Argentee was not, being dismasted by the Fatalis.
A tense situation, with ships scattered everywhere: Le Gaule has fully repaired, while the Lamprey rams the Growler and takes a coin from her. The Puma came under attack by the canoes, but fought back with her comrades to eliminate all but the one canoe which had the musketeer. The remaining factions essentially couldn’t eliminate that canoe, since it held the only way to get gold from the middle island. The Cursed could gamble and try to eliminate it, but were greedy and wanted a piece of the middle island too. The Gladius Dei is to the far southwest out of the picture while the Tenfold approaches the deserted English HI. The Fatalis and Edelweiss sail towards the Cursed HI, hoping to cut off the Tenfold.
On the next turn, the matchup was finally seen: the Gladius Dei with Caesar aboard taking on the Tenfold! Of course, it didn’t last long, with the Gladius Dei eliminating the Tenfold’s final mast with a submerged ram before the Tenfold used Turbine to raid the English HI. The final canoe knocked the Puma down to one mast, while the Fatalis and Edelweiss prepared to sink the Tenfold. In a clutch 1v1 victory, the Growler fought back to dismast the Lamprey and take back the gold!
The Gladius Dei rams again, this time on the surface. The GD steals a coin.
The severely weakened French have no choice – it’s the best opportunity to get at the middle island! The last canoe’s musketeer fires and misses! In the meantime, the Growler is limping home after going through the northern whirlpool, near where the Gaule approaches the middle island. The Tenfold also speeds towards the island, so the Fatalis and Edelweiss do the same. It’s a showdown in the center!
As the musketeer misses again, everyone draws closer except for the Puma, who captures the Crete Argentee hoping to take advantage of her bonus.
The French miss yet again, which can only serve to help the English. The battle begins, with the Edelweiss hitting the Gaule as the Puma misses the Lamprey. The Fatalis tries to corner the Tenfold, who is essentially uncaptureable with Turbine and no cancellers present.
As the Gladius Dei returns to the island, the French go next and finally eliminate the wolves! The Gaule docks but since Dubois is gone she can’t explore! Naturally, the Cursed are somehow the first fleet to explore the middle island, even though they were the last fleet to reach it in the game and were already winning! The Tenfold loads a whopping 17 gold in addition to the 1 she stole from the English, making her a target of the English once again.
However, the Tenfold was also subject to the other UT’s on the island, and Plague killed all of her crew, while the other UT’s wouldn’t help at all. To top it all off, the Whirlpool UT sent the Tenfold through one whirlpool and out another, which actually shortened her journey home.
The Fatalis is the second ship to take gold from the middle island.
As the Growler repairs, the Edelweiss emerges from a whirlpool to chase the Tenfold!
At long last, the Mercenaries are finally able to load some gold! The Puma attacks Le Gaule, while the Fatalis plays a hybrid role with gold aboard, keeping a lookout for the Tenfold, soon to emerge from the west with round earth.
Having lost her helmsman, the Tenfold was no match for the Edelweiss, who sank her and eliminated all 18 gold from the game. The English breathed a sigh of relief now that the Cursed couldn’t get any more gold (the Lamprey had been sunk as well), but they still had to stop the French. However, with the Cursed and Pirates out of the game, the English didn’t want to trigger any endgame conditions by eliminating the French before they could get gold back (I tried to keep it consistent with the previous game). Therefore, they decided to let the final canoe go while trying to capture the Gaule. The Gladius Dei was out of range and untowable anyway, so the English concentrated on the Gaule.
The last canoe has left the musketeer on the island for the final coin in the game, while the English will inevitably capture the weakened Gaule.
An epic picture! The stealthy and submerged Gladius Dei is about to hit an old trade current on her way home, while through the archway, you can see part of the beautiful center island and the Gaule’s mainmast, which has fallen dramatically against the hoist of the Fatalis.
The Mercs use Caesar to deposit their gold! It won’t be nearly enough to win, but it’s a small victory nonetheless.
As the French canoe runs home the Puma tows the Gaule, completing the English plan.
The game’s final turn saw the French deposit their final coin with their only game piece still under their command, while the English formed a defensive formation around the Gaule to prevent her sinking. The English returned home her gold and that of the Fatalis, but it wasn’t much.
What a game! I think for some reason I enjoyed this game slightly more than the previous one, but funny enough they turned out oddly similar in a lot of ways. The Tenfold was center stage once again, and the Cursed are victorious! (xerecs will be happy haha) The English played another good game where they had firepower and enough time to repair and do good in the late game, but once again it wasn’t enough. The final French canoe gave the French 9 gold instead of 8, so those fleets were about equal. The French used the Crete Argentee, their main addition, to good effect, but lost the Froide Vengeance in the middle of the game. The Mercenaries were thwarted once again by Wolves and the French, but the Terror and Bashaw Folly made gallant attempts to slow the other fleets. The Pirates struggled mightily, being set upon early by the Cursed and French. The shipburner (dud) and portburner (not used) abilities provided nothing for their substantial costs, while I’d still like to see the Rusty Hook get another chance at some point. Overall, this was another fun game that saw lots of experimenting with custom ships and crew!
11/14/2015
Another game was played, this time at 5 fleets, 60 points.
The fleets went in the following order. In parentheses are the usernames of each individual who created the custom game piece.
French:
Froide Vengeance (selxaxri) + Radi Jaeger (el_cazador), Mademoiselle Josephine Godiva, helmsman
Le Gaule (cazador) + Michel Dubois (cazador), chieftain
Native Canoes (cazador) + one canoe with Exploding Shot
Froide Vengeance (proxied at 15 points for this game)
Nat. French
Masts 3
Cannons 3L-2S-4S
Cargo 3
Movement L
Icebreaker
This ship may tow Icebergs.
Still at war with the English, one general who skirted the floes of the northern waters concocted a hare-brained scheme- blockading the british fleet using the floes themselves.
Radi Jaeger
Type: Crew
Nation: Empire/France
Points: 6
Link: Lupus, Lupus Regnum
Captain, Born Leader.
Flavor: Radi Jaeger fights for the Russian Empire under the promise that they will grant Fhirald, his homeland, independence in reward for his service. He encourages his crew of this fact, although he has reservations.
Le Gaule
Type: 5-mast
Nation: France
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L,2S,2S,2S,3L
Link: None
When this ship sinks another ship, give this ship a free move action.
Flavor: After decisive action against the Cursed near the coast of French Indochina, this legendary vessel has come to the Atlantic to fight the English.
Michel Dubois
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 4
Link: None
Captain, Explorer
Flavor: Dubois fights for gold and will turn down opportunities to sink the English in favor of obtaining more money.
Canots Indigènes
Nation: France
Points: X (13)
Masts: X
Cargo: 1 (x5)
Move: S+S
Cannon: 3L (x5)
Link: None
Native Canoes, Captain
Flavor: The natives of Indonesia have been trained in the art of war by French capitaines, and they pursue the monsters of the deep.
Chef de Tribu
Nation: France
Points: 13
Link: None
Tribal Chieftain
Before you give any of this chieftain’s canoes an action, roll a d6. On a 5-6 they may shoot at submerged ships.
Flavor: This chieftain’s men have had conact with the Monster Hunter’s guild.
English:
HMS Fatalis (cazador) + Hermione Gold, helmsman
HMS Puma (cazador) + Thomas Gunn, Trevor van Tyne
HMS Growler (cazador) + explorer
HMS Fatalis
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: England
Points: 16
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: L
Cannons: 4L,4L,4S
Link: None
Hoist
This ship eliminates two masts with one hit.
Flavor: The HMS Fatalis was comissioned to pillage and plunder and and rifle and loot; occasionally she even burns the town down. She’s really a fright.
HMS Puma
Type: 4-mast
Nation: England
Points: 13
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3L,3L,3L,3L
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against crew, forts, and ships within S of her.
Flavor: The HMS Puma’s captain has little patience and will often sail straight into combat, even though the Puma carries long-range cannons.
HMS Growler
Type: 3-mast square rigged
Nation: England
Points: 10
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,3S,3S
Link: None
Schooner. This ship gets +L to her base move if she starts her move action within S of an island.
Flavor: The Growler, called by some the Prowler, slinks along coasts and archipelagos, looking to use her relatively shallow draft to seize a first strike.
Rusty Hook
Nation: Pirate
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L, 2S, 2S, 2S
Ability: You opponent cannot initiate a boarding party against this ship.
Flavor Text: ???
Link: Donovan Richtarian
Tetra
Type: Crew
Nation: Pirate
Points: 6
Link: Arbiter
Hostile: Cursed, Captain, Explorer. Hylian crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Tetra had been captaining for years before Hyrule emerged as a sea power. While not all of her work has been ethical, she is effective at what she does and is always willing to lend Hyrule her aid against the Cursed.
Purlo
Type: Crew
Nation: Hyrule
Points: 5
Link: None
Hostile: Cursed, Helmsman. Once per turn, this ship may randomly take one treasure from any ship she touches.
Flavor: Purlo was a con artist in Castleton until he was caught by the Ranging and Enforcement corps. Noting his skill, they referred him to the navy, where he began a new life leading boarding parties and raids.
Torpedo
Pirate
18 pts
Masts: 2
Cargo: 1
Movement: L+L
Cannon: 4S-4S
Ability: Portburner- This ship may dock at an enemy Home Island, and roll a d6. On a 4-6 she explodes and is immediately eliminated from the game. Roll another d6 the result is the number of treasure coins removed from the Home Island. On a 1-3 she may take one treasure and leave on her next turn if able.
Last Shot
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 13
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 2S-3L-3S
Number of Masts: 3
You may double the range of the last cannon this ship shoots each turn.
Cursed:(two of the three ships are Mercenary, but I didn’t want to refer to different Merc fleets)
Tenfold (cazador) + Onox (cazador), Koloktos (cazador), Gentleman Jocard, helmsman
Lamprey (cazador) + explorer
Hare’s Luck + helmsman
Tenfold
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 22
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L,3S,3S
Link: Zedekiah
Mercenary, Hostile: Caesar, Hoist, Turbine. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.
Flavor: Zedekiah’s ironclad ship has been in the employ of several nations, most recently the French. His hope is to repurchase the ancient land of the Jews with the lucrative profits he makes from shipping. As he is fond of saying, if you hire him, your investment will repay tenfold.
Onox
Type: Crew
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 5
Link: Ganondorf’s Revenge
Ganonite, Ex-Patriot, Black Mark, Captain.
Pirate crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Onox is secretly recruiting men for Ganondorf’s future Second Gerudo Empire. It is said that there is no ruthless, traitorous fiend he won’t turn down.
Koloktos
Nation: Cursed
Points: 8
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. This ship may dock at an enemy home island and take as much treasure as she can carry. She must leave (if able) on her next turn.
Flavor: The dark magic that powers this automaton has given it a keen sense of when to raid enemy ports.
Flavor: This abomination from the Frozen North seems to have suffered permanent damage to her firing accuracy.
Mercenaries:
Gladius Dei (cazador) + Caesar (cazador), helmsman
Bashaw Folly + Osvaldo de Deus Celemente + helmsman, oarsman
Devil Ray + explorer, oarsman
Gladius Dei
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Submarine
Points: 15
Masts: 3
Cannons: 4S,4S,5S
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Link: Caesar
Mercenary, Submarine
This ship gets +S to her base move and +1 cargo spaces if she doesn’t carry crew.
Flavor: The “Sword of God” is rumored to have been built by the Vatican in an attempt to safely move Catholic wealth and artifacts around the globe.
Caesar
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Crew
Points: 9
Link: Gladius Dei
Limit, Ex-Patriot, Navigator
As a free action, friendly Mercenary-faction ships may unload treasure at your home island if they are within S of it. Gold unloaded in this way loses one point of value, to a minimum of zero.
Flavor: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Mark 12:17 – Caesar draws Ex-Patriots to himself like few others, often leading cooperative efforts to gather the wealth needed by his fellow exiles. Caesar takes twenty percent of the haul as his dues; what few know is that he gives half of that to parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.
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The setup featured rossinaz’s big island with 5 beaches as the home island for every fleet! Round earth rules were used. It was going to be an icy affair, and I even used all three of my custom foam icebergs, including that giant one you see towards the left. There were 5 wild islands, with two of them being mysterious. Each island had 8 coins on it, with some UT’s present. Also, the two widest arches were showcased, and each arch had 4 coins where a ship could dock. There was also some fog, 4 whirlpools, and some rocks to add to the mayhem. As I normally play, icebergs began moving on turn 2, although unlike last game, the normal iceberg rules were used – rolls were made at the beginning of each player’s turn rather than the beginning of each round of turns. The custom icebergs acted as “1” icebergs, continuing the game’s theme of trying to roll high for good things to happen. In addition, icebergs could combine together to form a larger iceberg, in which case the whole thing could move if either of the numbers were rolled. Lastly, icebergs could traverse whirlpools, with a third die roll being used to determine the exit location: the northeast whirlpool (upper right in the first picture) was #1, southeast #2, and so on.
As usual, each fleet picked its HI in the opposite order of the play order. The Mercs wanted to utilize the Gladius Dei’s link to Caesar, which could give the Mercs a boost at either of the nearby MI’s. The Cursed took the opposite side, also looking to take advantage of the fact that each arch was partially above wild islands, meaning that 12 total coins were in a very close area. The other fleets picked their beaches, and the game was ready to begin! (Interestingly enough, the French made a bold move by placing their native canoes on the opposite side of their HI (HI still means the home island or “home beach” in this case), partly because of round earth and partly because of their Captain keyword which gave the French more confidence they could get home if they ran into trouble.)
The eastern area. You can see the exploding shot underneath the middle French canoe:
The middle area:
The western area:
The French took the first action of the game, and the Froide Vengeance immediately made history and towed an iceberg! Other factions were eager to avoid them, but there were so many that it was only a matter of time before the ice started taking a toll on the ships.
The Mercs dove underwater, and on the second turn the Froide ditched one iceberg to tow another, much larger iceberg!
The French let their canoes explore, and in addition to some gold they picked up, they found Turtles!
England was the first nation to feel the brunt of the ice, with the Fatalis losing a mast. HMS Puma wanted no part of the dangerous Froide, especially with her SAT capabilities.
The Cursed got off to a good start. Here the Lamprey sits in the fog to avoid any ice while waiting to pop out and explore on the next turn. Just around the corner, the Tenfold hoists gold to herself and the Hare’s Luck, finding Power Cannons and an abandoned oarsman.
The Mercenaries took a turn to dock. The Gladius Dei used a mysterious island effect to move the Tenfold into an iceberg, showing hostility between the two Merc fleets. The Devil Ray explored and found an abandoned musketeer, who the Bashaw Folly would soon take for her helmsman.
The English continued to suffer bad luck, with the Puma getting hit. To complicate matters, she was stuck between a rocky outcropping and the iceberg that hit her. However, she would soon encounter something more dangerous…
The Pirate ships Last Shot and Rusty Hook began chasing the French, who started to flee the area. However, the turtles could only move S and were a long ways from home. The large wave to the right marks the eastern boundary of the sea, and once across it, ships would be in the west.
The decision making soon became complicated, which is part of what makes this game so interesting. The French could turn their canoes around and take on the Pirates to protect the turtles, but they also knew that the gold they held on the canoes was worth more than the turtles. In addition, round earthing to the west meant that they would be near their main gunships, the Gaule and Froide Vengeance. Lastly, the submarines Gladius Dei and Devil Ray were in the west, and the French chieftain allows the canoes to shoot at submerged ships on a 5 or 6.
The Gladius Dei has surfaced and is about to explore. However, the slow (S+S) Gaule lurks about, looking to possibly explore as well, attack the Gladius Dei, or even head south towards the English. Michel Dubois, in command of the French fleet and the Gladius Dei’s captain, decides to take up a flexible position where the Gaule can intercept any homecoming canoes or turtles and possibly take on any Pirate ships that emerge from the east.
The French didn’t have to ponder their next decision! With an SAT from Jaeger, the Froide Vengeance towed the giant iceberg into the stern of the Growler, taking out two masts on the way by. The iceberg finished the dismasting. The Vengeance used her second move action to rake the Puma’s stern, and miraculously shot 3/3 to crush most of the English fleet in a single turn!
A look at the devastation:
A turtle narrowly avoids a nearby iceberg. (which can’t eliminate the turtles anyway, it’s just for flavor!)
The English got immediate revenge, but the damage had been done. You can see that three icebergs are still in the immediate vicinity, and this catastrophic turn of events would hold up the English for a long while.
As turtles and canoes alike flee, the Last Shot is faster than all of them! Her “last shot” (and only in this case!) narrowly misses a canoe. But where has the Rusty Hook disappeared to?
She has whirlpooled her way into the west already, losing a mast in the process. The Rusty Hook hopes to cut off the French gold “fleet” (of canoes and turtles, no less, but quite sizable in number right now), but it won’t be easy with Le Gaule around.
The Cursed are unconcerned with the conflict in other parts of the sea. The Lamprey explores while the Tenfold and Hare’s Luck head home.
Another angle, where you can see the Hare’s Luck and Tenfold’s hoist through the hole in the arch. (Legend says Vieil Homme was so powerful he just flew right through the rock!)
The Mercenaries suffered a setback, finding Wolves with the Gladius Dei. Conveniently enough, the Bashaw Folly grabbed the Devil Ray’s abandoned musketeer. However, the French didn’t want anything to interrupt their already-thriving gold game.
The French sent two canoes over Ocean’s Edge along with 6 turtles, but the remaining three canoes turned to attack! The lack of the Rusty Hook’s commanding presence gave the French an opportunity to surprise the weaker Last Shot. They hit 2/3, including landing an exploding shot, which knocked out the Last Shot’s captain and set the stern gallery aflame.
The French weren’t about to stop there, as the Gaule took advantage of the fact that the Gladius Dei needed to stay surfaced for two turns because she didn’t have an explorer, blasting the sub to pieces.
The Last Shot tried to sail, but the fire overtook her mainmast and she was a burning hulk. To add insult to injury, a uniquely shaped iceberg surrounded her bow as her remaining crew abandoned ship.
The overall scene just a handful of turns into the game. The only new developments in the picture are the Torpedo at the top right, bringing back a coin for the Pirates, and the English situation. Despite their hatred of the French, the English are wise enough to know that they could use the Froide Vengeance, so they’ve captured her and Godiva. The Rusty Hook hides in the fog waiting to pounce.
In order the help the vital Gladius Dei (Caesar’s ability is the only way the fleet can get gold home), the Bashaw Folly has taken on the much larger Gaule! The Folly is counting on her new musketeer and boarding bonus ability to help out in the fight.
The Bashaw Folly only knocked down 2 masts, but the Devil Ray has deposited a coin for the Mercs. The Cursed ships are approaching home, and the Lamprey has moved back into her familiar fog bank. Just to her left, a regular and a custom iceberg have joined forces to form a cluster iceberg.
Trouble in the west! The fighting continued, with the Gaule managing only one hit on the Bashaw Folly. The Gaule didn’t move away to ram and board the Folly, since the Gaule’s current position where she had broadsided the Gladius Dei meant she blocked the Bashaw Folly’s path to the GD. The Gaule wanted to keep the Bashaw Folly pinned so she couldn’t assist the Dei or kill the Wolves before the French had some cargo spaces open to run gold. At this point, the French had the luxury of not even caring about the loss of the Froide Vengeance, since they had relative control over the west with plenty of gold slowly making its way home. Two canoes were in range of the now-submerged Gladius Dei, but the chieftain’s roll for the turn didn’t result in a 5 or 6.
Save the wee turtles!
The Fatalis has returned her prize (the Froide Vengeance) home, receiving 5 gold as a ransom payment. This gold was un-stealable and indestructible, which was important with the presence of Koloktos and the Torpedo, the latter of which has lost a mast to an iceberg.
The French chieftain failed to deliver once again! The Rusty Hook gets a cannon in range of a canoe, but misses.
After losing another mast to an iceberg, the Tenfold uses her hoist to empty all three ships in her fleet in one turn! The Cursed now led the gold race, but the Tenfold couldn’t dock at her HI and didn’t have a shipwright available, so her defenses were proving to be useless in a game with so much ice. However, her various named crew and Turbine keyword assured that she would stay a force in the game until a ship managed to sink her.
Battle under the arch! The Bashaw Folly scores another hit on the Gaule.
The west is an absolute war zone! After missing one canoe, the Rusty Hook is shot at by four, and three hits make her a derelict! At this point, the Torpedo is the Pirates’ only hope, which isn’t saying much. The sea is abnormally crowded for a relatively small game, with 10 turtles, 5 canoes, multiple ships and mast wreckage all over the area.
The Last Shot has been scuttled, and now the Rusty Hook is doomed as well. This makes the Pirates hate the French, and the Torpedo plans to attack the French HI, once they actually get some gold there at least!
The Devil Ray has sped off to the northernmost island, while the Cursed head back out. The Fatalis and Froide have finished repairing, the latter with the help of an SAT from Radi Jaeger.
French victory! The Rusty Hook has been sent to the depths, while the Gaule has captured the Bashaw Folly and her musketeer, the only way in the game to eliminate the nearby Wolves and access the gold. Turtles swim by the derelict Gladius Dei, who again avoids elimination.
Finally repaired from the huge southern mess, the English head out to start round 2 of the recovery process: getting their derelicts working again.
Now the French faced an annoying conundrum: the Gaule had a full crew complement in terms of points, so she couldn’t load the Folly’s abandoned musketeer without losing Dubois, which gives her the captain and explorer abilities. In addition, with just two masts left, the Gaule could be vulnerable to any attack by another fleet on the way back. All the canoes had full holds, and the Froide was long gone, now in English hands. The Gaule left the Folly where she lay to return home for repairs. The Torpedo made a feint towards the French HI, but there was nothing there for her to steal or eliminate. At the upper right, the Devil Ray has explored the island and found, what else but an abandoned shipwright! Now, if only the Devil Ray could successfully get this shipwright to the Gladius Dei, the Mercs could be back in business! She also found Runes of Loki, which could be used at an opportune time to change the French chieftain’s die roll to a 1 so the French canoes wouldn’t be able to hit the Gladius Dei, saving the sub from being sunk!
With an SAT from Jaeger, both derelicts (the Growler and Puma) are taken in tow.
At the left, the English continue cleaning up their fleet. The French canoes are gradually finishing their long and harrowing journey from the eastern wild island back to home, accompanied by the damaged Gaule. The Torpedo has retreated into a fog bank, and the Pirates are not going to win the game with a fragile ship with one cargo space. However, they still want some measure of revenge on the French. At the top of the frame you can just make out the Tenfold picking up the scraps of what the Devil Ray didn’t want, while the Devil Ray speeds west underwater to help the Gladius Dei (the Devil Ray left her explorer on the island to make room for the shipwright). At the right, the Cursed continue to have bad ice luck (see what I did there?), with the Lamprey being dismasted on her way to the southeastern island. The Hare’s Luck has fared better and reaches the easternmost island where the canoes started the game.
The French are almost back. The French chieftain misses his roll AGAIN, and the French still aren’t able to sink the Gladius Dei.
How’s that for a change of pace! The English, once with just two masts standing in their entire fleet, have captured the powerful French icebreaker and towed back their derelicts to fight another day. Their tiny home beach is barely big enough to fit the now-largest fleet in the game.
This shows all three Cursed ships. The Lamprey has explored, while the Tenfold and Hare’s Luck head back. The Tenfold suffers an unlucky iceberg hit, leaving her with no masts, which isn’t a huge problem with her Turbine keyword. However, the only way she can repair is the Devil Ray’s abandoned shipwright, currently in the west on a submerged submarine.
Ahhh! The Devil Ray surfaces and begins attacking the turtles!
The French canoes are FINALLY home!
As the Fatalis goes out to get gold, the Froide Vengeance tows an iceberg to get it out of the way. The Puma and Growler continue repairing.
The Tenfold deposits her gold and the gold from the Hare’s Luck on her HI, but the Cursed have only two masts standing in their fleet. The Tenfold gives Power Cannons to the Hare’s Luck since the Tenfold can’t shoot. To the right, a cluster iceberg has smashed into the Puma, taking a mast off as soon as it was repaired! This greatly annoys the English, and the captured Froide Vengeance will have her work cut out for her making her new owners happy.
The Devil Ray has taken out another turtle, and the French canoes go out to defend the turtles they discovered way back on turn 2. Even the canoe stationed to sink the Gladius Dei rounds an iceberg, which is exactly what the Devil Ray wanted…
Also, to the right, notice the open ocean! The Froide got a timely SAT from Jaeger, and moved to eliminate both of the icebergs that formed the cluster! The Puma is safe for now (hint hint), but another cluster has formed with the giant iceberg just to the west.
In a flash, the Devil Ray dives and speeds S+L+S to meet up with the Gladius Dei, still derelict and still submerged. She’s been waiting ages for this, and the Mercenaries are close to completing their comeback. The turtles relax, and they’re almost home!
The French chieftain FINALLY rolls a 5/6 to allow the French canoes to shoot at submerged ships, but the Mercs reveal their secret weapon: Runes of Loki! The die result is changed to a 1, and the French chieftain has failed yet again. This saves the Mercs for another turn, but they’re running out of options and luck.
After a huge delay, the English have finally explored an island!
The Fatalis found Buried Treasure, and it was worth 6 gold! She also found Whirlpool, which was inconsequential. The Growler sails out to pick up what the Fatalis didn’t, and the Froide has begun towing the huge cluster of ice.
The moment has arrived! The Devil Ray and Gladius Dei both surface, and the Devil Ray exchanges her helmsman and abandoned shipwright for Caesar! (Caesar went to the Devil Ray because with the canoes nearby, he had a slightly better chance of surviving on the Devil Ray than the Gladius Dei.)
The Gladius Dei has repaired:
… (disappointed voice) and just like that, the Mercs are blown to pieces. The canoes shot a perfect 3/3, including an exploding shot hit on the Gladius Dei. The Mercs have no shot at winning the game, though it was a long shot anyway ever since the Wolves were discovered and the Bashaw Folly captured.
A pair of French canoes engage their former ally, knocking a mast off the Froide Vengeance, who returns fire to take out a canoe, the first one eliminated. The Puma is finally back to full health.
During all this chaos, the Cursed were making their way around the north side of the middle island with the Tenfold and Hare’s Luck. Between the Turbine keyword, Koloktos’ HI raiding ability, and the offensive capability of the Hare’s Luck (now with an abandoned captain and oarsman in addition to Power Cannons), the Cursed decided to have a go at the French home island, which had the most coins other than the Cursed themselves.
The Cursed have eliminated two more turtles, and the fully-repaired Gaule could only manage to get one gun in range of the Hare’s Luck. In the meantime the French canoes sunk both subs to eliminate the Mercs from the game and took another mast off the Froide.
The Puma pursues the slowed Lamprey, looking to use Trevor van Tyne’s hatred of the Cursed and S-boarding to steal gold.
The Cursed have done it! The Hare’s Luck eliminates a turtle and shoots a mast off the Gaule, while Koloktos moves the Tenfold in to steal three coins from the French beach!
This picture was taken at a difficult angle, but you can just see a coin on the Cursed beach through the opening. Unfortunately for the Tenfold, she would have to go all the way back around.
The Froide sunk a second canoe and towed the huge iceberg into French waters, blocking the Tenfold from taking the easy path home. The Gaule reversed direction and dismasted the Hare’s Luck, but couldn’t reach the Tenfold, who she wanted to capture and not sink.
With some slick maneuvering and S+S+S speed, the Tenfold makes a break to the north. The slow Gaule can’t quite reach her bow, while a canoe sunk the Hare’s Luck.
Another French canoe dismasts the Froide, and the end of the game is near. The Fatalis is back with gold, and the Growler is on her way with more. The English have displayed brilliant resilience and good strategy, using their captured gunship to clear their waterways of ice and then blocking the Cursed and French with ship and ice to prevent any spillover of that conflict into their home area. To the right, the Puma has stolen a coin from the Lamprey, but also loses a mast to an iceberg.
The Tenfold is obviously making a break for the northwestern whirlpool, from which she can emerge from the southeastern whirlpool and dock home her stolen loot with her hoist within a few turns. The canoes and Gaule are moving a full S slower and won’t be able to capture the Tenfold. Michel Dubois has no choice but to give the order: “Sink the Tenfold”. He doesn’t want to watch his hard-earned gold go to the bottom, but he really doesn’t want it in the hands of the Cursed.
A canoe moves within range, shoots, and misses. Another canoe does the same, and misses. The Gaule moves forward and can only get her 3L jib in range. SHE MISSES! Dubois screams in agony and disgust as the Tenfold gleefully churns away. (At the right, the Torpedo is still lurking in the fog; the Pirates were really patient in their desire for revenge today!)
As the Tenfold emerges in the south, there’s nothing any fleet can do to stop her, with the Fatalis unable to get there in time and the Growler only able to move L. At the right, the damaged Puma is a familiar sight… wait, didn’t she repair?! Yes, and she got hit three times in the course of a turn or two by hostile icebergs. The Puma had the worst “ice luck” of this game – truly abysmal and, almost unbelievable.
A canoe chases the Tenfold through the whirlpool, but it’s too late. The Tenfold returns home all three coins she stole, a remarkable display of… luck? Either way, the successful raid was an impressive feat. The Growler has returned home with gold, and the Puma is approaching.
The Fatalis eliminates a canoe but is hit with exploding shot in return. The Gaule gets hit by the Fatalis after towing the Froide to recapture her after all this time. That French canoe that came through the whirlpool actually sunk the Tenfold to eliminate the Cursed from the active game, but it was too late for revenge. The Pirates disagree with that attitude, with the Torpedo finally emerging from the fog to approach the French HI, sensing the end of the game and an opportunity to strike while the French are as weak as they’ve been. The Puma is just happy to make it home!
What a mess! The war continues:
On the French turn, the Gaule couldn’t quite block the path of the Torpedo. The English went next, scuttling the Fatalis and repairing the Puma. Then the Torpedo made her move: sailing in at L+L, the Torpedo docked at the French HI… and rolled a 3. This meant that she could only steal treasure rather than eliminate it.
After an unsuccessful shoot and ram by the Gaule, the Torpedo had another chance! This time she exploded! The final die roll of the game was just a 1, meaning that one random coin would be eliminated from the French HI, and the randomly chosen coin was also a 1! Alas, the Pirates wanted revenge, but the Torpedo went off like a dud.
After 300 total points and many turns of carnage, this was all that remained:
With 3 of the 5 fleets eliminated, the game ended! (I wanted to go until all the gold was gone or there was only 1 fleet, but the game had already taken too long at this point.)
What a game! The final scores may look somewhat lame, but this was a memorable and fun contest. The French won the previous game, so there was some desire to hinder them, especially after their luck continued: Turtles, a successful gold run with their canoes, the Mercs being stopped by Wolves and then finished by the French, and the devastating attack on the English by the Froide Vengeance. The French had it all early on, but the long game meant that everything could change, and it did. The Cursed played an excellent game, staying out of trouble for a while and only doing their usual crazy and gimmicky antics (HI raiding with a hoist in this case) after they got a bunch of gold. If anyone is wondering, the Tenfold’s heist (see what I did there?) gave the Cursed 11 gold, so it did matter. They were eventually eliminated, but the Cursed managed to explore three different wild islands and one of the two arches, bringing back a variety of gold. The English also played an excellent game, and like I said made a good strategy play with the captured icebreaker. It was also good to repair their derelicts, and with a little more time they could have eclipsed the Cursed’s gold total. The Pirates didn’t have the best gold game from their fleet build, but they should have done a bit better. The Last Shot and Rusty Hook were both eliminated before they could really do anything, courtesy of the French native canoes. The Torpedo didn’t have enough cargo to run much gold, and sat in the fog for a while before an ineffective strike to end the game. The Mercenaries would have done fine, but they had to contend with Wolves, the dangerous French fleet, and a dependence on Caesar’s ability to have any gold game. The Bashaw Folly is one of my favorite Merc ships, but a 2 master is just too weak to stand up to much competition. The Devil Ray made a heroic effort to eliminate some turtles and revive the Gladius Dei, but it was too much of a long shot.
Notes on custom pieces: (perhaps unnecessary due to the report, but possibly of interest to their creators) captain_vendari (Rusty Hook): The Rusty Hook really wasn’t able to shine; I’d like to see her again, maybe even with the same crew combo from el_cazador.
selvaxri (Froide Vengeance): The Froide was a fantastic ship, but I put so many icebergs out there because I wanted to see what she could do; most games wouldn’t have this many icebergs. Still, she proved a potent force, able to tow icebergs into enemy ships at S+S and potentially disrupt shipping lanes. I pegged her at 15 points for this game, which I think may be about right. Her cost could rise, but again, this game was catered to seeing her in action.
xerecs (Torpedo): The Torpedo’s game-changing Portburner ability didn’t work too well, but her rolls were as bad as they could get. With such low cargo and low durability, she’s effectively a one-trick pony, which makes her a tough choice in any game smaller than 80 or 100 points. Her high price tag should perhaps come down, unless a revision makes her viable to use in an alternate role.
a7xfanben (Last Shot): Similar to the Rusty Hook, the Last Shot wasn’t able to provide much to the Pirate fleet, and the canoes took care of her quickly. I think her cost of 13 points is fine… it’s just another example of one game not being enough to really get to know what a ship can do.
el_cazador (various): Oh my, where to start… I know you’ll read the report and provide your own comments, so I’ll keep it short. Tetra, Purlo, and Onox didn’t really get to use their abilities much, but Koloktos shined in the late game with that daring raid. Caesar is probably fine, but I may make a post about him and the Gladius Dei in Custom Ships soon… the French named crew Radi Jaeger and Michel Dubois were worth their costs, not surprising given their abilities and their “old-school” nature (existing abilities rather than brand-new ones like Caesar). As for the ships… The Fatalis is fun to use with HGold, I still think her cost is fine. The Puma and Growler are relatively simple ships and are also good to go as far as I can tell. The Tenfold is quickly becoming one of my favorite ships (I’m becoming slightly obsessed with it lol), and her power is undeniable. Just like the first time I used her, terrain neutralized her defenses and she still shined… I would want to test her again at this point cost of 22 before raising it or making any changes… again, the original cost of Turbine is more underpriced than the ship itself. The Lamprey is funky for a longship but fine. The Gladius Dei is definitely the piece that needs the most testing along with the Tenfold – I’m still not sure what to think of her (post in Custom Ships coming soon). I think the Gaule and Native Canoes are fine… the canoes are definitely powerful and versatile, but I think their speed and the fact that it’s hard to find a ship that’s appropriate for their chieftain does enough to keep their cost where it is at 13. The Gaule actually didn’t sink an enemy ship during all of that, I don’t think.
Wow, that was a long report. I may be crazy enough to do another game relatively soon with these fleets mostly the same, but add 20 or 40 (more likely 20) points to the build total.
(I’m doing this from my own personal curiosity and love and interest in this game, so no need to thank me or anything. Nobody has requested that I use their game pieces, which I appreciate. I’m doing this because it’s awesome!) [Hoping that didn’t come off too strangely… it’s a Pirates’ life for me!]
I recently had a few more ideas for games. One of them was quite “out-there” if you will – a “Full Ocean” game with ONLY islands and terrain. There would be almost NO open ocean, and there was only a little bit because I ran out of the terrain I had on hand.
To continue the trend of using small fleets, this time a 20 point build total was used. There were five fleets, going in this order:
Providence + Brent Rice, captain, oarsman
Rum Runner + Hammersmith, explorer, oarsman
La Manila + captain, helmsman, explorer, oarsman
Le Pluton + captain, helmsman
HMS Interceptor + Hermione Gold, explorer
You can see that each fleet opted for just one ship that had at least 4 masts, in order to combat the extremely dangerous setup:
The French were the only fleet crazy enough to pick a home island completely surrounded by terrain, and the Pluton began the game in a fog bank!
On the first turn, the Manila was the first ship to reach an island, using a whirlpool to take three coins. This began the woes of the Americans, who were headed towards the same island. As a side note, icebergs were allowed to move over other pieces of terrain, and push each other around. Unlike the Other Worlds game from earlier this year, icebergs would simply move over whirlpools instead of being drawn into them. Also, icebergs were only rolled at the beginning of each “round” starting with the second turn, rather than every player’s individual turn.
The Manila was also the first ship to have trouble with the terrain, losing a mast to an iceberg.
The Pluton received a lucky fog roll for the second turn in a row to dock at a northern island. The Interceptor and Rum Runner explored as well.
The Pluton navigated a Sargasso Sea to quickly unload her haul, and the Manila docked her gold home as well while avoiding further damage. The Providence finally docked, but the Americans were disappointed with what the Manila left them.
The setup continued to take a toll on the ships. The Rum Runner suffered an unlucky iceberg hit right before she was able to dock home her gold, and the Pluton risked a reef to quickly sail over to the other middle island, losing one mast.
The Providence continued east to take what was left of the Pluton’s northern island. In the meantime, the Pluton avoided taking more damage from the reef and quickly had 6 coins sitting on her HI. This annoyed the Pirates, who saw the French as their main competition at this point.
Each fleet had been relatively isolated so far, but trouble was brewing in the east as the English opened fire on the Spanish!
The Manila kept sailing straight ahead and crashed into the Interceptor’s starboard quarter! A stormy sea made this fight even more dramatic as the two big ships exchanged shots!
The Americans were the only fleet yet to bring back treasure. The Rum Runner had just returned with her second haul when the Pluton made a surprise move and whirlpooled her way towards the eastern battle, where the English had the upper hand. The French wanted to grab the remaining three coins on the wild island while the combatants were distracted. Hammersmith, on board the Rum Runner, saw this and told his crew not to let the Pluton out of their sights.
Icebergs continued to chase the Providence as the Rum Runner emerged from a whirlpool to chase the Pluton. Conceding defeat to the English, the Manila docked at the eastern wild island that began all this conflict and loaded all three coins. The Interceptor quickly dismasted her, but lost her explorer in the failed boarding attempt in addition to the mast she had lost in battle, knocking her speed down to L+S.
The French had arrived! The Pluton struck, using S-board to steal all three coins from the Manila. She also shot a mast off the Interceptor, which disappointed the Pluton’s captain. The Pluton was ready to take off, but the faster Rum Runner wasn’t far behind.
At this point, four of the five ships were concentrated on the eastern edge of the sea, while the Providence was all alone in the west. The Interceptor attacked the Pluton, but failed miserably. She only knocked out one mast between the shoot and ram, and to top it off, Hermione Gold was killed in the boarding party. At this point the English looked to be out of the game, but they were willing to give any assistance possible to the Pirates in order to subdue the hated French.
A closeup of the carnage in the east:
The mostly deserted west. The majority of the gold in the foreground is on home islands, and you can see some open spaces where icebergs have moved out of their original positions.
The Pluton ducked into a fog bank, with the Rum Runner in hot pursuit! The Interceptor started the game as the swiftest on the seas, but was now relegated to moving L in an attempt to get home and repair.
A view of the entire setup – the Providence has fully repaired. The Pluton chose a lesser of two evils, coming out of the fog to sail in between two icebergs. This path was relatively free of obstacles, since she could ignore the whirlpool and dock home within two turns. The other path was fraught with the peril of no open ocean, including an iceberg and up to three reefs.
However, to start the next turn, the Americans got in on the action by blocking the Pluton’s path! The Providence emerged from a whirlpool ready to fight. The Rum Runner caught the Pluton and despite missing all of her shots yet again (possibly 0 for 9 at this point, much to Hammersmith’s disgust), the ram succeeded to dismast the Pluton and finally knock the French out of the active game. They were rich, but they wouldn’t get any richer. The Pirates had finally caught the Pluton, but they hadn’t finished their goal yet.
The Providence towed the Pluton and tried to shoot at the Rum Runner, but the Pirates parleyed a 1 (stolen from the Pluton on the previous turn) to the American home island instead.
Then, with great fury and anger, the Rum Runner sailed full speed into the Providence’s larboard quarter, knocking the ship sideways!
The Rum Runner’s cannons finally found their mark at point blank range, and together with the extreme force of the ram, heeled the Providence out of the water! A devastating broadside killed the American oarsman and showed that the Pirates were determined to win this fight, if not on anger alone.
Wanting no part of the Pirates, the Providence sailed through a whirlpool to chase down the last island that had more than 1 coin left on it. At this point there was one island with 2 coins and two islands with 1 coin each. The Pirates took the remaining gold off the Pluton, and the Interceptor finished repairing.
An iceberg sank the Pluton as the three remaining ships took gold from the three remaining islands. The coins weren’t valuable anyway, so the game quickly ended.
When it was all said and done, the French made a surprisingly good decision to brave the terrain and pick a HI in the middle of the ocean, and they won despite the efforts of all four other fleets trying to stop them.
This was a very unique game that saw a brand-new setup idea. I generally liked it, but when I play it again in the future I’m definitely going to use a larger build total, which should be quite fun and chaotic. Also, I may change how the icebergs function a little bit, especially in regards to whirlpools.
There will be another report within the next few days!
Warning: This is a short report of one of the worst games I’ve ever played.
Custom pieces courtesy of el_cazador and yours truly in the case of the equipment.
2 fleets, 60 points:
Spanish:
Las Espadas de Oro + Victor de Alva, Duque Marcus Vaccaro, Master Bianco, Bianco’s Haulers, helmsman, explorer, oarsman
La Resolucion + captain, helmsman
Las Espadas de Oro
Type: Switchblade
Nation: Spain
Points: ? (22)
Masts: 4
Cargo: 6*
Move: S+S*
Cannons: 2S,5S,5S,5S
Link: Master Bianco
Switchblade. This ship may ignore any hit she takes each turn if she carries treasure; put a treasure coin from this ship on the nearest wild island after ignoring a hit.
Flavor: Master Bianco finds himself torn between saving his ship or saving his treasure.
*These are not by any means her final stats. This was a test game.
La Resolucion
Type: 4-masted ship
Nation: Spain
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 3
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,4L,4L,3S
Link: None
Extended Range. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against ships within S of her.
Flavor: Captain Ladron smuggled experimental British cannons out of Singapore and outfitted his ship with them. He has resolved to put them to good use against enemies of the Crown.
English/Mercenaries:
Edelweiss + Thomas Gunn the Younger, helmsman, oarsman, Bow Chasers
HMS Growler + helmsman, explorer
Gladius Dei
Edelweiss
Nation: Gallia/England
Type: 3-mast Windcatcher
Points: 18
Masts: 3
Cargo: 3
Move: S+S
Cannons: 2L,3L,2S
Link: Alicia Melchiott, Welkin Gunther
Windcatcher. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.
Flavor: Purchased from the Americans and modified by Gallian nautical engineers, the Edelweiss has proved a capable ship. Her high price is all that has precluded further orders by the Principality of Gallia.
Bow Chasers
Faction Affiliation: Neutral
Type: Equipment
Point Value: 5
This ship gains two additional cannons that can only shoot from the foremost mast of the ship. The cannons follow the rank of the foremost mast of the ship, but they have the Extended Range keyword. The cannons can only fire in a straight line directly forward of the ship’s bow. Other pieces of equipment cannot be used with Bow Chasers.
HMS Growler
Type: 3-mast square rigged
Nation: England
Points: 10
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,3S,3S
Link: None
Schooner. This ship gets +L to her base move if she starts her move action within S of an island.
Flavor: The Growler, called by some the Prowler, slinks along coasts and archipelagos, looking to use her relatively shallow draft to seize a first strike.
Gladius Dei
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Submarine
Points: 15
Masts: 3
Cannons: 4S,4S,5S
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Link: Caesar
Mercenary, Submarine.
This ship gets +S to her base move and +1 cargo spaces if she doesn’t carry crew.
Flavor: The “Sword of God” is rumored to have been built by the Vatican in an attempt to safely move Catholic wealth and artifacts around the globe.
Proxies: Matthias Vospero=Resolucion, Saber=Espadas de Oro, USS Mercury=Edelweiss, Nova Scotia=Growler, Fathom=Gladius Dei
Both fleets featured good speed, especially with their treasure runners. The islands were placed 3L apart for the first time in a while.
The Espadas and Growler were the first to explore, as the Edelweiss looked to corner the slower Resolucion. The Gladius Dei stayed submerged and sped towards the furthest island out of the picture.
Using her Bow Chasers to great effect, the Edelweiss shot 4/4 to dismast the Resolucion!
This seemed to leave the Espadas as easy picking, but the Spanish switchblade docked at the island and simultaneously towed the Resolucion. Bianco’s Haulers protected the Espadas from the Edelweiss’ guns, so the English sank the Resolucion instead. The Growler is home with gold.
The Espadas needed another EA from de Alva, and she got it. This allowed her to get home, but the game was all but decided.
The Espadas couldn’t wait at home and hide from the Edelweiss while the other gold runners brought back more gold, so she headed out again. The Edelweiss knocked off all her masts and left her moving S on oar power, just barely keeping the Spanish in the game so that the English could return home some gold with the Growler and Gladius Dei.
English: 32 gold
Spanish: 12 gold
Next time I’m going to put a lot more effort into the setup and have more fleets. For various reasons, this game was rushed from both a setup and gameplay standpoint. It turned out rather boring and went by very quickly.
@el_cazador: The game wasn’t bad because of your custom pieces. I think it was mostly the setup, and the fact that the Edelweiss managed to get the first strike against both Spanish ships. I changed the switchblade’s stats based on my hunch, but further testing is needed to determine what the ship should end up looking like. The Resolucion didn’t get a chance to fight, while the Edelweiss dominated. Even if the Edelweiss hadn’t gotten the first strike, I think the Spanish would be very hard-pressed to win the game. The Edelweiss may be undercosted, as Vega’s ability on top of the Acorazado’s ability is truly difficult to deal with. Also, my Bow Chasers may be underpriced as well, partly because the Edelweiss’ fore gun is a 2L. I may test the equipment out more to determine if any changes should be made. The Growler should be fine; the Gladius Dei’s Mercenary keyword is the only thing keeping it from being overpowered. Again, more testing is needed before ANY changes are made.
This is meant to be a comprehensive post of all the information and data I have saved from Miniature Trading. All card info (stats, abilities, etc) can be found in the Master Spreadsheet. You can still view Miniature Trading via the Internet Archive. Example: Pirates CSG Forum. You can navigate to many old threads and even some fleets and miniature reviews, but many URLs were never archived.
I pulled pictures from the Miniature Trading database with httrack in 2018. The first two links are folders of the biggest versions of the pictures, sorted into one folder per set. Hardly any of these pictures were taken by me. Google Drive just shows my name as the default creator. If there are any game pieces missing pictures that had been at MT, httrack didn’t pull them.
ALL Miniature Trading database pictures files pulled from httrack
-Here is a folder you can download to have all the pictures. It includes all the file sizes that the httrack download yanked from the site. “big” are the folders with the full size pictures. Feel free to make your own copy.
Before I figured out how to use httrack to pull only picture files, I made sure to get full page screen captures of all the Pirates sets from the MT database. So for full redundancy I have that too. Enables us to see pictures as if we are still on MT after the site is gone.
I couldn’t find an easy way to put the miniature pictures into the Master Spreadsheet without a) making every miniature entry massive due to the picture resizing the columns and rows (making it hard to see more than 1 or 2 pieces at a time) and b) doing in a timely fashion that wouldn’t require me to upload all 1,000+ miniatures into the spreadsheet individually (this is probably more doable but arguably pointless due to a; people can easily make their own personalized versions of the Master Spreadsheet if they want).
Here is a .zip folder of a large httrack download of Miniature Trading. It is about 1.3 GB in size and contains a TON of stuff. For all I know there may be enough in there to recreate parts of MT somehow. No idea how to use it or what to do with it, but I got around to making a .zip copy so I could share it with everyone.
For maximum redundancy here are links to Imgur folders where I have saved some of the above as well.
Another game of Waterworld was played. This time, the setup featured a single fog bank in the middle of the sea, which each fleet would emerge from on the first turn. Two arches made for some nice pictures, and the original arch from Economy Edition made a surprise appearance. Each of the four wild islands had 4 regular treasures and 1 unique treasure.
There were seven 15 point fleets this time, with 0LR’s again not being permitted. They went in this order:
Sea Phoenix + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Silent Death + captain
Calypsos
Black Bear + helmsman
USS Destiny
Rum Runner + helmsman
Matthias Vospero + captain
L’Eroica + captain, helmsman
The Sea Phoenix took the first action and reached the arch made famous by Economy Edition.
The Silent Death is visible through an archway:
This one’s not the best quality, but you can see the Jade Rebellion flag to the left as the Americans approach the arch from the other side.
After the Sea Phoenix explored, the Black Bear planned to ram the ship and use her ability to steal gold!
The Black Bear also won the boarding party, and stole both coins from the Sea Phoenix!
From the mizzen top of the Matthias Vospero:
The arch has returned!
The Vospero soon joined in on the action, taking a mast off the Sea Phoenix:
The Destiny has docked on the other side of the arch, but a monster approaches…
The Eroica managed to maneuver to the far side of the southern island, denying Calypsos the chance to easily ram the ship and steal her gold.
The Rum Runner and Silent Death peacefully loaded gold, but the game was still in its early stages…
For a small measure of revenge, the Sea Phoenix rounded the arch’s lowest point where the gold sat and dismasted the Destiny, who was promptly rammed by Calypsos, who stole both her coins!
The Black Bear ran for safety as the Vospero turned around and eyed the Silent Death. The Rum Runner wanted to run away as well. The French Eroica had the misfortune to find Barrel o’ Monkeys.
As ships ran away from other ships, it became evident that more conflict was approaching. The Black Bear ducked into the single fog bank, which would immediately disappear as soon as a ship rolled a 1 to emerge from it. The Rum Runner turned around, knowing that she had a large load of gold, potentially enough to win the game.
After taking a mast off the Silent Death, the Matthias Vospero turned around to attack the Black Bear, who had emerged from the fog to chase the Sea Phoenix. The Vospero now appeared to be in control up north, while major trouble was brewing in the south.
The Eroica used an SAT to fire off 6 shots at the Rum Runner in addition to a ram, which left the schooner with 1 mast standing. This was a nightmare for the Pirates, who didn’t want to use Parley and give up their gold. To make things worse for the combatants, Calypsos eagerly swam towards the battle.
The Eroica dismasted the Rum Runner and captured her, with the Barrel o’ Monkeys changing hands inconsequently several times in the process. The French were happy to have won the battle, but as soon as they had, Calypsos was staring them in the face ready to fight!
Up north, the Matthias Vospero dominated both ships, capturing the Black Bear. She illegally captured the Sea Phoenix, who had an oarsman on board. A turn later the Sea Phoenix was removed from the game and the coin she had loaded was put back on the island you see her docked at.
The Silent Death had rolled a 1 to eliminate the fog bank, and after a brief trip to the eastern island, she returned to the center where the Vospero began chasing her.
Calypsos pinned the Eroica and knocked off a mast, and the Eroica fought back gallantly, blasting the sea monster!
After a furious fight and yet another SAT from the Eroica, Calypsos lay in pieces over the sea! Even the Eroica’s crew were surprised by their stunning victory, though they lost her helmsman in the engagement. If Calypsos had better luck and the Eroica slightly worse luck, the Cursed would have had a real shot at winning the game with just a single L-speed sea monster, since they could have grabbed the impressive treasure still aboard the Rum Runner! However, it was not to be, and the Cursed would have to settle for losing once again (so close!).
After a brief game of cat and mouse, the Matthias Vospero cornered the Silent Death and knocked the Corsairs out of contention. The Eroica had no choice but to confront the Vospero, since the Vospero could easily catch her now that the Eroica’s helmsman was gone.
The Vospero captured the Silent Death and explored the nearby island for a sudden influx of gold! The Eroica arrived to knock a mast off, but it was too late. The Vospero took out the Eroica, and the game was over.
In the end, the Spanish captured 12 gold (three 4’s) through the Silent Death, and when combined with the gold from the Black Bear and Matthias Vospero, they won by a large margin:
Spanish: 23 gold
French: 11 gold
Everyone else: 0
The French played a good game but were hampered by Barrel o’ Monkeys and Calypsos. The Spanish played a good game and showed how useful and important it is to capture enemy gold ships in Waterworld, but I’ll probably remember this game as the game that almost saw the Cursed win single-handedly with nothing but a sea monster moving L the whole game.
