4 Fleets, 70 Points: Debut of the Portuguese, Carrack model, and Merchant ability!
3/18/2026
This 4×70 game originated from simply wanting to have fun using some of the new game pieces I’ve designed for my various Mega Packs. During the planning phase, it then morphed into an opportunity to playtest a new ability called Merchant that I’m quite excited about. Plus, to a lesser extent a playtest of the new carrack ship type and some game pieces from the Seas of Japan Part 3 Mega Pack – which will see the debut of the Portuguese!
Setup included 8 wild islands with 6 coins each (random gold values and some random UT’s), and lots of terrain including some of my custom sandbar and shallow water terrain. I used my Restarting Rules and New Master Keyword List.
Merchant: Once per turn if this crew or ship is within S of any ships, home islands, or forts, the controllers of each game piece may agree to trade any number of cargo between the game pieces as a free action (if applicable, up to their available cargo space). If the trade is between friendly game pieces, all friendly game pieces involved must unload at least one non-identical cargo; you cannot trade between friendly ships and your own home island.
Current cost: 2 points
Ability is subject to change. For this game, it was on 3 different game pieces across 2 different fleets (Portuguese had 2, Japanese had 1).
Fleets in play order:
These are just listed from my notes, with abbreviations for generic crew (C-Captain, H-Helmsman, O-Oarsman, E-Explorer, etc).
Jade Rebellion from Return to South China Seas
Taicang + Hong Bao, Ma Huan, HO (34) – 6 spaces open
Qingyuan + CHO (21) – 4 spaces open
Taoyuan + Li Dan, HE (15) – 2 spaces open
Japanese from Seas of Japan Part 2
Tekkōsen + CHO, FPS (17) – 0 spaces open
Kitabatake + Ohama Kagetaka, Robert Sample, Robert Lane (20) – 5 spaces open
Nagoya + Murayama Tōan, Jan Joosten (Dutch Merchant), H (20) – 3 spaces open
Ryūjin (13)
Portuguese (from the upcoming Seas of Japan Part 3) mixed with some Dutch and Spanish from Golden Seas. The carrack models are prototypes as I don’t have their finished game pieces yet for this report – both carracks are Portuguese faction.
Nossa Senhora da Graça + André Pessoa, João Rodrigues, HEO (25) – 3 spaces open. Dark ship
Santa Catarina + João Pereira, HEO (24) – 3 spaces open. White ship
Friesland + Jacques Specx, CH (17) – 2 spaces open but negative ability
El Antiguo
Pirates from Golden Age of Piracy Part 1
La Louise + Olivier Levasseur, HE (20) – 2 spaces open
Cassandra + Jasper Seagar, HEO (19) – 3 spaces open
Fancy + Edward England, H, exploding shot (24) – 4 spaces open
Flying King + E (7) – 3 spaces open
Looking south (opposite orientation of most pictures in this BR) at round 1. Taicang has whirled into the northwest:
Ohama Kagetaka draws first blood with his Kitabatake atakebune! The pirates he’s recruited (Robert Sample and Robert Lane) into the Japanese fleet help him damage the Friesland. Jacques Specx is killed, but there are still two other merchants in play.
Lots of gold gathering early!
Tekkosen emerges from fog to slam Qingyuan!
Indeed, the Jades were under heavy fire from the Japanese:
Kitabatake got caught with bad positioning, allowing the Portuguese to damage her. El Antiguo wanted to sneak some treasure from the center island, but Levasseur on La Louise wasn’t going to allow it.
Taicang looks to dock at a second island to boost a coin’s value with her ability.
The first use of the Merchant ability in a game! Japanese pull off some cargo logistics to get the UT to the warship.
The Japanese continue to be bold, going straight after Taicang in the southwest with Ryujin and Tekkosen:
Qingyuan’s fire spread but she docked home to put it out and deposit treasure.
Taicang’s cannons improbably manage to kill Ryujin! This was in one salvo, with only 4/6 dice even getting rolled (two shots to spare).
Looking from the north again. The white carrack has explored the center island for the Portuguese.
Tekkosen attacks Taicang to trigger Parley from Ma Huan, netting the Japanese a 7! Their luck turned worse after they got greedy, with the atakebune’s oarsman killed in a boarding loss.
Ma Huan parleyed because the Jades knew that Taicang had more gold in her hold than their entire HI….
Pirates make a play at some gold the Jades want. Portuguese and Japanese are slowly getting richer.
The Pirates didn’t send their best however. Flying King is dismasted by Taoyuan emerging from fog. Qingyuan is on the way and has bonuses against Pirate ships, but she rolled terribly in this game.
The Pirates use 5 gold to build their Eternal Gate fort from Golden Seas! They’ll need it there, as Cassandra fails both a ram and board against Taoyuan.
Hong Bao finally comes through with an extra action! (possibly the only one he got all game) The Pirates didn’t expect interference from Taicang, let alone so quickly and so effectively. The big 7 master smashes up Cassandra with her bow cannons, and uses her unique trading arbitrage ability to swap her Forged Papers UT with gold from the fort!
The Ming ships also damaged the fort, so the Pirates aren’t looking good here.
A few more angles on the battle:
Friesland manages to catch Edward England unaware, but goes 0/3 against the Fancy!
The Pirates quickly dismasted and captured the Friesland, hoping that she would replace any potential ships lost to the Jades. At the upper right, Tekkosen guards the southwestern island so Nagoya (bottom left) can make trips to it. 3 of the 4 fleets were using gold bonuses to get richer, with the Portuguese relying on sheer cargo volume to make up the difference.
In one of their only “bad luck turns” this entire game, the Jades manage very little damage against the Pirates. Qingyuan goes 0/5. Thus the battle stalls out as the Jades lose momentum.
Even with the captured Friesland in tow, the Pirates diligently continue their gold factory strategy. Edward England and Olivier Levasseur worked together exceptionally well in this game, probably adding 8-12 gold to their score across various “bonused” coins. In bigger news, the Japanese and Portuguese have agreed to a deal! The factions had been in discussions about a possible trade for a few rounds now, and were finally able to start getting the pieces together.
The Jades finally finish off their victory over the Pirates, sinking Cassandra (complicated to capture with oarsman and Jasper Seagar aboard) and destroying the fort.
A few more shots of my Jade Rebellion ships I’m really happy with:
Here it is! The first major use of the Merchant ability! João Pereira (aboard Santa Catarina, the white carrack) helps to broker a deal between the Portuguese and Japanese: the Japanese will pay 5 gold from their home island to receive Neptune’s Trident from the Nossa Senhora (placed on Kitabatake). The two factions are also in agreement for a joint strike against the Jade Rebellion, though the details are a bit muddy.
Looking south at the end of a round. The game was entering a combat lull.
Jades regroup as the Portuguese and Japanese slowly begin getting into position. The Portuguese don’t trust the Pirates enough to let them in on the plan against the Jade Rebellion, so the “black ship” (carrack) will enter fog to protect her 5 coin. El Antiguo has been camped out at that north-central island for many rounds now, ready to build a fort in order to extend the game if needed to allow the anti-JR plan to happen.
The black ship safely gets the 5 home for the Portuguese. Taicang and Taoyuan team up for some gold bonus logistics in the southeast. Pirates look to capture Antiguo simply to increase their fleet size (and units in play number in the case of a tiebreaker at the end).
The Pirates split up their wolf pack as the endgame approaches….
Ohama Kagetaka gets his SAT to force the action! Kitabatake rounds earth to the southeast and blasts the Jade Rebellion home island with a tidal wave made by Neptune’s Trident!!
The “Kita” (as I call her for short) is flagless from the recoil damage, but manages to steal a 1 from Taoyuan. Complicating matters is the arrival of the Portuguese! They double-cross the Japanese, agreeing to help the Jades defeat them if it means André Pessoa can dock his Nossa Senhora (black ship/dark carrack) at the Jade HI for some wealth opportunities! The ship has a new ability, based on history: “This ship may dock at a Jade Rebellion home island or fort; each time she does, place a 2 coin from outside the game on this ship.” The Jades are befuddled but hastily agree, not knowing if they’ll have to take down the Tekkosen as well as Kita.
This shows everything else on the ocean. Now that the mechanics of the plan are in motion, a lot of things will start happening quickly.
Taoyuan and Qingyuan repair, while Taicang sinks the Kitabatake!
The Flying King (now in Jade possession) swooped in ahead of Nagoya to grab the final coin from the southwest island. The Japanese saw that coin as more easily stolen than the one on Taicang, so they went after the sloop. Tekkosen’s firepot specialist set the former pirate vessel ablaze, with Nagoya touching the atakebune in anticipation of a transfer next round. In hindsight I realized Tekkosen didn’t have cargo space for the coin, but what resulted wouldn’t affect the final standings.
With the Japanese seemingly defeated without any need for Portuguese help, the Jades turn a quizzical eye towards the carracks. André Pessoa sheepishly explains that a new deal can be struck! Ever the opportunist (and scared of the Jade firepower now surrounding his ships), he proposes that the Portuguese can trade their oarsmen for the Jade “silk” (in the form of 2-gold coins). With their crew reserves depleted from the fights against Japan and piracy, Hong Bao agrees to the trade. Helping matters is the fact that the Nossa Senhora’s new coins aren’t coming from the considerable pile of Jade gold. And thus, another interesting use of Merchant and diplomacy!
Only a few coins remain “available”….
Things got complicated. Taicang round earthed to board Tekkosen. The Japanese chose to take the Forged Papers (not the more powerful Neptune’s Figurehead) from Taicang, knowing it would force a hard choice on the part of the Jade Rebellion. Taicang’s new ability lets her trade one coin for two, meaning if Hong Bao wanted the Tekkosen’s 1-gold coin (the only one of the three worth hard value), he’d have to fork over the figurehead to the Japanese. “and that’s the point…. You’ll have to choose”
Hong Bao did indeed use Taicang’s ability, shifting the target (by virtue of having the coin) from Tekkosen to Taicang and giving up Neptune’s Figurehead to the Japanese.
Even with Qingyuan now lurking nearby, the Japanese weren’t going to give up their chase for the little coin. Tekkosen and Nagoya both smashed into Taicang hard, setting the ship on fire.
However, the true vulture in this situation was the Pirates. They had been angsty for many rounds, and were itching for some action to exert their agency over the endgame. Edward England swooped in, using the Fancy’s cannons to blast the Nagoya with exploding shot. His buddy Olivier Levasseur fired from afar, ready to take the coin aboard if Fancy got into trouble.
With the big Jade ships off fighting the Japanese in the southwest, the Portuguese get greedy! With no major ships to stop her, Nossa Senhora redocks at the Jade HI for an extra 2 coin! The Portuguese were definitely feeling devious this day, using any angle they could to get an advantage. Milking the new abilities of Merchant and others for all they were worth!
After an absolutely incredible game, the Taicang is finally cooked. By this point both Ma Huan and her (Portuguese?) oarsman had been killed in action, leaving just Hong Bao and the helmsman. However, her initial treasure haul of around 30 gold would become the stuff of Ming legend.
The Jades get some measure of revenge as the carnage gets more severe: Qingyuan finally shoots well, going 4/5 to crush Tekkosen while stealing back Neptune’s Figurehead.
Tekkosen showed off Japanese tenacity, going after Fancy for the 1 coin. However, the Pirates played their secret UT – Runes of Defense! It kept Fancy healthy and the S-boost propelled her into La Louise, where Olivier Levasseur was waiting for just this kind of transfer.
Indeed the Pirate plan went perfectly here at the very end, with La Louise receiving the coin from Edward England’s Fancy, fleeing into the nearby fog bank, then dropping it at home for +2 gold (3 total) with Levasseur’s bonus. The black ship (Nossa) also returned home safely, netting the Portuguese 4 gold from their mission to profit off the Ming silk trade.
However, none of that crazy endgame stuff mattered in the final standings! (gold scores below this picture)
Final Scores
- Jade Rebellion: 56 gold
- Portuguese: 48
- Pirates: 42
- Japanese: 30
Some big scores to end a memorable game! It was great to use exclusively new ships and named crew. There were a few insights about Merchant that might lead to some tweaks, mostly to curb excessive trading between friendlies. In the end the gold distribution played a big role, but it was nice to see a lot of the ships and crew shine. Taicang was probably the MVS (Most Valuable Ship), with MVC (Most Valuable Crew) honors probably going to Olivier Levasseur (though Murayama Toan gave a lot of bonuses to the Japanese too). The merchants and atakebune were involved in a lot of interesting situations even if they didn’t directly impact the standings as much as they hoped to. Jan Joosten was looking for an opportunity to use Merchant from the Nagoya but it didn’t materialize.
Overall it was great to feel proud that I can play a game using fleets entirely of my own making, from my own creations I’ve brought into this world. It’s a different kind of feeling when you look around and can say “I did that”/”I made that” for every physical ship model. I love the crazy possibilities that some of these new abilities open up. The historical influence on some of these new/improved factions really makes for some interesting diplomacy and interactions!