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.
Cursed:
Tenfold (cazador) + Onox (cazador), Koloktos (cazador), Gentleman Jocard, helmsman
Lamprey (cazador) + explorer
Hare’s Luck + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
Calypsos
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.
Lamprey
Type: 2-mast longship
Nation: Cursed
Points: 8
Masts: 2
Cargo: 3
Move: S+L
Cannons: 5S,5S
Link: None
Longship
Flavor: This abomination from the Frozen North seems to have suffered permanent damage to her firing accuracy.
Pirates:
Rusty Hook (captain_vendari) + Tetra (cazador), Purlo (cazador)
Dead Man’s Revenge (xerecs) + captain
Torpedo (xerecs)
Skipping Stone + helmsman
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.
The final count:
1. Cursed: 20 gold
2. French: 9
3. English: 8
4. Mercenaries: 3
5. Pirates: 0
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!