60 Point Game against Gazerbeam
April 30th, 2022
This game against Gazerbeam543 was in Studio City, California. We used his GF9 islands along with almost all the terrain I had with me.
I went first with the French:
Le Triton + Lenoir (RotF version), captain, helmsman, oarsman
La Bonne Chance + captain
L’Afrique (BC version) + captain, helmsman
Le Courageux + captain
The idea was a balanced French fleet that had captains on every ship to take advantage of the various decent guns and still leave plenty of cargo open for gold. Essentially 3 hybrids along with the Bonne Chance.
He went with a Spanish Pirate fleet:
San Cristobal + Victor de Alva (F&S version), Duque Marcus Vaccaro, helmsman, explorer, oarsman
Akua Lapu + Hammersmith (F&S version), Crimson Angel (OE version), Coconut
The SC got an EA and round earthed to blast my French fleet. Despite taking some severe pounding, both the Bonne Chance and Courageux survived the assault. Knowing I had a captain on every ship, I was excited to strike back with full force.
In some typical bad cannon luck for me, I returned fire with all seven remaining cannons but only hit twice!
The SC made a break for it but without EA she was easily caught by the Triton and Bonne, who combined to shoot her to the bottom in a reversal of fortune!
At this point both fleets had gotten some gold. The San Cristobal fight was a 4-on-1 action, and the rest of the game looked to be the same with only the Akua Lapu remaining for Gazerbeam’s fleet. Knowing I had Lenoir’s Parley face down on the Triton, I felt comfortable sailing her east to contest the Akua Lapu’s exploration efforts.
The AL found Turtles! These tokens are from Tilorfire27 of the discord server.
The AL returns home with yet more gold, the Triton starts running over turtles, and the Courageux and Bonne Chance repair.
The AL sails back out to attack the Triton, but Lenoir is flipped. Unfortunately in the random draw I Parleyed away my most valuable coin (a 5), but it left the Triton intact to blast off most of the AL’s masts.
The AL flees into fog while the turtle assault intensifies. Kill the wee turtles!! The Afrique and Bonne Chance get in on the action, whacking the greenies out of the water left and right.
Not a single turtle survived the three-pronged French assault, but I was still facing an uphill battle to win the gold race. The Courageux has picked up some lower value coins from the middle island while the Triton and Afrique make a break for the northern island. Blue blur at left is a d6 roll accidentally captured mid-roll. XD
The newly repaired AL sank the Bonne Chance and took a mast off the Courageux, who found the Frond of Fisaga in the southeast. I was happy that such events seemed like sufficient distraction for the Triton and Afrique to get home safely with their gold.
The Akua Lapu finishes off the Courageux before moving on to the French HI. The Triton returns home with gold, blasting a mast off as she pulls into port. However, the Afrique can’t quite make it and will hide in fog until the opportune moment.
Soon afterwards the Afrique emerged to dock home the final coins, ending the game!
1.Gazerbeam543: 33 gold
2.A7XfanBen: 24
A solid game against Gazerbeam with some worthwhile abilities used. Perhaps if I had come with a more competitive fleet, if Gazerbeam hadn’t gotten so many EA’s/SAT’s, or Parley hadn’t resulted in a 10-gold swing, the outcome may have been different. Thanks for reading!