Pirates in Tampa – 3×60 game on January 29th, 2023

Pirates in Tampa – 3×60

1/29/2023

Pirates in Tampa continued with the second game of our post-Gasparilla Pirates CSG Sunday. It was a 3 player, 60 point game with no house rules other than events being banned.  Personofsecrets and Dholub1 had to leave and the game store quieted down at the same time, making for a much quieter and smaller scale game than the first.  All game pieces can be found in the Master Spreadsheet.

Here are the fleet outlines in turn order:

Ben – English hybrids
HMS Goliath + CC Bratley, captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
HMS Victoria + RotF Thomas Gunn, explorer, oarsman
HMS Durham + RotF Hermione Gold, RotF Trevor van Tyne, explorer, oarsman
Terrain: Sargassos
Coins: Castaway, Wolves, Wine, Knights of Malta Banner, Poseidon’s Breath

Sean
Crewless fleet consisting of Neptune’s Hoard, La Vengeance, Peacock, Louisiana, Yankee, and Julius Caesar. (now that I’m looking at it, looks like 72 points – oops!)

Marshall
Enterprise, OE Constitution, Banshee’s Cry, Coral (all with generic crew)

The setup was pretty basic with HI’s on the edges:

The beautiful HMS Victoria:

HMS Durham was my first ship to explore, but gave her best treasure to the Goliath so she could continue to the center and combat the Wolves UT, found by HMS Victoria.  The Goliath’s firepot specialist embarked aboard Durham to make more room on the Goliath. All 6 wild islands have been explored, with Sean’s Peacock finding Wine.

With no captains on his ships, Sean’s 4 masted schooners would be no match for England’s naval might.

My issue was that Marshall and Sean had both already brought back most of 2 wild islands each, while the only one I had on the way back wasn’t very valuable.  TvTyne missed the Wolves, and the Durham and weakened Victoria now faced likely American opposition even if they could load up the protected coins in the near future.

With the Constitution lurking and Enterprise on the way, TvTyne couldn’t afford to miss!

Alas, the Wolves were a tough customer, making me a bit desperate.  The English built Ramsgate on the island, trying to ensure the gold would at least stay protected even if Trevor was killed.

The Americans pounce, sinking the Victoria and destroying the fort!

Staying at the Wolves island was a suicidal play for the Durham (who had 2 masts shot off while docked), and I knew that I had the only musketeer in play.  The Durham fled the scene, looking to steal the Wine UT and come back to the Wolves after the other players beat each other up a bit.  My chances of winning were slim to none but I wasn’t in the mood to concede.  At the lower left, HMS Goliath moves towards the final coin on the southern island.  Sean and Marshall have sent their gold runners back out.

Marshall sinks the Julius Caesar with his 5 masters while HMS Durham steals the Wine UT from the Peacock:

HMS Durham makes a break for Marshall’s HI, with one cargo space open to load a stolen coin.

The Enterprise gets another extra action and devastates the field!  La Vengeance is sunk en route to the Durham, who gets both her remaining masts shot away in a second broadside.  She rows onto a reef but cannot wreck herself, leading the Enterprise to sink both her and the Peacock on Marshall’s next turn with yet another EA!  HMS Goliath gets 1 gold home via whirlpool travel, but the Wolves gold will remain untouched.

1. Marshall: 22 gold
2. Sean: 10
3. Ben: 3

Congrats to Marshall for a win in the second game!  The Pirates in Tampa will now rest for a while, but we plan to be back no later than next year for Gasparilla weekend!  😀   We’d love to see you out for it!

Forgot to mention last report – thanks to Personofsecrets for the surprise acquisition of the Empty Sky!  🙂