Four players, 40 points
This game was played on 5/24/2015. The fleets went in the order of play as follows:
Fleet 1:
HMS Resolution + captain, helmsman
HMS Silent Swan + captain
HMS Swiftsure
Fleet 2:
HMS Talon + captain, helmsman, cannoneer
Enfant Terrible + explorer
Fleet 3:
Antamasia + Master CPO Charles Richard + Inquisitor (house ruled with new players having small starter collections)
Pawtucket + helmsman, explorer
Fleet 4:
Freedom’s Hand + captain, cannoneer
San Pedro + explorer
Algiers + helmsman, explorer
The Freedom’s Hand and Resolution were involved in a short skirmish on the first few turns as the Swiftsure safely returned home with gold.
Fleet 2 looked to use their big gunship, the new HMS Talon. Slicing into the San Pedro, the Talon was able to dismast the Spaniard and take one of her coins.
Still in the early stages of the game, each fleet has brought back some gold:
The Silent Swan was the next ship to fall victim to the Talon.
The Freedom’s Hand was third, but not before she finally dented the Switchblade’s armor for a hit.
At this point, the gold was becoming scarce. The Resolution took a few masts off the Talon, and the Talon proceeded to lose her remaining crew in a failed boarding attempt against the Inquisitor’s Antamasia.
The Resolution finished off the Talon, and the Algiers quickly became the most-wanted target with 3 gold coins on her. She was quickly attacked by the Enfant and Antamasia, as Fleet 3 tried to reclaim their gold.
The Algiers and Swiftsure tried to steal the final coin from the Pawtucket, but they were foiled and the game ended at last!
The final treasure count was extremely close:
Fleet 1: 15 gold
Fleet 2: 12
Fleet 3: 13
Fleet 4: 13
The Swiftsure of Fleet 1 was extremely lucky to find a 7 and a 5 on the first island she explored, overshadowing the great games played by the other fleets. Still, one of the closest games you can ever have and a lot of fun!