Warning: This is a short report of one of the worst games I’ve ever played.
Custom pieces courtesy of el_cazador and yours truly in the case of the equipment.
2 fleets, 60 points:
Spanish:
Las Espadas de Oro + Victor de Alva, Duque Marcus Vaccaro, Master Bianco, Bianco’s Haulers, helmsman, explorer, oarsman
La Resolucion + captain, helmsman
Las Espadas de Oro
Type: Switchblade
Nation: Spain
Points: ? (22)
Masts: 4
Cargo: 6*
Move: S+S*
Cannons: 2S,5S,5S,5S
Link: Master Bianco
Switchblade. This ship may ignore any hit she takes each turn if she carries treasure; put a treasure coin from this ship on the nearest wild island after ignoring a hit.
Flavor: Master Bianco finds himself torn between saving his ship or saving his treasure.
*These are not by any means her final stats. This was a test game.
La Resolucion
Type: 4-masted ship
Nation: Spain
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 3
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,4L,4L,3S
Link: None
Extended Range. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against ships within S of her.
Flavor: Captain Ladron smuggled experimental British cannons out of Singapore and outfitted his ship with them. He has resolved to put them to good use against enemies of the Crown.
English/Mercenaries:
Edelweiss + Thomas Gunn the Younger, helmsman, oarsman, Bow Chasers
HMS Growler + helmsman, explorer
Gladius Dei
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.
Bow Chasers
Faction Affiliation: Neutral
Type: Equipment
Point Value: 5
This ship gains two additional cannons that can only shoot from the foremost mast of the ship. The cannons follow the rank of the foremost mast of the ship, but they have the Extended Range keyword. The cannons can only fire in a straight line directly forward of the ship’s bow. Other pieces of equipment cannot be used with Bow Chasers.
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.
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.
Proxies: Matthias Vospero=Resolucion, Saber=Espadas de Oro, USS Mercury=Edelweiss, Nova Scotia=Growler, Fathom=Gladius Dei
Both fleets featured good speed, especially with their treasure runners. The islands were placed 3L apart for the first time in a while.
The Espadas and Growler were the first to explore, as the Edelweiss looked to corner the slower Resolucion. The Gladius Dei stayed submerged and sped towards the furthest island out of the picture.
Using her Bow Chasers to great effect, the Edelweiss shot 4/4 to dismast the Resolucion!
This seemed to leave the Espadas as easy picking, but the Spanish switchblade docked at the island and simultaneously towed the Resolucion. Bianco’s Haulers protected the Espadas from the Edelweiss’ guns, so the English sank the Resolucion instead. The Growler is home with gold.
The Espadas needed another EA from de Alva, and she got it. This allowed her to get home, but the game was all but decided.
The Espadas couldn’t wait at home and hide from the Edelweiss while the other gold runners brought back more gold, so she headed out again. The Edelweiss knocked off all her masts and left her moving S on oar power, just barely keeping the Spanish in the game so that the English could return home some gold with the Growler and Gladius Dei.
English: 32 gold
Spanish: 12 gold
Next time I’m going to put a lot more effort into the setup and have more fleets. For various reasons, this game was rushed from both a setup and gameplay standpoint. It turned out rather boring and went by very quickly.
@el_cazador: The game wasn’t bad because of your custom pieces. I think it was mostly the setup, and the fact that the Edelweiss managed to get the first strike against both Spanish ships. I changed the switchblade’s stats based on my hunch, but further testing is needed to determine what the ship should end up looking like. The Resolucion didn’t get a chance to fight, while the Edelweiss dominated. Even if the Edelweiss hadn’t gotten the first strike, I think the Spanish would be very hard-pressed to win the game. The Edelweiss may be undercosted, as Vega’s ability on top of the Acorazado’s ability is truly difficult to deal with. Also, my Bow Chasers may be underpriced as well, partly because the Edelweiss’ fore gun is a 2L. I may test the equipment out more to determine if any changes should be made. The Growler should be fine; the Gladius Dei’s Mercenary keyword is the only thing keeping it from being overpowered. Again, more testing is needed before ANY changes are made.