I had a snow day today, and decided to have a little game 
.
Four players, 100 point fleets. The fleets were:
English: HMS Titan, HMS Grand Temple, Aberdeen Baron, HMS Hyena, HMS Lady Provost.
French/Cursed: Le Gaule, Le Descharges, La Dijon, Divine Dragon, Fallen Angel, Death’s Anchor.
Spanish: La Joya del Sol, La Santa Ana (SCS), Asesino de la Nave, Monte Cristo, Alquimista, San Jose.
Pirates: Sea Nymph, Longshanks, Muerta de la Corona, Selkie, HMS Rickets, Recreant, Windjammer, Raven.
The game was one of the oddest I’ve ever played. The focus would be on my new forts (Puerto Blanco, Paradis de la Mer, Dead Man’s Point, and Fort Brompton), or at least it was supposed to be. All of these forts except for Fort Brompton were built, along with my other old fort, St. Pierre, but none of them had a chance to fire or be fired on. The game was almost all treasure-running. The only action was between the English and the French/Cursed. The Titan dismasted the Divine Dragon and took out two masts on the Descharges, but was soon thereafter sunk by the Death’s Anchor. The English got their revenge by sinking the Le Gaule with the Grand Temple, but not before the Lady Provost was sunk by the Hyena (captured by the French earlier in the game). The Grand Temple then sunk the Hyena.
The Spanish had the best time with gold-running. El San Jose brought some home, but the real load was from La Joya del Sol, who brought home a 3, a 5, a 6, and a 7 with her big cargo hold.
The final gold count for this quick game:
Spanish: 30
French/Cursed: 19
Pirates: 19
English: 11
I may play another game, but to make it more interesting, I may require that fleets bring home gold from their forts (other than the gold used to pay for them), and I may have the wild islands in the center.
Currently listening to ‘Two Hornpipes’ from the Dead Man’s Chest soundtrack.
Additional Comment:
Over the last two days I have played a four player 100-point game where players use the gold they bring back to their home islands to buy and launch new ships and crew.
The participants were the same as the game above, with a few small changes to the French and Pirate fleets.
The game constituted of mostly gold-running, and the Spanish were quickly eliminated, finding themselves between the English and French/Cursed. The French only had one good gold ship (La Dijon), and they used her haul to build Paradis de la Mer.
The Pirates and English built their forts as well, Dead Man’s Point and Fort Brompton, respectively. The English and Pirates had home islands on opposite sides of the sea, and so were free to accumulate treasure and build their fleets in relative peace. The French were all but eliminated when their two gunships (Le Gaule and Divine Dragon) were taken out in quick succession by the HMS Grand Temple, HMS Apollo, and HMS Dover.
The English put together a scattered expedition of ships to go east to attack the Pirates’ home island, but these plans were foiled when the Pirates tried to end the game quickly, sensing they didn’t have the firepower to match up in a fleet action (it was looking like the Harbinger, Revenant, Ballista, Muerta de la Corona, and Lady’s Scorn vs the Titan, Grand Temple, Dover, Apollo, Nautilus, Auckland, Cygnet, and two captured Spanish galleons, Joya del Sol and Santo Columba, with the Lady Provost lurking by the Pirates’ HI waiting to steal gold).
After short skirmishes, desperate treasure-running, and a few well-placed UT’s, the final French/Cursed ship (Fallen Angel) was finally rammed and dismasted, triggering an endgame condition with two of the original four players not able to give any of their ships future actions.
The gold was tallied up, and the English came out on top, with slightly more gold coins than the Pirates, but with coins with much greater values (at least two sevens and a handful of fives):
1. English: 170 gold
2. Pirates: 126
3. Spanish: 37
4. French: 19