8/25/2016
I played two games tonight, in rapid succession. The first was against Xerecs, the second against my friend John.
Xerecs and I decided to pit our Keyword fleets against each other!
a7xfanben – Keywords everywhere
Xerecs – Hoist the Keywords!
My swarm fleet immediately scattered, with the Dervish losing a mast to a whirlpool.
The Dervish was quickly picked apart by her opponents, but the Akua Lapu found Plague! In the meantime, the swarmers had already cleaned off two islands.
The Plague was given to the Dervish, who had no crew to eliminate. The Strongarm (from Return to Savage Shores) then took care of the Plague by sinking the galley.
I anticipated a race-battle to the southwestern island, but Xerecs took the Strongarm through the whirlpool towards my home island. Both fleets unloaded some considerable loot.
After divvying up the wealth among my three ships at the southwestern island, I decided to scatter my units once more! The Grinder headed for the whirlpool, while the Glorious Treasure and Lightning headed for home together. I then went after the Strongarm with the ships that weren’t carrying gold, in an effort to distract and block the hoist. This purpose was achieved with canoes, the Sea Tiger, and the Libellule.
The end of the game was rushed, with the Strongarm sinking the Lightning and the 1 gold she carried. The Akua Lapu sailed through the whirlpool, and managed to position the Doombox flotilla so it could smash the Glorious Treasure. Luckily for me, one of the shots missed, allowing the Glorious Treasure to dock home on the next turn. This late-game skirmish also saw a few canoes sink, while the Grinder was damaged. In the end, the swarm fleet was victorious by a score of 28-10!
The second game featured two 60 point fleets. I was in the mood for something a bit wacky, and ended up going first.
French Vikings:
Grand Vainqueur + Jules Arnaud, captain, helmsman
Carcharodon
Grendel + captain
Anglo-Americans:
Grampus + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
HMS Henry VIII + captain
Pequod + explorer
HMS Dunlap
(I did not mean for it to look like the shark is breathing fire lol)
The Anglo-Americans attacked on their first turn, dealing damage to the Grand Vainqueur. The French retaliated, setting the Grampus alight while Carcharodon missed taking a bite out of the Henry VIII’s deck.
The fighting schooners teamed up to dismast the Grand Vainqueur! It’s worth noting that both the GV and Grampus were set alight, but both extinguished the flames with their next actions.
The Grendel was the first to reach the beaches, but things looked grim for the French Vikings. However, the shark proved to be a slippery devil, avoiding hits by the Grampus and Henry VIII.
Indeed, the two gunships combined to miss 7 times in a row, making it almost a fair fight!
Carcharodon is wounded, but he allows the Grendel to slip by with gold. If not for all the misses, it’s unlikely I would have brought back any gold in this game.
The shark is finally killed, and the Grendel sets off on a suicide mission.
By necessity the Anglo-Americans keep the lone Viking alive, but she’s not a threat and the Pequod and Dunlap return home with enough gold to win the game without sailing back for another trip! The Anglo-Americans defeat the French Vikings 23-15!
