Red Seal Ship Debut

12/14/2024

This was a 4 fleet, 60 point playtest game to try out a new ship type I created (the red seal ship), along with some other customs that I wanted further playtesting on.

I generally used the Restarting Rules, with the exception of a deliberately wild map setup.  I wanted terrain to actually matter, so I used a ton of it.  I used all 16 sandbars and 16 shallow waters!  Huge chains of terrain ensured that entire regions of the board would be impassable without crossing them or using round earth.  The lack of whirlpools would cut down on “easy” travel.  I used 6 wild islands (instead of 8) with 4 coins each. Of the 24 total coins, 4 were UT’s and all of them were random. Home islands were chosen in reverse turn order.

The fleets in play order:

Mercenaries
Mušmaḫḫū (20) (aka Musmahhu)  (Ability for this game: “At the end of any opposing shoot action that targeted this Hydra, if this Hydra has not been eliminated and at least one shot from the attacking ship missed, this Hydra may repair up to two segments.”)
Matuku + explorer, oarsman (14)
Mobilis + helmsman, navigator (15)
Hare’s Luck + helmsman (11)

Japanese 1 (J1)
Minogame + helmsman (26)  (artwork prototype, not final version)
Yamagawa + Tenjiku Tokubei, captain, helmsman (19) (Y on foresail to distinguish from the other red seal ship)
Sengoku + captain, Archers, Ōdzutsu (15)

Japanese 2 (J2)
Atakemaru + Kuki Yoshitaka, helmsman, Ōdzutsu (25)
Fujigawa + helmsman, explorer (12) (F on foresail to distinguish from the other red seal ship; also a slightly different, non-final prototype model)
Běifāng Xuánwǔ + helmsman (23)

Americans
USS Denver + captain, helmsman, exploding shot, oarsman (29)
Salem + captain, helmsman (13)
Bloody Throne + Isandro Ramirez, helmsman (18)

Time to put some new game pieces to the test!

Fleets generally scattered in the first round, with Matuku loading 13 gold partly because of her Mercenary boost away from the home island (HI). At the bottom right, Minogame has begun towing a sargasso sea!

Atakemaru lays waste to Hare’s Luck!  The Odzutsu were fired, with Kuki Yoshitaka leading his men into battle.  The navigator on Mobilis has put down a trade current, allowing Matuku to return home faster.

The Mercs made a good play before Hare’s Luck was captured by the Japanese: she explored while derelict, using her island treasure trading ability to flip a 3 over to the island they had already explored, loading the 1 they knew was there in return.  Beifang has run aground on a sandbar in the northwest, trying to reach the western wild island.  Musmahhu is also headed there.  Salem is headed home with some nice gold for the Americans, while Denver and Bloody Throne load the scraps left behind by Hare’s Luck.  Minogame cannot catch Salem (especially with all the terrain in the way), and so heads to round earth to the west.  Both red seal ships are getting gold for their respective Japanese fleets. Mobilis cancelled the Matuku’s Mercenary keyword to allow her to dock at home and unload gold.

With most of the gold claimed in the early game, the western island becomes the mid-game hotspot!  It was the only remaining unexplored island, with the other wild islands either empty or with 1 coin on them.  Minogame was the first to dock there, but got rammed and bitten by the emerging hydra – Musmahhu!  The Mercs were ready to defend “their” island, and Matuku swooped in to explore (with help from another trade current). Rogue marines killed her oarsman, but she made out with 3 additional coins that would likely secure a Mercenary victory if she could get them all home safely.  With more ships inevitably converging on the island, that was looking increasingly unlikely.  At the left, you can see that Salem had found the Knights of Malta Banner….

Hydra rams giant turtle!

The situation devolved into madness. After an unsuccessful boarding attempt by Sengoku against Matuku, Minogame captured Matuku. Matuku explored to give Minogame a 7 and 2. Beifang then moved forward in order to S-Board Minogame, stealing the 7!  However, this led to her ramming Sengoku, who won the boarding party to take out the Jade turtle’s helmsman. Musmahhu went after Sengoku, who managed a hit on the hydra (likely with her Odzutsu).  Atakemaru tries to navigate the fog, with Yoshitaka eager to assist the giant turtle in bringing home some loot.

Salem transferred the Knights of Malta Banner UT to the Denver, who heads northeast with Bloody Throne in a hunting party.  Fujigawa had given her Deck Cannon to Atakemaru, and now looks to grab Spices and a 1 from the captured Hare’s Luck.  With both Mercenary sailing ships captured, it will likely be impossible for the Mercs to unload any more gold at their HI.

Musmahhu goes crazy!  The hydra defies the odds of its 4S heads and hits with regularity, killing Minogame and sinking Matuku!

Beifang got the 7 home faster than I expected – a 2 roll coming out of the big fog bank put the turtle on a sandbar, but it didn’t get stuck there.  The western situation is now fully resolved, with Musmahhu submerging as ships flee the area.  The focus is now shifting to the wild island closest to the center, above the big sargasso sea.  The Mercs know it’s a 3 coin, and it’s one of the last available.  Fujigawa wants to double it with Spices, but Mobilis is harassing her with submerged rams.

With multiple ships converging on the last wild coin, Fujigawa’s crew decide to take the sure gold and unload the Spices and 1 for an extra 2 total gold.  The red seal ship was also down to just 1 mast after another Mobilis ram, so it was unlikely she’d ever get the 3 home, let alone with Spices onboard as well.  The other red seal ship (Yamagawa) is approaching the island from the south, while the other Japanese converge from the north and the Americans brave shallow water to approach from the east.

The battle for the 3 coin begins!  Yamagawa docks at the island, but Musmahhu and Mobilis approach.  The Americans are excited to finally flex their might, having played a boring and patient game so far by virtue of the setup and lack of targets in range.  Denver opens up on the Jade turtle, adding some value to the Banner UT. Bloody Throne uses her “shoot through ships” ability to wipe out the turtle!  However, Beifang has Eternal and would show up at the J2 home island.  Complicating matters is the arrival of both atakebune – in separate fleets, unlike last game.

Japanese civil war!  Atakemaru opens fire on Yamagawa, with her “extra weaponry” (Odzutsu and Deck Cannon) doing most of the damage. Unfortunately Tenjiku Tokubei was killed by one of the Odzutsu blasts, but he did provide some gold via his merchant missions early in the game. Yoshitaka wanted to ram and steal the gold, but the tight quarters made it impossible.  Atakemaru actually had to use her “bow turn” ability to move her stern off of Mobilis (avoiding overlap) just to make the situation legal.  Of course, this made Atakemaru a sitting duck for the hydra and others…

… as the Americans flex their might!  Denver connects with an exploding shot, though it won’t count towards the Banner since the UT refers to mast elimination (not replacement).  Salem aims to tow Yamagawa but promptly gets stuck in the seaweed, where she would remain for many turns.

The fire spreads as the carnage mounts.  The J1 fleet was effectively out of it now – I realized I had made a mistake. Somewhere along the line, Sengoku had lost her final crew, meaning she couldn’t be given move actions. I moved her back to the northwest. Yamagawa explored the island again to put the 3 back, and rolled successfully to scuttle.

Atakemaru was sunk! Musmahhu blocked Denver’s path to the gold and eliminated another mast, leaving Denver with just 2 masts.  Mobilis surfaced and snagged the 3 quickly, since the Mercs had already explored that island with Matuku back on turn 1.  The Mercs fully intended to just play keep-away with the coin – treasure on ships counts towards victory in a multiplayer game, so Mobilis would just submerge and stay underwater until the Mercs were the last fleet afloat, holding onto the coin no matter what.  Mobilis’ canceller ability ensured she would never be forced to the surface, and there were no “mover” things in play that could allow another fleet to force the Mobilis onto a reef and wreck her.  This all but solidifed the Mercenary final score at 16 gold, which they hoped would be enough.

A new “endgame meta” quickly emerged – stop the Denver.  She still had the Banner UT, which was now worth 2 gold.  If she could survive and keep eliminating masts, the American gold score would go up and up.  The “dead” Sengoku was a prime target, and one the Denver could easily hit on her voyage home.  This is exactly what Denver did – take out both flags on Sengoku to up the Banner value to 4 gold (flags count as masts for the atakebune).  With all the remaining ships in play now in hot pursuit or trying to blockade the American HI, Denver’s crew knew they needed to get home fast.

Between the slow speeds of the opposition and the massive wall of shallow water providing a barrier to the American HI from the west, Denver was able to dock home and unload the Banner for 4 extra gold!  It ended up being… absolutely essential!!

Final Scores:

1. Americans: 18 gold
2. Japanese 2: 17
3. Mercenaries: 16
4. Japanese 1: 14

O_O   As close as it gets!!  If they hadn’t gotten the Banner home safely, the Americans would have tied for last. If they hadn’t done a slight detour to smash up Sengoku, they wouldn’t have won.  An incredibly close game that came down to the wire.  All fleets played pretty well and had a good shot at winning.  I didn’t bother playing out the pointless endgame of Mobilis hiding out, since the result was inevitable – the Mercs were keeping that 3 submerged and safe either way.  However, it only elevated them from last to 3rd place.

Observations and Changes:

-Neither giant turtle had a big impact on the game.  They have potential, but kind of lumber around and can’t cause much damage.  I think they’re costed too high for the value they provide.  Both of these got their point costs lowered by 4: Minogame from 24 to 20, Běifāng Xuánwu from 21 to 17.  (their current point costs for the Seas of Japan release)

-Both red seal ships performed as expected – solid 3 masted merchant/hybrid ships that are in line with original ships.  Much easier to cost when there aren’t any wild ship-type keywords. Yamagawa didn’t get a chance to use her “treasure trade arbitrage” ability, which I value at 2 points but might only be worth 1 or 1.5.

-Sengoku back down to 6 points (from 7): Sengoku struggled more in this game, partly due to the terrain making it hard to stern turn for extra movement, and partly because she didn’t have a helmsman unlike in the past games (I wanted to change up her crew setup a bit). However, the main reason for the decrease is because I finally saw just how devastating that “no crew, no moves” negative part of the atakebune keyword could be.  It’s a big negative to essentially feel derelict when you still have flags/masts up.  I am also considering the idea of just deleting that negative from the keyword – I’m not convinced the atakebune would be overpowered at all without it.  However, I’d prefer to keep it for thematic reasons (need rowers for propulsion) and because they’ve still performed well in their games.

-Musmahhu: The regeneration effect is easily one of the hardest custom abilities I’ve ever tried to figure out, balance, or cost effectively.  The basic idea of regenerating segments after getting hit is like messing with the primary combat mechanic of the game.  With the current ability used in this game, there’s an incentive to only shoot at the hydra if you know you’ll hit every time (virtually impossible) or if you have the firepower to shoot at it many times in one shoot action (preferably at least 7 cannons).  Final version changed to: Each time this hydra is hit, roll a d6; on a 6, you may repair up to two of its missing segments.

Old vs. New Tournament of Champions Final

2/24/2025

My fleet

Foxtrot’s fleet

Congrats to Foxtrot for winning the Fleet Challenge!

Tabletop Simulator 2025 – Fleet Challenge Semifinal Game

2/23/2025

I met up with Grammaring on Tabletop Simulator for our semifinal game of the Old vs New Tournament of Champions Fleet Challenge. My Spanish fleet from Golden Seas had won in the first round.

The fleets in play order:

Sometimes I just want to shoot something

Spanish Seas of Gold

This shot doesn’t show the 4th and final wild island to the south. Spanish in the west, Pirates in the east.

La Mensajera got busy spying coins to the east, alerting me that most or all of the 5-value coins (the highest value in play) were over there. She explored, finding Plague and Rum, soaking up their negatives so Grapa could come in and load the regular 3’s from the island. However, I forgot to use La Grapa’s ability that would likely have allowed her to reach home instead of being preyed on….  Oro del Oeste found Ghostly Encounter, which took out her explorer. This interrupted the explore action and prevented her from loading the other coins on the island (3,3,0), thus delaying her a crucial turn with Longshanks on the hunt.  She loaded them on the next Spanish turn, but multiple conflicts were quickly approaching.

Oro starts heading home with Longshanks in pursuit. I was able to use Grapa’s ability and make up for my prior mistake by using it in an aggressive way. Grapa was not going to reach home before likely being dismasted by Harbinger, so instead she turned around, touched Mensajera to load Plague, and then use her ability to crash into Harbinger and plague the Pirates to wipe out their crew!  This severely crippled Harbinger and meant she would be too slow to intercept Oro del Oeste.  The Spanish got a successful scuttle roll for Mensajera.

Harbinger sank La Grapa (giving each player a 3 coin on their home island) and captured La Mensajera!  On the previous turn, Longshanks had shot and rammed Oro del Oeste after catching up to her, taking out a mast. Oro continued sailing home as fast as possible, but was slowed after Captain Jack Hawkins slashed the throat of Antonio de Bolívares (due to Longshanks getting pinned).

In the game’s pivotal moment, Longshanks went for another move-shoot-ram attack, landing a shot but then rolling a 1 on the ram roll to leave Oro del Oeste with 1 mast standing!  Oro’s Secret Hold keyword kept her gold safe, though her helmsman was knocked overboard by Hawkins.

Oro had just barely escaped an ugly fate, with enough sails set to return home with a nice haul of 8 total gold, bringing my total to 11. Now she needed to wreck herself to end the game as soon as possible.

Indeed it was too late for the Pirates to catch up in full, though they narrowed the score to 11-9 by warping Mensajera (and her Rum UT worth 6 gold) home with Harbinger.  The Pirates went for more gold, but only two reef rolls were needed to turn Oro into a shipwreck, meaning the Spanish had no future move actions available.

Scores:

1. Spanish: 11 gold
2. Pirates: 9

There you have it!  A close contest that went down to a single roll – if Longshanks succeeds on one more d6 roll (such as that final ram), the Pirates would win on Units in Play (3-3 gold tie).  The Golden Seas Spanish fleet moves on to the finals of the Fleet Challenge tournament.

Halloween 2024 Game

10/29/2024

Ahoy mateys!  This was a 3 fleet, 80 point game I played to test out some new game pieces and to have some fun with some of the scarier factions as part of my Halloween 2024 game. I generally used the Restarting Rules.

Here are the fleets in play order:

Pirates
Black Widow + Liliane Rousseau, helmsman, explorer
Cyclone + helmsman
Sengoku + CHO (captain, helmsman, oarsman (French oarsman))
Tortuga + helmsman

Vikings
Kalmar + Shayna Deux, Lars Valgard, helmsman, FPS, oarsman
Elsinore + RotF Thomas Gunn, LE Griffin, SS Sir Jeremy Rothschild
Sleipnir + helmsman
+Shipwright on HI

Cursed
Berzerker + Berserk Overlord, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Pyrannus
Sea Rat + helmsman, navigator

Quite a unique and exciting fleet area!

I designed the map, since I wanted a change from having each fleet contribute specific islands/terrain/coins.  8 total islands, with 5 of them wild. I used 4 of my Mega Terrain, along with some Shallow Water and rocks. Round earth played a key role in home island selection. Despite the obstacles, I could tell from the setup that it was likely to be a bloody game – none of the fleets were going particularly strong with gold runners, so combat was quite inevitable.  Rather fitting for these factions.

The treasure distribution was random – 5 coins per island, with 8 of the 25 total coins being UT’s.  Both regular coins and UT’s were chosen randomly.

I also used a timer to limit each fleet to 40 minutes of play time overall – that way the game could be finished in about 2 hours.

Before sailing out, the Pirates transferred the Black Widow’s explorer to Cyclone.

On the first turn, Cyclone explored to load a couple 3’s. Sengoku wanted to hunt enemy gold runners, but this was the Berserk Overlord’s debut!  He gave his ship the Same Action Twice (SAT) with a 4, letting Berzerker surge to the west.  However, even with the ship’s “+1 against second targets” ability, none of the sniping shots hit!  However, it’s quite normal for large junk ships to underperform in their first games I use them in, so I wasn’t shocked. (years ago, bad cannon rolls happened a lot with HMS Grand Temple and some 10 masters early on)

Kalmar sets the giant turtle aflame!

Sea Rat used her navigator but he failed to generate a trade current.  For the rest of the game, The Cursed didn’t bother using the navigator.  Pyrannus heads into a giant fog bank, while Elsinore rounds earth to the east in search of loot.

With Cyclone slowed to L+S on her return journey with treasure, there was no way for her to dock at the Pirate home island (HI).  Sengoku could simply block for her, but this was unlikely to be very effective.  Instead, the valiant crew of Sengoku decided to go out in a blaze of glory!  They rowed north at full speed, crashing into the Berzerker’s bow!  To win the boarding party they needed a 6-1 rolling advantage, so a 4 meant her French oarsman died against the might of the junk’s crew.

Black Widow explored to find a negative UT and some low-value coins. The 2 was left behind when leaving the island.

Kalmar takes advantage of the Longship keyword, stern turning over round earth and getting all her cannons in range of the Cyclone, who is only a few meters from home!  Her gunners fail miserably, going 1/6 and failing to stop the ship!

Berserk Overlord rolls a 6, allowing The Cursed to give an enemy ship an action!  Elsinore was a tempting choice, but she was stuck with Rum after exploring – The Cursed figured they might be able to intercept her next turn.  With Berzerker only having one action available, the Overlord decided to move the pesky Sengoku out of his way, sending the atakebune aground on some nearby shallow water.  Sengoku wasn’t damaged by the grounding, but later lost a flag to Berzerker’s cannons.  Berzerker’s gunners continued to disappoint, failing to damage the ultra-lucky Cyclone!  However, The Cursed were able to S-Board and steal a 3.

To the right, Sea Rat heads east for an unexplored wild island while Pyrannus exits fog looking to deter Sleipnir from docking at the middle island.

A homecoming party for the Pirates!  Cyclone unloads a 3, and Black Widow returns to smash up Kalmar while docking her own gold at home. Kalmar was only hit once, so her mainmast shouldn’t be missing here (corrected soon afterwards). At the top, the 6 on Sengoku marks that she is ready to leave the shallow water with her next action.

All this time, Tortuga was simply sitting in the same spot, protecting Black Widow from being approached by Kalmar.  This also kept her fire at bay.  Kalmar heads home for repairs, while Sleipnir scurries away from the approaching (submerged) hydra.  Berserk Overlord rolls a 2 to give Sea Rat +L to her base move, allowing the junk to quickly reach the southeastern island.

Both Viking 3 masters get home, with Elsinore unloading 12 gold! (7, 2, and 3 from Rum)

However, Elsinore needed a stern turn into shallow water to reach home, meaning her departure will be slowed.

Berzerker gets SAT to whirlpool into the northeast, sinking Sleipnir!

Elsinore uses an action to get unstuck, while Kalmar loads the convenient shipwright to repair two masts with one action! (revised Shipwright keyword as part of the New Master Keyword List allows 2 masts/repair at your HI and friendly forts)

With another 6, Berserk Overlord forces Cyclone to run aground! Black Widow aims to escort Cyclone to get the last coins from the SW island. Tortuga reaches home with the 2 coin Black Widow left behind due to the Barrel o’ Monkeys, with her “flesh fire” now extinguished.  Pyrannus simply guards the middle wild island, lying in wait and essentially marking the island as Cursed territory.

The Vikings knew they probably needed to risk either the middle island or a Pirate home island raid to win the game.  Knowing Berzerker would likely back up Pyrannus in the center, they chose a multi-pronged assault on the Pirates.  The Pirates smell it coming, with Cyclone readying herself to set sail again and Tortuga swimming to intercept Elsinore.  To the right, Berzerker has escorted Sea Rat home, while also looking to deposit the 3 she stole from Cyclone earlier in the game.  Sea Rat found a good island, loading Metal Hull and 5,5,3.

The Vikings waste no time going after Pirate gold!  With Kalmar looking to home island raid for 2 coins, Elsinore looks to distract by stealing Cyclone’s current haul.  However, the attack is a total failure – stern turning into shallow water (required here to ram and board) costs the Elsinore a mast, then she follows that by only eliminating 1 mast from Cyclone and losing the boarding party, where Griffin is killed!  Cyclone means business today – elusive and resilient!

Black Widow did not position herself well on the Pirate turn, simply sailing east to try to block Kalmar from reaching the Cyclone or Pirate HI.  Kalmar repeats a move action from earlier in the game, stern turning over round earth into Pirate waters!  This time her gunners find their marks, shooting 5/6 to dismast the Black Widow and set her aflame!!

The endgame had arrived, with desperation mounting for the Vikings and Pirates.  Berserk Overlord scored yet another 6, allowing him to yank the Kalmar onto shallow water.  Berzerker avoided running aground and got into sniping range, taking a mast off Kalmar.  Sea Rat was slowed by Metal Hull, but that UT might help her survive a home island raid more than a bit of extra speed.  She had no fear of shallow water, heading straight for the Pirate home island!  Pyrannus swims underwater towards the action, with no immediate threats able to dock at the middle island he was protecting.  The Cursed look like the strongest faction now, benefiting from the other fleets beating each other up repeatedly.

Tortuga rams Elsinore, dismasting the ship and killing her last crew!  In this game full of brutal factions, neither the English nor French survived.

Against all odds, Cyclone returns home with her second haul of treasure (two 2’s).  However, can she deal with the oncoming dual Viking/Cursed threat?  All three fleets had a home island raider in this game, and here they’re all in the same area on the right side of the frame.

The Vikings use their actions to move both ships to the edge of shallow water (“ungrounding” them), looking to return home for repairs.  However, Pyrannus has other ideas!!  The beast finally surfaces and lights up Kalmar with a vicious fire breathing attack!!

Sea Rat moves in to plunder the Pirate home island.  The Pirates have been bullied all game and are exhausted.  Meanwhile, the Vikings are literally cooked.

With The Cursed clearly the only force capable of winning a battle now, the Pirates and Vikings decide to collude and end the game faster.  However, the Pirate still want their gold back, with Cyclone and Tortuga both ramming the Sea Rat – the giant turtle climbing across the home island to do so!  They both fail to steal back the treasure!

Pyrannus loses a head to shallow water but finishes off the longships, eliminating the Vikings from the game. The Overlord doesn’t want to run his behemoth flagship aground, and so takes the Berzerker north to collect some final treasure.  The Cursed are looking to seal their win.

They do just that, with Berzerker getting a clutch 5 (Admiral’s Action) from Berserk Overlord to explore the middle island and return home just as their clock was running out!  (Cursed finished their last turn with 7 seconds left, the least time remaining of any fleet)

I think Cyclone stole back the Sea Rat’s coin, but it was not enough.

Scores:

1. The Cursed: 32 gold (had 16 even before final haul from middle island)
2. Pirates: 14
3. Vikings: 12

In hindsight, one could argue the game should have continued, with the Pirates potentially able to use their remaining time to basically raid the Cursed home island repeatedly.  Since the Cursed were almost out of time, they didn’t have enough clock to fight back – if the timer hit 0, they’d automatically lose.  However, I was personally out of time to play and it’s simply a lesson in how to manage the clock for future games.  In addition, I think all the coins remaining on wild islands were just UT’s with no value, with Runes of Destruction and Livestock passed over in favor of regular coins.  If the Cursed haul of 16 from the middle wild island was the final treasure in play, the game really would end with their final turn as their clock ran out.

Overall this was a very fun game featuring a lot of new game pieces and elements.  It was great to finally utilize stern turning fleet-wide for an entire game, which really helped the Vikings compete despite their slow base moves.  Berserk Overlord almost exclusively rolled 2/4/6, with his capabilities on full display. The Cursed chose their HI first and nobody wanted to be near them. Eventually they benefited from the other factions fighting each other – despite some relatively large/powerful ships in play, neither Berzerker nor Pyrannus ever faced serious opposition.  Kalmar and Black Widow basically neutralized each other.  It made me want to play with more than 3 fleets next time, since this kind of “vulture winner” happens fairly often in 3 player games.

Playtesting feedback/observations:

-Under Restarting Rules, giant turtles could repair by default since nothing disallows it. (either have to change keyword, or change Sea Creature rules section about default not being able to repair)
-HI Raiding is still loser chooses, since rules don’t address it and it’s not a keyword. Probably want it random
-Made it so Shallow Water can sink ships on the 1-2 roll.
-No real feedback on Sengoku or Tortuga – nothing to warrant changing their keywords or point costs from this game.