I’ve been writing Battle Reports since late July 2011. I played at least a dozen games (probably more) in 2005-2006 when I first got into Pirates CSG, but since getting back into it in 2011 I’ve recorded almost every game I’ve played in some way. In this blog I will be posting battle reports of my adventures. Check out my best battle reports in the Compendium and my biggest games in Huge Game Legacy.
Black Pearl + Captain Blackheart, Gentleman Jocard, Marty, helmsman, oarsman
Smiling Jim + Hammersmith
Star of Siam + Coconut
Banshee’s Cry + explorer
The Carolina headed east, while the American gunships stuck together. My strategy was to shield the Julius Caesar with the Jarvis, whose ability made her immune to the Black Pearl’s powerful L-range guns.
With some careful maneuvering, Jonathan Haraden took the Julius Caesar into range off the Black Pearl’s starboard quarter, and opened fire with fire shot and stinkpot shot! (Miniature Trading wasn’t working when I created my fleet, so I had forgotten about Ralph David and the oarsman, swapping in stinkpot shot and an explorer) The Jarvis followed up with a volley of her own, and the Black Pearl was reduced to one mast and her crew lazy with stinkyness! The Jarvis also popped the lone mast off the Smiling Jim, and you can see the BC has explored the island at the right.
Repkosai had an unlucky fire mast roll that doomed the Black Pearl. The two American gunships captured the Smiling Jim and Banshee’s Cry, while the Carolina returned home with a big hold full o’ gold. As you can probably tell, it was all but over, and a quick endgame resulted in a 24-3 American victory! This also marked my 100th game on the VASSAL module!
Between the shortness of the first game and MT still being down, we decided to play a second game with the same fleets. This time repkosai rolled to go first, and the home islands were nearly reversed.
Once again the Americans get the first shot, with the Julius Caesar hitting with both her equipment pieces once again. I used a different strategy in this game, splitting the gunships and having the Jarvis attack the Star of Siam (she went 1/3 including a reroll from Nolan).
I couldn’t resist this picture; during the game I commented that it looked like a fireship attack! The Black Pearl had almost no other option other than ramming to fight back, as the stinkpot shot really compromised her capabilities. Since rediscovering that the equipment does take effect on the opponent’s turn (the MT database had an error until recently), I am on a mission to prove how effective stinkpot shot is. I used it more back in 2011/2012, before thinking that it was only on the shooter’s turn due to the database error. Now it will be back in vogue in my fleets! 🙂
The Smiling Jim took a mast off the Jarvis before being dismasted, temporarily saving the Star of Siam. The Julius Caesar finished off the Black Pearl with another fire shot hit, while the Banshee’s Cry ran home.
The Pirates experience a windfall in gold, while the Americans prepare to set up Thompson’s Island.
The Pirates headed out for more gold, with the Star of Siam looking to nab some American loot with the awesome Wine UT. The Julius Caesar was ready for her, or so Haraden thought! The ram and board failed, with the JC losing her explorer. In the meantime, the Jarvis and Smiling Jim repair at the new fort.
Repkosai had the right tactic, hugging the fort island with the Wine-laden Star of Siam. Unfortunately the UT doesn’t protect against ramming, and the Smiling Jim and Jarvis teamed up to capture the SoS. In this picture she is repairing at the fort, while the BC hides in the fog.
With Wine now in American hands, the Star of Siam raided the home island of her former allies, toasting the citizens of the town! Here the Americans faced a decision: end the game before the BC docks, hoping they have more gold, or let the BC dock and try to let the Carolina and SoS get their gold to safety as well. The choice was pretty clear though, especially given the amount of gold on the Carolina at this point. Her haul included even more alcohol, but this time in the form of Rum!
The Americans lifted their blockade, with the BC docking home and the SoS unloading a former Pirate 4 coin into Thompson’s Island. The Carolina reached home and the Julius Caesar dismasted the BC to end the game and give me victories in these 2 VASSAL Games! The Americans won 25-7, but in reality the game was closer than that score makes it appear.
The setup featured some terrain, including an island surrounded by reefs.
The Greed’s Hammer used Coconut the monkey to avoid rolling badly on the reefs, while the Grand Wind and Madagascar looked for gold elsewhere. The Accused got the first shot against the Constitution, sinking her after a brief battle with the help of her firepot specialist.
The Naegling went 1/2 to knock a mast off the Accused, who hurried home for repairs. The GH docked home gold while the GW and Madagascar loaded some of their own.
The game tilts in favor of the Pirates! The Naegling lurks too close to the Pirate HI, and the Accused punishes her with a furious and fiery broadside that dooms the longship.
The Greed’s Hammer lost a mast to a reef on her second gold trip, but it would have been two masts if not for another of Coconut’s successful rerolls. On her way back home, the GH helped the Accused to fight the Grand Wind, who didn’t stand much of a chance against the accurate Pirate gunships.
The Grand Wind was sunk and the game ended with a 35-10 Pirate victory! This game further proved the effectiveness of crew, as my crew setups were far superior to the mast advantage (14-9) that wantkrakens had. Speed also played a big role, which isn’t surprising. It was great to see wantkrakens (krakens on VASSAL) on the module again, and we hope to play again soon!
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Second game of July 6th (2 players, 60 points)
7/6/2017
Played my second VASSAL game of the day, this time with pirateaj14, which was also live streamed on my Youtube channel.
I rolled to go first with my Clones of the Barbary Coast fleet, and pirateaj14 followed with captain_vendari’s Jacks-of-All-Trades fleet.
My Corsair fleet swarms toward the archipelago of 7 islands, each brimming with 4 coins of precious loot!
The Morocco uses her ability to scout the center island for the Agha’s Whip, looking for the dreaded Blood Money. Expecting the UT, I purposely put all 6’s for my standard coins to help avoid the effect since the Corsairs were only using low-value crew. I swapped in a firepot specialist for Divers and Raft, since I try to play with no events unless it’s for a tournament like T2. The Gallows was going to escort the Morocco to the southern island.
Seeing Relics on the center island, the Queen of Sheba decided to not escort the Agha’s Whip, thinking the latter ship could handle the Algeciras with the help of the UT. 4 Corsair ships have gold aboard in this picture, while the Santa Isabel takes an entire island aboard for the Spaniards. The Gallows opens the combat phase, knocking two masts off the dangerous Resolucion.
The Griffin gets Wet Gunpowder and Wine, while the Dervish sails home at S+S speed with a cargo hold full of valuable gold. The Agha’s Whip loses a mast to a reef on a 1, but Relics does indeed save her from the Algeciras. The Resolucion dismasts the Gallows, while the Virtuous Wind pursues and attacks the Morocco. The QoS grabs some great gold from the northern island, where in hindsight I should have built a fort.
Continuing my bad luck with rolling 1’s, the Queen of Sheba manages to roll two 1’s in a row against the Algeciras to dismast herself and end any hopes the Corsairs had of being successful in combat! A truly revolting result, that shoot action exemplifies my typical bad luck during shoot actions. The QoS, Gallows, and Morocco were all sunk, leaving the Corsairs with just half of their original fleet. The Agha’s Whip and Dervish returned home with a ton of gold though, giving the Corsairs a big lead in the gold race. With the Spanish sailing straight for them, the Corsairs headed out to meet the Virtuous Wind.
The VW and Algeciras made short work of the last Barbary “clones”, ending the game!
1. Barbary Corsairs: 34 gold
2. Spanish: 18 gold
The Spanish likely would have prevailed if they had left a Corsair ship alone to row around aimlessly, but alas it was a fun time nonetheless! The end of the game was extra fun, as the creator of the Spanish fleet, captain_vendari, joined us after seeing part of the game on Youtube! Both fleets seem pretty effective for 60 point fleets, and it was a good test for them.
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Third game of July 6th
7/6/2017
Played my third game of the day for July 6th against a third opponent, which sets a new record for me. This time I faced captain_vendari, and we were live on Youtube with Skype commentary and discussion! This also marks my first game/battle report with commentary.
The Bloody Jewel, Hound, and Lightning went looking for gold. The Maryland took a mast off the Selkie (not quite able to ram and get pinned on purpose), before being captured by the Cursed Blade and then chain towed a tiny bit by the Carrion Crow to move her out of harm’s way. The Arrogant and Algeciras approached, but between my mast and named crew advantage, I figured I could prevail. As is typical, my dice luck proved me wrong…
The Arrogant rams the Cursed Blade, taking off a mast, while the Algeciras dismasts the Selkie! The Cursed Blade hit 1/2 on her turn, while the Carrion Crow failed to ram the lone mast off the Arrogant.
The Bloody Jewel brought home a bunch of gold with the help of the Jade UT, and the Hound eventually brought back a bunch more.
The Lightning came over to ram the Arrogant derelict, and the Crow captured her. However, at this point the game had been decided, as the Coalition of Nations had an insurmountable lead in gold. They won a blowout 30-0 victory!
Although disappointed with the game itself, I thought this was a great step towards a new kind of battle report with the live commentary. I’d like to try various other combinations, such as my personal commentary with low-level music in the background. Ideas are welcome!
Just played a game with Repkosai on the 4th of July! Check out the video of the VASSAL game, which was live streamed on YouTube complete with thematic music!
Repkosai wanted to be the Americans, so I played the English/British and rolled to go first:
English
HMS Algiers + Hermione Gold, firepot specialist, oarsman
The Algiers got an extra action (EA) on her first turn, and I promptly decided to try a strategy I haven’t used very often. The firepot specialist and oarsman were left at the English home island, allowing the Algiers to load up Hardwicke the marine and drop him off at the center wild island! Hardwicke, especially with his hatred of the Americans, was to deter the colonists from getting gold from “his” island. In the meantime, the Greyhound decided to escort the Frolic to the northeastern island, which looked like it was going to be hotly contested after Preble gave the Plymouth Rock an AA (Admiral’s Action) to approach it.
The Algiers quickly sails back home to pick up her other crew, while it appears that both early-game wild islands will be fought over. (whether through naval battles and/or amphibious operations!)
The English take the initiative and fire upon the Americans! Hardwicke misses, but the Greyhound maneuvers well enough to score a hit on the Plymouth Rock, dealing a blow to the US gold cause. The Freedom and Concord will now have a free pass at the exposed English marine, but the Algiers has picked up her full crew complement and is lurking nearby….
A closeup of the action at the northeastern wild island, with English gunnery prevailing.
The Freedom approached the wild island and easily eliminated Hardwicke! However, my luck was far better than usual, as the Algiers received an EA. Not only that, I revealed my firepot specialist and hit 3 times out of 4 to cripple the Freedom!
The Greyhound captures the Plymouth Rock, as part of another plan I hatched….
The superior speed of the Algiers proves effective, as the English are able to set another American gunship on fire! With the Freedom’s final mast succumbing to the flames, the Plymouth Rock captured, and now the Concord also aflame, the Americans are in deep trouble.
But just as the American music turned to a more upbeat march, the Americans fought back hard! The Concord’s crew watched the Freedom burn to the waterline and were determined not to suffer the same fate! Simultaneously fighting fires and firing their cannons, they plowed the schooner into the dreaded Algiers. With a successful shoot, ram, and board, Repkosai’s Americans went 3 for 3 to dismast the Algiers and eliminate her oarsman! (in hindsight I should have eliminated the firepot specialist) The English had lost their primary gunship, but another plan had come to fruition: after the Frolic docked home her gold, the English built Ramsgate in the northeast! My plan was to establish a second base of operations while also letting the captured Plymouth Rock repair so the Greyhound wouldn’t have to tow her home at just S speed.
Alas, it was too late. The Concord’s crew were exhausted from the dual fight against the flames and the Algiers, and the ship was lost to fire. In a surprisingly short game, the English had won an exciting victory! (final score was technically 12-0, with 3 gold on the English HI and 9 total in the fort)
We discussed afterwards that although Repkosai seemed to have better fleet construction (my fleet had just 5 total masts along with an expensive and ineffective Marine), I had almost all the luck. Rolling to go first was just the start, as the Algiers rolled for a couple of well-timed EA’s and my cannons hit something like 6/7, which is nearly unheard of for me. Despite the shortness of it, we had fun and look forward to more soon! Hope you had a great 4th of July!
I used the Ballista as a suicide attack ship, similar to how I’ve seen her described before. The Concord and Philadelphia broke from the wild island and sailed away. The Ballista caught the Concord and hit once in three tries.
The Concord and Philadelphia turned to fight, but the Ballista was already charging forward once more! She mashed masts off of both ships before losing one of her own to the Concord’s accurate cannons. The Philadelphia rammed the Ballista to give her the Plague, which eliminated her captain. By this point the Shadow had unloaded an island worth of gold, and the Ballista was able to finish off the Americans. The Pirates of 2004 had won a 5-0 victory!
This was a very short and simple game, but it was repkosai’s first game on VASSAL and we hope to play more soon!
In their first game of Pirates, Karan went first with Barbary Untouchables V 2.0.
I followed with:
Augusta + captain, helmsman
Iberia + captain, helmsman
Angel de Guarda
After a turn and a half, the Corsairs stick together while the Augusta prepares an island for the Angel.
The Angel, Iberia, and Tiger’s Eye all grabbed gold, while the Augusta and Nubian Prince eyed each other near the Iberia.
The Augusta blocked the Nubian Prince to ensure the Iberia got home safely, and both fleets unloaded considerable hauls of gold. The NP dumped a crew to make room for a coin, while the Augusta sped off to intercept the Tiger’s Eye.
The gunships of each fleet started attacking the gold runners! The Iberia was dismasted, soon followed by the Tiger’s Eye and Angel.
The Augusta sank the Tiger’s Eye while the Nubian Prince sank the Angel and Iberia, leaving just the two gunships. The Augusta knew she couldn’t win a fight with her S range guns against the NP’s ability, and decided to drop both crew and load coins from the southeastern island.
A chase ensued, where the NP caught the Augusta and sunk her! Divers was flipped by the Corsairs to receive both coins (using standard treasure rules unlike in most of my other games).
Barbary Corsairs: 16 gold
Spanish: 13 gold
Karan R has their first victory in Pirates CSG, and another player has been introduced to the module! Also, another country is added to the list of locations where people have played Pirates remotely! (joining England, Spain, and Singapore, likely among others in the past)
Taught two relatives how to play today! It was a very simple 20 point introductory game using the simple rules. Didn’t have my camera or phone with me but here’s a quick summary:
I went first with the Templar and Lucy’s Luck, followed by a player with the Enfant Terrible and Felicite. The other player fielded the Lord Cauldwell and Scorpion. The Lucy’s Luck and Scorpion were able to bring home 3 coins apiece in their first trips. The Templar shot 2/2 to dismast the Felicite, who was later towed home by the Enfant Terrible, but not before the Templar stole 2 of her 3 coins. Those coins were fought over for the rest of the game, with lots of ramming and boarding between the Lord Cauldwell, Templar, Scorpion, and Enfant. In the end, I tied with the LC/Scorpion player with 13 gold apiece (they won the masts remaining tiebreaker), while the French had 4.
Played another game on VASSAL with pirateaj14, this time a 60 Point Game.
pirateaj14:
San Cristobal + captain, helmsman
La Resolucion + captain, helmsman
El Alquimista
La Monarca + explorer
I used an English Caribbean fleet to celebrate the new movie coming out in a few weeks! a7xfanben:
HMS Dauntless + captain, helmsman, Murtog
HMS Interceptor + Admiral James Norrington + helmsman
Edinburgh Trader + helmsman
The SC lost three masts to a reef, while the Dauntless prepared to shield the Interceptor from the oncoming Spaniards.
Much gold was loaded, with the Edinburgh Trader finding Holy Water and Rum, providing an eclectic concoction for her helmsman to consume…
The San Cristobal was unsuccessful in her assault on the Dauntless, who promptly sank her.
The Resolucion outdueled the Dauntless, prompting the Englishman to flee into a fog bank. The crew of the Edinburgh Trader sobered up for the journey home, where they were passed by Norrington in his speedy Interceptor. The Alquimista and Monarca have unloaded gold for the Spanish.
I noticed how much gold was left in play, and decided to send the Dauntless back into action. However, she was ineffective against the Resolucion and Murtog sadly died in the fiasco. The Edinburgh Trader unloaded some nice coins, while the Interceptor had no choice but to enter a fog bank on her way east.
The Interceptor intercepted the Monarca and sank her! Soon afterwards, pirateaj14 had to leave, so we counted gold. The initial count was 33-32 in favor of the Spaniards! However, there were two caveats. The real score was 35-32 because the Alquimista would have given the Spanish 2 more gold with her ability. In addition, there was some gold left in play (a 6 and a 2), which likely would have been English by the end of the 60 point game. Therefore, a win with an asterisk for the Spanish, but a win nonetheless!
The first game was at 45 points, and featured these fleets.
a7xfanben: Large Fry – Spanish Swarm (due to the higher build total I swapped in a regular captain and put an explorer on the Morning Star)
pirateaj14:
Enterprise + captain
La Vengeance + captain
La Monarca
5 wild islands with 4 coins each:
The San Cristobal managed to get the first shot against the Enterprise, dismasting her after a brief battle. Though, she was lucky that the Enterprise didn’t get an extra action on the allies’ turn. The Vengeance has set upon the Neptuno, but fares poorly. This game featured above-average luck for me, as I rolled to go first and experienced accurate gunnery with the San Cristobal’s average cannons.
The Vengeance hit 3/3 to take the Neptuno down to one mast, but with the help of the SC, the Spanish teamed up to dismast the Vengeance. Both her and the Enterprise were captured, leaving the allies with just La Monarca.
In the end the Spanish won 47-30!
Game 2
pirateaj14:
USS Kettering + captain
HMS Apollo + captain
Bloody Jewel
a7xfanben:
Cyclops + captain, fire shot
Dark Pact + El Fantasma (SCS) + helmsman
Nightmare + fire shot
This was a somewhat unique 41 point game, to accommodate the extra stuff we wanted in our fleets. (the treasure distribution was the same but with different coins)
The allied gunships were content to run gold, so the Cyclops had an easy escort duty protecting the Dark Pact.
This is where things got interesting – all 4 larger ships meet near the middle, with El Fantasma looking to use a ghostly surprise and somehow evade the powerful gunships in the opposing fleet. The Kettering’s canceller and the Cyclops as a potential sacrificial/blocking ship loomed large.
The Kettering hits the Cyclops, but the Cyclops returns the favor by hitting with fire shot! The longship is set aflame while the Dark Pact uses Ghost Ship (a tiny bit lol, tough to maneuver at S+S speed) to make a break around the quiet northern side of the island.
The Kettering and Apollo dismast the Cyclops, but that lets the Nightmare get her 2L cannon in range of the Apollo. However, her fire shot misses.
In a small miracle, the Kettering’s fire spread, she missed her shots against the Nightmare, and the Nightmare set her final mast aflame before sinking her for good! The Cyclops also sank, but the Dark Pact gave the Cursed hope – she made it to the allied home island!
The Dark Pact grabbed a coin with El Fantasma before being blasted by the Bloody Jewel and Apollo. The Ghost Ship keyword came in handy here, giving the Dark Pact a better chance at survival than if she had simply turned around. (she went through the allied home island)
Here we ruled that the Bloody Jewel could shoot at the Dark Pact because she had a clear line of fire between the two islands that made up the larger allied HI. The Apollo later dismasted the Dark Pact to end the game!
The gold was counted and the allies had won a 29-23 victory! (32-23 if the Dark Pact and her stolen coin was recaptured) The Cursed nearly pulled off an upset, but their slow speeds and English gunnery made it impossible. This was also the first games where I’ve used the snipping tool to take pictures rather than just using the picture function within the module (taking screenshots rather than editing pictures of the whole ocean). It definitely saved time and is very useful for anyone who looks to take pictures on VASSAL in the future.
This was a fun day of piracy that saw a new player on VASSAL. Welcome him into the community and we hope to play again soon! Join us on VASSAL!
A quick 50 point game between these two fleets. There would be no damage due to ramming.
The Fool’s Hope, one of my favorite ships for aesthetics and intimidation factor.
The allied fleet was in a very close formation early:
Both of the smaller Pirate ships were heading for the middle island, but the Nox cut them off! The Congress also approached the Ningpo, but the allies went a predictable 1/6 in a dismal attack.
A tale of two ships: the Ningpo utterly fails against the Congress, but the Fool’s Hope makes up for it by going 4/5 against the Nox and setting the Frenchman ablaze! The Plague of the East docks home to repair, letting the captained Pirate ships do the damage.
With one salvo, the beautiful Nox is ravaged within minutes of the game’s start.
As the Nox burns to the waterline, the remaining allied ships break off the engagement. However, the Fool’s Hope aggressively pursues them and the Ningpo takes extra-long-range shots at the Congress.
Hawkins (did he steal another of Blackheart’s ships?) sailed too far, allowing the Montenez and Congress to blast his ship apart!
The Congress carries an impressive broadside, but now her crew must tend to a dangerous fire on the main deck.
The Fool’s Hope also won a boarding party to take out the Montenez’s captain, but the Ningpo was ineffective once again.
The allies have a decisively fantastic turn! The Montenez hits twice to dismast the Fool’s Hope, while the Congress dismasts the Ningpo despite her fire spreading.
The allies capture the Fool’s Hope, while the Plague of the East arrives on the scene to tow the Ningpo and attempt to block the Montenez, now moving at S speed.
The Plague of the East misses a shot, and the Montenez may be able to slip by!
As the Plague of the East trained all of her cannons on the Montenez, I realized that the Montenez should have been missing a mast after the FH’s boarding party, since Hawkins’ ability would have killed the captain via pinning and the FH’s ability would have eliminated a mast via boarding (meaning the FH wouldn’t have been dismasted). As a result the PotE got an extra shot, but couldn’t hit worth gunpowder anyway. The Congress arrived to sink the Ningpo and dismast the Plague of the East.
The Americans had won a combat-heavy victory, though it was slightly marred by the rules gaffe. However, it’s likely the repaired Congress would have been able to defeat the Pirates anyway. It was a bit odd to see no islands explored, but the setup and HI placement (along with 5/6 ships having captains) was a factor in that. The fleets definitely missed out on some interesting coins, including two 5’s, a 7, and a 0.
Today is the 10th anniversary of Ocean’s Edge! Due to lack of interest and some annoying no-shows, there weren’t any VASSAL games played for this anniversary after all, so I had to play by myself. However, ironically enough the game turned out extremely well, despite using some of the most maligned ships ever!
Using only game pieces from OE, there were 4 fleets participating at a 50 point build total. After some die rolls, the order of play was Cursed, Spanish, Americans, Pirates. Each faction brought at least one sea creature; the Pirates brought two. To further emphasize the Ocean’s Edge/At World’s End aspect, flat earth rules were used, though they didn’t come into play (though if round earth rules were used perhaps the game would have been slightly different).
Here is the setup, with 5 coins on each of the 5 wild islands. 5 whirlpools were also present.
The Americans had two S speed ships and their sea serpent Champ.
The Spanish had some nice diversity – a crab to cause terror, a slow but capacious gold runner, and a small but similarly capacious home island raider.
The Pirates were simply out for blood. They had only two open cargo spaces, but they were on the powerful Jape. Angelica and Teach were ready to eat plenty of man flesh with their sharp teeth!
The Cursed looked similar to the Americans, with two ships and a sea serpent. The Nosso Lar and Nightmare aren’t two of their better ships, while Maxehebel isn’t one of their best sea creatures. However, the Cursed sized up their arguably pathetic competition and knew they had a fighting chance.
After a turn, it looks like the Spanish and Cursed may clash over the northern island. The Americans stick together, while the Pirates do the opposite: they’ve decided to split their “fleet” into three, sending the Jape after the Americans, Angelica after the Cursed, and Teach after the Spanish.
The Mezquita was the first ship to explore, and found the first UT, which sent her through a whirlpool and out another one. The Santa Lucia turned east towards the same island to avoid the Cursed, but a submerged shark appeared off her larboard bow!
The Mezquita lost a mast, but was actually closer to her home island than if she hadn’t found the UT. El Toro has decided to not engage the Cursed, instead guarding the Spanish HI to make sure the Mezquita gets home in case of a sneak attack by the Jape.
With a swoop attack Angelica savagely rips apart the Nosso Lar! In a rare opportunity to sail the ocean, the poor little Cursed ship barely gets a chance to prove her worth!
The next turn started with the Nightmare finding Lost and Homing Beacon on the northern island! 4 reefs showed up underneath a whopping 5 different ships! Angelica flew away from harm, but the Jape, Mezquita, and Aaron Burr all lost a mast each, with the Oregon losing two. Suddenly the Americans weren’t looking good at all, especially with the Jape hot on their tail.
Both American ships were almost to the island before running into the sudden reef!
After coming through a whirlpool, Teach popped up and tried to bite off one of El Toro’s arms!!
The attack failed and El Toro viciously ripped the shark to shreds with its huge claws!! It was a rare sea monster-only battle, with El Toro easily winning.
More combat! Chaos erupts in the southeast, as Champ can’t quite block the Jape from hitting one of the two American ships. Sadly USS Aaron Burr will have to sail another time, as the Jape sunk her with one shoot action.
Angelica uses flamethrower! It’s super effective against the Nosso Lar! A nice UT (Protection from Davy Jones) and a 7 sink to the locker.
Champ emerges to go 2/4 against the Jape, but the Jape escapes becoming a shipwreck to sail across the reef, ram the Oregon, and steal a 4 coin! The Americans can’t catch a break, and the Cursed and Pirates have really messed with their game.
With one victim already sent to the depths, Angelica flies to an area where she’s in range of the Mezquita and Nightmare, sizing up her prey. El Toro makes sure the Santa Lucia gets home safely while keeping an eye on the newly repaired Mezquita.
Champ rams off the Jape’s last mast, but the Jape can still row at S+S with the stolen coin while her captain dies. The Oregon gets home, ensuring the Americans won’t get shut out.
In a bold but disastrous move, Angelica swoops on El Toro, coming up short! The Pirates have fallen apart, though the Jape survives another hazardous trip across the reef while trying to row away from the Americans.
In another brutal attack, El Toro rips Angelica’s head off!!(I got a little carried away and now I could use a new Angelica… however, the tape job I did after the game worked remarkably well for now, so I don’t have a headless dragon.)
Maxehebel had tried to block the Mezquita, but the Spaniards aboard decided to duck into a whirlpool rather than face the beast, taking a slight shortcut in the meantime at the cost of another lost mizzenmast.
The Santa Lucia and Nightmare are already engaged in a chess match of sorts, with the Santa Lucia’s HI raiding ability containing huge potential for the Spanish. Champ finally eliminates the Jape’s oarsman, officially eliminating the Pirates from the game!
Will El Toro, now feeding on the dead carcass of Angelica, be distracted long enough to give the Cursed an opening in the south?
The Mezquita is cornered…
Maxehebel is successful, but the Nightmare utterly fails! The Mezquita has a whopping 13 gold aboard, and the Spanish already have 4 gold at their HI. The Cursed are in the lead with 5, while the Americans also have 4. The Pirates are already out of it, but they caused some sufficient chaos before exiting.
El Toro’s answer is a clear no! Urged onward by Victor de Alva, the giant crab continues its reign of terror, this time grabbing Maxehebel by the tail and yanking it off! The Mezquita escapes, but the CHAMP is here! lol
The Santa Lucia has robbed the Cursed home island! The Oregon heads northeast to capture the Jape and her stolen loot, while at the bottom of the picture you can just see the tail of Maxehebel still in El Toro’s grasp.
In a brilliant maneuver, the Cursed use Maxehebel’s reverse captain ability to dismast the Mezquita and then move out of the Nightmare’s way, as the Nightmare promptly boarded the Spaniard and robbed her of 10 gold! This left 11 total gold on the Nightmare and 3 on the Mezquita. However, El Toro approached from behind once again, taking a chunk out of Maxehebel and a mast off the Nightmare. Then Victor de Alva overplayed his hand in a typically melodramatic manner! Swinging on a rope from Toro’s biggest claw, he led an S-boarding party with his entire crew! But the evil Wraith was waiting for him aboard the Nightmare, and the Cursed brutally cut down every last Spaniard, leaving the Toro with no human support! (In hindsight, this could be argued to be a Spanish mistake, but they had a boarding advantage and Wraith could have still been face down if it wasn’t solitaire, so it wasn’t a total bonehead move. It’s also a good example of how overpriced, ineffective, and overrated the “+1 to boarding rolls” ability is, for the Spanish essentially had this advantage but lost the boarding attempt 8-5.)
Here, the Nightmare tries to escape even after losing her second mast. Maxehebel and Champ both ram El Toro, and the crab is down to two claws. More importantly, it can’t quickly pursue the Nightmare and use its claws at the same time.
The crew of the Santa Lucia suddenly realized they had room for more Cursed loot, and went back to rob their HI again! At the far right, the Oregon has taken the Jape under tow.
This was when the game started to get even more complicated. The Nightmare lost Wraith to a whirlpool (she couldn’t afford to lose her final mast or helmsman), while the Santa Lucia loaded up the final Cursed coin from their HI, giving her 5 gold on two coins aboard. The SL still had a cargo space open, and the Nightmare was about to deposit valuable gold. The Spanish knew she had at least a 6 and a 4 aboard, since it was stolen from the Mezquita. This could potentially lead to a standoff, with the Santa Lucia waiting for the Nightmare to unload the gold, but the Nightmare unwilling to since the SL would just steal it and likely get away with her faster speed. With just his head above water, Maxehebel abandoned the fight against El Toro and swam towards a whirlpool to assist the Nightmare and/or try to cut off the Santa Lucia before she could get home. Champ and El Toro were left staring at each other with the derelict but valuable Mezquita nearby.
The Spanish thought about what the Americans would likely do on their turn. El Toro was already touching an island and could explore it and load the last two coins, which the Spanish knew they were only worth 2 gold total. They also knew the Americans didn’t know this, and thought they could deke the Americans into keeping El Toro alive for longer, since they would have to bring the Oregon or Jape over to win the gold in a boarding party since Champ didn’t have any cargo space. The Spanish realized this could keep the dangerous El Toro alive even longer, and the giant crab had already claimed the lives of both Pirate sea creatures and numerous masts and segments from other ships. The Spanish also saw no downside to this, since the Toro was unlikely to win the battle against Champ, being down 4-2 in firepower with equal “cannon” ranks. There was also no way the Toro could tow the Mezquita home without one or both of them being sunk by Champ. El Toro decided to load the gold. The Americans thought the situation through as well, and decided to kill El Toro because it was such a chore to retrieve the gold (with a regular boarding party from the Oregon, mostly likely), and because keeping El Toro alive could hurt Champ and the Oregon. Finally, the Americans also reasoned that the Oregon could likely tow the Mezquita home for her remaining coin, similar to what they did with the Jape (since the ocean was less crowded and the Cursed and Spanish were already in a tense standoff up north with only a few masts standing for either side). Champ finished off the crab, and El Toro was no more! The Americans breathed a sigh of relief when it looked like the coins involved wouldn’t have won or lost them the game, though it was looking tight enough to possibly be the case at this point in the game. (the Spanish loaded the 0 to make it look like the Toro had more gold to deceive the Americans)
The situation up north has been forced by the Nightmare, who broke off the stalemate with the Santa Lucia by sailing southwest towards the one island that still had coins on it. The Spanish, now with just the Santa Lucia remaining in their fleet, decided to save their stolen loot and sailed the SL home (knowing they could turn her around if the Nightmare also turned around). In a surprise twist, Maxehebel has gone through a whirlpool in the east, in the hopes of ramming the Jape to eliminate her 4 coin! However, with just one segment left, he couldn’t emerge from the whirlpool within range of the Oregon’s guns, leaving him in a bad spot. The Oregon eliminated the chance of any shenanigans by moving straight towards her HI, and the Jape looked to be safe for the moment. However, it was a dual plan by the Cursed, as Maxehebel could now potentially block the Santa Lucia from docking at her HI or simply shadow the sloop and try to prevent further HI raids.
The Nightmare moves within S+S (one move action) range of her HI, ready to dock on her next turn if the SL moves further away, or turn towards the western island if the SL comes back. The newly free Champ nearly throws a wrench into that plan, moving through the whirlpool and hungrily eyeing the Nightmare’s helmsman. Maxehebel moves towards the SL, who has no choice but to save her 5 gold and moves towards home (or face being surrounded by the Nightmare and Maxehebel caught in between the HI’s). The Oregon docks home with the Jape, who unloads her 4 gold and immediately starts repairing. This puts the Americans in the lead with 8 gold; the Spanish with 4 and the Cursed actually with 0.
The Nightmare finally docks home her gold, with most of it stolen from the Mezquita! This gives the Cursed a brief lead with 11 gold, and the Americans are quickly in last after the Santa Lucia bumps the Spanish total to 9 gold (11-9-8 ). The SL scoots past Maxehebel, careful to stay out of ramming or shooting distance. The Spanish know they can’t save the Mezquita against the now-mighty Americans, but they can hope to get some of their stolen gold back from the Cursed. Indeed, in this picture the Americans have 3 relatively healthy ships for 10 total masts against 4 masts remaining in the other two fleets combined. In the west, Champ has taken up station to guard that final wild island, while the Oregon hurries to capture the Mezquita.
At this point, the Cursed have 11 gold but know the Americans and Spanish might have more (especially the Spanish since they had 6 total coins against 3 for the Cursed). The Nightmare must risk another gold run to guarantee victory, and might be able to evade Champ at the western island. The Cursed have some problems in their plan, with Maxehebel too slow and weakened to provide adequate HI defense against the raiding Santa Lucia. However, the Nightmare can’t hang around until Maxehebel returns, since the Jape is fully repaired and sailing to a whirlpool to get the gold on the western island. Therefore, there is no time to waste and the Nightmare sails again! Sure enough, the SL saw a chance to raid and comes through the northwestern whirlpool to attempt it. The Oregon has begun towing the Mezquita, and the Americans now have 4 ships in their fleet, more than they started with! The Jape lost her crew to Champ, but is still a formidable ship at this stage of the game and the Nightmare would very much like to avoid confronting her in the west.
Knowing the western island has just 6 total gold on it (3,2,1 for the coins from when the Nosso Lar explored early in the game), the Nightmare pursues the SL after she re-steals the 6 from the Cursed HI. Unfortunately Maxehebel is likely a non-factor at this point, but he’s had a good game. In a break for the Cursed, the Santa Lucia rolled badly while whirlpooling, and was forced to lose her helmsman! (rather than the coin or her lone mast, her oarsman having died earlier in the game) Champ is still guarding the western island, and is rewarded when the Jape appears through a whirlpool. The Oregon docks home the Mezquita for her 3 coin, and the Americans lead once more (11-9-5, 5 gold for the Cursed currently).
The Spanish had to hope for a miracle, but they didn’t get it. The Nightmare would have to roll a 1 on the ram and lose the boarding party for the SL to dock home her 6 successfully. The Spanish were officially out of the game! In a bizarre turn of events, the Americans have gone from having almost no ships (when the Aaron Burr and Oregon were damaged by reefs and nearly both sunk by the Jape) to having an empire of sorts, with ships to throw at every opportunity they see! The Oregon goes out for yet another mission, this time her first designated combat mission.
The Jape is about to explore the western island, while Champ looks to kill Maxehebel for fun, or block the Cursed HI if the Nightmare somehow escapes the Oregon. The barely-seaworthy Mezquita sails with one mast, looking to join the fray somehow! At this point, the Americans could say they were “playing with house money” in Pirates form… the endgame was extremely tactical and strategic, but the Americans just so happened to dominate the final few turns of the final phase of this game.
Maxehebel was eliminated, leaving the Nightmare desperate for some kind of miraculous boarding party and escape route. She nearly succeeded despite the Mezquita blocking her and the Oregon sailing off with the 6 coin that originally belonged to the Mezquita when she was in Spanish possession. Champ arrives on the scene for support, while the Jape arrives via whirlpool as well, with 6 gold aboard. After most of the game was played over many different areas, it fittingly came down to just a small area with all 5 remaining ships in one spot.
The USS Oregon, of all ships, is the MVS (Most Valuable Ship) of the OE 10th anniversary game! She survived a reef placed by Lost, an attack by the Jape, and an attack by the Nightmare. She captured two ships and essentially brought back 17 gold! The Jape also docked before Champ finished off the Nightmare, giving the Americans 23 total gold. The Spanish were second with 9, the Cursed third with 5. The Pirates of course had 0.
This was an amazing game and a fantastic celebration of the Ocean’s Edge set for the 10th anniversary of its release! Despite the many lackluster ships used, it turned out to be one of the best games in recent memory and a cool example of parity within a set, using a handful of relatively equal game pieces instead of the typical OP ones (Zeus, HMS GT, Pirate named crew, etc). I was glad that Lost didn’t completely wreck the game, since the faction most hurt by it went on to win. Indeed, the Americans had a cool underdog story in this game. The Spanish and Pirates were almost like the antagonists for me, with the Pirates simply menacing everybody and the Spanish dominating the early game with healthy ships and the huge presence of El Toro. The Cursed actually felt like the good guys, losing a ship early, somehow taking gold from the Spanish and getting into the lead, but only to be stretched thin later on before falling to repeated HI raids and the emergence of American firepower. Champ somehow didn’t lose a segment all game long, while the other 4 sea creatures were eliminated. The Nosso Lar and Aaron Burr didn’t get a chance to prove themselves, but it’s safe to say that the Oregon, Nightmare, Santa Lucia, and Toro all outperformed what players might normally expect from them. I loved how much of an effect the whirlpools had on the game, but I was a little disappointed to see Protection from Davy Jones sunk so early on. There were definitely a few game-changing moments, such as the failed swoop attack on the Toro and the Toro’s failed S-board against the Nightmare and Wraith (among others). Of course, neither of these involved the winning fleet, so it was a very even game that seemed like a very fair outcome for all sides. Hooray for Ocean’s Edge!
