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.
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!
This 3 player VASSAL game at 40 points was between morgull (Jose on the module), nickster5000, and myself.
Nick went first with a Pirate fleet, using the SM Harbinger and Recreant. Morgull followed with his own Pirate fleet, which included the Black Swan, Longshanks, and Bloody Jewel. I used a variation of my Miniature Englishmen 2.0 fleet. (all game pieces can be found in the Master Spreadsheet)
Maps of Alexandria revealed the treasures, and I had the best home island position. That’s exactly what I needed, as my fleet was at a firepower and speed disadvantage. Here the Comet manages to hit the Black Swan, while the Rye gets into cancelling position.
The Black Swan sank the Rye while also revealing Havana Black. The English tried their best to position themselves optimally on their turn, with the Comet simultaneously shooting and turning for home. The Bartlesville shot at and rammed the Black Swan while trying to block her from getting at the Comet. You can see that the other ships have reached islands.
With the Black Swan approaching from the south, and the Harbinger breaking from her position in the north with the help of Calico Cat, the Comet was in trouble. However, she somehow survived the dual threat and was able to dock home a 6 coin, taking a mast off the Harbinger in the process! The Bartlesville’s rowers weren’t quite able to ram the Black Swan in time, and the Patagonia now looked to be in trouble in the southwest.
The Harbinger engaged the Black Swan, who then broke off to dismast the Patagonia. The Comet harassed the Harbinger, but it was likely too late for the Patagonia. The other ships have gold aboard.
The Black Swan sank the Patagonia and her load of 14 gold! This netted a 1 gold payout from Bratley’s Ransom keyword. In addition, the Harbinger sank the Comet, eliminating the English from active contention! The Bloody Jewel and Recreant speed home.
The Harbinger chases down the Black Swan and dismasts her:
Only Pirates are left on these seas: the Black Swan is captured with the Harbinger’s ability and the Recreant docks home her gold, suddenly giving Nick’s fleet 3 ships at his home island.
The face down crew were finally revealed, and the Recreant and Longshanks became locked in battle! Morgull missed with his firepot specialist (as he expected to), allowing the Recreant to win the battle soon afterwards. The Bloody Jewel looked for more gold while the two 5 masters repaired.
The Harbinger can’t quite reach the Bloody Jewel…
… and the game ends.
Since Morgull already had 16 gold and Nick wouldn’t be able to get more than 14, Morgull has won his first game on the VASSAL module! It was a great game by all players, with more excitement then you’d expect. The English put up a good fight and had a few miraculous moments, and they would have had 20 gold if the Patagonia had 2 more turns to row home. They were eliminated before the action shifted to a Pirate civil war. If Nick had gone after the Bloody Jewel instead of the Black Swan, the result may have turned out differently, or maybe not. In the end, double actions and big cargo holds won this 3 Player VASSAL Game.
Yesterday (2/12) I won an extremely brief game against hiddenelephant. Xerecs arrived and we set up for a 3 player game, which will hopefully happen sometime soon.
After resuming T2 and stopping in the middle of the second game for a rules question, we decided to have a quick deathmatch. My Acorazado fleet was at 29 wins, tied with my HMS Grand Temple fleet for the most all-time.
Xerecs took the Acorazado on with a crew elimination/boarding strategy:
Each of the FD’s hits would eliminate a crew, even if they didn’t eliminate a mast. Vega and the helmsman were the first to go, but the Acorazado responded by going 3 for 4.
In a big moment, the FD won a boarding party to kill all of the Acorazado’s remaining crew! This left her very vulnerable, but she managed to dismast the FD. However, the FD would win the game if she was sunk, because we ruled that Eternal could still work once. The FD had to be captured, but between her oarsman and the Acorazado’s lack of a helmsman or SAT from Castro, that didn’t happen. The FD managed to get away to repair, setting up a second clash. This time the FD won since Tia Dalma was able to cancel the Acorazado’s ability and the Acorazado had no crew to use. It was honestly one of the most frustrating games I’ve been involved in, not just because I lost, but because there were so many complex ability interactions and annoying occurrences (such as the boarding roll arguably determining the whole game’s result, and the no-win situations that both fleets seemed to be in at various times). It made me think that home islands should perhaps be eliminated from deathmatches once the game begins (or do away with them altogether), between Eternal being undercosted and the temptation to lurk near your home island so your opponent will come to you.
There she is! Without further ado, introducing my newest 10 master: the Celtic Fury!
After becoming a moderator at Miniature Trading, a gift was sent to me by two extremely generous members of the forum for my contributions: the Celtic Fury, and a South China Seas Super Rare pack (which I partially featured on my Instagram) from xeriousone.
The fleets were as follows:
French Mercenaries:
Celtic Fury + Eileen Brigid O’Brien, Duncan Rousseau, captain, helmsman
Royal Louis + helmsman
Floating Stone
It’s a combo I’ve been intrigued by in the past, and putting it on a brand-new (constructed hours earlier heh) 10 master seemed even more perfect. Parley on a gunship, while Rousseau’s reroll pairs perfectly with O’Brien’s SAT. In addition, with her link the Celtic Fury would be sailing with 4 cargo spaces open.
English Americans:
Grampus + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Pequod + explorer
HMS Dunlap
HMS Henry VIII + oarsman
The Celtic Fury (CF) got a quick SAT and reached a beach on the main wild island. At the right you can see the Floating Stone and Royal Louis heading for other gold.
On the second turn the fast Grampus invaded French waters, dismasting the Floating Stone. The Celtic Fury sailed up, and true to my past form (not just in terms of shooting but especially with 10 masters), missed 7 shots out of 8!! It was an unsurprisingly poor start for yet another disappointing 10 masted behemoth. (though, considering the cannon ranks it was much less bizarre than my Baochuan with world-hater Chang Pao aboard missing 6 shots out of 7 in the RISK game from 2012…)
A better angle on the battle:
The Henry VIII reached an island, but the Royal Louis had already taken most of its gold. The Pequod took most of the gold on the beach opposite the fighting. (sorry that my opponent has incorrectly assembled the Dunlap, I think we were too busy during the game to bother fixing it)
With the help of an SAT, eventually my strategy of simply putting more and more firepower on the target won the battle (not dissimilar to my strategy in VASSAL Campaign Game 1). The Grampus did sink the Floating Stone, but was sunk herself soon thereafter.
Perhaps the CF’s gunners were just waking up? XD Or they’re just inexperienced!
The CF heads to finish off the original beach she explored, while the Royal Louis sails over the debris of battle. The English Americans have gold headed home, and not much remains available.
All ships carrying gold eventually got home. The Celtic Fury got another SAT to cripple the Henry VIII, but after that, O’Brien decided she had caused enough carnage for one day.
The final scores proved how many high-value coins had been picked at random for distribution:
1. French Mercenaries: 49 gold
2. English Americans: 24 gold
A mostly successful debut for the Celtic Fury, with a lot of help from her crew combos. The English Americans had success as well, sinking the Floating Stone and collecting quite a bit of gold in a short time. The differential looks lopsided, but the game was arguably over early on, when the Celtic Fury found at least 19 gold (7,6,5,1 or something) in her first haul. I was happy not to use Parley, as it would have made my fleet seem somewhat OP, but Duncan Rousseau and the Royal Louis remain two of my favorite French game pieces. I find it funny how typical my luck was – rather good with double actions (I believe I got 3 SAT’s in a row without needing to reroll), but awful with cannon rolls (as usual, including recently on VASSAL).
More reports to read – besides not one but TWO Frozen North 10th anniversary games, Xerecs and I have been joined by Noahriffic from England for a 3 player game that is still in progress! (further proving that time zone differences don’t necessarily matter, even for live games)
To keep things fair at 40 points apiece I took out the Gibraltar flotilla and added oarsmen to the Antelope and Sea Tiger.
From top to bottom: the Jaguar and Descharges split up with some help from Deleflote aboard the Bonne Chance, but are pursued by the English gunships. The Antelope and Snipe team up at the center island, while the Sea Tiger is stuck for a turn after finding the Natives UT.
The English strike successfully, but their meager firepower can’t dismast either French ship.
The Descharges docked home 4 coins, while the Jaguar fought back, dismasting the Bilge with a ram. The English had a windfall with all 3 gold runners docking on the same turn.
The Bonne Chance finally sailed out, engaging the Cumberland. However, she was ineffective, only taking out one mast.
The Jaguar docked home gold, while the Bonne Chance repaired after sinking the Cumberland. The Antelope tries a ram to distract the Descharges while the Sea Tiger is about to load the game’s final coin.
The Descharges sank the Antelope with the help of Deleflote and then stole the final coin from the Sea Tiger!
In the end, hiddenelephant was victorious in his return to piracy!
Cursed (agiantpie):
Loki’s Revenge, Baba Yaga, Serpent’s Fang
French (xerecs):
La Delacroix, Marie Antoinette, La Dijon
Vikings (a7xfanben):
Muninn, Donar, Sleipnir
We changed the setup rules slightly, with 4 wild islands (just like a 2 player game) and 6 coins of any value or type (as long as the UT’s were from FN) on each island. The VASSAL module doesn’t have icebergs, but the fog banks look great as icebergs and even have the same dice markings on the edges, so fog was ice in this game.
The fleets after a turn:
I forgot to take pictures for a while, and you can see here that a lot of UT’s have been discovered and played. Of the 8 coins that I contributed to the mix, all were UT’s from FN! Throw in an extra Runes of Death and one Odin’s Revenge, and things were bound to get crazy. The Dijon found the first Runes of Death very early in the game. However, she was very close to her home island… but the Loki’s Revenge sank her! A whopping 13 gold was sent to the bottom of the sea, and the French had their main gold runner sunk. The French experienced further woes when the Marie Antoinette found many UT’s at the northeastern island, among them Odin’s Revenge. That UT hurt the Vikings the most, dismasting the Sleipnir. The Vikings were smart to explore with the Sleipnir on their turn, for she found the second Runes of Death that could have been loaded by the Donar! With no crew or masts remaining, death was averted, at least for the time being.
However, the Cursed soon played Runes of Magic, moving an iceberg towards the fragile Viking fleet, whose Muninn and Donar would take damage from the iceberg. The Delacroix and Marie Antoinette descended upon the crippled Viking fleet, but they weren’t as successful as anticipated. The Delacroix took damage from an iceberg and a ram from the Sleipnir, while the Muninn engaged the Marie Antoinette. Runes of Thor was played on the Vikings’ Sigurd Andersen to guarantee an Admiral’s Action, since it looked like the Donar (the ship carrying Runes of Thor) would be captured by the MA.
This is when the game began to turn odd. The Delacroix and Marie Antoinette captured the Sleipnir and Donar respectively, temporarily giving the French 4 ships. However, this was but a mirage of success for France, as the Muninn dismasted and captured the MA, while the Delacroix lost her final mast to an iceberg! Suddenly the French only had two usable ships, both former Viking ships with gold aboard. In the west, the Cursed have set out once more, while a double iceberg has been formed between the 3 home islands.
The miraculous Viking comeback continues! The Muninn recaptures the Donar, brings her back to unload gold, and uses her reverse captain ability to cripple the Baba Yaga only after the Baba Yaga missed the derelict Donar twice in a row! Not to mention the Marie Antoinette being repaired to full strength, and the mega iceberg dismasting the Baba Yaga! #tombrady #johncena #nevergiveup. lol. (just kidding, the Vikings never had much of a chance in this game, and unfortunately for me they didn’t win at the end heh)
The Muninn and MA stopped the Loki’s Revenge from getting home with a coin, but the Serpent’s Fang brought home a few more for the Cursed. The final coins on the northeastern island wouldn’t have mattered, as the game had been decided.
1. Cursed: 16 gold
2. French: 5
3. Vikings: 2
The Cursed win a fun one! The French and Vikings got embroiled with UT’s and each other, while the Cursed found a 6 and a 4 early in the game. The Cursed essentially clinched their victory by sinking the Dijon and her 13 gold. The late-game surge by the Vikings (“Frozen North Pirates” of this game) was fitting considering it was an FN-only game, but it turned out to just be some late fireworks. The icebergs were a big factor, and between them and the Runes, it was a very thematic way to celebrate Pirates of the Frozen North.
Today (February 14th, 2017) is the 10th anniversary of Pirates of the Frozen North! To commemorate the occasion I played a game using ONLY stuff from FN, with the exception of generic crew so the game would be more fair.
Here are the fleets in the order of play, as the Vikings rolled to go first!
My current traveling collection actually has some of the better Viking gold runners, though I was disappointed to leave the Donar out. However, with the Grendel, Sleipnir, and Kalaallit (abbreviated KL) getting gold, the Vikings looked to be in good shape. The Wodin looked to function as a hybrid, with 3 spaces open for gold, the captain and helmsman ability with good guns, and the gold capture ability for yet another option. The Hrothgar was the flagship of the 100 point fleet, carrying two of the best Viking named crew (Shayna Deux and Sigurd Andersen) as well as a proxy helmsman as my Viking crew options are lacking.
The opposition: a conglomeration of ships from the Big 5 factions, which is almost all the other FN ships in my traveling collection!
The rarely used Seminole would try to give the already-deadly Tartessos and Orkney an extra cannon bonus, making for an intimidating gunship squadron. The Marie Antoinette (MA) led a group of four gold runners, the rest of which were small, uncrewed ships. The MA had Leander Arnaud aboard, who would try to take advantage of the MA’s S-boarding and steal lots of Viking loot. This would be my first time using the Seminole, Tartessos, and Ahura Mazda, as they are all recent acquisitions.
Welcome to the Frozen North!!
The Big 5 picked an island near lots of icebergs to be the Viking home island. The Vikings didn’t want to deal with the Orkney and Tartessos, choosing one of the furthest islands away, and hoped the arches and some icebergs could give them trouble. The straws at the upper left and right are the round earth boundaries.
The 3D foam icebergs would function as icebergs numbered 1, 2, and 3, with the largest being 1 and the smallest being 3 since you want to roll high in this game. For their direction, 1=NE, 2=E, 3=SE, 4=SW, 5=W, 6=NW (essentially clockwise from the north with no due north/due south).
6 regular icebergs were also in play, with 6 FN islands making up the home and wild islands. I didn’t use my custom islands (with lots of green foliage heh) since I wanted the setup to be as thematic as possible.
Arches always seem to lead to great picture opportunities, and this game was definitely no exception.
Both home islands and both arches:
The Big 5 had 7 ships to the Vikings’ 5, but both fleets had plenty of ships on the small side.
Which fleet would weather the cold and emerge victorious?
The west:
The east:
The arch on the left is usually flipped to the right to put gold on it, but here I liked it a bit different, allowing the little nook you see at the closer end. Each island had 6 coins, except for an accidental 7 on the southern island.
They’re off! Eager to take advantage of two nearby northern islands, and to avoid the gunships of the Big 5 fleet, all the Viking ships fittingly sailed north.
The Big 5 is confident that their diverse fleet will prevail. The gold runners scatter while the Orkney, Tartessos, and Seminole begin sailing towards the Vikings.
This was the ideal formation, with the gunships leading from the front but still withing S of the sheltered Seminole. The Orkney and Tartessos were willing to take an iceberg hit if it meant protecting the Seminole and keeping her speed at L+S to keep up with the gunships.
Bam! The first iceberg hit of the game and the MA is down a mast.
I love how realistic the foam icebergs are. They’re very easy to make, as there’s no painting/gluing/etc involved. I’d recommend trying some, especially if you like icebergs (which I usually don’t lol).
The Sleipnir found the first Rune of the day, Runes of Magic, which could be very valuable with so many icebergs around.
Trying to avoid an iceberg, the formation splits up as the Tartessos prepares to navigate an archway.
The MA has round earthed to the north, while the sneaky Grendel may have similar ideas.
The KL finds more runes! Runes of Thor could have been used on Runes of Wealth to turn the 1 into a 6, but the Vikings figured they might want the 6 for a guaranteed extra action from Sigurd Andersen at some point in the future. There were better treasures than the 1 on the island, but the KL smartly grabbed a 1 and promptly turned it into a 4 via Runes of Wealth with a decent die roll.
Here, an iceberg has smashed up the stern of the Tartessos, while the Wodin has returned to the Viking home island, wary of a possible blockade or attempted interception of the Viking gold runners.
I’d wanted La Tartessos for a long time, especially after she proved herself in VASSAL Campaign Game 1. It was great to build the ship and see the unique artwork on the hull.
With the Wodin and Hrothgar relatively near, the squadron sails under the arch.
Looking at English, American, and Spanish flags through the arch and seeing Viking flags beyond:
The Cantabrian and MA have reached wild islands; at the top right Grim the Savage aboard the Grendel has realized it will be some time before the Big 5 get some gold to their home island, so he docks at the KL’s island to load gold while postponing any raiding attempts.
Watch out for the imperialists!
The Hrothgar in heavy seas, ready to defend the Sleipnir if necessary.
I love pictures that look through archways: here you can see the massive iceberg beyond the Wodin.
This picture almost makes it look like the ships are sailing very fast:
No more maneuvering – the Wodin attacks! However, after using her stern turn to get both cannons in range, the Wodin utterly fails, missing four consecutive shots, failing to eliminate a mast via the ram, and losing her helmsman in a disastrous boarding party. This time, getting the first shot backfired with very poor dice rolls. The Sleipnir has docked home gold, while the KL and Grendel aren’t far behind with more.
This left the Wodin as a sitting duck for the Orkney, who sank her with the help of the Seminole’s bonus.
The Tartessos has turned around, while the Hrothgar had docked at the Viking home island in a similar fashion as the Wodin, ready to break up a blockade and/or protect the gold runners.
On the Vikings’ next turn, Sigurd Andersen rolled a 6! This gave the Hrothgar two actions and up to 12 shots!! The Hrothgar’s first action sank the Seminole and crippled the Orkney, while her second was a dud. (only 4 cannons were in range of the Orkney on the second action since the Hrothgar returned to the safety of her home island in anticipation of a counterattack)
The Tweed has finally reached the southern island, finding valuable gold. The MA, Cantabrian, and Ahura Mazda all have gold for the Big 5.
Chaos reigned during this period of the game, with the Orkney dismasting a departing Sleipnir and the Tartessos basically running away from the Hrothgar, who couldn’t be shot at while docked at her HI.
An impressive sight, but unfortunately for the Big 5 those guns were more useful in last year’s CG1 than this effort.
Through an arch: Viking flags, a desperate Englishman, and the carnage of battle.
The KL has returned home with gold, while the Grendel is almost back. The loss of the Wodin was not in vain, as the event partially helped the Vikings turn the tide.
With perfect timing, the Vikings reveal their secret weapon – Runes of Thor! This UT changed Sigurd Andersen’s die roll to an automatic 6, allowing the Hrothgar another pair of devastating actions!
The Hrothgar’s guns are mediocre, but the sheer volume of firepower allowed her to sink the Orkney…
…and dismast the Tartessos.
The Grendel docks and the KL goes out for more gold:
All four of the Big 5 gold runners are close to unloading, while at the right, the Tartessos tries to run with her helmsman and oarsman. You may have noticed something terrible happening to the Grendel…
!!
Unlucky enough to get smashed by an iceberg at her own home island, the unthinkable then occurred: the EXACT same die rolls were made for icebergs at the beginning of the Viking turn, which slammed the iceberg into the Grendel once more, this time dismasting her! I nearly made a house rule where icebergs could sink derelicts (or the giant iceberg eliminated two masts per hit, etc), but it wouldn’t be fair to the Viking fleet in particular to make it up on the spot.
Luckily the oared Sleipnir was nearby to try a rescue attempt:
The Hrothgar sinks the Tartessos, eliminating the last remnant of the Big 5’s gunship squadron. The Hrothgar has had an impressive game indeed, in no small part because of her excellent crew.
The Tweed, knowing the faster Hrothgar would likely come after her, took a risk that didn’t pan out! She sailed too close to an iceberg, which moved to dismast her at the beginning of a turn. The MA sails out to rescue her, but the Hrothgar is faster than any of the ships remaining in the Big 5 fleet. At the top left, the Ahura Mazda will try to add value to each coin the Cantabrian brings back. The Sleipnir has successfully taken the poor Grendel under tow, while the KL loads gold from the southern island.
With another AA from Andersen, the Hrothgar wrecks any chance of getting the Tweed’s 8 gold home. The MA is sunk and the Vikings look close to being able to control the final part of the game.
Indeed, the Vikings have the momentum here. The KL unloads yet more gold, while the Sleipnir and Grendel repair.
The Hrothgar prepares to annihilate the final two ships in the Big 5 fleet, but the Ahura Mazda stays docked at home and the Cantabrian sails out for more gold with Runes of Speed.
Knowing both ships must survive somehow, the Pirates go into desperation mode, ramming a mast off the Hrothgar while the Cantabrian looks to evade or get lucky if the Hrothgar misses. To make matters worse for the Big 5, the Grendel is fully repaired and Grim the Savage is finally ready for his highly anticipated home island raid!
BAM! The KL dismasts the Ahura Mazda, while Grim steals 3 coins from the Big 5 home island!
The Hrothgar intercepts the Cantabrian and dismasts her, abruptly ending the game!
The Big 5 has no future move actions available, while most gold has been unloaded to home islands.
The Vikings win 21-6! If not for Grim’s last-minute raid, it would have turned out 21-16, so in reality the game was much closer and quite exciting!
It was great to pay homage to the Frozen North set, which has never been one of my favorite sets actually. However, it has some very cool stuff in it, and I like all the sets heh. It was nice to play some ships that are new to my collection. Fittingly, the Vikings won! The Hrothgar was definitely the “MVS” (Most Valuable Ship), sinking or dismasting the entire opposing fleet! The Runes of Destruction and Magic were also used, but not with much consequence. I didn’t want to use Runes of Odin since it’s a bit OP heh, especially when combined with Runes of Magic.
I was joined on VASSAL by agiantpie! The setup was for 80 points.
I went with a French fleet that had also hired El Fantasma aboard the Hades’ Realm, while agiantpie went with an all-SM English fleet. Plenty of fog was around. (you can find all the game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet)
In addition, we decided to experiment using basic return fire rules! Once a ship was done shooting at another ship, the second ship could return fire with any cannons it had left, though they would get -1 to their rolls.
With an SAT, the Hades’ Realm (HR) made it into a fog bank near the English home island.
The Soleil Royal, Royal Louis, and King Edward all reached wild islands. The HR got an SAT coming out of the fog, and hit the Dover and King Edward with consecutive attacks! The Dover only lost one mast, but the King Edward was nearly dismasted, and Fantasma stole a 5 coin.
With yet another SAT, the HR eventually sank the Dover! This was too much for the English, and the Titan finally caught the Cursed menace and dismasted her. In the meantime, the Montreal had taken up station in the fog bank where the HR was hiding earlier.
The Titan captured the HR and towed her into a fog bank to avoid the Montreal and get the stolen 5 back in English possession. The King Edward docked home gold and started repairing, while the Lord Algernon would explore the middle island. The Royal Louis and Soleil Royal sought the untouched southern island.
The Royal Louis has loaded gold, while the Soleil Royal prepares to defend her, waiting in the fog. The remaining English ships head southwest, while the captured HR repairs.
The Royal Louis parleyed her way out of some sticky situations, but that started to decrease the French gold advantage. The Soleil Royal lost a battle to the Titan after going 2/5 (including losing her grape shot on a 1) and taking major return fire damage (the Titan went 3/3). The Montreal did what she could to help, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Royal Louis ended up pinned, which further ruined French hopes. In the end, although the French parley gamble worked for a while (the lowest value coins from the HI were given up), the gold differential kept tilting towards the English, while the French fleet was soundly defeated in the south. The Royal Louis’ masts finally fell when she couldn’t afford to give away more gold, and the game was over!
The English were up 21-15 at that point, when we decided to call it. The Montreal would have rowed home to repair, allowing the English to get the rest of their gold home and make the final score 33-15.
It was definitely a good game, if not frustrating for both of us lol. The return fire aspect was interesting, though I’m not sure the -1 to cannon rolls is enough moving forward… more playtesting is needed, and hopefully other forms of this oft-discussed but rarely-played house rule will see the light of play.
