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 Economy Edition game being played right now by Xerecs has inspired me to start another (but considerably smaller and shorter) cumulative game. Things have come full circle after my CotE and Economy games inspired him to play those!
This game won’t last much more than a week and a half, if that. As the title suggests, it’s not your average cumulative game. There are going to be some things that I wasn’t able to do during my Economy game, as well as some other ideas I’ve been wanting to try out. This will also make for a unique style of battle reports. Be ready for anything!
Without further ado, here is the setting:
Shap-‘ng-Tsai has succeeded. “With over 100 junks at his disposal and bases hidden along the Chinese coast, Tsai claims that he will be the one to topple the English empire.” He has now done it. The English presence in the South China Sea is a remnant of its former self. The Jade Rebellion can now be more properly called a Jade Empire, as they are rightfully the dominant presence in their home waters.
However, the age of imperialism is not at an end. Other imperialist nations threaten to cause more damage to the Jades and their way of life, mostly as a result of the so-called “endless” gold deposits on the local islands. Just in the past few weeks, Spanish and French ships have entered the waters patrolled by Jade Rebellion ships. These two nations have teamed up once again to form the Franco-Spanish alliance, although here they’ve decided to split their forces to maximize their odds of taking down the Jade Rebellion empire. The Jade Rebellion has already sent away many of the gunships that helped to win the war against the hated English. Unfortunately for them, this means that only one capital ship remains in the area. The Jade presence is still strong, but the Spanish and French are a huge threat that Tsai and his fleet must deal with.
The Spanish and French may have underestimated their opponent, for they didn’t send large fleets to guarantee victory. However, one such ship, El Príncipe de Asturias, has considerable battle experience already, and her crew is thirsty for more. “El Principe de Asturias was reassigned to the South China Seas after leading several successful campaigns in the Mediterranean. Now her crew use their considerable experience against the Jade Rebellion.” It’s obvious that fighting is inevitable, and in fact the Spanish and French have already made a joint declaration of war on the Jade Rebellion.
To complicate matters even further, one English ship remains in the area, a veteran of the JR-English war. HMS Galapagos has suffered extreme losses in battles against the JR, making her tiny remaining crew anxious for revenge. Tsai recently let the Galapagos escape, knowing his fleet could easily take the ship at their leisure. However, with the Spanish and French now in the area, the Galapagos may slip under Tsai’s watchful eye since the FS (Franco-Spanish) are a much bigger threat.
The fleets sailed out in this order of play:
Jade Rebellion (100 points)
Grand Temple + Shap-‘ng-Tsai, Katsura-chan, helmsman, oarsman
Sea Wind + captain, explorer
East Wind
Sea Lion
Sea Crane + explorer
Admiral Yi
Dragon’s Talon + helmsman
Spanish (50 points)
La Voz de Dios + captain, helmsman
El Príncipe de Asturias + captain, helmsman
San Agustín
French (50 points)
La Gaule + captain, helmsman, oarsman
La Geographe + Nicholas-Thomas Baudin
La Fureur
L’Argus + oarsman
English
HMS Galapagos
As you can see, this game starts out as an all-SCS game. This is the beginning theme, but only that. As a result, the only three UT’s present at the start of play were also from SCS.
For the first time in any of my games, wind would be used! A while back I searched in the depths of the files section at BGG and found different wind rules. For this game, I’m using this from way back in 2004. Thanks to headlouse for coming up with it.
There are also some Sandbars present, which are similar to Sargasso Seas, but worse for large ships than small ships. Other ideas will be explored as well. For example, Marines can fire on EVERY player’s turn, not just on their owners’ turn. Also, to continue the experimental theme, ramming cannot do damage. In addition, some “ghost gold” has made its way into the setup.
– Transparent coins give the ship carrying them the Ghost Ship keyword, as long as they’re still on the ship.
The game’s area is limited by the table it’s being played on, and only non-standard islands and terrain were present at the start. There are currently four home islands (HI’s) and six wild islands (emphasis on “currently”). The English and Spanish HI’s are in the west, while the French have set sail in the northeast. The Jade Rebellion empire starts the game as the favorite to win, with the biggest HI located in the general center of the sea.
Flat earth rules are being used, for now.
Each wild island has 5 coins on it, and the new “shipwreck cove” area has three different sets of 3 coins on different shipwrecks, which must be docked at like they’re independent wild islands (and ships have to roll for effect on the reef when “docking”). The wild islands will replenish back to a maximum of 5 coins only after all 5 previous coins are gone from the island. The replenishment happens at the end of each round of turns.
This picture shows most of the sea. The bottom of the frame is south, while the top is north. The English and Spanish HI’s are at the edge of the table, while the Jade Rebellion sits in the middle. The French can just be seen at the top right in the northeast. Notice how the huge sandbar separates the Spanish and the Jade Rebellion, while the shipwrecks are a dominating factor of the northwest.
Also looking south to north, here’s the rest of the sea, showing the east where the Jade Rebels and Frenchmen reside. The Jade Rebellion has easy access to four of the six wild islands, but this is not the case for the other fleets.
Here is the ocean again, but this time looking from west to east:
The Jade Rebellion, with a HI that has 3 beaches, are completely unaware that their HI lies on convergent tectonic plates.
The Spanish are ready for war, with two gunships in the area already.
The French are ready to assist, especially with La Gaule.
The northern half of the sea looking from west to east.
The southern half:
Shipwrecks of a long-forgotten war between the Jade Rebellion and Pirates reveal similarly forgotten gold aboard the wrecks of the Thrud, Deliverance, and Flying Dutchman.
One last look for the time being – a unique shot showing the beautiful water of this contested sea.
As the English were the last fleet to take their turn, they chose the initial wind direction, choosing northeast (NE).
Without further ado the fleets set sail! The wind rules immediately affected things, since any ships sailing in the southwest direction lost S from their speed. This slightly slowed all the fleets except for the English, but the game was just beginning.
The Sea Crane was the first ship to reach an island, but the Gaule approached.
For the time being, the wind would be rolled for at the start of each round of turns, rather than at the start of each fleet’s turn. This could change. For now, a 4 was rolled, meaning that the wind shifted to blow due east, slowing ships headed west.
The French proved they weren’t about to shy away from a fight! On just the second turn, with war already declared, the French instigate the first conflict! La Gaule sinks the Sea Crane and her two 5 coins!
Tsai responds angrily by using his SAT powers to sink the Gaule and nearly dismast the Geographe!
In the meantime, the Sea Wind has found Rotting Hull, but she’s also brought back the first coin for the JR. The other JR ships have docked in the south and are exploring. The Geographe managed to mark that eastern island as explored and therefore knocked out the Sea Crane’s JR presence there. (This third turn saw the wind stay blowing from west to east.)
Using the wind’s +S boost, the Voz de Dios sails around the sandbar and rams the Sea Lion! With the Grand Temple off fighting the French in the east, the Spanish capitalize on an easy chance to hit Jade trade. The action is somewhat unsuccessful, with the Sea Lion only losing 1 mast after 4 shots by the Voz (and also remember no ram damage). However, the Voz did win the boarding party to steal one of the Lion’s coins. To make matters even more tense, the East Wind used her treasure trading ability to trade a 1 on that island for a 4 on the island that the other Spanish ships were docked at.
The English and Spanish have docked at western islands as separate skirmishes have already occurred in the south and east.
To get the +S wind boost, a ship must move in the correct direction (here anywhere between NE and SE) for one move segment. In this way, the Geographe was able to tack back to her HI in one turn, which meant she could repair. The Argus and Fureur turned around, desperate to stay away from the Grand Temple, who had already crippled the French fleet in just one turn. In addition, the Principe found Fireworks and the first ghost coin. The Dragon’s Talon had Trade Route aboard.
After just three turns, two separate battles have occurred and two fleets have already lost ships! This unique experimental game is just beginning…
1/8/2016
The fourth turn of play marked the second day’s action. The Jade Rebellion hired two captains, one for the East Wind, and one for the Dragon’s Talon. However, the Dragon’s Talon still had Trade Route aboard, and so had to wait for the Grand Temple to sail up and take it off her in order to load the captain. This turn marked another change in the wind, though it shifted back to NE, the direction it was blowing when the game began. The Sea Lion and East Wind managed to avoid further trouble with the Voz de Dios, who appeared reasonably content with the coin she stole from the Sea Lion. The approaching presence of the Grand Temple gave her another reason to head home.
On their turn, the Spanish used almost all of their gold to commission La Habana with a captain and helmsman, continuing the SCS theme by choice.
The Voz de Dios sails home with stolen loot while her fleet mates enjoy the comforts of their home island.
The Argus and Fureur head west to an island, while the Geographe repairs (top left).
However, with the wind behind her, the Sea Wind reaches that same island for the second time, as the newly-captained East Wind departs to the south. The Jade-French tension is obvious.
As the Voz rounds the sandbars, her proud fleet mates sail south to greet her. The San Agustin is slow, but her large cargo hold means she can empty the southwestern island when she isn’t carrying crew.
In the northwest, the Galapagos heads home with gold. To the east, the Argus docks but can’t explore just yet. The slow Fureur gets into position to dock and take gold next turn.
At the top of the frame, the East Wind has joined the Sea Wind on the north side of the Jade HI, giving the Jades two of their three gunships in close proximity to the French gold runners. Far to the south, the Grand Temple guards the southern island for the Sea Lion.
You may have noticed a few additional ships at the Jade HI. At the end of their turn the Jades launched two new turtle ships, the Proud Tortoise and Floating Stone.
With the Grand Temple facing southwest, the Spanish turn around and head north up the huge sandbar. The Voz docks home gold, while the San Agustin loads some. At this point, at least one of the six wild islands was replenishing at the end of each round, and many of the day’s turns saw two islands replenish in one turn.
With a meager haul of 7 gold from 4 coins, the English manage to launch HMS Patagonia with a helmsman and also add an oarsman to the Galapagos.
The Grand Temple shadows the Spanish, as the Jade gunships up north appear to sail in such a way as to cut off the French.
The Jade Rebels are still angry that La Gaule sunk the Sea Crane, and things don’t look good for the French.
Looking west to east, the Habana has been sent north to explore the mysterious shipwrecks of the northwest.
On their turn, the French did well to position their ships for possible attack, with the newly-repaired Geographe sheltering the Argus. However, the Fureur was a sitting duck.
The island that once sat in the middle of the lagoon in Economy Edition isn’t so lucrative anymore, but it’s the best option the English have.
War resumes! The East Wind takes on the Fureur!
With a devastating blow, the French are nearly defeated! The Fureur sank beneath the waves. Then the Proud Tortoise sailed towards the Geographe and hit with her fire shot! To finish up the successful attack, the Sea Wind hit the Argus and Geographe once each.
The Sea Wind carefully maneuvered to avoid illegally docking at the French HI while staying out of S-range of the Argus.
Luckily for them, the French had placed an oarsman on the Argus at the game’s start, and with the wind aiding her, she was able to return home and save herself! Her coin was only a 2, but the French had hope. That hope temporarily diminished when the Geographe continued to burn, but she got home as well. The French narrowly avoided being the first fleet eliminated.
The Spanish continue to play cat and mouse with the Grand Temple.
The East Wind and Sea Wind grab some gold on their way back to the Jade HI. The Jades have dealt with threats efficiently and have successfully intimidated the Spanish into staying in their own waters up to this point. As a side note, this day of action saw the wind blow east for four consecutive turns.
The Spanish were very worried that even with the help of La Habana, the Grand Temple could potentially cripple the Spanish battle fleet in one turn with Tsai’s SAT. As a result, they launched another ship from SCS, one of Spain’s finest: Santa Ana + Almirante Carlos Pavón y Miranda, Bianco’s Haulers (finally breaking the SCS theme), Comandante Antonio de Silva, helmsman, and oarsman.
In the meantime, the English launched an addition of their own: HMS Hyena + Sir Meyer Hampstead. This gave them a ship that could harass enemy gold runners while still having enough cargo spaces open to run gold normally if no targets were available. However, the English should have paid more attention to the man they hired…
“Hampstead knows that money—not the Crown—is what keeps the world turning, and he’ll do whatever is necessary to keep that money flowing back to the investors in London. Flags, kings, and courts are all secondary.”
The Jade Rebellion was obviously still the fleet to beat, but they were getting a little worried that they wouldn’t be able to deal with all of the growing threats at once.
The Patagonia has explored the wreck of the Deliverance, while the Habana is exploring the wreck of the Flying Dutchman, whose bulk obscures the Spaniard’s bow.
In the northeast, the French have repaired most of their battle damage, while to the south, the Jades have multiple ships coming back with gold.
All is well in the southern part of the sea… – hang on, what’s that in the southeast corner?!
IT’S THE BARBARY CORSAIRS! The Barbary Pirates have invaded the South China Sea!
The Grand Temple and Dragon’s Talon immediately head southeast to counter this unexpected threat! Seeing their opportunity, the Spanish gunships round the north side of the sandbar for the first time, entering Jade waters! The Jade HI is loaded with gold, but they may have to use some of it soon to deal with the madness that’s beginning to unravel! The Barbary 2 masters have docked at the southeastern island, while the Persian Victory heads straight towards the Grand Temple in open defiance of the Jade Empire! The Sea Dragon and Viper’s Bite sneak north.
The Jades are strong, but the Spanish have now massed all of their firepower in one spot! The returning Habana watches as her fleet mates round the sandbar in the largest display of firepower seen in the game so far. 16 masts on 4 ships, all with captains.
The 12th turn of the game finally saw a dramatic shift in the wind, as a 6 meant that the wind reversed direction from blowing NE to blowing SW!
The Jades have the opportunity to take the battle to the Spanish, and they do so! With war declared long ago, the Proud Tortoise has no hesitation sailing up to the Principe de Asturias and blasting her with fire shot!
But in the meantime, another battle is erupting at the same time! The Grand Temple shows her might once again – even with no SAT from Tsai, she dismasts the Persian Victory and takes out a mast on the Pasha’s Delight.
The Dragon’s Talon finished off the Persian Victory! The Admiral Yi has decided to go to the Sea Lion’s island to avoid having her gold stolen by the Barbary Corsairs.
Chaos! The other battle rages on, as the East Wind hits 2/3 on the Principe, bringing her down to 1 mast. The Sea Wind gets the cannon bonus from the East Wind, but still misses both her shots against the Habana.
With their aforementioned capital ships in another part of the world after the conclusion of the JR/English war, the Jades couldn’t launch any more of their own ships, for they had run out of building supplies. As a result, they turned to hired Mercenaries, purchasing the Meropis with Herr Fuchs, Count Gustov, and a helmsman, leaving just 10 gold on their HI.
The Spanish started their turn by rolling for the Santa Ana’s extra action (EA). They got it, and decided to let the Habana continue sailing home with gold. The Habana almost made it all the way back with the new NE wind pushing her home. The Spanish were confident their two remaining gunships could deal with the Jades, and they were right. The Principe started things badly by completely catching on fire, dooming the poor ship. The Santa Ana then used her double action to cripple the East Wind and sink the Sea Wind!
The Voz finished the Spanish counterattack by sinking the East Wind, but her long range guns couldn’t hurt the pesky Proud Tortoise.
The fully-repaired and now-ignored French make their way west, careful not to stray too far south.
The English went next, and began by exploring with the Galapagos so her cargo was full after the island replenished at the end of the previous round. Then they ordered Hampstead’s Hyena to continue sailing north and explore the Thrud shipwreck, but he had other plans! Caring only about money and profits, he rammed the Galapagos and stole all her gold in a ridiculous act of betrayal!
As the sun sets on another day’s action, one thing is for sure: these fleets are in for the unexpected!
But wait! The Barbary Corsairs took their turn as well, using the Bey’s Revenge to explore the southeastern island! Then the Pasha’s Delight used a repair action while docked, claiming that island as the new home island for the Corsairs! Finally, to end a crazy day, they launched the Ivory Star immediately with the gold they found on the island! She’s immune to the Grand Temple’s L-range guns and can’t be shot at right now since she’s docked at her HI!
1/11/2016
Turn 13 saw the southwesterly wind continue. The Grand Temple and Dragon’s Talon scooted away from the BC ships who couldn’t be shot at. However, the Meropis got into action immediately, but only went 1/3 to dismast the Viper’s Bite and failed to damage the Sea Dragon. The Proud Tortoise returned home to avoid being trounced by the Spanish. At the upper left, the Principe de Asturias is about to slip under the waves.
The Spanish had lost one of their four gunships, but had dealt the Jade Rebellion major losses in return. Now the Santa Ana and Voz de Dios headed east while the Habana returned home with gold. To the north you can see the French getting some much-needed gold.
The Barbary Corsairs respond! The Ivory Star has docked at the southern island to the left, while the Meropis is under attack. She was subject to three boarding parties during the turn, one from the Bey’s Revenge and two from the Sea Dragon via S-board. She lost her helmsman, but the Corsairs boarded because they had no crew to lose, which meant they didn’t have captains either.
The BC’s swarm the Meropis:
Furious at Hampstead’s betrayal of the English, the Galapagos fires a full broadside. She only hit once! The Hyena sails off with her stolen gold, with the weak Patagonia unable to do anything about it.
The following turn saw the wind shift to a northerly wind, which would benefit any ships sailing south. The Jade Rebellion launched a successful counterattack, damaging the Pasha’s Delight and Bey’s Revenge. In a rare instance where the reverse captain ability came in very handy, the Meropis used it to sink the Viper’s Bite before scurrying away from the frenzy of Corsair ships. Her guns were rather poor once again, however, since she needed all her shots to sink the Viper’s Bite and therefore didn’t have a chance to hit the Sea Dragon, which would come back to hurt her.
The Sea Dragon uses the wind to her advantage and catches the Meropis! With another double-board, she eliminates Count Gustov from the game! The 6 represents the fact that both ships rolled a 6 on the second boarding party, meaning no crew were eliminated with a 9-9 tie! (which happened after the Sea Dragon rolled a 6 to win the first boarding party) The 2 masted galleys returned home for safety and repairs, while the Ivory Star explored to the west. Towards the top of the picture you might notice some other things…
The Spanish continue their advance, though somewhat cautiously. The Floating Stone was off on her own, and the Santa Ana pounced, taking out both turtle shell panels. However, the Santa Ana couldn’t bring her last gun to bear since she wanted to dock at the same wild island in order to activate Bianco’s Haulers (this ship cannot be shot at while docked) and avoid getting hit with the Floating Stone’s exploding shot. The Spanish had the Voz de Dios shadow the Santa Ana, careful not to split their gunships up.
Here’s a broader shot of the situation. The main new development concerns the Habana, who has docked at the large sandbar for some reason. That longer, noticeably taller sandbar can’t be passed over by ships, but the two to the south (on the right here with one out of the frame) follow the custom sandbar rules.
The wind continued to blow south, and the Jade Rebellion empire continued to show its might. From left to right: the Grand Temple knocks out two masts on the Ivory Star (with her 3S cannons since the IS can’t be hit by L-range guns), the Floating Stone uses her initial segment to get the wind boost and escape from the Spanish, and the Meropis uses reverse captain again to hit the Sea Dragon before running away. The Dragon’s Talon hit with her lone cannon to dismast the Sea Dragon, but she can easily row home to repair. Knowing this, the JR’s are becoming tired of fighting the Corsairs so close to their HI, since it’s ineffective.
The Santa Ana got an extra action with that 6, and moved to redock at the island, and then explored. This was a puzzling move, since the Santa Ana could only take one coin aboard. The Voz followed suit, but there had to be some other motive.
To the west, the Habana “explored” the sandbar, and the Spanish finished their turn by putting Fortaleza Dorada on it! The fort’s two long range guns reached almost to the Jade HI, so their ships were blockaded in the south from the west! The Santa Ana’s explore action became obvious…
And the Spanish construct El Castillo del Infanta on the eastern island! The L-range guns again reach almost all the way to the Jade HI, and now the Spanish have lines of fire drawn on both sides of the Jade HI! This cuts the Floating Stone off from the rest of the fleet in the south, and immediately denies Jade access to the island the Castillo is on as well as the northern island at the top left. In addition, it kind of traps almost the entire Jade fleet in the south, making it harder to avoid the BC’s. Lastly, the wind was not favorable for the JR’s, since the Spanish had the weather gauge and the wind was blowing the JR’s back into the southeast.
The Hyena docks at the aforementioned northern island, and in a stunning move Hampstead reveals his new allegiance: to America! The new “American” fleet has been borne once again out of distrust of the weakened British, and the Americans claim the island as their own! With the Hyena’s stolen loot from the Galapagos, the Americans commission USS Overton with a helmsman! Hampstead comes aboard the Overton to command his new ship.
The ever-frustrated Jade empire responds after the wind shifts to the NW (blowing SE), and Tsai’s SAT gives the Grand Temple enough shots to sink the Ivory Star, who carried the hopes of the Corsairs with 15 gold on her. Now that treasure is at the bottom of the sea, and the Corsairs are struggling. They repair their 2 masters and row the Sea Dragon back. The JR’s, however, have their gunships in the southwest corner, fighting the wind to get back to their HI.
The English continue to slowly accumulate gold while their former fleet mate, the Hyena, repairs at the new American HI. The Overton has set a course for the tumultuous southern area.
With the wind at her back, La Habana has quickly moved south to the sandbars she can traverse. The Spanish may have a pincer attack in mind, with the Habana coming from the west and the Santa Ana and Voz coming from the east, while the forts prevent or delay escape to the NW/NE. At the bottom of the frame, the Pasha’s Delight is capitalizing on the JR’s dilemma and grabs a 7 from the southern island.
But once again the Jades strike first! The Grand Temple takes two masts off the Habana, further proving that the Jades are strong enough to handle the threats presented to them. The Spanish are frustrated with their slow progress in taking down the empire, but they know they need to proceed cautiously since the GT can move 6S (or more with the wind!) and rip off 12 shots in one turn with Tsai’s SAT.
Here you can see some gold on the JR HI, and they’ve done a decent job regrouping their gunships considering the pesky Corsairs and the unfavorable wind.
The Habana’s best option is to retreat, as the San Agustin docks home another load of gold. All of the factions appear to be saving up some gold at this point, and the English, Spanish, and Jade Rebellion all have at least 20. Notice the Overton on the right, sailing past the Spanish fort. The Spanish gunners hold their fire, dumbfounded at seeing an American ship in these waters.
Another picture to cover the eastern areas, this shows a good portion of the sea. The big Spanish gunships in the east have moved south! However, with a NW wind, they’re worried the wind will shift to a westerly wind and the JR’s will gain the weather gauge. Who do you think will win?
1/12/2016
Turns 18-21 have been played, and the wind stayed at a constant NW (blowing towards the SE) for turns 18-20.
At the beginning of turn 18, the Grand Temple turned around but knew she couldn’t go too far east for fear of being jumped by the Spanish gunships. However, the Jade Rebellion empire is smart. They knew that their window of opportunity to hit the Spanish hard was diminishing. They also knew that the Spanish would continue to get stronger as long as the Jades didn’t do anything about it. Therefore the Jades decided their best option was to take the initiative. The Floating Stone moved away from her HI and into range of the Castillo del Infanta’s cannons. She would do her best to cut off the Spanish escape route to the north. Then, the Proud Tortoise once again showed extreme bravery, and for the second time sailed up and fired upon a vessel much larger than herself! Her successful fire shot was instrumental in taking down the Principe de Asturias, and here it caused a fire on the Santa Ana! With the tough wind blowing southeast, the Meropis and Dragon’s Talon were forced to sail slowly back towards the Jade HI and the developing action.
The Spanish, seeing the dangerous fire upon the Santa Ana, order a temporary retreat! They’re very cautious this game, and we’ll see if it pays off. The Santa Ana got an extra action and eliminated her fire mast. Her first action was used to blast both turtle shell panels off the Proud Tortoise, and her second action was used to move north. The fort missed the Floating Stone, but the Voz de Dios managed to sink the ship instead.
The Overton, with Sir Meyer Hampstead and a helmsman aboard, continued to curiously sail south towards the Jade fleet. The ship then reached the Grand Temple and pulled alongside despite not having a captain! Then something strange happened…
Flavor text for Katsura-chan: “Some say that Katsura-chan was a member of a secret warrior caste that trained women in the art of deception and espionage. Since falling in love with an American sailor, however, she has taken to the sea to follow her heart.”
That “American” sailor turned out to be Hampstead! And Katsura-chan left the Grand Temple and the Jade empire to join the crew of the Overton!!
That was that. Tsai, the main commander of the remaining Jade Rebellion fleet, was stunned. He ordered his crew to hold their fire even as his second-in-command deserted for the Americans. He couldn’t fire on his friend, especially so soon afterwards! With everyone on the Grand Temple in complete shock, there was nothing they could do.
To change things up, the launchings for turn 18 happened at the end of the round, rather than at the end of each fleet’s turn. The historical “big three” got busy spending:
Spanish: Granada + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist, explorer
French: Le Bourbon + Benoit de Marsilles, captain, helmsman
English: Polaris + Hermione Gold, Commander Temple, helmsman
The Spanish were anxious to replace the Principe de Asturias, and the Granada has a nice complement of crew in addition to bonuses against the pesky Corsairs, should they try to bother the Spanish. The French used an oft-forgotten ship of reasonable value, but the real story was the marine: remember from the first post that marines can fire on ANY turn for this game (though the French would forget lol). The English launched one of my newest ships, a massive and wide Double Catamaran with an interesting crew complement.
Here you can see the new Granada and Polaris at their HI’s, while the Habana has arrived to repair.
Le Bourbon has arrived. The Geographe and Argus split up. The French plans remain murky, though the Franco-Spanish remain allied against the Jade Rebellion empire.
With more daring and excellent sailing, the Proud Tortoise easily catches the fleeing Santa Ana and lights her on fire again!
With Katsura-chan gone, Tsai had lost his captain and the reroll for his own SAT ability. Seeing the fleeing Spanish, he decided to press the attack despite the loss of such an important crew member. With a successful SAT roll, the Grand Temple flew across the waves and rammed the Voz de Dios, taking out her helmsman!
It’s finally happened! The Grand Temple, the Jade flagship, takes one of the Spanish capital ships head on!
A nice shot of the southern island, where the Pasha’s Delight is currently docked. Her immunity to L-range guns makes the Meropis feel even more helpless, as she’s forced to sail at just S speed going into the wind. The Admiral Yi and Sea Lion are headed back with gold.
The Spanish were next. The Santa Ana, once again aflame, needed to get back to the Castillo del Infanta to repair. However, she rolled low and gained another fire mast, leaving her with just one mast! In the meantime, the Spanish were relieved to not see Katsura-chan aboard the Grand Temple, giving the Voz de Dios the opportunity for the first broadside. The Grand Temple knew her guns were relatively inaccurate, but then the Spanish revealed their secret weapon: Fireworks!
The Voz connects! Disappointed to hit only three times, the UT was still very helpful because only one mast would have fallen without it.
Another angle:
The French continued to sail south, but the bad blood between the English and French was present throughout the world at this time, so the South China Sea was no different. However, the Polaris only managed one hit against the Geographe. To the right, it looks like the other French ships may be sailing to help out their Spanish allies.
Not the center of attention anymore, the Corsairs bring back enough gold to launch the Fire Djinn! This gives them another empty ship with S-board, and they’ve fully embraced the swarm/boarding ideal. With empty ships, they can board without restraint and try to steal gold and kill crew. The Sea Dragon and Fire Djinn can board twice in a turn with a ram, while the Pasha’s Delight and Bey’s Revenge have a nice tag-team gold system going at the southern island.
A closeup shot of the beautiful Barbary Corsair ships at their nice home island.
The Proud Tortoise continued to harass the Spanish, and hit once again with fire shot to burn down the last mast on the Santa Ana! With an oarsman aboard, the Santa Ana couldn’t be scuttled from the fire, but it was a very close call since the Santa Ana would have sunk if she wasn’t so close to the Castillo. In the meantime, the Grand Temple shot off two masts from the Voz de Dios as the big ships poured a heavy fire into each other.
In another instance where reverse captain was useful, the Grand Temple moves to ram and board after the broadside! The boarding party was a 9-9 tie after both ships rolled a 6, just like the Sea Dragon vs. Meropis earlier in the game!
To finish off the attack on the Voz, the Dragon’s Talon made it to the battle in time to knock another mast off.
The Spanish respond with a Broadsides Attack! As usual, it misses.
The Spanish took their chance at dismasting the GT with one die roll, but came up empty.
As the Santa Ana burns, the Jade Rebellion continues to surprise the FS with their resilience and fighting ability.
A rare angle looking from north to south, and you can see that the Santa Ana has managed to row over to the Castillo and eliminate her fires! The JR’s almost had a huge victory in sinking the current Spanish flagship, but once again decisive action is not to be found (which is ironic given the historical nature of this game so far).
The French have arrived with the help of the northwesterly wind! With a stunningly successful shoot action, the Bourbon goes 4/5 (including Benoit’s shot) to dismast the Grand Temple and knock a shell off the Dragon’s Talon! The Argus doesn’t have a captain, but she can’t be shot at within S and carries a 2S cannon.
The Bourbon raked the GT by the bows, firing a devastating broadside that increased the carnage in the battle area. The mizzenmast of the Voz has fallen between the two ships and further hinders the gunners’ visibility.
The Spanish have been having a rough time, and therefore see no reason to slow their expanding battle fleet. They launch La Manila + captain, helmsman, cannoneer, musketeer, oarsman. The Manila is heavily crewed to support her numerous but inaccurate cannons. The Habana finishes repairing and the Spanish have 3 healthy gunships, more than any other fleet. However, their unhealthy ones are on the front lines. The “USS” Hyena appears to have interest in exploring the southwestern island, partly because the Americans can’t go to the English island in the northwest and the FS haven’t shown hostility to the Americans so far.
In the foreground, the brand-new Granada has used the wind to quickly make it to Barbary waters, where she corners the obnoxious Pasha’s Delight. In the background, the Geographe continues sailing south, possibly in search of gold. With the American HI in the north, the Americans and French both have to travel considerable distances to get gold, and they were already two of the weaker fleets in the first place. This may serve to increase American/FS tension, though the Overton calmly sailed past the Geographe and Fortaleza Dorada without so much as a word. Hampstead seems to be content in reuniting with Katsura-chan, and the Overton has simply sailed for home. To the east however, there are more shots flying at once than the game has seen thus far, with the Corsairs now appearing to have a desire to join the fight.
The Sea Dragon and Fire Djinn increase the scope of the eastern battle, which is essentially a 3 on 1 fight against the Jade Rebellion empire. The Sea Dragon S-boards the Dragon’s Talon to eliminate her helmsman.
Turn 21 saw a 6 rolled for the wind and it shifted completely to blow towards the northwest!
The Spanish were smart to put an oarsman on the Santa Ana, as it recently saved her from a fiery doom. The Jade Rebellion put an oarsman on the GT to protect her valuable crew (but from shots, not an “English” nobleman!), but here the oarsman combines with the helmsman to let the GT return to her home island to repair!
The hostilities between the French and Jade Rebellion have recommenced, as the Meropis opens up another conflict by dismasting the Geographe!
The Jades are simply a force to be reckoned with this game! They won’t go down without a fight, as the two turtle ships ram the Santa Ana in an attempt to take out her crew. The Dragon’s Talon needed the wind’s assistance since she had lost her helmsman, but she also lost this boarding party to lose her captain. However, both turtle ships connected on the Bourbon, who was quickly down to two masts and aflame.
Total carnage in the east!
The Spanish won’t be friends with the Americans! Their gunships fire upon the Hyena, but somehow manage to hit once in eight tries! (Counting the musketeer and cannoneer since the latter two masts on the Manila weren’t in range)
Going 2/2, the Granada hits with her S-range guns to set the Pasha’s Delight on fire. I thought this was a cool picture, and later noticed it had a lot of orange/brown: the sandy/rocky island, the gold on the island, the gold on the PD, the PD’s deck, and the Granada’s masts and sails.
The Voz sails to the Castillo to repair. She manages to get her guns in range of the Dragon’s Talon and hits once to knock off a shell panel. The fort has one cannon in range, but misses the shot and reroll. While the Santa Ana repairs two masts with an extra action, Benoit (aboard the Bourbon) suddenly realizes he can keep shooting and dismasts the Dragon’s Talon!
The fire aboard the Bourbon spreads, but she manages to sink the Dragon’s Talon.
Courtesy of the Proud Tortoise, the Bourbon is now running north to her HI to put out fires and repair, exactly the same situation the Santa Ana was just in! Somehow, after all that has happened, the Proud Tortoise is still sailing.
The Sea Dragon eliminates the Voz’s captain, leaving the big Spaniard with no crew. This also made it clear the BC’s were at war with the Spanish, and by extension, the French.
Here are a few overhead shots looking from west to east to give an idea of the overall nature of the game. The English are getting gold with the Galapagos and Patagonia, but they’ve sent the Polaris east. The Overton is headed to pick up the last coin from the wreck of the Flying Dutchman, as the eastern battle still rages on.
The same angle but slightly south to expose the rest of the sea. In the far south the Pasha’s Delight has put her fire out, but the Granada can sink her. The Hyena has decided to run away from the Spanish, and the Americans haven’t really been able to gather any gold so far. The 4 gold on their HI is the gold left over from when the island was a wild island. A sharp eye will notice a peculiar fire marker lying on the deck of the Geographe, which was placed there to remind the Jades that she rolled for a successful scuttle attempt. The French don’t want the ship in enemy hands, as the Bourbon and Argus won’t be able to rescue her.
The wreckage of turns 18-21 sets up another very interesting day of action tomorrow!
8 turns were played today, turns 22-29. The first two turns saw the wind stay blowing to the northwest.
With an SAT from Tsai, the Grand Temple has repaired two masts already. The Proud Tortoise connects with another fire shot hit, dooming the Bourbon.
Without the weather gauge, the Meropis can’t fight the Granada yet, so Herr Fuchs settles for sinking the Geographe. This leaves the French with just one mast standing in their fleet, L’Argus.
The Spanish take their turn, and between the guns of El Castillo del Infanta and the Voz de Dios, dismast the Sea Dragon.
The English spent some gold and finally got some crew for the Galapagos – Commodore Rhys Gryffin Owen, Thomas Gunn, shipwright, oarsman.
Then the Corsairs bought another 4 masted galley – the Crescent Moon!
The Fire Djinn used S-boarding to eliminate the same oarsman who saved the Santa Ana, but the Sea Dragon was unsuccessful.
The Habana dismasts the Hyena:
The Granada quickly takes care of the Admiral Yi, setting her aflame with a firepot hit. The Spanish have successfully invaded JR trade.
With no captain, the best the Grand Temple could do was get in range of the Voz while staying out of range of the fort’s guns.
The Santa Ana got an extra action and dismasted the Fire Djinn! Notice the Polaris lurking behind the island.
And the Grand Temple gets her revenge! With another SAT, she shoots twice to dismast the Voz de Dios, almost sinking the ship. With the help of the wind, which is now blowing due west for the first time in the game, the Proud Tortoise is quickly trying to row back to the Jade HI and escape the angry L’Argus.
The Granada and Meropis engage each other in a predictable fight (as in, it had looked like it was going to happen). Both ships take damage. The Crescent Moon uses the opportunity to grab gold from the southern island.
The Jades have spent 39 of their 54 gold and used it to hire some more Mercenaries! 10 of the gold was spent on Dragon Eyes, who waits on their HI for the GT’s return. The Forward is crewed with Luc Savard, Ibrahan Ozat, and a helmsman.
With an extra action from Owen aboard the Galapagos, the Polaris joins the fray! She sank the Proud Tortoise (finally!) and caused some damage to the fort.
As the Sea Lion bravely ventures back to the tumultuous waters around the southern island, the Forward supports her by taking two masts off the Crescent Moon.
The Grand Temple has done it! The Voz de Dios is no more!
The Santa Ana immediately responds by making the GT derelict once again and eliminating her oarsman!
In the meantime, the Spanish have gained the upper hand in the south, and the Jade empire is crumbling. After a turn of unsuccessful broadsides by both ships, the Granada finally wins her battle against the Meropis. On this turn 25, the wind dramatically shifted to a westerly wind blowing due east, which let the Manila make great progress and arrive at the southern battle!
However, the Spanish suffer a setback when the San Agustin finds Wolves on her gold island! The Spanish don’t want to wait for the slow Manila (and her musketeer) to return, especially considering the change in the wind, so they decide to launch a new ship instead.
An overview of the situation: the game is actually shrinking a bit with so many ships being sunk. The Sea Dragon and Fire Djinn were finished off, leaving the Corsairs with just one ship. The new development here is the Habana (up north) speeding east to assist the fort against the possible danger of the Polaris, and also to help protect the Santa Ana, Spain’s flagship.
However, instead of continuing to bombard the Spanish fort, the Polaris has sailed south to touch her bow to the bow of the Grand Temple…
… and with an extra action from Owen, uses Commander Temple to warp both ships back to the English home island! The English have gotten revenge on the Jade Rebellion and captured the Grand Temple!!
To get even with the Spanish for the sinking of the Hyena, the Overton uses the wind to catch the Habana and dismast her!
In this picture, the Meropis has succumbed to fire, the Forward must fight the westerly wind, and the Crescent Moon has returned home.
Despite having the weather gauge and the first strike advantage, the Manila and Granada only manage two hits on the remaining two Jade ships!
The Spanish end their turn by commissioning the Pamplona with Diego Cesar Olano.
At the English home island, shipwrights busily get to work giving the Grand Temple a new paint job. With another extra action from Owen, the Temple raises two masts in one turn, and is rechristened HMS Grand Temple!!
The Barbary Corsairs saw that their swarming and boarding tactics weren’t working, so they gave up and decided to get some crew for the Crescent Moon – Kheir-ed-din, helmsman, shipwright, oarsman. However, some recently discovered Rats cut into their profits. The Crescent Moon loaded the new crew and repaired.
The Overton captures La Habana:
The Forward hit 1/2 on the Manila to set her alight.
Olano misses the Wolves:
Taking advantage of a great set-specific combo, the English then hired Calico Cat, Griffin, and a Pirate helmsman to crew the HMS Grand Temple!
With the Galapagos down to one cargo space open with her recent crew acquisitions, the English needed some more treasure runners to assist the slow Patagonia. They built HMS Discovery and HMS Tweed, both literally acquired yesterday in a trade with manicdrake!
The only English ship not docked at their HI in the above picture is the Polaris, who sank the captured Habana! This served to lessen Anglo-FS tensions, since the Spanish didn’t want the Habana in enemy hands. It also served as a way for the English to get some revenge on the hated Americans, for Hampstead still sailed the Overton. Between all that and the three new English ships, one of which was the mighty Grand Temple, the English were taking on a powerful position in the game.
The Overton wouldn’t be able to get all of her guns in range of the Polaris because of the wind, so instead Hampstead sailed her downwind and inflicted major damage on the Santa Ana!
Olano killed the Wolves, which allowed the San Agustin to take treasure once again. However, what she found was similarly horrible: Plague and Enemy of the State! The San Agustin had no crew aboard, but the UT’s meant that Spain’s only gold runner had issues.
On the previous turn the Granada had set the Sea Lion alight and dismasted her. On the next turn, the Sea Lion burned to the water line, and the Manila sank the Forward! Finally, the Jade Rebellion empire was no more! Note the Granada fleeing to the fort to repair, which is also what the Santa Ana has in mind. Bianco’s Haulers mean the Santa Ana can’t be shot at by the Overton while docked at the fort.
As the new gold runners set a course for the northwestern island, Calico Cat’s EA gives the GT her last two masts, and next turn she’ll be ready to sail for England once again!
With the repairing Santa Ana invulnerable, the Overton has turned for home, but the Polaris may be waiting for her. The Argus, the last French ship remaining, passes by the Granada on her way to the southern or southwestern island. The Manila is still burning a little bit, but she still has three masts standing. The BC’s new philosophy is to avoid combat if it’s impractical, so the Crescent Moon maneuvers around the Spanish 5 master. With her fire mast and (so far) extremely ineffective guns, the Manila isn’t likely to continue hostilities. The eastern and southern battles have concluded, and the English are the only faction not completely worn out at this point. The Jade empire is gone, but Dragon Eyes is still stranded on their former home island. Speaking of Dragon Eyes, he was the first to feel an ominous rumbling, which wasn’t from cannon fire but rather from the earth itself that he was standing on!
The pent-up pressure was released, and the former Jade home island was consumed by multiple explosions from below! Lava bombs flew high into the sky, and descended onto ships and forts in the nearby vicinity. Dragon Eyes and the gold on the island was long gone, but a new island with volcanic peaks took its place!
Here you can see the devastation. The Manila, Overton, Argus, and Granada (out of the picture) have been set on fire, as well as both Spanish forts. Ships were also thrown off course by the ensuing shock waves and water waves. The Polaris lost her starboard outrigger, and you can see the Crescent Moon has been thrown off course despite being undamaged. The Argus was tossed against the side of the BC home island, while the Santa Ana was driven backwards away from the fort.
Fortaleza Dorada on fire. The rules for flaming forts will work like this: instead of the fort rolling for each fire every turn, it rolls one die regardless of how many fire masts it has and regardless of whether the fort is given an action during the turn. The roll follows the regular rules for fire masts. The fort will be automatically destroyed if the fire consumes all 8 areas (not how many guns the fort has). Just like in my Economy Edition game, fleets can place a shipwright inside the fort to give it repair actions. If this is done, a shipwright can only put out one fire per turn, but no flag is raised in the fire’s place until another repair action is given.
Here you can finally see the Granada, who was heading north when the eruption occurred. She’s now heading east, and the Overton has been blown from heading west to heading north.
With their fleet and forts aflame and in shambles, the Spanish are desperate. With no enemy ships around, the San Agustin unloads the Plague onto the Pamplona, killing Olano! The Pamplona is given an explore action to take Enemy of the State from the San Agustin so she can ferry treasure once more.
At the top of the frame, the fire in Fortaleza Dorada spreads. At the bottom, the Manila puts one fire out but another spreads, for a negative overall effect.
The Santa Ana and Granada are both headed towards El Castillo del Infanta to repair, but the fort is in more trouble than they are!
After a brief discussion, Calico Cat and Griffin come to an agreement. With their HMS Grand Temple and no English crew aboard, the Pirates set sail for the first time, betraying English orders and firing a full broadside at the Galapagos!!!The hired Pirates have turned on the English! Almost as soon as the English take the former Jade ship, the Pirates have commandeered her! With the loss of all crew members, HMS Galapagos, the final English ship in SCS waters after the JR-English war, sinks beneath the waves in her own harbor. How ironic that it’s at the hands of Tsai’s old flagship (the way he would have wanted it if the FS didn’t invade the area), though not in his command, but in the command of pirates.
With an extra action from Calico Cat, the Grand Temple moves on and dismasts the Polaris!!
In an instant, half of the English fleet and all of their gunships are gone. The Polaris and Galapagos are finished, while the Grand Temple has been commandeered by pirates while the stunned one masted treasure runners look on.
The Grand Temple lays in shadow, an ironic twist given her turn to the “dark side”. The burning Overton hopes to return to the American HI.
And with that, the Jolly Roger was raised!! Calico Cat and Griffin signaled their secret fleet that now was the time to strike! Pirate ships swarmed the area, including some ships and Pirates that the English really didn’t want to see:
Revenge + Captain Villanueva, helmsman
Greed’s Hammer + Mistress Ching, helmsman
Black Mongoose + captain, shipwright
Empress + Captain Sao Feng, captain, helmsman
Mocha + Kanhoji Angria, helmsman
Plague of the East + helmsman
Plague of the North + captain
(Notice some SCS crew and the Jade-inspired POTC crew)
Captain Sao Feng leads the Pirate fleet, which is a ragtag bunch of former Jade Rebels turned true rebels against the JR empire. Now that the once-strong empire has fallen, the Pirates are looking to seize their chance at controlling the area. Their hatred of the English stems from their jealousy at the English initially getting the better of the Jades during the JR-English war, which many of these Pirates fought in. These Pirates deserted the Jade Rebellion cause during the war since they had faith that the English would win. When the Jade Rebellion won the war, they were forced into hiding and exile. Feng is the best example of this band of Pirates: “There is no honor in remaining with the losing side. Leaving it for the winning side, that’s just good business.”
The effect wasn’t obvious at first, but it’s now apparent that the volcanic activity created two natural whirlpools and three reefs!
During this day of action, a whopping 15 ships were sunk in the 8 turns that were played, including 8 ships from SCS. The wind has now blown due east for 5 consecutive turns, and the game’s end is starting to approach…
1/14/2016
4 turns were played (30-33). The wind blowed east on turn 30 and southeast on turns 31-33.
The Pirates have begun their assault. The Discovery has been dismasted, while the Grand Temple shoots at Fortaleza Dorada and the Polaris at the same time. The Revenge rams the Patagonia and steals some of her gold.
At the bottom of the frame, the Mocha has blocked the San Agustin from docking at her HI. The burning La Manila is making her way towards Fortaleza Dorada, which is also on fire.
The Argus burned to the water line, which officially eliminated the French from the game! Their HI became a new wild island.
In her attempt to eliminate her fire masts and repair at the fort, the Manila must cross one of the reefs created by the volcanic activity, but she rolls a 1!
The Spanish have truly fallen hard. The Manila is now a flaming wreck, blocking part of the southern sea from the north.
Fire has consumed more than half of Fortaleza Dorada, and the smoke can be seen for miles around.
Using the wind to her advantage, the Pamplona rams the docked Crescent Moon and gives her the Plague, killing all four of her crew!
With no helmsman or weather gauge, the San Agustin can’t quite make it home. This allows the Pirates another chance to catch her…
The Pirates are cleaning up the west by wrecking everything in their path. The Black Mongoose has sunk the Discovery, while the Empress will soon do the same to the Tweed.
The San Agustin was sunk when the Grand Temple turned around and used an extra action from Calico Cat to arrive at the Spanish home island!
The Spanish still have hope in the east: the Santa Ana and Granada have almost finished repairing, while El Castillo del Infanta managed to put out her fires. However, the Plague-ridden Crescent Moon is now looking to get revenge on the Spaniards. At the top of the frame, notice the Overton docked at the former French HI, but she’ll need to explore next turn.
In the far southwest, the Greed’s Hammer and Plague of the East look to plunder the Spanish gold island, while the Mocha rounds the sandbars and heads east. The Grand Temple has begun moving north, towards the end of the Pirate/English battle.
The Patagonia put up a fight and set the Revenge on fire, but the Pirate forces are far too much for the little galley. The Empress has finished off the Tweed.
Fortaleza Dorada has finally been destroyed!
The Spanish know they must act quickly to have any hope of survival, so they send their ships on different missions. The Granada will try to set the Grand Temple aflame with her firepot specialist, while the Santa Ana takes care of the Crescent Moon and her Plague. Continuing the Spaniards’ unfortunate woes however, the Santa Ana only hits 3/6 on the Crescent Moon!
The Corsairs get revenge and eliminate the final three crew (Carlos Pavon, Bianco’s Haulers, and a helmsman) on the Santa Ana!
The Overton explores the former French HI-turned wild island, and finds the Whirlpool UT! This drags her into the nearest whirlpool, which is just to the south. However, mysteriously, she doesn’t appear at the southwestern whirlpool as she should. Instead, she seems to have disappeared!
The waters of the northeastern whirlpool where the Overton disappeared began to froth and bubble. Foam and steam flew in the air, and suddenly, demonic beasts and bloody ships came flying up from beneath the ocean!!!
(The above picture was purposely taken like that, to illustrate how quickly the Cursed came up – in a flash!)
Grinder + El Fantasma, helmsman, oarsmen x3
Skin Flayer + Sammy the Skull, White Crew, Wraith, helmsman, oarsman
Brachyura + captain, helmsman
Cyclops + captain, helmsman
Shal-Bala
Squalo
The Pirates immediately summon all of their ships to attack the Cursed! The Grand Temple leads the charge, while the Revenge, Black Mongoose, Empress, and Plague of the North follow. The Patagonia was sunk, officially eliminating the English from the game!
The Pirate ships in the southwest explore the Spanish gold island, but the Greed’s Hammer finds The Red Skull, turning her into a Cursed ship!
After 33 turns, who could have pictured a scene like this?
1/15/2016
Turns 34+ have been played! The wind shifted from the SE to the NW on turn 35, but after that it was a whirlwind and I didn’t keep track of the wind or turn count.
At the top of the picture, Squalo has sunk the Granada. The Santa Ana and Pamplona run from the Grinder and Mocha respectively, knowing that they stand the best chance when fighting together. The Grinder has sunk the Crescent Moon, eliminating the Barbary Corsairs from the game.
With her recent turn to the Cursed, the Greed’s Hammer fires and sinks the Plague of the East. In the background, the main battle has begun.
With the sun setting on the game and glinting off the switchblades of the Skin Flayer, the Cursed are in control. The Skin Flayer and Cyclops team up to crush the Grand Temple, while Brachura waits behind them. White Crew eliminated all of the Pirates aboard the GT, but Wraith couldn’t reanimate any of them.
The Pirates have arrived! However, they do minimal damage. The Revenge makes an ill-advised ram against the Skin Flayer, and loses her crew. The hulk of the Grand Temple is blocking the path for either faction to proceed.
The Cursed launch another attack, and it’s just as deadly as the last. The Revenge is dismasted, while the Grand Temple is finally sunk! Shal-Bala swoops on the Empress, and the Pirates are down to three usable ships.
The Grinder sacs another oarsman to sink the Santa Ana! The Pamplona is waiting, while the Mocha also wants to sink the Grinder.
The Pirates manage to dismast the Skin Flayer, but their time is running out!
Shal-Bala takes care of the Plague of the North, but the Black Mongoose and Cyclops continue to miss each other at point-blank range. The Greed’s Hammer has arrived via whirlpool, while an impatient Brachyura has whirlpooled to the south to approach the battle from a different angle.
Total carnage on the high seas!
The Pamplona went 1/2 against the Grinder, but soon afterwards paid the price.
Shal-Bala prepares to savage the Black Mongoose:
In the meantime, Squalo looks to take a bite out of the GT’s mast!
The Grinder has finished off the Pamplona, but now the Mocha is upon her.
The Black Mongoose is finally derelict!
Brachyura has sunk the Empress, and the Pirates are all but finished.
Or are they? A forgotten shipwright on the Black Mongoose gives the Pirates another chance!
As Shal-Bala flies off to deal with the Mocha, Brachyura unleashes her fury on the Black Mongoose. The Greed’s Hammer had captured the Revenge, and they scuttled her. The Hammer then sunk the Plague of the North, ending the northern battle with no Pirate survivors.
The southeastern area will see the final action take place:
The Pirates continue to show their resilience as the Mocha dismasts the Grinder!
Shal-Bala is given a shoot action, and the game ends!!
The Cursed have won this short experimental cumulative game!
After around 40 turns, nobody could have predicted this! None of the original starting factions are in the game, while one island has been completely transformed by nature. Dark times have fallen upon the area, with Pirates and then Cursed taking turns to dominate the waters. Debris is strewn over the northern area, while a shipwreck blocks a trade route south. What a crazy game!
This was a good game, and I’m happy that I finally did some things I’d been meaning to do. The biggest one was trying out one of the various wind rules. I liked it quite a bit – it affected gameplay but not overly so. It didn’t make or break every situation.
One interesting aspect of the wind is for gold runners – in general, on a trip to a wild island they’ll have the advantage one way, but usually have it hinder them on the other way (to or from their HI). This balances things nicely, but for longer voyages it can be a major nuisance, or a major help (and when it’s a major help, the voyage won’t turn out to be so long after all!). I waffled back and forth on how to determine the wind’s +S/-S for extra actions: at first I had the wind only affect one of the actions, but later on I wanted it to be more prominent so sometimes I had it affect both actions. For example, when the Santa Ana gets an extra action, her first move with the wind might be L+S+S, but the second could be the regular L+S even if she’s still going with the wind. To make things more complicated and more interesting, sometimes ships would be going into the wind with their first action but with it for their second, so the net effect was neutral. Also, ships were occasionally able to “tack” in order to gain an extra S by sailing slightly out of their way to go with the wind for a moment before continuing on the original direction with that extra S boost.
I’m glad the game looked good – it’s my first cumulative game I’ve played using exclusively 3D islands and terrain (excluding those whirlpools and reefs at the end). This made it look more realistic, something I was going for when I started the game with a semi-historical scenario of sorts. It was also my first cumulative game that I played on a table, and I mostly enjoyed that aspect of it. The fabric used was the unique one – I have 4 more “regular” fabrics but this 5th one is the silky, shinier one that kind of looks more like water in the way it can shimmer. (the pictures don’t usually do it full justice) There were also certain aspects that looked very cool – the forts on fire, the burning wreck of the Manila, and the classic shiny blades of the Skin Flayer glinting in the sun.
I will admit that the game became somewhat rushed towards the end. The Jade Rebellion held out for far longer than I expected them to, so that delayed the entrance of the Pirates and Cursed. When they did show up, my other priorities and events conspired to give them less of a showing, but the game was still completed and it worked out fine. However, as a result of this rushing at the end, I do have one regret about this game of something that I wanted to include but couldn’t: fireships. I still need to try this out. With the semi-historical nature of the majority of this game, they would have fit reasonably well, especially as a last-ditch effort by the Jade Rebellion or perhaps the English. I was happy to get lots of fire into the game in general, and having forts ablaze is something I look forward to seeing more of.
With all that said, I have a feeling that my next cumulative game will take place not on a table or a floor, but on VASSAL.
This game featured three players in a 50 point game. The fleets went in this order:
French Americans: (referred to as the Americans)
Le Musarde + Griffin (house ruled), helmsman
USS Georgetown + captain
Pawtucket + explorer
English:
HMS Malton + Hermione Gold, Sir Meyer Hampstead
HMS Ark Royal + Thomas Gunn, Commander Temple, oarsman
Spanish:
San Pedro + explorer, oarsman
L’epee de L’ange + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Algiers + explorer
The setup was purposely very tight, with islands about L apart. Each island had 5 gold on it. Round earth rules were used.
The Ark Royal missed a Broadsides Attack against the Pawtucket!
The Ark Royal missed a Broadsides Attack against the San Pedro!
The Malton steals a 1 coin from the Epee with S-board.
The Ark Royal and Musarde shot each other to pieces, leaving the Ark Royal as the only ship in the area with a mast. The Epee has been dismasted, but between her ship ability and an oarsman, she can still shoot with all 4 cannons.
The Epee went 3/4 to hit the Malton and Pawtucket!
Commander Temple’s ability transported the Ark Royal and Musarde back home, where the Malton was arriving. However, the Georgetown was also there.
The Georgetown dismasted the Malton. The Ark Royal sailed out for a rescue, but missed the Georgetown and was also dismasted. The English were forced to use a captured French ship, the Musarde. The Epee had been sunk by the Pawtucket, while the San Pedro finally finished rowing home and the Algiers made all speed towards the northern action.
At this point, each player revealed their gold to see if the 1 was worth fighting over. The scores were hard to believe: 14-13-13! (14 for the Americans and 13 each for the English and Spanish)
The Musarde neutralizes the Pawtucket while the Algiers chases the Georgetown.
The Algiers stole the coin, and thus began a series of boarding parties where the coin changed hands back and forth.
The Georgetown finally got the better of the Algiers, but the Musarde was waiting.
The Georgetown defended her gold, and the Americans won!
1. Americans: 15 gold
2. English and Spanish: tied with 13 gold
It’s finally happened! A Sealed Pack Game was played. The old rules called for one pack for every 10 points of the build total, but this game featured 3 packs per player for a 40 point game. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
Here are the fleets, in the order of play. Players 1 and 3 received 1 pack of DJC and 2 packs of OE. Player 4 received 1 pack of BC and 2 packs of OE. Player 2 (myself) received 1 pack of BC and 2 packs of FN (since I don’t have the Super Rares from those sets). All crew (including named crew) could use their abilities on any ship, regardless of nationality.
(I’m trying to use better names for the fleets than Fleet 1, Fleet 2, etc, partly because I think it helps you remember which fleet is which when reading the report. This results in some fleet names that aren’t entirely true.)
Empties: (this player didn’t receive any captains, helmsmen, or named crew in their packs)
Dragon’s Breath + explorer
Pioneer
USS Oregon
El Algeciras + shipwright
US Vikings: (USV)
Minuteman + captain, firepot specialist
Devil’s Kiss
Loki
Franco-Spanish: (FS)
La Resolucion + captain
Le Musarde + Griffin, helmsman, shipwright
Between the nature of a Sealed Pack Game and the number of players, the setup had to be laid out with time constraints in mind. Four home islands were featured at one end of a “short” rectangle (the opposite of some of my typical setups), with my new “shipwreck cove” custom terrain at the other end guarding a lone wild island. However, to mix things up, the shipwrecks on the reefs held gold in two places, on the Thrud and the Flying Dutchman. The wild island held 5 coins and there were 3 apiece at the two wreck locations, where ships would have to roll for effect on the reef to “dock” at the gold. In addition, to make a true SPG, the gold from two of the packs was used.
The first player is at the top, and then play continued from the bottom up.
Feel free to right click and open the full size pictures in a new tab for a fully immersive experience. 😀
The fleets set out, and it was apparent that the new shipwreck obstacle would see heavy congestion, as I had planned. Only two spots on the entire line of reefs were able to be traversed by ships: the first is in the foreground between the wrecks of the Xi’an and Deliverance, and the second is north of the Deliverance wreck right where the Jamaica has lost a mast to the reef.
The FS were battle-hungry, with two captains and overall the best pack pulls of all four players. The Musarde opened fire on the nearby Pioneer, but even with Griffin’s reroll she only hit once. The Pioneer exacted revenge by crushing the Musarde on the next turn.
A shot of the Minuteman, who is sailing as an escort for the Devil’s Kiss and Loki, the goldships of the USV fleet. The Minuteman’s captain keeps an eye off the ship’s larboard quarter with Brachyura looming, but he’s also aware that the Cursed player is the most combat-averse of the four players, hence why it was ironic that they pulled the giant crab.
The Jamaica is the first to reach the wild island, as the Maman Brigitte approaches the dangerous reefs. The Cursed player opts to keep Brachyura in the same spot, perhaps looking to ambush whichever player comes out first with gold.
The Musarde turns for home to repair, but the FS know they’re powerful in this strange game with such a lack of useful crew. The Resolucion navigates the reef and dismasts the Jamaica.
The many guns of the once-powerful Deliverance have fallen silent, but the good old Resolucion has a lot of life left in her! At the upper right, notice the three coins sitting on the deck of the Thrud.
The game continues to develop. The Jamaica explored while derelict, but the Resolucion quickly moved in to board and take a coin. The Minuteman has docked at the eastern side of the wild island, while her comrades slowly approach from the south. At the left, the abysmally slow Oregon follows her fleet mates, who are searching for gold. The Dragon’s Breath has found some on the Thrud, though she loses a mast to the same reef that wrecked the Thrud in the process. To the right, the Maman Brigitte has successfully moved onto the reef, while the Musarde is the only ship at any home island.
At the left, the Dragon’s Breath has lost masts to the powerful Resolucion, and the Empties fleet has their hands full dealing with a captained ship with essentially rank-1 cannons. The Minuteman has circled the wild island in the hopes of towing home the derelict Jamaica, but the Pioneer will soon spoil that wish by sinking the ship and her remaining 6 gold. Speaking of the Pioneer, she docked at the Flying Dutchman’s gold after the Maman Brigitte, so the Maman can explore first. Brachyura has… skittered?… to the left, and the Devil’s Kiss finally docks at the wild island to load its last coin while the Loki turns around with no more gold available (at least not to explore!).
Brachyura moved towards the weakened Dragon’s Breath, but was soon called upon to tow the Maman Brigitte instead, as the poor Cursed vessel had lost her remaining three masts to the reef and had no oarsman to get home with. The Resolucion continued her trek home, crippling the Oregon on the way by.
The FS and the Empties continue to clash:
Brachyura towed the Maman Brigitte home, meaning that both the Empties fleet and the Cursed fleet had 3 coins each on their home islands.
On her way home, the Resolucion used her powerful guns to derelict all three remaining ships in the Empties fleet (the Oregon had been sunk), knocking them out of the game! This gave the Loki of the USV fleet a free shot at the Empties’ home island.
The Minuteman is too fast for Brachyura to catch, but the Devil’s Kiss won’t be so lucky…
And the crab attacks! Unfortunately for the Cursed the attack was harmless.
Feel free to comment which picture you like better, the above with the flash or the below without.
The Minuteman soon came to the rescue, although the Titan’s defensive ability meant the battle wouldn’t be easy.
At this point, the Loki stole 2 coins from the HI of the Empties, and hoped to round earth it back to her HI. The Devil’s Kiss added her coin to the one that the Minuteman deposited. The Resolucion finally docked home her coin, and the Maman Brigitte finished repairing.
The Empties fleet lies in ruins, allowing their gold to be plundered by Vikings.
The final part of the Sealed Pack Game featured a short showdown between the two fleets with captains. However, the Minuteman and Devil’s Kiss formed a line to block the Musarde from boarding the Loki, so the USV fleet returned home their stolen loot.
And there you have it! The Cursed pull out a win by towing the Maman Brigitte’s three coins (4, 4, and 3) home with a giant crab! After losing the Jamaica early and having the Maman dismasted by the reef, the Cursed showed good resilience. The USV gold ships were too slow to get high-value coins, but the Loki’s HI raid gave them second place. The FS could have done better, especially if it had been a longer game. The Empties got off to a good start, but poor maneuvering and poor crew options doomed their fleet against the powerful Resolucion, who was truly a threat to be feared in this Sealed Pack Game.
I decided to mix things up again. For the two weeks or so between Thanksgiving and about a week before Christmas, my traveling collection is extremely small. I brought along 4 ships from each of the Big 6 factions, for just 24 total ships. I’ll be around my entire collection very soon, so I wanted to do a unique game using just what I had on hand.
The game was a cumulative one, where gold is spent along the way to purchase new ships and crew. Since each faction was extremely limited in how much they could theoretically spend, the game would be the opposite of my epic huge games, which run until something goes wrong or I have to end it prematurely.
Each faction was given 15 points for a starting fleet. If a faction was eliminated from the game, any ships that they hadn’t already launched could then be launched by any faction. No ships could be launched after they were sunk.
Here are the starting fleets, in the order of gameplay:
Crusher + helmsman, oarsman
Abomination
L’Auguste + helmsman
Yankee + helmsman, oarsman
El Corazon Dorado + a helmsman on the home island
Divine Wind + helmsman, oarsman, and one helmsman on the home island
The setup was very simple, but it worked well. Six home islands were arranged in a general hexagon, with one wild island in the middle. The wild island was the same island used as the lagoon island in Economy Edition. Once again it would be the center of attention. At the start of the game, there were 12 coins on the island, with half of them being UT’s. The treasure replenishment rule was that at the end of every player’s turn (not at the end of each round), the island would fill up to 4 coins if it had less than 4. These coins would not be Unique, so the only UT’s were the ones present at the start.
The island from Economy Edition is loaded with gold once again:
And they’re off!
The Pirates went first, and no ship had an explorer, so the Crusher was the first to explore the island. The UT’s were inserted randomly, which explains this crazy mix:
The most important one was Pandora’s Box – with 5 other fleets, things didn’t look good for the Pirates! The UT’s to the right of Pandora’s Box were the ones selected by the other fleets. Missionary took out the crew, while Maps of Hades and Albatross promised to plague the Pirates if they could even get out of this mess. Rum was worth 6 gold after Missionary took the crew off, but another fleet selected it in order to freeze the Crusher in place. Separate from Pandora’s Box was Enemy of the State, which could easily end the Pirates’ game as soon as it had started. Therefore, the Pirates picked Jailhouse Dog out of the Box and eliminated the negative UT. The Crusher was spared, but only just. To end the turn, a 3 was rolled for Lost, and the Pirates smartly put a fog bank under the Crusher to avoid having her attacked while her crew sobered up from the Rum. Two whirlpools were placed as well, to try and take advantage of Protection from Davy Jones. Another nice side effect for the Pirates was that since the crew were gone, the Crusher was able to take an extra coin, and she did very well.
One whirlpool near the wild island, another at the Pirates’ HI. Shades of Economy Edition? Calypso wasn’t in this game but… how ironic indeed.
The Abomination is the last ship to explore, as the others head back.
The Pirates then cheated (on accident), using the whirlpool to immediately dock at home and unload their considerable haul of gold. They built the Black Diamond and crewed her with a helmsman. As a result of their devious ways, the Pirates would have their next turn cancelled to even out their would-be moves.
The French were the second fleet to launch a ship, sailing out Le Republicain.
The Pirates pay for their mistake while the other fleets race back for more gold. Despite the shorter nature of this cumulative game, each fleet still didn’t want to make any enemies early while their fleet was still weak and small.
At this point, Maps of Hades forced the Cursed to give an action to the Crusher. However, the Cursed did exactly what the Pirates would have done anyway! The other fleets took this as a sign of a possible alliance between the two factions.
A handful of turns passed, consisting of peaceful gold running.
More purchases were made, with HMS Gallowglass, Lady Washington, and La Serpiente joining the game.
The middle island became even more crowded, and it was obvious that tension would increase at some point. The Cursed launched the Hellfire while the Pirates added the Pillage.
It came as no surprise when the Pirates instigated the first conflict! The Black Diamond rammed and boarded the Divine Wind, stealing all of her treasure!
Making the Cursed/Pirate alliance just about official, the Hellfire followed suit by aiming a fire shot at the Divine Wind with the only gun she had in range. Typical of the Cursed’s ineptitude, she rolled a 1 to eliminate Fire Shot and set herself alight!
The French launched the biggest of their four ships, the Tepant. Even more impressive, they crewed her with Gentil de la Barbinais, a captain, helmsman, and oarsman. The Tepant was the biggest threat on the sea, and her Eternal keyword made her a huge target to be captured, which is why the French made sure an oarsman was aboard.
I love how the Tepant looks… but what’s that big ship lurking in the background?
El Argonauta! The 5 master was the biggest ship available in the game, but the Spanish couldn’t afford to put any crew on her at the time of her launching. Still, she was a huge presence that also added valuable cargo space to the Spanish fleet.
After a bunch of turns, many ships have made their entrance. Just for fun, I decided to do a point count or two during the game to get a feel for how big the game was. This picture shows the game at 196 total points.
The Hellfire headed home for repairs, but most of the ships were making full sail towards the center island!
War finally breaks out! The French attack their neighbors to the north, the Americans! The Tepant deals a blow to the Yankee:
The Yankee can’t get home to repair but she knows she’ll be sunk if she just grabs gold, so she continues the conflict by attacking the Auguste! The Lady Washington picks up gold, but things aren’t looking good for the Americans.
The English avoided an early elimination, but they and the Cursed are struggling in the gold game. The Black Diamond is back with her stolen loot, while the Crusher and Pillage are coming back with more.
With their considerable amounts of gold, the Pirates are the first to “complete the fleet” by calling upon Morgawr. The Black Diamond is dangerous with Captain Barbossa aboard.
The Auguste makes it out, but the Tepant continues to fire upon the Yankee, dismasting the schooner and leaving the Americans with just one ship.
The English are fully repaired, but with the hostile Cursed Pirate alliance on either side of their HI, they don’t have a reliable way to grab gold from the middle. The Tepant captures the Yankee and the French complete their fleet by adding L’Argus. The Americans launch the Horizon, but they only have enough points for a captain and not a helmsman.
The Hellfire managed to get her foremost cannon in range of the Divine Wind once again, but this time she hit. The English were stuck, with hostile ships blocking their route to the middle island. With the French/American conflict to the southeastern side of the island, the Pirates sailed their ships northwest to avoid it, further complicating matters for the English.
The Cursed launched the Jikininki, while the Americans headed north to avoid the French.
On the next turn, the Argonauta used her own haul of gold to get The Inquisitor, a captain, helmsman, and oarsman. This made her the greatest boarding threat in the game and almost as dangerous as the Tepant overall. There was enough gold to buy two additional captains, which the Corazon Dorado and Serpiente would pick up on their next trip back. In the meantime, the English beefed up their ships by adding a captain and firepot specialist to the Divine Wind and a captain and helmsman to the Gallowglass.
As the Yankee begins repairing at the French HI, note the imposing Cursed Pirate impromptu line of battle sailing south.
The weak American fleet is no match for the Argonauta! With a single Broadsides Attack the Spanish sink the Lady Washington.
At this point the fleets were reaching their relative maximum sizes, since each faction only had 4 ships to choose from. This ushered in rising tension, as the fleets didn’t have as much need to run gold. The arms race was just about over, but the war was just beginning!
The English decide to go round earth and attempt to dock at the wild island on the east side. The Cursed Pirates are plotting something, but what?
The Cursed and the Pirates were both very wary of the impressive French fleet, especially with the addition of the Yankee and a new captain on the Republicain. The Cursed Pirates knew they had enough power to stomp out the French, but they wanted the element of surprise. This was difficult, since the Hellfire and Jikininki had sailed directly south to join up with the Pirate fleet. The French sensed that they might head east, which was exactly what the Cursed Pirates were planning.
In an attempt to trick the other fleets into believing they weren’t allies, the Cursed and Pirates decided to fake that they were attacking each other. The Pirates told the Cursed to knock out a mast on the Black Diamond with the Hellfire. The Hellfire’s crew loaded the guns and ran them out, praying for a miss. However, the Cursed also realized that if they only took one shot at the Black Diamond (rather than all 4), the French would suspect that something was up. As a result, the Hellfire loosed a full broadside, toppling the mizzen and gaff masts of the Black Diamond!
The Pirates were confused and annoyed. This made them trust the Cursed less, even if the Cursed’s logic was correct. Either way, the Pirates began plotting among themselves. They asked themselves why they even needed the Cursed in the first place, especially since the Cursed were so close to the Pirate HI.
The Pirates have turned! Between the Cursed’s previous turn and the strength of their fleet, the Pirates decided to attack! The Black Diamond surged forward to dismast the Jikininki, while the Crusher and Pillage teamed up to take on the Hellfire. Any plans to attack the French together were long gone, and the Cursed Pirate alliance was no more.
As chaos erupts in the southwest, the English turn around after seeing the French and Spanish dominating the eastern side of the island. They’re hoping the Pirate/Cursed conflict will open up the western side. The Cursed gold runner Abomination is caught in a difficult situation, unable to help out in the southern battle but also needing to supply the Cursed with more gold.
The Yankee is fully repaired at last. At the lower right, the Horizon has round earthed to the southeast to get revenge on the French. She’s so white she looks like a ghost ship!
The Crusher lost a mast to the Hellfire, but the Pirates easily won the battle and began cleaning up the area. Capturing the two Cursed ships gave them 6 total, one more than the 5 ships in the French fleet.
Another point count revealed that there was 280 total points in play, which was probably about the game’s maximum size.
In a surprise move, the Tepant used this opportunity to hurt the Pirates a bit, dismasting the Pillage. The French knew the Pirates wanted them out, but the French also had to deal with the remnants of the American fleet. The Horizon was quickly rammed by the Yankee, a captured American ship.
These latest conflicts were part of a larger event: the game was exploding! The Spanish realized they were the most dangerous fleet in the north, and saw vulnerable ships sailing alone. The Corazon Dorado sailed south to dismast the Auguste! Then the Serpiente and Argonauta teamed up to knock out two masts on the Abomination. In the southeast, the Horizon was putting up the final American resistance, shooting a mast off the Republicain.
The Spanish finally utilize their full firepower!
And just like that, the Americans were the first fleet eliminated! The Yankee captured the Horizon, and the French jumped at the opportunity to launch the final American ship, the Niagara. This meant that the French fleet owned 3 of the 4 American ships! (the Lady Washington was sunk earlier) The French couldn’t buy American crew for the Niagara, but they did load her up with Fire Shot.
Up north, the Spanish dealt with counterattacks. The Tepant blasted three of the Corazon’s masts away, but the Abomination couldn’t dent the Argonauta or her crew. The fleets didn’t know it at the time, but they would be living through the chaos until the game’s end.
And the chaos was just beginning! The Pirates would take a long while to regroup, but the English looked to capitalize by going to the middle island. The Cursed were soon the second fleet out of the game when the Spanish dismasted the Abomination.
In a daring move, the French sailed the Tepant even farther north to sink the Corazon Dorado right in the Inquisitor’s face! The Argonauta had lost two masts to the Abomination, but the Spanish vowed extreme retaliation. Miraculously for the French, it appeared as if the Auguste could make it home on oar power, since the Pirates were still regrouping and repairing.
Looking from east to west this time:
The Serpiente captures the Abomination, but the real highlight of the turn saw the Argonauta take on the Tepant! Long time allies met in rivalry as the Spanish faced the French. The Argonauta loosed a Broadsides Attack, but it missed. The ram roll also failed, but the Argonauta won the boarding party to eliminate all of the Tepant’s crew with the Inquisitor! This severely restricted the Tepant’s effectiveness, and her lack of an oarsman also meant that she could be easily captured.
Battle of the behemoths; flagships of France and Spain meet on the high seas!
Elated to finally be back at the golden island, the English team up to sink the Abomination and deny the Spanish from using her! The Gallowglass shot first and missed, but that allowed the Divine Wind to use her ability and sink the ugly 4 master.
The Tepant fired to take the Argonauta down to 2 masts, at which point the Spanish called it quits for fear of elimination. They turned the Serpiente and Argonauta around to repair. This left the door wide open for the English, who quickly dismasted the Tepant and planned to take her!
The Niagara blocks Morgawr from sinking the Auguste, who is rowing home with a few coins aboard. The Pirates are nearing the end of the recovery process. The whirlpools they created with Lost way back at the beginning aren’t helping.
Suddenly the south is heating up again! The Pirates have finally gotten around to attacking the French after their Cursed alliance detour stopped them for a handful of turns. In a strange coincidence, almost every remaining ship in the French fleet is coming or going from their HI, and the repaired Pirates approach from the west for a crowded area. The Yankee is towing the Niagara, who was dismasted by Morgawr. The Horizon and Republicain are ready to provide whatever help they can, while the Argus and Auguste are almost back with gold.
While the action shifts to the south, two developments unfold up north: the Spanish launch La Hada and crew her with a captain and helmsman, while the English have captured the Tepant!
All of the action lies in the northern and southern parts of the center:
Morgawr and the Black Diamond hit the Yankee hard: (the Yankee isn’t having a good day!)
The French took their turn, and managed to go 4/4 between the Yankee and Republicain to dismast the Black Diamond!
An overhead shot, showing the debris strewn everywhere.
The English use some strange chain-towing tactics to maneuver the Tepant out of La Hada’s range.
At the top and bottom, the Spanish and Pirates repair.
Morgawr sinks the Yankee, but the French get their gold home.
Total devastation. At the left, La Hada has engaged the Gallowglass. The Jikininki has failed to eliminate all four of the Divine Wind’s crew. La Serpiente approaches from the northeast, looking to join the fray. The Horizon has begun towing the Black Diamond, meaning the Pirates have lost their flagship. The French are in a state of disarray themselves, with the Republicain looking to repair while the Auguste actually repairs. The Argus rescues the Niagara, knowing she can’t be attacked if Morgawr is close by.
The Divine Wind and Gallowglass team up to dismast the Hada and set her alight! La Hada had a very short life in this game. At this point, no one seems to care about the gold in the middle – everyone is in survival mode.
The Pillage and Hellfire are finally ready to sail, but the Argonauta is still repairing.
The Crusher attacks, using the Scorpion blade to dismast the Republicain just before she can dock to repair.
La Serpiente takes La Hada’s place, leaving one mast on the Divine Wind. The Jikininki misses the boarding party again.
The English continue to best the Spanish in combat, but they know they’re not a match for the Argonauta.
As the carnage mounts, the endgame approaches.
The Argonauta is finally repaired, but the Divine Wind has already fallen to the Jikininki. The Gallowglass knows there’s no hope and sails for home. Throughout all of the chaos both English ships lost all 6 of their combined crew. The Tepant and Hada also suffered heavy casualties, though the Tepant’s came at the hands of the Inquisitor. To the southeast, the Crusher is the Pirates’ best hope, but she’s fighting the Horizon and Auguste at the same time. Reinforcements are arriving, but it may be too late to save the Black Diamond.
In an attempt to recapture the Black Diamond, the Pirates go after the ship towing her, L’Argus. Morgawr rams the sloop derelict, allowing the Pillage to capture her. Crusher has gotten the better of the Horizon, and looks to tow the Black Diamond. The Hellfire lost her helmsman in the Pirates/Cursed engagement, so she’s slow in this battle.
Jikininki rams the Gallowglass, officially taking the English out of the game! The Argonauta approaches the scene of the battle, though by this point it’s a debris field of corpses, masts, and shattered, derelict hulks.
The south is more lively, but that battle is winding down as well. The French are desperate. The Niagara wants to tow the Black Diamond home, but can’t without getting blasted in the meantime. Instead she starts a fire on the Pillage. The French try to surprise the Pirates by sending the Auguste west for a raid on the Pirates’ HI, where she hits the Hellfire on the way by.
The Pirates regroup, but inexplicably leave the burning Pillage to recapture the Black Diamond herself. She does, but the Niagara is still firing at her. The Hellfire turned around and dismasted the Auguste but couldn’t sink her. The Auguste rowed into the fog bank. The Pirates would like to use Jikininki to kill the Argonauta’s crew, so they don’t want her going in alone.
Here’s the debris and wreckage from a more horizontal angle:
The Argonauta tows the Serpiente first, and then captures the Tepant. The Niagara has won her battle against the Pillage, setting her completely ablaze. Morgawr hunts down the Auguste.
Morgawr sinks the Auguste, and Jikininki dismasts the Niagara, knocking the French out of the game! Now there are two: Pirates vs. Spanish. The Argonauta tows the Tepant through the wreckage, knowing she’ll need help if she wants to stand a chance in this final battle. The Crusher and Hellfire are fully repaired, and they set a northeasterly course.
The battle begins! The Argonauta hits Morgawr, but the Tepant is still repairing and has no crew.
The Argonauta is pinned by both Morgawr and the Crusher, and though the initial Pirate attacks fail in general, they will win easily.
Utter devastation:
At long last, the Pirates have won this tiny cumulative game!
This was a unique experience. There’s been at least one other cumulative game (I believe two) from back in 2011/2012 that didn’t see a ton of points, but I’m pretty sure this is the smallest cumulative game I’ve played. Despite it’s short nature, I would recommend giving something like this a try. Especially if you’ve never played a cumulative game before, this would be a good way to get started.
I must admit that I was disappointed not to use three of the 24 ships available: HMS Malton, HMS Ark Royal, and the Banshee’s Wail. However, perhaps I’ll find a way to fit them in even when I’m around my entire collection again.
I did a test game with a new concept – one island, with ONLY Unique Treasures! This was also the first game I’ve played this month of December, which means that for the first time ever, I’ve played at least one game in every month of the year!
This was the order of play: Pirates:
Black Diamond + captain, helmsman
Pillage
Morgawr
Spanish:
El Argonauta + Rollando, captain, helmsman
El Corazon Dorado + captain
Americans:
Yankee + helmsman
Lady Washington + helmsman
Niagara + captain, helmsman
The setup was simple, with each home island 2L away from the single wild island, which had 11 UT’s on it and lay underneath an arch.
The Yankee was the first to reach the island, but no fleet had an explorer.
The Pirates began the second turn by attacking the Yankee with the Black Diamond! Funny enough, all four shots missed but the ram succeeded to slightly damage the schooner. However, the Pirates also lost the boarding party and their helmsman. Morgawr moved to the Pillage’s starboard side to guard the little ship against the powerful Spanish.
The Spanish took their second turn, and the Corazon Dorado was considerably more successful than the Black Diamond, hitting three times to dismast the Yankee.
The Argonauta gave Broadsides Attack a go against Morgawr, but it missed!
The Americans began their turn by giving the derelict Yankee an explore action! Here’s what she found:
The most important ones were Barbary Banner, Buried Treasure, and Rum, which in this case amounted to 12 gold, the total amount in play.
In order to get in range of the Yankee, the Corazon Dorado sailed right into range of the Lady Washington, who hit 2/3 in a nice shoot action. The Yankee was done, but the Americans just needed to tow her home, and their HI was the nearest. The Niagara shot and rammed the Black Diamond, taking out her 3S cannons. (The Black Diamond is one of my oldest ships and her gaff mast was broken long ago so it’s attached to the mizzenmast.)
As the Black Diamond’s foremast falls across the deck of the derelict Yankee, it’s obvious this game will be filled with carnage.
Next, the Black Diamond tried to use her ship’s ability to steal all of the Yankee’s treasure, but miraculously the Yankee won the boarding party! In the background, Morgawr has hit the Argonauta with her fire ability.
Both Spanish ships come around their enemies! Both are looking the cut off the healthy Pirates in the event that they try to tow the Yankee back to their HI. The Corazon shoots and rams the Lady Washington, but only takes out a mast. The Argonauta sails around Morgawr, missing another Broadsides Attack on the way by.
The Lady Washington towed the Yankee, while the Niagara simultaneously moved to block the Black Diamond’s path to the Yankee and shoot at the Corazon Dorado.
The Pirates then struck again. The Black Diamond took the last masts off both the Niagara and Corazon Dorado. The Pillage rammed a mast off the Lady Washington, while Morgawr hit with another fire attack against the Argonauta.
The Argonauta was losing masts quickly, and things looked best for the Pirates.
The Black Diamond maneuvered to sink the Lady Washington, knocking the Americans out of the game.
War at sea. Masts and sails litter the battlefield, while only three ships and one sea monster continue the fight, with one ship mostly aflame.
With three fire masts, the Argonauta rolled once for each possible effect. Then, with her last cannon, she managed to finally hit with BA (dismasting the Pillage) before coming into contact with the derelict Yankee, who still had all the gold aboard. (Though by this point Plague was on the Pillage)
Without her helmsman, the Black Diamond couldn’t quite begin towing the Yankee before the Argonauta explored her to grab the gold. With her explore action, the Argonauta managed to eliminate some of the fires.
At this point the Pirates had to chase the Argonauta, but Morgawr was in range on the next turn to dismast the 5 master.
This gave the Pirates the win, but I think I played it wrong. I think Rollando’s ability would allow the Argonauta to take all of the Yankee’s UT’s (or whichever ones she wanted, especially the gold ones), which would save a turn versus exploring the derelict. This turn was important, because I think it would have let the Argonauta get home before Morgawr was in shooting or pinning range. Either way, it was more of a test game. This all-UT setup should be explored further at some point. A fun and quick game that saw lots of splinters! I believe that by the battle’s end, only 6 of the original 28 masts were standing, and that includes Morgawr’s perfect health. In terms of actual wooden masts, only 2 out of 24 masts that started the game were standing at the end, meaning that 92% of masts were knocked down!
Spanish:
Napolitana + captain, helmsman, oarsman, fire shot
Batavian Bat + oarsman
San Pedro + explorer, oarsman
Antamasia + captain, helmsman, oarsman
English:
HMS King Edward + captain, helmsman, explorer, fire shot
HMS Dover + captain, helmsman, explorer, fire shot
La Santa Ana + Fernando Sanchez, Bianco’s Haulers, helmsman, oarsman
There were 4 home islands, 4 wild islands, 2 whirlpools, and a string of terrain in the middle of the sea. Each wild island had 6 coins on it. Round earth rules were used.
The Corsairs quickly used round earth to explore a southern wild island that the Harbinger and Comet appeared to be headed towards.
The Pirates split up, while the English stick together.
The Harbinger is back in action!
But the Cursed Corsairs go 5/5 between the Freedom’s Hand and the Cat’s Claw to dismast the new ship! (the Claw had a successful ram)
Early-game carnage:
The Comet shoots a mast off the Cat’s Claw, but the Corsairs have other issues.
As the English explore the northwestern island, the Pirate Antamasia wants no part of them. The English send the Santa Ana through a whirlpool to raid the Corsairs’ HI. The submerged Pyre failed to ram a mast off the Meresman.
The Freedom’s Hand engages the Antamasia at S+S range while the Santa Ana is free to return home with stolen loot after Bianco’s Haulers prevented the ship from being shot at while it was docked at the Corsairs’ HI. The Harbinger is rowing home as the Spanish fleet accumulates gold.
Above the mainmast of the King Edward, the proud HMS Dover docks home gold. In the distance, the Pyre has surfaced to engage the Meresman, but she’s unsuccessful.
The Pirate Antamasia answered with a 2/2 to beat the Freedom’s Hand.
Only a few coins remain on islands as the endgame approaches.
The final count for this game with 4 players:
1. English: 27 gold
2. Pirates: 22
3. Spanish: 19
4. Cursed Corsairs: 6
The setup featured home islands at opposite ends, and three wild islands in the middle. The island in the center of the ocean was surrounded by a combination of fog and reefs, but it had 8 coins compared to 5 coins each for the other two islands.
The eastern island is off to the right of the frame.
Ships headed for the islands. The Flamberge ducked into a fog bank to avoid the Bruja.
As the Orca struggled to exit the fog in the correct direction, the Satisfaction and Nightmare cleaned out the eastern island. The Flamberge actually beat her comrade (the Orca) to the middle island, meaning that the western island was the last to be explored. The Bruja, with no cargo space available, waited to ambush the French Pirates.
The Satisfaction gambled, hoping that the Bruja’s average cannons would either miss at least half the time or not get completely in range.
And she paid the price! The Bruja sailed up and broadsided the Satisfaction, eliminating all three masts, both coins, and her helmsman.
The Bruja sunk the now-empty Satisfaction as the Nightmare returned home with gold. Now with 2 ships, the French Pirates looked to unload some gold of their own. Luckily for them, the Flamberge and Orca had 10 gold between their 2 coins! Still, the French Pirates were facing an uphill battle after their main gold runner was sunk.
The Flamberge returned home, taking a mast off the Bruja on the way by. Guy LaPlante led a boarding party which killed the Bruja’s helmsman. The Bruja had no choice but to duck into a fog bank. The Flamberge headed west this time, as the Orca and Nightmare sailed in and out of the fog.
Here, the Bruja has repaired, while the Flamberge and Orca make trips to the western island, which they’ve discovered has a lot of high-value coins on it.
With the Bruja and Nightmare now heading to the western island, the Flamberge and Orca go back to the center.
LaPlante was getting bored, and decided to attack! His cannons took out three masts from the Bruja, and his S-boarding stole a coin from the Nightmare.
However, the Cursed got their revenge on the next turn, with the two ships teaming up to crush the Flamberge. The Bruja’s Fear keyword was a 5, meaning that the Flamberge was almost useless for the following turn. The Nightmare’s ram and board meant that the coin changed hands again back to the Nightmare.
The Flamberge headed home, and the Nightmare took the Bruja under tow.
As the Bruja repaired, the Flamberge was unlucky enough to hit a reef and roll a 3, meaning that she was derelict and pretty much out of the game. The Nightmare returned to the center island to grab the last coin.
1. Cursed Pirates: 26 gold
2. French Pirates: 25 gold
Wow! That last 1 coin mattered, giving the Cursed Pirates the victory! The French Pirates found some coins of very high values, but the Cursed Pirates had more gold overall.
Warning: Unfortunately I can only find one picture from this game, so the republished report is extremely flawed with basically no pictures.
This game was played on 11/16, and featured similar fleets as the last game, but this time the build total was 80 points.
The fleets went in the order as follows; note some changes from the last game:
Mercenaries:
Gladius Dei (cazador) + Caesar (cazador), helmsman
Terror + captain, helmsman, shipwright
Bashaw Folly + Osvaldo de Deus Celemente, oarsman
Devil Ray, oarsman
Gladius Dei
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Submarine
Points: 15
Masts: 3
Cannons: 4S,4S,5S
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Link: Caesar
Mercenary, Submarine
This ship gets +S to her base move and +1 cargo spaces if she doesn’t carry crew.
Flavor: The “Sword of God” is rumored to have been built by the Vatican in an attempt to safely move Catholic wealth and artifacts around the globe.
Caesar
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Crew
Points: 9
Link: Gladius Dei
Limit, Ex-Patriot, Navigator
As a free action, friendly Mercenary-faction ships may unload treasure at your home island if they are within S of it. Gold unloaded in this way loses one point of value, to a minimum of zero.
Flavor: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Mark 12:17 – Caesar draws Ex-Patriots to himself like few others, often leading cooperative efforts to gather the wealth needed by his fellow exiles. Caesar takes twenty percent of the haul as his dues; what few know is that he gives half of that to parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.
French:
Froide Vengeance (selxaxri) + Phillipe Jordan (el_cazador), Mademoiselle Josephine Godiva, helmsman, shipwright
Le Gaule (cazador) + Michel Dubois (cazador), chieftain
Native Canoes (cazador) + one canoe with Exploding Shot
La Crete Argentee + helmsman
Froide Vengeance (proxied at 15 points for this game)
Nat. French
Masts 3
Cannons 3L-2S-4S
Cargo 3
Movement L
Icebreaker
This ship may tow Icebergs.
Still at war with the English, one general who skirted the floes of the northern waters concocted a hare-brained scheme- blockading the british fleet using the floes themselves.
Phillipe Jordan
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 8
Link: (The Submarine)
Ex-patriot, Captain
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against any ship.
Flavor: Jordan’s anger at the French Admiralty’s decisions has led him to dock at French ports as rarely as possible, instead resupplying at islands and foreign ports.
Le Gaule
Type: 5-mast
Nation: France
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L,2S,2S,2S,3L
Link: None
When this ship sinks another ship, give this ship a free move action.
Flavor: After decisive action against the Cursed near the coast of French Indochina, this legendary vessel has come to the Atlantic to fight the English.
Michel Dubois
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 4
Link: None
Captain, Explorer
Flavor: Dubois fights for gold and will turn down opportunities to sink the English in favor of obtaining more money.
Canots Indigènes
Nation: France
Points: X (13)
Masts: X
Cargo: 1 (x5)
Move: S+S
Cannon: 3L (x5)
Link: None
Native Canoes, Captain
Flavor: The natives of Indonesia have been trained in the art of war by French capitaines, and they pursue the monsters of the deep.
Chef de Tribu
Nation: France
Points: 13
Link: None
Tribal Chieftain
Before you give any of this chieftain’s canoes an action, roll a d6. On a 5-6 they may shoot at submerged ships.
Flavor: This chieftain’s men have had conact with the Monster Hunter’s guild.
Tenfold
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 22
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L,3S,3S
Link: Zedekiah
Mercenary, Hostile: Caesar, Hoist, Turbine. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.
Flavor: Zedekiah’s ironclad ship has been in the employ of several nations, most recently the French. His hope is to repurchase the ancient land of the Jews with the lucrative profits he makes from shipping. As he is fond of saying, if you hire him, your investment will repay tenfold.
Onox
Type: Crew
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 5
Link: Ganondorf’s Revenge
Ganonite, Ex-Patriot, Black Mark, Captain.
Pirate crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Onox is secretly recruiting men for Ganondorf’s future Second Gerudo Empire. It is said that there is no ruthless, traitorous fiend he won’t turn down.
Koloktos
Nation: Cursed
Points: 8
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. This ship may dock at an enemy home island and take as much treasure as she can carry. She must leave (if able) on her next turn.
Flavor: The dark magic that powers this automaton has given it a keen sense of when to raid enemy ports.
Rusty Hook
Nation: Pirate
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L, 2S, 2S, 2S
Ability: You opponent cannot initiate a boarding party against this ship.
Flavor Text: ???
Link: Donovan Richtarian
Tetra
Type: Crew
Nation: Pirate
Points: 6
Link: Arbiter
Hostile: Cursed, Captain, Explorer. Hylian crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Tetra had been captaining for years before Hyrule emerged as a sea power. While not all of her work has been ethical, she is effective at what she does and is always willing to lend Hyrule her aid against the Cursed.
Purlo
Type: Crew
Nation: Hyrule
Points: 5
Link: None
Hostile: Cursed, Helmsman. Once per turn, this ship may randomly take one treasure from any ship she touches.
Flavor: Purlo was a con artist in Castleton until he was caught by the Ranging and Enforcement corps. Noting his skill, they referred him to the navy, where he began a new life leading boarding parties and raids.
Dead Man’s Revenge
Pirate
20 pts
Masts: 3
Cargo: 2
Movement: L+L
Canon: 3L-2S-3L
Ability: Shipburner – Once per game if this ship is within S of enemy ships, roll a d6. On 4-6 she explodes, remove her immediately from the game and for every enemy ship within S, eliminate one mast, replace another with a fire mast, and eliminate one crew, cargo or equipment. On a 1-3 remove all of this ships masts and eliminate all her crew.
Torpedo
Pirate
18 pts
Masts: 2
Cargo: 1
Movement: L+L
Cannon: 4S-4S
Ability: Portburner – This ship may dock at an enemy Home Island, and roll a d6. On a 4-6 she explodes and is immediately eliminated from the game. Roll another d6 the result is the number of treasure coins removed from the Home Island. On a 1-3 she may take one treasure and leave on her next turn if able.
English:
HMS Fatalis (cazador) + Hermione Gold, helmsman
HMS Puma (cazador) + Thomas Gunn, explorer
Edelweiss (cazador) + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
HMS Growler (cazador) + explorer
HMS Fatalis
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: England
Points: 16
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: L
Cannons: 4L,4L,4S
Link: None
Hoist
This ship eliminates two masts with one hit.
Flavor: The HMS Fatalis was comissioned to pillage and plunder and and rifle and loot; occasionally she even burns the town down. She’s really a fright.
HMS Puma
Type: 4-mast
Nation: England
Points: 13
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3L,3L,3L,3L
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against crew, forts, and ships within S of her.
Flavor: The HMS Puma’s captain has little patience and will often sail straight into combat, even though the Puma carries long-range cannons.
Edelweiss
Nation: Gallia/England
Type: 3-mast Windcatcher
Points: 18
Masts: 3
Cargo: 3
Move: S+S
Cannons: 2L,3L,2S
Link: Alicia Melchiott, Welkin Gunther
Windcatcher. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.
Flavor: Purchased from the Americans and modified by Gallian nautical engineers, the Edelweiss has proved a capable ship. Her high price is all that has precluded further orders by the Principality of Gallia.
HMS Growler
Type: 3-mast square rigged
Nation: England
Points: 10
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,3S,3S
Link: None
Schooner. This ship gets +L to her base move if she starts her move action within S of an island.
Flavor: The Growler, called by some the Prowler, slinks along coasts and archipelagos, looking to use her relatively shallow draft to seize a first strike.
I purposely made the setup the opposite of the last game. The play area featured 5 separate home islands around the borders of the sea, which would once again utilize round earth rules. A whopping 17 coins were placed on the middle island. The northern and southern island both received 8 coins, while a wreck of HMS Sultan received 5. Some UT’s were present, which would affect the game once again. All of the icebergs used were either 1’s, 2’s, or 3’s, with a total of 9. The custom icebergs would again function as “1” icebergs. Two whirlpools and a few reefs were placed as well.
You can see the double arch to the left of the middle island, beneath which the shipwreck lies. The arch to the right is a difficult one to use since it’s so low and difficult to maneuver in, but it adds a nice scenic touch. The Mercenaries picked their home island last, but luckily for them, nobody picked the northeastern HI, which was closest to the arch. Everybody else wanted to avoid the low arch with their tall ships, while the Mercs knew they’d have no problem with it in their sleek submarines. The English are at the lower right, while the west is comprised (bottom to top) of the Cursed, Pirates, and French.
On the very first turn, the Mercenaries have entered the arch! The Bashaw Folly is short enough to make it through, while the Gladius Dei and Devil Ray lead the way. The Terror has gone slightly to the south out of the frame.
This is a fantastic view of this great setup. At the left foreground, the dangerous reef that the Sultan fell victim to. At the far left, the edge of the huge iceberg can be seen. The main arch in the foreground is a double archway, and you can see how the wider arch slopes a bit, leaving more clearance towards the right (I thought of doing that while making the arch so it’s not universally accessible at every point of the arch!). At the far right, the other archway is taller but rather narrow. In the middle of the ocean, a gold-laden island beckons. Beyond, you can see the Mercs making their way through the other arch, which is wavy inside from all of the water ricocheting back and forth. To the right of the arch, you can just see the submerged Terror going the long way.
All of the fleets have begun sailing! The Froide Vengeance grabs the huge iceberg and starts towing it. At the right, HMS Puma sails north instead of west with the rest of the fleet.
On the second turn the Gladius Dei is the first ship to dock at the middle island!
The Tenfold uses her hoist to explore the southern island, finding some nice UT’s: Wine, Power Cannons, and English Royal Decree.
With HI raider Koloktos already on board, the Tenfold transfers Wine to the Lamprey:
The French canoes have explored the northern island, finding Spices in addition to an abandoned musketeer.
The Terror has rejoined the Mercs. At the left, the two Pirate gunships guard the Torpedo, who prepares to explore the Sultan wreck.
The Mercs have deduced that no other fleet can explore the middle island next turn either, and therefore the Devil Ray surfaces to dock, while the Gladius Dei submerges and allows Caesar to place a trade current behind the eastern arch.
First blood goes to the French! The Froide Vengeance turns around and hits 2/2 against the Rusty Hook. In addition, the Hare’s Luck turned around and shot at the Skipping Stone, but was foiled by the Catamaran’s defenses!
The Pirates tried to get revenge, but failed miserably. The Rusty Hook executed a shoot and ram against the Froide, but only succeeded in taking out one mast, while the boarding party was a tie. The Dead Man’s Chest sails north to help the Rusty Hook, but that leaves the Torpedo vulnerable to the nearby Calypsos. The Skipping Stone shoots 1/2 against the Hare’s Luck.
There are some developments in the south as well: an iceberg moved right into the path of the Fatalis and Edelweiss, forcing the English to take a different route to avoid possible attacks by the Tenfold or Terror. The Growler has explored the southern island as the Cursed turn around. HMS Puma also turns, realizing that the French native canoes have taken most of the northern gold, and if the Puma went through the whirlpool, she would be an easy target for Le Gaule.
To start the next turn, the Devil Ray became the first ship to explore the middle island!
The most important one was Wolves, which meant that the Devil Ray couldn’t take any gold. Also, the other abandoned musketeer was on the island as well, meaning that the first abandoned musketeer, aboard a French canoe, was the only way to take out the wolves and access the treasure on the middle island!
Trouble in the south! The Bashaw Folly takes advantage of one of Caesar’s trade currents to surprise the Edelweiss, just getting both cannons in range. Celemente’s Broadsides Attack hit! The Edelweiss’ defenses were irrelevant for the time being, and the submerged Terror wasn’t far behind.
Although a conflict had begun in the south, the west was still the location of the hottest action. As you can see from the next picture, total chaos has erupted. The French moved first, using the Froide Vengeance to first tow the huge iceberg right into the Rusty Hook! This left the Hook with one mast standing. Then, Phillipe Jordan’s +1 cannon bonus gave the Froide a perfect 2/2 to send the Rusty Hook to the bottom! For the second straight game, the Rusty Hook had been easily sunk by the aggressive French. The French weren’t done though. The Gaule sailed up to the Devil Ray and surprised the Mercs with a brutal attack! The Devil Ray was no match for the French gunship, and sunk below the waves. The Gaule then used her unique ability to move again, which put her in range of the Skipping Stone. The Gaule’s guns opened fire once again, shattering the outrigger of the Skipping Stone and leaving her with just one mast. At the far left, the Dead Man’s Revenge has taken an iceberg hit, further increasing the woes of the Pirates.
For the second game in a row, Wolves and Le Gaule have destroyed the plans of the Mercs.
The Cursed were up next, right before the Pirates. The Hare’s Luck shot with her final cannon, and miraculously landed a firepot on the Skipping Stone! This left the catamaran a burning derelict.
The Cursed gave the Tenfold a move action to deposit her gold on the home island. The Lamprey continued west to the puzzlement of the other fleets. In the background, Calypsos has taken a mast off the Torpedo and stolen her lone coin.
The Pirates are in major trouble.
The Pirates took their turn, which made their situation even worse, as if that were possible! The Skipping Stone was automatically scuttled having all fire masts, and the Rusty Hook was gone. The Torpedo actually managed to hit Calypsos with her remaining 4S cannon, but was pinned and a sitting duck.
Where did the Dead Man’s Revenge go? As you may have guessed, she blew up! True to her name, the Pirates wanted revenge against the French, who had ruined their plans for the second game in a row. However, once again, the Pirates couldn’t do much of anything about it. The Dead Man’s Revenge maneuvered herself near the reef edge of the arch and the big iceberg, just barely getting within S of both the Froide Vengeance and Gaule. Her captain missed with both cannons, and the shipburner ability failed, eliminating the DMR from the game and leaving the French as healthy as before.
The English had enough firepower to get revenge on the Mercenaries, blasting the Bashaw Folly with the Fatalis while the Edelweiss was towed by the Puma.
The overall situation. The Mercs have already lost the Devil Ray and Bashaw Folly, while the Pirates have essentially been eliminated from the game.
The Terror joins the Gladius Dei while the French regroup and unload treasure.
Calypsos has finished off the Torpedo, and the Tenfold grabs the coin. The Lamprey appears to be on a round earth mission, but which home island is she after?
The Cursed suddenly make their intentions clear! The Tenfold uses Power Cannons to stun the French and sink the Froide Vengeance with an improbable 3/3, which also nets them a coin from the middle island due to the English Royal Decree. The Lamprey emerges from the south to come out of the northwest, looking to exchange Wine for a high-value coin!
The English have brought back a small amount of gold via the Growler and look to get the Edelweiss back in action.
After the early-game battles, the sea doesn’t look crowded enough…
With help from a trade current, the Terror has emerged from the depths to attack Le Gaule! The Mercs were hoping to kill the tribal chieftain and therefore gain some control of the canoe that carried the vital musketeer. The attack knocked over two masts and killed Michel Dubois, leaving the Gaule vulnerable. The Terror declined to use Fear out of the fear (pun intended) of cancelling the chieftain, which can actually make the canoes more dangerous.
The Gladius Dei has resurfaced at a safer point of the island in case the French try to eliminate the wolves.
The canoes team with Le Gaule to sink the Terror, leaving the Mercs with just the Gladius Dei.
But the French also have to deal with the Cursed! Luckily for the French, the Tenfold misses her shots against the canoes. The Lamprey unloads Wine for a 3 at the French HI.
As the game progresses, one thing is clear: the English are coming.
Le Gaule didn’t have access to the captain ability, but the canoes did, and the Tenfold lost a mast. The Gaule won the boarding party to steal the 3 that Calypsos originally took from the Torpedo. The canoes also wounded Calypsos.
Calypsos runs a suicidal interference mission, pinning the Gaule but failing to remove a mast or kill the chieftain. The Tenfold uses the opportunity to move away from the action and grab some gold from the shipwreck without having to roll for the reef. At the top of the picture you can see the Lamprey escaping.
The English have entered the center area, and the Gladius Dei is forced to submerge in their presence. The Edelweiss has finished repairing and it won’t be long before she joins her fleetmates. However, most of the gold lies on the home islands of the Cursed and French, while the middle island is largely untouched. The French still have the abandoned musketeer, the key to the late game chaos that approaches.
The canoes take another mast off the Tenfold, while the Gaule repairs with an abandoned shipwright (from the northern island) transferred to her by the Crete Argentee, whose bonus was important in the sinking of the Terror and the shots against the Tenfold and Calypsos, who is now dead. Seeing the gold on the Cursed HI, the Gladius Dei is hoping to take out the Tenfold, but needs to avoid the dangerous canoes on the way.
The Lamprey brought back her gold from the French HI, and the Tenfold unloaded her shipwrecked treasure, giving the Cursed a gold advantage. Then, they both sailed south to round-earth their way to the northwest, where the French began sailing. At this point, the Fatalis was pretty much going after the French, while the Growler sailed north to try and grab the last coins from the northern island. The English had the luxury of being able to split their forces, but they needed to since there were so many threats. Also, the Cursed and French both had more gold than the English.
The Puma takes out two canoes, with the Edelweiss following her under the arch. As with the previous game, the French chieftain continually failed to allow the canoes to shoot at submerged ships, and the Gladius Dei pursued the Tenfold. The game was becoming more urgent in nature, with exciting developments occurring.
The Tenfold and Lamprey split up in the north! The Lamprey sailed east to deter the Growler, while the Tenfold headed west, making it fairly obvious she intended to raid the English HI rather than the French. This was probably the Cursed’s plan all along, but the French confirmed it by docking the Gaule home. She unloaded treasure and provided a deterrent to any would-be raiders. The Gaule was temporarily invulnerable, but the Crete Argentee was not, being dismasted by the Fatalis.
A tense situation, with ships scattered everywhere: Le Gaule has fully repaired, while the Lamprey rams the Growler and takes a coin from her. The Puma came under attack by the canoes, but fought back with her comrades to eliminate all but the one canoe which had the musketeer. The remaining factions essentially couldn’t eliminate that canoe, since it held the only way to get gold from the middle island. The Cursed could gamble and try to eliminate it, but were greedy and wanted a piece of the middle island too. The Gladius Dei is to the far southwest out of the picture while the Tenfold approaches the deserted English HI. The Fatalis and Edelweiss sail towards the Cursed HI, hoping to cut off the Tenfold.
On the next turn, the matchup was finally seen: the Gladius Dei with Caesar aboard taking on the Tenfold! Of course, it didn’t last long, with the Gladius Dei eliminating the Tenfold’s final mast with a submerged ram before the Tenfold used Turbine to raid the English HI. The final canoe knocked the Puma down to one mast, while the Fatalis and Edelweiss prepared to sink the Tenfold. In a clutch 1v1 victory, the Growler fought back to dismast the Lamprey and take back the gold!
The Gladius Dei rams again, this time on the surface. The GD steals a coin.
The severely weakened French have no choice – it’s the best opportunity to get at the middle island! The last canoe’s musketeer fires and misses! In the meantime, the Growler is limping home after going through the northern whirlpool, near where the Gaule approaches the middle island. The Tenfold also speeds towards the island, so the Fatalis and Edelweiss do the same. It’s a showdown in the center!
As the musketeer misses again, everyone draws closer except for the Puma, who captures the Crete Argentee hoping to take advantage of her bonus.
The French miss yet again, which can only serve to help the English. The battle begins, with the Edelweiss hitting the Gaule as the Puma misses the Lamprey. The Fatalis tries to corner the Tenfold, who is essentially uncaptureable with Turbine and no cancellers present.
As the Gladius Dei returns to the island, the French go next and finally eliminate the wolves! The Gaule docks but since Dubois is gone she can’t explore! Naturally, the Cursed are somehow the first fleet to explore the middle island, even though they were the last fleet to reach it in the game and were already winning! The Tenfold loads a whopping 17 gold in addition to the 1 she stole from the English, making her a target of the English once again.
However, the Tenfold was also subject to the other UT’s on the island, and Plague killed all of her crew, while the other UT’s wouldn’t help at all. To top it all off, the Whirlpool UT sent the Tenfold through one whirlpool and out another, which actually shortened her journey home.
The Fatalis is the second ship to take gold from the middle island.
As the Growler repairs, the Edelweiss emerges from a whirlpool to chase the Tenfold!
At long last, the Mercenaries are finally able to load some gold! The Puma attacks Le Gaule, while the Fatalis plays a hybrid role with gold aboard, keeping a lookout for the Tenfold, soon to emerge from the west with round earth.
Having lost her helmsman, the Tenfold was no match for the Edelweiss, who sank her and eliminated all 18 gold from the game. The English breathed a sigh of relief now that the Cursed couldn’t get any more gold (the Lamprey had been sunk as well), but they still had to stop the French. However, with the Cursed and Pirates out of the game, the English didn’t want to trigger any endgame conditions by eliminating the French before they could get gold back (I tried to keep it consistent with the previous game). Therefore, they decided to let the final canoe go while trying to capture the Gaule. The Gladius Dei was out of range and untowable anyway, so the English concentrated on the Gaule.
The last canoe has left the musketeer on the island for the final coin in the game, while the English will inevitably capture the weakened Gaule.
An epic picture! The stealthy and submerged Gladius Dei is about to hit an old trade current on her way home, while through the archway, you can see part of the beautiful center island and the Gaule’s mainmast, which has fallen dramatically against the hoist of the Fatalis.
The Mercs use Caesar to deposit their gold! It won’t be nearly enough to win, but it’s a small victory nonetheless.
As the French canoe runs home the Puma tows the Gaule, completing the English plan.
The game’s final turn saw the French deposit their final coin with their only game piece still under their command, while the English formed a defensive formation around the Gaule to prevent her sinking. The English returned home her gold and that of the Fatalis, but it wasn’t much.
What a game! I think for some reason I enjoyed this game slightly more than the previous one, but funny enough they turned out oddly similar in a lot of ways. The Tenfold was center stage once again, and the Cursed are victorious! (xerecs will be happy haha) The English played another good game where they had firepower and enough time to repair and do good in the late game, but once again it wasn’t enough. The final French canoe gave the French 9 gold instead of 8, so those fleets were about equal. The French used the Crete Argentee, their main addition, to good effect, but lost the Froide Vengeance in the middle of the game. The Mercenaries were thwarted once again by Wolves and the French, but the Terror and Bashaw Folly made gallant attempts to slow the other fleets. The Pirates struggled mightily, being set upon early by the Cursed and French. The shipburner (dud) and portburner (not used) abilities provided nothing for their substantial costs, while I’d still like to see the Rusty Hook get another chance at some point. Overall, this was another fun game that saw lots of experimenting with custom ships and crew!
11/14/2015
Another game was played, this time at 5 fleets, 60 points.
The fleets went in the following order. In parentheses are the usernames of each individual who created the custom game piece.
French:
Froide Vengeance (selxaxri) + Radi Jaeger (el_cazador), Mademoiselle Josephine Godiva, helmsman
Le Gaule (cazador) + Michel Dubois (cazador), chieftain
Native Canoes (cazador) + one canoe with Exploding Shot
Froide Vengeance (proxied at 15 points for this game)
Nat. French
Masts 3
Cannons 3L-2S-4S
Cargo 3
Movement L
Icebreaker
This ship may tow Icebergs.
Still at war with the English, one general who skirted the floes of the northern waters concocted a hare-brained scheme- blockading the british fleet using the floes themselves.
Radi Jaeger
Type: Crew
Nation: Empire/France
Points: 6
Link: Lupus, Lupus Regnum
Captain, Born Leader.
Flavor: Radi Jaeger fights for the Russian Empire under the promise that they will grant Fhirald, his homeland, independence in reward for his service. He encourages his crew of this fact, although he has reservations.
Le Gaule
Type: 5-mast
Nation: France
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L,2S,2S,2S,3L
Link: None
When this ship sinks another ship, give this ship a free move action.
Flavor: After decisive action against the Cursed near the coast of French Indochina, this legendary vessel has come to the Atlantic to fight the English.
Michel Dubois
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 4
Link: None
Captain, Explorer
Flavor: Dubois fights for gold and will turn down opportunities to sink the English in favor of obtaining more money.
Canots Indigènes
Nation: France
Points: X (13)
Masts: X
Cargo: 1 (x5)
Move: S+S
Cannon: 3L (x5)
Link: None
Native Canoes, Captain
Flavor: The natives of Indonesia have been trained in the art of war by French capitaines, and they pursue the monsters of the deep.
Chef de Tribu
Nation: France
Points: 13
Link: None
Tribal Chieftain
Before you give any of this chieftain’s canoes an action, roll a d6. On a 5-6 they may shoot at submerged ships.
Flavor: This chieftain’s men have had conact with the Monster Hunter’s guild.
English:
HMS Fatalis (cazador) + Hermione Gold, helmsman
HMS Puma (cazador) + Thomas Gunn, Trevor van Tyne
HMS Growler (cazador) + explorer
HMS Fatalis
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: England
Points: 16
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: L
Cannons: 4L,4L,4S
Link: None
Hoist
This ship eliminates two masts with one hit.
Flavor: The HMS Fatalis was comissioned to pillage and plunder and and rifle and loot; occasionally she even burns the town down. She’s really a fright.
HMS Puma
Type: 4-mast
Nation: England
Points: 13
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3L,3L,3L,3L
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against crew, forts, and ships within S of her.
Flavor: The HMS Puma’s captain has little patience and will often sail straight into combat, even though the Puma carries long-range cannons.
HMS Growler
Type: 3-mast square rigged
Nation: England
Points: 10
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,3S,3S
Link: None
Schooner. This ship gets +L to her base move if she starts her move action within S of an island.
Flavor: The Growler, called by some the Prowler, slinks along coasts and archipelagos, looking to use her relatively shallow draft to seize a first strike.
Rusty Hook
Nation: Pirate
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L, 2S, 2S, 2S
Ability: You opponent cannot initiate a boarding party against this ship.
Flavor Text: ???
Link: Donovan Richtarian
Tetra
Type: Crew
Nation: Pirate
Points: 6
Link: Arbiter
Hostile: Cursed, Captain, Explorer. Hylian crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Tetra had been captaining for years before Hyrule emerged as a sea power. While not all of her work has been ethical, she is effective at what she does and is always willing to lend Hyrule her aid against the Cursed.
Purlo
Type: Crew
Nation: Hyrule
Points: 5
Link: None
Hostile: Cursed, Helmsman. Once per turn, this ship may randomly take one treasure from any ship she touches.
Flavor: Purlo was a con artist in Castleton until he was caught by the Ranging and Enforcement corps. Noting his skill, they referred him to the navy, where he began a new life leading boarding parties and raids.
Torpedo
Pirate
18 pts
Masts: 2
Cargo: 1
Movement: L+L
Cannon: 4S-4S
Ability: Portburner- This ship may dock at an enemy Home Island, and roll a d6. On a 4-6 she explodes and is immediately eliminated from the game. Roll another d6 the result is the number of treasure coins removed from the Home Island. On a 1-3 she may take one treasure and leave on her next turn if able.
Last Shot
Faction Affiliation: Pirate
Rarity: C
Type: Ship
Point Value: 13
Cargo Space: 3
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 2S-3L-3S
Number of Masts: 3
You may double the range of the last cannon this ship shoots each turn.
Cursed:(two of the three ships are Mercenary, but I didn’t want to refer to different Merc fleets)
Tenfold (cazador) + Onox (cazador), Koloktos (cazador), Gentleman Jocard, helmsman
Lamprey (cazador) + explorer
Hare’s Luck + helmsman
Tenfold
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 22
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L,3S,3S
Link: Zedekiah
Mercenary, Hostile: Caesar, Hoist, Turbine. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.
Flavor: Zedekiah’s ironclad ship has been in the employ of several nations, most recently the French. His hope is to repurchase the ancient land of the Jews with the lucrative profits he makes from shipping. As he is fond of saying, if you hire him, your investment will repay tenfold.
Onox
Type: Crew
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 5
Link: Ganondorf’s Revenge
Ganonite, Ex-Patriot, Black Mark, Captain.
Pirate crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.
Flavor: Onox is secretly recruiting men for Ganondorf’s future Second Gerudo Empire. It is said that there is no ruthless, traitorous fiend he won’t turn down.
Koloktos
Nation: Cursed
Points: 8
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. This ship may dock at an enemy home island and take as much treasure as she can carry. She must leave (if able) on her next turn.
Flavor: The dark magic that powers this automaton has given it a keen sense of when to raid enemy ports.
Flavor: This abomination from the Frozen North seems to have suffered permanent damage to her firing accuracy.
Mercenaries:
Gladius Dei (cazador) + Caesar (cazador), helmsman
Bashaw Folly + Osvaldo de Deus Celemente + helmsman, oarsman
Devil Ray + explorer, oarsman
Gladius Dei
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Submarine
Points: 15
Masts: 3
Cannons: 4S,4S,5S
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Link: Caesar
Mercenary, Submarine
This ship gets +S to her base move and +1 cargo spaces if she doesn’t carry crew.
Flavor: The “Sword of God” is rumored to have been built by the Vatican in an attempt to safely move Catholic wealth and artifacts around the globe.
Caesar
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Crew
Points: 9
Link: Gladius Dei
Limit, Ex-Patriot, Navigator
As a free action, friendly Mercenary-faction ships may unload treasure at your home island if they are within S of it. Gold unloaded in this way loses one point of value, to a minimum of zero.
Flavor: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Mark 12:17 – Caesar draws Ex-Patriots to himself like few others, often leading cooperative efforts to gather the wealth needed by his fellow exiles. Caesar takes twenty percent of the haul as his dues; what few know is that he gives half of that to parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.
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The setup featured rossinaz’s big island with 5 beaches as the home island for every fleet! Round earth rules were used. It was going to be an icy affair, and I even used all three of my custom foam icebergs, including that giant one you see towards the left. There were 5 wild islands, with two of them being mysterious. Each island had 8 coins on it, with some UT’s present. Also, the two widest arches were showcased, and each arch had 4 coins where a ship could dock. There was also some fog, 4 whirlpools, and some rocks to add to the mayhem. As I normally play, icebergs began moving on turn 2, although unlike last game, the normal iceberg rules were used – rolls were made at the beginning of each player’s turn rather than the beginning of each round of turns. The custom icebergs acted as “1” icebergs, continuing the game’s theme of trying to roll high for good things to happen. In addition, icebergs could combine together to form a larger iceberg, in which case the whole thing could move if either of the numbers were rolled. Lastly, icebergs could traverse whirlpools, with a third die roll being used to determine the exit location: the northeast whirlpool (upper right in the first picture) was #1, southeast #2, and so on.
As usual, each fleet picked its HI in the opposite order of the play order. The Mercs wanted to utilize the Gladius Dei’s link to Caesar, which could give the Mercs a boost at either of the nearby MI’s. The Cursed took the opposite side, also looking to take advantage of the fact that each arch was partially above wild islands, meaning that 12 total coins were in a very close area. The other fleets picked their beaches, and the game was ready to begin! (Interestingly enough, the French made a bold move by placing their native canoes on the opposite side of their HI (HI still means the home island or “home beach” in this case), partly because of round earth and partly because of their Captain keyword which gave the French more confidence they could get home if they ran into trouble.)
The eastern area. You can see the exploding shot underneath the middle French canoe:
The middle area:
The western area:
The French took the first action of the game, and the Froide Vengeance immediately made history and towed an iceberg! Other factions were eager to avoid them, but there were so many that it was only a matter of time before the ice started taking a toll on the ships.
The Mercs dove underwater, and on the second turn the Froide ditched one iceberg to tow another, much larger iceberg!
The French let their canoes explore, and in addition to some gold they picked up, they found Turtles!
England was the first nation to feel the brunt of the ice, with the Fatalis losing a mast. HMS Puma wanted no part of the dangerous Froide, especially with her SAT capabilities.
The Cursed got off to a good start. Here the Lamprey sits in the fog to avoid any ice while waiting to pop out and explore on the next turn. Just around the corner, the Tenfold hoists gold to herself and the Hare’s Luck, finding Power Cannons and an abandoned oarsman.
The Mercenaries took a turn to dock. The Gladius Dei used a mysterious island effect to move the Tenfold into an iceberg, showing hostility between the two Merc fleets. The Devil Ray explored and found an abandoned musketeer, who the Bashaw Folly would soon take for her helmsman.
The English continued to suffer bad luck, with the Puma getting hit. To complicate matters, she was stuck between a rocky outcropping and the iceberg that hit her. However, she would soon encounter something more dangerous…
The Pirate ships Last Shot and Rusty Hook began chasing the French, who started to flee the area. However, the turtles could only move S and were a long ways from home. The large wave to the right marks the eastern boundary of the sea, and once across it, ships would be in the west.
The decision making soon became complicated, which is part of what makes this game so interesting. The French could turn their canoes around and take on the Pirates to protect the turtles, but they also knew that the gold they held on the canoes was worth more than the turtles. In addition, round earthing to the west meant that they would be near their main gunships, the Gaule and Froide Vengeance. Lastly, the submarines Gladius Dei and Devil Ray were in the west, and the French chieftain allows the canoes to shoot at submerged ships on a 5 or 6.
The Gladius Dei has surfaced and is about to explore. However, the slow (S+S) Gaule lurks about, looking to possibly explore as well, attack the Gladius Dei, or even head south towards the English. Michel Dubois, in command of the French fleet and the Gladius Dei’s captain, decides to take up a flexible position where the Gaule can intercept any homecoming canoes or turtles and possibly take on any Pirate ships that emerge from the east.
The French didn’t have to ponder their next decision! With an SAT from Jaeger, the Froide Vengeance towed the giant iceberg into the stern of the Growler, taking out two masts on the way by. The iceberg finished the dismasting. The Vengeance used her second move action to rake the Puma’s stern, and miraculously shot 3/3 to crush most of the English fleet in a single turn!
A look at the devastation:
A turtle narrowly avoids a nearby iceberg. (which can’t eliminate the turtles anyway, it’s just for flavor!)
The English got immediate revenge, but the damage had been done. You can see that three icebergs are still in the immediate vicinity, and this catastrophic turn of events would hold up the English for a long while.
As turtles and canoes alike flee, the Last Shot is faster than all of them! Her “last shot” (and only in this case!) narrowly misses a canoe. But where has the Rusty Hook disappeared to?
She has whirlpooled her way into the west already, losing a mast in the process. The Rusty Hook hopes to cut off the French gold “fleet” (of canoes and turtles, no less, but quite sizable in number right now), but it won’t be easy with Le Gaule around.
The Cursed are unconcerned with the conflict in other parts of the sea. The Lamprey explores while the Tenfold and Hare’s Luck head home.
Another angle, where you can see the Hare’s Luck and Tenfold’s hoist through the hole in the arch. (Legend says Vieil Homme was so powerful he just flew right through the rock!)
The Mercenaries suffered a setback, finding Wolves with the Gladius Dei. Conveniently enough, the Bashaw Folly grabbed the Devil Ray’s abandoned musketeer. However, the French didn’t want anything to interrupt their already-thriving gold game.
The French sent two canoes over Ocean’s Edge along with 6 turtles, but the remaining three canoes turned to attack! The lack of the Rusty Hook’s commanding presence gave the French an opportunity to surprise the weaker Last Shot. They hit 2/3, including landing an exploding shot, which knocked out the Last Shot’s captain and set the stern gallery aflame.
The French weren’t about to stop there, as the Gaule took advantage of the fact that the Gladius Dei needed to stay surfaced for two turns because she didn’t have an explorer, blasting the sub to pieces.
The Last Shot tried to sail, but the fire overtook her mainmast and she was a burning hulk. To add insult to injury, a uniquely shaped iceberg surrounded her bow as her remaining crew abandoned ship.
The overall scene just a handful of turns into the game. The only new developments in the picture are the Torpedo at the top right, bringing back a coin for the Pirates, and the English situation. Despite their hatred of the French, the English are wise enough to know that they could use the Froide Vengeance, so they’ve captured her and Godiva. The Rusty Hook hides in the fog waiting to pounce.
In order the help the vital Gladius Dei (Caesar’s ability is the only way the fleet can get gold home), the Bashaw Folly has taken on the much larger Gaule! The Folly is counting on her new musketeer and boarding bonus ability to help out in the fight.
The Bashaw Folly only knocked down 2 masts, but the Devil Ray has deposited a coin for the Mercs. The Cursed ships are approaching home, and the Lamprey has moved back into her familiar fog bank. Just to her left, a regular and a custom iceberg have joined forces to form a cluster iceberg.
Trouble in the west! The fighting continued, with the Gaule managing only one hit on the Bashaw Folly. The Gaule didn’t move away to ram and board the Folly, since the Gaule’s current position where she had broadsided the Gladius Dei meant she blocked the Bashaw Folly’s path to the GD. The Gaule wanted to keep the Bashaw Folly pinned so she couldn’t assist the Dei or kill the Wolves before the French had some cargo spaces open to run gold. At this point, the French had the luxury of not even caring about the loss of the Froide Vengeance, since they had relative control over the west with plenty of gold slowly making its way home. Two canoes were in range of the now-submerged Gladius Dei, but the chieftain’s roll for the turn didn’t result in a 5 or 6.
Save the wee turtles!
The Fatalis has returned her prize (the Froide Vengeance) home, receiving 5 gold as a ransom payment. This gold was un-stealable and indestructible, which was important with the presence of Koloktos and the Torpedo, the latter of which has lost a mast to an iceberg.
The French chieftain failed to deliver once again! The Rusty Hook gets a cannon in range of a canoe, but misses.
After losing another mast to an iceberg, the Tenfold uses her hoist to empty all three ships in her fleet in one turn! The Cursed now led the gold race, but the Tenfold couldn’t dock at her HI and didn’t have a shipwright available, so her defenses were proving to be useless in a game with so much ice. However, her various named crew and Turbine keyword assured that she would stay a force in the game until a ship managed to sink her.
Battle under the arch! The Bashaw Folly scores another hit on the Gaule.
The west is an absolute war zone! After missing one canoe, the Rusty Hook is shot at by four, and three hits make her a derelict! At this point, the Torpedo is the Pirates’ only hope, which isn’t saying much. The sea is abnormally crowded for a relatively small game, with 10 turtles, 5 canoes, multiple ships and mast wreckage all over the area.
The Last Shot has been scuttled, and now the Rusty Hook is doomed as well. This makes the Pirates hate the French, and the Torpedo plans to attack the French HI, once they actually get some gold there at least!
The Devil Ray has sped off to the northernmost island, while the Cursed head back out. The Fatalis and Froide have finished repairing, the latter with the help of an SAT from Radi Jaeger.
French victory! The Rusty Hook has been sent to the depths, while the Gaule has captured the Bashaw Folly and her musketeer, the only way in the game to eliminate the nearby Wolves and access the gold. Turtles swim by the derelict Gladius Dei, who again avoids elimination.
Finally repaired from the huge southern mess, the English head out to start round 2 of the recovery process: getting their derelicts working again.
Now the French faced an annoying conundrum: the Gaule had a full crew complement in terms of points, so she couldn’t load the Folly’s abandoned musketeer without losing Dubois, which gives her the captain and explorer abilities. In addition, with just two masts left, the Gaule could be vulnerable to any attack by another fleet on the way back. All the canoes had full holds, and the Froide was long gone, now in English hands. The Gaule left the Folly where she lay to return home for repairs. The Torpedo made a feint towards the French HI, but there was nothing there for her to steal or eliminate. At the upper right, the Devil Ray has explored the island and found, what else but an abandoned shipwright! Now, if only the Devil Ray could successfully get this shipwright to the Gladius Dei, the Mercs could be back in business! She also found Runes of Loki, which could be used at an opportune time to change the French chieftain’s die roll to a 1 so the French canoes wouldn’t be able to hit the Gladius Dei, saving the sub from being sunk!
With an SAT from Jaeger, both derelicts (the Growler and Puma) are taken in tow.
At the left, the English continue cleaning up their fleet. The French canoes are gradually finishing their long and harrowing journey from the eastern wild island back to home, accompanied by the damaged Gaule. The Torpedo has retreated into a fog bank, and the Pirates are not going to win the game with a fragile ship with one cargo space. However, they still want some measure of revenge on the French. At the top of the frame you can just make out the Tenfold picking up the scraps of what the Devil Ray didn’t want, while the Devil Ray speeds west underwater to help the Gladius Dei (the Devil Ray left her explorer on the island to make room for the shipwright). At the right, the Cursed continue to have bad ice luck (see what I did there?), with the Lamprey being dismasted on her way to the southeastern island. The Hare’s Luck has fared better and reaches the easternmost island where the canoes started the game.
The French are almost back. The French chieftain misses his roll AGAIN, and the French still aren’t able to sink the Gladius Dei.
How’s that for a change of pace! The English, once with just two masts standing in their entire fleet, have captured the powerful French icebreaker and towed back their derelicts to fight another day. Their tiny home beach is barely big enough to fit the now-largest fleet in the game.
This shows all three Cursed ships. The Lamprey has explored, while the Tenfold and Hare’s Luck head back. The Tenfold suffers an unlucky iceberg hit, leaving her with no masts, which isn’t a huge problem with her Turbine keyword. However, the only way she can repair is the Devil Ray’s abandoned shipwright, currently in the west on a submerged submarine.
Ahhh! The Devil Ray surfaces and begins attacking the turtles!
The French canoes are FINALLY home!
As the Fatalis goes out to get gold, the Froide Vengeance tows an iceberg to get it out of the way. The Puma and Growler continue repairing.
The Tenfold deposits her gold and the gold from the Hare’s Luck on her HI, but the Cursed have only two masts standing in their fleet. The Tenfold gives Power Cannons to the Hare’s Luck since the Tenfold can’t shoot. To the right, a cluster iceberg has smashed into the Puma, taking a mast off as soon as it was repaired! This greatly annoys the English, and the captured Froide Vengeance will have her work cut out for her making her new owners happy.
The Devil Ray has taken out another turtle, and the French canoes go out to defend the turtles they discovered way back on turn 2. Even the canoe stationed to sink the Gladius Dei rounds an iceberg, which is exactly what the Devil Ray wanted…
Also, to the right, notice the open ocean! The Froide got a timely SAT from Jaeger, and moved to eliminate both of the icebergs that formed the cluster! The Puma is safe for now (hint hint), but another cluster has formed with the giant iceberg just to the west.
In a flash, the Devil Ray dives and speeds S+L+S to meet up with the Gladius Dei, still derelict and still submerged. She’s been waiting ages for this, and the Mercenaries are close to completing their comeback. The turtles relax, and they’re almost home!
The French chieftain FINALLY rolls a 5/6 to allow the French canoes to shoot at submerged ships, but the Mercs reveal their secret weapon: Runes of Loki! The die result is changed to a 1, and the French chieftain has failed yet again. This saves the Mercs for another turn, but they’re running out of options and luck.
After a huge delay, the English have finally explored an island!
The Fatalis found Buried Treasure, and it was worth 6 gold! She also found Whirlpool, which was inconsequential. The Growler sails out to pick up what the Fatalis didn’t, and the Froide has begun towing the huge cluster of ice.
The moment has arrived! The Devil Ray and Gladius Dei both surface, and the Devil Ray exchanges her helmsman and abandoned shipwright for Caesar! (Caesar went to the Devil Ray because with the canoes nearby, he had a slightly better chance of surviving on the Devil Ray than the Gladius Dei.)
The Gladius Dei has repaired:
… (disappointed voice) and just like that, the Mercs are blown to pieces. The canoes shot a perfect 3/3, including an exploding shot hit on the Gladius Dei. The Mercs have no shot at winning the game, though it was a long shot anyway ever since the Wolves were discovered and the Bashaw Folly captured.
A pair of French canoes engage their former ally, knocking a mast off the Froide Vengeance, who returns fire to take out a canoe, the first one eliminated. The Puma is finally back to full health.
During all this chaos, the Cursed were making their way around the north side of the middle island with the Tenfold and Hare’s Luck. Between the Turbine keyword, Koloktos’ HI raiding ability, and the offensive capability of the Hare’s Luck (now with an abandoned captain and oarsman in addition to Power Cannons), the Cursed decided to have a go at the French home island, which had the most coins other than the Cursed themselves.
The Cursed have eliminated two more turtles, and the fully-repaired Gaule could only manage to get one gun in range of the Hare’s Luck. In the meantime the French canoes sunk both subs to eliminate the Mercs from the game and took another mast off the Froide.
The Puma pursues the slowed Lamprey, looking to use Trevor van Tyne’s hatred of the Cursed and S-boarding to steal gold.
The Cursed have done it! The Hare’s Luck eliminates a turtle and shoots a mast off the Gaule, while Koloktos moves the Tenfold in to steal three coins from the French beach!
This picture was taken at a difficult angle, but you can just see a coin on the Cursed beach through the opening. Unfortunately for the Tenfold, she would have to go all the way back around.
The Froide sunk a second canoe and towed the huge iceberg into French waters, blocking the Tenfold from taking the easy path home. The Gaule reversed direction and dismasted the Hare’s Luck, but couldn’t reach the Tenfold, who she wanted to capture and not sink.
With some slick maneuvering and S+S+S speed, the Tenfold makes a break to the north. The slow Gaule can’t quite reach her bow, while a canoe sunk the Hare’s Luck.
Another French canoe dismasts the Froide, and the end of the game is near. The Fatalis is back with gold, and the Growler is on her way with more. The English have displayed brilliant resilience and good strategy, using their captured gunship to clear their waterways of ice and then blocking the Cursed and French with ship and ice to prevent any spillover of that conflict into their home area. To the right, the Puma has stolen a coin from the Lamprey, but also loses a mast to an iceberg.
The Tenfold is obviously making a break for the northwestern whirlpool, from which she can emerge from the southeastern whirlpool and dock home her stolen loot with her hoist within a few turns. The canoes and Gaule are moving a full S slower and won’t be able to capture the Tenfold. Michel Dubois has no choice but to give the order: “Sink the Tenfold”. He doesn’t want to watch his hard-earned gold go to the bottom, but he really doesn’t want it in the hands of the Cursed.
A canoe moves within range, shoots, and misses. Another canoe does the same, and misses. The Gaule moves forward and can only get her 3L jib in range. SHE MISSES! Dubois screams in agony and disgust as the Tenfold gleefully churns away. (At the right, the Torpedo is still lurking in the fog; the Pirates were really patient in their desire for revenge today!)
As the Tenfold emerges in the south, there’s nothing any fleet can do to stop her, with the Fatalis unable to get there in time and the Growler only able to move L. At the right, the damaged Puma is a familiar sight… wait, didn’t she repair?! Yes, and she got hit three times in the course of a turn or two by hostile icebergs. The Puma had the worst “ice luck” of this game – truly abysmal and, almost unbelievable.
A canoe chases the Tenfold through the whirlpool, but it’s too late. The Tenfold returns home all three coins she stole, a remarkable display of… luck? Either way, the successful raid was an impressive feat. The Growler has returned home with gold, and the Puma is approaching.
The Fatalis eliminates a canoe but is hit with exploding shot in return. The Gaule gets hit by the Fatalis after towing the Froide to recapture her after all this time. That French canoe that came through the whirlpool actually sunk the Tenfold to eliminate the Cursed from the active game, but it was too late for revenge. The Pirates disagree with that attitude, with the Torpedo finally emerging from the fog to approach the French HI, sensing the end of the game and an opportunity to strike while the French are as weak as they’ve been. The Puma is just happy to make it home!
What a mess! The war continues:
On the French turn, the Gaule couldn’t quite block the path of the Torpedo. The English went next, scuttling the Fatalis and repairing the Puma. Then the Torpedo made her move: sailing in at L+L, the Torpedo docked at the French HI… and rolled a 3. This meant that she could only steal treasure rather than eliminate it.
After an unsuccessful shoot and ram by the Gaule, the Torpedo had another chance! This time she exploded! The final die roll of the game was just a 1, meaning that one random coin would be eliminated from the French HI, and the randomly chosen coin was also a 1! Alas, the Pirates wanted revenge, but the Torpedo went off like a dud.
After 300 total points and many turns of carnage, this was all that remained:
With 3 of the 5 fleets eliminated, the game ended! (I wanted to go until all the gold was gone or there was only 1 fleet, but the game had already taken too long at this point.)
What a game! The final scores may look somewhat lame, but this was a memorable and fun contest. The French won the previous game, so there was some desire to hinder them, especially after their luck continued: Turtles, a successful gold run with their canoes, the Mercs being stopped by Wolves and then finished by the French, and the devastating attack on the English by the Froide Vengeance. The French had it all early on, but the long game meant that everything could change, and it did. The Cursed played an excellent game, staying out of trouble for a while and only doing their usual crazy and gimmicky antics (HI raiding with a hoist in this case) after they got a bunch of gold. If anyone is wondering, the Tenfold’s heist (see what I did there?) gave the Cursed 11 gold, so it did matter. They were eventually eliminated, but the Cursed managed to explore three different wild islands and one of the two arches, bringing back a variety of gold. The English also played an excellent game, and like I said made a good strategy play with the captured icebreaker. It was also good to repair their derelicts, and with a little more time they could have eclipsed the Cursed’s gold total. The Pirates didn’t have the best gold game from their fleet build, but they should have done a bit better. The Last Shot and Rusty Hook were both eliminated before they could really do anything, courtesy of the French native canoes. The Torpedo didn’t have enough cargo to run much gold, and sat in the fog for a while before an ineffective strike to end the game. The Mercenaries would have done fine, but they had to contend with Wolves, the dangerous French fleet, and a dependence on Caesar’s ability to have any gold game. The Bashaw Folly is one of my favorite Merc ships, but a 2 master is just too weak to stand up to much competition. The Devil Ray made a heroic effort to eliminate some turtles and revive the Gladius Dei, but it was too much of a long shot.
Notes on custom pieces: (perhaps unnecessary due to the report, but possibly of interest to their creators) captain_vendari (Rusty Hook): The Rusty Hook really wasn’t able to shine; I’d like to see her again, maybe even with the same crew combo from el_cazador.
selvaxri (Froide Vengeance): The Froide was a fantastic ship, but I put so many icebergs out there because I wanted to see what she could do; most games wouldn’t have this many icebergs. Still, she proved a potent force, able to tow icebergs into enemy ships at S+S and potentially disrupt shipping lanes. I pegged her at 15 points for this game, which I think may be about right. Her cost could rise, but again, this game was catered to seeing her in action.
xerecs (Torpedo): The Torpedo’s game-changing Portburner ability didn’t work too well, but her rolls were as bad as they could get. With such low cargo and low durability, she’s effectively a one-trick pony, which makes her a tough choice in any game smaller than 80 or 100 points. Her high price tag should perhaps come down, unless a revision makes her viable to use in an alternate role.
a7xfanben (Last Shot): Similar to the Rusty Hook, the Last Shot wasn’t able to provide much to the Pirate fleet, and the canoes took care of her quickly. I think her cost of 13 points is fine… it’s just another example of one game not being enough to really get to know what a ship can do.
el_cazador (various): Oh my, where to start… I know you’ll read the report and provide your own comments, so I’ll keep it short. Tetra, Purlo, and Onox didn’t really get to use their abilities much, but Koloktos shined in the late game with that daring raid. Caesar is probably fine, but I may make a post about him and the Gladius Dei in Custom Ships soon… the French named crew Radi Jaeger and Michel Dubois were worth their costs, not surprising given their abilities and their “old-school” nature (existing abilities rather than brand-new ones like Caesar). As for the ships… The Fatalis is fun to use with HGold, I still think her cost is fine. The Puma and Growler are relatively simple ships and are also good to go as far as I can tell. The Tenfold is quickly becoming one of my favorite ships (I’m becoming slightly obsessed with it lol), and her power is undeniable. Just like the first time I used her, terrain neutralized her defenses and she still shined… I would want to test her again at this point cost of 22 before raising it or making any changes… again, the original cost of Turbine is more underpriced than the ship itself. The Lamprey is funky for a longship but fine. The Gladius Dei is definitely the piece that needs the most testing along with the Tenfold – I’m still not sure what to think of her (post in Custom Ships coming soon). I think the Gaule and Native Canoes are fine… the canoes are definitely powerful and versatile, but I think their speed and the fact that it’s hard to find a ship that’s appropriate for their chieftain does enough to keep their cost where it is at 13. The Gaule actually didn’t sink an enemy ship during all of that, I don’t think.
Wow, that was a long report. I may be crazy enough to do another game relatively soon with these fleets mostly the same, but add 20 or 40 (more likely 20) points to the build total.
(I’m doing this from my own personal curiosity and love and interest in this game, so no need to thank me or anything. Nobody has requested that I use their game pieces, which I appreciate. I’m doing this because it’s awesome!) [Hoping that didn’t come off too strangely… it’s a Pirates’ life for me!]
