3 players, 50 points 

Fleet 1:
HMS Meresman + captain, helmsman
Templar + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Loa’s Justice + helmsman, explorer
San Pedro + explorer

Fleet 2: 
L’epee de L’ange + helmsman
Antamasia + captain, helmsman
Algiers + explorer

Fleet 3:
Sea King + captain, helmsman
USS Destiny + captain, helmsman
Rum Runner + El Fantasma, helmsman
Honu Iki + helmsman, explorer

The Loa’s Justice reached the first island, which only had four coins compared to six apiece on the other two islands. She was undisturbed as the other fleets raced to the farther islands.

Fleets 1 and 2 didn’t bother shooting at each other, despite how easy it would have been for either of them to do so.

As the Loa’s Justice sailed home, the Honu Iki was the first ship to reach the middle island. The Sea King made an abrupt turn.

The race to the islands:

Fleet 1’s patience ran out when the San Pedro became stuck on a Sargasso Sea. They took their anger out on Fleet 2, knocking out two masts on the Antamasia. Fleet 3, realizing that Fleet 2 would reach the furthest island before them, suddenly turned around.

A nice shot of Fleet 3’s sails:

The San Pedro broke loose, entering the area around the middle island:

As the Loa’s Justice sailed out again, the Sea King sailed within sniping range and promptly rolled consecutive 6’s to dismast the ship!

As the San Pedro explored the middle island, the Antamasia fired a passing shot at the Templar as she turned for home and repairs. The Templar appeared to have trouble cresting a wave.

Fleet 3 was now concentrated in one place and ready to reveal their strategy. The Honu Iki unloaded gold, while the Sea King captured the Loa’s Justice. Fantasma hungrily eyed the fresh gold on Fleet 1’s home island.

The Meresman and Templar turned around, hoping to stop Fleet 3 from pillaging their HI. They took care to dismast the now-helpless Antamasia on the way by. However, Fleet 2 had finally reached the furthest island and drained it of all 6 coins.

Fleet 1 coming home:

Fleet 3 struck first, using the Sea King to dismast the Meresman. The Honu Iki began towing the Loa’s Justice after the Sea King released her. In the meantime, the Rum Runner stole a coin from Fleet 1’s HI.

The Templar dismasted the Destiny before being sunk by the Sea King. The San Pedro approached her home island.

The Loa’s Justice began repairing as Fleet 3 shifted its attention to Fleet 2. However, the Sea King had lost her helmsman in a boarding party to the Meresman, and this time the Sea King’s cannons failed to snipe the Algiers.

The San Pedro docked home 3 coins as well as her +2 bonus, while the Rum Runner and Honu Iki looked to provide support for the daring Sea King. The Sea King had a successful shoot and ram against the Algiers, but lost a mast to the Epee in return.

At this point, the Algiers docked home her gold, only to have some of it immediately stolen by El Fantasma aboard the Rum Runner! The Honu Iki has gone to the right to grab the last coin before the San Pedro can get it.

The Rum Runner docked, and the Epee sunk the Sea King. The Honu Iki was able to grab the final treasure coin, but got rammed by the San Pedro!

The Epee sunk the derelicts Meresman and Destiny, as the Honu Iki was knocked out of the game.

At this point, Fantasma wanted to use a combination of Parley with his HI-raiding ability. However, it was not to be.

The San Pedro was coming home with the final coin, but it was irrelevant after everyone counted up their treasure.

Fleet 3: 23 gold
Fleet 2: 16
Fleet 1: 10

Thanks for reading about this game at 3 players, 50 points!

Today is Trafalgar Day! Fun news: the flag that HMS Minotaur flew at Trafalgar is now at the National Maritime Museum.

In honor of such a special day and important battle, I couldn’t help but have a little game. The fleets went in this order:

French: 
Le Gaule + captain, helmsman
Le St. Michel
Le Rochefort + helmsman, oarsman

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.

English:
HMS Fatalis + Hermione Gold + helmsman
HMS Sea Phoenix + helmsman, 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.

(Both custom ships courtesy of el_cazador) 

The setup featured 4 wild islands with four coins apiece. The only terrain was numerous rocky outcroppings. The French rolled to go first. Although it was Trafalgar Day, I was conscious to not let any English bias affect the results of the game. It should also be mentioned that during setup, either no fleets or both fleets would have extra action crew or cancellers, to balance things.

The Maui’s Fishhook portrays the Fatalis, while the Aube is a proxy for the Gaule.

The French went first, and sent their runners in pursuit of gold. The Gaule shadowed the St. Michel at a distance, hoping to lure the Fatalis into striking range. The Sea Phoenix headed west, while the Fatalis was just out of range to grab gold with its hoist.

On the second turn, both French runners reached islands, but without explorers they couldn’t do much else. The Gaule tried to anticipate the English moves, keeping a close eye on the St. Michel and Sea Phoenix.

The English explored with both of their ships, with the Fatalis stealing treasure right from under the nose of the St. Michel.

The English headed home, with the Fatalis turning west to help protect the Sea Phoenix from the dangerous Le Gaule. The Fatalis sails through the rocky obstructions:

In the meantime, the Rochefort explored her island and took two coins, eagerly spying on the treasure that the English were about to bring back. The St. Michel didn’t bother exploring to take the final coin off the center island, instead heading northeast to a new island close to the English HI.

The English docked home 5 coins, while the St. Michel docked at the northeastern island. The Rochefort was headed home, and the Gaule helped out by clearing out the island that she had just left.

The Rochefort dropped off two coins for the French, with two more from the Gaule close behind. However, the St. Michel was in trouble. She had just explored to take 3 of the 4 coins, when she saw the Fatalis approaching from the west.

The Rochefort departed to look for more gold, while the Gaule unloaded her haul. The Sea Phoenix picked up the last two coins from the western island she was accustomed to. However, the real excitement lay to the northeast.

This game featured a decent amount of pre-measuring, which I don’t like to spend a ton of time on. On this turn it was crucial, as the Fatalis tried to get positioning on the St. Michel. Hermione Gold wanted at least two cannons in range, but the only way to do that was to rake the St. Michel by the stern as the Fatalis continued sailing east. Gold gave the order, and the Fatalis’ powerful guns echoed across the sea. The first shot was a 4, boosted to a successful 5 from Hermione Gold! Two masts of the St. Michel toppled into the water, the first combat of the game. However, the second shot was a 3, and the mizzenmast was out of range. To complete her successful turn, the Fatalis used her hoist arm to grab the last coin from the island the St. Michel had just left.

From the main top of the Gaule:

Move, shoot, and explore!

Although suffering, the French had to breathe a sigh of relief, with the St. Michel still sailing. She almost made it home, while the Rochefort docked at the center island. Looking for revenge, the Gaule sailed in the general direction of the English home island.

The Fatalis reversed direction, looking to get home with another coin.

On the next turn, the Gaule caught up to the Fatalis! Stormy waters meant that the two ships almost collided, with the Gaule able to get all guns in range!

This picture also shows how the Gaule was pitching to and fro, entering the back part of a wave as the Fatalis leaned to port.

The Gaule’s guns boomed, and the French flagship went 4 for 4! The Fatalis sunk beneath the waves, with her coin (1 gold) going to the French HI.

Using her unique ability, the Gaule now turned her attention to the Sea Phoenix, the most isolated ship of the game. S+S+S was not quite enough however, and the Gaule couldn’t get any cannons in range.

The Sea Phoenix docked home her gold, with the St. Michel and Rochefort doing the same for the French.

The endgame situation:

The gold count:

French: 21 gold
English: 17 gold

This was a fun game that saw two impressive new ships enter the fray for the first time. Time will tell if they set sail again, but for now they both go down as balanced but powerful additions to the Pirates CSG seascape.

Two games have been played. The first was 40 points, and the second was 60.

Game 1

The fleets went in this order:

Spanish:
La Catedral del Mar + captain, helmsman, shipwright
Sea Lion + helmsman
Bazana + explorer

Franco-Cursed:
La Bonne Chance + captain
La Richelieu + helmsman, explorer
Sea Rat + helmsman, explorer, oarsman

Some stringed terrain was featured:

The Sea Lion was the first to reach the island:

On the next turn, the Spanish ships took all the gold from the beach:

The Catedral hid in a fog bank, waiting to ambush the French:

However, she only hit once against the Bonne Chance, as the gold runners sailed straight for the other two beaches.

The Bonne Chance returned fire for two hits on the Catedral!

However, the Spanish know that gold is the real prize, and eagerly get away.

The Chance won the battle, but at a cost. This allowed the Sea Rat and Richelieu to run home.

The Spanish considered using the Sea Lions ability, but thought better of it.

The Catedral revealed her shipwright, but the Chance would be able to continually knock it back down. As the Sea Lion prepares to explore again, the Bazana goes on the other side of the terrain.

The Sea Rat’s return allows for the capture of the Catedral, but she distracted the French long enough for the Sea Lion to explore.

At this point, the Sea Lion was able to run home. The Sea Rat ditched the Catedral to pick up the final coin from the other beach, and the gold was counted up.

French: 22 gold
Spanish: 19

Game 2

The second game featured a higher build total of 60 points, along with a different setup that I ended up liking a lot.

The fleets went in this order:

Barbary Corsairs: 
Terror of Gibraltar + Crimson Angel, captain, helmsman
Silent Death + Kheir-ed-din, helmsman
Golden Peacock + explorer
Tripoli

Franco-Cursed: 
Mostly the same as above, with one new ship:
La Bonne Chance + captain
La Richelieu + helmsman, explorer
Sea Rat + helmsman, explorer, oarsman
Le Duc d’Enghien + captain, helmsman, oarsman

The home islands were again at opposite ends, but three wild islands with four coins each were in the middle. Terrain was placed throughout, including an iceberg and a fog/reef combo.

The Corsairs are off! However, they can’t row in between the dangerous rocks.

The French set sail as well, but the Golden Peacock and Tripoli quickly reached a sandy island. Between the two ships all the gold disappeared! At the far side of the picture, the Terror of Gibraltar has received an SAT from Crimson Angel, allowing her to terrorize the Bonne Chance and dismast her! Crimson Angel’s cannon bonus really helped in this early battle.

An excellent shot – you can also see the Sea Rat in the distance.

The Silent Death preferred the fog to a reef, but it looks like the Sea Rat will reach the island first. However, the Bonne Chance won’t be able to protect the Rat from whatever comes next…

With one island out, the French then focused on the middle island with their two remaining 3 masters. The Duc shot 1/3 to hit the Golden Peacock, while the Richelieu sailed around to the sandy beach of the center island.

An overhead view of the game. The Terror of Gibraltar captured the Bonne Chance, but decided the game would still be too short to tow her back and use her effectively. Crimson Angel wanted another battle. In the meantime, Kheir on the Silent Death revealed his own plan, coming out of the fog onto the reef to S-board the Sea Rat and steal a coin! On this turn, Kheir’s roll was successful, allowing the Tripoli to return home early.

With a coin still on the island, the Sea Rat’s crew got greedy even in the face of the relatively dangerous Silent Death.

The Terror of Gibraltar. I love how you can actually see her masts through the sails because of the light. This is one of the more realistic pictures I’ve taken.

The game is lit up, and you can again make out the Terror’s beauty as the light shines through her sails.

The Duc strikes again! Unfortunately, she only hits 1/3 this time too.

The Golden Peacock survives the onslaught to dock home more gold for the BC’s. The Silent Death has cornered the Sea Rat in hopes of taking another coin to fill up her cargo hold, but somehow both ships roll a 6 to tie at 8! In the meantime, the Terror of Gibraltar has moved twice to hit the Richelieu twice, knocking her down to one mast.

What a beautiful setting for a game!

Another view of the excitement, as three separate actions have gone down in just the span of one turn!

The Silent Death again tried to steal a coin from the Sea Rat, but finally lost a boarding party! This killed her helmsman, but gave her an extra cargo space to work with. The Richelieu is happy to run from the Terror of Gibraltar, who’s been blocked completely by the Duc. The Duc took out a mast on the Terror with her first shoot action, but the Terror has responded with two hits of her own. The Corsairs had luck with them on this day, getting some SAT’s from Crimson Angel, two 6’s from Kheir, and some good luck with terrible rank-5 cannons boosted by Crimson Angel. In the meantime, the Tripoli and Golden Peacock eye the final two coins left on the middle island.

The French breathe a sigh of relief as the Richelieu and Sea Rat dock home their gold, with both having been harassed by the numerous fast galleys still flying over the waves. The guns of the Duc and Terror are booming, with the Terror’s mizzenmast about to fall over the side.

The Duc decided the battle wasn’t going to end up in her favor, and decided to take advantage of the reverse captain option to run away. However, the Terror caught her with an SAT from Crimson Angel, knocking out her final mast. The Duc had brought an oarsman along, and so was spared by just barely being able to row back to her home island. The Silent Death is slowed by the loss of her helmsman, but she still manages to reach the center island before her comrades, who are struggling with the fog.

The battered French mock the nearby Crimson Angel, who waits patiently for her next opponent.

The Silent Death takes the final two coins! The Terror again receives the SAT, but only manages to sink the Richelieu. The Sea Rat continues sailing. Carnage is strewn over the battlefield.

The Silent Death and Terror of Gibraltar go one way, while the Golden Peacock and Tripoli shadow the Sea Rat, who is now immune in the fog. The Duc repairs a mast at her home island.

A view from the Corsairs’ home island, with the Sea Rat approaching:

As the Silent Death fell just short of her home island, the Golden Peacock tried to block the Sea Rat. The Tripoli rounded off her larboard bow, forcing the Rat to dock right in the middle.

The Duc has come back for more! The rivalry between her and the Terror continues, with the Duc able to catch up at S+L+S. She missed her one shot, however, giving the Terror the upper hand once again.

The Silent Death and Sea Rat docked, with the Rat stealing gold!

At the bottom of the picture, the Terror has finally defeated the Duc for good. The Golden Peacock rams the Sea Rat in an attempt to reclaim the gold.

The Sea Rat rammed the Golden Peacock and dismasted her to take back the coin, but the Corsairs finally put an end to the shenanigans. The Silent Death fired and found her mark, and the Tripoli captured the Sea Rat and towed her home to end the game.

The gold was counted up!

Barbary Corsairs: 23 gold
French: 18

The coin the Sea Rat stole was a 5! If only the Sea Rat would have made it back to her home island, the scores would be reversed! Alas, the Corsairs’ fine gunnery combined with their superior numbers advantage (after the Bonne Chance was taken out early) won them the game.

This was a great game that featured some fun crew and ship abilities, as well as a setup that I really enjoyed quite a lot.

The Bizarre Bottleneck Game

I thought of the idea of a “bottleneck” game some time ago.  The idea is to have a small waterway that fleets must traverse in order to achieve their goal.  I finally tested this for the first time, though it was with a very basic setup in a somewhat rushed game.  Despite the lack of time and effort, it turned into one of the better games I’ve played, although more in a bizarre way than anything else.

The fleets, in turn order:

Common Fleet Challenge entry (2011)

Bumpercars Fleet Challenge entry (2016)

What Lurks Below Fleet Challenge entry (2015)

Mercenary fleet that won a game (2016)

 

The setup featured the 4 fleets around the 5 beach island, something that’s fun to do once in a while in a total opposite of having the 5 beach island be a giant wild island full of gold.  Flat earth rules with multiple sandbars making up a bottleneck leading to the 2 wild islands, which held 7 coins each.  (all UT’s from the above fleets included, so only 7 coins with regular gold values)

My remaining copy of the Prussian Crown is badly broken, so I proxied her with the Stoneheart.  As happens far too frequently, I forgot to start the Mercenaries S away from their home beach.  They got to pick their beach first since they were going last, and naturally picked the beach closest to the gold.  I wanted to give them what was hopefully a slight advantage.  Not only were they going first, but that would also mean that they would not be shot at on their first turn.  The Santa Molina would potentially be able to shoot at opponents right away.  The English fleet looked to perhaps be the strongest (partly because the other Fleet Challenge entry fleets had more restricting limitations), so they picked their home beach last and therefore could have a tough time even getting through the bottleneck in the first place.

The English went first and took a wide turn, hoping to avoid a Pirate attack.  The French and Pirates headed for the gold, but the Mercs were in the best position.  The Devil Ray used submerged ramming to nearly move S+L+S+S!  +L bonus while submerged, helmsman for +S, and the “move S away” from the ram was used to put her even closer to the wild islands after knocking a mast off the Descharges.  Then the Santa Molina made her mark on the Pirate fleet, simultaneously blocking all of their ships from entering the bottleneck and shooting 2 masts off the Prussian Crown. (eliminating the PC’s explorer with her ability; Fiore and Tia Dalma cancelling each other out)

Could the Mercs pull off a stunning upset?!  They’ve got the start they needed!

Relieved that they didn’t get blasted on Turn 1, the English readied their cannons for an attack on the Pirates.  The Victor shot a mast off the Raven, with Ducie Chads ecstatic that the Pirates ended up being the fleet adjacent to the English beach.  Cartier gave the Descharges a double move, allowing her to reach a wild island before any other ship!  The Mercure used the stern turn from her Schooner keyword to partially block the submerged Devil Ray.

The Prussian Crown utterly fails on her turn, getting three 3’s in a row to miss the Santa Molina!  (continuing my Pirates-career-long trend of failing miserably on rank-3 cannons…)  The Raven cannot get to a wild island or her own home beach (to repair), so she simply shoots a mast off the Santa Molina.  Ophidious rams the Lady Provost to pin the English gold runner!  The ram roll fails but the LP loses her explorer to the serpent’s boarding attack.

Ophidious, one of the best sea creatures in the game:

The Devil Ray nearly reached the second wild island, with the Barracuda also submerged:

The Santa Molina had a disappointing turn – she hit 1/3 against the Prussian Crown (killing Tia Dalma, which became important later on) and rammed a mast off the Intrepide, losing a crew in the boarding party.

Ducie Chads takes the Victor into battle against Ophidious!  He regrets boarding the beast for its gold parts, and gets killed in action!

Thomas Gunn the Younger is there to save the day, as HMS Lord Walpole hits 3/3 with classic English gunnery to kill Ophidious!  (though the creature is Eternal…)

The French were up again, and the Descharges explored.  She loaded all of these UT’s along with 6 gold.

Unable to shoot at the submerged Barracude, the Mercure simply tries to block for the Descharges.  Wanting to keep the Santa Molina pinned, the Intrepide shoots but misses with a 2.

The Devil Ray surfaces to dock and explore at the second wild island.  She finds the remaining coins, and loads the top 4 in this picture.  This gives her +3 to her boarding rolls and potential control of Ophidious.

The Barracuda surfaces to shoot at the Mercure, but crucially misses a shot, keeping the dangerous schooner alive.  At the upper right, the Santa Molina sinks the Intrepide and the Pirates roll successfully to scuttle the Prussian Crown.

With Ransom crew Cannonball Gallows aboard the doomed PC, the English spring into action.  The Lady Provost captures the Pirate flagship, as the English plan to deposit Gallows on their home beach for his 5 gold Ransom payout.  The Victor moves to shoot at the Santa Molina, but predictably her captain is cancelled by Christian Fiore.  The Lord Walpole takes some shots instead, but only hits once.

At this point the Mercure has taken the Enemy of the State UT from the Descharges (to avoid Mercenary issues at home), who has lost a mast to a shot from the Barracuda.  The Devil Ray submerges again and sprints for home, hoping that Christian Fiore can allow her to dock and unload.

The English sink the Santa Molina!  This effectively doomed the Mercenaries, as they cannot dock either submarine at home with cancelling the Mercenary keyword with Christian Fiore.  In addition, both cancellers are now out of the game.  The Mercure turned around and shot at the Barracuda but missed.  In a sudden change of strategy, the Mercenaries turned both of their subs around with the purpose of getting more gold.  Their thinking was that with Fiore out of the game, their best chance to not finish last in the standings was to amass as much gold on their subs as possible, submerge, and then just wait the game out until it was over.

The Mercure finally connects, setting the Barracuda ablaze with a well-placed firepot!

The English and French are making for home.  However, Ophidious is nearly back to full strength!  The serpent rams and pins the Lady Provost for the second time in the game, but once again fails to knock over a mast.  However, the English were anticipating this, and both English gunships are ready for another fight.  At the far left you can see the Descharges breaking for home, using the EA ability to slip past the bottleneck.  Cartier and Rousseau are hoping the English focus on Ophidious rather than turning around.

In a strange situation, the Mercenaries submerge the Barracuda but also roll a 1 on her fire mast, dooming the ship.  (weird because the ship technically had 2 fire masts while underwater)  The Devil Ray dumps both of her crew to load up more gold, preparing to submerge for good next turn….

Although Ducie Chads is not alive to see it, the Victor gets to board Ophidious successfully, loading the serpent’s head aboard ship!!  This happened only after the Victor eliminated the other 2 remaining segments via shooting, meaning Ophidious will “die” for the second time in the game.

With Ophidious taken care of, Thomas Gunn the Younger can turn his attention (and ship!) to the French… but Duncan Rousseau uses Parley to avoid getting shot at!  Luckily for the French, Screw Engine is the random coin that gets transferred!  This means that the Descharges still has both of her coins worth gold.

The Mercure continues her rampage, getting revenge for the early game success of the Mercs against the French!  She sets the Devil Ray on fire and steals the Cursed Conch!  Perhaps the French can command Ophidious against the English?  (even though the Pirates were already using the beast to do the same thing)  It’s not often that you see a single ship set two submarines on fire in the same game!

The French crew combo works wonders!  Duncan Rousseau bails out Amiral Louis Cartier with the Reroll ability, with the EA allowing the Descharges to dock home her 2 coins!  Between the Merc subs, Santa Molina, and English, it’s a bit of a miracle that the Descharges was able to get home safely.  To the right, Ophidious’ second “death” should allow the Lady Provost to dock home the captured Prussian Crown.

Game over!!  Wait what??  On the last few turns, the English returned home with both the Prussian Crown and the head of Ophidious (on the Victor).  The Descharges got another EA to repair her masts, while the Devil Ray submerged.  The Mercenaries did not give the Devil Ray an action while submerging her, meaning that they didn’t have to roll for her fire mast.  The Mercenaries then sat and didn’t take any more turns, content to stay underwater with a submarine that is on fire but with 3 coins on board!  It was a truly bizarre ending to a bizarre game.

Making the rounds, here are how the fleets finished up:

In first (?), the English have 7 gold!  However, NONE of it came from any gold!  Gallows is worth 5 gold via Ransom capture, while the head of Ophidious is worth another 2.  You could say that two Pirate heads won the game for the English!

In second with 6 gold are the French:

In last, the Pirates had nearly regenerated Ophidious again.  Of course, the head would have to be imaginary since I don’t have another Ophidious in my collection.  I’ve thought about this situation before – in a long enough game, you could go through multiple Ophidious pieces and have all sorts of segments floating around in different fleets!

In third, the Mercenaries have 8 gold on the submerged and flaming Devil Ray.  (not counted because they didn’t and can’t unload it at home!)

The final coin in play was ignored, as Targeting Scope was not worth bothering with.  In the end, the Mercenary strategy of holding out to not finish last actually worked!  Though just barely, as the Devil Ray was an action and a bad fire roll away from sinking.

So the English win 7-6, with the Mercenaries third with 8 on a submerged submarine breaking a 0-0 tie with the Pirates.  I didn’t keep playing because I was pressed for time.

At least, that’s how I played it.  But actually the Mercenaries won!!  XD  O_O   Per the Pirate Code on Multiplayer Rules:

When any end condition is met, players reveal all treasure on their home islands, in forts, and on their ships. The revealed treasure is added up and the player with the highest gold value is declared the winner.

Since the Mercenaries have 8 gold on a ship, technically they win 8-7-6!  O_O

However, I have a lot of issues with that.  First off, the Mercenaries would NOT survive getting the gold back home.  The fire mast and Mercure alone would have doomed the Devil Ray, let alone the English fleet (now looking like an armada with no competition) intervening at some point.  Secondly, counting all 3 coins as “winning gold” on a burning Mercenary submarine 2 hull cracks from going to Davy Jones’ Locker seems like a lame way to cheat the English out of a solid game.  With both cancellers gone, the Mercs had no way to dock home the gold.

Third, the Mercs were now benefiting from a rare but completely viable strategy: Submarine Stalemate.  Get a bunch of submarines loaded up with gold, eliminate any counters in enemy fleets that could bring them to the surface, and then just sit the rest of the game out while chilling underwater.  This is where a house rule that forces submarines to the surface every X turns could come into play.  If that happened, the Devil Ray would be a sitting duck for the firepower remaining in the game.

I suppose I should have kept playing.  In that case, the Mercs could wait it out until the English got the Prussian Crown repaired.  Her ability would suddenly be the determining factor in the game.  Since she’s able to shoot at submerged ships, she would be able to blast the Devil Ray and send her gold to the bottom, with the DR having nowhere to hide since she can’t dock at home.

The Santa Molina’s ability was clutch, as it eliminated Tia Dalma and could have paved the way to a more clear Mercenary victory with the enemy canceller out of the game.  However, they had to resort to a cheap strategy once Fiore was gone.

In the end, perhaps there can be a dual winner.  In my mind the English won, but since I didn’t keep playing, technically the Mercenaries get a bizarre victory.  This is the kind of game that makes you love Pirates!  I wanted the game to revolve around one faction building a fort on the sandbar by the bottleneck to restrict sea traffic to the islands.  However, the complete opposite happened, and it was great!

The Red Fleet:
USS Mercury + captain
Le Duc de Bourgogne + helmsman (I accidentally used the Catedral del Mar for a while, OOPS!   )
Coleoptera

The White Fleet:
L’epee de L’ange + captain, helmsman
Batavian Bat + helmsman
HMS Meresman + oarsman

The Neutral Colors Fleet:
Algiers + explorer
USS Sea Tiger + captain, helmsman
Pyre

One wild island with three beaches was used, with 5 coins per beach.

The Sea Tiger commenced hostilities, knocking out a mast on the Epee.

The Mercury followed up by hitting the Algiers:

The Sea Tiger continued to dog the White Fleet, hitting the Meresman as well.

The Mercury attacked both fleets, but only hit the Meresman:

The Mercury then sank the Algiers as her fleetmates raced home with gold.

The Mercury turns her attention back to the White Fleet:

However, the Bat docks home gold as the Epee positions herself into range! Unfortunately, she missed all four shots!

The Mercury used her guns and ramming to dismast the Epee, who was quickly towed by the Bat. Only two coins remained in play. Note how well the subs (especially the Coleoptera) blend in to this ocean.

The Bat can’t be hit by the Mercury’s L-range guns, and the oarsman on the Meresman prevents capture, so what will the Mercury do?

She uses her ability to move through the rocks and dock at the big island:

Everyone converges on the last coins:

The Duc and Coleoptera ram the Sea Tiger derelict as the Duc loads the coin. The Mercury makes a break in the opposite direction.

A good shot of the waterfalls:

The Bat rammed the Mercury, but lost her helmsman in a failed boarding attempt.

At this point, the Bat and the Sea Tiger couldn’t catch the Mercury or Duc respectively, so both coins (1’s of course!) went to the Red Fleet.

The count:
1. Red Fleet: 20 gold
2. Neutral Fleet: 17 gold
3. White Fleet: 14 gold

Another small game has been played. I was extremely stoked to use Abandoned Crew for the first time!

French:
Le Pluton + Leander Arnaud, captain, helmsman
Le Marseillais + explorer

Franco-Spanish:
Cazador del Pirata + Victor de Alva, helmsman, explorer, firepot specialist (I realized partway through the game that the specialist shouldn’t have been there.)
La Felicite + captain, helmsman

The setup featured a new, silky/shinier ocean fabric, which means that all 5 have now been used. This one is the most unique in terms of the material, and I like it a lot so far. Only one wild island was used, but it was a large one with three separate beaches.

In addition, the Franco-Spanish player was given their own home island, courtesy of my trade with rossinaz.

Rocks and sandbars were also placed:

The Marseillais was the first ship to reach the island.

Each fleet wanted to get a good gold start:

Knowing that some Abandoned Crew had been placed, the French set their sights on acquiring some to use in a potential battle. However, it was also obvious that with the crew, only so much actual gold could still be on the island.

The Felicite started the action, hitting twice on the Marseillais, who now carried the final treasure coin.

The Marseillais turned around and gave the final coin to the Pluton, a bigger and more dangerous ship.

The Felicite used her narrow hull and some excellent maneuvering to slide between the island and the Marseillais, taking care to dismast the Frenchman.

Victor de Alva was very lucky in this game, and his luck continued in the chase for the Pluton’s coin. Using an extra action, the Cazador caught the Pluton and took out all 4 masts over two turns, setting the ship ablaze and leaving the Franco-Spanish to take the final treasure coin.

With that, the gold was counted… and it was a tie! Both fleets had 10 gold. Neither player was completely satisfied with this unexpected outcome, so it was decided that a second game would be played as a tiebreaker.

The setup for the second game was similar, but featured one wild island that had all the treasure on one beach.

The Cazador used de Alva’s luck (yet again) to reach the island first.

As the Marseillais loaded gold, the Pluton took advantage of the Cazador’s absence, shooting a mast off the Felicite and using her S-board ability to steal the Felicite’s only coin.

As the Franco-Spanish returned home, the French decided they might wait until they came back and protect the gold.

However, they were forced to turn around when the Cazador had other ideas, sailing straight for the French home island. In the meantime, the Marseillais returned to the wild island and exchanged her explorer for an abandoned captain and helmsman. At this point, the Pluton had two treasure coins aboard in addition to an abandoned oarsman.

The Cazador’s luck finally ran out, allowing the Marseillais to return home safely with her gold. Using the abandoned captain, the Frenchman took aim at the vulnerable Cazador, but promptly rolled three 1’s in a row! The Pluton was almost back home as well.

The Cazador took aim at the Pluton but only hit once. The Marseillais finally got a hit, and the Cazador couldn’t squeeze between the Marseillais and a rock, so the Cazador rammed and fired, inflicting considerable damage and setting the French ship alight. At this point, the Pluton was able to return home as the repaired Felicite sailed onto the scene.

To end the game, the Marseillais dismasted the Cazador with a ram and shoot, followed by the Pluton dismasting the Felicite with a broadside.

The gold was counted up, and the French prevailed over the Franco-Spanish by a score of 9-7! These were short but fun and close games that saw the emergence of Abandoned Crew, something I may be using a lot!

For my 1,400th post (on Miniature Trading), what else but another battle report! Another person has been introduced to Pirates! They received 2 packs of OE and 1 pack of DJC to go along with the MI Convention Pack. From now on, just assume that every single player has access to the game pieces contained in the MI Convention Exclusive.

Americans: 
USS Aaron Burr + Commodore Peregrine Stern, helmsman
Champ

French Americans: 
Le Duc d’Enghien + captain, helmsman, oarsman
La Richelieu + helmsman
USS Plymouth Rock

The setup featured three beautiful wild islands with 10 total coins on them, as well as the nice new rocks made by rossinaz.

The Plymouth Rock and Richelieu explored the middle island while the Aaron Burr sailed to the western one. Champ stayed underwater.

With S+L+S speed, the Duc quickly caught the Aaron Burr, dismasting her and taking a 5 coin. On the next turn, the Duc sunk the Aaron Burr and used her reverse captain ability to approach Champ.

Champ looks to attack the Richelieu as the Plymouth Rock docks home her gold.

Champ failed the ram and board, allowing the Richelieu to dock and the Duc to corner the now-surfaced sea serpent, shooting off the beast’s tail.

On the next turn, Champ took a mast off the Duc, but it was too late. The Duc unloaded her gold. The Americans had no way of getting any more gold, and the French prevailed with an 18-3 victory!

More coming soon…

Back again, here’s a little 2 player 40 point game.

Pirates:
Mystic + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Skipping Stone + explorer
Beast’s Belly + helmsman

Spanish Pirates:
Bruja + captain, helmsman
Cazador del Pirata + Victor de Alva, helmsman

The exploring begins!

The Bruja goes after the unprotected Skipping Stone, but her Catamaran keyword stops all shots:

The Bruja tries again on the following turn, but again is foiled by the defensive nature of the ship.

The Bruja finally succeeds, but it’s not without a price:

As the battle rages, the Cazador goes out for more gold:

The Mystic finally comes to the aid of the Skipping Stone, and the battle rages on. However, the Bruja’s abilities have stopped the Stone from moving (via Fear) while both coins the Stone loaded have been lost.

The Mystic leaves the intense action in search of gold to steal, using the Beast’s Belly as a distraction. The Belly proves to be quite a nuisance, taking out 2 masts and the Cazador’s helmsman with a ram.

However, with help from de Alva the Cazador returns and starts repairing before the Mystic can take any loot. In the meantime, the Skipping Stone has finally gotten the better of her engagement with the Bruja, as the Beast’s Belly looks to grab the final coin.

The Mystic raids the Spanish Pirates, while the Stone sinks the Bruja.

After losing a mast, the Mystic brings back the coin to her HI, while the other Pirate ships start the journey back.

Getting greedy, the Mystic returns for a second raid despite the fully repaired “Pirate Hunter” loaded with an extra action crew! The Skipping Stone provides cheerleader support, but the Cazador can’t be shot at since she’s docked at her HI.

Using her cannon bonus against Pirates, the Cazador crushes the Mystic and redeposits her stolen gold.

After the Cazador sunk both the Mystic and Skipping Stone, the Beast’s Belly returned home with the final coin (just a 1), giving the Pirates a 15-9 victory!

This was a decent game that saw some interesting ship types introduced. I have finally seen the value of the Catamaran keyword! What a nice ability to have, especially with the Stone’s built-in reroll. I think I’ll always like the Cannibal King better, but the Skipping Stone more than proved her worth today.

As for the future, I’m still trying to get new players into the game, but it’s a process. I’m looking at at least one game next weekend and hopefully more!

The Cursed vs. an Imperialist Fleet at 100 points

The start of a new era! Let the giving begin! 

The first game wasn’t a Sealed Pack game, but my opponent did receive a pack each of SM, RV, DJC, and OE, along with the obligatory MI submarine pack (lol!), not to mention a bunch of other duplicates I’m giving away.

It was a 2 player, 100 point game, with very tight spaces for ships and an interesting ocean layout.

The fleets went in the order of play as follows:

Cursed:
Skin Flayer + Sammy the Skull, White Crew, helmsman, firepot specialist, oarsman
Bloody Blade + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Sea Monkey + captain, explorer
Silver Coffin
Maman Brigitte + helmsman, explorer (that’s for you, el_cazador! lol)

Imperialists:
Le Gaule + captain, helmsman
Lepanto + Victor de Alva, helmsman
Cazador del Pirata + captain, helmsman, explorer
HMS Lord Cauldwell + helmsman, explorer
Enfant Terrible + helmsman
HMS Lucy’s Luck + helmsman

The setup featured two large arches as well as the huge island made by rossinaz, with 4 gold coins on each of the 5 beaches. There were other obstacles as well, including a huge sandbar and some dangerous rocks. Lastly, the Duke shipwreck made another appearance, with no less than 7 coins aboard. As normal, ships would have to roll for the reef to get to the shipwreck.

The Imperialist fleet – every ship is either English, French, or Spanish.

Most of the excitement would happen in the middle:

The Sea Monkey is towing the Silver Coffin as the infamous Maman Brigitte makes her way (slowly) underneath the arch.

The Bloody Blade and Skin Flayer mark a distinctive boarding theme for the Cursed fleet, and they head more towards the Duke shipwreck.

The Cursed sail underneath the arch into treacherous waters:

With consecutive extra actions from de Alva, the Lepanto is the first ship to reach the island. The rest of her fleet sails elegantly over the waves, which will soon be stained red by the horrors of the approaching Cursed.

The Enfant has just enough room to pass through the dangerous rocks, as the Lepanto explores and takes a coin.

An even tighter fit, the huge Le Gaule squeezes through next to the taller arch.

As the Sea Monkey and Maman Brigitte enter the middle area, conflict is inevitable.

I think I made the setup a little TOO cramped, but it made for interesting maneuvering!

War has begun! After taking a few coins courtesy of the Lord Cauldwell’s explorer, the Gaule is set upon by the Bloody Blade!

The Blade also succeeds with her only cannon in range.

All of the ships have converged on the middle area:

Between the guns of the Gaule and Cazador del Pirata and a ram from the Lord Cauldwell, the Bloody Blade is rendered derelict.

The Skin Flayer is hesitant to come to the Blade’s aid, especially with so many enemy guns still in the area.

However, the Blade wouldn’t go down without swinging (literally!), using her oarsman and scorpion blade to shred another mast from the Imperialist flagship.

An overhead shot of the game, still in its early stages. Treasure runners are making their way home, as the Skin Flayer looks to avoid further conflict, at least for the time being. The arches and rocks hinder her maneuverability near the Bloody Blade.

An excellent shot that actually shows all of the ships in play, as the Blade has gone down.

For a measure of revenge, the Silver Coffin takes a lucky potshot against the Cazador, using L+L range as the Sea Monkey tows her behind the rocks to safety.

The Imperialists bring back their gold:

As do the Cursed:

In a stunning move, the Cazador has built Ramsgate (from the RV pack!) on the sandbar, reasonably close to the Cursed HI!

The Skin Flayer eyes the new fort warily, eager to stay out of it’s L+L range. The Imperialists now have a sniping weapon of their own, although it’s not as mobile as the Silver Coffin.

The Cursed have explored the Duke shipwreck! The Sea Monkey rolled high, as did the Maman on the following turn.

The retracted blades of the Skin Flayer shine in the sun as the Maman takes more gold from the Duke.

Gold becomes more scarce as a repaired Le Gaule sails out.

More Super Rare action:

The Cursed bring back their shipwrecked gold as Sammy the Skull plots an assault against Ramsgate to destroy it and grab it’s gold.

More gold on its way to the Imperialist HI. Actually, all of the Imperialist ships are visible, as you can just make out the stern flag of the Lord Cauldwell.

The Cursed are annoyed with the fort, but now the Gaule approaches to defend it. To the left, you can see that the last gold coins in play are within range of the fort’s cannons, so Ramsgate is truly a thorn in the Cursed’s side here towards the end of the game.

Considerable amounts of gold are accumulating on both home islands:

The Silver Coffin snipes at the fort. The Sea Monkey acts as a shield, as Sammy knows the Skin Flayer is too important to lose on the next turn to the Gaule.

In the meantime, the Maman Brigitte tries to sneak back to the Duke…

Le Gaule has sunk the Sea Monkey! What will happen next is all too predictable…

It’s finally happened! The brand-new shiny steel blades of the Skin Flayer slash into the Gaule, and White Crew leap across to kill all of the Gaule’s crew!


The Skin Flayer also hits 3/4 times, including with her firepot specialist. The Silver Coffin is ineffective.

A great shot of the battle between flagships, with the sun glinting off the Skin Flayer’s blade, turning it almost a unique blue.

Another overhead shot, with the game winding down:

After more broadsides, the Gaule has damaged the Skin Flayer, but taken a horrific beating in return. Her automatic scuttle attempt fails.

The Maman can’t take gold from the Duke without being noticed! A well-timed EA from de Alva lets the Lepanto hit 3/3. I controlled the Cursed, and on my next turn, I deliberately tried to wreck the Maman (since I like wrecks and almost never see them), but rolled high once again.

The Lepanto dismasts the Maman and the Cazador begins towing her.

Ramsgate and the Lord Cauldwell team up to put an end to the Skin Flayer, but she’s still an Eternal ship with an oarsman aboard. To the left, the Lucy’s Luck and Enfant Terrible approach the last wild gold.

The Skin Flayer rows over her own wreckage. She still carries her full crew complement.

The Silver Coffin finally hits, tearing into the fort and taking a mast off the LC. Ramsgate only has the double-range cannon at this point. The last available coins have been loaded onto ships!

On the following turn, the Cazador explored the captured Maman to take her coins. The Lepanto sunk the Skin Flayer, who began repairing at her HI. However, it was obvious that the Skin Flayer would not be able to catch any of the Imperialist gold ships, so the game was called with that gold being transferred to the Imperialist home island.

With a relatively equal number of coins on each HI, it was anyone’s game. The gold was counted up, including the 4 on Ramsgate:

Cursed: 35 gold
Imperialists: 31

A very close finish! The Cursed’s first visit to the Duke shipwreck proved to be the decisive factor, as they found good values there. The Imperialists had more coins overall, but they had lesser values.

What a fantastic game! The Imperialists may have played a better overall game, but the Cursed got luckier with the gold. In addition, my penchant for risk-taking (with the reef) paid off in this case, though I was disappointed I couldn’t wreck the Maman Brigitte!