I’ve been writing Battle Reports since late July 2011. I played at least a dozen games (probably more) in 2005-2006 when I first got into Pirates CSG, but since getting back into it in 2011 I’ve recorded almost every game I’ve played in some way. In this blog I will be posting battle reports of my adventures. Check out my best battle reports in the Compendium and my biggest games in Huge Game Legacy.
The first game since the summer was a quick two player 40 point game, Pirates vs. Americans. I built some of the newer ships in my collection on Saturday, and I’m going to try to use mostly (or possibly exclusively) game pieces that I’ve never used before. The Americans and Pirates are the two factions with the strongest additions (or you could call them reinforcements), so it felt natural to pit them against each other. They don’t have a huge history in terms of my games, but historically it makes more sense.
The Frontier and the USS Mercury (LE sub from MI) faced the Minerva, Amity (F&S version), and Swift. The Minerva and Amity are ships from the F&S historical pack, while the Swift is a two-masted galley from POTC with a built-in explorer ability.
Minerva from Fire and Steel, courtesy of Riz
The Americans went first, and this gave them the advantage. The Frontier quickly explored the nearest two islands, gathering a total of 16 gold, enough to win the game with one cargo haul’s worth of coins! The Mercury started the game submerged, heading towards the Pirate fleet. The Swift and Amity headed for wild islands, while the Minerva (with crew-killing Christopher Moody aboard) headed for the Frontier. The Mercury surfaced and shot away two of the Minerva’s three masts. The Minerva then desperately shot and rammed the Frontier, resulting in a bloody mess. Both the shot and the ram rolled true, and the Minerva’s built-in crew-killing ability took out the helmsman on the Frontier. The boarding roll went against the Pirates however, taking out the helmsman on the Minerva.
At this point, both the Frontier and the Minerva had one mast remaining. The Mercury then took out the final mast on the Minerva, ending the threat against the Frontier (or so the Americans hoped). Instead, the Pirates saw that there was only a total of 13 gold on the two island that they had explored, and knowing that the Frontier had gotten to the other two islands, they knew they had to sink the Frontier, limping home with one mast. The Amity was only moving L at this point (she moves L+S when her cargo hold is empty), but the Swift (as her name implies) was quick enough to catch the Frontier (now moving at S+S after the death of her helmsman). Alas, the Mercury was still in the fight, and just when the Swift was coming in range of the Frontier, she promptly sunk the Swift with her 2L guns with help from 0LR reroller Wayne Nolan, allowing the Frontier to safely sail into harbour! After the sinking of the Swift, the final treasure count came to 19 to 9 in favour of the Americans.
I intend to play more games with similar fleets, and I think I will keep it Pirates vs. Americans for the time being. I think I’ll gradually increase the point limit until all of the new additions to said factions are on the water, and see who can win the war!
Another game will probably start tomorrow, one involving multiple scenarios from a link on Boardgamegeek. There will be a total of 8 scenarios used in this large game, which will feature 4 150 point fleets, with the English, Pirates, Spanish, and French participating. The 8 scenarios are Bermuda Triangle, Colonists of Catan, Shipwreck Graveyard, The Midas Touch, Paradise Island, The Other World, Rain Squalls, and Treasure Island II. Both Paradise Island and the island with the Catan gold will be in the Other World. I’m going to use fog banks for the rain squalls, and move them like icebergs. The Midas Doubloon will be a 7 instead of a 6 so that it will be the highest value treasure coin in the game.
5/19/13: The multi-scenario game has finally gotten under way, with three turns being played so far. The main ocean has the 4 HI’s, 4 wild islands for the Treasure Island II scenario, and 2 MI’s for more gold. The Other World is much smaller, containing Paradise Island and Catan island, with Paradise Island surrounded by reefs. Each world has 2 whirlpools in it, along with other terrain, including 3 rain squalls. There are 6 shipwrecks, with 2 located on the reefs around Paradise Island and the other 4 in the main ocean.
The English have gone off to explore some islands and grab some gold. First, the Endeavour took out all of the Spanish native canoes over the course of two turns. The Aberdeen Baron is headed towards a whirlpool located in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. The Alexandria found Turtles, but the Pirate ship White Rose has taken out two of her masts. HMS Hound has acquired one of the four coins necessary in order to build the map to locate Treasure Island.
The Pirates have had a rough going so far. The Raven was mauled by the French five master Le Gaule, who later went on to dismast the Pandora. The Darkhawk II has put an oarsman aboard a Carrion Crow shipwreck, allowing the Crow to fire her cannons at any passing ships. The Bonnie Liz has grabbed a coin from the island that the Alexandria, White Rose, HMS Bretwalda, are clustered around. Now that there are 10 turtles in the water by that same island, it’s becoming a busy area!
The Spanish have had a similarly abysmal start. Their Native Canoes are gone, and their strategy of using the Augusta to mark unexplored islands as explored without her docking at them hasn’t borne much success. The Spanish were going to use the canoes to surround their flagship, El Garante, to take advantage of her ability that gives her +1 to her cannon rolls for every friendly ship within S of her. Now the Garante is sailing west, following the Algeciras and the Martillo de Dios, who is towing the Diablo. Their other three 4 masters, La Santa Ana (CC), La Resolucion (SM), and L’Aguila, have sailed into the Bermuda Triangle to try to get to the Other World through a whirlpool. However, the Santa Ana has already been flung way northeast across the sea after getting stuck, and now L’Aguila is stuck, too. The Resolucion successfully avoided the Triangle’s peculiar effects, and even went through the whirlpool without losing anything. However, things fell apart for her after that…
The French have had the best start of all four nations. Although they go last each turn, they’ve had a flurry of successes in the early going. Their fleet is very scary. They have set sail with all 5 of the French 5 masters that are in my collection, and all of them are stacked with crew. With La Magnifique and her sac-captain Arazure in the lead, they are a sight to behold. Le Gaule has already dismasted the Raven and the Pandora, and she has captured the Pandora, who has treasure aboard. The Magnifique has captured the Raven, while the Ville de Paris stands guard for the time being. Le Soleil Royal has gone east towards the Spanish, and the Augusta promptly sailed into a fog bank to avoid her. The Soleil Royal has crew-killer guns that have been enhanced by the world-hating of La Gentil de Barbinais. Le Superbe has taken two colonists (all she had room for, after taking on a captain, helmsman, and explorer) through a whirlpool into the Other World. The Spanish ship La Resolucion arrived in the Other World via the same whirlpool on the next turn, and the Superbe has already shot away 3 of her 4 masts.
With only a few points left for pure gold-runners, the French have sent Le Coeur du Lion to the nearest wild island, Le Pique to the next-closest, and La Dijon off to Paradise Island, where she will arrive next turn.
Additional Comment:
5/19/13: After 2 more turns, things have gone badly for the French and the Pirates.
The English took out 2 masts on the White Rose, and she and the Bonnie Liz are both heading back the the Pirates’ HI. The Alexandria is sailing with gold (and Wine) alongside the Turtles, with the Bretwalda and Durham nearby. HMS Hound has dropped Enemy of the State and Exploding Shot off on the Endeavour, and is headed home with gold. The Aberdeen Baron is approaching Catan island, and HMS Gallows has dismasted the Spanish ship L’Aguila.
The Pirates keep getting their ships shot up. Most recently the Tejon and Proud Tortoise have been dismasted by the Ville de Paris, although the Doombox and Darkhawk II combined on the following turn to respond with 3 hits on the Paris. The Pirates are trying to regroup and repair, while the Cursed Blade has headed to the Other World in search of gold-grabbing opportunities.
The Spanish have used Homing Beacon to get the San Francisco home quickly. The Santa Ana has begun sailing back south after the Bermuda Triangle threw her way off course. The trio of the Augusta, Algeciras, and Diablo combined to dismast the Soleil Royal after a daring ram and board by the Algeciras. Both the ram and board worked, and via this miracle the Royal had lost a mast and Barbinais before the others shot away her remaining masts. The Resolucion lost her final mast to the Superbe in the Other World, and has been captured by the French.
As detailed above, the French finally lost some masts on 2 of their 5 masters, and it’s taking a handful of turns for them to tow the 2 Pirate ships home. The Augusta rammed Le Pique, so now she’s derelict next to the Soleil Royal. The Coeur du Lion is almost back home with her gold coin. La Dijon has taken a coin from Paradise Island, where she also found Protection from Davy Jones, which will help her get home safely, since she only has one mast after going through the first whirlpool to get to the Other World.
Additional Comment:
5/22/13: Haven’t been able to get on here for battle reports the last few days… oh well. The game has progressed some more, with the English and French taking over the seas.
All 10 turtles made it safely to the English HI, since the wild island they were discovered on was the one closest to the English HI. The Alexandria came home to repair 2 masts, and the Endeavour and the Gallows teamed up to sink the Spanish ships Augusta and El Garante, the Spanish flagship. Just in the last 2 turns, Fort Brompton and Ramsgate have been built on the 2 wild islands nearest the English HI, giving them a rather formidable line of defence that they will probably need.
The Pirates are almost out of it. The Cursed Blade captured the Aberdeen Baron, who was carrying 10 gold as well as the Midas doubloon, but when she tried to go back to the Pirate HI via the nearest available whirlpool, the French jumped her. The French took both ships, but the Doombox (towed by the Proud Tortoise) sunk the Cursed Blade before she made it back to the French HI. The Baron was towed back, raking in a total of 19 gold for the French (since the doubloon gives +1 to all other gold coins on the ship, of which there were a 4 and a 6, both from Catan island).
Meanwhile, the captured ships Resolucion and Pandora had brought back a 2 and a 4 to complete the French map of Treasure Island II. However, the wild island that resulted from the die roll that got the 5’s and 6’s is the island that Fort Brompton is on, so the French will have to destroy the fort if they want the high-value coins (the English can’t take the coins). On the turn after the Endeavour sunk El Garante, La Magnifique let loose a Broadsides Attack on the Endeavour, sinking her with one die roll! One flagship sunk by another, only to be sunk by a third flagship!
At the French HI, La Ville de Paris is repairing for the second time, while the Aberdeen Baron also repairs.
It doesn’t look good at all for the Spanish. They had L’Aguila, El Algeciras, and the captured Le Pique sunk in recent turns. Le Soleil Royal was recaptured by the French, and she was towed back to her HI, where she is repairing. The Martillo de Dios went to the Other World to help out the Santa Ana, and they both went to Paradise Island. They loaded gold, but on their way out, the Santa Ana was wrecked on a reef (I think this is the first true in-game wreck of my Pirates CSG career!). The Martillo de Dios has headed back to the Spanish HI, but she may return to the wreck, since there is valuable gold still on the ship, not to mention the powerful canceller, Nemesio Diaz (the Dios didn’t have cargo space to load anything more than she was already carrying, especially since the Paradise Island gold takes up as many cargo spaces as it’s worth in gold).
At this point, it looks like the game will come down to a battle between the French and the English, unless they avoid each other and simply grab the rest of the treasure. The French have more gold and more masts, but the English will be fully repaired soon, and have the advantage of two forts, if they let the French come to them.
Additional Comment:
A plethora of things have led me to neglect Pirates lately, but this game will eventually be finished!
6/1/2013
The multi-scenario game ended today, in quicker fashion than what was expected. The French looked around and decided that they probably had the most gold of any fleet, and looked to end the game as quickly as possible. They sunk the final Pirate ship, the one masted Rover, knocking the Pirates out of the game for good. Next, they finished repairing their ships and sailed east towards the Spanish and English HI’s. Coincidentally, the repairs were finished for each ship on different turns, so that when the game ended, the French actually had a line of battle with all of their big ships. Before the Martillo de Dios could head through a whirlpool and return to the wreck of the Santa Ana, the Superbe used Poseidon’s Breath to move 10S and sink the Diablo flotilla. To sink the final Spanish ship, the French flagship La Magnifique sacced an explorer to move L+S+L+S and Broadsides Attack the Dios to the bottom of the sea. The game ended, with at least half of the players eliminated from the game.
The treasure was counted, and the results came with two surprises: the French had even more gold than anybody realized, while the Spanish actually beat out the powerful (and relatively healthy) English for second place:
1. French: 61 gold
2. Spanish: 21
3. English: 20
4. Pirates: 5
It was a fun game, and most of the scenarios worked out nicely. Despite using many of them simultaneously, the game didn’t become too complex. The shipwrecks and rain squalls were the low point, as neither of those aspects really came into play. Overall, an enjoyable game, not to mention that it was about time the French finally won!
It’s been a while since I last played. I won’t be doing any massive games anytime soon, but I was able to get a little game in today. Since my last bunch of games, I’ve acquired a few new pieces. First and foremost, the original Flying Dutchman! I also got my first four masted galley, the English ship Alexandria, as well as my first set of Native Canoes, the Spanish ones. Other new additions include HMS Durham, the Spanish ship San Francisco, the Spanish flotilla Diablo, the Pirate ship Gruesome, a few 0LR rerollers, and a handful of UT’s.
For today’s game, I wanted to try out the new stuff. The English sent the Alexandria out with the ROTF version of Hermione Gold (captain + helmsman), along with an explorer. By combining the two generic crew in one cargo space, she would still have room for two treasures. The Durham was crewed with a captain, helmsman, explorer, and Commodore Rhys Gryffyn Owen, leaving her with two more cargo spaces for gold. Two beautiful four masters from BC, sailing for the first time!
The Spanish went with a much smaller approach. Their “flagship” was the San Francisco, crewed with a captain, helmsman, and explorer. She is a very versatile ship, with good guns and cargo space to go along with her S+S speed. The Santa Teresa was the only other true ship that the Spanish used, and she would tow the new flotilla, Diablo. The Santa Teresa was picked for her point cost (9), which let the Tribal Chieftain come aboard to command the Native Canoes.
The English went first, with the Alexandria and Durham splitting up to grab some gold. The Spanish sent the San Francisco off to find gold, while the Santa Teresa went after the Alexandria. On the next turn, the Native Canoes loaded gold from the wild island they started at. The Alexandria headed for home with a few gold coins, but the Santa Teresa maneuvered to get the Diablo within firing range. The Alexandria lost two masts, but responded the next turn by taking out the lone mast on the Teresa as she sailed into port to bring home 5 gold. The Durham loaded two coins as well, but she couldn’t return home so quickly, for her captain knew of the treasure-enhancing ability of the canoes (+1 to each coin). It was a race back to the HI of the Spaniards! The Durham only has S-range guns, and used one to take out a mast on the San Francisco, but none of her other guns were in range of the San Francisco or the canoes. All six Spanish vessels docked on the next turn, revealing 17 gold after the bonuses were added in, giving the Spanish the victory!
Additional Comment:
5/12/13: I’ve played two more games with my new stuff. The first one pitted the English fleet above against a Cursed/Pirate fleet: the Flying Dutchman crewed with OE Fantasma, a helmsman, and 3 oarsmen, and the Gruesome with a helmsman. The Alexandria and Durham were both headed home with gold, but the Dutchman was blockading their HI. The Durham took off two of the Dutchman’s masts, but she responded on the following turn by using Broadsides Attack to derelict both the Durham and the Alexandria (saccing an oarsman to move-and-shoot twice), giving the Cursed Pirates a quick victory.
For the second game, the Dutchman and the Gruesome faced the Spanish fleet. This game didn’t take long either. The Gruesome rammed the Santa Teresa to dismast her and make Diablo stationary. Then the Flying Dutchman took out all five canoes in one turn, and the San Francisco was sunk, making the Cursed Pirates the victor in both of today’s games!
2/24/13: A set of three games is being played, with the Norvegia fleet facing the Altar of the Loa fleet. Since the Darkhawk II and her crew cost exactly 20 points, I took her out to make it a 40 point fleet.
The first game went to the Norvegians (?), who went first and won with 17 gold. They put Lost in the treasure mix, and used it to strand all three Pirate one masters in Sargasso Seas.
The second game was much more interesting. Since the AotL fleet went first, they were able to use Becalmed to essentially skip the Norvegians’ first turn. This helped immensely at first, because the White Rose rolled a 6 to get AotL up and working (and she also found both Barbary Banner and Smuggled Goods on the island). She sacced two oarsmen to gain control of the Norvegians on their next turn. Before they would go, however, the Banshee’s Cry (of the AotL fleet) rolled a 2 at the same island when she docked, moving all of the treasure, including AotL, to another wild island.
The Norvegians were controlled for one turn, and the AotL fleet threw them off course while the White Rose took out 3 of the Neptune’s Hoard’s 4 masts. However, since AotL was now out of reach of the fleet that needed it to win, they weren’t able to continue to sac crew. That’s where things got interesting. The damaged Neptune’s Hoard sprinted to the island where AotL was, and sacced two crew to gain control of the AotL fleet on their next turn. She grabbed 3 treasure coins, while the Star of Siam and Banshee’s Cry grabbed 3 more between the two of them.
The MI that the Star of Siam docked at was the same as the others, and by rolling a 6, the Star had access to UT’s from outside the game. This is one of the drawbacks of the AotL fleet. She picked Runes of Odin, which lets you bring in an iceberg that eliminates from the game the first ship that hits it, and then reverts to a normal iceberg. Using Foul Winds, the Norvegians threw all three Pirate one masters (since they were grouped together heading for the island that AotL was on) into the iceberg, eliminating the Banshee’s Cry and dismasting both the Mermaid and the Jolly Mon, putting a serious dent into the hopes of the AotL fleet.
As in the first game, the Norvegians uncovered Lost, and this time they used it to place an iceberg near the White Rose. By the effect of AotL, they were able to move her, and slammed her into the iceberg, taking out one of her masts (the performance of the Norvegia fleet in this particular game would make my Mind Control fleet proud!).
Now the Neptune’s Hoard was trying to get home, but her S+L+S+L+S speed wasn’t quite enough, and the White Rose sunk her. Raft was revealed to move Captain Blackheart and the Hoard’s treasure coins to the nearest wild island, where the Banshee’s Cry was docked. The Rose also managed to sink the Cry, who had 3 gold aboard.
At this point, the Star of Siam had gotten back to her HI and sacced another oarsman to move back to her MI. She rolled another 6, which let her bring Runes of Magic into the game. This UT lets you move an iceberg L in any direction, and the same iceberg the White Rose had been moved into was now hitting her once more, taking out a second mast. With that, the Norvegians had both moved enemy ships into icebergs, and moved icebergs into enemy ships .
Now there were only three ships left able to move: the Star of Siam, the White Rose (both with 2 masts), and the Rover (who didn’t have the speed or guns to make an impact). The Star of Siam rammed the White Rose, taking out a third mast. The Rose responded with a point-blank shot that took out a mast on the Star. The Star then scored a hit on the Rose, making her derelict. The Star towed her home, where her 10 gold gave the Norvegians the victory!
In the third game, the AotL fleet went first and were able to keep the Norvegians from taking their turn the entire game. Using Becalmed on the first turn, they immobilized the Norvegians. Then they swapped out a treasure for AotL and sacced crew for a few turns. The Rover and Mermaid were able to use their decent guns to dismast the Neptune’s Hoard, who wouldn’t have been able to shoot back anyway since the one masters were docked at their HI. The White Rose sacced the last two crew needed to control their enemies, moving the Star of Siam and Banshee’s Cry about 1/2 S apart. Then the Rose moved and shot, dismasting both ships as she passed by going home with the winning gold.
Out of curiosity, I played a fourth game, which the Norvegians won. They went first and won relatively easily, which tells me that between such effective fleets (especially with one using Becalmed), going first may actually make all the difference. Norvegia is a fantastic fleet (going 3-1 in this series), but the AotL fleet can be competitive as well.
Additional Comment:
This thread now has the most views of any Pirates CSG thread on Pojo! 😀
Originally posted to Miniature Trading on May 24th, 2017
This was a special game to celebrate the 5th (and possibly final) Pirates of the Caribbean movie being released this week, Dead Men Tell No Tales. It’s a PotC tribute game, with tons of ships and characters from all 4 movies represented.
Here are the participants. They each have special victory conditions, as they’re fighting for separate goals. This makes it a tiny bit like an RPG (role playing game), and should make for an interesting experience. (crew abilities found here)
English:
HMS Endeavour + Lord Cutler Beckett, Mercer
HMS Dauntless + Admiral James Norrington, Governor Weatherby Swann
HMS Interceptor + Mullroy, Murtog
Edinburgh Trader
At 86 total points, the English fleet is out for pirate blood. They will not stop until all pirates have been defeated.
Goal to achieve victory: Eliminate all Pirate ships and crew.
Captain Jack Sparrow:
Black Pearl + Captain Jack Sparrow, Joshamee Gibbs, Cotton, Marty, Pintel and Ragetti
Somehow the crew fit into the point and cargo limits of the ship due to the links! Jack is up to his usual tricks – staying alive by whatever means necessary. He’s got his full crew aboard to help him, which should make the Pearl a force to be reckoned with.
Goal to achieve victory: Be alive at the end of the game.
Davy Jones’ Cursed:
Flying Dutchman + Captain Davy Jones, Bootstrap Bill Turner, Jimmy Legs, Palafico
The Kraken
Davy Jones is out for more souls, with Jack Sparrow in particular on his hit list. However, he has a target on his back, and wants to live forever. This fleet functions as part of the Cursed faction.
Goal to achieve victory: Be alive at the end of the game. (bonus points for capturing as many enemy crew as possible, and for keeping enemies from finding the chest OR its key)
Barbossa is wise, and has a lot on his mind. He’d love to get the Pearl back from Jack, but avoiding the English and Davy Jones while doing so will be difficult.
Goal to achieve victory: Capture the Black Pearl. (bonus points for staying alive)
Blackbeard:
Queen Anne’s Revenge + Blackbeard
Blackbeard is the odd one out here, as the only standout from On Stranger Tides. However, his historical record speaks for itself.
Goal to achieve victory: Survive, eliminate other Pirate rivals (especially Jack and Barbossa), and end up with the most gold whether through coins or captured crew. (his ability lets you unload captured crew for gold worth their point cost)
Anamaria:
Jolly Mon + Anamaria (obviously illegal due to her point cost, but I’m also negating the Jolly Mon’s ability because she would weigh less than Jack, especially with all his gear lol)
Anamaria is still annoyed with Jack for not having gotten her ship back. She had to pay for the Jolly Mon to be raised from the bottom of Port Royal, and now demands payment AND another ship from Jack.
Goal to achieve victory: Receive gold AND a captured ship from Jack Sparrow. (can be any amount of gold and any ship in play, with bonus points for HMS Interceptor)
The Brethren Court:
Empress + Captain Sao Feng, Lian and Park, Tia Dalma
Ranger + Gentleman Jocard
Centurion + Captain Villanueva
Seref + Ammand the Corsair
Fancy + Capitaine Chevalle
Otter + Sri Sumbhajee
Ningpo + Mistress Ching
At 101 points, the Brethren Court’s fleet is the only thing capable of directly standing up to the Royal Navy in the Caribbean. Sao Feng has gotten the real Calypso aboard his ship, and intends to release her to combat both Davy Jones, the Royal Navy, and possibly Blackbeard as well. To do this they must get Ragetti’s wooden eyeball (Barbossa’s piece of eight) and Jack’s piece of eight, both of which start the game on the Black Pearl (though they may not realize this).
Goal to achieve victory: Release Calypso, defeat the Royal Navy, and be the last fleet standing.
It’s possible that more than one participant will achieve victory, at which point various tiebreakers may be used.
Now onto the house rules and other variables (forgot to use a few others I originally planned on):
–Wind rules
-The Flying Dutchman can submerge. When submerged she follows the rules for submarines, except that she gets +L to her base move and cannot ram.
-Will and Elizabeth Turner will be in the Port Royal jail to start the game. This is where the Royal Navy will sail from. By docking at the port and being given an explore action, any Pirates (not the English or Cursed) can free them and use them if desired.
-Some crew have multiple versions; if that crew is on a ship, either version can be used on that turn.
-The undamaged Empress is standing in for the damaged version, which is the version I’m using stats for.
-Any UT’s can be loaded face down. No UT’s take up cargo space.
Custom UT rules:
Jack’s Compass: Lets you look at all face down treasures on islands and ships. (points to thing you want most)
Dead Man’s Chest and Davy Jones’ Key: If both are on the same ship, you can either kill Davy Jones outright or command the Flying Dutchman and the Kraken. (the latter of which could make you a huge target)
Curse of the Black Spot: Automatically makes this ship a target of the Kraken. (target changes if the Kraken already had a target)
Aztec Medallion: This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated.
Letter of Marque: English ships cannot attack this ship in any way.
Here is the setup. Port Royal is at the upper left, which is the northwest corner of the map. Isla de Muerta is at the top, and you can see that the Black Pearl is starting the game inside a fog bank nearby. Blackbeard has entered the area from the northeast, while Shipwreck Cove holds the Brethren Court’s fleet in the far east. Barbossa has emerged in the southeast. That small island near the center represents Isla Cruces, and Davy Jones and his Kraken are to the south of it. The big sandbar represents the one from At World’s End in the “Parlay” scene. Anamaria is on the Jolly Mon in the southwest.
The English, with the Dauntless anchored in a position similar to the outset of Curse of the Black Pearl. Three 4L and two 4S cannons occupy the fort, which fire in fixed lines of sight (no rotating their line of fire like normal cannons). The Turner couple is in jail.
Scenes from…
The Curse of the Black Pearl:
Dead Man’s Chest:
At World’s End:
World’s End! Ocean’s Edge! This game actually features a waterfall cliff.
A few turns in, and the Interceptor has explored the Sandbar, with Cannibals killing Murtog.
This looks familiar…
… ironically enough, Jack Sparrow has gotten the Curse of the Black Spot! The Kraken is after him! He also picks up Rum (which his whole crew gets drunk on), a Spyglass, and the key to Davy Jones’ chest. (NOT just a drawring of a key!)
Blackbeard aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge has found both Plunder and Smuggled Goods, which will be worth 6 gold combined if he can unload them.
The Edinburgh Trader is the only English ship not to venture into southern waters, but the Flying Dutchman lurks underwater nearby. Barbossa is after the Black Pearl, and would rather not use his Jailhouse Dog to eliminate Jack’s Black Spot, hoping the Kraken can damage the Pearl but leave her intact so Barbossa can capture it.
However, the Brethren Court have other plans, which include taking Barbossa’s and Jack’s pieces of eight to release Calypso!
Barbossa tried to tell Sao Feng that his piece of eight was Ragetti’s wooden eyeball, currently aboard the Black Pearl with Jack. But Sao Feng didn’t trust him! The Empress gets the weather gauge and rams the Hai Peng! However, Sao Feng’s boarding party is repulsed, with Park taking the hit. The Centurion also rammed, taking out one of Barbossa’s cursed crew. Unfortunately Captain Villanueva, one of the Pirate Lords, died in the ensuing boarding chaos. This made Sao Feng come to his senses, and he agreed to not attack the Hai Peng any longer as long as Barbossa was telling the truth. (as a side note, Sao Feng has collected the pieces of eight from the 7 Pirate Lords in his fleet, so he need be the only one alive to release Calypso if he acquired all 9 pieces)
I forgot to take pictures for a while. The Black Pearl used her great speed and some occasional wind gusts to avoid the Kraken and Flying Dutchman. Jack decided to rescue Will and Elizabeth from the Port Royal jail, with no English threats guarding the harbor. However, this put him into a corner, surrounded by Port Royal on one side and Davy Jones and his pet on the other! Jack temporarily accepted his fate, letting the Kraken engulf the Pearl. He planned to fight his way out since he couldn’t run any longer.
Barbossa, Blackbeard, and the Brethren Court head northwest to seek out Jack and the Black Pearl, who were starting a brutal fight against the Kraken! The Seref was attacked earlier in the game by the Dauntless, and here she is being escorted by the Otter back to Shipwreck Cove where she can repair. Unbeknownst to the Brethren, Blackbeard deposited his stash of Plunder and Smuggled Goods in part of the town of Shipwreck, netting him 6 gold. Tia Dalma’s canceller ability halted the Dauntless and Admiral Norrington, so the English have sailed back south. Anamaria was headed to Port Royal to pick up Will and Elizabeth for their assistance, but strong and constantly shifting winds made her journey difficult. By the time she had nearly reached the harbor in this picture, Jack already had them aboard the Pearl.
This looks familiar! Ever the savvy pirate, Jack intentionally let the Kraken take the Black Pearl near Port Royal, who had a cannon in range of the beast.
Devastation: after a fierce fight, the Black Pearl is gone. The Kraken is mortally wounded and has taken damage from the Empress, who used Tia Dalma to cancel the Kraken keyword. All hell has broken loose, as the Royal Navy contingent engages the Brethren Court. Blackbeard has left the scene to pursue Barbossa and the vulnerable Otter with Sumbhajee aboard. However, Barbossa is using the Hai Peng’s speed to full advantage, racing towards the ocean’s edge/world’s end. Anamaria spots him and looks to join, eager to do anything but join the melee up north.
With a timely AA from Beckett, the Royal Navy unleashes English gunnery! The Fancy, Ningpo, and Centurion are quickly dismasted, leaving the Ranger with no support. Even the Interceptor and Edinburgh Trader are available, having no better things to do.
In another unintentional irony, Barbossa steers the Hai Peng off the edge of the world and over the waterfall! Anamaria follows him in desperation on the Jolly Mon!
In the chaotic aftermath of the main battle, the Royal Navy continues to reign supreme. The Flying Dutchman finally was able to get at Sao Feng in the Empress, which sank. Davy Jones then turned his attention to the Dauntless, with Jimmy Legs saccing Lian to provide a move+shoot. It went horribly, and the Dauntless took advantage by blasting off 3 of the FD’s masts. The severely weakened Kraken has surrounded the Edinburgh Trader (again), but the Endeavour and Interceptor are healthy, the latter having captured the Ranger and Gentleman Jocard for the fun of it.
Here’s a cool sea-level view near a rocky outcropping, showing the Kraken in a familiar place and the Dutchman’s gunports. Especially with the Endeavour looming, you can tell the battle is going in favor of the English.
After a turn in Davy Jones’ Locker, Barbossa has succeeded in rescuing Jack and his motley crew from the depths!!
Here is the Black Pearl setup with everyone on board!
The English were able to kill the Kraken and capture the Flying Dutchman.
Knowing they must team up with each other to stand a chance against the Royal Navy, the Pirates band together and fight! A shift in the wind gives the English the weather gauge! The Black Pearl is quickly dismasted, while Blackbeard’s ship loses two masts. The partially repaired Seref arrives on the scene, but the Otter has already been dismasted. The Edinburgh Trader engages the Empress.
Despite the QAR sinking and having just two ships left, the Pirates put up a good fight.
In the end the Royal Navy emerges victorious, having accomplished their goal of ridding the Caribbean of piracy!
The English definitely benefited from being out of the action during the middle of the game, and basically all the pirates wanted something from Jack, which led to infighting. The themed strategies were fun to watch play out.
This was a fun game that showcased a ton of aspects from Pirates of the Caribbean. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and I hope my videos will improve over time. I also recorded my first few videos for Instagram, where you can hear the background music I had on and even glimpse a few moments that the pictures don’t show.
Another game was played between A7XfanBen and JohnLock.
I went first with The Jades can use Calypso too! JohnLock followed with a Pirate fleet comprising some of the best ships in the game, including the Banshee’s Cry and Hai Peng.
Once again we had 10 wild islands with 3 coins apiece, and flat earth rules.
The Pirates took off for 4 different islands, but the Virtuous Wind had already scoured one of them. I purposely went for islands farther from home, knowing I could probably get close gold later. Calypso got into action early, allowing the Tiger’s Breath to explore an island in the south that would have taken longer to get to.
Here I wanted to try raiding the Pirate home island, but Calypso and Cheng couldn’t come up with a whirlpool in the north. The Virtuous Wind instead headed northeast.
Seeing both Pirate gunships (Hai Peng and Carrion Crow carried captains) away from the Pirate HI, I decided it was time for the VW’s raid. Throughout this game, both of us had dismal luck with whirlpool travel, and Protection from Davy Jones wasn’t found until the end.
Having found the Jade UT earlier, I was taking a big risk going to the Pirate HI instead of just going home with the 7 the VW had. Risking both the UT and the 7, the VW only robbed a 1 coin.
Though the Pirate brigade did turn for their robbed home island afterwards, I decided to “ride out and meet them”.
The Hai Peng had 3 coins aboard, and I figured the VW could win the fight. The Hades’ Flame and Carrion Crow have warped to the southeast, losing masts.
The Hai Peng rammed the VW instead of docking at the home island, taking off a mast but being dismasted in return by the Wind. This was my golden opportunity to cash in and tow the HP home for a bunch of gold.
Using a little-known rule, from Page 10 of the Reference Diagrams I confirmed that I could capture and tow the Hai Peng with the Virtuous Wind since the HP was derelict and her bow was already in contact with the VW. The VW moved S to enter a new whirlpool Calypso had created (Clutch Calypso! XD), warping back to the Jade HI in a jiffy!
Both fleets maxed out their gold scores at the end, specifically the Jades with you guessed it, Jade. XD The VW used the UT to double her old 7 coin into 14 gold after the Tiger’s Paw took the stolen 1. The TP then gave the 1 back to let the VW double that coin too. Good thing, since unfortunately I would need it….
In very improbable fashion, the scores end up tied at 58-58!!!!
The Jades won on both tiebreakers: they led the Pirates in points in play (my favorite tiebreaker, and something that should have been a standard rule) 55-21, and led in masts standing 7-5.
I’m very happy with how my new fleet performed in its first game, essentially winning against a fleet using some of the best Pirate ships out there. We both made some mistakes; the Hai Peng ramming the Virtuous Wind instead of docking home her gold led to the Jades capturing the infamous junk, while I should have been more conservative actually, since going for the HI raid only resulted in 1 more gold. If the VW had been successful in doubling both the 7 and the 4 from the island northeast of the Jade HI (Carrion Crow eventually got the 4 for the Pirates), the Jade profit would have been 22 instead of 15. However, then I probably wouldn’t have captured the HP, who netted 12 gold from her 3 coins. So many moments, decisions, and strategic moves that matter in the end – one of the reasons I love Pirates so much!
Overall though, a very fun, close, and strategic game that came down to the… rope? XD See you next time!!
The Pirates took the first two games of the final series, beating the English.
For the third game, I decided to mix things up to see just how good the Pirates are. The English were automatically the first player, and they made the Pirates’ HI next to their own.
On the first turn, the London and Hound (towing Gibraltar) moved towards the Pirates. The Star of Siam and Banshee’s Cry went off to get treasure as usual (as did the Aberdeen Baron). Normally the Neptune’s Hoard goes to a wild island on the first turn (and she can get there because of the sacced action), but it was obvious that the English would be able to fire upon her after she docked. Instead, she moved and shot at the London, using the extra action to eliminate all 4 of the London’s masts.
After the Hound (who didn’t have a captain) moved it into position, the Gibraltar shot at the Hoard and took out 3 of her 4 masts. By this point, the Aberdeen Baron was returning home with 8 gold, 2 of them from Smuggled Goods. The Star of Siam had grabbed some gold for the Pirates, and the Banshee’s Cry used it to build Dead Man’s Point on the middle island, which she had just explored. Afterwards, the Cry used Screw Engine to move to the last wild island, the only one yet to be explored.
The Hound wanted to finish off the Neptune’s Hoard, but the Hoard still had plenty of crew left to sac. She zoomed away to assist the Cry in emptying the final wild island. The Hound used to the Gibraltar to destroy Dead Man’s Point, and the gold left over was soon picked up by the Aberdeen Baron.
The Neptune’s Hoard sacced all of her crew (other than Captain Blackheart) to get home in just a few turns, staying out of range of the Extended Range guns of the Gibraltar. The Star of Siam also sacced the rest of her crew to pick up the last two gold coins from the island she had explored earlier.
Since she didn’t have any sac crew, the Banshee’s Cry was stuck moving at L+L+S speed (so slow! ) to get home, with both Barbary Banner (worth 5 gold) and another coin aboard.
Now things got a little crazy: this was the best part of the tournament. The Hound had just finished destroying Dead Man’s Point, but the fort had got off a shot, which took out 1 of the Hound’s 2 masts. The Hound and Gibraltar would be able to cut off the Cry before she got back home. However, the Hoard took Don Pedro Gilbert (the sac crew for the Star of Siam) away from the Star, and sacced him (a sac crew saccing another sac crew since there weren’t any others left) to move within range of the Hound, and she also moved so that she blocked the Hound. With her final mast, the Hoard dismasted the Hound, and the Cry was safe to run home. However, the Aberdeen Baron had the gold from the middle island, and was also racing home. In the end, the Banshee’s Cry was able to get home first (only because of her helmsman, however), giving the Pirates the narrow victory!
The Pirates’ Norvegia fleet proved to be the best of the bunch, winning even in the face of tough odds. They have won the tournament, but I think I’ll test the fleet against my HMS Grand Temple fleet.
Additional Comment:
The HMS Grand Temple fleet beat this fleet in all three games. The GT was able to crush the treasure runners before they got back home. The devastating UT’s helped a bunch, but the English still won the third game despite not using the UT’s.
Additional Comment:
Today the Altar of the Loa fleet went against another 60 point fleet. The fleet consisted of HMS London, HMS Victor towing the Tower flotilla, the Bonnie Liz, the Bloody Jewel, and Le Bon Marin. For the Pirate fleet, Becalmed and Divers were used in place of Mermaids and Favour of the Gods, since they should be banned (and I don’t have them).
The first game went according to plan for the Pirates, who were able to get to an MI, and set up the Altar of the Loa system. Becalmed was used to delay the enemy ships while the White Rose raced to the island. The Pirate navigator on board the Rover helped the slower ships get there quckly. Once there, the Pirate ships began saccing crew to control the other fleet, and moved their ships into firing range of the Pirates, who picked them off easily. Due to Becalmed, the other fleet wasn’t able to give actions to their ships on any turn.
The second game was much more competitive, and fun. Since the Pirates went second, Becalmed was only able to affect 2 of the 5 enemy ships. When the Pirates got to the MI, they rolled a 2, which forced them to move all of the island’s treasure to another wild island. Since the MI requires a replacement treasure to be present, the island was a dud for AotL. Of course, they picked the closest island around, but the Bloody Jewel got there first. She picked up some treasure, and then sacced both her helmsman and her explorer to take over the Pirates’ turn. This seriously hampered the strategy of the Pirates, as their tactics were being used against them! However, the Bloody Jewel only had those two crew, so the Pirates were able to take their turn normally in the next round. By this point, Le Bon Marin and the Bonnie Liz had returned home with a total of 12 gold, and sailed back out for more.
Now the Mermaid (of the Pirate fleet) docked at the island with AotL, and rolled a 2, forcing the UT to the center island, where things got heated. The Darkhawk II hit the Victor and sacced some crew so that the other fleet wouldn’t have their turn. The Banshee’s Cry grabbed the last coin on the island, and the White Rose managed to sink the London, Bonnie Liz, Bloody Jewel, and Bon Marin all in quick succession, since they were dead in the water and the Rose was able to get off 8 shots per turn. The Bon Marin went down with 2 gold aboard, which brought the gold total to 13 for her fleet, needing just 2 more to win (since a 2 was replaced with AotL). The Victor was blasted by the Rose as the Cry took home the gold. In the end, the Pirates won with 15 gold, winning by the slimmest of margins.
The Pirates went second in the third game, and again things deteriorated when the MI roll landed with a 2. The White Rose used Havana Black to sac an oarsman and dismast the London and cripple the Victor, while the Darkhawk helped out with a hit on the London. I’m not entirely sure of all the details from the last game, but somehow the Pirates managed to squeak out another victory. Things looked bad for them at first, but once they got ahold of AotL, they were able to dominate the game.
So, “The Pirate’s Way” fleet is currently 3-0 through 3 games, and it’s a very interesting way to play. I would recommend trying it out; it’s very fun. The fleet is not unbeatable, but it has a lot of things going for it.
.
