Today I played three more games in which the Pirates faced the Americans. First off, the point limit was increased from 40 to 60 points. The Americans swapped out the USS Mercury submarine for the USS Eagan, a four masted ship with rank-2 guns. They also added the USS Paladin and crewed her with Commodore Peregrine Stern, who has the captain, +1 to boarding rolls, and extra action abilities. The Pirates swapped Christopher Moody (onboard the Minerva) for Crimson Angel (OE version, SAT with world-hater) and a standard captain. They added the Black Mongoose and Jack Hawkins (DJC version, captain and reverse captain).

USS Eagan, courtesy of Riz

The first game started off in favour of the Pirates, with the Minerva quickly dismasting the Frontier and capturing her by using an extra action from Crimson Angel. The Eagan responded by taking out two masts on the Minerva, and the Paladin shot away two masts from the Black Mongoose. The Mongoose then used her reverse captain ability to take one mast off the Paladin, but she was sunk by the Paladin on the next turn.

By this point, the Swift had already gotten home with gold for the Pirates, with the Amity heading back as well. The Eagan sailed for the slow-moving Amity, but another SAT from Crimson Angel aboard the Minerva let her catch the Eagan and block her path, killing her helmsman with the ships ability. The chase was over, and the Pirates had their first victory!

The second game started with an extra action from Stern aboard the Paladin, taking out two masts on the Minerva. The Minerva tried to shoot, ram, and board the Eagan, but she failed at all three, to be sunk by the Eagan on the next turn. Meanwhile, the Frontier was busy exploring the nearest two islands, but she only found 11 gold from the 7 coins she was able to load. The Black Mongoose, instead of helping her comrades aboard the Minerva, sailed straight for the Frontier. Without an escort to support her, the Swift was a sitting duck for the Paladin, and she was dismasted. The Eagan sunk her on the next turn. The gold onboard the Swift gave the Americans 14 total gold, almost enough to win.

The Amity now had to move desperately in order to get her gold home, moving at just L speed. She unsuccessfully rammed the Paladin, and managed to lose a coin worth 4 gold in the boarding process. The Black Mongoose now shot away one of the Eagan’s masts, but it was too late for the Pirates. The Paladin and Eagan teamed up to sink the Amity, giving the Americans 18 gold against the Pirates’ 6.

The third game at 60 points featured a slightly different island setup. The islands were arranged in a circular ring, with open sea in the middle instead of having an island in the center. This game featured many lucky die rolls from Angel and Stern, the double action crew. On the Pirates’ first turn, the Minerva moved twice to catch the Frontier and sink her, eliminating the American gold game. The biggest ship in play, the Eagan angrily responded by sinking the Minerva. A 6 from Stern aboard the Paladin let her shoot twice, taking out two masts each on the Amity and the Black Mongoose. The Mongoose managed to blow away one mast on the Paladin before the Americans responded with another extra action from Stern. The Paladin sunk the Mongoose and dismasted the Amity.

At this point, the Eagan was able to sink the Swift, evening up the gold race at 10 for each nation. Unfortunately for the Pirates, however, this was their last ship, so the Americans were able to tow the Amity home and win, 18-10.

The Americans win 2 out of 3, and are 4-1 overall! They were able to overcome their bad starts with powerful guns and a few well-timed double actions. I think the point limit will be increased once more before I delve into other factions and eventually do some multiplayer action. I’d also like to reintroduce terrain and UT’s into the mix, since these simple games at 60 points can be a little too simple!

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!

Multiple Scenario Game

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!  😀