Bottleneck Game at 4×50

8/14/2022

The latest game at Mox Boarding House in Bellevue Washington was of a similar nature as my previous “Bottleneck Game” – 4×50 (4 players, 50 point fleets) with all home islands on one side of the ocean, with the wild islands and gold only accessible via a bottleneck where two land peninsulas converged.  These are the house rules we use, though this was a flat earth game (with hard boundaries you couldn’t pass over) to make sure the bottleneck would be relevant.  If you try this idea, I would also recommend banning Ghost Ship and possibly the home island raider abilities – the former to prevent making the bottleneck irrelevant (or at least make ghostly not able to pass through the peninsula landmasses).  The peninsulas of the bottleneck can be explored for the purposes of building forts on them.

We used 4 wild islands with 4 coins apiece.

Here are the general fleets in the order of play:

Dan’s Spanish
La Tartessos + Almirante Carlos Pavón y Miranda, SM Castro (SAT), Contessa Anita Amore, helmsman, oarsman
La Espada de Dios + Nemesio Diaz, Bianco’s Haulers (SS), helmsman

Kyle’s Americans
USS Atlanta + Jonathan Haraden, Chief PO Charles Richard (DJC), Commodore Matthew Perry, helmsman, oarsman
USS Sioux + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Carolina
Rattlesnake

Ben’s Sneaky Pirates
Slipstream + F&S Lenoir, Gendarmerie Rene Moreau, helmsman
Raven + Don Pedro Gilbert, helmsman, explorer, oarsman x2
Dragon + Hag of Tortuga, El Fantasma (SM), helmsman

John’s Frenchmen
La Marseillais + F&S Lenoir, Jules de Cissey, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Enfant Terrible + helmsman
L’Afrique + captain, fire shot
Glaive

Were we actually ready for what this setup and fleet gamification would bring upon us?

Dan elected to stay at home for the first round.  With Kyle’s mighty American presence next to him, it looked like a smart move.  I was originally going to have the Paradox in my fleet as well, but removed it to bolster the Raven.  With the help of Don and an oarsman she sped off through the bottleneck at the breakneck pace of 8S.  The Slipstream dove underwater and headed west… would she be seen again?  The Dragon stayed put, likely the best option with gunships looking ready to swarm the bottleneck area.

The Carolina was waylaid by Dan’s forces, captured by the Espada in the below picture. The Atlanta took a beating from the Tartessos as well.  John got in on the action with the Marseillais, but missed all shots.

The Tartessos had a broadside ready against John’s flagship, but Lenoir denied Miranda the chance at a sinking.  In the meantime, the Raven had explored the central wild island on the western half, finding three 5’s and Shipping Charts.  She only had room for one 5, but I was determined to explore other islands since it looked way too risky to come home anytime soon.  The origins of my fleet strategy centered around using Moreau (pretty safe on the submerged, cancelling Slipstream) from underwater to shoot Wolves dead at the opportune moment in a way that would let me dictate the endgame.  I was playing the long game, hoping to have Wolves protect the final gold in play and then potentially stalling and negotiating in order to better my position at the end by having total control over when the gold that Wolves guards could be accessed.

Although the main purpose of the sub and Marine crew was to let me dictate the endgame phase, it quickly became apparent that my fleet was by far the weakest and I would probably have to incur some damage to the opposition in order to get the Raven home safely.  Thus the Slipstream began ramming nearby ships, first picking on John’s French fleet.  An annoying tactic, but one that felt necessary given the circumstances and opposing fleets.  More damage probably could have been done if I revealed Moreau, but I wanted to keep the marine secret for longer.  I also knew (partly through Shipping Charts) that both Dan and John had cancellers, so if they teamed up the Slipstream could be sunk.

The Dragon had a sad game where she stayed at home, as it was too risky to set sail as she would likely get blasted before she could sail through the bottleneck.  The island partially cut off in the bottom left corner has been explored by the Raven, who found a Cross of Coronado there as well as 3,3,2.  I was noting all of the gold and crew in play and wanted to know more. John soon found the Wolves I contributed at the island the Glaive is docked at, making me curious as to what they would be protecting.  The rest of John’s fleet heads north around terrain, shadowed by the Slipstream.  The Spanish and Americans eye each other, with repairs occurring in both fleets.  Kyle did have designs on the gold islands, but has been foiled.  This is because the Tartessos lurks in wait for anyone brave enough to pass through the strait.  It looks as though both the Spanish and Americans will be confined to the home island half of the ocean, making it a very dangerous place for any gold runners brave enough to risk a return journey.

A few rounds later and the pace of play chugs along slowly.  Seeing what looked like a long stalemate in the endgame full of fearful maneuvering and home island raiding swaps, I wanted to take some calculated risks to improve my position and keep the game moving.  To that end the Raven swerved astern of the Enfant Terrible and rammed her derelict (just out of reach of the Marseillais) with the intent to capture soon afterwards.  That happened after she explored that northwestern island, finding Marksman’s Map, an abandoned captain and oarsman, and a 1. Not the best island, but now I had both “spyer” UT’s and could easily peek at what Wolves was protecting without having to explore there.  Knowledge is power, and now I was on a quest to know what every single face down cargo in the game was.  From there I could make calculations, assess what risks I wanted to take, and determine whether to be aggressive with the Slipstream or make sure Moreau could kill the Wolves at the right time later on.  The Atlanta has sniped a few masts off the captured Carolina, while L’Afrique is badly stuck on a sargasso sea.

My assets harass the French. The Enfant may not have a lot of value in the game, but I still want the coins she loaded and it’s always better to have more units available if possible.  The more ships you have the more options you have.

Having explored the 3 wild islands I wanted to (and with Marksman’s Map allowing me to see the rest of the coins at the Wolves island), Don Pedro sacs the Raven’s oarsman to allow her to both capture a fleeing Enfant Terrible, and tow her into a fog bank all in one turn.  I did this only after knowing (through Shipping Charts) that John had not picked up the abandoned oarsman, since that would have delayed my capture attempt.  The west gets a little spicier as Dan sails the Espada de Dios through the bottleneck.  Some talk had occurred about Dan and John teaming up their cancellers to counter the Slipstream, so I decided it was silly not to start using Moreau’s Marine ability with the sub still submerged.  The Slipstream was definitely an offensive pest to be reckoned with, using a ram + “torpedoes” (submerged Marine shot; term coined by El Cazador) combo to eliminate half the masts from the Espada!  I knew the Espada had no oarsman, so if she could be quickly dismasted, a capture of her magnitude might change up the game.  Also, just in general I wanted to eliminate one of the opposing cancellers since doing so would mean the Slipstream was essentially invulnerable for the remainder of play.

The Raven has snuck away with a French prize, while the Slipstream can deter opponents from blocking the bottleneck for when the Raven eventually wants to make an 8S break for home….

The Enfant explored the Raven while they were in fog, transferring the abandoned captain to the Raven (knowing that if I revealed it, it wouldn’t count against the point limit of the ship unlike regular crew).  I then dropped the tow, knowing the Enfant would likely camp out in fog to protect her 1 coin until it was counting time.  The Espada flees southwest, docking to avoid being shot at by Moreau (due to Bianco’s Haulers aboard).  John’s Glaive picks up the remaining two 5’s for a whopping 10 total gold, something I am intrigued about getting fought over if the gold moves far enough east.

The Afrique finally got free of her sargasso trap and joined her fleetmates for a fateful trip home.  The Slipstream would not simply hang out with the Wolves, knocking down a mast on the Marseillais.  The Espada has switched sides on the peninsula, with Dan measuring carefully to stay out of the Slipstream’s L+S ramming range.  There was a considerable amount of premeasuring happening each round now, mostly concerning the Tartessos and Atlanta, who looked like they might have a clash of the titans as climax scenarios began to approach us….

The Atlanta was the first ship to blast the French on their journey towards home, taking masts off 2 of the 3 ships.  The derelict Glaive was the prize that Dan and Kyle had been waiting all game for.  🙂  Unfortunately for Dan, despite an SAT from Castro on the Tartessos, his maneuvering and options were hampered by the Espada’s positioning and Lenoir’s cancellation sitting in his path to the Atlanta and/or Glaive.  At the top right Kyle has accomplished a goal of his by recapturing the Carolina after a risky double ram attack while the schooner was still docked at Dan’s HI.

The French take a stand against the Atlanta but do minimal damage.  I believe Castro missed an SAT, meaning the Tartessos didn’t have much range on Dan’s turn.  Kyle took advantage, using the Atlanta to snipe two masts off the Tartessos!  The Slipstream lurks near the bottleneck, as I heavily consider trying to sink the Glaive outright with a well-placed shot from Moreau.  By this point I knew there was 29 total gold in play, with all four players having Ransom crew as well to muddy the calculations a little.  I was tempted to send the 10 gold to the depths and increase the percentage of total gold I already controlled (only 6 between the Raven and Enfant, but a good start on the 19 that would remain), but decided against it because I didn’t want to draw so much attention to the Slipstream with both cancellers rather close.  Better to bide my time with the opposing Lenoir so weak on the crippled Marseillais.  Plus, SM Fantasma still lurked on the Dragon, so I wasn’t convinced that whoever got the Glaive’s gold home (if anyone) would retain it against my HI raider plus Dan’s Espada.

The Afrique compounded the problems Dan was facing by revealing fire shot and setting the Tartessos alight!  John’s French may have been decimated, but they went down with an admirable fight.  Dan took the Tartessos home to extinguish the flames, damaging the Atlanta on the way there in a drive by shooting.  The Espada runs away, hoping to repair too.  The Rattlesnake snags the Glaive, bringing an important prize into Kyle’s fleet!  I finally scored a coup by sinking the Marseillais with Moreau, meaning the Slipstream had no way of being sunk by enemy players for the remainder of the game.  I would be able to decide when (and if) the Wolves were eliminated… but that would not be my path to victory, as the game needed to end soon due to time constraints.  🙁   The Raven has finally emerged from fog with a favorable roll and gets into position for a potential sprint home….

Kyle transferred the Glaive’s coins to the Rattlesnake, who sailed home at L speed, giving the Slipstream another chance to sink those 5’s the Raven didn’t have cargo space to load back on the first explore of the game (another reason I wanted them out of play at this point – I didn’t want them to haunt me if I lost).  Alas, only one of the two attack rolls (ram and marine shot) was successful, meaning the Rattlesnake would get home on Kyle’s next turn.  Before the Espada got home in the below picture, she was briefly positioned off my home island.  I premeasured the 8S total movement of the Raven, and realized I could reveal the abandoned captain on the Raven, hopefully hit both 2S shots, and shock Dan by derelicting the Espada (preventing her from getting home on Dan’s turn, and maybe by some miracle captured by the Dragon soon).  However, the Afrique and her fire shot deterred me, since I would have had to sac the Raven’s oarsman.  If I did that and the Afrique connected on a hit+ram, the Raven would be derelict with the Dragon unable to tow her home in one turn.  So I decided against it and zoomed away from the slowly approaching Sioux, going off in the far southwest where my path to victory was far more clear – with the game’s end imminent, I had to ensure I had enough gold on my ships to win.  Knowing the value of every coin in play helped a lot.  I made a mistake with the Dragon by repositioning her at my home island in a foolish hope of somehow blocking part of the Espada’s transit home.  This just left her a prime target for the Tartessos to ram, so the Dragon lost her helmsman and a mast but still had SM Fantasma for a potential HI raid.

The Atlanta was just getting into position to guard Kyle’s home island as the repaired Espada looked to steal his freshly unloaded gold.  The Dragon sailed out to potentially raid Kyle’s HI (after an assurance from the Spanish that she wouldn’t be shot at), but she was quickly sunk by the Tartessos.  The Raven was safe and sound in the peaceful southwest, where I ensured victory by exchanging Don Pedro Gilbert, the helmsman, and abandoned captain for the 3,3,2 coins I knew had been sitting there all game.  Cheap way to win perhaps, but rules are rules and it was the last round of play.  The time had expired and gold on ships counts in multiplayer games.  I took the Enfant out of the fog to max out my score, getting a weence lucky she didn’t wreck on the reef connected to the exit location of 5 on the fog bank.

1. Ben’s Sneaky Pirates: 14 gold
2. Kyle’s Americans: 10
3. Dan’s Spanish: 1 (from The Hag of Tortuga Ransom payout)
4. John: 0

In the end, this game would have taken far longer than the ~3.5+ hours we played if it was played to completion.  It was a weird kind of “stalemate meta” where all game long ships were scared to go through the bottleneck for fear of being blasted on the return journey, or in some cases, rammed and torpedoed into submission by the pesky Slipstream.  In the end I think everyone’s plans were foiled.  I wasn’t able to dictate a “phantom” endgame with the Marine-Wolves combo (their island held Runes of Magic, 4,1, so not overly interesting to me overall); Kyle wasn’t able to explore the west with either gold runner or win despite the well-earned haul on his HI; Dan was not able to best the Americans with either of his powerful ships; and John was not able to get any gold despite being arguably the most “honorable” and enterprising player by going after the coins as normal.

However, it was still a fun game and rather fascinating in some regards.  The meta around gaming an anticipated setup or scenario idea could see potential curbing in the future, as fleets built to exploit planned setups often match up against each other in ways that can cause stalemates or odd gameplay where two different games are being played.  This is somewhat reminiscent of the “Other Worlds” games I’ve played where one player is honestly trying to accumulate gold, but others exploit the setup and hang back waiting like vultures to pounce later on.  Not saying it’s a bad thing, just an observation on how it works.  Of course, I gamed the setup too, as I originally didn’t have Sac on the Raven… but knew I didn’t want to get caught at the bottleneck and crushed in a pincer movement.  So I loaded up and got the extreme speed necessary to bridge the gap early, and it paid off since the Raven won me the game by staying safe and loading up gold at the opportune moment right before the gold count (kudos to Kyle as his runner up finish feels more like 1.5/”1B” given he had all his gold on his HI and played very well overall).  As an additional note (spoiler alert), this result was somewhat similar to the Other Worlds games in that the players employing a “blockade” or home island-based strategy did not do as well as the players going straight for the gold.  A bit of karma perhaps, and arguably a tactical lesson given that it’s certainly a trend now.

I think it helped that the first time I did this idea, the fleets were basically random.  Perhaps a “setup wheel” or d6 roll could be made where you roll a d6 and a game idea is selected only after choosing fleets (within reason of course, since some fleets need to be based on some of the more crazy scenarios or ideas).  Of course, the problem with that is one of luck, where someone with a terrain ignorer in their fleet could massively benefit from a scenario where terrain plays a big role.  For the bottleneck idea, some fixes might include more distance between home islands, banning home island raiders, or introducing a second bottleneck of one whirlpool at each end of the playing area.

We still had fun and look forward to more adventures!

4×100 Game at Mox Bellevue

July 31st, 2022

I met up with Dan (Witch), Kyle (kyky), and John for a 4 player, 100 point game at Mox Bellevue! (Mox Boarding House)  Here are the house rules we use.  In addition, the Longship keyword was replaced by the following based on Dan’s suggestion: +2 to boarding rolls, +S to base speed, Oarsman.  This would make longships more historically accurate, with better speed but no extra firepower weirdness. You can find all game piece details in the Master Spreadsheet.  We used 6 wild islands with 4 coins on each of them, with Kyle and I contributing the only UT’s (5 total).  During setup we were each allowed to place one giant terrain, one medium terrain, and 2 standard terrain.  The fleets are described below!

John rolled to go first:
Neptune + captain, helmsman, oarsman, 1 Ex-Patriot crew
Duc d’Enghien + CC Gaston de St. Croix, Godiva, captain, helmsman, oarsman
L’Heros + CC Lenoir, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Mercure + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Le Bon Marin + Maurice Aristide, helmsman

I went second with “The Wolf Pack”:
Cursed (super rare) Black Pearl + Cursed Captain Barbossa, helmsman, oarsman
Fantasia + helmsman, oarsman
Red Curse + Captain Mysion, helmsman, explorer, oarsman
Shadow + Coconut, Gunner, helmsman, oarsman
Raven’s Neck + Hammersmith (F&S), The Hag of Tortuga, explorer
Rover
Mermaid

Kyle went third with the English:
HMS Granville + Sir Jeremy Rothschild, RotF Thomas Gunn, Mercer, oarsman
HMS Dover + RotF Hermione Gold, Administrator Scott Bratley (0LR+5)
HMS Duke of York + Lord Thomas Gunn (OE), Admiral Morgan, helmsman
HMS Oxley + Admiral James Norrington, F&S Hermione Gold
HMS Kirkwall

Dan went last with the Jade Vikings:
Black Lotus + Li Quin, SS Shap’ng Tsai, helmsman, 2 explorers, oarsman
Asgard + Grim the Savage, others
Hrunting + Ethan the Farseeker, helmsman, others
Polaris + Sigurd Andersen, helmsman, others
Sleipnir

The idea for my fleet started with the PotC SR’s, which I acquired recently but had yet to use in a physical game.  The Black Pearl and Fantasia were the first ships in the fleet, and I decided to fill it out with more square rigged 4 masters (two of which had HI raiding) which would surround the Fantasia for her cannon bonuses in a “wolf pack” of firepower and cargo potential.  BP was the hunter, Red Curse was the thief hybrid with some Parley flair, Shadow was the primary thief and fastest overall gold runner, while Raven’s Neck was the all purpose support hybrid whose spying ability would inform me of which home island(s) to raid.  Fantasia would cheerlead the captained ships while the Rover and Mermaid were added at the end with the Hag to provide a distraction from the wolf pack and additional gold gathering options.

In the far west (left), the French have set up a strong defensive position around the exploratory efforts of the Bon Marin and Heros.  The English consider attacking, but call it off.  At the bottom right, the Sleipnir has round earthed to the southeast to contest gold that the Mermaid and Rover have discovered.  The northbound wolf pack splits up a bit, with the Raven’s Neck grabbing nearby coins (including Marksman’s Map and Runes of Magic…) while the Shadow and Black Pearl speed towards the corner island, as the RN has tipped them off about a 6 where the Mercure has docked.

The Rover and Mermaid explore the island in the southeast, finding two 3’s, Jailhouse Dog, and Trees.  The Marksman’s Map on the RN means I can now look at two facedown coins on islands per turn, fueling my efforts to decode the “puzzle” of the gold distribution as fast as possible to help guide my future actions.

The Sleipnir (moving 4S with the house rule!) speeds over and rams the Mermaid derelict.  However, the Mermaid gets a 6 to win the boarding party!  The English have arrived, leading to a deal (handshake and all!) between Dan and Kyle that they will not fight each other in the area if Dan gets the Mermaid’s coin and Kyle can have the other three.  They also seemed to surmise that the island contained quite a good amount of gold value, which amuses me as I exercise my right to remain silent.  🙂   (at this point, only UT’s are on the actual island)

The Mermaid re-explores the island, triggers the Trees UT, and puts her mast back up!  The Rover has ducked into the nearby fog bank, where she will remain for most of the game….

The Black Pearl hits 2/2 to dismast the Mercure, while the Shadow explores with Coconut and takes aboard 10 gold total.

The English intervene, Dan and Kyle’s deal is broken, and things begin to unravel in the southeast. The Duke of York failed to steal the Mermaid’s coin but does dismast her again.  The fort is a semi-proxy for The Devil’s Maw, only built after the Duke entered the fray (I forgot to add the 5th flag since I was waffling between building it vs. Dead Man’s Point).  The Granville and Kirkwall have appeared via round earth as well, but I have the superior positioning – the Red Curse, Raven’s Neck and Fantasia are all docked at my home island (RN having deposited the gold needed to build the fort) as they have returned from their brief gold excursion.

An eventful round!  HMS Duke of York clears the fort’s flags with a single Broadsides Attack (in hindsight one flag should remain), and the Granville heads southwest to provide support.  However, my Pirates strike hard soon afterwards, with the Red Curse (4/4) and Raven’s Neck (2/2) hitting 6 times with the Fantasia’s help to dismast both Englishmen!!  At the bottom right, the Shadow returns to home waters via round earth, missing Gunner’s SAT but desperately trying to get home with her gold.

At the bottom right of the following picture, you can just see the bow of the Black Lotus, who has rammed the Shadow and taken off two of her masts as Dan gets into the anti-Ben action.  XD   Indeed, it seemed that everyone was gunning for me for a bunch of the game, and you can see John’s Heros and Neptune stalking my home island at the right.  The Black Pearl got caught up battling the Duc d’Enghien, winning but losing strength.  In this picture she has round earthed to the northwest to pull off a minor coup, sinking the fleeing Mercure (rowing home on oar power) with a well-placed L range shot and dismasting the oarsman-less Bon Marin with a ram (the Black Pearl was partly trying to get the Heros and Neptune to come get her and get away from my HI, but it didn’t work).  In the quieter waters of the middle ocean, Dan and Kyle gather gold from central islands in relative peace, except when the Hrunting dented the Oxley but got badly mauled in return (the former now in that giant fog bank).

By this point I had spied that John picked up Runes of Odin earlier in the game, first by knowing it was on the westernmost island and soon after seeing that the only coin left on that island after he explored was a 1.  After the Bon Marin deposited her full load on his home island but the Heros still had a coin, I figured it was on the Heros.  However, I started spying the coins on John’s HI to see if either of the coins the Bon Marin unloaded were worth stealing with my Red Curse or Shadow.  To my shock one of the coins was Runes of Odin!  This was a unique situation where you cannot load any treasure from your own home island (denying John the use of the rune), but I had the HI raiding capability to take it for myself….  O_O   I already had Runes of Magic on the Raven’s Neck, so as soon as I potentially got both, I could flip them for an Odin Missile to wipe just about any ship in play off the map!  This quickly became my #2 goal besides winning the game, with targets likely being the Neptune, Dover, or Hrunting (the Asgard’s Grim the Savage remained face down the entire game).

Before seeing that the Runes of Odin had made it face down to John’s HI, I nearly did a really bizarre play.  I was thinking about flipping Jailhouse Dog (still at the southeast island in my fort) to eliminate my own Marksman’s Map UT (it was the only faceup UT in play) simply to deny the other players from using Jailhouse Dog in the future to interrupt the rune combo.  The fort was looking mighty fragile, and if someone explored the island and made off with the dog, it might wreck my future plans.  In this case, I made a comment (usually the volume of information I volunteer out loud is directly related to how much I want to win lol) about how glad I was to have done a double-take on John’s coins, because it informed me that I didn’t need to waste both the Dog and Map simply based on theoretical rune combo paranoia.  XD  I could hardly contain my shock, but with 3 of the 4 UT’s in question face down, it was hard for the other players to know what was going on (Kyle contributed both runes so the combo was definitely on his mind throughout the game).  Just some little strategy tidbits from an obsessive player.

The French attack from the north!  The Heros sails down and dismasts the Fantasia.  This excited me as I wanted to eliminate the Heros as a potential raider of my HI.  Conveniently, though the fort play was risky and questionable, it did put both of my coins worth value back on a wild island, preventing the Heros from taking some of my treasure while my back was turned as I dealt with the English threat.

I loved my next turn – Gunner’s SAT finally triggered, getting the Shadow home to safety and netting me 10 gold. Hammersmith’s Captain ability (on the RN) was cancelled by Lenoir on the Heros, but the Red Curse was available as well, with Captain Mysion directing a vicious broadside that sank the Frenchman in short order (with a possible assist from the Fantasia).  The Mermaid captured the Duke of York, who I planned to repair ASAP as she had a very nice (and intact) crew complement aboard.

The Duc got a timely SAT from Gaston, rowing home at 4S to avoid the dangerous Black Pearl.  Cursed Captain Barbossa’s rage is not over however, as he takes the Bon Marin as a prize.

In what must be an extreme rarity, the Kirkwall S-explored my fort island to mark it explored for Kyle’s English and unexplored for me.  However, the Mermaid docked the Duke of York there, who used Admiral Morgan’s EA to quickly repair 2 masts.  The Red Curse and Raven’s Neck are ready for all comers, but as the endgame trudges forward my thoughts shift back to home island raiding… conveniently enough, another SAT from Gunner allows the Shadow to repair twice, returning her to full strength.

The Black Lotus finally puts an end to Barbossa’s cruel gunnery barrages.  The Sleipnir is headed west for one of the last “wild” coins in play, but the Neptune’s return will soon deter her.

The Black Lotus was not able to finish off the Black Pearl, and then got hit with some worst-case dumb luck: a 5 on Fear meant she couldn’t use ANY abilities for a turn.  The gleeful Barbossa returns the Black Pearl to home waters via round earth, dragging the Bon Marin with him.  Upon arrival he is greeted by the Shadow and Red Curse, who are making full speed towards John’s home island with the intention of stealing Runes of Odin.  Some players had to leave soon, so we started taking some faster turns.  In addition, through spying on all the enemy home islands I had a pretty good idea that I was in the lead and just needed to conserve my gold score.  To this end it was actually a relief when Kyle’s Kirkwall landed the final hit needed to destroy The Devil’s Maw fort, as it allowed me to quickly re-explore with the Raven’s Neck and scoop up the 6 gold that I wanted on my home island, not in an abandoned fort on a wild island.  The fully repaired Duke of York was unleashed on her former fleetmates, quickly sinking the Kirkwall and begging the Dover to come get some as well.  XD

At this point it should be noted that the luck disparity was becoming ridiculous, and possibly somewhat historic.  Dan couldn’t roll dice to save his life today, and Kyle’s BA against the fort felt like ancient history as the Dover flailed against the Duke and was sunk in short order immediately afterwards.  At one point in this game I rolled four 6’s in a row, and didn’t lose a crew to a boarding party all evening.  The Black Lotus would normally make short work of the BP, but failed.  Sigurd Andersen was also a major disappointment for the Vikings, possibly only giving Dan one AA all game.  My luck on the cannons was exceptional, especially for a physical game where it is regularly atrocious.

With maybe about 25 minutes left for playtime, I force my strategy and send the Shadow to the northwest via round earth.  The Red Curse can back her up, but the Duc is fully repaired and still fully crewed.  In addition, the southbound Neptune at the far left is actually dangerously close to my fleet, but as I feel comfortable with my gold lead, why not go for the crazy rune combo?  XD

Alas it was not to be – the Duc got an SAT and dismasted the Shadow, who was lucky to even see home waters again after rowing for home. The main key is that the Raven’s Neck and Rover have arrived home with an additional 9 gold between the two of them.

Having been on the rough end of combat for a while now, it was neat to see John have some fun on the last round.  The Duc got another SAT and sped to the southeast, blasting away but missing plenty of shots (luck on my side yet again, even when I didn’t need it).  The Neptune cleaned up well, round earthing to crush the Red Curse and Shadow!  Knowing gold on ships counted for the endgame rules, HMS Duke of York and the Sleipnir both nabbed 1’s just as time was running out.  Somehow the Black Pearl had survived her entire journey, with Barbossa earning his keep as an undead ghost pirate.  O_O

The final scores:

1. Ben: 21 gold
2. Dan: 15
3. Kyle: 11
4. John: 4

This was a good game that showed that even when everyone is against you, some luck and good abilities and strategy can still win the day!  We liked the longship house rule, which might see usage again.  If you were disappointed that no one could pull off the rune combo, I have a far more ludicrous game for you to read about….

A Pair of 3×50 Games

7/17/2022

I met up with Dan and Kyle at Zulu’s Board Game Cafe in Bothell WA for a pair of 3×50 games (3 players, 50 points).  Here are the house rules we use.  The other house rule we used was a big one, and the main theme for the day: each player’s turn was limited to 2 minutes.  We used our phone timers.  In general, if a ship had commenced an action, she was allowed to finish that action even if the time was up (partly to not ignore obvious rules like resolving boarding parties/etc).  If any rules or UT ability text needed to be researched, the timer was paused.  These were my first games ever using timed turns, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

I went first with a Spanish UPS idea (Universal Pirate Shipping, a fleet strategy publicly pioneered by darrin of Miniature Trading).  The fleet actually started with the Song since this is the first time I’ve used her in a physical game, but she paired perfectly with the Sol, another ship on my list of ships I wanted to use in the near future.
Song + Genny Gallows (SM), helmsman, 3x oarsmen with 1 starting on HI
Sol + SM Castro, Vaccaro, Bianco’s Haulers (SS), helmsman
Cursed Blade + helmsman

Tokens are from Tilorfire27 (Etsy, website).

Dan went next with a Jade Pirate fleet consisting of the Eagle, Black Lotus, and Tiger’s Breath.

Kyle went with an English all-junk fleet with HMS Grand Temple, Divine Wind, and HMS Clear Wind.  This meant every player had at least one junk in their fleet.

The Sol flipped a coin to the Song, who redocked to unload it at +3 value between Genny Gallows and the Song’s ability.  HMS Grand Temple was about to shoot at the Sol, but Bianco’s Haulers prevented it.

The Sol also grabbed Homemade Flag, which could make her annoying to face even while at sea.  My Cursed Blade (a different copy of the same ship from my original collection and one of my favorites) got loaded up with all four coins from a western island while Dan’s fleet headed out.  The Tiger’s Breath has provided a quick ROI.

With the Sol an invalid target, Kyle takes HMS GT over round earth to dismast the Cursed Blade!  However, at the right you can see Dan just now moving the Eagle into position to blast the mighty junk…

However, the Eagle only shot 1/7 in a double action, leaving her wide open to a devastating counterattack!

The area turns into all-out war, with both sides suffering HEAVY losses! The Grand Temple is sunk, but the Eagle and Black Lotus are both dismasted.  HMS Clear Wind is trying to salvage the situation for the English but has set herself alight with fire shot.  The 5 on the Cursed Blade is a scuttle roll (I did this to prevent others from capturing her, as at the time it looked very unlikely the scuttle would go through and trying to rescue her with the Song would have likely lost me the Song as well).

In the meantime, the Divine Wind has returned a coin home for the English.  Capitan Castro is keeping Genny busy, trading home more coins for additional +3 bonuses. Before Robinson went down with the Grand Temple, his ability allowed me (the player to Kyle’s left) to fling some impressive named crew over to the Sol’s new island. I wouldn’t be able to convert them into gold somehow, but I figured at least one might be valuable in the long run.

The Cursed Blade was scuttled, going down with 12 gold aboard.  The English will not go quietly, as HMS Clear Wind presses her attack even as her fire spreads.  However, the Black Lotus is hiding in fog and the CW cannot finish the Eagle.

HMS Clear Wind puts one fire out, but the other spreads, dooming the ship to burn to the waterline.

With the gold dwindling and no home island raiders in play that I anticipated, I had little to lose towards the endgame.  The Sol went for some of the final coins on an island in the south, but was promptly sunk by the Divine Wind. However, I still had the Song, who had dumped Genny Gallows at home in favor of picking up OE Calico Cat from the island at the right.

The worst thing has happened to the Black Lotus – she rolled a 1 to exit fog onto a reef, and became a shipwreck!  However, Dan is still in business, especially with the Eagle getting ready for more action.

We agreed that if a ship can touch a shipwreck without touching the reef, the ship would not have to roll for reef damage.  The Divine Wind made a detour to build Ramsgate (admittedly just for fun by Kyle), but heads back south as the Song tries to pick up some of the last coins. The Tiger’s Breath stole one of my coins with the Wine UT.

The Divine Wind dismasted the Song and killed Calico Cat. The Song was still able to explore, and I loaded her up heavily to increase the chances of getting any coins home.  One of the coins you see on the deckplate is Homing Beacon, which might help if she miraculously survives a lengthy chase scene.  However, for now the path is blocked by sargasso seas.  Although Dan was not able to save the Black Lotus, he does get her coin home and now has 2 fresh ships for the final phase of play.

The Divine Wind pursued the Song but then headed to the center since Dan was attacking Ramsgate.  This allowed the Song to get home, but I had no way to pick up Genny Gallows before the Song’s coin automatically unloaded, at least that I know of.  After the coin was unloaded I tried to end the game by wrecking the Song, but couldn’t roll a 1 with either reef roll.  Dan had won the battle at the fort and eliminated Kyle, taking home all 4 gold from Ramsgate, which actually proved crucial!

1. Dan: 20 gold
2. Ben: 17
3. Kyle: 1

A nice game with a tight finish.  As we see in a ton of games, lots of alternative endings.  If Kyle hadn’t built Ramsgate, I would win 17-16-5. If the Song had successfully ran aground it would have been 17-16-1.  Alas it was not to be!

We had all prepared two fleets for the day’s games, so the second game would feature a completely new setup and fresh fleets.  The final island was placed in close proximity to others, but quickly got surrounded with terrain.

I rolled to go first again, bringing a mostly American fleet.  Continuing the theme for the 5th or 6th game in a row of playing a ship brand-new to my collection for the first time, USS Maryland was how the fleet started.  In the end I couldn’t resist two of my American favorites for the rest, as the Roanoke and Hessian are both just so versatile and fun.
Roanoke + Captain Mysion, Le Requin, Gus Schultz, Wayne Nolan, helmsman, oarsman
USS Maryland + captain, helmsman
Hessian + helmsman, oarsman

Dan went with HMS Interceptor, HMS Gibraltar, and the Devil Ray:

Kyle’s French fleet had La Vengeance, Tepant, Pique, and Coeur du Lion:

The Tepant got SAT from CC Gaston de St. Croix early, but her captain was cancelled by Lawrence aboard the Interceptor!  The Vengeance braves a reef to get gold.  The Gibraltar, Pique, Hessian and Roanoke have all made quick gold runs.  The gold supply seemed to be running out quickly, but this game actually wound up taking longer than the first….

The Roanoke explored one of the center islands soon afterwards, but found Wolves along with Wine and two 3’s.  Dan had included the Wolves and had the only musketeer in play, RotF Trevor van Tyne.

The Interceptor dismasted and captured the Tepant.  The Roanoke gets stuck in a sargasso sea, but she will explore before trying to free herself.  Seeing the impressive French gold running scheme, the Maryland whirls west to combat their gold runners.  A gaffe with the Plunder UT (which got thrown out) was the first of about two asterisks for this game.  The Gibraltar is transferring coins from the Devil Ray since the latter can’t dock at home with Mercenary.

I sacrificed the Maryland to dismast the Coeur but couldn’t sink her, leaving her easy prey for the Vengeance. The Interceptor returns home as the strategic elements intensify.

The Devil Ray rammed a mast off the Vengeance, who fails to dismast the Maryland.  This allowed me to capture the Coeur with the Maryland, but that area was still a lost cause for me.  More interesting was combating the Gibraltar with the Hessian, but the Hessian didn’t have the speed or cancelling options to contest the island they’re docked at.  All while the Pique misses a few S+S range potshots at the Hessian.  The Roanoke only spends one turn stuck in seaweed, ready to launch home next turn.

In the south, the Maryland is finally dismasted and the Gibraltar returns home with a couple coins.  I am eyeing the wide-open Tepant derelict at this point, despite her proximity to Dan’s HI via round earth.  The Roanoke’s 2 remaining face down crew (Captain Mysion and Gus Schultz) may have deterred Dan from being aggressive.

Kyle sent the Pique north, allowing the Hessian to ram her derelict.  With the Roanoke watching the Tepant, the Hessian turns back to capture the French prize.  I immediately roll for scuttling, trying to trigger Eternal as fast as possible so I don’t have to tow her home.  Part of the reason I was able to snag the Tepant was because Dan was preoccupied with stealing some of Kyle’s gold, home island raiding with HMS Gibraltar!  The Vengeance had towed the Coeur home but lost a mast to the Devil Ray’s submerged ramming, which helped when even Kyle’s accurate anti-English guns were not numerous enough to sink the Gibraltar!  The thief runs into fog, not able to return home on oar power with no helmsman.  (Sir Jeremy Rothschild was her other crew.  A neat sign of the times as all three of us have used rather interesting and unconventional crew setups in nearly all of our recent fleets.)

Some general regrouping. I figured I’d increase the size of my fleet by capturing the Pique as well, though both French prizes were vulnerable to the Interceptor’s striking range.  The Gibraltar gets her stolen loot home while the French repair.

Here the second asterisk affected some of the decisions, as Dan didn’t realize that ships could be given actions immediately after warping home via Eternal.  I think he was thinking about raiding my HI with the repaired Gibraltar when the Tepant showed up and Gaston used SAT to quickly repair half her masts, simultaneously blocking off some of my HI and getting some much-needed firepower at the American HI.  It turned into an accidental French-American ship swap, as Kyle had captured USS Maryland and was repairing her for future use.

The Roanoke lost two masts after exiting fog straight onto a reef.  However, she reached home with an SAT.  The sloops have no fear of reefs, with the Hessian towing the Pique over one to get home faster.  By now I believe all gold except for that guarded by Wolves in the middle was unloaded to HI’s.  The attention turned towards Dan, as his decisions would control the endgame.  TvTyne on the Interceptor was the only path to freeing up the last 2 coins worth value in the middle, and his HMS Gibraltar had the HI raiding capability that could also extend the game if she stole any more loot.

Kyle was using Marksman’s Map every turn to look at face down coins on my home island.  This would help him calculate his odds of winning and how much the coins in the middle might matter.  We spent a lot of turns doing almost nothing, with various “passes” occurring as we weighed decisions and jockeyed for position.  Kyle eventually explored the middle island with the Coeur in order to see what coins lay there.  Dan considered various options and had to figure out how to make his few key game pieces count the most despite 4-5 dangerous ships that would inevitably oppose his run on the Wolves.  At one point the Vengeance was somewhat vulnerable near the Roanoke, but I elected to repair given my generally horrid luck with rank-3 guns and the ever-present timer that limited my decision time.  This was probably a mistake in hindsight, but there were a lot of outcomes and plays that couldn’t be given the regular amount of consideration since we only had 2 minutes per turn to do everything with all of our ships.

At one point I had the Roanoke in between reefs near my HI when Dan decided he wanted to force things so the game didn’t take a massive amount of time.  He flipped Grease Barrels, round earthed the Interceptor and hit a nice 4/5 on rank-3 shooting to smash the Roanoke.  She was nearly dismasted but the Devil Ray rolled a 1 with submerged ramming (the first of three 1’s in a row for her submerged rams!). The Vengeance had been protecting the French HI from another Gibraltar raid, so this did leave things open for Dan in the center.  However, we all knew that all hell would break loose as soon as the Wolves were killed!

And indeed, the game completely exploded.  TvTyne shot the Wolves out of play with his musket, allowing Sir Jeremy Rothschild to load both 3’s and the Wine on the Gibraltar.  She was rammed by the Pique (who stole a 3) and Maryland (killing Rothschild) but managed to flee into a fog bank!  In a rushed turn the Roanoke blasted her way back onto the scene, using Requin’s SAT and her 3L cannons to sink the Interceptor outside of Lawrence’s cancelling range.

The Vengeance arrives and the French and Americans get caught up in a big fight. The Vengeance sank Le Pique, who took 3 gold with her. My luck completely evaporated as the Roanoke failed her SAT and to dismast the Vengeance.

Many shots are exchanged between the French and Americans, with the Roanoke losing masts and crew at a depressing rate (for me lol).  The Maryland was doing more damage to my fleet than I doled out with her earlier.  The most important thing in play is still HMS Gibraltar, who is sprinting home with her gold.  Can the Coeur du Lion stop her?

OOF!!  Dan decides to take the Gibraltar through a whirlpool to get home the back way, but for the second game in a row he ends up with a shipwreck!!  O_O  This is pretty wild since shipwrecks are rare enough in this game… let alone two from the same player in one day!  This marked another roll of 1 in the endgame for Dan, whose luck ran out after the Interceptor owned her gunnery against the Roanoke and the wolves.

Top of pic: With the Maryland effectively finishing off the Roanoke, I had to divert the Hessian to get rid of my own pest. Bottom right: Inevitably the wreck of HMS Gibraltar is swarmed. The Vengeance explored the wreck after being dismasted by the Tepant.

The Tepant has no cargo space open to steal the Vengeance’s 3 coin, so she starts ramming to eliminate the oarsman from the Vengeance.  However, she runs out of time as the Vengeance rows into the nearby fog bank.  She was also losing masts to the Devil Ray’s submerged ramming, which finally started working.  The Hessian arrives with the intent to help the Tepant block fog bank exit maneuvers but is too late.  This entire endgame for me was like watching a long painful train wreck.  Everything that could go wrong went wrong!

In the end, there would not be another fog-reef-shipwreck sequence.  The Vengeance rolled a 1 to exit the fog near home, but rolled well to avoid wrecking herself.  She rowed home to end the game, and the coin mattered immensely!!

1. Kyle: 16 gold
2. Ben: 14
3. Dan: 12

What a game!  Even more entertaining than the last game and with closer scores!  Lots of crucial plays and big rolls that affected the endgame, the difference being that they happened rather rapidly due to the turn timer.  Overall it was pretty well played by all sides.  Arguably, each fleet had at least one thing they wanted to “redo”.  The French wished they hadn’t eliminated the Tepant’s oarsman, thinking they could get an abandoned one to replace it (leaving her open to capture right after getting dismasted). The English may have done better if the Interceptor had brought the Tepant home soon after capturing her. I probably should have taken the chance with the Roanoke when she had SAT and could have put 6 3L shots at the Vengeance.  My endgame was a complete disaster, though it’s hard for me to know if it was because the turn timer forced my decisions.  I was really disappointed to barely use Mysion and Schultz, though I think it’s good I didn’t Parley when the Interceptor attacked, as it may have flipped my gold score with Dan’s.  Towards the end it was really cool that Kyle was able to use the Marksman’s Map many times over (partly due to the large number of turns the game took) in order to see what he needed at the end to win, earning the victory over the tight competition.

I definitely enjoyed the turn timer more than I expected.  It’s a neat house rule we’ll probably use again.  My only problem is that it did result in a few lost actions, but generally not due to excessive deliberating.  There are just some turns where you have 5-6 actions to take (especially with extra actions available) and with all the cannon shots, ramming, boarding and maneuvering there is just not time to do it all.  I think the Tepant lost an action in the endgame, which probably wouldn’t have affected the standings… but when you add up all the lost actions in the game it feels a little weird (especially if another player can’t decide if they want to board and the first player needs to move on).  Mostly because it’s rarely in a player’s best interests to lose actions or ship turns in crucial moments.  Perhaps in a game of this size (40-60 points I’d say), a timer of 3 minutes per player turn would be the sweet spot between keeping the game moving at a good pace while not impeding on how fleets are played or how rushed actions are taken.  I also think it would be worth trying a game with a “total time limit”, where each player has 30-60 minutes to take ALL of their actions for the entire game.  If they run out of time, they are out of the running entirely or their gold is counted up and that is their fixed score for the end regardless of what happens after.

I am happy to say that these are games 14 and 15 for me in 2022, which is actually the most I’ve played since 2017!  O_O

Northwest Pirate Festival 2022

3×100

July 9th, 2022

I met up with Dan (Witch) and Kyle at Northwest Pirate Festival in Lacey Washington!  We set up a folding table for a 3 player 100 point game.  Giant terrain pieces were placed liberally, and round earth was used as usual.  We tried a return fire house rule: Once a ship was done shooting at another ship, the second ship could return fire with any cannons it had left, though they would get -1 to their rolls. The game ended up with many asterisks but was still fun.

I went first with an “Evil English Curses” fleet:
HMS Salient + RotF HGold, LE Griffin, Myngs, CRGO, First Mate Ismail
Soul Crusher + El Fantasma, helmsman, oarsmen x3
Tasmanian Devil + captain, helmsman
Sea Rat + helmsman

The first three of those ships have been on my list of ships to use, and the idea was to steal gold with the Salient (through switchblade boarding) and Sea Rat (HI raiding) while the Soul Crusher and Tasmanian Devil simply caused as much chaos and distraction as possible.  I knew I wouldn’t have a great chance at winning but it looked like a fun fleet.  I feel like switchblades fit The Cursed more than the English, and so The Cursed were the ringleaders of this little mini evil alliance, recruiting the newly constructed TD to boost firepower.

Kyle went second with a Spanish fleet, with Dan going last as the Pirates. Fleet pictures taken partly through the game and don’t show all crew.

With Dan’s powerful looking fleet just a move action away from a nearby wild island via round earth, I took my entire fleet into fog banks to start the game.

La Monarca explored for Kyle, finding a few negative UT’s.  However, in an incredible stroke of luck, the volcano’s lava floes destroyed the wolf habitat and killed them!  O_O

My Tasmanian Devil emerged from the massive fog bank at the far left to attack Kyle’s fleet, dismasting the Monarca. We forgot about return fire for this skirmish, but it probably affected both sides approximately equally. The Soul Crusher may be trying to follow her into battle, but will be at the whims of fog bank rolls.

The Garante used a round-earth-and-back maneuver to come broadside to the Black Swan, knocking out two masts and taking a hit in return.  The Tasmanian Devil is sunk by Spain but the Soul Crusher emerges from fog to keep up the fight.  Dan’s ships are getting gold up top, while the Joya del Sol has docked at the middle island.  For this game we agreed to a house rule that allowed ghostly ships to technically be docked after ending a move action with their bow overlapping an island, which was probably a mistake given how the keyword was already quite beneficial seeing how such a large percentage of the map was covered with terrain.  After rolling a string of 5’s at the top left fog bank, I decide to redock the Salient and Sea Rat, frustrated with the exit location and overall setup.

I had a strange thought while playing – with recent eBay prices of $100 for the Tasmanian Devil and $76 for the Soul Crusher, I was coming close to fielding a $200 fleet (in theory) with only four ships… how times have changed! (This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.)

The Joya del Sol abandons the gold in the middle to assist in the fight against the Soul Crusher, who is engaged in a long fight against the Algeciras and Picador.  Despite all three ships firing at each other at point-blank range, many shots miss wildly. Perhaps it was a little foggy even on the outskirts of the main bank… which the crippled Black Swan has fled into following her fight with El Garante.

The Joya del Sol rams the Soul Crusher, Kyle reveals the Inquisitor, and wins the boarding party to kill all of the Soul Crusher’s remaining crew!  O_O  The Soul Crusher failed to massacre the Algeciras’ crew earlier in the game, and now the evildoers got a taste of their own medicine.  Dan and I were both surprised to see the Inquisitor on the Joya, and indeed I thought it was really cool how all three of us used various unconventional setups/crew complements in our fleets.

At the bottom left, the Gruesome gets stuck in a sargasso sea.  The Picador tried to pounce, but Dan revealed Tia Dalma to cancel the Spanish captain.  However, the Joya sped over to ram and board the Gruesome, resulting in another inquisition massacre!  Dalma and Hammersmith were dispatched in short order. The Soul Crusher was finally sunk by the Spanish.  At the bottom right, the Black Swan was able to return home with gold, repair, and is now back out for more.  At the top, the Amity teams with the Princess and Genny Gallows to increase the value of Dan’s coins.  After some more fog bank rolling and cautious maneuvering I finally was able to get the Salient and Sea Rat into position.  I wanted to raid a home island with the Sea Rat, but Dan’s strong HI position meant she would be sunk or captured pretty much immediately upon arrival, with the Salient only able to provide marginal help in such a tight area and hopeless case.

The Amity goes after the Monarca’s exploration efforts in the center, but has a horrific turn. She rolls a 1 to lose the maximum of 2 masts to the reef, then gets foiled on ram damage by the Cross of Coronado UT!

This was taken in between events at the festival, but it was nice to see some cannons going off nearby as we played.  We also heard some Pirates of the Caribbean music which of course is more than appropriate.

Dan raided Kyle’s HI with SCS Fantasma, but the Black Swan was sunk by El Garante on the transit home.  I was waiting until the endgame to go out in a blaze of glory HI raid, but completely botched the treasure situation. Despite contributing at least one of the face down UT’s still on wild islands (abandoned cannoneer), I didn’t realize that we had run out of gold worth actual value to unload at HI’s. Thus the game ended.

Final scores:

1. Dan: 27 gold
2. Kyle: 14
3. Ben: 0

This was a good lesson on why ghostly ships can’t dock even if overlapping an island (in hindsight this is clearly written out in the keyword itself).  Though Dan would probably still win overall as he had a strong (and cool!) fleet along with two HI raiders to assist in the endgame.  There were also some UT botches due to inexperience, where a few UT’s were tossed out since they had been played improperly.

I don’t have much feedback on the basic return fire mechanic after this being just the second time I’ve used it, other than how it creates additional house rules.  For example, it must be decided how extra actions will be handled – will the ships have a chance to return fire before the ship’s second action, or only after that ship’s turn is done? (probably after every action to help curb that extra actions are an overpowered mechanic)

It was good to play at the Northwest Pirate Festival and continue our pirating adventures!

International Tabletop Day

3 Players, 80 Points in Bellevue, Washington

June 4th, 2022

Dan, Kyle and I met up at Mox Boarding House Bellevue to play a 3 player game!  Thanks to my friend Captain Randy I had been alerted earlier in the day that it was International Tabletop Day, so it was fitting that we were already planning to meet up to play!

I went first with a “Windcatcher Triple Threat” fleet:
HMS Mirage + RotF Hermione Gold, canceller Bratley, First Mate Ismail
Mystic + Tia Dalma, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Ghost Walker + Jonathan Haraden, Gus Schultz, helmsman, oarsman, exploding shot

Dan (Witch) went second with a mostly Spanish American fleet consisting of the Neptuno, Providence, President (proxied with a square rigged 4 master) and Mermaid.

Kyle went third with a French fleet, sailing out the Superbe, Dauphin Royal, Possession, Pique and Coeur du Lion.

We used 4 wild islands with 4 coins on each of them, and all terrain ended up touching islands or other terrain.  Dan provided the tokens courtesy of Tilorfire27 (affiliate link).

This was my first time using HMS Mirage, a cool looking ship that has solid all-around stats.  I decided to go all windcatchers, with the Mystic providing some HI raiding capability and additional cargo, while the Ghost Walker would be the only pure gunship and capable of both powerful offense (2L exploding shot with reroll) and defense via cancelling and Eternal.  I like the way their looks contrast against each other!

Dan’s fleet was also mixed; the 4 master on the right is the President proxy.

I though Kyle’s fleet looked the most intimidating out of the three, with a trio of good French gunships all at 4 masts or larger.

I knew I wanted to keep my cancelling cluster together in order to have any chance against the French 5’s nearby.  It was nice to see a setup reminiscent of a tropical island chain instead of the typical square or circle setup that often becomes the default when placing islands.

The Mirage reached an island but would have to wait to take any coins.  I purposely put the “public” canceller (the Ghost Walker) away from the French gunships in order to try and draw them in a bit so I could cancel their crew with the face down cancellers on the other windcatchers.

Dan’s Providence has round earthed all the way to the east, but poor d6 luck with Commodore Stern’s EA prevents him from striking the French before they get gold.  The Mermaid is docked at the southwestern island.

With 3 coins aboard, the Mirage charges the Superbe and shoots a mast off. I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid conflict on the journey home so I decided to instigate it, with the Mystic right beside the Mirage. I purposely kept the Ghost Walker away to try and appear less threatening, hoping the Superbe would turn to port and pull up broadside to the Mirage, upon which I would cancel her captain and get away soon afterwards.

It worked until it didn’t!  I was successful in getting the French to play into my plans, but I didn’t account for BOTH French 5’s having Sac Captains! (Arazure and Arathiel)  This was especially surprising given that CC Gaston de St. Croix was on the Superbe, with the ship already having him as an action generator.  The Superbe had her source of Captain cancelled by Bratley, but Kyle was able to sac a crew to get an extra action and shoot anyway, hitting the Mirage twice.  The Dauphin sacced as well and dismasted the Mystic despite Tia Dalma cancelling her captain!  In the case of the Superbe, this was a rare case where it was well worth it to bring multiple action generators on a single ship despite the 2-action limit, since Gaston’s SAT was not going to get the Superbe a single shot in against the Mirage (since Kyle chose to move the ship before I revealed Bratley, and the Superbe would have to move twice).

The Mirage sailed for home, hitting the Superbe on her way by.  Then it was time for the Ghost Walker to shine, hitting 3/4 (successfully using Haraden’s Reroll) and setting the Superbe aflame!  The Mystic revealed an oarsman to row towards home at S+S.

Dan got in on the action next!  The President came flying in from the south, lighting up the Dauphin Royal!  Both of his 4 masters had action generators onboard, with Commodore Stern and Montana Mays eager for some cannonades.  However, the Dauphin did sac to move twice on Kyle’s turn, hitting 2/2 on the President without the fire spreading.  The rest of the French fleet is near their HI.

Stern and his crew hear the battle from afar, but their view is mostly blocked by two fog banks:

Knowing I had Gus Schultz’s Eternal in my back pocket, I felt comfortable sending the Ghost Walker out for more blood, this time setting the President on fire.  The Mirage and Mystic would take time to repair, but I was ready to play the long game.

The President escaped into a fog bank, letting the Possession take over in the fight against the Ghost Walker.  The Possession stayed out of cancelling range to knock a mast off the GW, but the GW retaliated by setting up off the Possession’s stern (to minimize how much return fire I would face) and setting yet another ship on fire with exploding shot.

Dan and Kyle agreed to team up and sink the Ghost Walker, with the President emerging from the fog to knock a mast off.  The Possession finished off the GW with some nice shooting.  However, this was the day they almost caught Jonathan Haraden!  But Gus Schultz was there to save the GW, warping her home to join the other windcatchers undergoing extensive repairs.  He thus acquired the nickname “Ghost Gus” – like a shadow in the night, always there.

Despite their recent agreement Kyle couldn’t help but shoot at Dan’s President with the Dauphin as the latter returned home, dismasting the American.  With that we were left to survey the carnage, as the battlefield was strewn with debris across a somewhat wide area.  Alas, with the Possession burning wildly and the Mirage already headed out to stop the French from getting more gold, it was not over!

The Pique explores but is quickly slammed by the Mirage, who exchanges successful shots with the Possession and rams the Pique derelict.  First Mate Ismail is lost in the boarding party, but I still had HGold and Bratley aboard.

The Possession’s fire finally spread and overcame her crew.  The Mirage towed the Pique, who explored the Mirage to transfer two coins.  My other windcatchers sailed out fully repaired.  Seeing the endgame, I was prepared to build a fort to extend the game since Dan looked to be in the lead from getting a good amount of +2 gold bonuses via LE Dominic Freda.  The Dauphin Royal is almost finished repairing, possibly signifying another battle on the horizon.

Dan was coming home with more gold, including the last 2 from the southwestern island that would end the game since the Mirage had already docked hers home.  Figuring Dan was winning I built Fort Brompton on the center island, hoping to use the 3 windcatchers to knock the French off balance and for the Mystic to steadily steal some gold that I might be able to keep at the fort in the short term.

Dan regroups, repairs, and gets gold bonuses.  Kyle tows the Pique with the Coeur, but I have my eyes on both ships – partly as a numbers game if I could capture them, and also as a slight distraction away from the fort that I don’t want the Dauphin messing with.  The Mystic goes from one fog bank to another, trying to get into optimal position for HI raiding. The Dauphin has lost a bunch of crew but still has bite from pure firepower.

Making a play at the French sloops could also give me distractions and ramming options in the potential fight against my opponents.  However, Dan was trying to end the game as fast as possible….

The cat and mouse game in the fog bank continued, allowing the Ghost Walker to stop the Coeur from getting the Pique home.

I did capture both ships…

… but then we did a count!  It was revealed that even if I successfully stole ALL of Kyle’s gold, I still wouldn’t have enough to beat Dan. So I would have to steal some of Dan’s to win, which seemed unlikely between the Dauphin at full strength, the fort getting attacked by both players or at least Dan’s fully repaired fleet of 4 ships, and getting the Mystic to survive all these HI raids after many many turns of it.  So I agreed that we should call it there.

1. Dan: 30 gold
2. Ben: 14
3. Kyle: 11

Congratulations to Dan on a nice win!  This was a fun game that gave us a lot of what we wanted: combat, lots of abilities used (all named crew from all fleets featuring prominently), cool plays made and a solid ending.  There was plenty of fun bargaining throughout.  All in good fun!  Thanks for reading and let us know if you want to play near Seattle!

Games with Witch – 60 Points and a Sealed Pack Game!

April 9th, 2022

I played some additional games with Witch/Dan (current Discord username: The Witch King) at Zulu’s Board Game Cafe (highly recommended!) in Bothell Washington!  We had agreed on a 60 point build total for the first game, using my Basic Rules and round earth.  The ban list included all events, the DJC Le Bonaparte, Nubian Prince, Blood Money and Cursed Natives.  Proxies were allowed.

He went first with a fleet consisting of the Black Pearl, Greed’s Hammer, Mermaid, and Bilge (proxied by a 1 masted sloop).  I followed with an English fleet:
HMS Interceptor + HGold (RotF version), Sir Christopher Myngs, CRGO (BC version), Sir Watkins Defoe, smokepot specialist
HMS Lady Provost + helmsman, explorer, oarsman
HMS Lord Kenyon + captain, helmsman

I had been inspired by a recent discussion at the ever-active Discord server, where Infin8Ouroboros and others were discussing a tactic where you combine the Ghost Ship keyword or the ability to ignore terrain with a bit of a loophole in the overlap rules. First you move to attack a target, shooting a smokepot with one of the cannons.  The ship then gets a second action, moving to overlap the smokebank while still shooting at targets (since it ignores terrain when given a move action).  Then since the terrain effects are applied once the move action ends and the piece is overlapping the terrain, the ship gets sucked into the fog bank and therefore into safety!!  O_O   Once I read about this combo I knew I had to try it, and nicely enough our game was scheduled for only around a week later.  It was time to try something different!  The Lady P (LP) would serve as my main gold runner with a side of HI raiding, while HMS Lord Kenyon was the final addition but would hopefully provide strong backup to either ship that needed it, a durable little hybrid capable of various tasks.

Both fleets had fog banks conveniently close to their HI’s, which would play a large role in the positioning aspect of the game.  The LP has loaded gold, while the Greed’s Hammer has already unloaded 2 coins +2 via Mycron’s wizardry (on the proxied Bilge).

The LP needs to stay safe in the fog on the way home, while a potential duel between flagships looms….

Alas, the dance continued, with the Lord Kenyon hiding in fog while my other ships docked at the home island.  The LP and Greed’s Hammer are making both fleets richer but Witch and I knew that the standoff would have to explode in order for the game to ever end.

I was able to pull off the combo!  However, I didn’t even need the smokepot specialist, as the Interceptor already had a fog bank to “stumble” into on her way to sinking the Greed’s Hammer!  She got Myngs’ SAT to zoom over and hit the GH, using her second action to sink the ship while overlapping fog, becoming safe at the end of her second move action!  The LP enters the same fog bank as the Black Pearl, eyeing the riches on Witch’s home island.

There was a bit of position reversal, with the Black Pearl and my English ships in opposite positions from earlier in the game.

The Interceptor sank the Mermaid. The Black Pearl returned near home.  After weighing some different options, I decided it would be prudent to build a fort.  The westernmost island was close to Witch’s HI due to round earth, and a fort would allow for the LP to drop off gold on her route home. In addition, I wanted to see if I could get Witch to overplay the BP and risk her against my massed fleet all in one spot. Not to mention that forts can be really good for home island raiders because the available gold keeps the game alive for more raids to potentially occur.  😀   All three ships docked at the island west of my HI, with the LP surrounded as Ramsgate was constructed.

Soon afterwards, I was able to do a little fancy maneuvering with the smokepot combo, having the Interceptor speed out ahead of the LP and drop a smokebank. The LP sailed into it for safety (on her way west towards the final unexplored wild island), with the Interceptor right behind her with SAT.

Although the Mycron-boosted Black Pearl was looming via round earth, I wanted to make a play at the final wild island. The LP and Interceptor docked there, with the Interceptor spewing smoke to block one of the BP’s routes of attack.

Sure enough the BP came around the other side of the island, dismasting the LP but crucially missing two shots that kept the HI raider afloat!

The LP ducked through a whirlpool, with the Lord Kenyon waiting to protect her in home waters on the other side.  The Interceptor took on the Black Pearl in a 2003 movie-showdown redux!  However, Witch flipped Tia Dalma to cancel Hermione Gold’s Captain ability, meaning the Interceptor was powerless to attack!

Finally a very predictable round was played, with the LP docking home her 4 additional coins as the Black Pearl sank the Interceptor! (true to form)

The LP repairs both her masts as the Black Pearl returns home as well.  Both fleets set up in fog banks and another dance has begun!  XD

Now we did a count for gold, to make sure it was even relevant for me to try and raid Witch’s home island.  Incredibly, we both had 22 gold (including 4 in my Ramsgate).  We would play on, with the Lady Provost and Lord Kenyon moving north to the fog bank next to Witch’s HI.  From there they emerged, with the LP stealing a 3 and the LK trying to block the BP a bit (LK revealed her captain to shoot but was cancelled).

The Black Pearl got two actions via Mycron, dismasting the LP and stealing the 3 back, while also taking a mast off the Lord Kenyon.  In a split second of excitement I realized I had a quick and easy path to potential victory – with the 3 coin on the Black Pearl, if I could end the game now with a suicide of the Lord Kenyon, I would win 22-19 because the 3 was not back on Witch’s home island yet!  I immediately sent the LK through a whirlpool hoping for a bad roll, but a 4 (under my Basic Rules) meant she was safe!

The BP unloaded the 3, meaning I was basically playing for a “tie” at this point with the score back at 22-22.  It took a couple more attempts, but eventually the Lord Kenyon lost her final mast to a whirlpool roll, ending the game.  Though the gold score was knotted at 22 apiece, Witch won the game based on the tiebreaker of most points in play!  (and would have also won based on any other tiebreaker such as most units in play/masts standing/etc.)

This was a really incredible game that saw the introduction (for me) of a new fog bank smoke attack combo, lots of maneuvering as is typical when strategists like Witch and I meet up, and a close and dramatic finish that could not have been closer!!  😀

 

Sealed Pack Game

We had also agreed to play a sealed pack game, with me supplying the packs for a nominal fee of about $1/pack.  We each opened 1 pack of SM, RV and OE.  It would be a 40 point game.  If either of us didn’t like our pulls enough, we would each receive one more pack of OE for 4 total, but we ended up being content with what the 3 gave us.  The only exception was the first pack I opened – the first SM pack was a mispack with a pair of Le Duque card 2/2’s with no deckplate, so I exchanged it for a new pack of SM.

Witch went first with:
Black Swan + helmsman, explorer, oarsman
HMS Birkenhead + shipwright
Treachery + Genny’s Red Rampage

From my packs I selected:
El Leon + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
Saratoga + musketeer
Royal Fortune

We only used the terrain from the packs, so 2 reefs and 2 whirlpools were placed.

Going first didn’t prove to be very helpful for Witch, as I pounced at the end of round 1.  The Leon set the Black Swan ablaze!

Indeed, I had a plan for the Saratoga as well.  She looked like she was going to explore, but once two enemy ships were within range of her broadside, a musketeer emerged from belowdecks and helped eliminate masts from the Birkenhead!  The latter was dismasted, but got her mainmast back up via the shipwright.

However, I had won the battle, with the Leon re-dismasting the Birkenhead to allow the Saratoga to capture her, while also setting the Treachery alight!  Meanwhile the Royal Fortune loads 2 coins.

The Black Swan managed to extinguish her flames when docking home some gold, and the Treachery managed to put out her blazes as well.  However, I had established some board control, with a centrally located HI frequented by the Saratoga (about to repair) and Royal Fortune while the Leon pursued intimidation tactics in the east where the Treachery had fled to temporary safety.  The Birkenhead was busy repairing with her shipwright.  I now had 4 ships to Witch’s 2, forcing him to play down in numbers again like last game.

The Black Swan loaded 2 coins from the southwestern island while the Royal Fortune emptied the southeastern one.  Although I’ve seen it dismantled in the past, a blockade strategy by my own fleet was beginning to take shape….

However, a full blockade became unnecessary, with the Black Swan attempting some kind of run towards home without round earthing.  The Birkenhead got out of the Leon’s way, allowing the latter to bombard the Black Swan with another firepot!  The Royal Fortune stole a coin and Witch’s Pirates were looking rough.

The Saratoga came over to observe the slaughter, with the game becoming more lopsided by the turn now.

The Black Swan was sunk by the Leon, with the Treachery not enough to overcome the combat capabilities of my fleet.

Scores:

1. A7XfanBen: 24 gold
2. Witch: 6

Though not as good as the first game, it was nice to return to sealed pack play and change things up a bit.  Thanks to Witch for being an awesome opponent and player!  We are the perfect match for playing each other since we’re both so strategic and deliberate.  Many turns took far longer than they might for other people, but it’s because we care about considering all the options and making sure we’re playing as optimally as possible.  It’s awesome!

In addition, we did a little real-time trading and purchasing, as I FINALLY got the Tasmanian Devil (Mysterious Islands SE ship) for $30 and gave Witch an RV Executioner that he wanted!  My luck was better than usual tonight, and I’d like to attribute it to my HMS Victory gun deck shirt I was wearing.  XD  These games with Witch were really fun. Thanks for reading!