Massive Coordinated Joint Strike Decimates one of the Major Fleets!
VASSAL Campaign Game 4 turn of 2026
Table of Contents
All rules can be found in the first Battle Report for the game.
Reference Links: All previous CG4 Battle Reports | Wizkids game pieces | Master Spreadsheet which includes Return to Savage Shores and Unreleased | Customs Database | PSMList (has some customs not in the CD) | Video summary of the first 5 years of CG4 action
-As always, it’s highly recommended that you read the previous battle reports to understand how the game works and what has happened so far.
Custom Sets in play (by the end of this report) with abbreviations (some new this round) and creator name. (from now on, only the set abbreviation will be used for the launch phase specifics – that way you can find the customs used in the Customs Database or PSMList if desired)
Age of Sail (AoS), Epic Seas (ES), Golden Seas (GS) – A7XfanBen
Return of Davy Jones (RoDJ), Fiends of the Blood Islands (FoBI), Spherus Magna (SpMa) – Xerecs
Great Sea (GrS), Rise of the Moon Sorcerer (MS) – El Cazador
Dark Tides (DT), Seas of Doom (SoD), Eldest Seas (ELS) – JW Darkhurst
Vengeance of the Cadet Captain (VotCC) – Cadet-Captain Mike
Back to War (B2W) – The Grandmaster/PointlessArrow
Dutch East Indies (DEI) – Avery
Treasure Trove of Fenrir (TT) – Woelf
Lost Isles (LI) – Shockwave
Godmason’s Customs
Marhawkman’s Customs
Obsidian Isles (OI), Siren Islands (SI), Oceans of the Apocalypse (OotA) – projekt355
Islands of Ice (IofI), Journeys Through the Cursed Swamp (JTC), Age of Extinction (AoE), Industry and Steam (I&S), Search for Golden Shores (SfGS), Rise of the Rebellion (RotR) – Pirate Captain Andrew/DoubleAAsauce
Baltic Sea (BS) – Skelebone
Treacherous Waters (TW) – Ochobrazo2298
Pirates Who Never Met (PWM), Pirates Who Spent Too Much Time Together (STM) – Gazerbeam543
Forgotten Coast (FC) – Riz
Treachery on the High Seas (T), The Golden Age (TGA), – Vladsimpaler
Kraken Sea (KS) – mr_awesome
Lighthouses by The9ofSpades
Pirates of the Sendoran Coast (SC) – Captain Vendari’s customs
Scarlet Cross (ScC) – Mr. Wick
Pirates of the Trans-Atlantic (TA) – L0rdgingerbread
Lore and Legacy (LL) – Vindaga Games
Lost Legends of the Cursed Seas (LLC) – Shark42 and others
Pirates of the Devil’s Triangle (DDT) – dudeski
That’s a whopping 42 custom sets being used! Nearly all custom creators of Pirates CSG game pieces are represented in CG4!
Events from the other player’s turns:
PirateAJ14:
Launched this round:
– Dutch: Mauritius (Pirates of the Age of Sail)
– Americans: Intrepid (Pirates of the Barbary Coast)
– French: Conquerant (Fire and Steel) and Neptune (Fire and Steel)
Xerecs:
Spanish almost explored the fog island in the Turbulence, but decided against it. Jades moved. Conglomerate launched 5 ships with 120 gold. English Launched 4 ships with 121 points.
My last overall turn took 65 total hours. This one took 70 hours. Play dates ranged from 1/24 to 9/30 (yes an 8 month turn). This is probably the first Pirates game where I’ve wondered to myself if it’s “too big to play”. The key is that it’s on VASSAL, so there’s no setup to dismantle, no move that can interrupt the tables, and no sudden obligations that can make finishing a physical campaign game nearly impossible. We’ve been going since April 2018, and to say there’s no end in sight would be a massive understatement. At this point most of my fleets are a logistical tracking nightmare. I have to constantly consult my spreadsheet to keep track of what cargo and abilities each ship has access to, and the various different missions/purposes of each ship or squadron. The game is a massive project that requires a huge amount of mental bandwidth to comprehend and understand, let alone actually play the turns.
Pirates
271 Ships, 6649 Points in Play
With all the crazy details in previous reports, here’s a very quick summary of what the next section is about. The Pirates have a ship (Arcane) that can bring in a UT from outside the game on a 6 roll. They have ways of “multiplying” how many rolls they get per turn between a bevy of rerollers, custom abilities, and multiple different sources of copying. They also have multiple auto-6’s via copies of Nemo’s Plans and Runes of Thor brought in earlier in the game. Given that the number of rolls related to this “UT meta” system increases pretty much every round, from now on I’m likely to simply summarize the results of the rolls in a fast format.
Arcane rolls:
Smoke’s Hand copies All-Powerful (via Taiken on Colossal Rupture): got 3, forced to 6 w/Runes of Thor (on Noble Swan).
Bane uses Vesok to copy All-Powerful, got 6.
Arcane roll: didn’t get it
Arbiter copying Arcane via Nuva>shipwright>Vesok: got the 6. Brought in Lost UT! Lost roll=3. 2 whirlpools near Conglomerate HI, 1 fog bank near new Cursed military port. Coincidentally almost all on the same line of longitude.
Sphinx copying Arcane via EoI: got a 1.
Jaguar copying Arcane via EoI: got 5, Reroll for 1.
Auto-6’s used: 1/5 (the other 4 were intentionally saved for what was about to come….)
Whirlpools placed near Conglomerate HI… an ominous sign indeed.
The Pirates went 1/9 with their AA rolls (Admiral’s Action on a 6), which seems to be their typical rate of success with that lately.
The Pirates used their GSP (Global Surveillance Program) to spy on a ton of cargo – 43 total cargo on Viking ships, plus a handful of cargo in the Conglomerate, English, French, Dutch and American fleets. They’re able to spy on dozens of cargo per round, but they may fall behind in omniscience if multiple fleets can megalaunch each turn.
Upgraders: 2 new military ports! Locations shown in the next 2 pictures. Plus, Black Jack explored the food island south of Spanish HI and is poised with town and MP upgrades aboard for the next 2 rounds.
“Prepare for slaughter.”
It was now time for something the Pirates had been anticipating for years, and planning for weeks….
A MASSIVE attack on the Conglomerate!!!
The Pirates (and their Cursed allies) are in their “Reign of Terror” phase. During the mass extortion attempt from 6 years ago, the Conglomerate gave the Pirates Nemo’s Charts instead of the Mask of Wisdom from Pandora’s Box. This made the Pirates pissed (as they are wont to be). Plus, the Pirates and Cursed have been itching to do a “power display” against a faction powerful enough to make the demonstration intimidating to the other fleets. The Whirlpool Strike Group is finally fully operational. It nearly was a few rounds ago until the latest brazen Corsair outburst near Pirate home waters diverted some WSG warships.
Planning the attack took many hours. It was a rare opportunity to play live on the CG4 module with Xerecs, as most turns have been taken independently in the game since around 2019, due to the sheer length of each player’s 4-faction turn. I researched the Conglomerate fleet, spied on their final cargo to make sure there were no surprise cancellers or defensive abilities, and reviewed my spreadsheet of Pirate ships to figure out my order of operations. It was the most complex maneuver I’ve ever attempted in a VASSAL camapaign game, and likely in any campaign game I’ve played so far. We are talking about mobilizing dozens of ships (many of them custom where I haven’t had the repetition to memorize any of their stats and abilities). At least 4 whirlpool entry points, with 3 whirlpool exit points. Plus fog hoppers, support and supply ship considerations, and double action priority planning (which ship would get the AA and Elizabeth’s Piece of Eight (EPoE) action, etc). In a document I made a list of each whirlpool entry point and the ships going through it. Most ships expected to enter would have a specific target, especially early in the attack when the variables were lower. Overall it was a sign of things to come, as CG4 continues to spiral out of control and into crazy territory never before seen in a Pirates CSG game!
Just to give an idea of how hard it is to pull off this kind of massive-scale attack: due to whirlpool travel ending a ship’s move action (preventing it from shooting with Captain after arriving), every single ship intending to do regular shooting out of a whirlpool needed a second action from somewhere. This is the sheer scale of the Whirlpool Strike Group: literally dozens upon dozens of ships equipped with some form of Sac, EA (Extra Action on 5-6), or SAT/Born Leader (Same Action Twice on 5-6). Every ship’s first action is simply to arrive on the scene of the fight. But then they need a second action to be useful and not get dogpiled when the enemy turn rolls around. This limits the firepower output per ship, as none of the first actions can result in damage (unless the ship has a special ability or Marine/etc). As a result, the WSG must bring massive firepower to bear on any potential target. Further complicating matters is the 2 hits/mast house rule in CG4, which basically means you have to double the amount of shots you throw at an opponent in order to do a normal amount of damage.
It happened on 4/18/26, almost exactly 8 years to the day that CG4 began (4/22/18).
Time to ATTACK!!
This is for many reasons… the Pirates wanted to pick a big enough faction to do a grand “power display” against. Not to mention the Conglomerate giving the Pirates Nemo’s Charts instead of the Mask of Wisdom in the Pandora’s Box extortion event….
<a7xfanben> – Pirate S movers were used on RHS Seeker and Guindaste Dourado.
<a7xfanben> – Shadow’s Hand Antikythera Mechanism got a 5 for Canceller this turn: using on Kalmar’s Parley
There would be no more delays. The time to strike was now!
The aforementioned All-Powerful 6’s were used to yank Cadok and Gadok (Conglomerate warships) out of fog. The nasty evil Pirates loved the idea of using them to start a “Conglomerate civil war”, using them to fire upon their comrades. Both those ships can copy any ability from a Borhok-keyword ship, which turned into a nightmare when a devastating wave attack was copied. Cadok went first, wiping out a whopping 10 masts in the wave attack and scoring 3 hits out of 4 shots! O_O The attack was finally underway!
Gadok went next, pummeling the Conglomerate home island in a devastating strike. 6 more masts eliminated via another wave attack, and 3/4 shooting. Already the Conglomerate had lost about 19 masts, and the Pirates hadn’t even arrived through whirlpools yet….
Those ships were intentionally hitting the east side of the home island (HI) because I knew the west and south sides would get congested with Pirate warships flooding through.
It was now time to blow the battle wide open! For years now, the planned first ship to come through a whirlpool in the first full WSG attack was… Dead Man’s Revenge. This is a ship with Xerecs’ custom Shipburner ability: Once per game if this ship is within S of enemy ships, roll a D6. On 4-6 she explodes, remove her immediately from the game and for every enemy ship within S, eliminate one mast, replace another with a fire mast, and eliminate one crew, cargo or equipment. On a 1-3 remove all of this ships masts and eliminate all her crew.
The AA was used on DMR and she emerged to devastate the Conglomerate HI even more! Naturally the Pirates had an auto-6 on hand to guarantee her successful explosion.
With a huge blast, the shipburner explodes with 7 enemy ships in the blast radius!! She even went 3/3 shooting too! Ships everywhere are set alight as one of the Pirate “nuclear blasts” causes total carnage in a packed area.
Next up were a few support submarines: Cunning Calypso emerged from the area’s northern whirlpool to take a successful Marine shot against a canoe. Her support ability: “Friendly ships within L of this ship get +S to their base move, while enemy ships within L get -S to their base move.” Deceit (another custom Pirate sub) emerged from the southeast (SE) whirlpool with Signal Flag: “Once per turn you may give one friendly Pirate ship within S of this ship +S to her base move or +1 to her cannon rolls.” She also had a canceller aboard, which was planning to be used against the Okoto’s oarsman….
With the Conglomerate HI already in shambles, the Pirates moved to one of their main objectives: Operation Okoto. They wanted to capture the Conglomerate 10 master for multiple reasons. The Howler sub got things started, going 2/2 in Marine shots against the 10MJ. Silver Casket was next, going 4/5. After that was Hera, one of the Pirate 10 masted flagships! She only went 6/10 despite multiple cannon bonuses, but the damage was piling up. (given the 2 hits/mast rule, damage takes twice as long to accumulate, an important consideration for combat planning in CG4)
Next up was the Zeus! She is their main flagship and Administrative Command ship. Her second action was via EPoE, a UT the Pirates really want to generate more copies of. She was able to sink almost a full broadside into the Okoto, going 8/9!
Then it was time to be a pirate and swipe the ship! Harbinger came through with the handy Dinghy equipment, which allows you to freely explore a ship within S. With Okoto’s oarsman cancelled via Clara on the Deceit, Dinghy was used in conjunction with the Harbinger’s ability to capture the junk! Thus the Pirates had snagged a fabulous prize and quickly extracted her. Their plan was going almost perfect so far.
Next up was the Diamond Strike, using Sac to get a second action out of the whirlpool and shoot 4/4. Tempest then came through and unleashed a tidal wave attack, striking 4 ships for 8 masts eliminated!
The Fiasco later arrived in the same area, but couldn’t manage much damage against the Guindaste Dourado.
Another big Pirate priority for the turn was sinking the Conglomerate’s Galhok submarine. Vortex cancelled it to the surface, where it was pounced upon by Grim Spectacle (auto-6 used on her SAT; shot 4/5), Charming Mary (1/5) and Perfidy. It was indeed sunk. Kalmar and Reliquias were smashed up by the Slave Revolt (10 master), Freedom Fighter, Delfin (1/5) and Black Phoenix (2/5). The early luck the Pirates experienced was shifting in a major way.
The Conglomerate home island area is hit hard as more ships arrive to do damage! Kingpin used EA to hit ships on the south side of the HI, going 4/4. At the upper left, the Acre has arrived via whirlpool with the Signal Flag equipment! This allowed her to boost the north side attackers: “On the turn this equipment is revealed, while within S of this ship any friendly ships may receive +S to their base move or +1 to their cannon rolls; remove Signal Flag from the game at the end of that turn.”
There were about 6 more gunships stationed near the Textiles Military Port that have SAT/EA, but only 1 of them got it. Fool’s Hope surged through and shot 3/5. Toruk showed up via the northeast fogpool to shoot at 3 different ships and ram Cadok. Santa Clara lost a mast, while both derelict 1 masters at the HI were sunk!
It was time for the Pirate fog hoppers! Stormcloud, Branwen and Spirit Folly emerged from fog banks to smash up Conglomerate ships out to the west. Ignition (4 master) and 6/10 canoes were sunk! “Auto 6 used on Stormcloud EA. Took out 5 canoes and 3.5 masts off Ignition.”
27 total ships sent west: 24 through whirlpools, 3 through fog banks.
Attack damage:
9 ships sunk (including two sets of canoes), 2 captured (Conglomerate lost 11 total ships). They had 38 ships (Xerecs launched 5 since the last full BR counted 33), now down to 27.
Points: 145 eliminated/removed, 75 captured (220 points lost)
2 upgrades eliminated
Pirates lost 1 ship (DMR), but gained 2
The capture of Okoto was also a financial boon for the Pirates, as she was carrying a bevy of valuable spices worth 60 gold, bringing them to 3513 total gold on hand.
The full scope of the battle comes into focus, as the big Pirate invasion crushes Conglomerate hopes:
Straight from the module chat:
<a7xfanben> – Pirates are a little disappointed they couldn’t do more damage
<a7xfanben> – But that was another reason for the attack – to test out the system
<a7xfanben> – They really need more EPoE’s so the failed EA/SAT attackers can be bailed out
<a7xfanben> – I had all the luck with whirlpools, not much with EA/SAT
My penchant for whirlpool attacks is reaching its apex! My fondness for it started in CG2 and CG3, and now with the Whirlpool Strike Group(s), I can bring it to a massive scale.
Full video footage of the entire attack:
Pirate Launch Phase
Any custom game pieces launched will have their set abbreviation in parentheses so you can use the reference near the beginning of this post to see who they’re from and in the Customs Database if you want to check them out in full (ctrl+h works really well in that spreadsheet to find things quickly). There are a few exceptions for very commonly used generic customs, such as Dinghy from PointlessArrow’s Back to War (B2W) set and Gilded Figurehead and Streamlined Hull from Woelf’s Treasure Trove of Fenrir (TT) set.
MP=Military Port | C=Captain | H=Helmsman | O=Oarsman | S=Shipwright | E=Explorer | WH=World Hater | FPS=Firepot Specialist | CSS=Chainshot Specialist | SmPS=Smokepot Specialist
As usual the Pirates megalaunched from all four of their launch points, putting as many new ships in play as possible. They are still a long ways from running out of ships to launch, so this is likely to continue for many more rounds (and then after that, they can still launch duplicate original ships with the “Complete the Fleet” rule).
Home Island: 3 ships, 90 points
Generic cargo for Plague of the South (8)
Darkwing (AoS) + CHOS, Dinghy, coin, fort upgrade token (22) (+45 gold spent)
Nocturne (SfGS) + Deikov Chansky (ES; was already in play), HOS, Dinghy (26)
Wings of Ra (KS) + Dinghy, O, 2 crew, 4 coins (34) (+4 gold)
Textiles MP: 9 ships, 201 points
Generic cargo for Hades’ Flame (11)
Trade in repaired La Joya del Sol for 12 gold (+12)
Additions to the Anti-Corsair Defense Squadron:
Thirty Tyrants + CHOS, cannoneer, Dinghy (26)
Xiamen’s Claws + CHOS, Dinghy, grapple shot, grape shot (26)
Nancy Nox + CHOS, cannoneer, FPS (24)
Devil’s Kiss (FN) + CHOS, cannoneer (20)
Thrud + CHOS, Dinghy (26)
Additions to the Anti-Viking Defense Squadron:
Jaguar’s Spirit + CHOS, Dinghy, stinkpot shot (24)
Morgawr (14)
Kin Tai Fong + CHOS (16)
Fancy (PotC) + CHO (14)
Metals MP: 7 ships, 190 points
Generic cargo for Amity (6), Barnacle (9), Bonnie Liz (6), Bloody Jewel (4) (25)
Trinity (AoS) + H, equipment x5 (24)
Isis (KS) + HOS, Dinghy (18)
Jolly Roger (LL) + Captain James Hook (LL) + HO, smokepot specialist, smokepot shot, exploding shot (40)
Stoneblood (RotR) + CHOS, Dinghy, smokepot specialist (28)
Black Rose (TA) + CHOS, Dinghy, FPS (26)
Bragi + CHO (15)
Triton’s Bane + CHO, chain shot (14)
Skull Valley fort (at Archipelago island): 11 ships, 257 points
Sabor (FaSh) + CO (9)
Black Beast (STM) + Calico Jack (OI), Israel Hands (LL), Thomas Porter (AoS), Broad Blade Billy (OI), Streamlined Hull, shipwright, Ox2 (60)
Modesto (SI) + Vyse Inglebard (MS), Lost Genie of Arabia (ES), HOS, SmPS (33)
Wet Walnut (FaSh) + HOS, Dinghy, Ox7 (30)
Torpedo (RoDJ) + HS, Dinghy (21)
Broken Blade (RoDJ) + HS, Dinghy (22)
Highlights (I&S) + CHOS (16)
Black Ship (RotR) + HOS (13)
Crystal Sin (TW) + CH (10)
The Blackheart (LLC) + CHOS, musketeer (25)
Ape’s Rage (SfGS) + CHO, musketeer (18)
Launch Totals for the turn: 30 ships, 738 points
Gold remaining: 2670
Overall Fleet Size: 302 ships, 7438 points
Very likely the first-ever Pirates CSG fleet to top 300 ships!! O_O
The Cursed
112 Ships, 4174 Points in Play
The Cursed went 1/8 in AA rolls this round, but got a 2nd AA via a 5 on Taiken’s All-Powerful.
Kalfu succeeded at his “roll a 6 to force a 6” ability, basically netting the Cursed an additional auto-6 this turn.
Arcane copying:
Davy Jones on Pantheon (succeeds on 3-6, w/GF+Reroll): got it, brought in Hidden Trove placed on Devil’s Child.
Spiral Chaos helmsman copies DJ through Nuva (w/GF+Reroll): didn’t get it, forced to 6 with Kalfu’s ability, brought in Evenstar on Devil’s Child.
EoI on RF through her shipwright (w/GF+Reroll): didn’t get it, forced to 6 with auto-6 on Pale Moon. Placed Smuggled Goods on Devil’s Child.
custom Gog-Clocthoth: didn’t get it.
Lilith on Pale Moon (On a 5-6, can be an enemy Copier or an L-mover; w/GF+Reroll): Got 5 naturally, copied Arcane but rolled a 2.
With 581 ships in play, between Hidden Trove and the two multipliers, after Devil’s Child unloads treasure at the Cursed HI, they’ll add 6972 gold to their pile!
Custom Flying Dutchman: did not get the 6, including with Kalfu’s Reroll.
Celestine rolled to eliminate a friendly trade current, so the Cursed chose one near the Spanish HI because they don’t anticipate needing it again.
Conglomerate submarine Hylian Loach being forced out of a fog bank by Baron Kriminel, a powerful Cursed loa crew:
With such insane riches coming their way on an automated basis, The Cursed decided to scuttle their recent Spanish prize (the De Leon), not bothering to repair and trade her in for 15 gold.
The hoist ship Insidious uses the Artifacts of the Lost UT to fog hop to the Conglomerate food island. With a favorable exit roll, she’s able to use her hoist arm to explore the island for The Cursed! Making matters worse for the Conglomerate, she carries gold coins and fort upgrade tokens… and those Portuguese canoes are likely as good as gone by the end of this turn….
Also notice the ring of sea dragons forming….
The Cursed Chalice fog hopped into the The Turbulence, the terrain-heavy southeast corner of the map. She emerged, didn’t take damage from a reef, and explored the island! She loaded the Weapons and Sextant UT’s but didn’t have room for the Abandoned Explorer. The Pirate ship Zephyr was heading to explore the island; although the Cursed and Pirates are allies now, they haven’t coordinated perfectly on all of each other’s plans so it will be interesting to see if this leads to any potential tension in their alliance. However, it’s very small potatoes compared to what’s going on in the game overall. The other ship in the picture is the 3 masted fog hopper Cerberus, who is likely to fog hop this turn as well, but to a much less dormant location….
Soon afterwards, the Devil’s Child docked home her 3 UT’s, adding a new-record haul of 6972 gold to Cursed coffers and bringing their overall gold total to a whopping 8758 total gold!! O_O
The Cursed attack the Conglomerate!!
With the Pirates unable to do as much damage and sinking as they had hoped, they called in The Cursed to back them up with another massive assault. The alliance is in full swing, as the evildoers team up to weaponize terrain together as much as possible. This would be an attack for the ages, with absolutely devastating consequences for the Conglomerate fleet.
Cue music: Dawn of the Villains
Here’s the situation, the “before” pic if you will….
Fog hoppers first! With the entire Cursed fog hopping squadron in fog banks across the map ready to exit anywhere else where fog existed, they were fully prepared. Sea Hag and Flesh of Oman emerged to cripple Cadok! In this sadistic twist, the Pirates simply used Cadok for their own purposes, and now The Cursed would sink her before she could be of any further service to the Conglomerate. Forced to shoot friendly fire via All-Powerful, and now simply disposed of.
Out west, Cerberus and Needle teamed up to sink all four of the remaining Portuguese canoes. Hanging Tree was meant to hit Kes (on the right), but got a 3 to simply move into an adjacent fog bank.
Ghost Wind wanted to emerge on the east side of the righthand fog, but her exit roll put her right in the thick of it. No matter, since there were plenty of Conglomerate ships to target! She hit Axelera and sank Cadok. Apparition later showed up in the same area as well, putting more shots on target.
Sargasso Nightmare weaponizes the seaweed! With her unique ability, she warps into the southern area of the battle and sinks the Guindaste Dorado hoist, along with a trading port upgrade! In this BR, a red X under a ship will mean it was sunk. At the bottom right, Hangman’s Joke arrives on the scene to hit Sao Luis.
Now for the first of two coups that The Cursed scored on this turn! World of Apathy is the Flagship of the Cancelling Super Squadron. Demonwraith failed his EA, but Barst bailed them out by giving up his action from the Tomb of Lucifer hidden in fog far across the map. With Hylian Loach already moved into position, the 10MJ just had to cancel the submarine to the surface and blast away her two segments, which she did with ease.
From there, a menace from campaign games past emerged from a fog bank to the south with a favorable roll: Interloper! This fog-hopping submarine had a secret weapon aboard – The Archking Demonlord! He’s a crew with Commander Temple’s steal-a-ship ability, which combined with the Dinghy equipment meant that The Cursed had just swiped the sub! Hylian Loach has been captured!
Cue music: Soundtrack for a Supervillain
It was now time for one of the most devastating single-ship turns in recent memory. The Berserk Overlord had already gotten SAT for the Berzerker earlier in the turn. Now it was time for maximum sinkings! I was stoked to use multiple new game pieces that I’ve personally brought to life in the physical world. One of which was Spiral Chaos, whose artwork had just been designed about a week earlier! Spiral Chaos main ability: Once during your turn, roll a d6. On a 5-6, move any ship within L of a whirlpool into that whirlpool; you may choose the exit location of the ship.
Berzerker was sent through and into the battle area. SAT meant she’d get two move and shoots straight into the heart of Conglomerate territory. Her target was the mass of severely damaged ships the Pirates had softened up on their turn.
<a7xfanben> – time for MAJOR sinkings
<a7xfanben> – they are ripe for annihilation at the HI
<a7xfanben> – This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against ships she did not shoot at first this turn.
time to plow straight in
With a few backfires on the Ballista equipment, Berzerker ended up losing her helmsman and oarsman but was still in good shape for her second action. Fittingly, the severe damage piled up right around when The Cursed theme song for CG4 started – Annihilation.
An insane 6 ships sunk and 4 catapults eliminated!
The Pirates had already done a good job in the open seas area of the battlefield southwest of the Conglomerate HI. Eternal Curse and Rat’s Circle whirled into the area and used Sac to sink the Reliquias and Kalmar (respectively).
Similar to what happened to the Pirate WSG, many Cursed ships failed their EA/SAT rolls and didn’t go through whirlpools to the battle areas as a result. The reliability of Sac will certainly be a key factor in the long-term success of the WSGs….
Arabian Nights, Blood Sacrifice and Ragweed whirled and sacced into the area to pour more shots into Conglomerate victims, sinking the Iris and Aarhus. Hangman’s Joke received an AA to try to finish off a couple ships at the wild island, but failed completely in a horrible 0/5 shoot action that cost her Captain due to the Ballista backfiring (he was saved by Wraith with an ironic 6 just afterwards).
The Cursed copy of their reusable Runes of Odin was played from Chimeratron Legacy, plopping an iceberg down right next to the Windfish. She had been targeted by fog hoppers earlier in the turn but those hoppers got rolls that put them on the wrong side of the fog and unable to reach the sloop. Windfish carried the Plague UT, so she was a sink priority for the Pirates/Cursed this round. Using an S-mover, the Cursed took her out by plowing her into the Odin iceberg.
Next it was “time to get a little more serious”. Purpose/mission of Calamity: “Horrific world-ending weapon.”
It was time for some incredibly powerful 10 masted junks with Sac to get in play. The Cursed currently have 3 of them in their Whirlpool Strike Group: End of Days, Calamity, and Cataclysm.
Calamity was first, dismasting Horka, sinking Lady Pumpkin and eliminating 4 more catapults from the Conglomerate HI.
End of Days was next, winning an S-Board 16-4 against the Portuguese Santa Isabel to massacre her crew, but only went 5/10 shooting even with Lord Hellsing’s global +1 cannons benefiting his own ship.
Cataclysm was there to bail him out, getting a second action to sink both Santa Isabel and the RHS Arrow.
Annihilation theme song plays again
It was time for the Guichuan to get involved! with a secret weapon aboard….
The Conglomerate home island was wide open. With the GSP (Global Surveillance Program) active for years now, the Cursed already knew about the face down coin on the Conglomerate HI worth 290 gold. Guichuan whirled into the area, and received a second action via Maleficent on the Obsidian Sun (crew like Lord Mycron/Barst). Then I flipped Koloktos face up, with his home island hoarding ability! (same ability as FN Grim the Savage)
THE COUP IS AT HAND!!
With their second “coup” of the turn, The Cursed moved Guichuan in to sink Santa Clara, eliminate 3 more catapults, and steal all of the Conglomerate’s 290 remaining gold!!
The attack was nearly over; now it was time for the sea dragons to clean up a few messes. Blackwing swooped Gki derelict, while Quetzal Rey got an AA to sink the Sao Luis and Sao Gabriel! (the ships that Hangman’s Joke couldn’t finish off earlier)
Now, for the “after” picture:
Mata Nui survives, perhaps out of pity. But gets forced away from the HI with S mover
…stuck between two hostile 10 masters XD
The Reign of Terror continues unabated
Complete and utter devastation, with 20 ships sunk and 1 captured! All Shall Perish.
The Cursed: 38 ships/creatures arrived on scene, of which 25 participated in the attack. Of the 13 that didn’t, 9 were sea dragons flying over for intimidation purposes.
Attack damage: (from Cursed)
20 ships sunk, 1 captured (Conglomerate lost 21 total ships). They had 27 ships, now down to just 7 ships remaining. (count off by 1 somewhere)
429 points lost: 406 eliminated/removed, 23 captured
1 upgrade eliminated (trading port from Guindaste Dorado)
Cursed gained 1 ship (Hylian Loach)
Attack Stats! (combined Pirate and Cursed raids)
The Pirate-Cursed alliance sent a total of 65 ships into the area! Compared to the 38 total ships in the Conglomerate fleet when the attacks began. Of those, I believe the alliance had 52 ships involved, with 34/38 Conglomerate ships getting shot at and taking damage (4 ships in fog banks that escaped combat). So a total of 86 ships involved in hostilities in one battle! O_O
10 10 masters involved
29 ships sunk, 3 captured (Conglomerate lost 31 total ships). They had 38 ships, now down to just 7 ships remaining. (count off by 1 somewhere) This means the combined attack wiped out about 82% of their fleet!
649 points lost: 551 eliminated/removed, 98 captured. Previous peak was 701 points in play, now they’re down to just 120 (counts got off at some point, but 120 remaining is exactly what I just counted)
3 upgrades eliminated
Full video footage of the massive attack:
By the end of the attack, The Cursed didn’t have any legitimate Conglomerate targets to use their 3 remaining L-movers against. So they turned them against other factions! American schooners in the middle of repairing were forced away from their home island:
The Corsair galley Griffin was forced into a storm and sunk!
Cursed Launch Phase
With 6 different launch points and their infinite money glitch, The Cursed would be huge spenders once again. It was an absolute bonanza, with all manner of foul fiends and demons brought in to augment their growing fleet of sickening weaponry.
Home Island: 3 ships, 151 points
114 gold used for upgrades/coins
Crew for Dark Pact: SO, Sx1, Ox3, Dinghy (11)
Fuil an Taibhse (TA) + Ralph Murray (TA), HSO (28)
“The Glow” (TA) + Sammy the Skull, Gandolfo (STM), Dinghy HSO (40)
Deicide (ES) + Maoritheel the Exalted One (ES), Pipe Organ (GrS), Dracula (STM), The Chaos Ridden (DT), Streamlined Hull, HSO, grapple shot (72)
Figlar Castle in NW corner: 11 ships, 513 points
Yūreibune (I&S) + The Apostle John (ES), Captain Kidd (OI), Skeletal Shields (ES), HSO (60)
Yaochuan (RoDJ) + King of Alnor (ES), Enchantress (SI), Lieutenant Burns (IofI), streamlined hull, SO (63)
Harvester (ES) + Fiendslave (ES), Slaves of the Devil (ES), Skelds (RoDJ), Kontos Bevian (ES), Devils of the Triangle (DDT), grappleshot specialist, captain, streamlined hull, oarsman (70)
Hell Rising (ES) + Clandesis the Dethroned (ES), Gullstew (FaSh), Galonessa (ES), CHS (50)
Sewage Blaster (ES) + Divine Fiend (ES), CHOS (24)
Mirage (ES) + Mirage Conjurer of the Antichrist (ES), Gouging Spear (ES), CHOS (46)
Grand Apocalypse (ES) + Krika (SpMa), Renfield (STM), HO, streamlined hull (56)
Skin Flayer + Aliktoril Bellen (ES), Streamlined Hull, CHOS (42)
King Jones (RoDJ) + Ghost of Poveglia (STM), Bayou John (STM), Dinghy, shipwright, oarsmen x3 (40)
Loki’s Revenge + Pohaku (SI), shipwright, Dinghy, oarsmen x4 (29)
Cannibal Obsession (ES) + Feeding Specialist (ES), CHOS (33)
Gunos Fortress east of Archipelago: 8 ships, 184 points
Mist Walker (14)
Laut’teror (KS) + Streamlined Hull, Powder Kegs (29)
Defel (OI) + Kikin (FaSh), Dinghy, Armor, HSO (30)
Black Leech (IofI) + Ballista (19)
Looking Glass (IofI) (18)
Black Vulture (STM) (25)
Kalgerian (AoE) + Powder Kegs, Ballista (27)
Dark Wind (AoE) (22)
Gunos Fortress west of Archipelago: 10 ships, 316 points
Devil’s Slaughter (ES) + Vordictus (ES), Ikusa (FaSh), Phillipe Desailly (RoDJ), Streamlined Hull, CHO (64)
Wolf’s Bane (FoBI) + CHOS, streamlined hull (26)
Runoff (RotR) + The Unblinking 99, CHOS (28)
Bloody Sea (RoDJ) + Widowmaker (OotA), HSO (30)
Caleuche (OI) + Pincoy (OI), Sir Edmund, CHOS (32)
Sila Ifrit (OI) + Ifrit Djinn (OI), CHS, Ox4 (33)
Possession (STM) + Powder Kegs, HS, Ox4 (32)
Wraith’s Feud (STM) + HSO, Sx2, Ox4 (26)
Gnat (RoDJ) + HSO, Sx2 (19)
Thaumoctopus Mimicus (ES) (26)
Figlar Castle at Whirlpool Island: 9 ships, 381 points
Delusion + Kulta (SpMa), The Fiend (TA), The Laughing One (OotA), Dinghy, HS, Ox4 (70)
Jubilance (B2W) + Quetzalcoatl (MS), CHS, Ox4 (45)
Scharnhorst (OotA) + Dinclinsin (ES), CHS, Ox3 (36)
Triton’s Rage (SI) + Christopher Morgenstern (ELS), CHS, Ox3 (34)
Tegrin (SoD) + Agamemnon (DT), HS, Ox4 (34)
Sea Devil (RoDJ) + Phineas Black (B2W), HS, Dinghy, Ox4 (36)
Dragmire the Great (GrS) + Garsva the Tortured (FaSh), Zombies (KS), CHOS, exploding shot (50)
Revenant (RoDJ) + Secret Cannibal (ES), CHS, Dinghy, Ox3 (40)
Altar of the Convent (ES) + Evil Nun (ES), Michael Varus (SoD), S, Ox4 (36)
Textiles Military Port: 8 ships, 231 points
Crew for Sea Duck: HSO (6)
Insanity (KS) + CHO (14)
Gryzon (AoE) + Streamlined Hull (19)
Sarcophagus + Overseer (STM), HO, stinkpot shot (20)
Abaddon (ELS) + Anac-su-muhn (FaSh), Baron Typhonus (FaSh), Vlad Von Brunswick (TA), HO (60)
Acolyte (B2W) + Dinghy, HO (20)
Maniacle (KS) + Freddie Kroger (VotCC), CHOS (24)
Tamatoa (OI) + Stalfos (GrS), CHO, cannoneer, Dinghy (36)
The Nagermor (KS) + Dinghy, Signal Flag, grapple shot (32)
Launch Totals for the turn: 49 ships, 1776 points
Gold remaining: 6868
This is insane. With 4185 points in play when they started launching, this means The Cursed just increased the size of their already-massive fleet by more than 42% in just a single turn. This is also the largest single-turn launch phase in any recorded Pirates CSG game that I’ve ever known about!
It was also really cool to launch/hire some new Cursed game pieces in the same month that I designed artwork for them and brought them to life in physical form! (October 2026 Epic Seas Cursed Halloween Mega Pack was finished in September)
Overall Fleet Size:
Ships Per Squadron (Cursed)
Cursed WSG: 53 ships
WSG Attack: 44
WSG Supply: 8
WSG Support: 1
10 Masters: 22 (!)
“Fog Ships”: 24
Upgraders: 5
Movers: 9
Sea Dragons: 15
The Cursed also sent a warning to the Conglomerate:
To: Mata-Nui/Leader of the Conglomerate
From: Lord Jonathan Morgenstern, Cursed Admiral aboard the Chimeratron Legacy, the most powerful vessel in the worldNow you know what it is like to have wronged us. How will you fare when facing extermination? You are welcome for the torture. The screams of your pathetic comrades have delighted my fiends and brethren of the deep. Only through genocide will this sick world reach salvation.
If you don’t counterattack, we will vacate the area suddenly without further casualties. If you attack we may annihilate you for good. This was a display of power. The operational test was a success, and now we have become even more powerful as our ranks swell with new demons.
Lord Jonathan Morgenstern
Mata-Nui is being cancelled by RtSS Papa Doc (on Call of the Sea). Other cancellers in the area have the range tool placed at one of their edges. (World of Apathy, End of Days, Flesh of Oman)
Vikings
34 Ships, 965 Points in Play
Rolls:
AA’s: 0/3
All-Powerful: Thor got a 3 (EA for Monjuer), Kould the Conquerer got a 2 (EA for The Norse Anvil)
Jord copying the Cursed Flying Dutchman: 0/3 (including Gilded Figurehead and Reroll)
Seeing that the Smiling Jim (with the Plague UT aboard) was getting within ramming range of their home island ships (including their new 10 master Ragnarok!) via round earth, the Vikings sent Hrothgar and Ruby Ice to intercept. Taking advantage of the stern turn swing, Hrothgar just barely got her bow cannon in range to hit once in two tries. Stellan Stoneblade and Jaconan Backus played essential roles in this attack.
Ruby Ice then round earthed to the south part of the map, shooting 2/2 to sink the Smiling Jim and her UT’s! The Vikings were reinvigorated by their renewed combat against the Pirates. It was a small victory, but it always feels great to defend the homeland and stand up to the biggest fleet in the game. Of course, this is small potatoes compared to what could be brewing southeast of the Viking HI and the Pirate defense fleet amassed near the textiles Military Port….
After repositioning some ships, the Vikings rolled for the Ragnarok’s ship ability: “Once per turn roll a d6. On a 5 or 6 place an iceberg S away from this ship and immediately roll for its movement. It cannot be placed touching any other ship.”
They got the roll! A new iceberg was carefully placed, so it wouldn’t hit their nearby windcatcher Fenrir’s Chains.
Then they revealed Yrsa Jotunnsdotter (aboard the Ragnarok 10 master): “Captain. Once per turn choose one: you may move an iceberg L in any direction, or roll a D6 – on a result of 4-6 create an iceberg terrain. It must be placed L from any game piece.” The iceberg was moved L to the west, in a very deliberate way….
Noble Glacier moved to get within S of the iceberg! She carries the Eye of Insanity UT, allowing her to copy any Cursed crew in play with one of her crew! The key here was her ship ability: “This ship gets +1 to her d6 rolls if she is within S of an iceberg.” This would apply to the d6 roll when copying Arcane/Cursed Flying Dutchman! Similar to the Pirates and Cursed, the Vikings have realized that they must do everything possible to maximize their copying chances and odds to stay alive long-term in this crazy game.
With that, it was finally time to actually make the big roll. Eye of Insanity copied Davy Jones through the Noble Glacier’s oarsman, who then copied the Cursed Flying Dutchman ability to place a UT on an enemy ship with a 6. With big drama a 5 was rolled!! Boosted to 6 due to their brilliant iceberg logistics and ability optimizations, this meant the Vikings could now gift any other fleet a Hidden Trove gold windfall!
Looking around the map, the Vikings had a lot of criteria for who they would give a super-valuable Hidden Trove to. With 609 ships in play at the time of its creation, the UT would be worth 1218 gold at the time of gifting, and certainly more once the Vikings launched at the end of their turn. That by itself is a war fleet worth of money, so the Vikings would carefully consider their options. To say the least, the Vikings weren’t going to give it to the Pirates or Cursed of course (although the Vikings don’t have a specific beef with the Cursed, they know that the Cursed helped out the Pirates against the Barbary Corsairs recently, who are secretly allied with the Vikings).
Crucially, the Spanish and Mercenaries do not currently have a ship within one move action of their home islands. This was a dealbreaker, for somewhat obvious reasons – given the Pirate and Cursed combos capable of generating whirlpools anywhere on the map and their enormous Whirlpool Strike Group firepower, letting a Hidden Trove stay at sea for a full round or more is begging for it to be stolen by one of the evil fleets.
The Conglomerate HI is a total war zone, and it remains to be seen if the Conglomerate will even be able to dock a ship at their own HI on their turn. Right now it is completely boxed in by hostile forces with an HI hoarder (Guichuan) just offshore, so they’re not a good candidate for a gift Trove either.
The English just received a gift Trove two rounds ago from the Vikings, so they’re still well-off and with a growing fleet. The Corsairs got a Trove from the Vikings last round, so they’re good on gold for a while.
The Dutch and French have been doing their own thing in the southwest so far, minding their own business far from Pirate or Cursed hostilities.
However, there was one faction left that was both lacking major gold reserves and had a beef with either the Pirates or the Cursed… the Americans. In fact, as of this d6 roll their home island was empty, devoid of gold. Plus, the Cursed had just L-moved a couple of their ships, showing that their long-ago conflict might brew again. This made them the best candidate for the Trove gift, and thus the Hidden Trove was placed on the Julius Caesar! (within a move action of the American HI – it looks like she might be redocking for repairs anyway)
The Americans are also only a few factions away in the turn order, minimizing the chances of crazy shenanigans that could interrupt the unloading of the new gold. The Vikings have had a minimal amount of secret communications with the Americans in the past, though I won’t disclose the nature of those messages….
This also marks the 3rd time in as many turns that the Vikings have not only generated a new Hidden Trove, but also gifted to an “opponent” – three different enemies to boot! This shows they could be a major diplomatic power on the world stage, something that might surprisingly be part of their strategy…. ? At a minimum, one must imagine the Corsairs, English and Americans to be very grateful for their incredible generosity.
~~~~~
There’s another added benefit to this new Viking iceberg strategy – the new icebergs might form a defensive wall against the nearby Pirates, possibly helping protect Viking home waters. It makes sense that the Vikings would be able to weaponize iceberg terrain, given that the Frozen North is their home (both for in-game lore, and now in CG4 too given their HI is in the far north and now has icebergs near it).
Next up was the Glacial Mist, a longship with quite a notable ability: “If this ship ends her turn touching an iceberg she may use her next turn to move out of any other iceberg in play.” O_O An iceberg hopper! She has a fort upgrade and a coin aboard, indicating that the Vikings might be trying to use her for some very unique launch logistics….
She was in perfect position to ram the new iceberg, losing a mast that her captain Darina is expected to repair after she likely warps elsewhere.
Other Viking ships sailed towards new locations and some repositioned. They are still building up their war fleet to combat the Pirate presence just east of their waters.
Viking Launch Phase: 4 ships, 147 points
Crew for Wiglaf: cannoneer, musketeer (5)
Crew for Grendel: CHO, cannoneer, musketeer (11)
Niflheim (LI) + Derrik the Red (KS), HO, Dinghy, Ballista, Exploding Shot (38)
Myri (IofI) + CHO, Dinghy, musketeer, SmPS, stinkpot shot (32)
Banshee (LI) + CHO, Dinghy (24) (+44 gold spent on coin + fort upgrade token)
Spokelse (LI) + Zaura’s Henchmen (LI), CHO, Powder Kegs (37)
Gold remaining: 509
Overall Fleet Size: 38 ships, 1112 points
With that, the Vikings become the third fleet to cross 1000 points in play in CG4! They are very happy with their turn; now they just need more launch points so they can expand their fleet at a much faster rate. “Oared” factions like the Vikings and Corsairs can be tricky in campaign games because the wider ships take up extra space at launch points, limiting their growth rate to some extent. However, the Vikings have a lot of great things going on here and are excited about their future in the game. Where before they felt like a quiet sidekick to the Corsairs, now they’re becoming a real power in the game.
Barbary Corsairs
27 Ships, 699 Points in Play
Rolls:
AA’s: 1/2
Copying: 0/4 overall (using Nephila to copy the Cursed Flying Dutchman)
Hapi pusher ability: 0/3 trying to get the 6
After a somewhat rough journey through the Vortex whirlpool (surrounded by reefs), the Djinn of the East reached a fresh, unexplored wild island the Corsairs have been targeting! She docked, explored with Dinghy, and found 4 UT’s along with metals. Rotting Hull kicked her helmsman to the wild island, while Celestine’s Charts meant she would have to re-explore the island. They placed the charts on the lagoon island out west, seeing as The Cursed ship Wisp was headed there and The Cursed have both trade currents in play and probably more to lose from the “all islands become unexplored to you” than the Pirates do (the latter having a lot of military ports already set up in full). At the end of their turn, the Corsairs used their AA to give the Djinn a full explore action, so they wouldn’t be delayed trying to build on it.
The 4 masted galley Zeitgeist had a fantastic turn, getting SAT to do a drive-by shooting against the Pirate 5 master Court Jester (hitting 2/4 to eliminate a mast), then zipping into the northeast whirlpool! The Corsair-Pirate ceasefire is certainly over, as hostilities recommence. This kind of thing is great for Corsair morale, which has been at a low point lately. They are still reeling from their crushing defeat to the Pirates west of their HI, and the loss of their resource islands to Pirate military ports has driven the knife further into their hearts. However, they are starting to come out of their depression, and small wins like this go a long ways towards restoring their fighting spirit. They’ve been quiet lately for the sake of self preservation, but they are pissed and eager to fight back again. I would estimate that Pirate-Corsair relations are the most bitter and hostile between any two factions in the game so far.
The Corsairs scoured the map for whirlpool exit locations, knowing the Zeitgeist has town and military port upgrades aboard. However, with so many whirlpools occupied by Pirate or Cursed forces or nearby their strongholds, it was very slim pickings. In the end, she emerged in the southwest in a quiet area near the Dutch and French home islands, with her bow pointed northwest. Conglomerate-Pirate action at the top of the frame for reference.
The Corsairs finished their actions, taking a somewhat aggressive posture by opening up their formations and taking up more space than in the past few rounds. They are sailing full-out, taking advantage of their fast speeds and stern turn swings to spread their fleet over a wider area. They’re mostly confined to their home waters by the Pirates, but they are trying to be as defiant as possible without getting into a major battle right away. A lot of these ships are only one move action away from being able to shoot at nearby Pirate ships, or the Pirates being able to surge forward and shoot at them. At the lower right, the captain of the Divan’s Punishment hails the captain of HMS Nautilus! Looks like some Corsair-English in-person communication may be imminent.
Corsair Launch Phase: 7 ships, 223 points
The Highlands (RotR) + HSO, Dinghy, Signal Flag (27)
Razzias (PWM) + Omesimos Magandar (ES), Felenas (ES), Emir Mirwais Hotak (SfGS), Bassel The Strong (PWM), Ramoran (ES), HO (58)
Queen of Arabia (ES) + Murat Reis the Younger (AoS), HSO, grapple shot, stinkpot shot (39)
Northern Wind (RotR) + CHOS, Ballista, Signal Flag (28)
Djinn’s Wrath (B2W) + Arnaut Mami (AoS), CHOS, grapple shot (34)
Tripoli + HSO, Dinghy, Signal Flag (20)
Theban Chariot (B2W) (17)
Gold remaining: 874
Overall Fleet Size: 34 ships, 922 points
The Corsairs were very happy with their launch phase – a bunch of new warships, along with some good support vessels. Razzias is the new 10 masted flagship, with a whopping 5 named crew aboard for optimal combos.
Here’s a fresh look at the continually developing situation in the northeast. Out of the 5 largest factions in the game currently, 4 of them have home islands in this region. From left to right: Vikings, Pirates, Corsairs, English.
Point Count
The latest in record-breaking fleet and game size totals! We are tracking this in a spreadsheet on a per-action basis so it’s far easier to keep track of. The game is so huge that doing a new point count every round would take many many hours, so it’s more efficient to track things as they’re eliminated, removed or introduced.
| Faction | Ships | Points | Ship % | Points % | Points/ship |
| Spanish | 4 | 57 | 0.6% | 0.3% | 14.3 |
| Jade Rebellion | 4 | 43 | 0.6% | 0.3% | 10.8 |
| The Conglomerate | 7 | 120 | 1.1% | 0.7% | 17.1 |
| English | 31 | 635 | 5.0% | 3.8% | 20.5 |
| Pirates | 301 | 7431 | 48.5% | 44.0% | 24.7 |
| Cursed | 162 | 5950 | 26.1% | 35.3% | 36.7 |
| Vikings | 38 | 1112 | 6.1% | 6.6% | 29.3 |
| Corsairs | 34 | 922 | 5.5% | 5.5% | 27.1 |
| Dutch | 7 | 92 | 1.1% | 0.5% | 13.1 |
| Americans | 16 | 250 | 2.6% | 1.5% | 15.6 |
| Mercenaries | 6 | 91 | 1.0% | 0.5% | 15.2 |
| French | 10 | 167 | 1.6% | 1.0% | 16.7 |
| Total | 620 | 16,870 | 27.2 |
The Pirates become the first to reach 300 ships in play, an absolutely astounding number. Many campaign games haven’t exceeded that many ships across all fleets, so for 1 fleet out of 12 to surpass it is crazy. Their next milestone will be 7500+ points in play, though next round they’ll likely surpass 8000. The Cursed had the most massive launch phase in Pirates history (so far), further catapulting their numbers into absurd territory. Their percentage of the total points in play has risen from 23% a handful of rounds ago in 2021, while still maintaining a huge points/ship average. The vast majority of the points in play are concentrated in the middle of the turn order, with the English through Corsairs sequence comprising all five of the 30+ ship fleets.
Compared to last round, a stark difference is the Conglomerate falling from 6% of the ships in play (a very respectable amount when 1/12 fleets=8.3%) to just over 1%. Despite them losing an insane 31 ships in a single turn, the game still grew by 72 ships (net) since the last full battle report. The English take their place in 5th and as Xerecs’ most powerful faction. Now that one of PirateAJ14’s fleets received a huge windfall, it’s likely the lower third of the chart will start looking bulkier soon too.
However, we are still very much in the Reign of Terror. The Pirate-Cursed unholy alliance controls a ridiculous 79.3% of the points in play.
VASSAL Campaign Game 4 is the first Pirates game to ever surpass 600 ships and 16,000 points in play!
Stats by player:
| Ships | Points | Ship % | Points % | Points/ship | |
| Xerecs | 46 | 855 | 7.42% | 5.07% | 18.59 |
| A7XfanBen | 535 | 15415 | 86.29% | 91.38% | 28.81 |
| PirateAJ14 | 39 | 600 | 6.29% | 3.56% | 15.38 |
Summary
Here is the grand map! I recommend opening it in a new tab (twice, once here then again on postimg) and zooming in to view in full size to give yourself a tour of this crazy game. Here you can see nearly 17,000 points in play. O_O
Here’s just the ocean and at a lower resolution. The power of The Cursed is quite evident – they have a string of launch points in nearly a diagonal line from the northwest to the southeast. Three at the upper left, one on either side of the Archipelago, and at Whirlpool Island. Of course, the scariest thing about 4 of those launch points is that they can move with whirlpools….
From the last report, but worth repeating as I gradually run out of superlatives and the like to describe CG4….
Thanks for reading! This game is a dream come true. The sheer size, scope and scale of it is awesome to witness and completely insane to play. For many years I wanted to play a game this large, but it’s almost impossible to do so with the physical game. Now we can command legions, fleets so large they require precise organization and tracking skills to even manage. The amount of diplomacy, intrigue and grand strategy will only increase as the game continues. A lot of incredible things have already happened in CG4, but I think the best is yet to come. It is truly turning into a game for the ages, and already ranks very high on my all-time list of Pirates games – somewhere in the top 5 out of all 600+ games I’ve played including 9 campaign games, and with a good chance of becoming #1 eventually.
There are a lot of developments still to come! Stay tuned for more crazy action!