Dice Tower West 2024
5×40 Beginner Intro Game
3/8/2024
The first Wizkids Pirates game of Dice Tower West 2024 was at 5 players, 40 points! Three of the players were brand new, and I had extras on hand to help them make their first fleets. It would be an introductory game with a few house rules to simplify and streamline the setup.
We placed 3 islands per player, 1 terrain per player, and each player contributed 8 regular coins of any total value (many of which were chosen randomly). We didn’t have room for the standard 3L-6L distance, so islands could be any distance apart. Home islands were chosen in reverse turn order. We did use flat earth rules (edges of playing areas as impassable boundaries), and generic crew could use their abilities on ships of any nationality (partly since we mostly just used paper crew chips).
Here is the setup!
Here are the fleets in play order:
French Corsairs:
Bey’s Revenge + captain
Desert Wind
L’Intrepide
Le Bon Marin
English:
HMS Goliath
HMS Sultan
HMS Granville + captain
French:
La Ville de Paris
Tepant
Cleopatre + oarsman
English Pirates:
HMS Nautilus + captain, 1 other crew
Gibraltar (flotilla)
Bloody Jewel + helmsman, explorer
Lynx + helmsman
Modified version of Guide Grim to the Goodies
-I removed The Hag of Tortuga, both events, all UT’s, and replaced the Banshee’s Cry+crew with El Chico. Also added an oarsman to Morocco to fill out the fleet at 40 points.
Desert Wind got into an altercation with the Granville on the former’s attempt to steal gold from the Sultan, but neither ship could do much damage initially. The Nautilus/Gibraltar combo took a few masts off Tepant, but sailed into the fog bank to avoid a larger conflict with the Ville de Paris. Many ships scattered across the map in search of treasure.
The French Corsairs continued to harass the English, with the Bey’s Revenge getting involved. The “pure French” were the only fleet to struggle with gold collection, as La Cleopatre was sunk by the Nautilus/Gibraltar combo.
The English split up their schooners, with the Granville raking the Bon Marin and dismasting her. Nautilus/Gibraltar hits twice on Morocco, but she has enough rowing speed to dock home her second haul of loot.
Neither Corsair galley took reef damage.
Over the course of a few turns, the French Corsairs managed to dismast the Granville and capture her, while Bey’s Revenge started towing the Bon Marin. Nautilus/Gibraltar took out 2 masts on the Cassandra, but she was able to dock home her 3 coins and start repairing. Morocco has finished repairing from her encounter with the same enemy. At the top of the frame, the slow French attempt a blockade of the English Pirates’ home island. However, Bloody Jewel (just out of frame north of them) would speed through it without being dismasted, netting a couple more coins for the English Pirates.
Both Granville and Bon Marin were towed home successfully by the French Corsairs, and repaired one mast each. Sultan made a move towards Granville, but thought better of it when realizing a failed ram could pin her indefinitely to a docked Granville at her new captor’s HI. At the end of the game, the English and French Corsairs did get into a larger scuffle than their initial battle, with HMS Goliath captured in the fray. As the English HI was closest to Grim’s, this allowed the Cassandra to swoop in and steal 3 treasures. The game ended due to time constraints before she could get it home, but it would still count since treasure on ships counts in multiplayer games. The other final coins in play would also count – one each on Nautilus and Morocco.
Final Scores:
- Guide Grim to the Goodies: 50 gold
- French Corsairs: 28
- English and English Pirates tied: 18 (English Pirate player had to leave a round early, so not sure who would have had more units in play)
- French: 0
A solid intro game of Pirates CSG at Dice Tower West 2024! All players had fun learning and playing the game, and everyone was able to fire the cannons today (my lone shot was a Jolly Mon miss lol). Grim’s HI hoard netted me 7 from the English, so the only result change if that hadn’t occurred would be the English firmly in third ahead of the English Pirates (25-18).
Stay tuned for more, as more Pirates games are due to be played at the convention!
