The final 80 point game has been played! For the final Pirate/American game, the island setup was pretty standard,
Frontier
especially after the last setup had unintentionally given the Pirates a possible advantage concerning their raiders. This time, the fleets had their HI’s far away from each other.
The game started with consecutive extra actions for the Queen Anne’s Revenge from Sean Cannonball Gallows. This let her reach the Bartlett and the Nene Nui, but she only scored 2 hits out of 10 shots over the course of 4 shoot actions, continuing the deplorable dice luck, although at least now I’m used to it. The Revenge also docked at the American HI and stole a coin that the Frontier had brought back, since the Frontier had used Homing Beacon to return home one turn after grabbing gold from the nearest wild island. She also took a mast off the Bartlett, although the Bartlett took off a mast on the Revenge a turn later. The other Pirate ships all got gold from islands near the Pirates’ home island, with the Swift bringing back a 4 and a 3.
The Frontier and Nene Nui had combined to bring back 8 gold for the Americans, while the Pirates had accumulated 9. The Mercury and the Bartlett now chased the Pirates back to their HI, where the Mercury sunk the Royal Rover was sunk with 3 gold on her just before she was able to dock. This evened up the gold game at 10 apiece. Now that the Mercury was finally above the surface, the Pirates saw their opportunity to damage the durable sub (she ignores the first hit she takes as long as she has all of her masts). The Swift went 2 for 2, damaging the Mercury for the first time ever! The Obago looked to derelict her or possibly even sink her, but of course, the Obago rolled three 1’s in a row.
Meanwhile, the Frontier and Nene Nui had been finding more gold away from the action. The Nene Nui had to deal with Barrel O’ Monkeys, which made it impossible for the Nene Nui to explore the islands with just one coin on them, which was the case with two of the three wild islands that still had treasure on them. To the north, the Frontier found 5 gold on an island.
Back where the battle was taking place, the Bartlett moved to block the Swift’s path to explore her island, while the Mercury rammed the Obago (still at her HI) to knock her down to 2 masts.
Since the Frontier and Queen Anne’s Revenge had docked at the American HI on the same turn, it was easy for the Revenge to follow and harass the Frontier all the way out on her second treasure run. More bad gun rolls saw the Revenge go 1 for 4, but at least the Frontier was damaged, with two masts now remaining. Right after the Frontier had explored the island near the Pirates’ HI (where she got the 5 gold), the Swift was upon her. The Swift hit with both cannons, and the Frontier was derelict. The Queen Anne’s Revenge captured her and used yet another extra action (her third of the game) to sprint home moving 4S, giving the Pirates an extra 8 gold (5 from the Frontier and the stolen 3 that was still on the Revenge) to win the final 80 point game, 18-10!
This was a very enjoyable game, featuring many twists and turns. Who would’ve thought that the Swift (the smallest ship in their fleet) would be their hero? She brought home 7 gold, became the only Pirate ship to score a hit on the Mercury, and dismasted the Frontier at a crucial moment.
For the entire 8 game series, the Americans beat the Pirates 5-3, although the Pirates fought back to win the final series (2-1) after falling in a hole 5-1. It was good to see the Americans do well, and nice to see the fight in the Pirates! I’m looking at making some more fleets soon, possibly starting with the English facing the French.