It finally happened!! I met up with Xerecs, The Lord Sentinel and his 2 brothers in real life and we played Pirates! Although most of our time was spent on CoEC and Pirates discussions the day before, we were able to eat at Applebee’s together on Tuesday 7/13/2021.
This game was the first test of my new game idea I’m quite excited about – packs as wild islands! It would be a small 20 point game game with 3 wild islands, the center island of which was an unopened Revolution pack I had brought with me on the trip!
Whoever explored the pack would claim its contents – any ships and crew would immediately become part of their fleet, the island in the pack would replace the pack on the table, and gold from the card would be punched for use.
We rolled for initiative, with the player order being: JW Darkhurst, Xerecs, A7XfanBen, Gingerninja.
I used the Cutlass with a captain and helmsman, along with the Lightning and a helmsman.
Gingerninja’s fleet:
JW Darkhurst went first and was the first to reach the island! Xerecs was using the French native canoes from Return to Savage Shores, made out of wood paste by CloudofCraftGaming. He actually had a really neat setup on one of his 2 masters to make it work – Robinson, Brother Virgil, and the tribal chieftain.
The Tiger’s Eye explored and suddenly JW Darkhurst was able to add the Julius Caesar and Rattlesnake to his fleet! Certainly a good American pack! Fittingly enough, he didn’t have either of those two ships in his personal collection yet, so it worked out well. Though maybe not for the rest of the players…. XD
I took the Cutlass around the newly placed wild island and true to form started missing cannon shots!
At the bottom, the Bloody Jewel has dismasted the Lightning. At the upper left, the Corsairs run home with gold.
The English captured the Cutlass, with the game ending soon afterwards.
The Final Scores:
- JW Darkhurst: 31 gold
- Gingerninja: 16
- Xerecs: 7
- A7XfanBen: 0
It was very small and short, but at least Xerecs and I finally played a physical game together! Hopefully more games will be in our future, though it will likely have to resume on VASSAL for now.
Can’t wait for another in-person game! Maybe next time if you come out during the fall or spring we can get a larger game in. Or, we can plan ahead and see about you taking over for a round of a Summer game. 😀
Yeah someday! XD
I think I’d have trouble jumping into CoEC – the sheer volume of crew combinations to learn and existing strategic elements to understand would take a time commitment. It’s a good lesson for why people will probably be too intimidated to guest play turns in the Caribbean and World games once those eventually continue/start.
We could try and line it up for the beginning of a game….. That would be something.