Game with Gino in upstate New York
Gino got back into Pirates last year and although I don’t live in New York State anymore due to the Navy, I figured there would be a chance we could meet up at some point given my hometown is near Syracuse NY. It all came together on my latest leave period! After attending Derek Jeter’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, I drove just a short way to Gino’s house so we could talk shop and play Pirates!! He was the fifth member of the online community I’ve now met up with in person, after Captain Randy, Xerecs, JW Darkhurst, and Gingerninja.
Gino is an awesome guy and the one who made these ships using a laser cutter and styrene. We played with his cool setup including a custom ocean with homemade islands and terrain!
We decided to go with a 60 point build total and round earth rules.
I went with a Franco-Spanish fleet including the Buscador, Sirviente towing Diablo, and the Enfant Terrible.
Gino went with a ghost fleet of the Deliverance, Amity, and Hades’ Flame:
The Amity was able to ghost through some fog but unable to dock at the center island, so the Buscador snagged the gold out from under the Pirates!
The Hades’ Flame looks to grab gold:
The Deliverance had a navigator and was busy laying trade currents for the speedy Pirate runners.
The Buscador returned home with booty while her fleetmates sailed off to harass the Amity.
The Enfant chased the Amity, finally finishing the job:
It looked like the Deliverance would have to get gold for the Pirates to stay in it. However, that meant marooning Lady Baptiste and the navigator on the island.
However, the Ghost Ship conundrum struck again – even though Gino had great luck with getting double actions for the Deliverance this game, Ghost Ship helped his ships pass through terrain but they couldn’t dock at the end of those move actions. This basically forced the Deliverance to stop just short of the Pirate HI, at which point the Sirviente and Diablo pounced (having already round earthed), dismasting the ship! In the background you can see that the Enfant has captured the Amity.
Meanwhile the Buscador continues increasing Spanish wealth:
In a clutch game-saving move, the Hades’ Flame towed the Deliverance, who explored the HF so Calico Cat (I think) could transfer to the HF. The double action roll succeeded, allowing the Hades’ Flame to dock the Deliverance at home and save the ship! This is one of my favorite parts of the game – towing logistics and optimizing crew setups and gameplay moves through crew transfers while towing. An underrated (or possibly underutilized) part of the strategic meta.
The Hades’ Flame wanted to get more gold…
… but the Spanish played spoiler, dismasting the ship:
At this point we effectively called it, as the Buscador was likely to get the remaining gold in play especially with the Sirviente, Diablo and Enfant Terrible to protect her.
The Franco-Spanish won 17-11!
We both had an awesome time! Afterwards we were talking about Pirates of course, including the legal issues surrounding it along with the British vs. Pirates game that fellow Pirates CSG fan Cannonball (discord username) successfully started.
The question on everyone’s mind, where’d he get such a cool battle mat though?
Better yet, would he take commissions for more custom oceans?
Those are both questions you can ask him!