Golden Seas Playtest Game #5
6/24/2023: Pirates vs. English vs. Dutch
This was the fifth in a series of playtesting games for the new set, Pirates of the Golden Seas. Some game pieces back then were different, and have undergone revisions since then. I also used the Restarting Rules, though they were also in a somewhat different form back then – the earliest form of that alternate ruleset was finished in July 2021, but the “final” version released with the set in August 2024 more closely resembles the original rules (various rule changes were taken back out, such as the elimination of ram damage). I used the Points in Play + Gold win condition, with gold values to match (all coin values multiplied by 4). 60 point fleets with 60 gold contributed per player for 240 “total points” available at the start of the game.
Fleets in the order of play:
Dutch
Christiansvaern + Captain Berend, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Friesland + helmsman
Rotterdam + Captain Dewitt, Lady Alida, captain
UT’s: Plague, Scurvy, Enemy of the State
English
HMS Blue Whale + Captain Armstrong, Scholar Episces, helmsman, explorer
HMS Red Death + Charlotte Godspry, captain, firepot specialist, oarsman
HMS Immortal + helmsman
UT’s: Knights of Malta Banner, Jack’s Piece of Eight, Manawa no Kowhatu
Pirates
Golden Rose + Hammersmith, Ivory Mask, oarsman
Dark Angel + Fists of Fate, captain
Knife’s Edge + Captain Fletcher, oarsman
Baroness + explorer
Dragon
UT’s: Neptune’s Figurehead, Homemade Flag, abandoned helmsman
Important note: This game was played with normal ram damage and pinning rules. (instead of doing away with ram damage and pinning per the Restarting Rules at the time)
3 terrain per faction, Dutch placed whirlpools since they were using an SAT crew. Pirates reefed some islands they wanted to be wild. English placed 2 fog banks near where they anticipated on settling. I did a semi-random coin distribution with mostly 3’s (12’s due to the 4x multiplier to get to 60 gold per fleet). Chose to do 3 UT’s per fleet, with some synergy between them and each fleet and associated strategies.
Pirates wanted islands close together so the Dragon could arrive at just S+S speed and the Golden Rose might be able to “plus up” more coins with quick repeat runs. They picked first and so got their wish. English picked middle, Dutch last. The Dutch ships are 3D printed blank models. The port jib sail on the 3 masters have “C” and “F” temporarily written on them in pencil to distinguish them (this was before I had any physical models of the new Dutch ship types).
Round 1
Dutch: Friesland (F) sped west to grab coinage. Christiansvaern (C) ducked into fog with Rotterdam as potential bait.
English: Shadowed the Dutch, with their own 3 masted gunship (Red Death) entering fog and the Immortal docking at the wild island Rotterdam wanted. Blue Whale sailed NE for treasure.
Pirates: Baroness explored north of HI (finding Manawa no Kowhatu) so Golden Rose could grab gold. Dragon docked at island SW of HI, escorted by Knife’s Edge. Dark Angel looking to round earth to the far west.
Conflict erupts! The Dutch continue southwards to dismast the Immortal. However, the Red Death’s counterattack is effective, setting the C alight and damaging Rotterdam. (C should have 2 masts, I forgot her ignore ability but added the mast back next round)
F and Blue Whale explored. Golden Rose re-explored to dump some gold, realizing her mistake of taking all 3 gold coins since she wanted to bring them home one at a time to maximize the +1 bonus she has as a ship ability.
Dutch: C fire spread so they ran.
English: Blue Whale coming home, Red Death towing Immortal after she explored. Scholar Episces was able to let the English know what coins the BW and Immortal would find at their islands. Enemy of the State on Immortal will cause a logistics headache trying to unload her 24 gold.
Pirates: Baroness explores SW island for Dark Angel, but finds Plague (killing her explorer), Neptune’s Figurehead, and Homemade Flag. Dragon transfers her Knights of Malta Banner (and soon her abandoned helmsman) to Knife’s Edge, in case the latter can make a run at the Blue Whale or another treasure hauler. Golden Rose returns home with the first of three 12’s from the nearby island, adding 1 to the overall gold score of the Pirates. For now, gold bonuses are not multiplied by 4 like the regular coins, else I think those abilities would have to be more expensive.
Deckplate area with Dutch at lower right showing the various treasures accumulating in cargo holds.
Dutch: Scurvy eliminated upon F docking at home; C saved from fire! Great salvage turn but they have some ground (sea) to make up.
English: Blue Whale unloads some big gold while Red Death tows Immortal home.
Pirates: At left, Dark Angel heads home with a 12 coin while Baroness has turned into a significant weapon due to the Plague – with a simple ram she could potentially eliminate 10+ points of crew from a Dutch/English ship. At right, Knife’s Edge sprints north for the coin Blue Whale didn’t have room to load.
Dutch: F goes east to contest Knife’s Edge getting one of the last wild coins. Other 2 ships repair.
English: Immortal explores to give Enemy of the State to Red Death. Blue Whale touches RD. RD explores BW to give EotS to BW. This will allow RD to tow Immortal home. (maybe not the fastest way to do it, but Captain Armstrong of the BW was anticipating a potential fight in the endgame and RD didn’t want to give up her fighting crew to load the Immortal’s gold)
Pirates: Knife’s Edge docks in north. Baroness barely moves, knowing she’s useless to the Pirates if dismasted. She gets within range to move into the fog bank next turn. Homecoming gold party in the east!
Dutch: Repair C, F shadows Knife’s Edge, Rotterdam into fog.
English: Immortal finally returned home, unloads 24 gold and repairs!
Pirates: Baroness into fog, Knife’s Edge loads coin, Golden Rose loads last 3 from her island.
F rams a mast off Knife’s Edge, but loses the boarding party which kills her helmsman! This means it’s unlikely any ship can stop the KE from ending the game with her coin. English captains surge east but the Pirates are looking strong at their HI. Baroness is targeting the Blue Whale with the Plague, knowing that the English would have to give up 10+ points of crew on one of their two captained ships just to ram (plague!) and capture her – not worth it for the English to get Baroness (only 5 points), and therefore worth the risk for the Pirates.
Final round sees the Dutch eager to at least contest for second place. Bad blood renewed as the “fifth Anglo-Dutch War” breaks out ;). F rams Immortal derelict, allowing C to capture her (12 point swing from English to Dutch possession). English don’t know for sure if the Pirates will end the game on purpose at the end of the round by docking home the KE and final coin in play, so BW dismasts Baroness to nullify the Plague threat. Red Death goes home for revenge, lighting the C aflame once more and using her ability to take out two more crew, leaving only Captain Berend on the C. On the Pirate turn, the Knife’s Edge docks to unload the final coin and end the game.
Scores
Pirates: 142 (59 points in play, 83 gold)
English: 116 (48 points in play, 68 gold)
Dutch: 97 (64 points in play, 33 gold)
Overall a decently fun game with some thought provoking stuff in it. Much less lopsided than many of the other games using points in play. Pirates benefited from being the non-combatant in this 3 fleet affair which saw the other 2 fleets smash each other up a bit. Though, the Pirates were disappointed they didn’t get to use Captain Fletcher or Fists of Fate. Dutch didn’t collect enough gold with Friesland for their capture of Immortal to matter much, still finishing last.
Observations:
-How to deal with gold that is added to the game over time? Ex: Knights of Malta Banner has less of an impact
-Should ships and crew lost in fog banks count towards the points in play endgame condition? (default should be no to align with treasure not counting, and to prevent players from just ducking all their ships into fog banks on what looks like the last round of play)
-Should Abandoned Crew count towards the points in play? My initial thought was no, especially because they do not count against the point limit of a ship per the Code.
-I LOVE the Knife’s Edge
-Rotterdam can’t shoot masts off enemies that have Crew Protect
-Point costs: Pirates might be too cheap. Although the sample size of games is still small, the Pirates are undefeated so far. Increasing Dark Angel cost from 8 to 9. Unsure if Baroness is too cheap. I think more of it has to do with set balance/point parity – the Pirates have two cheap options to fill out fleets with in the Knife’s Edge and Baroness, while the Dutch and English have only one ship under 9 points between them (and it moves S) – this was fixed in later edits to the set. Might modify at least one small ship in both the English and Dutch rosters so the Pirates don’t have all the best cheap options. Caveat: arguably the Dragon (only non-Golden Seas ship) was the best overall ship in this game, but she did help the Pirates wield 2 more ships than the other factions).
***Points in Play is a fun house rule to incentivize combat and aggressive playing, but it is a double edged sword in that regard. Factions were hesitant to risk support gunships in gutsy moves because they figured the 12+ points worth of ship/crew would be captured in the counterattack, so they decided not to attack. Some of the late-game desperation plays might disappear because people just want to conserve their points in play rather than risking getting captured. This came into play today more so than in the past playtest games – not sure if I just wasn’t thinking about it enough in the other ones, or if the situations and potential attacks that weren’t taken just happened to be overly risky today. I think it was the latter, as both the Pirates and Dutch didn’t have enough reason to try to intercept the Immortal’s gold with the Red Death and Blue Whale waiting to pounce on any ship that interfered.