Halloween 2024 Game
10/29/2024
Ahoy mateys! This was a 3 fleet, 80 point game I played to test out some new game pieces and to have some fun with some of the scarier factions as part of my Halloween 2024 game. I generally used the Restarting Rules.
Here are the fleets in play order:
Pirates
Black Widow + Liliane Rousseau, helmsman, explorer
Cyclone + helmsman
Sengoku + CHO (captain, helmsman, oarsman (French oarsman))
Tortuga + helmsman
Vikings
Kalmar + Shayna Deux, Lars Valgard, helmsman, FPS, oarsman
Elsinore + RotF Thomas Gunn, LE Griffin, SS Sir Jeremy Rothschild
Sleipnir + helmsman
+Shipwright on HI
Cursed
Berzerker + Berserk Overlord, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Pyrannus
Sea Rat + helmsman, navigator
Quite a unique and exciting fleet area!
I designed the map, since I wanted a change from having each fleet contribute specific islands/terrain/coins. 8 total islands, with 5 of them wild. I used 4 of my Mega Terrain, along with some Shallow Water and rocks. Round earth played a key role in home island selection. Despite the obstacles, I could tell from the setup that it was likely to be a bloody game – none of the fleets were going particularly strong with gold runners, so combat was quite inevitable. Rather fitting for these factions.
The treasure distribution was random – 5 coins per island, with 8 of the 25 total coins being UT’s. Both regular coins and UT’s were chosen randomly.
I also used a timer to limit each fleet to 40 minutes of play time overall – that way the game could be finished in about 2 hours.
Before sailing out, the Pirates transferred the Black Widow’s explorer to Cyclone.
On the first turn, Cyclone explored to load a couple 3’s. Sengoku wanted to hunt enemy gold runners, but this was the Berserk Overlord’s debut! He gave his ship the Same Action Twice (SAT) with a 4, letting Berzerker surge to the west. However, even with the ship’s “+1 against second targets” ability, none of the sniping shots hit! However, it’s quite normal for large junk ships to underperform in their first games I use them in, so I wasn’t shocked. (years ago, bad cannon rolls happened a lot with HMS Grand Temple and some 10 masters early on)
Kalmar sets the giant turtle aflame!
Sea Rat used her navigator but he failed to generate a trade current. For the rest of the game, The Cursed didn’t bother using the navigator. Pyrannus heads into a giant fog bank, while Elsinore rounds earth to the east in search of loot.
With Cyclone slowed to L+S on her return journey with treasure, there was no way for her to dock at the Pirate home island (HI). Sengoku could simply block for her, but this was unlikely to be very effective. Instead, the valiant crew of Sengoku decided to go out in a blaze of glory! They rowed north at full speed, crashing into the Berzerker’s bow! To win the boarding party they needed a 6-1 rolling advantage, so a 4 meant her French oarsman died against the might of the junk’s crew.
Black Widow explored to find a negative UT and some low-value coins. The 2 was left behind when leaving the island.
Kalmar takes advantage of the Longship keyword, stern turning over round earth and getting all her cannons in range of the Cyclone, who is only a few meters from home! Her gunners fail miserably, going 1/6 and failing to stop the ship!
Berserk Overlord rolls a 6, allowing The Cursed to give an enemy ship an action! Elsinore was a tempting choice, but she was stuck with Rum after exploring – The Cursed figured they might be able to intercept her next turn. With Berzerker only having one action available, the Overlord decided to move the pesky Sengoku out of his way, sending the atakebune aground on some nearby shallow water. Sengoku wasn’t damaged by the grounding, but later lost a flag to Berzerker’s cannons. Berzerker’s gunners continued to disappoint, failing to damage the ultra-lucky Cyclone! However, The Cursed were able to S-Board and steal a 3.
To the right, Sea Rat heads east for an unexplored wild island while Pyrannus exits fog looking to deter Sleipnir from docking at the middle island.
A homecoming party for the Pirates! Cyclone unloads a 3, and Black Widow returns to smash up Kalmar while docking her own gold at home. Kalmar was only hit once, so her mainmast shouldn’t be missing here (corrected soon afterwards). At the top, the 6 on Sengoku marks that she is ready to leave the shallow water with her next action.
All this time, Tortuga was simply sitting in the same spot, protecting Black Widow from being approached by Kalmar. This also kept her fire at bay. Kalmar heads home for repairs, while Sleipnir scurries away from the approaching (submerged) hydra. Berserk Overlord rolls a 2 to give Sea Rat +L to her base move, allowing the junk to quickly reach the southeastern island.
Both Viking 3 masters get home, with Elsinore unloading 12 gold! (7, 2, and 3 from Rum)
However, Elsinore needed a stern turn into shallow water to reach home, meaning her departure will be slowed.
Berzerker gets SAT to whirlpool into the northeast, sinking Sleipnir!
Elsinore uses an action to get unstuck, while Kalmar loads the convenient shipwright to repair two masts with one action! (revised Shipwright keyword as part of the New Master Keyword List allows 2 masts/repair at your HI and friendly forts)
With another 6, Berserk Overlord forces Cyclone to run aground! Black Widow aims to escort Cyclone to get the last coins from the SW island. Tortuga reaches home with the 2 coin Black Widow left behind due to the Barrel o’ Monkeys, with her “flesh fire” now extinguished. Pyrannus simply guards the middle wild island, lying in wait and essentially marking the island as Cursed territory.
The Vikings knew they probably needed to risk either the middle island or a Pirate home island raid to win the game. Knowing Berzerker would likely back up Pyrannus in the center, they chose a multi-pronged assault on the Pirates. The Pirates smell it coming, with Cyclone readying herself to set sail again and Tortuga swimming to intercept Elsinore. To the right, Berzerker has escorted Sea Rat home, while also looking to deposit the 3 she stole from Cyclone earlier in the game. Sea Rat found a good island, loading Metal Hull and 5,5,3.
The Vikings waste no time going after Pirate gold! With Kalmar looking to home island raid for 2 coins, Elsinore looks to distract by stealing Cyclone’s current haul. However, the attack is a total failure – stern turning into shallow water (required here to ram and board) costs the Elsinore a mast, then she follows that by only eliminating 1 mast from Cyclone and losing the boarding party, where Griffin is killed! Cyclone means business today – elusive and resilient!
Black Widow did not position herself well on the Pirate turn, simply sailing east to try to block Kalmar from reaching the Cyclone or Pirate HI. Kalmar repeats a move action from earlier in the game, stern turning over round earth into Pirate waters! This time her gunners find their marks, shooting 5/6 to dismast the Black Widow and set her aflame!!
The endgame had arrived, with desperation mounting for the Vikings and Pirates. Berserk Overlord scored yet another 6, allowing him to yank the Kalmar onto shallow water. Berzerker avoided running aground and got into sniping range, taking a mast off Kalmar. Sea Rat was slowed by Metal Hull, but that UT might help her survive a home island raid more than a bit of extra speed. She had no fear of shallow water, heading straight for the Pirate home island! Pyrannus swims underwater towards the action, with no immediate threats able to dock at the middle island he was protecting. The Cursed look like the strongest faction now, benefiting from the other fleets beating each other up repeatedly.
Tortuga rams Elsinore, dismasting the ship and killing her last crew! In this game full of brutal factions, neither the English nor French survived.
Against all odds, Cyclone returns home with her second haul of treasure (two 2’s). However, can she deal with the oncoming dual Viking/Cursed threat? All three fleets had a home island raider in this game, and here they’re all in the same area on the right side of the frame.
The Vikings use their actions to move both ships to the edge of shallow water (“ungrounding” them), looking to return home for repairs. However, Pyrannus has other ideas!! The beast finally surfaces and lights up Kalmar with a vicious fire breathing attack!!
Sea Rat moves in to plunder the Pirate home island. The Pirates have been bullied all game and are exhausted. Meanwhile, the Vikings are literally cooked.
With The Cursed clearly the only force capable of winning a battle now, the Pirates and Vikings decide to collude and end the game faster. However, the Pirate still want their gold back, with Cyclone and Tortuga both ramming the Sea Rat – the giant turtle climbing across the home island to do so! They both fail to steal back the treasure!
Pyrannus loses a head to shallow water but finishes off the longships, eliminating the Vikings from the game. The Overlord doesn’t want to run his behemoth flagship aground, and so takes the Berzerker north to collect some final treasure. The Cursed are looking to seal their win.
They do just that, with Berzerker getting a clutch 5 (Admiral’s Action) from Berserk Overlord to explore the middle island and return home just as their clock was running out! (Cursed finished their last turn with 7 seconds left, the least time remaining of any fleet)
I think Cyclone stole back the Sea Rat’s coin, but it was not enough.
Scores:
- The Cursed: 32 gold (had 16 even before final haul from middle island)
- Pirates: 14
- Vikings: 12
In hindsight, one could argue the game should have continued, with the Pirates potentially able to use their remaining time to basically raid the Cursed home island repeatedly. Since the Cursed were almost out of time, they didn’t have enough clock to fight back – if the timer hit 0, they’d automatically lose. However, I was personally out of time to play and it’s simply a lesson in how to manage the clock for future games. In addition, I think all the coins remaining on wild islands were just UT’s with no value, with Runes of Destruction and Livestock passed over in favor of regular coins. If the Cursed haul of 16 from the middle wild island was the final treasure in play, the game really would end with their final turn as their clock ran out.
Overall this was a very fun game featuring a lot of new game pieces and elements. It was great to finally utilize stern turning fleet-wide for an entire game, which really helped the Vikings compete despite their slow base moves. Berserk Overlord almost exclusively rolled 2/4/6, with his capabilities on full display. The Cursed chose their HI first and nobody wanted to be near them. Eventually they benefited from the other factions fighting each other – despite some relatively large/powerful ships in play, neither Berzerker nor Pyrannus ever faced serious opposition. Kalmar and Black Widow basically neutralized each other. It made me want to play with more than 3 fleets next time, since this kind of “vulture winner” happens fairly often in 3 player games.
Playtesting feedback/observations:
-Under Restarting Rules, giant turtles could repair by default since nothing disallows it. (either have to change keyword, or change Sea Creature rules section about default not being able to repair)
-HI Raiding is still loser chooses, since rules don’t address it and it’s not a keyword. Probably want it random
-Made it so Shallow Water can sink ships on the 1-2 roll.
-No real feedback on Sengoku or Tortuga – nothing to warrant changing their keywords or point costs from this game.