Norvegia vs. Altar of the Loa fleet – February 24th, 2013

2/24/13: A set of three games is being played, with the Norvegia fleet facing the Altar of the Loa fleet. Since the Darkhawk II and her crew cost exactly 20 points, I took her out to make it a 40 point fleet.

The first game went to the Norvegians (?), who went first and won with 17 gold. They put Lost in the treasure mix, and used it to strand all three Pirate one masters in Sargasso Seas.

The second game was much more interesting. Since the AotL fleet went first, they were able to use Becalmed to essentially skip the Norvegians’ first turn. This helped immensely at first, because the White Rose rolled a 6 to get AotL up and working (and she also found both Barbary Banner and Smuggled Goods on the island). She sacced two oarsmen to gain control of the Norvegians on their next turn. Before they would go, however, the Banshee’s Cry (of the AotL fleet) rolled a 2 at the same island when she docked, moving all of the treasure, including AotL, to another wild island.

The Norvegians were controlled for one turn, and the AotL fleet threw them off course while the White Rose took out 3 of the Neptune’s Hoard’s 4 masts. However, since AotL was now out of reach of the fleet that needed it to win, they weren’t able to continue to sac crew. That’s where things got interesting. The damaged Neptune’s Hoard sprinted to the island where AotL was, and sacced two crew to gain control of the AotL fleet on their next turn. She grabbed 3 treasure coins, while the Star of Siam and Banshee’s Cry grabbed 3 more between the two of them.

The MI that the Star of Siam docked at was the same as the others, and by rolling a 6, the Star had access to UT’s from outside the game. This is one of the drawbacks of the AotL fleet. She picked Runes of Odin, which lets you bring in an iceberg that eliminates from the game the first ship that hits it, and then reverts to a normal iceberg. Using Foul Winds, the Norvegians threw all three Pirate one masters (since they were grouped together heading for the island that AotL was on) into the iceberg, eliminating the Banshee’s Cry and dismasting both the Mermaid and the Jolly Mon, putting a serious dent into the hopes of the AotL fleet.

As in the first game, the Norvegians uncovered Lost, and this time they used it to place an iceberg near the White Rose. By the effect of AotL, they were able to move her, and slammed her into the iceberg, taking out one of her masts (the performance of the Norvegia fleet in this particular game would make my Mind Control fleet proud!).

Now the Neptune’s Hoard was trying to get home, but her S+L+S+L+S speed wasn’t quite enough, and the White Rose sunk her. Raft was revealed to move Captain Blackheart and the Hoard’s treasure coins to the nearest wild island, where the Banshee’s Cry was docked. The Rose also managed to sink the Cry, who had 3 gold aboard.

At this point, the Star of Siam had gotten back to her HI and sacced another oarsman to move back to her MI. She rolled another 6, which let her bring Runes of Magic into the game. This UT lets you move an iceberg L in any direction, and the same iceberg the White Rose had been moved into was now hitting her once more, taking out a second mast. With that, the Norvegians had both moved enemy ships into icebergs, and moved icebergs into enemy ships .

Now there were only three ships left able to move: the Star of Siam, the White Rose (both with 2 masts), and the Rover (who didn’t have the speed or guns to make an impact). The Star of Siam rammed the White Rose, taking out a third mast. The Rose responded with a point-blank shot that took out a mast on the Star. The Star then scored a hit on the Rose, making her derelict. The Star towed her home, where her 10 gold gave the Norvegians the victory!

In the third game, the AotL fleet went first and were able to keep the Norvegians from taking their turn the entire game. Using Becalmed on the first turn, they immobilized the Norvegians. Then they swapped out a treasure for AotL and sacced crew for a few turns. The Rover and Mermaid were able to use their decent guns to dismast the Neptune’s Hoard, who wouldn’t have been able to shoot back anyway since the one masters were docked at their HI. The White Rose sacced the last two crew needed to control their enemies, moving the Star of Siam and Banshee’s Cry about 1/2 S apart. Then the Rose moved and shot, dismasting both ships as she passed by going home with the winning gold.

Out of curiosity, I played a fourth game, which the Norvegians won. They went first and won relatively easily, which tells me that between such effective fleets (especially with one using Becalmed), going first may actually make all the difference. Norvegia is a fantastic fleet (going 3-1 in this series), but the AotL fleet can be competitive as well.

Additional Comment:

This thread now has the most views of any Pirates CSG thread on Pojo!  😀