Pirate Blitz! 3×10 “Mini Game”
8/31/2024
With August drawing to a close, I played a quick and goofy game to keep my consecutive months played streak alive (playing at least one game of Pirates CSG for many months in a row).
Rules were simple: 3 fleets, build total of 10 points, no forts or terrain, only one wild island. No coin contributions, but the lone wild island would have one coin each of values 1-7 along with two random UT’s.
Fleets in the order of play:
Spanish
El Algeciras (OE version) + captain
El Raton
Jolly Mon + oarsman
French
Le Coeur de Lion + helmsman
Lezard + helmsman
Pirates
Banshee’s Cry + explorer
Mermaid
Carrion Crow
The setup for a Pirate Blitz!
Banshee’s Cry explores the island first, loading Rotting Hull, Davy Jones’ Heart, and the 7 and 6!
She is quickly set upon by the other fleets, with jealousy raging! Algeciras misses both shots against BC but takes out a Carrion Crow mast with a ram. The French establish themselves, with Lezard dismasting BC with a ram and taking her 7, while Coeur loads booty from the island.
Mermaid begins towing BC, transferring the latter’s 6 to Mermaid. Carrion Crow utterly failed against the Algeciras, rolling poorly for both ram and board. The Spanish complete the game’s “domino effect”, taking center stage. The Pirates were the early leader, then the French took treasure on turn 2. Now on turn 3, the Spanish take the lead. The French are rammed out of the game!
Mermaid sees a rare opportunity to escape with gold, and drops her tow to deposit the 6. Carrion Crow rams a mast off Algeciras, but she is rammed derelict by El Raton. El Algeciras goes 0/2 again, as my typically poor cannon luck continues.
El Raton, Jolly Mon and Coeur are the best hope for the Spanish now, with Algeciras rammed out of commission by the Mermaid.
Having seen all the game’s coins from their initial explore, the Pirates realize they must get some of the final treasure home in addition to the Lezard’s 7 (else they’d end up with 13 of 28 gold, with the Spanish having 3 ships to snag the final 3 in play to get to 15/28). Mermaid docks Lezard and both ships grab a coin, leaving the wild island empty. However, trouble is brewing for the Pirates, as a Coeur repair gets her back in action (at S+S+S speed, as she still has her helmsman) and the Jolly Mon won’t be slowed by towing (or a full cargo hold) anymore.
Mermaid re-tows Lezard and makes an effort to get both ships home, even ramming a pursuant Raton derelict in the process. However, Coeur’s speed caught Mermaid easily and with a final ram, the Pirates were taken out!
The Spanish win 12-6-0!
