CG4 continues to develop! Here is the music mix I listened to for most of the Pirate turn. Crazy enough, their post-turn period of launching and truly grand strategizing took even longer than their actual turn!! O_O
I have to apologize for a rules gaffe on my part, and thank Xerecs for pointing it out to me. During my last turn, the Stormcloud used the fog hopping ability inappropriately. However, since it had effectively no impact on the game (the exact same result would have happened if the rule was followed perfectly), we have continued as usual.
New rule: No more than 2 of the same custom fort can be in play at once.
In a move that could potentially have ramifications for the rest of the game, the Pirates captured the Noble Swan! The Warring Tribes began towing her and got Jack Hawkins’ SAT, moving 4S to start skedaddling back to the Pirates’ home island. The Zephyr was initially the “designated tower”, but the Warring Tribes should be able to get the job done faster due to her SAT capabilities. Just behind the Noble Swan you can see the Branwen covering the stern of the prize, just in case the Bonne Chance or Jades try anything in the near future. In addition, the Devil’s Kiss and Lady’s Scorn are sailing out to help escort the small convoy home.
At the bottom of the frame, the Hai Peng has docked at the island the Sea Crane made land on this round! She explored, finding textiles. Although textiles are valuable right now at 5 gold apiece, the Pirates weren’t satisfied since they already have textiles so readily available just south of their HI. In a rare moment for me, they took advantage of the Explorer ability’s bonus under the Economy Edition rules, rerolling for the island’s resource type and getting lumber instead! This was fine with the Pirates, since it gave them a different resource type relatively close to their home island. At this point, it has become clear that the Pirates aren’t too worried about what the Jades think of what they’re doing. As the captain of the Virtuous Wind surely knows, the Pirates have now given the Jades the Plague (via the Dungeon a while back), captured the Noble Swan, and explored an island with the Hai Peng right out from under the Sea Crane.
The lull in metals production has ended, with 5 ships docking home metals this turn. They were converted to gold at the end of the turn, which gives an idea of the Pirates’ spending power…. Left of the resource system you can see that the Deliverance has taken the whirlpool inside the fogpool to a different location.
Post-battle cleanup efforts in full swing! The Pirates finished their victory over the Barbary Corsairs by dismasting the final two galleys, the Osiris and Sphinx. Due to the Giza’s effort to steal the Resurrection Codex last turn, the Red Star sank after being scuttled by the Pirates last turn. However, the rest of the Pirate plan went perfectly – all three remaining Corsair galleys were captured! The Splinter knocked out the last mast on the Osiris, while the Stormcloud dismasted the Sphinx. The Stormcloud then used an EA to sail over so Tia Dalma could cancel the oarsman aboard the Osiris, allowing the Black Pearl to capture her. Due to Raidamos’ Eternal ability, the Pirates immediately scuttled the Osiris to try and get her home to repair as quickly as possible. The Giza and Sphinx were able to start rowing on their own power immediately after capture due to the handy Galley keyword. A team-oriented logistics effort allowed the burning Darkhawk II to sail straight for home, rolling a 3 on the fire mast to keep it at bay for now. Though, the Pirates could have put it out if they wanted to…. hehe. 🙂
After the light combat and medium-complexity towing logistics and logjam was over, the Pirates decided to risk trying to retake their textiles town right away! The safest thing would be to wait for the Stormcloud or Zeus to arrive, but Bartholomew Roberts and Genny Gallows (both aboard the Akua Lapu!) agreed that an attack on the town was worth the risk. However, they were embarrassed in their effort, losing the boarding attempt and the ship’s mizzenmast as a result. Adding to their frustration was the Star of Siam, who was able to retake the town on her attempt despite no big-name pirates on board. XD The textiles island belongs to the Pirates once again! The Coral and Raven immediately joined the Star of Siam in loading textiles, with some of the Pirate resource runners not even having their routine trips bothered by the brief but intense clash with the Corsairs. The Cassandra can be seen east of the Zeus, trying to get the new military port upgrade to the island as fast as possible. North at the home island, the Pandora was given an AA to reach home with 6 textiles tokens, the 30 gold from which would be used directly on the last Pirate purchase of the turn….
Off on her own, the Dungeon explored a wild island southwest of the Archipelago and found the Wine UT along with spices (resource not UT).
Then it was launch time!! The Pirates had 138 gold to spend, and it worked out perfectly as they spent it all! The first big chunk went to what looks like another WMD: the Tempest!!
Tempest
Point Value: 35
Number of Masts: 5
Cargo Space: 4
Base Move: S+S
Cannons: 3S-3L-3L-3L-3S
Ability: Once per turn you may roll a d6. On a 6, you may place a whirlpool anywhere on the play area. | This ship can move through whirlpools without losing crew, masts, or treasure. | Give this ship a shoot action. A wave S wide and 2L long leaves the ship in one direction. Up to 2 masts of every ship in the path of the wave are eliminated. Eliminate one of this ship’s masts.
Flavor text: A mysterious and rarely sighted ship said to rival the power of the Flying Dutchman, the Tempest creates waterborne chaos wherever she sails. It is rumored she can travel under the waves without any harm to her or her crew. Those who don’t believe the legends are those who have yet to encounter the ship….
With a whopping 35 points to play with and plenty of gold to spend, the Tempest comes outfitted with a FULL crew complement: Hammersmith (Captain+Helmsman), Cannonball Gallows (EA), and 4 customs. Amos Carter for rerolling the EA, Henry Turner (from Dead Men Tell No Tales) to add a cargo space, a face down custom, and Aert van Tuyl. (Chieftain. Shipwright. This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against Pirate ships.) The new canoes were curiously launched at a wild island near the Spanish HI that Spanish cargo ships have been making trips to. The Natives of Madagascar canoes have the Possession ability built into each canoe, but only L speed. Aert van Tuyl is one of my weirder custom crew (arguably not actually, lol), and serves a dual purpose on the Tempest that doesn’t need to be revealed here. Let’s just say this was a turn in which the Pirates spent a LOT of time strategizing and thinking about long term plans… and more. 😀
Then the attention shifted to the northern half of the Pirate HI, where two new customs came into play, also with considerable crew complements. The Shadows Hand (custom by Xerecs) is a fog hopping 5 master with good cannons. Across the island from her is the Phantom, another custom from Xerecs’ Pirates of Spherus Magna set. She’s a 2 master with S speed for a whopping 15 points, but her wild ability set makes it understandable: essentially she’s got +2 to boarding rolls, 2 hits/mast defense, and gets D movement for turns when she rolls a 6. O_O Safe to say this isn’t the historically-driven Caribbean game!! XD
That was the end of the Pirate turn, but not the end of their thinking… and amusing ideas. 😉
During this turn, the Pirates accomplished their main short-term goals: capture the Noble Swan and clean up from the Corsair battle (which meant finishing the victory, rounding up the rather epic prizes, and ensuring no Pirate ships were left behind). They then launched the Tempest, arguably another WMD given her EA capabilities and a full complement of crew onboard. The Pirates are hard at work on a project codenamed “GMS”….
In addition, the Pirates have a “mass surveillance” program that is helping them make decisions. They now have a variety of “spies” in play – 5 total. Many of them have been in the game for a number of turns now. (listed with per-turn abilities) Between Carina Smyth (can look at all treasures on a wild island), Shansa (can look at two face down crew or treasure coins on any ships or islands), Raven’s Neck (one cargo on an island), Cassandra and Lucky the Parrot (can look at one cargo on a ship), the Pirates have the ability to see as many as approximately 9 cargo per turn across the map. This network of spies has resulted in the Pirates having their eyes and surveillance activities in nearly every corner of the sea… just one of many things they have going for them right now. It’s why they were able to single out and snag the Noble Swan so efficiently when they had a chance to do so. It could also result in more short-term interests being investigated….
As you probably saw in the recent reports, the Americans had been amassing what looked like an attack force off the northeast side of the Cursed home island. With 3 schooners and the Enterprise stationed there, the Cursed were curious as to American intentions. Over a week ago the Cursed reached out to the Americans:
From: Captain of Grand Misfortune
To: American force off Cursed home island… what is your purpose here? Do ya intend to attack… ?
IF so… ya may regret its….The Cursed
However, by the time the Cursed turn was up this morning of May 9th, no response had been received. Soon after the game started, the Cursed had become interested in a potential alliance with the Americans to share resource islands and information on which islands were the best to go to. Between the Americans’ thinly veiled threat of “the newly assembled strike force is looking for a target…” last September and now the proximity of said strike force to the Cursed home island, the Cursed have a feeling they cannot trust the Americans. They have been using what little purchasing power they have to put some defenses in place, mainly based around small raiders and UT combos. With most of the American ships of the strike force in range of the Cursed, the Cursed decided…
IT WAS TIME TO ATTACK!!!!!
Check out the video to see the crazy stuff that went down!!!
The Repulsive Waste got things started, coming out of the fog and ramming the Enterprise head-on! It may look like a severe mismatch, but the RW was just on a suicide mission to give the Enterprise the Plague!! This killed all 3 of the Enterprise’s crew, leaving her much worse off in the short term for potential combat operations against the Cursed.
Then it was time for the next UT-based raider. The Devil’s Sneer had been launched for one purpose only: carry Explosives. She had the UT face down and was waiting inside the fog bank for the perfect time to strike. The Cursed flagship is the Grand Misfortune, but none of her cannons (all L-range) can hit the Jarvis (who has L-immunity). Therefore, the Jarvis was the perfect ship to simply eliminate from the battlefield so the Cursed didn’t have to deal with her! The Devil’s Sneer got a lucky fog exit roll and slammed into the Jarvis! She rolled a 2, but Explosives needs a 4-6 to work! However, there was more to the story!!!! Suddenly out of nowhere the die roll became a 6!!!!! O_O RUNES OF THOR!!!!!! THE NOBLE SWAN HAS RUNES OF THOR! The Pirates flipped the UT to detonate the Devil’s Sneer and the Jarvis!! O_O With a spectacular explosion both ships blew up. Of course, the Pirates knew what they were doing – the Noble swan ALSO has Nemo’s Plans! This means that UT’s like Runes of Thor that are normally eliminated after use remain aboard and can be used again!! 😀 The Pirates had anticipated using RoT on their turn to save the DHII from fire or to scuttle the Osiris, but didn’t really need it for anything. Instead it was saved for a moment like this to cause maximum chaos.
From there it was time for the proper gunships to get in play. The Devil’s Storm hopped out of the fog bank and maneuvered off the Boston’s stern (unable to get any guns in range of the Enterprise). She shot 2/4 to eliminate a mast. Then it was time for the Grand Misfortune!
The GM is absolutely loaded with UT’s, although she would use 2 from her arsenal here. (she started the turn with 7 UT’s aboard!) The GM is only moving S+S, so she needed a little help to get in range of the American schooners. Luckily for the Cursed, they found a LOT of help in the UT department from exploring earlier in the game. Power Cannons AND Fireworks! O_O This gave the GM L+L range on all 6 of her cannons, along with +2 to her cannon rolls! I couldn’t resist this unique and cool shot of the GM lining up her shots to devastate the Julius Caesar.
The captain gave the order, and the Grand Misfortune blasted away! She shot 5/6 to nearly dismast the Julius Caesar! She really needed the Fireworks too, since 3 of the hits would have missed if not for the bonus. Although the (probable) American counterattack on the Cursed could be effective, the Grand Misfortune has Metal Hull aboard, meaning she can’t be hit by cannon rolls less than 6! She also has Eternal and an oarsman, so she has been equipped as a defensive powerhouse with short-term (aka: this turn) offensive theatrics.
Total damage assessment: 2 ships sunk (1 American, 1 Cursed), 3 masts eliminated, 4 crew killed in action (captain of the Jarvis + all 3 crew from the Enterprise).
Here’s a good view of the northwest area where the Cursed and Americans live. Both factions have valuable resources right now, and the Americans look like they have quite a stockpile of metals available. At the bottom you can see where the Deliverance emerged. Her crew are observing the Cursed and hearing the sounds of the clash beyond the fog.
The northeast is still the busiest “quadrant” of the sea, as it is home to many of the game’s most prominent factions thus far. The Vikings and Barbary Corsairs simply spent their turn gathering resources.
Now the possibilities with Runes of Thor become evident for the Pirates: even just using it on one of their AA crew basically gives them a guaranteed extra action anywhere in their fleet, every turn (without having to actually roll the 6).
Stay tuned, for more exciting developments await! 😀 Thanks for reading!