Originally published to Miniature Trading on February 12th, 2013
This is my first entry for getempowder’s Cursed Fleet Challenge. It’s for a 100 point standard game, and has a balance between fighting and gold running. I will describe the gold runners first, and you’ll see why later .
The primary gold runner is the Sea Monkey, one of the most (and very few) versatile Cursed ships. With S+L speed and more cargo hold (4) than masts (3), she is a good ship to potentially fill the role of both gold runner and gunship, especially because she has the reverse captain ability. In this fleet she has a helmsman and an explorer, letting her fly at S+L+S speed, baffling your opponents who thought you were using the Cursed . At the start of the game, the Sea Monkey can be “Hidden Cove’d” to the nearest wild island, where she will then use a move action to move to one of the farthest-away wild islands. Ideally, she will discover Fireworks. Since she will probably be closer to your opponents fleet than the rest of your ships, they will go after her first. When they get too close, reveal Fireworks to vastly boost your firepower, shoot your enemy to pieces, and then use the reverse captain ability to sprint home at S+L+S speed!
The Sea Duck is a simple gold runner crewed with an explorer, and she is an even more intriguing option to use because her guns are solid for a treasure runner, even without her fun ability.
The Sea Rat has a base move of just L, but since she has five cargo spaces, you can afford to load her up with a helmsman and explorer and send her out with room for 3 coins. Her effectiveness (and potential for nastiness) is only increased by her HI-raiding ability.
The Pestilence is more of a support ship than a gold runner, but she can grab some gold if you need her to. She should stay at the HI and roll for trade currents to help out your other ships, as well as to protect her valuable ability.
The Loki’s Revenge is the main gunship, and she’s crewed with the necessary captain and helmsman to let her move S+S with the move-and-shoot. There are two oarsmen on board to provide for sacrifices, and the Hag of Tortuga (a female crew ) maximizes the Loki’s cargo space. When it’s all said and done, the Loki’s Revenge can move S+S+S+S per turn (at least twice in the game) and fire off a full dozen shots over the course of the two actions .
The Hag is on board to boost the speed of the other “gunship”, the mighty Behemoth. One of just two game pieces to have the incredible copy ability, Behemoth is a sight to behold in this fleet. Regularly moving at L+L speed (fantastic for any sea creature), Behemoth has access to a number of powerful abilities. First and foremost, the captain aboard the Loki’s Revenge allows her to move and shoot, something few other sea creatures are capable of. She can also become an offensive or defensive force, depending on what ability you choose. Copy the Longship keyword to have 10 2S shots, or copy the ability of the Pestilence to become almost invulnerable to enemy attack . If your opponent brings any valuable abilities to the table, you’ll be ready to use them. You’ll also have access to the reverse captain and helmsman abilities, but that’s just gravy at this point .
Cursed Natives and Voodoo Doll were added to help out the Cursed nature of this fleet, while Manawa no Kowhatu should provide for some entertainment. After all, what’s a Cursed fleet without a little fun?
Becalmed was added in the interests of keeping enemy ships at bay while the duo of the Loki’s Revenge and Behemoth closed in on them, while also filling up the points. You could substitute in something like the Nightmare or other events like Foul Winds and Divers. I didn’t include Mermaids or Favour of the Gods because those are the only two game pieces that should be banned (since FotG is basically just the counter).
I was hoping that between the helmsman and the sacced extra actions, the Loki’s Revenge will be able to keep up with the Behemoth, since they’re normally moving at very different speeds (S+S vs. L+L).
Thanks to getempowder for running the Challenge. Not having a point limit makes things interesting. Please comment and vote, and thanks for reading! Check out more of my fleets here.
Originally published to Miniature Trading on February 1st, 2013
I’m not entering my own Fleet Challenge; this fleet is just for fun.
Disclaimer: This fleet is not supposed to be the best gimmick fleet. For an all-gimmick fleet that I like a lot more, see my Mind Control fleet. Also, this is not copying shelob’s entry for this Challenge, since I’m using the UT’s with a completely different goal in mind.
I’ve heard about how powerful the Kraken Gong UT is, and I’ve always loved the idea of bringing in game pieces from outside the game into the game for free. Now, this fleet is a gimmick fleet because of the UT’s used, but can be turned into a good fleet if you want to use it in a standard game. Since the UT’s are the focus, I wanted to pick ships that could get them as fast as possible and as easily as possible. If you really hate the San Cristobal that much (or don’t have her yet, like me), you can always use a different gunship that has at least 4 masts and S+L speed.
Between the three core UT’s, we’ll need to do some exploring. On the first turn, the San Cristobal is “Hidden Cove’d” to the nearest wild island. From there, she moves S+S+L+S to the next wild island and explores it, giving her a big head start over the rest of the ships in the game. In a best case scenario, she finds either the Maps of Alexandria or the Pirate Globe, which will make things much easier for you the rest of the game, since you’ll know what islands to hit with the rest of your ships. If you get really lucky, she’ll also find at least one of the three core UT’s, preferably Nemo’s Plans and Runes of Thor (so they’re safe and secure on the best and biggest ship in your fleet). In a worst case scenario, you grab a treasure coin and potentially cripple an enemy ship (since you’ll be so far away from your HI so quick). Sounds like a good start, huh? It gets better .
(If your opponent manages to acquire the UT’s before you do, simply reveal Rollando and steal them right back! )
I picked the Raven’s Neck and the Morocco for their abilities, which will aid in the discovery of the UT’s. Conveniently, they both also have capacious cargo holds, so they’ll be off exploring. The Raven’s Neck is also a good spot for the Hag, and Hammersmith lets me consolidate my crew so that I still have 3 cargo spaces for treasure. The Morocco is moving at S+S+S with room for 3 more treasures.
The Banshee’s Cry and Mermaid are fragile, but they make up for it by being fast and a great value for their point costs. If you don’t use Events or don’t have Divers, you can put an oarsman on the Cry to let her get home if she’s hit. These two will hit islands, looking for the core UT’s.
Once you actually acquire the UT’s, things start getting interesting. Since Nemo’s Plans can’t be transferred, you’ll need to transfer Runes of Thor to the ship that discovers Nemo’s Plans. The nice thing about Runes of Thor is that the automatic 6 doesn’t apply just to the ship it’s on; it applies to any die roll made. Therefore, Kraken Gong can be on a different ship than the other two UT’s (which helps with cargo and making two ships targets for your opponent(s), not just one).
At the beginning of each of your turns, roll for Kraken Gong. Then use Runes of Thor to change the die roll to a 6, bringing in a Kraken. On the next turn, bring in another Kraken. Do this until you have all five Krakens in play . At this point, the opposition will have their jaws on the floor, as you’ll have just brought in over 100 points’ worth of devastation into the game!
The Krakens are as follows (I listed them in the order in which I’d bring them in, but of course, that’s up to you ):
Kraken Gong -A roll of 6 allows you to choose a kraken that is already in the game OR bring in one from outside the game and place it within S of any ship.
–If you choose a kraken from outside the game, it immediately becomes a member of your fleet.
–If you choose a kraken that was already in the game, its ownership does not change.
–The no-duplicates rule applies normally; you cannot duplicate a kraken already in your fleet. –You may place the kraken so that is it surrounding any ship in play. If the ship is friendly to it, that ship cannot move until the kraken moves away.
At this point, your opponent will either give up, try to smash the Krakens, or simply lose at the hands of your powerful combo.
Again, this is a gimmick fleet, not one that should be used competitively. Please vote accordingly. However, you can play it in a more “regular” game as well, since it probably would be able to hold it’s own against other fleets. It’s sort of versatile, in that it can be played as a gimmick fleet, or as a more serious one. I know that this makes it less gimmicky (and it reminds me of woelf’s entry for this Challenge). As a gimmick, I would not rate it much higher than a 3.5, if that. However, maybe a 4 or better as a normal fleet. Hopefully everyone else will see “the best of both fleets”!
Discussion is, as always, welcome and encouraged! Thanks for reading. And… UNLEASH THE KRAKEN!! XD
The final 80 point game has been played! For the final Pirate/American game, the island setup was pretty standard,
Frontier
especially after the last setup had unintentionally given the Pirates a possible advantage concerning their raiders. This time, the fleets had their HI’s far away from each other.
The game started with consecutive extra actions for the Queen Anne’s Revenge from Sean Cannonball Gallows. This let her reach the Bartlett and the Nene Nui, but she only scored 2 hits out of 10 shots over the course of 4 shoot actions, continuing the deplorable dice luck, although at least now I’m used to it. The Revenge also docked at the American HI and stole a coin that the Frontier had brought back, since the Frontier had used Homing Beacon to return home one turn after grabbing gold from the nearest wild island. She also took a mast off the Bartlett, although the Bartlett took off a mast on the Revenge a turn later. The other Pirate ships all got gold from islands near the Pirates’ home island, with the Swift bringing back a 4 and a 3.
The Frontier and Nene Nui had combined to bring back 8 gold for the Americans, while the Pirates had accumulated 9. The Mercury and the Bartlett now chased the Pirates back to their HI, where the Mercury sunk the Royal Rover was sunk with 3 gold on her just before she was able to dock. This evened up the gold game at 10 apiece. Now that the Mercury was finally above the surface, the Pirates saw their opportunity to damage the durable sub (she ignores the first hit she takes as long as she has all of her masts). The Swift went 2 for 2, damaging the Mercury for the first time ever! The Obago looked to derelict her or possibly even sink her, but of course, the Obago rolled three 1’s in a row.
Meanwhile, the Frontier and Nene Nui had been finding more gold away from the action. The Nene Nui had to deal with Barrel O’ Monkeys, which made it impossible for the Nene Nui to explore the islands with just one coin on them, which was the case with two of the three wild islands that still had treasure on them. To the north, the Frontier found 5 gold on an island.
Back where the battle was taking place, the Bartlett moved to block the Swift’s path to explore her island, while the Mercury rammed the Obago (still at her HI) to knock her down to 2 masts.
Since the Frontier and Queen Anne’s Revenge had docked at the American HI on the same turn, it was easy for the Revenge to follow and harass the Frontier all the way out on her second treasure run. More bad gun rolls saw the Revenge go 1 for 4, but at least the Frontier was damaged, with two masts now remaining. Right after the Frontier had explored the island near the Pirates’ HI (where she got the 5 gold), the Swift was upon her. The Swift hit with both cannons, and the Frontier was derelict. The Queen Anne’s Revenge captured her and used yet another extra action (her third of the game) to sprint home moving 4S, giving the Pirates an extra 8 gold (5 from the Frontier and the stolen 3 that was still on the Revenge) to win the final 80 point game, 18-10!
This was a very enjoyable game, featuring many twists and turns. Who would’ve thought that the Swift (the smallest ship in their fleet) would be their hero? She brought home 7 gold, became the only Pirate ship to score a hit on the Mercury, and dismasted the Frontier at a crucial moment.
For the entire 8 game series, the Americans beat the Pirates 5-3, although the Pirates fought back to win the final series (2-1) after falling in a hole 5-1. It was good to see the Americans do well, and nice to see the fight in the Pirates! I’m looking at making some more fleets soon, possibly starting with the English facing the French.
For the second 80 point game, the setup would feature another variation in island placement. The two home islands were connected, forming one bigger island (though they still acted as separate home islands). The four wild islands were in a half-moon design about 4L to the north. Instead of having their bows touch the HI’s, the ships in both fleets were in line abreast on either side of the combined home island. Just to make things even more interesting, each fleet started on the side opposite their HI, in the hope that the fleets would be forced to cross paths if they didn’t do so intentionally. The ships sailed out and the game was under way!
The Frontier found a handful of gold and Homing Beacon on one of the middle wild islands, looking to use the UT to quickly return home and then still have time to go back out again and get more gold before the game ended. However, the Pirates sailed the Obago right up next to the American HI, blocking the straight-line path the Frontier needed to dock.
As in the previous game, the Royal Rover went after the Bartlett and her valuable crew, Captain Montana Mays. Without a helmsman or a high die roll from Mays, the Bartlett was easy to catch moving at just L speed. The Rover dismasted the Bartlett with her cannons and ramming power, but failed at the critical moment, losing the boarding party by rolling a 1 while the Bartlett rolled a 6 and eliminated the Pirate helmsman.
In the meantime, the Frontier was coming home at her regular S+S+S speed since she couldn’t get a clear path for Homing Beacon. The Pirates were able to surround her with the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Swift, and Obago. Unfortunately for the Pirates, their gun rolls didn’t go to their liking, going just 2 for 8 despite having all guns at rank-3 or better.
The Americans looked to strike back next turn, with the powerful Mercury coming to the surface for the first time. The Mercury (three 2L guns with a musketeer on board) managed to miss all four shots against the Queen Anne’s Revenge, but the Frontier had the chance to dock, bringing in 14 gold for the Americans, leaving them 2 gold shy of yet another impressive victory.
The Nene Nui would soon feel the wrath of the Pirates. She had enough gold on her to win, but the fact that she had to travel the extra distance to dock at the more distant American HI spelled her imminent doom. The Queen Anne’s Revenge sailed up and dismasted her with one broadside.
The Pirates were now in a dominant position, and they were eager to finish the job. To the west, the Royal Rover sunk the Bartlett, while the Obago sunk the Frontier. On the next turn, the Royal Rover sunk the Nene Nui as well, leaving the Americans with only the now-submerged Mercury as their last hope.
The Mercury, with the protection of being underwater (the Pirates had no way to counter a submarine), took off for a wild island in search of a final treasure coin to bring home. However, the Mercury had completely forgotten that the Queen Anne’s Revenge had the HI-raiding ability, and not only that, but the Swift had found the Wine UT (exchange Wine for a treasure of your choice from an enemy HI) earlier in the game. This gave the Pirates a golden opportunity to steal enough gold from the Americans to tip the balance in their favour, while they waited for the Mercury to get back. After a few turns of feverish plundering, the gold turned 13-4 in favour of the Pirates.
As the Mercury came home, the Obago and Royal Rover lined up stem to stern and blocked off the American home island. Here’s where I messed up. I forgot that subs could move underneath other ships while they’re submerged, as long as they aren’t overlapping at the end of any move actions. This presented an odd situation where the Obago and Royal Rover both moved to block the Mercury after each turn that she moved. The interesting thing is that the Mercury, being a 3 masted sub, has a relatively long game piece, which probably would have overlapped underneath one of the Pirate ships’ hulls, but only since she would run into her home island. As a result, the game may have had a slightly different ending if I had played the rules correctly (I should have looked at the Code like I usually do), but the Pirates would probably still have won. As I played it, the Mercury was unable to dock, while the Revenge stole a 3 from the Americans to give the Pirates a 16-4 win. I won’t replay the game or situation, since the Pirates probably would have won anyway, not to mention the fact that they had played a better game up to that point (they would have sunk the Frontier way back if not for my terrible gun rolls!).
The unique setup where the home islands were connected to each other can give way to a potential stalemate situation. Even if the Mercury had docked normally and brought back her coin, the gold game would have been around even at that point (the Pirates having already stolen some gold as soon as the Mercury headed out to the wild island). The Mercury could have stayed at her HI and shot at the Obago and Royal Rover without fear of return fire. But the Queen Anne’s Revenge could have done the same thing, so whoever moved from their HI first would potentially lose, effecting a stalemate. I’ve never had to call a draw in Pirates, so I guess it would have to come down to the number of points remaining in each fleet. Although, now that I think about it, the Mercury could have submerged and then rammed the other Pirate ships until they were derelict, but even that wouldn’t do much good. A very fun and interesting game either way! I’ll play the third 80 point game tomorrow to determine who wins this series!
Edit: Now that I’ve checked on the Rules thread, I forgot that subs can’t dock at islands (even their HI) while submerged, so the Mercury would not have been able to return home anyway.
I’ve started yet another game between the Pirates and the Americans. The next 2 or 3 games will have an 80 point limit. The Americans subbed the Mercury back in for the Eagan, added the Nene-Nui (3 masted junk from SS) and crewed her with an explorer, and used the USS Bartlett (3 master from MI) instead of the Paladin. Peregrine Stern was replaced with Captain Montana Mays and a generic captain (on the Bartlett), while the Mercury added to her crew complement by getting a musketeer, firepot specialist, and oarsman (in addition to her captain and helmsman).
USS Mercury, picture courtesy of Riz
The Pirates went for an even more extensive overhaul, as they have not fared well with their previous fleet choices. The Swift is the only ship that stayed in their fleet, and she had Bartholomew Roberts come aboard to join her helmsman. The Pirates commissioned the Obago (OE promo) as their largest vessel, with 4 3L guns. A captain and helmsman make her a capable gunship. The Pirates also added their other two F&S LE ships, the Royal Rover and the Queen Anne’s Revenge. The Royal Rover was crewed by Blackbeard (captain + crew-gold capturer) and a helmsman, while the Queen Anne’s Revenge received Sean Cannonball Gallows (extra action version) in addition to the standard captain and helmsman. In this way, all four Pirate ships had captains, with one ship (the Queen) a HI-raider and another (the Rover) ready to capture crew and turn them into gold.
The setup called for a fresh take on the islands and treasure. Three islands were placed in an obtuse triangle fashion, with another three around 4L or 5L to the south. The home islands were the upper two islands on the edges, and just two coins were placed on the middle island, so the fleets would have to travel south to win. The southern trio of islands held 6 coins each, since 4 UT’s were introduced in addition to the regular 16 coins from the earlier games.
The Pirates went first, with the Queen Anne’s Revenge accompanying the Swift to the island in between the two HI’s. There she found two 1’s, using Bartholomew Roberts to trade one away for a 2 from a southern island. The Obago and Royal Rover headed south in anticipation of the Americans doing the same thing. All four American ships started out sailing south, with the Frontier’s S+S+S speed giving her the advantage of being the first ship in either fleet to reach a southern island (the middle one in this case). Using her hoist to explore the island, she found 3 of the 4 UT’s that were introduced for this game. Wine and Letter of Marque are a powerful combination that lets the ship in question steal gold from enemy home islands, repair while they’re there, and not get shot at while they are within S of an enemy home island. The Frontier also got 8 gold and Homing Beacon.
To the north, the Mercury turned around underwater when she saw the Queen Anne’s Revenge turn for the American HI. The Revenge was ready to prey on any gold that would come in, now that she was done escorting the Swift, who brought home 3 gold for the Pirates. Seeing the Mercury’s maneuver, the Revenge quickly turned back, at least for the time being.
Meanwhile, the first shots were being fired in the middle of the sea. The Obago shot just 1 for 4 against the Frontier, rolling three 1’s and one 6. The Bartlett was about to help out, but the Royal Rover got to her, shooting away two of the Bartlett’s masts and dismasting her via a ram. The boarding action was an easy win for the Pirates, who used Blackbeard to capture Montana Mays, who happened to be the highest point crew (7) in the American fleet. Up to this point, the Pirates had all the momentum.
The Mercury responded to the Pirate attack by turning around, surfacing, and taking off three masts on the Obago, setting her on fire. Just to the south, the Nene-Nui had explored an island and was in the process of taking 3 coins back home when she got involved in the mess. The Obago rammed her and blocked her path, taking out two of her three masts. Her other prey, the Frontier, escaped with just one lost mast as she used Homing Beacon to return home.
Who will win this hard-fought game?
Edit: This game has been finished up. The Mercury ended up sinking the Obago, while the Queen Anne’s Revenge dismasted the Frontier. The Royal Rover was almost to the Pirate HI with Montana Mays on board when the Nene Nui docked home 10 gold for the Americans, giving them 18 gold for an 18-3 win!
Today I played three more games in which the Pirates faced the Americans. First off, the point limit was increased from 40 to 60 points. The Americans swapped out the USS Mercury submarine for the USS Eagan, a four masted ship with rank-2 guns. They also added the USS Paladin and crewed her with Commodore Peregrine Stern, who has the captain, +1 to boarding rolls, and extra action abilities. The Pirates swapped Christopher Moody (onboard the Minerva) for Crimson Angel (OE version, SAT with world-hater) and a standard captain. They added the Black Mongoose and Jack Hawkins (DJC version, captain and reverse captain).
USS Eagan, courtesy of Riz
The first game started off in favour of the Pirates, with the Minerva quickly dismasting the Frontier and capturing her by using an extra action from Crimson Angel. The Eagan responded by taking out two masts on the Minerva, and the Paladin shot away two masts from the Black Mongoose. The Mongoose then used her reverse captain ability to take one mast off the Paladin, but she was sunk by the Paladin on the next turn.
By this point, the Swift had already gotten home with gold for the Pirates, with the Amity heading back as well. The Eagan sailed for the slow-moving Amity, but another SAT from Crimson Angel aboard the Minerva let her catch the Eagan and block her path, killing her helmsman with the ships ability. The chase was over, and the Pirates had their first victory!
The second game started with an extra action from Stern aboard the Paladin, taking out two masts on the Minerva. The Minerva tried to shoot, ram, and board the Eagan, but she failed at all three, to be sunk by the Eagan on the next turn. Meanwhile, the Frontier was busy exploring the nearest two islands, but she only found 11 gold from the 7 coins she was able to load. The Black Mongoose, instead of helping her comrades aboard the Minerva, sailed straight for the Frontier. Without an escort to support her, the Swift was a sitting duck for the Paladin, and she was dismasted. The Eagan sunk her on the next turn. The gold onboard the Swift gave the Americans 14 total gold, almost enough to win.
The Amity now had to move desperately in order to get her gold home, moving at just L speed. She unsuccessfully rammed the Paladin, and managed to lose a coin worth 4 gold in the boarding process. The Black Mongoose now shot away one of the Eagan’s masts, but it was too late for the Pirates. The Paladin and Eagan teamed up to sink the Amity, giving the Americans 18 gold against the Pirates’ 6.
The third game at 60 points featured a slightly different island setup. The islands were arranged in a circular ring, with open sea in the middle instead of having an island in the center. This game featured many lucky die rolls from Angel and Stern, the double action crew. On the Pirates’ first turn, the Minerva moved twice to catch the Frontier and sink her, eliminating the American gold game. The biggest ship in play, the Eagan angrily responded by sinking the Minerva. A 6 from Stern aboard the Paladin let her shoot twice, taking out two masts each on the Amity and the Black Mongoose. The Mongoose managed to blow away one mast on the Paladin before the Americans responded with another extra action from Stern. The Paladin sunk the Mongoose and dismasted the Amity.
At this point, the Eagan was able to sink the Swift, evening up the gold race at 10 for each nation. Unfortunately for the Pirates, however, this was their last ship, so the Americans were able to tow the Amity home and win, 18-10.
The Americans win 2 out of 3, and are 4-1 overall! They were able to overcome their bad starts with powerful guns and a few well-timed double actions. I think the point limit will be increased once more before I delve into other factions and eventually do some multiplayer action. I’d also like to reintroduce terrain and UT’s into the mix, since these simple games at 60 points can be a little too simple!
I’ve played another game with the fleets described above, but the setup was different.
I set up the islands in a straight line formation and had the fleets locate at the outer two islands. I took one island out in order to have only 3 wild islands, and put the highest value coins on the center island (6 coins for that island, then 5 each on the other two).
The Pirates went first, with the Minerva and Swift sailing towards the center island while the Amity (knowing she would only be going home at L speed) going after the closer island. The Frontier and submerged Mercury at first headed for the center island. As the Frontier and the Minerva were the fastest (S+S+S) ships in play, they would have reached the center first. However, the Frontier turned back for fear that she would lose her helmsman and multiple masts, grabbing two 1’s from the safer island. The Minerva headed to the north side of the island, which would become more important on the ensuing turns.
The Swift then took 11 gold off the center island and headed for home. On the next turn, the Frontier took the remaining coins from the center island, but she didn’t get a chance to move away, since the Minerva pounced on her and eliminated two masts and her helmsman (the Frontier blocked the Minerva’s path to the Mercury since the Minerva was on the other side of the island). Meanwhile, the Mercury surfaced and sunk the Swift with one broadside for the second straight game, moving 6 gold to the HI of the Americans and 5 to the Pirates’ side. In this way, the gunships essentially took out the treasure runners instead of attacking each other. The Amity soon finished her treasure run, bringing the Pirate gold total to 10.
While the Mercury’s crew began to turn the sub around to go assist the Frontier, it was too late for the hoist 3 master. The Pirates had the choice of capturing her and trying to tow her home or sinking her, knowing from their own explorations that the ship might have enough gold on her to make them win by sinking her. The Minerva took out the Frontier’s last mast and tried to sink her, but her last two gun rolls missed. Instead, the Pirates captured the Frontier, but they knew the Minerva stood no chance against a submerged submarine, so they had the Minerva explore the island with coins still on it, close to the American HI.
On the next turn, the Mercury surprised the Pirates by coming to the surface and shooting away all three of the Minerva’s masts. The Mercury’s crew knew she would have to capture the Frontier and Minerva to stop the Pirates from getting enough gold to win if she sunk both ships. Unfortunately, subs can’t tow, so she would have to explore the derelicts and take the gold home herself. At this point, the sails of the Amity were spotted on the horizon! The Americans sneaked underwater before the Pirates knew what was going on. The Amity started towing the Frontier, and then the Americans struck, ramming the Amity into submission, knowing she had no way of fighting back. Since the Americans now had dominance of the sea, the Mercury took home the gold and won the game, 20-10!
The Americans (especially due to their new additions that have been long overdue, even the famous Carolina and Rattlesnake gold runners are relatively new) appear to be on the brink of proving themselves as fierce competitors! Beating the Pirates twice in a row with a numbers disadvantage (3-2) is something for them to remember. If the Minerva had canceller Tia Dalma and a captain instead of linked crew Christopher Moody, maybe things would have turned out differently, but I really want to only use previously unused ships and crew. I think it’s time to increase the point limit in order to bring more new ships into the fray. I’m thinking 50 or 60 for the next 2 or 3 games, and then increase it again from there.
The first game since the summer was a quick two player 40 point game, Pirates vs. Americans. I built some of the newer ships in my collection on Saturday, and I’m going to try to use mostly (or possibly exclusively) game pieces that I’ve never used before. The Americans and Pirates are the two factions with the strongest additions (or you could call them reinforcements), so it felt natural to pit them against each other. They don’t have a huge history in terms of my games, but historically it makes more sense.
The Frontier and the USS Mercury (LE sub from MI) faced the Minerva, Amity (F&S version), and Swift. The Minerva and Amity are ships from the F&S historical pack, while the Swift is a two-masted galley from POTC with a built-in explorer ability.
Minerva from Fire and Steel, courtesy of Riz
The Americans went first, and this gave them the advantage. The Frontier quickly explored the nearest two islands, gathering a total of 16 gold, enough to win the game with one cargo haul’s worth of coins! The Mercury started the game submerged, heading towards the Pirate fleet. The Swift and Amity headed for wild islands, while the Minerva (with crew-killing Christopher Moody aboard) headed for the Frontier. The Mercury surfaced and shot away two of the Minerva’s three masts. The Minerva then desperately shot and rammed the Frontier, resulting in a bloody mess. Both the shot and the ram rolled true, and the Minerva’s built-in crew-killing ability took out the helmsman on the Frontier. The boarding roll went against the Pirates however, taking out the helmsman on the Minerva.
At this point, both the Frontier and the Minerva had one mast remaining. The Mercury then took out the final mast on the Minerva, ending the threat against the Frontier (or so the Americans hoped). Instead, the Pirates saw that there was only a total of 13 gold on the two island that they had explored, and knowing that the Frontier had gotten to the other two islands, they knew they had to sink the Frontier, limping home with one mast. The Amity was only moving L at this point (she moves L+S when her cargo hold is empty), but the Swift (as her name implies) was quick enough to catch the Frontier (now moving at S+S after the death of her helmsman). Alas, the Mercury was still in the fight, and just when the Swift was coming in range of the Frontier, she promptly sunk the Swift with her 2L guns with help from 0LR reroller Wayne Nolan, allowing the Frontier to safely sail into harbour! After the sinking of the Swift, the final treasure count came to 19 to 9 in favour of the Americans.
I intend to play more games with similar fleets, and I think I will keep it Pirates vs. Americans for the time being. I think I’ll gradually increase the point limit until all of the new additions to said factions are on the water, and see who can win the war!
Another game will probably start tomorrow, one involving multiple scenarios from a link on Boardgamegeek. There will be a total of 8 scenarios used in this large game, which will feature 4 150 point fleets, with the English, Pirates, Spanish, and French participating. The 8 scenarios are Bermuda Triangle, Colonists of Catan, Shipwreck Graveyard, The Midas Touch, Paradise Island, The Other World, Rain Squalls, and Treasure Island II. Both Paradise Island and the island with the Catan gold will be in the Other World. I’m going to use fog banks for the rain squalls, and move them like icebergs. The Midas Doubloon will be a 7 instead of a 6 so that it will be the highest value treasure coin in the game.
5/19/13: The multi-scenario game has finally gotten under way, with three turns being played so far. The main ocean has the 4 HI’s, 4 wild islands for the Treasure Island II scenario, and 2 MI’s for more gold. The Other World is much smaller, containing Paradise Island and Catan island, with Paradise Island surrounded by reefs. Each world has 2 whirlpools in it, along with other terrain, including 3 rain squalls. There are 6 shipwrecks, with 2 located on the reefs around Paradise Island and the other 4 in the main ocean.
The English have gone off to explore some islands and grab some gold. First, the Endeavour took out all of the Spanish native canoes over the course of two turns. The Aberdeen Baron is headed towards a whirlpool located in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. The Alexandria found Turtles, but the Pirate ship White Rose has taken out two of her masts. HMS Hound has acquired one of the four coins necessary in order to build the map to locate Treasure Island.
The Pirates have had a rough going so far. The Raven was mauled by the French five master Le Gaule, who later went on to dismast the Pandora. The Darkhawk II has put an oarsman aboard a Carrion Crow shipwreck, allowing the Crow to fire her cannons at any passing ships. The Bonnie Liz has grabbed a coin from the island that the Alexandria, White Rose, HMS Bretwalda, are clustered around. Now that there are 10 turtles in the water by that same island, it’s becoming a busy area!
The Spanish have had a similarly abysmal start. Their Native Canoes are gone, and their strategy of using the Augusta to mark unexplored islands as explored without her docking at them hasn’t borne much success. The Spanish were going to use the canoes to surround their flagship, El Garante, to take advantage of her ability that gives her +1 to her cannon rolls for every friendly ship within S of her. Now the Garante is sailing west, following the Algeciras and the Martillo de Dios, who is towing the Diablo. Their other three 4 masters, La Santa Ana (CC), La Resolucion (SM), and L’Aguila, have sailed into the Bermuda Triangle to try to get to the Other World through a whirlpool. However, the Santa Ana has already been flung way northeast across the sea after getting stuck, and now L’Aguila is stuck, too. The Resolucion successfully avoided the Triangle’s peculiar effects, and even went through the whirlpool without losing anything. However, things fell apart for her after that…
The French have had the best start of all four nations. Although they go last each turn, they’ve had a flurry of successes in the early going. Their fleet is very scary. They have set sail with all 5 of the French 5 masters that are in my collection, and all of them are stacked with crew. With La Magnifique and her sac-captain Arazure in the lead, they are a sight to behold. Le Gaule has already dismasted the Raven and the Pandora, and she has captured the Pandora, who has treasure aboard. The Magnifique has captured the Raven, while the Ville de Paris stands guard for the time being. Le Soleil Royal has gone east towards the Spanish, and the Augusta promptly sailed into a fog bank to avoid her. The Soleil Royal has crew-killer guns that have been enhanced by the world-hating of La Gentil de Barbinais. Le Superbe has taken two colonists (all she had room for, after taking on a captain, helmsman, and explorer) through a whirlpool into the Other World. The Spanish ship La Resolucion arrived in the Other World via the same whirlpool on the next turn, and the Superbe has already shot away 3 of her 4 masts.
With only a few points left for pure gold-runners, the French have sent Le Coeur du Lion to the nearest wild island, Le Pique to the next-closest, and La Dijon off to Paradise Island, where she will arrive next turn.
Additional Comment:
5/19/13: After 2 more turns, things have gone badly for the French and the Pirates.
The English took out 2 masts on the White Rose, and she and the Bonnie Liz are both heading back the the Pirates’ HI. The Alexandria is sailing with gold (and Wine) alongside the Turtles, with the Bretwalda and Durham nearby. HMS Hound has dropped Enemy of the State and Exploding Shot off on the Endeavour, and is headed home with gold. The Aberdeen Baron is approaching Catan island, and HMS Gallows has dismasted the Spanish ship L’Aguila.
The Pirates keep getting their ships shot up. Most recently the Tejon and Proud Tortoise have been dismasted by the Ville de Paris, although the Doombox and Darkhawk II combined on the following turn to respond with 3 hits on the Paris. The Pirates are trying to regroup and repair, while the Cursed Blade has headed to the Other World in search of gold-grabbing opportunities.
The Spanish have used Homing Beacon to get the San Francisco home quickly. The Santa Ana has begun sailing back south after the Bermuda Triangle threw her way off course. The trio of the Augusta, Algeciras, and Diablo combined to dismast the Soleil Royal after a daring ram and board by the Algeciras. Both the ram and board worked, and via this miracle the Royal had lost a mast and Barbinais before the others shot away her remaining masts. The Resolucion lost her final mast to the Superbe in the Other World, and has been captured by the French.
As detailed above, the French finally lost some masts on 2 of their 5 masters, and it’s taking a handful of turns for them to tow the 2 Pirate ships home. The Augusta rammed Le Pique, so now she’s derelict next to the Soleil Royal. The Coeur du Lion is almost back home with her gold coin. La Dijon has taken a coin from Paradise Island, where she also found Protection from Davy Jones, which will help her get home safely, since she only has one mast after going through the first whirlpool to get to the Other World.
Additional Comment:
5/22/13: Haven’t been able to get on here for battle reports the last few days… oh well. The game has progressed some more, with the English and French taking over the seas.
All 10 turtles made it safely to the English HI, since the wild island they were discovered on was the one closest to the English HI. The Alexandria came home to repair 2 masts, and the Endeavour and the Gallows teamed up to sink the Spanish ships Augusta and El Garante, the Spanish flagship. Just in the last 2 turns, Fort Brompton and Ramsgate have been built on the 2 wild islands nearest the English HI, giving them a rather formidable line of defence that they will probably need.
The Pirates are almost out of it. The Cursed Blade captured the Aberdeen Baron, who was carrying 10 gold as well as the Midas doubloon, but when she tried to go back to the Pirate HI via the nearest available whirlpool, the French jumped her. The French took both ships, but the Doombox (towed by the Proud Tortoise) sunk the Cursed Blade before she made it back to the French HI. The Baron was towed back, raking in a total of 19 gold for the French (since the doubloon gives +1 to all other gold coins on the ship, of which there were a 4 and a 6, both from Catan island).
Meanwhile, the captured ships Resolucion and Pandora had brought back a 2 and a 4 to complete the French map of Treasure Island II. However, the wild island that resulted from the die roll that got the 5’s and 6’s is the island that Fort Brompton is on, so the French will have to destroy the fort if they want the high-value coins (the English can’t take the coins). On the turn after the Endeavour sunk El Garante, La Magnifique let loose a Broadsides Attack on the Endeavour, sinking her with one die roll! One flagship sunk by another, only to be sunk by a third flagship!
At the French HI, La Ville de Paris is repairing for the second time, while the Aberdeen Baron also repairs.
It doesn’t look good at all for the Spanish. They had L’Aguila, El Algeciras, and the captured Le Pique sunk in recent turns. Le Soleil Royal was recaptured by the French, and she was towed back to her HI, where she is repairing. The Martillo de Dios went to the Other World to help out the Santa Ana, and they both went to Paradise Island. They loaded gold, but on their way out, the Santa Ana was wrecked on a reef (I think this is the first true in-game wreck of my Pirates CSG career!). The Martillo de Dios has headed back to the Spanish HI, but she may return to the wreck, since there is valuable gold still on the ship, not to mention the powerful canceller, Nemesio Diaz (the Dios didn’t have cargo space to load anything more than she was already carrying, especially since the Paradise Island gold takes up as many cargo spaces as it’s worth in gold).
At this point, it looks like the game will come down to a battle between the French and the English, unless they avoid each other and simply grab the rest of the treasure. The French have more gold and more masts, but the English will be fully repaired soon, and have the advantage of two forts, if they let the French come to them.
Additional Comment:
A plethora of things have led me to neglect Pirates lately, but this game will eventually be finished!
6/1/2013
The multi-scenario game ended today, in quicker fashion than what was expected. The French looked around and decided that they probably had the most gold of any fleet, and looked to end the game as quickly as possible. They sunk the final Pirate ship, the one masted Rover, knocking the Pirates out of the game for good. Next, they finished repairing their ships and sailed east towards the Spanish and English HI’s. Coincidentally, the repairs were finished for each ship on different turns, so that when the game ended, the French actually had a line of battle with all of their big ships. Before the Martillo de Dios could head through a whirlpool and return to the wreck of the Santa Ana, the Superbe used Poseidon’s Breath to move 10S and sink the Diablo flotilla. To sink the final Spanish ship, the French flagship La Magnifique sacced an explorer to move L+S+L+S and Broadsides Attack the Dios to the bottom of the sea. The game ended, with at least half of the players eliminated from the game.
The treasure was counted, and the results came with two surprises: the French had even more gold than anybody realized, while the Spanish actually beat out the powerful (and relatively healthy) English for second place:
1. French: 61 gold
2. Spanish: 21
3. English: 20
4. Pirates: 5
It was a fun game, and most of the scenarios worked out nicely. Despite using many of them simultaneously, the game didn’t become too complex. The shipwrecks and rain squalls were the low point, as neither of those aspects really came into play. Overall, an enjoyable game, not to mention that it was about time the French finally won!
It’s been a while since I last played. I won’t be doing any massive games anytime soon, but I was able to get a little game in today. Since my last bunch of games, I’ve acquired a few new pieces. First and foremost, the original Flying Dutchman! I also got my first four masted galley, the English ship Alexandria, as well as my first set of Native Canoes, the Spanish ones. Other new additions include HMS Durham, the Spanish ship San Francisco, the Spanish flotilla Diablo, the Pirate ship Gruesome, a few 0LR rerollers, and a handful of UT’s.
For today’s game, I wanted to try out the new stuff. The English sent the Alexandria out with the ROTF version of Hermione Gold (captain + helmsman), along with an explorer. By combining the two generic crew in one cargo space, she would still have room for two treasures. The Durham was crewed with a captain, helmsman, explorer, and Commodore Rhys Gryffyn Owen, leaving her with two more cargo spaces for gold. Two beautiful four masters from BC, sailing for the first time!
The Spanish went with a much smaller approach. Their “flagship” was the San Francisco, crewed with a captain, helmsman, and explorer. She is a very versatile ship, with good guns and cargo space to go along with her S+S speed. The Santa Teresa was the only other true ship that the Spanish used, and she would tow the new flotilla, Diablo. The Santa Teresa was picked for her point cost (9), which let the Tribal Chieftain come aboard to command the Native Canoes.
The English went first, with the Alexandria and Durham splitting up to grab some gold. The Spanish sent the San Francisco off to find gold, while the Santa Teresa went after the Alexandria. On the next turn, the Native Canoes loaded gold from the wild island they started at. The Alexandria headed for home with a few gold coins, but the Santa Teresa maneuvered to get the Diablo within firing range. The Alexandria lost two masts, but responded the next turn by taking out the lone mast on the Teresa as she sailed into port to bring home 5 gold. The Durham loaded two coins as well, but she couldn’t return home so quickly, for her captain knew of the treasure-enhancing ability of the canoes (+1 to each coin). It was a race back to the HI of the Spaniards! The Durham only has S-range guns, and used one to take out a mast on the San Francisco, but none of her other guns were in range of the San Francisco or the canoes. All six Spanish vessels docked on the next turn, revealing 17 gold after the bonuses were added in, giving the Spanish the victory!
Additional Comment:
5/12/13: I’ve played two more games with my new stuff. The first one pitted the English fleet above against a Cursed/Pirate fleet: the Flying Dutchman crewed with OE Fantasma, a helmsman, and 3 oarsmen, and the Gruesome with a helmsman. The Alexandria and Durham were both headed home with gold, but the Dutchman was blockading their HI. The Durham took off two of the Dutchman’s masts, but she responded on the following turn by using Broadsides Attack to derelict both the Durham and the Alexandria (saccing an oarsman to move-and-shoot twice), giving the Cursed Pirates a quick victory.
For the second game, the Dutchman and the Gruesome faced the Spanish fleet. This game didn’t take long either. The Gruesome rammed the Santa Teresa to dismast her and make Diablo stationary. Then the Flying Dutchman took out all five canoes in one turn, and the San Francisco was sunk, making the Cursed Pirates the victor in both of today’s games!
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. At the start of the game, the Sea Monkey can be “Hidden Cove’d” to the nearest wild island, where she will then use a move action to move to one of the farthest-away wild islands. Ideally, she will discover Fireworks. Since she will probably be closer to your opponents fleet than the rest of your ships, they will go after her first. When they get too close, reveal Fireworks to vastly boost your firepower, shoot your enemy to pieces, and then use the reverse captain ability to sprint home at S+L+S speed! 
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(fantastic for any sea creature), Behemoth has access to a number of powerful abilities. First and foremost, the captain aboard the Loki’s Revenge allows her to move and shoot, something few other sea creatures are capable of. She can also become an offensive or defensive force, depending on what ability you choose. Copy the Longship keyword to have 10 2S shots, or copy the ability of the Pestilence to become almost invulnerable to enemy attack 
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