12/28/2015

This game featured three players in a 50 point game. The fleets went in this order:

French Americans: (referred to as the Americans)
Le Musarde + Griffin (house ruled), helmsman
USS Georgetown + captain
Pawtucket + explorer

English:
HMS Malton + Hermione Gold, Sir Meyer Hampstead
HMS Ark Royal + Thomas Gunn, Commander Temple, oarsman

Spanish:
San Pedro + explorer, oarsman
L’epee de L’ange + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Algiers + explorer

The setup was purposely very tight, with islands about L apart. Each island had 5 gold on it. Round earth rules were used.

The Ark Royal missed a Broadsides Attack against the Pawtucket!

The Ark Royal missed a Broadsides Attack against the San Pedro!

The Malton steals a 1 coin from the Epee with S-board.

The Ark Royal and Musarde shot each other to pieces, leaving the Ark Royal as the only ship in the area with a mast. The Epee has been dismasted, but between her ship ability and an oarsman, she can still shoot with all 4 cannons.

The Epee went 3/4 to hit the Malton and Pawtucket!

Commander Temple’s ability transported the Ark Royal and Musarde back home, where the Malton was arriving. However, the Georgetown was also there.

The Georgetown dismasted the Malton. The Ark Royal sailed out for a rescue, but missed the Georgetown and was also dismasted. The English were forced to use a captured French ship, the Musarde. The Epee had been sunk by the Pawtucket, while the San Pedro finally finished rowing home and the Algiers made all speed towards the northern action.

At this point, each player revealed their gold to see if the 1 was worth fighting over. The scores were hard to believe: 14-13-13! (14 for the Americans and 13 each for the English and Spanish)

The Musarde neutralizes the Pawtucket while the Algiers chases the Georgetown.

The Algiers stole the coin, and thus began a series of boarding parties where the coin changed hands back and forth.

The Georgetown finally got the better of the Algiers, but the Musarde was waiting.

The Georgetown defended her gold, and the Americans won!

1. Americans: 15 gold
2. English and Spanish: tied with 13 gold

It’s finally happened! A Sealed Pack Game was played. The old rules called for one pack for every 10 points of the build total, but this game featured 3 packs per player for a 40 point game. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Here are the fleets, in the order of play. Players 1 and 3 received 1 pack of DJC and 2 packs of OE. Player 4 received 1 pack of BC and 2 packs of OE. Player 2 (myself) received 1 pack of BC and 2 packs of FN (since I don’t have the Super Rares from those sets). All crew (including named crew) could use their abilities on any ship, regardless of nationality.

(I’m trying to use better names for the fleets than Fleet 1, Fleet 2, etc, partly because I think it helps you remember which fleet is which when reading the report. This results in some fleet names that aren’t entirely true.)

Empties: (this player didn’t receive any captains, helmsmen, or named crew in their packs)
Dragon’s Breath + explorer
Pioneer
USS Oregon
El Algeciras + shipwright

US Vikings: (USV)
Minuteman + captain, firepot specialist
Devil’s Kiss
Loki

Cursed:
Brachyura
Maman Brigitte
Jamaica + helmsman

Franco-Spanish: (FS)
La Resolucion + captain
Le Musarde + Griffin, helmsman, shipwright

Between the nature of a Sealed Pack Game and the number of players, the setup had to be laid out with time constraints in mind. Four home islands were featured at one end of a “short” rectangle (the opposite of some of my typical setups), with my new “shipwreck cove” custom terrain at the other end guarding a lone wild island. However, to mix things up, the shipwrecks on the reefs held gold in two places, on the Thrud and the Flying Dutchman. The wild island held 5 coins and there were 3 apiece at the two wreck locations, where ships would have to roll for effect on the reef to “dock” at the gold. In addition, to make a true SPG, the gold from two of the packs was used.

The first player is at the top, and then play continued from the bottom up.

The fleets set out, and it was apparent that the new shipwreck obstacle would see heavy congestion, as I had planned. Only two spots on the entire line of reefs were able to be traversed by ships: the first is in the foreground between the wrecks of the Xi’an and Deliverance, and the second is north of the Deliverance wreck right where the Jamaica has lost a mast to the reef.

The FS were battle-hungry, with two captains and overall the best pack pulls of all four players. The Musarde opened fire on the nearby Pioneer, but even with Griffin’s reroll she only hit once. The Pioneer exacted revenge by crushing the Musarde on the next turn.

A shot of the Minuteman, who is sailing as an escort for the Devil’s Kiss and Loki, the goldships of the USV fleet. The Minuteman’s captain keeps an eye off the ship’s larboard quarter with Brachyura looming, but he’s also aware that the Cursed player is the most combat-averse of the four players, hence why it was ironic that they pulled the giant crab.

The Jamaica is the first to reach the wild island, as the Maman Brigitte approaches the dangerous reefs. The Cursed player opts to keep Brachyura in the same spot, perhaps looking to ambush whichever player comes out first with gold.

The Musarde turns for home to repair, but the FS know they’re powerful in this strange game with such a lack of useful crew. The Resolucion navigates the reef and dismasts the Jamaica.

The many guns of the once-powerful Deliverance have fallen silent, but the good old Resolucion has a lot of life left in her! At the upper right, notice the three coins sitting on the deck of the Thrud.

The game continues to develop. The Jamaica explored while derelict, but the Resolucion quickly moved in to board and take a coin. The Minuteman has docked at the eastern side of the wild island, while her comrades slowly approach from the south. At the left, the abysmally slow Oregon follows her fleet mates, who are searching for gold. The Dragon’s Breath has found some on the Thrud, though she loses a mast to the same reef that wrecked the Thrud in the process. To the right, the Maman Brigitte has successfully moved onto the reef, while the Musarde is the only ship at any home island.

At the left, the Dragon’s Breath has lost masts to the powerful Resolucion, and the Empties fleet has their hands full dealing with a captained ship with essentially rank-1 cannons. The Minuteman has circled the wild island in the hopes of towing home the derelict Jamaica, but the Pioneer will soon spoil that wish by sinking the ship and her remaining 6 gold. Speaking of the Pioneer, she docked at the Flying Dutchman’s gold after the Maman Brigitte, so the Maman can explore first. Brachyura has… skittered?… to the left, and the Devil’s Kiss finally docks at the wild island to load its last coin while the Loki turns around with no more gold available (at least not to explore!).

Brachyura moved towards the weakened Dragon’s Breath, but was soon called upon to tow the Maman Brigitte instead, as the poor Cursed vessel had lost her remaining three masts to the reef and had no oarsman to get home with. The Resolucion continued her trek home, crippling the Oregon on the way by.

The FS and the Empties continue to clash:

Brachyura towed the Maman Brigitte home, meaning that both the Empties fleet and the Cursed fleet had 3 coins each on their home islands.

On her way home, the Resolucion used her powerful guns to derelict all three remaining ships in the Empties fleet (the Oregon had been sunk), knocking them out of the game! This gave the Loki of the USV fleet a free shot at the Empties’ home island.

The Minuteman is too fast for Brachyura to catch, but the Devil’s Kiss won’t be so lucky…

And the crab attacks! Unfortunately for the Cursed the attack was harmless.

Feel free to comment which picture you like better, the above with the flash or the below without.

The Minuteman soon came to the rescue, although the Titan’s defensive ability meant the battle wouldn’t be easy.

At this point, the Loki stole 2 coins from the HI of the Empties, and hoped to round earth it back to her HI. The Devil’s Kiss added her coin to the one that the Minuteman deposited. The Resolucion finally docked home her coin, and the Maman Brigitte finished repairing.

The Empties fleet lies in ruins, allowing their gold to be plundered by Vikings.

The final part of the Sealed Pack Game featured a short showdown between the two fleets with captains. However, the Minuteman and Devil’s Kiss formed a line to block the Musarde from boarding the Loki, so the USV fleet returned home their stolen loot.

However, it wasn’t quite enough:

1. Cursed: 11 gold
2. USV: 8
3. FS: 5
4. Empties: 1

And there you have it! The Cursed pull out a win by towing the Maman Brigitte’s three coins (4, 4, and 3) home with a giant crab! After losing the Jamaica early and having the Maman dismasted by the reef, the Cursed showed good resilience. The USV gold ships were too slow to get high-value coins, but the Loki’s HI raid gave them second place. The FS could have done better, especially if it had been a longer game. The Empties got off to a good start, but poor maneuvering and poor crew options doomed their fleet against the powerful Resolucion, who was truly a threat to be feared in this Sealed Pack Game.

Smallest Cumulative Game Ever

I decided to mix things up again. For the two weeks or so between Thanksgiving and about a week before Christmas, my traveling collection is extremely small. I brought along 4 ships from each of the Big 6 factions, for just 24 total ships. I’ll be around my entire collection very soon, so I wanted to do a unique game using just what I had on hand.

The game was a cumulative one, where gold is spent along the way to purchase new ships and crew. Since each faction was extremely limited in how much they could theoretically spend, the game would be the opposite of my epic huge games, which run until something goes wrong or I have to end it prematurely.

Each faction was given 15 points for a starting fleet. If a faction was eliminated from the game, any ships that they hadn’t already launched could then be launched by any faction. No ships could be launched after they were sunk.

Here are the starting fleets, in the order of gameplay:

Crusher + helmsman, oarsman

Abomination

L’Auguste + helmsman

Yankee + helmsman, oarsman

El Corazon Dorado + a helmsman on the home island

Divine Wind + helmsman, oarsman, and one helmsman on the home island

The setup was very simple, but it worked well. Six home islands were arranged in a general hexagon, with one wild island in the middle. The wild island was the same island used as the lagoon island in Economy Edition. Once again it would be the center of attention. At the start of the game, there were 12 coins on the island, with half of them being UT’s. The treasure replenishment rule was that at the end of every player’s turn (not at the end of each round), the island would fill up to 4 coins if it had less than 4. These coins would not be Unique, so the only UT’s were the ones present at the start.

The island from Economy Edition is loaded with gold once again:

And they’re off!

The Pirates went first, and no ship had an explorer, so the Crusher was the first to explore the island. The UT’s were inserted randomly, which explains this crazy mix:

The most important one was Pandora’s Box – with 5 other fleets, things didn’t look good for the Pirates! The UT’s to the right of Pandora’s Box were the ones selected by the other fleets. Missionary took out the crew, while Maps of Hades and Albatross promised to plague the Pirates if they could even get out of this mess. Rum was worth 6 gold after Missionary took the crew off, but another fleet selected it in order to freeze the Crusher in place. Separate from Pandora’s Box was Enemy of the State, which could easily end the Pirates’ game as soon as it had started. Therefore, the Pirates picked Jailhouse Dog out of the Box and eliminated the negative UT. The Crusher was spared, but only just. To end the turn, a 3 was rolled for Lost, and the Pirates smartly put a fog bank under the Crusher to avoid having her attacked while her crew sobered up from the Rum. Two whirlpools were placed as well, to try and take advantage of Protection from Davy Jones. Another nice side effect for the Pirates was that since the crew were gone, the Crusher was able to take an extra coin, and she did very well.

One whirlpool near the wild island, another at the Pirates’ HI. Shades of Economy Edition? Calypso wasn’t in this game but… how ironic indeed.

The Abomination is the last ship to explore, as the others head back.

The Pirates then cheated (on accident), using the whirlpool to immediately dock at home and unload their considerable haul of gold. They built the Black Diamond and crewed her with a helmsman. As a result of their devious ways, the Pirates would have their next turn cancelled to even out their would-be moves.

The French were the second fleet to launch a ship, sailing out Le Republicain.

The Pirates pay for their mistake while the other fleets race back for more gold. Despite the shorter nature of this cumulative game, each fleet still didn’t want to make any enemies early while their fleet was still weak and small.

At this point, Maps of Hades forced the Cursed to give an action to the Crusher. However, the Cursed did exactly what the Pirates would have done anyway! The other fleets took this as a sign of a possible alliance between the two factions.

A handful of turns passed, consisting of peaceful gold running.

More purchases were made, with HMS Gallowglass, Lady Washington, and La Serpiente joining the game.

The middle island became even more crowded, and it was obvious that tension would increase at some point. The Cursed launched the Hellfire while the Pirates added the Pillage.

It came as no surprise when the Pirates instigated the first conflict! The Black Diamond rammed and boarded the Divine Wind, stealing all of her treasure!

Making the Cursed/Pirate alliance just about official, the Hellfire followed suit by aiming a fire shot at the Divine Wind with the only gun she had in range. Typical of the Cursed’s ineptitude, she rolled a 1 to eliminate Fire Shot and set herself alight!

The French launched the biggest of their four ships, the Tepant. Even more impressive, they crewed her with Gentil de la Barbinais, a captain, helmsman, and oarsman. The Tepant was the biggest threat on the sea, and her Eternal keyword made her a huge target to be captured, which is why the French made sure an oarsman was aboard.

I love how the Tepant looks… but what’s that big ship lurking in the background?

El Argonauta! The 5 master was the biggest ship available in the game, but the Spanish couldn’t afford to put any crew on her at the time of her launching. Still, she was a huge presence that also added valuable cargo space to the Spanish fleet.

After a bunch of turns, many ships have made their entrance. Just for fun, I decided to do a point count or two during the game to get a feel for how big the game was. This picture shows the game at 196 total points.

The Hellfire headed home for repairs, but most of the ships were making full sail towards the center island!

War finally breaks out! The French attack their neighbors to the north, the Americans! The Tepant deals a blow to the Yankee:

The Yankee can’t get home to repair but she knows she’ll be sunk if she just grabs gold, so she continues the conflict by attacking the Auguste! The Lady Washington picks up gold, but things aren’t looking good for the Americans.

The English avoided an early elimination, but they and the Cursed are struggling in the gold game. The Black Diamond is back with her stolen loot, while the Crusher and Pillage are coming back with more.

With their considerable amounts of gold, the Pirates are the first to “complete the fleet” by calling upon Morgawr. The Black Diamond is dangerous with Captain Barbossa aboard.

The Auguste makes it out, but the Tepant continues to fire upon the Yankee, dismasting the schooner and leaving the Americans with just one ship.

The English are fully repaired, but with the hostile Cursed Pirate alliance on either side of their HI, they don’t have a reliable way to grab gold from the middle. The Tepant captures the Yankee and the French complete their fleet by adding L’Argus. The Americans launch the Horizon, but they only have enough points for a captain and not a helmsman.

The Hellfire managed to get her foremost cannon in range of the Divine Wind once again, but this time she hit. The English were stuck, with hostile ships blocking their route to the middle island. With the French/American conflict to the southeastern side of the island, the Pirates sailed their ships northwest to avoid it, further complicating matters for the English.

The Cursed launched the Jikininki, while the Americans headed north to avoid the French.

On the next turn, the Argonauta used her own haul of gold to get The Inquisitor, a captain, helmsman, and oarsman. This made her the greatest boarding threat in the game and almost as dangerous as the Tepant overall. There was enough gold to buy two additional captains, which the Corazon Dorado and Serpiente would pick up on their next trip back. In the meantime, the English beefed up their ships by adding a captain and firepot specialist to the Divine Wind and a captain and helmsman to the Gallowglass.

As the Yankee begins repairing at the French HI, note the imposing Cursed Pirate impromptu line of battle sailing south.

The weak American fleet is no match for the Argonauta! With a single Broadsides Attack the Spanish sink the Lady Washington.

At this point the fleets were reaching their relative maximum sizes, since each faction only had 4 ships to choose from. This ushered in rising tension, as the fleets didn’t have as much need to run gold. The arms race was just about over, but the war was just beginning!

The English decide to go round earth and attempt to dock at the wild island on the east side. The Cursed Pirates are plotting something, but what?

The Cursed and the Pirates were both very wary of the impressive French fleet, especially with the addition of the Yankee and a new captain on the Republicain. The Cursed Pirates knew they had enough power to stomp out the French, but they wanted the element of surprise. This was difficult, since the Hellfire and Jikininki had sailed directly south to join up with the Pirate fleet. The French sensed that they might head east, which was exactly what the Cursed Pirates were planning.

In an attempt to trick the other fleets into believing they weren’t allies, the Cursed and Pirates decided to fake that they were attacking each other. The Pirates told the Cursed to knock out a mast on the Black Diamond with the Hellfire. The Hellfire’s crew loaded the guns and ran them out, praying for a miss. However, the Cursed also realized that if they only took one shot at the Black Diamond (rather than all 4), the French would suspect that something was up. As a result, the Hellfire loosed a full broadside, toppling the mizzen and gaff masts of the Black Diamond!

The Pirates were confused and annoyed. This made them trust the Cursed less, even if the Cursed’s logic was correct. Either way, the Pirates began plotting among themselves. They asked themselves why they even needed the Cursed in the first place, especially since the Cursed were so close to the Pirate HI.

The Pirates have turned! Between the Cursed’s previous turn and the strength of their fleet, the Pirates decided to attack! The Black Diamond surged forward to dismast the Jikininki, while the Crusher and Pillage teamed up to take on the Hellfire. Any plans to attack the French together were long gone, and the Cursed Pirate alliance was no more.

As chaos erupts in the southwest, the English turn around after seeing the French and Spanish dominating the eastern side of the island. They’re hoping the Pirate/Cursed conflict will open up the western side. The Cursed gold runner Abomination is caught in a difficult situation, unable to help out in the southern battle but also needing to supply the Cursed with more gold.

The Yankee is fully repaired at last. At the lower right, the Horizon has round earthed to the southeast to get revenge on the French. She’s so white she looks like a ghost ship!

The Crusher lost a mast to the Hellfire, but the Pirates easily won the battle and began cleaning up the area. Capturing the two Cursed ships gave them 6 total, one more than the 5 ships in the French fleet.

Another point count revealed that there was 280 total points in play, which was probably about the game’s maximum size.

In a surprise move, the Tepant used this opportunity to hurt the Pirates a bit, dismasting the Pillage. The French knew the Pirates wanted them out, but the French also had to deal with the remnants of the American fleet. The Horizon was quickly rammed by the Yankee, a captured American ship.

These latest conflicts were part of a larger event: the game was exploding! The Spanish realized they were the most dangerous fleet in the north, and saw vulnerable ships sailing alone. The Corazon Dorado sailed south to dismast the Auguste! Then the Serpiente and Argonauta teamed up to knock out two masts on the Abomination. In the southeast, the Horizon was putting up the final American resistance, shooting a mast off the Republicain.

The Spanish finally utilize their full firepower!

And just like that, the Americans were the first fleet eliminated! The Yankee captured the Horizon, and the French jumped at the opportunity to launch the final American ship, the Niagara. This meant that the French fleet owned 3 of the 4 American ships! (the Lady Washington was sunk earlier) The French couldn’t buy American crew for the Niagara, but they did load her up with Fire Shot.

Up north, the Spanish dealt with counterattacks. The Tepant blasted three of the Corazon’s masts away, but the Abomination couldn’t dent the Argonauta or her crew. The fleets didn’t know it at the time, but they would be living through the chaos until the game’s end.

And the chaos was just beginning! The Pirates would take a long while to regroup, but the English looked to capitalize by going to the middle island. The Cursed were soon the second fleet out of the game when the Spanish dismasted the Abomination.

In a daring move, the French sailed the Tepant even farther north to sink the Corazon Dorado right in the Inquisitor’s face! The Argonauta had lost two masts to the Abomination, but the Spanish vowed extreme retaliation. Miraculously for the French, it appeared as if the Auguste could make it home on oar power, since the Pirates were still regrouping and repairing.

Looking from east to west this time:

The Serpiente captures the Abomination, but the real highlight of the turn saw the Argonauta take on the Tepant! Long time allies met in rivalry as the Spanish faced the French. The Argonauta loosed a Broadsides Attack, but it missed. The ram roll also failed, but the Argonauta won the boarding party to eliminate all of the Tepant’s crew with the Inquisitor! This severely restricted the Tepant’s effectiveness, and her lack of an oarsman also meant that she could be easily captured.

Battle of the behemoths; flagships of France and Spain meet on the high seas!

Elated to finally be back at the golden island, the English team up to sink the Abomination and deny the Spanish from using her! The Gallowglass shot first and missed, but that allowed the Divine Wind to use her ability and sink the ugly 4 master.

The Tepant fired to take the Argonauta down to 2 masts, at which point the Spanish called it quits for fear of elimination. They turned the Serpiente and Argonauta around to repair. This left the door wide open for the English, who quickly dismasted the Tepant and planned to take her!

The Niagara blocks Morgawr from sinking the Auguste, who is rowing home with a few coins aboard. The Pirates are nearing the end of the recovery process. The whirlpools they created with Lost way back at the beginning aren’t helping.

Suddenly the south is heating up again! The Pirates have finally gotten around to attacking the French after their Cursed alliance detour stopped them for a handful of turns. In a strange coincidence, almost every remaining ship in the French fleet is coming or going from their HI, and the repaired Pirates approach from the west for a crowded area. The Yankee is towing the Niagara, who was dismasted by Morgawr. The Horizon and Republicain are ready to provide whatever help they can, while the Argus and Auguste are almost back with gold.

While the action shifts to the south, two developments unfold up north: the Spanish launch La Hada and crew her with a captain and helmsman, while the English have captured the Tepant!

All of the action lies in the northern and southern parts of the center:

Morgawr and the Black Diamond hit the Yankee hard: (the Yankee isn’t having a good day!)

The French took their turn, and managed to go 4/4 between the Yankee and Republicain to dismast the Black Diamond!

An overhead shot, showing the debris strewn everywhere.

The English use some strange chain-towing tactics to maneuver the Tepant out of La Hada’s range.

At the top and bottom, the Spanish and Pirates repair.

Morgawr sinks the Yankee, but the French get their gold home.

Total devastation. At the left, La Hada has engaged the Gallowglass. The Jikininki has failed to eliminate all four of the Divine Wind’s crew. La Serpiente approaches from the northeast, looking to join the fray. The Horizon has begun towing the Black Diamond, meaning the Pirates have lost their flagship. The French are in a state of disarray themselves, with the Republicain looking to repair while the Auguste actually repairs. The Argus rescues the Niagara, knowing she can’t be attacked if Morgawr is close by.

The Divine Wind and Gallowglass team up to dismast the Hada and set her alight! La Hada had a very short life in this game. At this point, no one seems to care about the gold in the middle – everyone is in survival mode.

The Pillage and Hellfire are finally ready to sail, but the Argonauta is still repairing.

The Crusher attacks, using the Scorpion blade to dismast the Republicain just before she can dock to repair.

La Serpiente takes La Hada’s place, leaving one mast on the Divine Wind. The Jikininki misses the boarding party again.

The English continue to best the Spanish in combat, but they know they’re not a match for the Argonauta.

As the carnage mounts, the endgame approaches.

The Argonauta is finally repaired, but the Divine Wind has already fallen to the Jikininki. The Gallowglass knows there’s no hope and sails for home. Throughout all of the chaos both English ships lost all 6 of their combined crew. The Tepant and Hada also suffered heavy casualties, though the Tepant’s came at the hands of the Inquisitor. To the southeast, the Crusher is the Pirates’ best hope, but she’s fighting the Horizon and Auguste at the same time. Reinforcements are arriving, but it may be too late to save the Black Diamond.

In an attempt to recapture the Black Diamond, the Pirates go after the ship towing her, L’Argus. Morgawr rams the sloop derelict, allowing the Pillage to capture her. Crusher has gotten the better of the Horizon, and looks to tow the Black Diamond. The Hellfire lost her helmsman in the Pirates/Cursed engagement, so she’s slow in this battle.

Jikininki rams the Gallowglass, officially taking the English out of the game! The Argonauta approaches the scene of the battle, though by this point it’s a debris field of corpses, masts, and shattered, derelict hulks.

The south is more lively, but that battle is winding down as well. The French are desperate. The Niagara wants to tow the Black Diamond home, but can’t without getting blasted in the meantime. Instead she starts a fire on the Pillage. The French try to surprise the Pirates by sending the Auguste west for a raid on the Pirates’ HI, where she hits the Hellfire on the way by.

The Pirates regroup, but inexplicably leave the burning Pillage to recapture the Black Diamond herself. She does, but the Niagara is still firing at her. The Hellfire turned around and dismasted the Auguste but couldn’t sink her. The Auguste rowed into the fog bank. The Pirates would like to use Jikininki to kill the Argonauta’s crew, so they don’t want her going in alone.

Here’s the debris and wreckage from a more horizontal angle:

The Argonauta tows the Serpiente first, and then captures the Tepant. The Niagara has won her battle against the Pillage, setting her completely ablaze. Morgawr hunts down the Auguste.

Morgawr sinks the Auguste, and Jikininki dismasts the Niagara, knocking the French out of the game! Now there are two: Pirates vs. Spanish. The Argonauta tows the Tepant through the wreckage, knowing she’ll need help if she wants to stand a chance in this final battle. The Crusher and Hellfire are fully repaired, and they set a northeasterly course.

The battle begins! The Argonauta hits Morgawr, but the Tepant is still repairing and has no crew.

The Argonauta is pinned by both Morgawr and the Crusher, and though the initial Pirate attacks fail in general, they will win easily.

Utter devastation:

At long last, the Pirates have won this tiny cumulative game!

This was a unique experience. There’s been at least one other cumulative game (I believe two) from back in 2011/2012 that didn’t see a ton of points, but I’m pretty sure this is the smallest cumulative game I’ve played. Despite it’s short nature, I would recommend giving something like this a try. Especially if you’ve never played a cumulative game before, this would be a good way to get started.

I must admit that I was disappointed not to use three of the 24 ships available: HMS Malton, HMS Ark Royal, and the Banshee’s Wail. However, perhaps I’ll find a way to fit them in even when I’m around my entire collection again.

12/9/2015

I did a test game with a new concept – one island, with ONLY Unique Treasures! This was also the first game I’ve played this month of December, which means that for the first time ever, I’ve played at least one game in every month of the year!

This was the order of play:
Pirates:
Black Diamond + captain, helmsman
Pillage
Morgawr

Spanish:
El Argonauta + Rollando, captain, helmsman
El Corazon Dorado + captain

Americans:
Yankee + helmsman
Lady Washington + helmsman
Niagara + captain, helmsman

The setup was simple, with each home island 2L away from the single wild island, which had 11 UT’s on it and lay underneath an arch.

The Yankee was the first to reach the island, but no fleet had an explorer.

The Pirates began the second turn by attacking the Yankee with the Black Diamond! Funny enough, all four shots missed but the ram succeeded to slightly damage the schooner. However, the Pirates also lost the boarding party and their helmsman. Morgawr moved to the Pillage’s starboard side to guard the little ship against the powerful Spanish.

The Spanish took their second turn, and the Corazon Dorado was considerably more successful than the Black Diamond, hitting three times to dismast the Yankee.

The Argonauta gave Broadsides Attack a go against Morgawr, but it missed!

The Americans began their turn by giving the derelict Yankee an explore action! Here’s what she found:

The most important ones were Barbary Banner, Buried Treasure, and Rum, which in this case amounted to 12 gold, the total amount in play.

In order to get in range of the Yankee, the Corazon Dorado sailed right into range of the Lady Washington, who hit 2/3 in a nice shoot action. The Yankee was done, but the Americans just needed to tow her home, and their HI was the nearest. The Niagara shot and rammed the Black Diamond, taking out her 3S cannons. (The Black Diamond is one of my oldest ships and her gaff mast was broken long ago so it’s attached to the mizzenmast.)

As the Black Diamond’s foremast falls across the deck of the derelict Yankee, it’s obvious this game will be filled with carnage.

Next, the Black Diamond tried to use her ship’s ability to steal all of the Yankee’s treasure, but miraculously the Yankee won the boarding party! In the background, Morgawr has hit the Argonauta with her fire ability.

Both Spanish ships come around their enemies! Both are looking the cut off the healthy Pirates in the event that they try to tow the Yankee back to their HI. The Corazon shoots and rams the Lady Washington, but only takes out a mast. The Argonauta sails around Morgawr, missing another Broadsides Attack on the way by.

The Lady Washington towed the Yankee, while the Niagara simultaneously moved to block the Black Diamond’s path to the Yankee and shoot at the Corazon Dorado.

The Pirates then struck again. The Black Diamond took the last masts off both the Niagara and Corazon Dorado. The Pillage rammed a mast off the Lady Washington, while Morgawr hit with another fire attack against the Argonauta.

The Argonauta was losing masts quickly, and things looked best for the Pirates.

The Black Diamond maneuvered to sink the Lady Washington, knocking the Americans out of the game.

War at sea. Masts and sails litter the battlefield, while only three ships and one sea monster continue the fight, with one ship mostly aflame.

With three fire masts, the Argonauta rolled once for each possible effect. Then, with her last cannon, she managed to finally hit with BA (dismasting the Pillage) before coming into contact with the derelict Yankee, who still had all the gold aboard. (Though by this point Plague was on the Pillage)

Without her helmsman, the Black Diamond couldn’t quite begin towing the Yankee before the Argonauta explored her to grab the gold. With her explore action, the Argonauta managed to eliminate some of the fires.

At this point the Pirates had to chase the Argonauta, but Morgawr was in range on the next turn to dismast the 5 master.

This gave the Pirates the win, but I think I played it wrong. I think Rollando’s ability would allow the Argonauta to take all of the Yankee’s UT’s (or whichever ones she wanted, especially the gold ones), which would save a turn versus exploring the derelict. This turn was important, because I think it would have let the Argonauta get home before Morgawr was in shooting or pinning range. Either way, it was more of a test game. This all-UT setup should be explored further at some point. A fun and quick game that saw lots of splinters! I believe that by the battle’s end, only 6 of the original 28 masts were standing, and that includes Morgawr’s perfect health. In terms of actual wooden masts, only 2 out of 24 masts that started the game were standing at the end, meaning that 92% of masts were knocked down!

Another game has been played. This one involved 4 players with a 60 point build total.

The fleets went in this order:

Pirates:
Harbinger + captain, helmsman, oarsman
Antamasia + captain, explorer
HMS Meresman + captain, cannoneer
HMS Comet + oarsman

After yesterday’s game, one of my fellow players pulled the SM Harbinger from a pack!

Cursed Corsairs:
Algiers + helmsman, explorer, oarsman
Pyre + captain, helmsman
Cat’s Claw + captain, helmsman
Freedom’s Hand + captain, oarsman

Spanish:
Napolitana + captain, helmsman, oarsman, fire shot
Batavian Bat + oarsman
San Pedro + explorer, oarsman
Antamasia + captain, helmsman, oarsman

English:
HMS King Edward + captain, helmsman, explorer, fire shot
HMS Dover + captain, helmsman, explorer, fire shot
La Santa Ana + Fernando Sanchez, Bianco’s Haulers, helmsman, oarsman

There were 4 home islands, 4 wild islands, 2 whirlpools, and a string of terrain in the middle of the sea. Each wild island had 6 coins on it. Round earth rules were used.

The Corsairs quickly used round earth to explore a southern wild island that the Harbinger and Comet appeared to be headed towards.

The Pirates split up, while the English stick together.

The Harbinger is back in action!

But the Cursed Corsairs go 5/5 between the Freedom’s Hand and the Cat’s Claw to dismast the new ship! (the Claw had a successful ram)

Early-game carnage:

The Comet shoots a mast off the Cat’s Claw, but the Corsairs have other issues.

As the English explore the northwestern island, the Pirate Antamasia wants no part of them. The English send the Santa Ana through a whirlpool to raid the Corsairs’ HI. The submerged Pyre failed to ram a mast off the Meresman.

The Freedom’s Hand engages the Antamasia at S+S range while the Santa Ana is free to return home with stolen loot after Bianco’s Haulers prevented the ship from being shot at while it was docked at the Corsairs’ HI. The Harbinger is rowing home as the Spanish fleet accumulates gold.

Above the mainmast of the King Edward, the proud HMS Dover docks home gold. In the distance, the Pyre has surfaced to engage the Meresman, but she’s unsuccessful.

The Pirate Antamasia answered with a 2/2 to beat the Freedom’s Hand.

Only a few coins remain on islands as the endgame approaches.

The final count for this game with 4 players:
1. English: 27 gold
2. Pirates: 22
3. Spanish: 19
4. Cursed Corsairs: 6

Thanks for reading!  Find more here!

The fleets went in the order of play as follows:

French Pirates:
Le Flamberge + Guy LaPlante, helmsman
Satisfaction + helmsman
Orca

Cursed Pirates:
Nightmare + captain, helmsman
Bruja + captain, helmsman

The setup featured home islands at opposite ends, and three wild islands in the middle. The island in the center of the ocean was surrounded by a combination of fog and reefs, but it had 8 coins compared to 5 coins each for the other two islands.

The eastern island is off to the right of the frame.

Ships headed for the islands. The Flamberge ducked into a fog bank to avoid the Bruja.

As the Orca struggled to exit the fog in the correct direction, the Satisfaction and Nightmare cleaned out the eastern island. The Flamberge actually beat her comrade (the Orca) to the middle island, meaning that the western island was the last to be explored. The Bruja, with no cargo space available, waited to ambush the French Pirates.

The Satisfaction gambled, hoping that the Bruja’s average cannons would either miss at least half the time or not get completely in range.

And she paid the price! The Bruja sailed up and broadsided the Satisfaction, eliminating all three masts, both coins, and her helmsman.

The Bruja sunk the now-empty Satisfaction as the Nightmare returned home with gold. Now with 2 ships, the French Pirates looked to unload some gold of their own. Luckily for them, the Flamberge and Orca had 10 gold between their 2 coins! Still, the French Pirates were facing an uphill battle after their main gold runner was sunk.

The Flamberge returned home, taking a mast off the Bruja on the way by. Guy LaPlante led a boarding party which killed the Bruja’s helmsman. The Bruja had no choice but to duck into a fog bank. The Flamberge headed west this time, as the Orca and Nightmare sailed in and out of the fog.

Here, the Bruja has repaired, while the Flamberge and Orca make trips to the western island, which they’ve discovered has a lot of high-value coins on it.

With the Bruja and Nightmare now heading to the western island, the Flamberge and Orca go back to the center.

LaPlante was getting bored, and decided to attack! His cannons took out three masts from the Bruja, and his S-boarding stole a coin from the Nightmare.

However, the Cursed got their revenge on the next turn, with the two ships teaming up to crush the Flamberge. The Bruja’s Fear keyword was a 5, meaning that the Flamberge was almost useless for the following turn. The Nightmare’s ram and board meant that the coin changed hands again back to the Nightmare.

The Flamberge headed home, and the Nightmare took the Bruja under tow.

As the Bruja repaired, the Flamberge was unlucky enough to hit a reef and roll a 3, meaning that she was derelict and pretty much out of the game. The Nightmare returned to the center island to grab the last coin.

1. Cursed Pirates: 26 gold
2. French Pirates: 25 gold

Wow! That last 1 coin mattered, giving the Cursed Pirates the victory! The French Pirates found some coins of very high values, but the Cursed Pirates had more gold overall.

Warning: Unfortunately I can only find one picture from this game, so the republished report is extremely flawed with basically no pictures.

This game was played on 11/16, and featured similar fleets as the last game, but this time the build total was 80 points.

The fleets went in the order as follows; note some changes from the last game:

Mercenaries:
Gladius Dei (cazador) + Caesar (cazador), helmsman
Terror + captain, helmsman, shipwright
Bashaw Folly + Osvaldo de Deus Celemente, oarsman
Devil Ray, oarsman

Gladius Dei
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Submarine
Points: 15
Masts: 3
Cannons: 4S,4S,5S
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Link: Caesar
Mercenary, Submarine
This ship gets +S to her base move and +1 cargo spaces if she doesn’t carry crew.

Flavor: The “Sword of God” is rumored to have been built by the Vatican in an attempt to safely move Catholic wealth and artifacts around the globe.

Caesar
Nation: Mercenary
Type: Crew
Points: 9
Link: Gladius Dei
Limit, Ex-Patriot, Navigator
As a free action, friendly Mercenary-faction ships may unload treasure at your home island if they are within S of it. Gold unloaded in this way loses one point of value, to a minimum of zero.

Flavor: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Mark 12:17 – Caesar draws Ex-Patriots to himself like few others, often leading cooperative efforts to gather the wealth needed by his fellow exiles. Caesar takes twenty percent of the haul as his dues; what few know is that he gives half of that to parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.

French:
Froide Vengeance (selxaxri) + Phillipe Jordan (el_cazador), Mademoiselle Josephine Godiva, helmsman, shipwright
Le Gaule (cazador) + Michel Dubois (cazador), chieftain
Native Canoes (cazador) + one canoe with Exploding Shot
La Crete Argentee + helmsman

Froide Vengeance (proxied at 15 points for this game)
Nat. French
Masts 3
Cannons 3L-2S-4S
Cargo 3
Movement L
Icebreaker
This ship may tow Icebergs.
Still at war with the English, one general who skirted the floes of the northern waters concocted a hare-brained scheme- blockading the british fleet using the floes themselves.

Phillipe Jordan
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 8
Link: (The Submarine)
Ex-patriot, Captain
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against any ship.

Flavor: Jordan’s anger at the French Admiralty’s decisions has led him to dock at French ports as rarely as possible, instead resupplying at islands and foreign ports.

Le Gaule
Type: 5-mast
Nation: France
Points: 17
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Move: S+S
Cannons: 3L,2S,2S,2S,3L
Link: None
When this ship sinks another ship, give this ship a free move action.

Flavor: After decisive action against the Cursed near the coast of French Indochina, this legendary vessel has come to the Atlantic to fight the English.

Michel Dubois
Type: Crew
Nation: France
Points: 4
Link: None
Captain, Explorer

Flavor: Dubois fights for gold and will turn down opportunities to sink the English in favor of obtaining more money.

Canots Indigènes
Nation: France
Points: X (13)
Masts: X
Cargo: 1 (x5)
Move: S+S
Cannon: 3L (x5)
Link: None
Native Canoes, Captain

Flavor: The natives of Indonesia have been trained in the art of war by French capitaines, and they pursue the monsters of the deep.

Chef de Tribu
Nation: France
Points: 13
Link: None
Tribal Chieftain
Before you give any of this chieftain’s canoes an action, roll a d6. On a 5-6 they may shoot at submerged ships.

Flavor: This chieftain’s men have had conact with the Monster Hunter’s guild.

Cursed:
Tenfold (cazador) + Onox (cazador), Koloktos (cazador), Gentleman Jocard, helmsman
Lamprey (cazador) + explorer
Hare’s Luck + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
Calypsos

Tenfold
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 22
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: S+S
Cannons: 4L,3S,3S
Link: Zedekiah
Mercenary, Hostile: Caesar, Hoist, Turbine. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.

Flavor: Zedekiah’s ironclad ship has been in the employ of several nations, most recently the French. His hope is to repurchase the ancient land of the Jews with the lucrative profits he makes from shipping. As he is fond of saying, if you hire him, your investment will repay tenfold.

Onox
Type: Crew
Nation: Mercenary
Points: 5
Link: Ganondorf’s Revenge
Ganonite, Ex-Patriot, Black Mark, Captain.
Pirate crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.

Flavor: Onox is secretly recruiting men for Ganondorf’s future Second Gerudo Empire. It is said that there is no ruthless, traitorous fiend he won’t turn down.

Koloktos
Nation: Cursed
Points: 8
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls. This ship may dock at an enemy home island and take as much treasure as she can carry. She must leave (if able) on her next turn.

Flavor: The dark magic that powers this automaton has given it a keen sense of when to raid enemy ports.

Lamprey
Type: 2-mast longship
Nation: Cursed
Points: 8
Masts: 2
Cargo: 3
Move: S+L
Cannons: 5S,5S
Link: None
Longship

Flavor: This abomination from the Frozen North seems to have suffered permanent damage to her firing accuracy.

Pirates:
Rusty Hook (captain_vendari) + Tetra (cazador), Purlo (cazador)
Dead Man’s Revenge (xerecs) + captain
Torpedo (xerecs)
Skipping Stone + helmsman

Rusty Hook 
Nation: Pirate
Points: 15
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 3L, 2S, 2S, 2S
Ability: You opponent cannot initiate a boarding party against this ship.
Flavor Text: ???
Link: Donovan Richtarian

Tetra
Type: Crew
Nation: Pirate
Points: 6
Link: Arbiter
Hostile: Cursed, Captain, Explorer. Hylian crew may use their abilities aboard this ship.

Flavor: Tetra had been captaining for years before Hyrule emerged as a sea power. While not all of her work has been ethical, she is effective at what she does and is always willing to lend Hyrule her aid against the Cursed.

Purlo
Type: Crew
Nation: Hyrule
Points: 5
Link: None
Hostile: Cursed, Helmsman. Once per turn, this ship may randomly take one treasure from any ship she touches.

Flavor: Purlo was a con artist in Castleton until he was caught by the Ranging and Enforcement corps. Noting his skill, they referred him to the navy, where he began a new life leading boarding parties and raids.

Dead Man’s Revenge
Pirate
20 pts
Masts: 3
Cargo: 2
Movement: L+L
Canon: 3L-2S-3L
Ability: Shipburner – Once per game if this ship is within S of enemy ships, roll a d6. On 4-6 she explodes, remove her immediately from the game and for every enemy ship within S, eliminate one mast, replace another with a fire mast, and eliminate one crew, cargo or equipment. On a 1-3 remove all of this ships masts and eliminate all her crew.

Torpedo
Pirate
18 pts
Masts: 2
Cargo: 1
Movement: L+L
Cannon: 4S-4S
Ability: Portburner – This ship may dock at an enemy Home Island, and roll a d6. On a 4-6 she explodes and is immediately eliminated from the game. Roll another d6 the result is the number of treasure coins removed from the Home Island. On a 1-3 she may take one treasure and leave on her next turn if able.

English:
HMS Fatalis (cazador) + Hermione Gold, helmsman
HMS Puma (cazador) + Thomas Gunn, explorer
Edelweiss (cazador) + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
HMS Growler (cazador) + explorer

HMS Fatalis
Type: 3-mast hoist
Nation: England
Points: 16
Masts: 3
Cargo: 5
Move: L
Cannons: 4L,4L,4S
Link: None
Hoist
This ship eliminates two masts with one hit.

Flavor: The HMS Fatalis was comissioned to pillage and plunder and and rifle and loot; occasionally she even burns the town down. She’s really a fright.

HMS Puma
Type: 4-mast
Nation: England
Points: 13
Masts: 4
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3L,3L,3L,3L
Link: None
This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls against crew, forts, and ships within S of her.

Flavor: The HMS Puma’s captain has little patience and will often sail straight into combat, even though the Puma carries long-range cannons.

Edelweiss
Nation: Gallia/England
Type: 3-mast Windcatcher
Points: 18
Masts: 3
Cargo: 3
Move: S+S
Cannons: 2L,3L,2S
Link: Alicia Melchiott, Welkin Gunther
Windcatcher. Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate one of this ship’s masts. This ship ignores the first hit she takes each turn if she has all of her masts.

Flavor: Purchased from the Americans and modified by Gallian nautical engineers, the Edelweiss has proved a capable ship. Her high price is all that has precluded further orders by the Principality of Gallia.

HMS Growler
Type: 3-mast square rigged
Nation: England
Points: 10
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Move: L
Cannons: 3S,3S,3S
Link: None
Schooner. This ship gets +L to her base move if she starts her move action within S of an island.

Flavor: The Growler, called by some the Prowler, slinks along coasts and archipelagos, looking to use her relatively shallow draft to seize a first strike.

I purposely made the setup the opposite of the last game. The play area featured 5 separate home islands around the borders of the sea, which would once again utilize round earth rules. A whopping 17 coins were placed on the middle island. The northern and southern island both received 8 coins, while a wreck of HMS Sultan received 5. Some UT’s were present, which would affect the game once again. All of the icebergs used were either 1’s, 2’s, or 3’s, with a total of 9. The custom icebergs would again function as “1” icebergs. Two whirlpools and a few reefs were placed as well.

You can see the double arch to the left of the middle island, beneath which the shipwreck lies. The arch to the right is a difficult one to use since it’s so low and difficult to maneuver in, but it adds a nice scenic touch. The Mercenaries picked their home island last, but luckily for them, nobody picked the northeastern HI, which was closest to the arch. Everybody else wanted to avoid the low arch with their tall ships, while the Mercs knew they’d have no problem with it in their sleek submarines. The English are at the lower right, while the west is comprised (bottom to top) of the Cursed, Pirates, and French.
On the very first turn, the Mercenaries have entered the arch! The Bashaw Folly is short enough to make it through, while the Gladius Dei and Devil Ray lead the way. The Terror has gone slightly to the south out of the frame.

This is a fantastic view of this great setup. At the left foreground, the dangerous reef that the Sultan fell victim to. At the far left, the edge of the huge iceberg can be seen. The main arch in the foreground is a double archway, and you can see how the wider arch slopes a bit, leaving more clearance towards the right (I thought of doing that while making the arch so it’s not universally accessible at every point of the arch!). At the far right, the other archway is taller but rather narrow. In the middle of the ocean, a gold-laden island beckons. Beyond, you can see the Mercs making their way through the other arch, which is wavy inside from all of the water ricocheting back and forth. To the right of the arch, you can just see the submerged Terror going the long way.

All of the fleets have begun sailing! The Froide Vengeance grabs the huge iceberg and starts towing it. At the right, HMS Puma sails north instead of west with the rest of the fleet.

On the second turn the Gladius Dei is the first ship to dock at the middle island!

The Tenfold uses her hoist to explore the southern island, finding some nice UT’s: Wine, Power Cannons, and English Royal Decree.

With HI raider Koloktos already on board, the Tenfold transfers Wine to the Lamprey:

The French canoes have explored the northern island, finding Spices in addition to an abandoned musketeer.

The Terror has rejoined the Mercs. At the left, the two Pirate gunships guard the Torpedo, who prepares to explore the Sultan wreck.

The Mercs have deduced that no other fleet can explore the middle island next turn either, and therefore the Devil Ray surfaces to dock, while the Gladius Dei submerges and allows Caesar to place a trade current behind the eastern arch.

First blood goes to the French! The Froide Vengeance turns around and hits 2/2 against the Rusty Hook. In addition, the Hare’s Luck turned around and shot at the Skipping Stone, but was foiled by the Catamaran’s defenses!

The Pirates tried to get revenge, but failed miserably. The Rusty Hook executed a shoot and ram against the Froide, but only succeeded in taking out one mast, while the boarding party was a tie. The Dead Man’s Chest sails north to help the Rusty Hook, but that leaves the Torpedo vulnerable to the nearby Calypsos. The Skipping Stone shoots 1/2 against the Hare’s Luck.

There are some developments in the south as well: an iceberg moved right into the path of the Fatalis and Edelweiss, forcing the English to take a different route to avoid possible attacks by the Tenfold or Terror. The Growler has explored the southern island as the Cursed turn around. HMS Puma also turns, realizing that the French native canoes have taken most of the northern gold, and if the Puma went through the whirlpool, she would be an easy target for Le Gaule.

To start the next turn, the Devil Ray became the first ship to explore the middle island!

The most important one was Wolves, which meant that the Devil Ray couldn’t take any gold. Also, the other abandoned musketeer was on the island as well, meaning that the first abandoned musketeer, aboard a French canoe, was the only way to take out the wolves and access the treasure on the middle island!

Trouble in the south! The Bashaw Folly takes advantage of one of Caesar’s trade currents to surprise the Edelweiss, just getting both cannons in range. Celemente’s Broadsides Attack hit! The Edelweiss’ defenses were irrelevant for the time being, and the submerged Terror wasn’t far behind.

Although a conflict had begun in the south, the west was still the location of the hottest action. As you can see from the next picture, total chaos has erupted. The French moved first, using the Froide Vengeance to first tow the huge iceberg right into the Rusty Hook! This left the Hook with one mast standing. Then, Phillipe Jordan’s +1 cannon bonus gave the Froide a perfect 2/2 to send the Rusty Hook to the bottom! For the second straight game, the Rusty Hook had been easily sunk by the aggressive French. The French weren’t done though. The Gaule sailed up to the Devil Ray and surprised the Mercs with a brutal attack! The Devil Ray was no match for the French gunship, and sunk below the waves. The Gaule then used her unique ability to move again, which put her in range of the Skipping Stone. The Gaule’s guns opened fire once again, shattering the outrigger of the Skipping Stone and leaving her with just one mast. At the far left, the Dead Man’s Revenge has taken an iceberg hit, further increasing the woes of the Pirates.

For the second game in a row, Wolves and Le Gaule have destroyed the plans of the Mercs.

The Cursed were up next, right before the Pirates. The Hare’s Luck shot with her final cannon, and miraculously landed a firepot on the Skipping Stone! This left the catamaran a burning derelict.

The Cursed gave the Tenfold a move action to deposit her gold on the home island. The Lamprey continued west to the puzzlement of the other fleets. In the background, Calypsos has taken a mast off the Torpedo and stolen her lone coin.

The Pirates are in major trouble.

The Pirates took their turn, which made their situation even worse, as if that were possible! The Skipping Stone was automatically scuttled having all fire masts, and the Rusty Hook was gone. The Torpedo actually managed to hit Calypsos with her remaining 4S cannon, but was pinned and a sitting duck.

Where did the Dead Man’s Revenge go? As you may have guessed, she blew up! True to her name, the Pirates wanted revenge against the French, who had ruined their plans for the second game in a row. However, once again, the Pirates couldn’t do much of anything about it. The Dead Man’s Revenge maneuvered herself near the reef edge of the arch and the big iceberg, just barely getting within S of both the Froide Vengeance and Gaule. Her captain missed with both cannons, and the shipburner ability failed, eliminating the DMR from the game and leaving the French as healthy as before.

The English had enough firepower to get revenge on the Mercenaries, blasting the Bashaw Folly with the Fatalis while the Edelweiss was towed by the Puma.

The overall situation. The Mercs have already lost the Devil Ray and Bashaw Folly, while the Pirates have essentially been eliminated from the game.

The Terror joins the Gladius Dei while the French regroup and unload treasure.

Calypsos has finished off the Torpedo, and the Tenfold grabs the coin. The Lamprey appears to be on a round earth mission, but which home island is she after?

The Cursed suddenly make their intentions clear! The Tenfold uses Power Cannons to stun the French and sink the Froide Vengeance with an improbable 3/3, which also nets them a coin from the middle island due to the English Royal Decree. The Lamprey emerges from the south to come out of the northwest, looking to exchange Wine for a high-value coin!

The English have brought back a small amount of gold via the Growler and look to get the Edelweiss back in action.

After the early-game battles, the sea doesn’t look crowded enough…

With help from a trade current, the Terror has emerged from the depths to attack Le Gaule! The Mercs were hoping to kill the tribal chieftain and therefore gain some control of the canoe that carried the vital musketeer. The attack knocked over two masts and killed Michel Dubois, leaving the Gaule vulnerable. The Terror declined to use Fear out of the fear (pun intended) of cancelling the chieftain, which can actually make the canoes more dangerous.

The Gladius Dei has resurfaced at a safer point of the island in case the French try to eliminate the wolves.

The canoes team with Le Gaule to sink the Terror, leaving the Mercs with just the Gladius Dei.

But the French also have to deal with the Cursed! Luckily for the French, the Tenfold misses her shots against the canoes. The Lamprey unloads Wine for a 3 at the French HI.

As the game progresses, one thing is clear: the English are coming.

Le Gaule didn’t have access to the captain ability, but the canoes did, and the Tenfold lost a mast. The Gaule won the boarding party to steal the 3 that Calypsos originally took from the Torpedo. The canoes also wounded Calypsos.

Calypsos runs a suicidal interference mission, pinning the Gaule but failing to remove a mast or kill the chieftain. The Tenfold uses the opportunity to move away from the action and grab some gold from the shipwreck without having to roll for the reef. At the top of the picture you can see the Lamprey escaping.

The English have entered the center area, and the Gladius Dei is forced to submerge in their presence. The Edelweiss has finished repairing and it won’t be long before she joins her fleetmates. However, most of the gold lies on the home islands of the Cursed and French, while the middle island is largely untouched. The French still have the abandoned musketeer, the key to the late game chaos that approaches.

The canoes take another mast off the Tenfold, while the Gaule repairs with an abandoned shipwright (from the northern island) transferred to her by the Crete Argentee, whose bonus was important in the sinking of the Terror and the shots against the Tenfold and Calypsos, who is now dead. Seeing the gold on the Cursed HI, the Gladius Dei is hoping to take out the Tenfold, but needs to avoid the dangerous canoes on the way.

The Lamprey brought back her gold from the French HI, and the Tenfold unloaded her shipwrecked treasure, giving the Cursed a gold advantage. Then, they both sailed south to round-earth their way to the northwest, where the French began sailing. At this point, the Fatalis was pretty much going after the French, while the Growler sailed north to try and grab the last coins from the northern island. The English had the luxury of being able to split their forces, but they needed to since there were so many threats. Also, the Cursed and French both had more gold than the English.

The Puma takes out two canoes, with the Edelweiss following her under the arch. As with the previous game, the French chieftain continually failed to allow the canoes to shoot at submerged ships, and the Gladius Dei pursued the Tenfold. The game was becoming more urgent in nature, with exciting developments occurring.

The Tenfold and Lamprey split up in the north! The Lamprey sailed east to deter the Growler, while the Tenfold headed west, making it fairly obvious she intended to raid the English HI rather than the French. This was probably the Cursed’s plan all along, but the French confirmed it by docking the Gaule home. She unloaded treasure and provided a deterrent to any would-be raiders. The Gaule was temporarily invulnerable, but the Crete Argentee was not, being dismasted by the Fatalis.

A tense situation, with ships scattered everywhere: Le Gaule has fully repaired, while the Lamprey rams the Growler and takes a coin from her. The Puma came under attack by the canoes, but fought back with her comrades to eliminate all but the one canoe which had the musketeer. The remaining factions essentially couldn’t eliminate that canoe, since it held the only way to get gold from the middle island. The Cursed could gamble and try to eliminate it, but were greedy and wanted a piece of the middle island too. The Gladius Dei is to the far southwest out of the picture while the Tenfold approaches the deserted English HI. The Fatalis and Edelweiss sail towards the Cursed HI, hoping to cut off the Tenfold.

On the next turn, the matchup was finally seen: the Gladius Dei with Caesar aboard taking on the Tenfold! Of course, it didn’t last long, with the Gladius Dei eliminating the Tenfold’s final mast with a submerged ram before the Tenfold used Turbine to raid the English HI. The final canoe knocked the Puma down to one mast, while the Fatalis and Edelweiss prepared to sink the Tenfold. In a clutch 1v1 victory, the Growler fought back to dismast the Lamprey and take back the gold!

The Gladius Dei rams again, this time on the surface. The GD steals a coin.

The severely weakened French have no choice – it’s the best opportunity to get at the middle island! The last canoe’s musketeer fires and misses! In the meantime, the Growler is limping home after going through the northern whirlpool, near where the Gaule approaches the middle island. The Tenfold also speeds towards the island, so the Fatalis and Edelweiss do the same. It’s a showdown in the center!

As the musketeer misses again, everyone draws closer except for the Puma, who captures the Crete Argentee hoping to take advantage of her bonus.

The French miss yet again, which can only serve to help the English. The battle begins, with the Edelweiss hitting the Gaule as the Puma misses the Lamprey. The Fatalis tries to corner the Tenfold, who is essentially uncaptureable with Turbine and no cancellers present.

As the Gladius Dei returns to the island, the French go next and finally eliminate the wolves! The Gaule docks but since Dubois is gone she can’t explore! Naturally, the Cursed are somehow the first fleet to explore the middle island, even though they were the last fleet to reach it in the game and were already winning! The Tenfold loads a whopping 17 gold in addition to the 1 she stole from the English, making her a target of the English once again.

However, the Tenfold was also subject to the other UT’s on the island, and Plague killed all of her crew, while the other UT’s wouldn’t help at all. To top it all off, the Whirlpool UT sent the Tenfold through one whirlpool and out another, which actually shortened her journey home.

The Fatalis is the second ship to take gold from the middle island.

As the Growler repairs, the Edelweiss emerges from a whirlpool to chase the Tenfold!

At long last, the Mercenaries are finally able to load some gold! The Puma attacks Le Gaule, while the Fatalis plays a hybrid role with gold aboard, keeping a lookout for the Tenfold, soon to emerge from the west with round earth.

Having lost her helmsman, the Tenfold was no match for the Edelweiss, who sank her and eliminated all 18 gold from the game. The English breathed a sigh of relief now that the Cursed couldn’t get any more gold (the Lamprey had been sunk as well), but they still had to stop the French. However, with the Cursed and Pirates out of the game, the English didn’t want to trigger any endgame conditions by eliminating the French before they could get gold back (I tried to keep it consistent with the previous game). Therefore, they decided to let the final canoe go while trying to capture the Gaule. The Gladius Dei was out of range and untowable anyway, so the English concentrated on the Gaule.

The last canoe has left the musketeer on the island for the final coin in the game, while the English will inevitably capture the weakened Gaule.

An epic picture! The stealthy and submerged Gladius Dei is about to hit an old trade current on her way home, while through the archway, you can see part of the beautiful center island and the Gaule’s mainmast, which has fallen dramatically against the hoist of the Fatalis.

The Mercs use Caesar to deposit their gold! It won’t be nearly enough to win, but it’s a small victory nonetheless.

As the French canoe runs home the Puma tows the Gaule, completing the English plan.

The game’s final turn saw the French deposit their final coin with their only game piece still under their command, while the English formed a defensive formation around the Gaule to prevent her sinking. The English returned home her gold and that of the Fatalis, but it wasn’t much.

The final count:

1. Cursed: 20 gold
2. French: 9
3. English: 8
4. Mercenaries: 3
5. Pirates: 0

What a game! I think for some reason I enjoyed this game slightly more than the previous one, but funny enough they turned out oddly similar in a lot of ways. The Tenfold was center stage once again, and the Cursed are victorious! (xerecs will be happy haha) The English played another good game where they had firepower and enough time to repair and do good in the late game, but once again it wasn’t enough. The final French canoe gave the French 9 gold instead of 8, so those fleets were about equal. The French used the Crete Argentee, their main addition, to good effect, but lost the Froide Vengeance in the middle of the game. The Mercenaries were thwarted once again by Wolves and the French, but the Terror and Bashaw Folly made gallant attempts to slow the other fleets. The Pirates struggled mightily, being set upon early by the Cursed and French. The shipburner (dud) and portburner (not used) abilities provided nothing for their substantial costs, while I’d still like to see the Rusty Hook get another chance at some point. Overall, this was another fun game that saw lots of experimenting with custom ships and crew!

ALL terrain/islands – 5 fleets, 20 points

11/13/2015

I recently had a few more ideas for games.  One of them was quite “out-there” if you will – a “Full Ocean” game with ONLY islands and terrain.  There would be almost NO open ocean, and there was only a little bit because I ran out of the terrain I had on hand.

To continue the trend of using small fleets, this time a 20 point build total was used.  There were five fleets, going in this order:

Providence + Brent Rice, captain, oarsman

Rum Runner + Hammersmith, explorer, oarsman

La Manila + captain, helmsman, explorer, oarsman

Le Pluton + captain, helmsman

HMS Interceptor + Hermione Gold, explorer

You can see that each fleet opted for just one ship that had at least 4 masts, in order to combat the extremely dangerous setup:

The French were the only fleet crazy enough to pick a home island completely surrounded by terrain, and the Pluton began the game in a fog bank!

On the first turn, the Manila was the first ship to reach an island, using a whirlpool to take three coins.  This began the woes of the Americans, who were headed towards the same island.  As a side note, icebergs were allowed to move over other pieces of terrain, and push each other around.  Unlike the Other Worlds game from earlier this year, icebergs would simply move over whirlpools instead of being drawn into them.  Also, icebergs were only rolled at the beginning of each “round” starting with the second turn, rather than every player’s individual turn.

The Manila was also the first ship to have trouble with the terrain, losing a mast to an iceberg.

The Pluton received a lucky fog roll for the second turn in a row to dock at a northern island.  The Interceptor and Rum Runner explored as well.

The Pluton navigated a Sargasso Sea to quickly unload her haul, and the Manila docked her gold home as well while avoiding further damage.  The Providence finally docked, but the Americans were disappointed with what the Manila left them.

The setup continued to take a toll on the ships.  The Rum Runner suffered an unlucky iceberg hit right before she was able to dock home her gold, and the Pluton risked a reef to quickly sail over to the other middle island, losing one mast.

The Providence continued east to take what was left of the Pluton’s northern island.  In the meantime, the Pluton avoided taking more damage from the reef and quickly had 6 coins sitting on her HI.  This annoyed the Pirates, who saw the French as their main competition at this point.

Each fleet had been relatively isolated so far, but trouble was brewing in the east as the English opened fire on the Spanish!

The Manila kept sailing straight ahead and crashed into the Interceptor’s starboard quarter!  A stormy sea made this fight even more dramatic as the two big ships exchanged shots!

The Americans were the only fleet yet to bring back treasure.  The Rum Runner had just returned with her second haul when the Pluton made a surprise move and whirlpooled her way towards the eastern battle, where the English had the upper hand.  The French wanted to grab the remaining three coins on the wild island while the combatants were distracted.  Hammersmith, on board the Rum Runner, saw this and told his crew not to let the Pluton out of their sights.

Icebergs continued to chase the Providence as the Rum Runner emerged from a whirlpool to chase the Pluton.  Conceding defeat to the English, the Manila docked at the eastern wild island that began all this conflict and loaded all three coins.  The Interceptor quickly dismasted her, but lost her explorer in the failed boarding attempt in addition to the mast she had lost in battle, knocking her speed down to L+S.

The French had arrived!  The Pluton struck, using S-board to steal all three coins from the Manila.  She also shot a mast off the Interceptor, which disappointed the Pluton’s captain.  The Pluton was ready to take off, but the faster Rum Runner wasn’t far behind.

At this point, four of the five ships were concentrated on the eastern edge of the sea, while the Providence was all alone in the west.  The Interceptor attacked the Pluton, but failed miserably.  She only knocked out one mast between the shoot and ram, and to top it off, Hermione Gold was killed in the boarding party.  At this point the English looked to be out of the game, but they were willing to give any assistance possible to the Pirates in order to subdue the hated French.

A closeup of the carnage in the east:

The mostly deserted west.  The majority of the gold in the foreground is on home islands, and you can see some open spaces where icebergs have moved out of their original positions.

The Pluton ducked into a fog bank, with the Rum Runner in hot pursuit!  The Interceptor started the game as the swiftest on the seas, but was now relegated to moving L in an attempt to get home and repair.

A view of the entire setup – the Providence has fully repaired.  The Pluton chose a lesser of two evils, coming out of the fog to sail in between two icebergs.  This path was relatively free of obstacles, since she could ignore the whirlpool and dock home within two turns.  The other path was fraught with the peril of no open ocean, including an iceberg and up to three reefs.

However, to start the next turn, the Americans got in on the action by blocking the Pluton’s path!  The Providence emerged from a whirlpool ready to fight.  The Rum Runner caught the Pluton and despite missing all of her shots yet again (possibly 0 for 9 at this point, much to Hammersmith’s disgust), the ram succeeded to dismast the Pluton and finally knock the French out of the active game.  They were rich, but they wouldn’t get any richer.  The Pirates had finally caught the Pluton, but they hadn’t finished their goal yet.

The Providence towed the Pluton and tried to shoot at the Rum Runner, but the Pirates parleyed a 1 (stolen from the Pluton on the previous turn) to the American home island instead.

Then, with great fury and anger, the Rum Runner sailed full speed into the Providence’s larboard quarter, knocking the ship sideways!

The Rum Runner’s cannons finally found their mark at point blank range, and together with the extreme force of the ram, heeled the Providence out of the water!  A devastating broadside killed the American oarsman and showed that the Pirates were determined to win this fight, if not on anger alone.

Wanting no part of the Pirates, the Providence sailed through a whirlpool to chase down the last island that had more than 1 coin left on it.  At this point there was one island with 2 coins and two islands with 1 coin each.  The Pirates took the remaining gold off the Pluton, and the Interceptor finished repairing.

An iceberg sank the Pluton as the three remaining ships took gold from the three remaining islands.  The coins weren’t valuable anyway, so the game quickly ended.

When it was all said and done, the French made a surprisingly good decision to brave the terrain and pick a HI in the middle of the ocean, and they won despite the efforts of all four other fleets trying to stop them.

French: 22 gold
Pirates: 16
English: 10
Spanish: 7
Americans: 6

This was a very unique game that saw a brand-new setup idea.  I generally liked it, but when I play it again in the future I’m definitely going to use a larger build total, which should be quite fun and chaotic.  Also, I may change how the icebergs function a little bit, especially in regards to whirlpools.

There will be another report within the next few days!