Acorazado vs. Flying Dutchman
2/12/2017
Yesterday (2/12) I won an extremely brief game against hiddenelephant. Xerecs arrived and we set up for a 3 player game, which will hopefully happen sometime soon.
After resuming T2 and stopping in the middle of the second game for a rules question, we decided to have a quick deathmatch. My Acorazado fleet was at 29 wins, tied with my HMS Grand Temple fleet for the most all-time.
Xerecs took the Acorazado on with a crew elimination/boarding strategy:
Flying Dutchman (PotC #001 version) + Hammersmith, Crimson Angel, Tia Dalma, Capitaine Chevalle, oarsman
Each of the FD’s hits would eliminate a crew, even if they didn’t eliminate a mast. Vega and the helmsman were the first to go, but the Acorazado responded by going 3 for 4.
In a big moment, the FD won a boarding party to kill all of the Acorazado’s remaining crew! This left her very vulnerable, but she managed to dismast the FD. However, the FD would win the game if she was sunk, because we ruled that Eternal could still work once. The FD had to be captured, but between her oarsman and the Acorazado’s lack of a helmsman or SAT from Castro, that didn’t happen. The FD managed to get away to repair, setting up a second clash. This time the FD won since Tia Dalma was able to cancel the Acorazado’s ability and the Acorazado had no crew to use. It was honestly one of the most frustrating games I’ve been involved in, not just because I lost, but because there were so many complex ability interactions and annoying occurrences (such as the boarding roll arguably determining the whole game’s result, and the no-win situations that both fleets seemed to be in at various times). It made me think that home islands should perhaps be eliminated from deathmatches once the game begins (or do away with them altogether), between Eternal being undercosted and the temptation to lurk near your home island so your opponent will come to you.
. She had 5 guns in range and hit every time, dismasting the Kettering and Algeciras. The Armada retaliated but only hit once in four tries, although this eliminated CRGO (Commodore Rhys Gryffyn Owen). The Minuteman also went 1 for 4 to take a second mast off the GT. The Grand Temple then sank both the Algeciras and Kettering. The Minuteman sank the Rye and the Armada hit the GT twice, eliminating both H. Gold and Lawrence. The GT eliminated the flag on Armada but only had two guns left so she couldn’t sink her, allowing Armada to dismast the Temple and win the game for the Spanish Americans!
). The Minuteman and Algeciras also got a few hits in to leave the GT with three masts. The Kettering missed the GT twice before the GT could retaliate, dismasting the Kettering. However, the flotillas showed their power once again by combining to sink the GT.
), and tried to set up the islands and icebergs the same way.
, but I am using crew).
. I would rather not go on a long rant, but if they keep disappointing me I think I will flip out. Basically, they all stink. The Baochuan went 7 for 20 in her double shoot action today thanks to a rare 6 from Zheng He. She has 7 rank-3 guns, and they were essentially rank-2’s thanks to world-hater Chang Pao. Whatever. In a rage, I ignored the ‘can’t shoot at ships in your own fleet’ rule and sunk all three of them easily. HMS Leicester sunk the Baochuan without any help, and she didn’t even have Hermione Gold (MI version) on board. I think I will redo the turn and place them back where they were, and give them a final chance. I know they aren’t designed for just combat, but the fact that they are this bad is just plain embarrassing. Hopefully they will prove me wrong when I resume play again tomorrow.
. If not for this aberration, the big ship fleet would have won all three times. Their biggest advantage was that they had a sac captain, three cancelers, and two SAT crew.