This was a 3 fleet, 60 point solo game, partly to playtest four new things I was excited to try out. It had a new atakebune ship, a new giant turtle, a new hydra, and a new island! As of the game time, I hadn’t finished artwork for the new custom sea creatures yet. I generally used the Restarting Rules, with the exception of a relatively random map setup. I went with 5 wild islands (instead of 6) with 5 coins per island. Of the 25 total random coins in play, 5 were random UT’s.
The fleets in play order:
Dutch – The Hybrid Swarm
Christiansvaern + captain, helmsman (17)
Amsterdam + captain (11)
Friesland + captain, explorer (13)
Prinses Maria + captain (10)
Volle Maan + explorer (9)
Mercenary fleet w/Sub Hideout Mušmaḫḫū (20) (Mercenary. Sea Monster. Hydra. If this hydra is hit with a cannon roll of 3 or lower, instead of eliminating a segment, repair up to two missing segments.) -That regenerative ability would later change
Nautilus + helmsman, explorer (19)
Barracuda + Osvaldo de Deus Celemente, helmsman (21)
Here’s my video overview:
Volle Maan starts things off! I generally took pictures of the first time each island was explored – treasures near a ship indicate they were loaded, while those closer to or on an island would stay there (going back face down, and of course not known to the other fleets).
Nautilus finds Rotting Hull, limiting her first take to just one coin. Barracuda submerges and goes south.
The Dutch aggressively split up their fleet, with Friesland whirling into the northeast. The Japanese sent their turtle in search of treasure, while Atakemaru looked to make her debut splash in some raiding combat against the Dutch.
Friesland couldn’t reach the island that Minogame was headed for, so she took a partial move to dock at a corner island. Triton’s Defense could actually come in handy against Mušmaḫḫū. Overall the Dutch were off to a strong exploratory start. They had a lot of cargo capacity for gold, the most ships in play, and went first. This led to the other factions realizing they might have to team up to stop a Dutch blowout.
Atakemaru gets in range but goes 0/4 against Christiansvaern!
However, Sengoku had a splendid attack against the Friesland! She won the board 9-6 and made off with a huge coin.
Mushmahhu surfaces to ram and pin Amsterdam in the northwest corner!
Christiansvaern goes 2/3 to damage Atakemaru, while Prinses Maria avoids loading the 7 because she anticipates being robbed of it on the upcoming Japanese turn.
Friesland barely escaped the northeast intact, but her misfortune is not over yet. A poor whirlpool roll forces the Dutch to make a frustrating decision, with Triton’s Defense going overboard to keep her captain and final mast intact. Just when I thought I might finally be able to use that UT successfully!
Atakemaru is not the only one looking to interrupt the Dutch path to quick riches….
Minogame finally explores, but finds a rogue feral marine ready to blow off one of its back flippers. A small loss compared to the 15 gold the Japanese currently have on these two units.
Japanese piracy is in full swing today! Although the Maria can’t be shot at while docked, she can certainly be rammed and boarded. Even more exciting was the Ōdzutsu scoring a big hit on Christiansvaern!
What the Dutch helmsman saw before being blasted:
Osvaldo de Deus Celemente (still facedown) has been growing bored and directs Barracuda to ram Volle Maan, dismasting the sloop. Barracuda uses her ability to board, taking out the Dutch explorer.
With a big 2/4 shoot action, Mushmahhu dismasts the Amsterdam! Suddenly the Dutch aren’t looking so good. Splitting their fleet has left them vulnerable to numerous raids, which are starting to exact a heavy toll.
With their ships damaged and under attack, the Dutch decide the best course of action is to build a fort in the south. Oranje will provide a base for repairs, protect their considerable stash at the southern island, and amp up their firepower in the area. Friesland docks home, and they already have 18 gold. However, Christiansvaern couldn’t damage Atakemaru, and Barracuda threatens any attempt to bring the fort gold to the Dutch home island (HI).
Sengoku unloads her stolen 7 while Atakemaru flees the southern hotspot. Mushmahhu has sunk Amsterdam in the northwest, who goes down with a 4 coin aboard. (Mercs have no way to tow here, and just wanted to finish her off)
Nautilus finally surfaces to enter the Submarine Hideout, allowing her to unload treasure!
The Mercenaries finally have a suitable home island option!
Volle Maan and Friesland repair. The Dutch are hoping for an opening to ferry treasure from the fort to home, but the Mercenaries have essentially enacted a blockade. Barracuda and now Mushmahhu are both submerged near the trade route, threatening to steal or sink any treasure that attempts to sail through. I made a mistake when Oranje shot a flag off Atakemaru (two 6’s in 2/5 snipe shooting), forgetting that Kuki Yoshitaka prevents fort hits. Minogame heads north, escorted by Sengoku. By this point the Japanese and Mercenaries had a full-on alliance, as the Dutch were clearly way in front when including their fort gold (I think 36 in total).
The Dutch make a questionable decision and split their fleet yet again, refusing to be held hostage by the Mercenaries and their stall tactics. Friesland whirls to the northwest to finish what Amsterdam started, but quickly becomes the second Dutch 3 master to be dismasted at the island. One mast was lost to the whirlpool, while Sengoku and her loud crew of angry boarders took down the others, stealing a 4 before scampering back to their atakebune.
The Mercs surface their attackers as an allied siege gets underway! Celemente was one of the biggest keys to this attack, finally revealing himself after many turns lying in wait. His Broadsides Attack was successful! This was perfect for the allies, going straight through the Christianvaern’s defensive ability and dismasting her. Mushmahhu unsuccessfully rammed Prinses Maria, but managed to take a flag off the fort.
The Japanese open up the eastern front, but Atakemaru goes 0/4! Oranje was pitiful across many turns in its self-defense, here going 1/4 to damage Barracuda.
The Dutch lose Christiansvaern, while Oranje misses everything.
With the Mercs doing most of the work, they’re wary of the Japanese using the turtle to just grab the gold once the fort is destroyed:
Oranje managed a second hit on Barracuda just before getting hit to become abandoned. This left the Mercs in the lurch, with no units capable of loading gold in the area. They submerged Mushmahhu and the derelict Barracuda (who was basically done for the game, with no oarsmen or shipwrights in their fleet). This sudden departure from strategy all but ended the Merc-Japanese alliance, with the main goal of the partnership achieved.
Prinses Maria had loaded 7,3,3 and broke for home, being met by the Volle Maan in case the latter could provide assistance. The Japanese are arriving… looking to have an endgame full of plunder.
Atakemaru destroys the fort, allowing Minogame to dock and start munching on the local shrubs. Sengoku comes flying in from the east, stern turning for maximum movement and ramming Prinses Maria to steal another 7 from the Dutch!
This is the final straw for the unfortunate Mercenaries, who never wanted to see the Japanese hoard all the wealth. Mushmahhu re-emerges after having repaired a head while underwater! The beast goes on an absolute rampage, somehow shooting 3/5 to de-flag Sengoku while ramming Volle Maan derelict!
This is where the rolls got even crazier. The Dutch got three 6’s in two turns to scuttle all their derelicts, officially taking them out of the game. Atakemaru got over a sandbar without hindrance, but couldn’t quite block the hydra from reaching Sengoku, as the latter could only move S+S with no flags (the hydra must have eaten half her oarsman last turn).
Mushmahhu gets all heads in range but goes 0 for 5 with abysmal rolls!
With yet another huge “luck swing”, Atakemaru goes 3/4 to cripple the beast!!
That shoot action essentially marked the end of play, with the Mercenaries having no hope of catching either Sengoku or Minogame before they returned home with their latest gold hauls. Nautilus had unloaded another coin by now but was too far away to help.
A blowout win for the Japanese! Their timely raids and lack of powerful opposition let their new ship types run wild. I think they really benefited from the Dutch splitting their fleet all over the map, and because neither of the opposing fleets had a “monster gunship” that can crush an atakebune easily. They also knew when to quit, fleeing battlefields at the opportune moment to ensure each of their stolen coins got home safely and would count towards their final score.
The Dutch probably had the fleet to beat, but this game further proves the danger of splitting up a fleet too much. Their huge gold deposits shined too bright in the early game, making them a ripe target. The Mercenaries had some fun but didn’t have enough cargo or speed to compete effectively in the gold race.
We almost saw fort-to-fort combat, as the Japanese were considering building a fort on Minogame and sending them after Oranje.
My observations led to some thinking after the game, and here are the results.
Changes made:
-Atakebune keyword: removed the part about a successful boarding party eliminating a mast from the enemy ship. This proved to be quite powerful, as losing a ram+boarding to an atakebune can really cripple any mid-size or smaller ships. This way they are still “boarding monsters”, but it’s not quite as devastating.
-Minogame point cost decreased from 26 to 24. It didn’t really get a good chance to use either of its abilities, but it feels expensive for what you get. (cost would later go down further)
-Musmahhu’s regeneration ability is changing: “Each time this hydra is hit, roll a d6; on a 6, you may repair up to two of its missing segments.” I don’t like how the “hits of 3 or lower” essentially punishes an opponent for paying for better cannons. I wanted to avoid extra d6 rolling because I don’t like having to roll an extra d6 for each hit/etc such as with Catamaran. However, this should work better. There were no regrown segments this game, but I think Musmahhu is fine otherwise.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to check out the products to use them in your own games! (Seas of Japan, Submarine Hideout, etc.)
This was a 3 player, 40 point game at Syn Shop in Las Vegas. One of the players hadn’t played since probably 2004, while the other had never played. Therefore, we kept things simple with no terrain/UT’s/forts/named crew/etc.
Islands about 2L apart, with home islands (HIs) chosen in reverse turn order.
Cursed Blade looked to threaten the Dutch early, but Christiansvaern connected for two hits:
It looked like the Spanish were getting out to a lead, so I decided to be aggressive and let Christiansvaern take on La Resolucion. To my surprise, she won that fight between the first strike and her abilities. However, the Pirates were still after Dutch gold, with Cursed Blade repairing and teaming with Gilded Monkey for a potential strike on the Dutch HI. Prinses Maria smashed up Gilded Monkey, but it wouldn’t be enough to stem the tide.
Prinses Maria was captured as the Pirates began their looting. At the right, Shamrock has executed a second island treasure trade, which would help the Pirates’ final gold score. Concepcion takes over the Spanish-Dutch battle, with Christiansvaern exhausted fighting two galleons consecutively.
Christiansvaern managed to sink Resolucion and then dismast Le Bon Marin with a 2/2 shoot action, but was then sunk by Concepcion. Le Bon Marin rowed home on oar power for an additional 4 coins. The Pirates finished off the Dutch, with Cursed Blade stealing some coins from the Maarten de Hollander. At this point we agreed to a pre-emptive count, which was for the best because the Pirates were already ahead! (playing it out would have just extended their lead due to HI raiding with a numbers advantage)
Scores:
Pirates: 21 gold
Spanish: 16
Dutch: 7
About 5 free packs were also distributed to get their collections up and running – great to see new players enjoying the game!
USS America Ship Debut, Golden Seas pieces, and a new “God Piece”
6/26/2024
This was a solo game that got pretty crazy. 4 fleets, 60 points (4×60). It featured multiple debuts – a new ship, a new crew from Golden Seas, and a new monstrosity for the ages….
I used the “Restarting Rules” that will be featured in the upcoming set, Pirates of the Golden Seas. It is a relatively minor rework of the original rules that I also plan to release digitally at some point in the future. Any rule changes relevant to this game will be noted in the battle report as they come up.
Here are the fleets in the order of play! (original game pieces found in the Master Spreadsheet)
English
HMS Devastator + Charlotte Godspry, captain, musketeer, oarsman
HMS Forge + captain, helmsman
HMS Galway
Both of those Golden Seas pieces have been shown in the Pirates community, but here they are for reference:
HMS Devastator
Nationality: English
Collector’s Number: 012
Point Cost: 22
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Base Move: L
Cannons: 2L-3L-3L-3L-2L
Link: Captain Armstrong
Ability: This ship’s cannons may not be eliminated (masts still may be). If derelict, she cannot shoot. If this ship hits an enemy ship on a 5-6, also eliminate one cargo from that ship.
Flavor Text: Reinvigorating England’s presence in the North Sea is the Devastator. Capable of a heavy broadside unmatched by most navies, she sails forth proudly from Devon with freshly minted cannons.
Designed by A7XfanBen, artwork by Gigi
Charlotte Godspry
Faction: England
Point Cost: 6
Ability: Helmsman. This ship’s crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.
Flavor text: A determined woman who rarely smiles, Charlotte Godspry had a difficult upbringing and had to claw her way into the Royal Navy. She performed well as a helmsman for many years before taking on her current advisory role. Seen on dozens of ships throughout the year, she trains sailors in many areas, including survival skills. She survived a number of intense battles by dodging falling debris and always knowing where the safest place on the ship would be.
Designed by A7XfanBen
Ivory Mask
Faction: Pirate
Point Cost: 3
Ability: Parley. This ship gets +1 to her boarding rolls if she did not initiate the boarding party.
Flavor text: Concealed by mask at all times, this stealthy captain identifies more with pirates than with its own people. Time will tell if that allegiance can be tested.
Designed by A7XfanBen
Americans
USS America + captain, helmsman, shipwright, oarsman
Nene-nui + captain
USS Quigley + captain, helmsman
If you haven’t seen her by now, here is USS America!
USS America
Nationality: American
Collector’s Number: USA (ship is not part of any set; a limited-time, Limited Edition ship)
Point Cost: 23
Masts: 5
Cargo: 4
Base Move: S+L
Cannons: 3L-3S-2L-3S-3L
Link: John Barry, John Paul Jones
Ability: Friendly American ships within L of this ship get +1 to their cannon rolls. French crew can use their abilities on this ship.
Flavor Text: When the French were not able to take delivery of the first American-built 74-gun ship of the line due to British blockades, she was welcomed back to the United States with open arms. The mere sight of her produces joyous crowds, exuberant over their earned freedom and eager to pay homage to those who died in the Revolution. A new paint job and armament upgrades make her the finest ship in the fledgling United States Navy.
Designed by A7XfanBen
Now through 11:59pm PST on the Fourth of July, you can buy USS America and get 20% off the other items you order! After that, both the ship and the deal will be gone.
Barbary Corsairs
Wicked Kareen + captain, helmsman, explorer
Marrakesh + helmsman
Griffin + captain, helmsman, explorer
Morocco + helmsman, explorer
Pasha’s Delight + captain, oarsman
Fleets were allowed to place 3 terrain each, including up to 1 oversized terrain piece. Terrain selection included some rocks that I haven’t used before – similar to other obstacles you may have seen in past reports.
Each fleet contributed 8 coins, with 7 being of any value or type and 1 being a UT of their choice. This led to a little strategy, with the Corsairs choosing a bunch of 7’s (with a gold-oriented fleet) and the Americans choosing lower values given their wolf pack attack strategy.
8 wild islands with 4 coins each:
The Americans set sail, with their brand-new flagship ready for action:
The Corsairs are the first to explore:
An overhead view from the southwest, showing the Pirates and Corsairs scattering while the English warships go west via round earth:
The Cutlass fires the first shots of the day! However, both miss the Marrakesh. Neptune’s Hoard reveals Coconut to explore; his Reroll ability should help the NH keep an adequate pace throughout the game. Not a good ship, but a funky crew setup of combos I wanted to try out.
Wicked Kareen sails over and delivers a broadside to the Cutlass, just barely missing on two cannons. Marrakesh explores, leaving behind a single coin.
By now the Corsairs had brought home multiple treasure loads from their other ships, Griffin and Morocco. This netted them a healthy sum of gold, which they would now utilize to construct one of the most epic and crazy game pieces I have ever had the great fortune of bringing to life!!
Behold:
THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA
In my timeline, this Ancient Wonder of the World was not destroyed by earthquakes in the 1300’s….
It survived and has now been repaired and resurrected by the Barbary Corsairs!!
Rarely have I been this excited about a specific custom game piece. I conceived of this concept of an “alternate history” and bringing this epic idea into the game earlier this year. I was ecstatic to find 3D printable models of it, and quickly developed the concept of a new “god piece”. It is absolutely meant to rival game pieces like Paradis de la Mer or even the Zeus. Doing it justice requires a big vision, and this grand display will not disappoint. The lighthouse concept originally comes from my friend Jeremiah, but I wanted to expand on his Lighthouse keyword and make a wild version of it that could potentially see some crazy uses in future campaign games.
Here are the stats and rules I used for it in this initial “playtest” game:
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
Collector’s Number: 1032 (an LE in my fantasy set, Pirates of the Epic Seas)
Faction: Barbary Corsairs
Gold Cost: 6
Cargo: 5
Cannons: 3L-3L-3L-3L
Ability: Grand Lighthouse. Forward Observer. Mortar. The cannons of this lighthouse are measured from each of its four corners; the cannons may be rearranged as cannons are lost. The bottom segment of this lighthouse does block its own lines of fire. If this lighthouse loses its light, it has additional segments that must be eliminated before the lighthouse can be eliminated (3 total not including the light). Each piece represents a cannon – one for the light, one each for the top half sections, and one for the main tower. When this lighthouse has at least its bottom 3 segments, once per turn you may choose one enemy ship within the lighthouse range (L+L+L) and roll a d6; on a 4-5, the target’s controller replaces one of her masts with a fire mast. On a 6, the target’s controller replaces two of her masts with fire masts.
Keywords: Grand Lighthouse:
Building lighthouses follows the conditions for building forts. Gold used to build the lighthouse is placed face-up next to the lighthouse and still counts towards a player’s total for victory conditions. A lighthouse cannot use its abilities on the same turn that it is built.
If the Lighthouse has its light, a friendly ship within L+L+L of the Lighthouse gets +S to its base move once per turn (a yellow L+L+L tool can be used to indicate the range of this effect, or a light yellow plastic can be placed under the lighthouse).
Two hits from the same shoot action are required to eliminate the light; when it is eliminated, remove it from the lighthouse. Once a lighthouse loses its light, it loses the L+L+L effect but retains its other abilities. The light is considered the first segment of this lighthouse; once the light is eliminated, the other segments may be eliminated with each successive hit (which do not need to come from the same shoot action). The segments of this lighthouse must be eliminated in order from top to bottom. A lighthouse is eliminated when all of its segments have been eliminated. When a lighthouse is eliminated, the gold used to build the lighthouse remains on the island (face down).
Enemy ships cannot load treasure or drop off crew or equipment from this island. Enemy ships may dock at this island and try to capture the lighthouse. When an enemy ship docks at this island, either player may initiate a boarding party; if so both players roll a d6. The lighthouse controller adds the number of segments remaining and the number of crew in the lighthouse. If the ship wins, the lighthouse is captured. If the lighthouse wins, the enemy ship is considered undocked and loses two masts.
If a friendly ship is docked at the island, it can give up its turn to give a repair action to the lighthouse.
If a lighthouse has cargo space available, shipwrights and musketeers can use their abilities inside a lighthouse. (based on Jeremiah’s Lighthouse keyword)
Forward Observer: Each friendly ship within the light radius of the lighthouse gains +1 to their cannon rolls. A ship must be within the radius when the cannon roll is made. This ability does not affect ships that move out of the radius and then start shooting. (designed by Jeremiah)
Mortar: This lighthouse gains a rank 3 cannon with a range of L+L measured from any part of the lighthouse base. This cannon may only shoot once per turn. (designed by Jeremiah)
Flavor text: Expanding their coastline eastwards to Egypt, the Corsairs were stunned to find this nearly forgotten Wonder of the World in fair condition. Conducting extensive repair work and equipping it with modern weapons, they have turned it into a terrifying monstrosity. It is now considered one of the great strongholds of the Mediterranean, commanding presence for miles around.
Since it is a historical fiction game piece and not accurate to real-life events, I have put it in my Epic Seas set.
As night falls on the ocean, who knows what terrible fate may befall those who dare challenge the newfound power of an Ancient Wonder of the World….
A quick glance at the massive L+L+L range (I’ll abbreviate to 3L for this report, not to be confused with a regular 3L cannon). The Archimedes heat ray ability is already in range of USS America! Hence why I added the “cannot use abilities on turn it’s built” clause. XD The Corsairs did pay for the lighthouse on time, I just forgot to put the 6 gold face up on the island at first in my excitement to take pictures. 😀
The reach of Corsair influence is now greatly expanded, as the lighthouse commands an incredible presence on the seascape.
A massive triumph for the Corsairs! Given their proximity to the city of Alexandria and their lack of forts, they felt like the most appropriate faction to give this “god piece” to. I’ve thought of it in my mind as “the Corsair answer to Paradis de la Mer”. I’ve also started thinking about making a superpowered campaign game variant, possibly to base entire scenarios around.
I think that reveal deserved a full “intermission”; now let’s get back to the flow of the game!
The Cutlass can’t escape via the fog bank she launched her attack from, so the Pirates go for broke! Her attack on Marrakesh mostly succeeds, but the boarding result is a tie! (Restarting Rule: winners of boarding parties choose which result happens and which treasure to take if applicable; losers choose which crew is eliminated)
The first Corsair turn with The Lighthouse of Alexandria is a success! Wicked Kareen sinks the Cutlass, with Marrakesh arriving home to unload and repair. Morocco will be giving the Weapons UT to Pasha’s Delight, who is playing the role of lighthouse keeper. At the upper right, the extra S segment shows that the extreme range of the lighthouse is already benefiting the Griffin on her journey southwards.
The heat ray ability missed on both of its first two rolls – first on Nene-nui, then against HMS Devastator, arriving near home on the right via round earth. HMS Galway found the Maps of Hades UT, but managed to avoid its negative effect. The English started the game with just 4 cargo spaces open, but they’re making a killing in the gold game with massive values. HMS Forge carries two 7’s, with a third on the way from the Galway. HMS Devastator loaded a 3 after Forge explored in the west, giving them a nice total of 24 on just 4 coins if they can get it all home next turn.
After the lighthouse was built, the Americans turned around and headed northwest towards an unexplored island. This speaks volumes about the deterrence factor of the lighthouse against even a combat fleet. With USS America providing a heavy escort, USS Quigley docks there with Nene-nui on the way. With the Morocco’s spying ability, the Corsairs have already seen all the coins on the island and know it’s a hefty sum. NN found the UT Cotton’s Parrot. Ningpo takes an L+L potshot at NN with her sniping ability, but misses with a 4.
Indeed, the north is where the action was at this point in the game. USS America and her support gunships keep the northwest calm, but the northeast will be devolving into skirmishes. Griffin (Corsairs) and Asp (Pirates) both had designs on the island, with Griffin exploring first and taking a 5. The Corsairs offered to leave the 3 on the island for the Asp to pick up in return for the Asp not attacking them, but the Pirates didn’t take them up on that offer with both Forge and America lurking so close by (they probably didn’t believe them either, but the Corsairs were being truthful about the values).
The Asp initiated a boarding party to steal the 5, rather than getting blasted by Forge after exploring to load the 3. However, Wicked Kareen has followed the Griffin through the whirlpool and into the area, further complicating the situation….
The Galway probably would have joined her English comrades going north, but instead a terrible event has befallen her….
Maps of Hades allows the Americans to control the Galway for a move action, sending her into range of the Lighthouse of Alexandria! The heat ray magnifies the sun’s rays and lights up the Galway’s foresail!
Pasha’s Delight comes over to finish her off:
Griffin launches a counterattack on the Asp, hitting both shots. However, her crew’s attempt at a boarding party is a disaster, with the Asp ready for hand-to-hand combat.
Wicked Kareen lived up to her flagship billing for the Corsairs, shooting off the Asp’s final mast and boarding to steal the 5. Asp’s crew were exhausted after boarding the Griffin twice, and could only muster a feeble resistance (1 roll).
However, the dominoes were not done falling in the northeast. It was finally time for the English to start flexing their might!
HMS Forge surges forth, sinking the Asp (which would end up being fa key moment) and damaging the Wicked Kareen.
The Corsairs fled with their gold, content to let the English take the remaining 3. They knew they could outpace the English and went to the south via round earth. The Pirates only have two ships remaining – NH is slowly grabbing a single coin, while Ningpo escorts her. Ningpo’s captain thought about going north to take another potshot at the Nene-nui, but thought better of it given the looming power and striking distance of USS America.
The fleets bring home gold and regroup in a calm pair of turns:
At this stage of the game, it was clear that the Corsairs were likely in the lead given the sheer quantity of coins they possessed. In addition, they had a massive deterrent on their side in the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The English and Americans decided to agree on a plan. They would form an alliance, with the goal of taking down the massive lighthouse. After the destruction of the lighthouse, all bets were off. This speaks to the immense power of the lighthouse – not even the two most well-armed factions in this particular 4×60 game felt comfortable trying to take on the Corsairs alone. The Pirates got wind of this plan and were eventually included in the coalition, making it a potential 3-on-1 fight.
The Corsairs didn’t know about such talks of course, but with Morocco’s spying ability they had now seen every single coin on the home islands and felt comfortable with their position. Here is how it stacked up:
Corsairs: 34 gold, with 6 in the lighthouse
English: 27 gold
Americans: 26 gold
Pirates: 18 gold
Knowing this information, the Corsairs were in an enviable position: theoretically they should win either way. Even if the lighthouse was destroyed and the English OR Americans got all 6 of its gold, the Corsairs would win either 34-33 or 34-32. As a result, they felt confident in their ability to come out victorious. However, there was one thing they didn’t know about… a crew they couldn’t spy on, and an outcome they would not have predicted….
The Americans and English jockey for position. They were massing on the west side of the map, in order to get as close as possible to the lighthouse with their combined forces before surging west across round earth for a full-scale assault.
The Americans proposed a new clause in the Anglo-American agreement: since the English were ahead of the Americans (they had truthfully disclosed their HI gold totals to each other) and the English HI was closer to the lighthouse island, the Americans should take the northerly attack route. Else the English might have a very quick trip home with all the lighthouse gold – if they could snatch it up of course. The English thought this fair and agreed to take the southern half of the attack formation.
Knowing they were unlikely to win, the Pirates launch a distraction to help their allies on the other side of the lighthouse. However, Ningpo misses both snipe shots against Morocco. She is now within range of the lighthouse…
… and promptly gets blasted!
I think now is a good time to explain the Pirate motivations here as the endgame phase began. With almost no shot at winning, the Pirates were looking to play kingmaker. They had a favorite horse in this race – the Americans. Earlier in the game, Ningpo had shot at the Americans, who still haven’t returned fire at the Pirates at all. The English sank the Asp, making the Pirates dislike them. The Pirates despise the Corsairs, having gotten into intense skirmishes and scuffles with them. As a result, the Pirates would much prefer the Americans win the game instead of the Corsairs (especially) or the English.
Ivory Mask (still face down!) hatched a plan: he could intentionally get shot at by the Americans later in the game and then activate Parley to transfer Pirate gold to the American home island. It would require the Americans to survive the upcoming battle, but the Neptune’s Hoard could hang back from the conflict and tell the English about the plan instead if the Americans were eliminated (just to make sure the Corsairs didn’t win).
In the meantime, Wicked Kareen dismasted the Ningpo, dooming her to a fiery fate. The other Corsair galleys gather around the lighthouse, with the other fighters (Griffin and Pasha’s Delight) ready to defend against the eastern onslaught.
TIME TO ATTACK!! An epic climax was in store as new game pieces and concepts clashed in a wild fray!!
USS America is the only ship capable of getting more than 1 cannon in range of the lighthouse (2 hits from the same shoot action to eliminate the light), but she only shoots 1/3 for no damage! This did not bode well for the attackers….
The Corsairs score massive damage! Another blast from the heat ray lights a blaze on USS America, who takes damage from the Griffin as well. HMS Devastator loses masts to a mortar shot and a perfect 2/2 from Pasha’s Delight, who I believe benefited from the Forward Observer ability heavily in this game. Given that they probably didn’t need to retain the lighthouse gold to win the game, the Corsairs went all-out in their attack, boarding recklessly and losing three generic crew.
In a surprise to the Ivory Mask, Wicked Kareen surges northwest and attacks the Neptune’s Hoard! The Pirates were expecting the Corsair flagship to join the fight in the east, but the Corsairs were in full “barbaric mode”, simply attacking anything in sight! Too scared to reveal his Parley capabilities, Ivory Mask stayed face down as the NH began losing masts.
Indeed, the entire game was quickly turning into a bloodbath, and to make matters worse, night was falling on the grisly scene. Luckily the combatants had the lighthouse to guide their efforts.
But not for long!! HMS Devastator unleashes a full broadside (6 shots when including Musketeer), shooting poorly but still managing to hit the lighthouse twice and finally extinguish its light!
Some hours later as many hours of fighting pass….
As the sun rises, the tide is turning. USS America’s hardy crew managed to keep her fire at bay even as her cannons blazed. They dismasted and captured the Morocco as the lighthouse tower began to crumble amidst the cannonade. HMS Forge used her short-range cannons to dismast the Pasha’s Delight.
USS Quigley got in on the action and contributed a hit against the lighthouse, with part of the upper tower crashing down and nearly hitting the ship.
The Nene-nui was next up, the last of the 5 ships mustered by the Anglo-American alliance. She dealt a final blow to the lighthouse, sending it crashing down into the ocean and sending shockwaves through the game!!
The coalition was successful in destroying the lighthouse… but now we would see the true desperation of the endgame phase….
This final chunk of the game was an utter mess that lasted longer than I expected it to. The teeter-totter nature of a typical Pirates CSG endgame was on full display.
The Corsairs continued their boarding attacks, with the Pasha’s Delight and Nene-nui losing their captains.
Wicked Kareen continued to attack NH, with the Ivory Mask growing more and more worried that the plan wouldn’t work out.
Bedlam!! Shots from Griffin and Forge make the survival of USS America doubtful, but the Americans counter by building Thompson’s Island where the lighthouse stood in hopes of salvaging their flagship! Due to the timing of a fire mast scuttle, USS America rows at S+S to the island, where the captured Morocco is able to dock. However, the fort was built at the end of the American turn, so the flames don’t extinguish automatically upon the fort’s construction. HMS Forge has captured Pasha’s Delight, while Quigley eliminates two masts from HMS Devastator! Quigley’s crew killing ability is negated by Charlotte Godspry’s Crew Protect.
At the upper left, NH fights back against Wicked Kareen continuously, and the battle is about evenly matched:
USS America is sunk! HMS Devastator dismasts Quigley, who is towed by the captured (American) Morocco.
The fort sinks HMS Devastator! Now all three “superweapons” are gone, leaving the outcome of the game up to the supporting casts of each fleet.
In a semi-miracle, Marrakesh goes 2/2 with a pair of 6’s to beat up the Nene-nui! (on cannons of 4S and 5S) Griffin continues to harass Forge, while NN has shot at Griffin.
Incredibly, Neptune’s Hoard has won her fight against the Wicked Kareen! The Corsair flagship has lost all her masts and can only row around, with no way to eliminate the final mast on NH. Ivory Mask (still face down!!) breathes a sigh of relief. He nearly emerged to use his defensive boarding bonus in an attempt to save Coconut, but none of the boarding scores were close enough for it to make a difference. His identity still hidden, he lies in wait, only to reveal Parley at the opportune moment so as not to alert the Corsairs to a possible alternate winner….
HMS Forge finally gets off a perfect broadside, slamming the fort and dismasting the Griffin. Pasha’s Delight captures Griffin, both of whom are now part of the English fleet.
Morocco narrowly avoids getting wrecked on the reef to bring Quigley back into the fold. The cannoneers on Marrakesh continue their best day in recorded history, shooting near-perfect to almost sink the Nene-nui! Thompson’s Island takes a mast off the Forge, meaning that Marrakesh is now the healthiest ship in play. She also appears to be the strongest in combat right now, making her one of the most unexpected “beast ships” in my history of games.
HMS Forge destroys the fort and dismasts Quigley with a ram! Pasha’s Delight rows in to dock at the island, meaning the English can automatically dock the towed ship (Griffin) as well. Griffin gets an explore action, but only loads the 1 (vs. 3 and 5 coins) from the island because the English realize she has a low chance of getting home with any gold. Ivory Mask watches from afar, hoping the Americans can somehow pull out of the area with a seaworthy vessel despite no masts or fort flags currently standing in their fleet. He decides to let the Americans in on his plan….
The shenanigans continue! Just rebuild Thompson’s Island! XD
The best play for the Americans is to build the fort again, providing firepower in an increasingly weak area as well as a key repair base. The continual fort construction is slowly draining their HI, but they’re hoping Ivory Mask will keep his word and help them out with gold in the long term.
After taking some damage, the new Thompson’s Island counterattacks and sinks HMS Forge with great shooting! Morocco and NN repair, while the English basically accept defeat (in the area at least) and attempt to row their captured and damaged galleys out of the debris field. Forge captured Quigley before sinking, but the latter probably won’t be an asset with how long it will take to make her serviceable.
Griffin rows towards the whirlpool but is just barely caught and rammed by the Wicked Kareen! With the help of the Weapons UT, the Corsairs manage to tie the boarding score at 6 against a valiant effort from the Griffin’s English prize crew. Marrakesh finally ran out of luck, abandoning her anti-American crusade after losing two masts to the fort and/or NN.
Thompson’s Island sinks the Wicked Kareen with a well-placed shot, while Marrakesh is dismasted by NN. With the Corsairs off their tail, the English successfully navigate the whirlpools to arrive in calmer waters near home. The multi-stage battle is finally over.
NN unsuccessfully chases Marrkesh around in a whirlpool dance. In a strange outcome for the English, Griffin is able to dock home her 1 coin as the English reconcile that they will likely finish the game with 3 captured ships and no English ships in their possession.
Morocco picks up some gold from the fort, one of which is the 5 used to build the Lighthouse of Alexandria. She heads northwest to rendezvous with the Neptune’s Hoard, who has been patiently waiting for quite a long time now.
Morocco’s gunports open, with her pitiful 5S cannons about to open fire on the last Pirate ship remaining in play. Ivory Mask finally reveals himself, and the wealth transfer begins. Over the course of a few turns, the Americans get the Pirates to Parley 4 of their coins to the American HI. The Pirates feel decently confident that they’ve ensured a non-enemy will win the game. They break off the gold siphon with just one coin left to avoid getting shut out.
At this point, the English were gearing up for a three-ship attack on the new Thompson’s Island, while the Marrakesh was considering reefing herself and hoping other players would get eliminated so they could finally count.
Normally the game would go on due to the fort gold being available, but the Americans decided to end the insanity and reveal their entire portfolio of goodies. A whopping 44 gold now sat on their HI, which was more than any other faction could lay claim to. The Americans argued that even if the English or Corsairs got the 3 gold still in Thompson’s Island, it would not be enough to catch the Americans (closest possible score being 37 for the Corsairs). With no home island raiders in play, there was effectively no way to decrease the American gold score. (short of capturing Ivory Mask on the NH and somehow looping in a third party for another intentional Parley transfer to swing the gold race, which would truly be shenanigan central)
With that, the other factions agreed to this sort of “inevitable/stalemate forfeit”, ending the game at last.
The scores:
Americans: 44 gold (47 including Thompson’s Island)
Barbary Corsairs: 34
English: 28
Pirates: 2
What a game! The first phase saw a dominant Barbary Corsair fleet aided by a powerful new game piece, but the second phase saw it unravel at the hands of a 3-fleet coalition. The endgame was wild, as we saw all the factions duke it out in chaos with the Pirates eventually being able to essentially choose a winner via Ivory Mask’s Parley ability.
Given its massive power and ability to influence a game, the following changes were made to The Lighthouse of Alexandria: Cost of 8 gold (instead of 6); the “Archimedes’ heat ray” ability will now place a single fire mast only on rolls of 5-6, instead of one fire mast on a 4-5 and two on a 6.
Very happy to debut USS America and the Lighthouse of Alexandria! I expect to see both of them again in some future games. Hope you enjoyed the new stuff and the Golden Seas pieces. Thanks for reading!
With Tournament #3 over and a winner declared, it was time for them to face the winner of Tournament #2 in the ultimate competitive matchup. This is about as meta a matchup as I can imagine!
With that, it is clear that most matchups between these fleets will come down to the luck of who goes first.
UPS 2 has proved its mettle as arguably the greatest fleet in Pirates CSG history! Even against the toughest competition it can succeed, and it scored 12 gold in its Game 1 loss – more gold than the GT fleet scored in its two losses combined.
The game and fleet process has been so gamified that most of these “hyper meta” matchups will likely come down to luck more than anything else. As a result, this might be the last competitive series I play for a while. I do have a few more competitive matchups I’d like to play in 2024, but they will probably be 1-off games.
A peek at the setup:
Thanks for reading! The competitive play in the first half of 2024 has been fun and informative, and now I feel pretty much completely satisfied with it. The results speak for themselves, and I think I’ll mostly move on to other game types/formats now. (more fleets, other build totals, some house rules, etc.)
The final Wizkids Pirates game between Captain Randy and I on the Saturday of Dice Tower West 2024. 60 point build total, with Randy combining some elements of his 40 and 50 point builds from earlier that day to make a new fleet. We used the Las Vegas house rules (through the “RtSS legal” part), and ended up with a more spread-out map than the previous two games.
In accordance with my fleet strategy, I placed three copies of Mysterious Island (MI) #15. Randy placed one MI as part of his island contributions, one that I hadn’t memorized the effect of based on its shape. Since we were using MI’s, we needed to use a d6 to determine who placed each island during the Setup phase (to make it random). We placed 4 terrain each for 8 total. I had rolled to go first, so Randy chose my home island (HI) to be in a far corner of the map. I considered putting his HI at the MI he contributed (partly since I didn’t know what the effect was), but wanted to keep the MI’s in play for maximum fun/chaos and noticed that by putting him at the final lone non-MI available, he would likely not get ships in range of my native canoes on the first turn (knowing exactly where I wanted the canoes before I placed them). I made sure to place the French native canoes at one of the MI #15’s, which happened to be quite close to another copy of the same MI. 🙂
Celtic Fury started with her stern S away from my HI, ready to round earth immediately upon moving. An empty L’Intrepide was my +5 selection, as events were banned per the house rules. Princess Auraa, Jules de Cissey, and a tribal chieftain were content to camp out at home all game and watch the treasure pile up. XD
The Cursed native canoes are easy to proxy in for the French ones, since they have the same cannon rank, point cost, cargo space and speed. These were 10 French canoes ready to farm mysterious island effects like their life depended on it!
Captain Randy:
Neptune’s Hoard + Hammersmith (F&S version), 1 crew
La Santa Isabel + Bianco’s Haulers, 2 crew
Bonnie Liz + Genny Gallows (SM version), Powder Pete
Libellule + explorer
We also agreed to use the chess clock, at 30 minutes per player (automatic loss for a player if their time runs out). It was Captain Randy’s first time using it, and my first time using it in a non-solo game.
I immediately started redocking the French native canoes at MI #15. Upon flipping the MI to reveal its effects, Randy quickly caught on to the strategy and we had a good laugh about it. I think only one canoe got the negative effect (marked by the S length straw), but most of them got the 5-6 effect: “Randomly move one treasure coin from this island to your home island.” ??
Unlike the gimmick fleet used in the previous game, this MI effect did not require any exploring of the wild island – it was a simple automatic transfer of a random coin on the island to my HI. A “direct deposit”, if you will. As a result, it works much quicker than even UPS – theoretically you could win the game almost immediately by redocking at least 4 canoes and getting lucky enough with the treasure distribution that the 4 coins sent home are worth 16+ gold!
In this case I only needed to redock 6 of the 10 canoes in order to fully drain the MI of all its resources. All 4 of its coins were sent straight to my HI, netting me 14 gold (6,5,3,0) within the first move actions of the game! The last 4 canoes sped off to another MI #15 just a short distance away, with one of them docking and sending a coin home (which I think was the French Royal Decree UT, lol). For the Parley aspect of my fleet, it would be perfect if the coins sent home stayed face down so my opponent couldn’t see them, but we hadn’t established a house rule where coins on HI’s stay face down even in a 2 player game. Of course, Parley hadn’t been revealed yet…
Celtic Fury and Intrepide both round earthed, eager to participate in the MI farming experiment. I flipped the SS version of Eileen Brigid O’Brien (aka my friend Tiffany, the former Wizkids Product Manager for the game), getting her SAT/Born Leader roll to catapult CF towards the MI #15 that the canoes likely wouldn’t get to. Since the CF had her linked crew aboard, she would get +1 to MI effect rolls due to the Ex-Patriot keyword. Normally Tiffany and her crew complement on the CF would be worried about negative UT’s such as Plague or Missionary, but not in this case. There was no need to explore the island – just redock and trigger the effect until the island is drained of all coins!
Captain Randy was not able to reach any of my ships on his turn. This allowed 4 of my canoes to dock at their second overall MI #15, sending home 1 of its 3 remaining coins (farming efforts were slowed a bit lol, they were getting tired). Celtic Fury also docked at the southernmost MI #15, sending home a coin. Those coins were 5 and 0, meaning that I had already won 19-0 after only a round and a half of play!! ?? However, between this type of ending happening for the second game in a row and wanting to simply play more Pirates that day, we decided to keep playing, essentially just ignoring the “more than half” endgame condition.
An approaching Santa Isabel and Libellule means the canoes will likely have company soon, while Bonnie Liz headed through a whirlpool in search of undisturbed treasure. Intrepide and some canoes head towards the CF’s island, ready to take up duties on the farm in case Tiffany gets too busy fighting to redock constantly.
Neptune’s Hoard got a little too close to Tiffany’s flagship! Celtic Fury rumbled into action, with Tiffany’s SAT helping to deliver a devastating broadside that sinks the ship!
Bonnie Liz managed to get the 5-6 effect at the MI Randy had contributed, and it was one of the wild ones! “When this ship explores this island, replace one treasure coin with a unique treasure from your collection.” He chose Sunken Treasure to try to catch up in the gold race, but the double d6 roll was only 5 total. Santa Isabel reached the canoes and shot 1/2 to eliminate one of them, also docking at the island and sending home a 0 coin (she also found the Celestine’s Charts UT that I had put in, which was inconsequential). This was an unintentional way of actually limiting Randy’s fleet strategy – he wanted to load the 0’s and bring them home so Santa Isabel (or Bonnie Liz) could bonus them up with +2 gold, but the MI effect prevented that from happening by just warping it home! (and you can’t load treasure from your own home island) I believe CF got another SAT from Tiffany, going north to sink Libellule!
CF was on the Santa Isabel’s route home, so Captain Randy decided to simply shoot at her on the way by. It was time to reveal the other part of my fleet strategy – Parley!
RotF Lenoir was flipped at last – she was still face down because I wanted her to be a funny surprise when actually using Parley, and because Tiffany had barely needed Lenoir’s Reroll (this was probably my luckiest day of playing Pirates CSG in multiple years). Unfortunately the fleet strategy didn’t work out perfectly as planned – the random treasure transferred was a 6, the highest value coin on my HI. ? The idea is to warp home crappy coins like 0’s, negative UT’s such as Wolves/etc, and then Parley them to an opponent! (as the frustration and amusement mounts)
However, this still prevented the CF from being shot at, allowing her to return fire with a full broadside and dismast the Santa Isabel on my next turn!
My farming efforts were less effective at this phase of the game, with various canoes being slowed by the negative effect and mostly worthless coins getting warped home. The Charts and Wolves are just meant to slow opponents and not me, as I had no intention of ever exploring an island in this game.
Celtic Fury captured the Santa Isabel. With only 1 mast remaining in play, Randy was unlikely to get any more treasure home. The Bonnie Liz didn’t have enough gold on her anyway to make up the difference, especially with Sunken Treasure decreasing in value each round. In addition, I would have sank the Bonnie Liz before she could reach home, so we called it.
Scores:
Ben’s French: 16 gold
Randy’s mixed: 6
Another wild “proof of concept” game. When abused to the fullest extent, Mysterious Island effects can completely break the game. As in the previous game that day, I had all the luck on my side though. The fleets were arguably a bit lopsided, which was multiplied by the luck disparity.
I really like this fleet idea. It’s brutal but amusingly effective when things go right. It’s a way to gamify multiple abilities and combos/effects in a way that destroys parity and can make a mockery of the game. With 10 canoes redocking at an MI #15 on the first turn, it’s reasonably likely that the entire island will be drained right away. The Ex-Patriot linked crew can help CF send coins home on her own, while Coeur could even assist by dropping the extra chieftain and trying to dock or explore a wild island at some point. We saw one of the ideal situations in this game – high-value coins getting warped home early for a very quick win. The other (arguably even funnier) option is that the canoes send home complete trash, such as the 0 and Wolves. Then your opponent comes for CF when you have nothing good on the HI, and Lenoir parleys them the garbage coins before wreaking havoc and dismantling the opposition with up to 20 shots in the counterattack! “One man’s treasure is another man’s trash”… in this case, it would be more shocking to have coins on HI’s face down, so that Lenoir knows what coins will be parleyed out, but the opponent can only respond with horror when they realize they’ve been had.
Feel free to know what you think of this gimmick fleet idea, or the games played at Dice Tower West. Thanks for reading!
In this 2 player 50 point game, I faced my friend Captain Randy. We were Dice Tower West Pirates, playing three consecutive games on one of the main days of the convention in Las Vegas. We used the primary Las Vegas house rules (through the “RtSS legal” part).
I rolled to go first, with a new fleet I had concocted recently: Canoe Vacuum Farmers. It’s essentially a UPS variant designed to be competitive at 50 points instead of 40 since I couldn’t figure out a satisfactory way to make it work well for a standard game.
Captain Randy went second with a mixed fleet including Neptune’s Hoard, Libellule, and Concepcion.
Randy picked my home island (HI) to be in the southwestern area, and I actually chose one of the Mysterious Islands (MI’s) I contributed to be his HI because I knew about its powerful vacuum “treasure suction” effect (wanting to keep his ships a bit further from the other MI). I intentionally placed my American native canoes at the MI #1 closest to my HI, knowing they would become professional farmers in record time. (“farming” is the term for continually redocking at a Mysterious Island in an attempt to trigger it’s effect(s)) We had agreed to place 3 terrain per player. Ready to set sail!
How about this for game-breaking! “5-6: When this ship explores this island, randomly move two treasure coins from every other wild island to this island, and then choose which to take.”
With the first action of the game, I redocked some of the American canoes. My luck was fantastic as it was this entire weekend – multiple canoes got the 5 or 6 needed to suction treasure from the other wild islands to the canoe island! However, only that morning had I realized that there was a bit of a snag in the strategy – the suction didn’t happen upon docking at the island and rolling for effect, unlike some other Mysterious Island effects. It would only vacuum the gold when the ship that rolled well explored the island, which would be on my next turn. However, I got two of the positive effects and none of the negative 1-2 results.
But that was only one move action. I was still able to go nuts with Hai Peng. She loaded an oarsman from my HI and sacced it with Jimmy Legs, speeding out to reach the center island and exploring it. Captain Jack Sparrow sent home a 5 coin to Coeur du Lion, who unloaded it for +2 gold with Maurice Aristide’s bonus. Captain Randy then took his turn and sent his ships out to the islands, but with no action generators present and no chance of eliminating canoes, there was little hope of catching up to a UPS-style fleet.
The game was as good as over, in a shockingly fast rout of broken proportions. The native canoes explored, vacuuming up all the gold in play. O_O All treasure coins that remained on wild islands were suctioned to the canoe island, making it a “kingpin” stronghold of epic loot. This meant that I had the pick of all the treasure in the game. The canoes loaded all the lowest-value coins, leaving the best for Captain Jack Sparrow to send home for a very quick win. He sent another 5 to Coeur for another 7 total with Aristide’s +2 bonus, then Jimmy Legs sacced another oarsman so he could send home the final 5 I contributed to the Rattlesnake, who was given her only action of the game to explore the HI and unload it. This brought my total to 19 gold, enough for a 1.5 round 19-0 shutout victory. O_O
In addition, I believe this might be the first time I’ve seen a game end so quickly where the winning fleet also had complete control over every treasure in the game – every single coin was either on my home island or on one of my ships. That’s usually quite the rarity in general, let alone accomplished in only 2 turns.
This is a sickening “new” way to win by combining the UPS strategy with a gold-hogging Mysterious Island abuse tactic. The canoes are included specifically so you can always have them start the game at an MI #1, and to give as many redocking chances as possible. At least one MI will always be wild, even if the other two in play are picked as HI’s. The odds are decent that at least two of the five canoes will roll a 5-6 upon redocking, giving them a chance to trigger the suction effect on the second turn. Even if they roll low and send treasure to a different wild island, as long as the last roll or two at the MI is the good effect, they can just warp it back when they explore. By allowing CJS to have his pick of the best treasure, it’s very easy to send home the highest-value coins, which in some cases mean that only two coins will be enough to win. (I will probably change the default treasure distribution of this fleet to be UT’s + 6,6,3 so the fleet can reach 16 on just 2 coins if Aristide adds +2 to both 6’s. 7,7,1 would also work of course.)
Of course, it’s a very luck-dependent fleet. I was only able to execute the combos perfectly because I went first, got the right rolls at the MI, and neither the canoes nor the Hai Peng came under fire in the first round. The HP also didn’t find any negative UT’s like Missionary at the center island. However, another nice thing about vacuuming up all the gold is that when the “kingpin island” is explored, if all remaining treasure has been suctioned, there is a very high chance (100% chance if it’s the first island explored) that the Kharmic Idol or Pirata Codex will be there, wiping out any negative UT’s and allowing CJS to have free reign on sending home the best coins when he arrives. I was very happy that things went right, as this game serves as a proof of concept for the idea.
When things go right, it’s hard to imagine a more game-breaking succession of combos.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more action!
Day 2 of DTW kicked off with a 2 player, 40 point game between myself and my friend Captain Randy (twayne1047). This day was a bit of a wild west, as originally there was supposed to be at least one more player attending (who may not have had a fleet, or possibly never have played), but it turned out to be just us. I was also originally anticipating at least one other additional player at the event that is pretty knowledgeable about the game, so my fleets were a bit overkill for this Saturday of gaming. However, I had been really looking forward to testing them out and this was a somewhat rare opportunity to do so in non-solo play. I had also been itching to play some more complicated fleet ideas and whatnot.
We used the Las Vegas house rules (through the “RtSS legal” part) and placed 3 terrain per player – almost all fog.
Captain Randy followed with the Spanish:
La Santa Isabel + RotF Luis Zuan, tribal chieftain, helmsman
Bonnie Liz + Genny Gallows, Powder Pete, 1 crew
Spanish native canoes
I chose the Spanish home island (HI) to be west of mine, as I anticipated whirlpooling into the east. However, I forgot about round earth, partly since it wasn’t used the day before and I haven’t been using it in T3.
I did a quick overview after my first turn:
It felt as though the game would end almost as soon as it had started. Banshee’s Cry loaded a 5 from the first island she explored (Mycron for two actions on the first turn), then she explored the adjacent island in the east so she could soak up any potential negative UT’s before Cassandra went in for some loot. She found the Pirate Globe, which flipped all coins on wild islands face up for the rest of the game. She didn’t load the 5,3,3 on the island, leaving Cassandra to dock and load those three coins. Cassandra then got an action from Mycron/Patagonia to go back home through the whirlpool, not taking any damage. The Spanish explored, triggering the Pirata Codex and wiping out all the remaining UT’s. However, neither La Santa Isabel nor Bonnie Liz would be able to catch Cassandra or the BC to stop them from getting home.
Round 3 saw Cassandra and Banshee’s Cry dock home their 16 gold for a shutout win!
The Grim Express: 16 gold
Spanish: 0
Many times in the past when using Calypso, I don’t get her roll to work on the first turn. Here it was a boon when combined with going first. In addition, I found 16/30 gold on the islands I whirled towards, making it easy to win without having to steal any gold with Grim or deal with the Santa Isabel.
The good news about it being a quick “whirlpool ride” of a game meant that we would easily be able to fit two more games in that day!
