120 Point Game

A7XfanBen vs. Captain Randy vs. Kogz03

9/5/2022

This was a 120 Point Game with 3 different players from the Pirates CSG community!  Captain Randy ran a mostly Cursed fleet, while Kogz03 (of the discord server) ran a Pirate fleet.  Labor Day was the “big Pirates day” of my 2022 Vegas trip, with both triple digit build total games happening on Monday!  These are the house rules we used, with all game pieces in the Master Spreadsheet.  Randy went first, followed by myself and kogz03.

Randy is in the south, myself in the southwest, and kogz03 in the north.  Randy was wary of my Mysterious Island plans and chose one of them as his home island to take it out of play.  My initial plan was to use an MI’s “negative” ability to fling treasure closer to home, where some of the canoes could pick up the excess.  My canoes started in the northwest while Randy placed his French RtSS canoes in the east.

Randy’s fleet included a loaded Guichuan with some international crew, Grinder + helmsman, Coeur du Lion + Princess Auraa and Deleflote, Sea Monkey + explorer, Death’s Anchor, Sea Duck + explorer, and Jolly Mon + The Hag of Tortuga.

Here is the fleet I used:
Zhanfu + captain, helmsman, oarsman, Soul Mark  (this Zhanfu is a wood paste model from Cloud of Craft Gaming)
Frontier + tribal chieftain (swapped for Yeshaji Angria on turn 1), canceller DNT, helmsman, oarsman
Star of Siam + helmsman, explorer, oarsman
10 American native canoes
USS Vermont + Calypso, Captain Charles Richard, tribal chieftain
Patagonia + Robinson, Lord Mycron, Bratley
UT’s: Nemo’s Charts, Protection from Davy Jones, Trees, Neptune’s Figurehead

Kogz03’s fleet:
Black Pearl + Calico Cat, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Revenant + Sean “Cannonball” Gallows, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Harbinger + Crimson Angel, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Raven’s Neck + Norrington, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Raven + explorer
Bloody Jewel + helmsman, explorer
Banshee’s Cry + explorer
Jolly Mon + The Hag of Tortuga

Two thirds into the first round and both 10 masters have moved into the safety of fog.  Calypso fails her first roll which foils my early plans a bit.

The Frontier is given a second action via Mycron and explores the great turtle out from under Randy’s French canoes.

A sharpie-lined Black Pearl is even more formidable than usual:

At the upper left, the Sea Monkey and Death’s Anchor are being attacked by the Zhanfu after taking out some American canoes.  The Star of Siam has emerged from fog to explore a wild island.  The Frontier follows French canoes south while the Pirate fleet splits up.

Randy and I were aware of our playing status/rivalry throughout the game, but kogz03 was a new opponent for both of us and probably the most poised to create chaos in multiple areas of the board.  In a big blow to Randy’s gold game, the Grinder was sunk by a dual attack from the Black Pearl and Revenant!  The Harbinger eliminated 3 of the 4 canoes in my “canoe screen”, but the Raven’s Neck was abysmal against the Star of Siam, barely removing a single mast.

The native canoe at the bottom right has loaded two 2’s, Nemo’s Charts, and Neptune’s Trident.  Not far away, Randy’s Guichuan attacks!  She sinks the Star of Siam and blasts two masts off the Raven’s Neck.

After sustaining 4 hits of damage in her battle against The Cursed, the Zhanfu is victorious in sinking the Death’s Anchor flotilla and captures the Sea Monkey as a prize.  The gold-laden canoe has her 2’s yanked off by nearby support canoes, who use their ability to divvy up the treasure and duck into the big fog bank nearby.  This is because the other canoe is preparing to give its UT’s to the Zhanfu….  At the bottom right, the Frontier and Randy’s French canoes have emptied Mysterious Island #12 in the southeast.

1-2: Move all treasure coins from this island to any other wild island.
3-4: No effect.
5-6: When this ship explores this island, replace one treasure coin with a unique treasure from your collection.

The Black Pearl continues south and sinks the Sea Duck:

The Guichuan redocked and sank the Raven’s Neck.  It was pretty obvious that Randy was trying to keep the Guichuan docked as often as possible, which made it even more obvious that SS Bianco’s Haulers were probably on the ship.  The surprise for me was when Randy revealed F&S Lenoir to also be aboard, which he revealed to cancel the RN’s captain when kogz03 went to shoot the Guichuan.

I had a good idea the Trees UT was in the northeast, and transfer Yeshaji Angria to the Zhanfu because I anticipate the Frontier needing to dock at home sometime, likely upon towing the Sea Monkey home for repairs.  However, the Frontier’s free hoist explore does net her the Nemo’s Charts UT, as she is the ship most likely to “farm” the mysterious island if needed.  Plans are set in motion.

After another round, ships are scattered around the map.  In the north, the return of the Raven and Banshee’s Cry to kogz03’s HI has put him in the lead for gold.  The Zhanfu and Frontier stay together, towing the Sea Monkey to the northeast via round earth.  At the lower left, the Vermont has unloaded Calypso to my HI to avoid triggering her ability.  I was worried that creating more whirlpools would give more avenues the other players could use to attack me, especially with a Deleflote-powered Guichuan and a trio of action generators in the Pirate fleet.  Randy’s canoes sail home with coins aboard, while the Coeur ducks into the fog bank to avoid any potential ram and board threat from the Revenant.  We are getting into the endgame phase, but barely any gold has been unloaded to home islands!  I was fully expecting a home island raider crew and Bianco’s Haulers on the Guichuan, which is why I kept the Frontier loaded with gold and my gold canoes in their fog bank.  I was hoping to wait for Randy to go after kogz03’s home island, at which point it would buy me time to pull off a grand combo and/or get more gold home in the meantime.

The Frontier explores the northeastern island and the Zhanfu uses a free explore to repair from 6 masts to 10 with the Trees UT!  Randy was grumbling, as he now had a healthy 10 master to potentially deal with.  Little did he know that there was a far bigger threat… just not one currently in play.

Success!  Just as kogz03 was sailing his gunships towards the Zhanfu and Frontier (possibly because by now I had revealed HI Raider Yeshaji Angria in order to spy on some coins to make endgame gold calculations), Captain Randy took the Guichuan over to his HI and raided it with SM El Fantasma!  The Black Pearl was sunk in short order!  The climax had been set in motion!

Randy’s other two canoes had arrived home with gold, which I knew from the Frontier’s exploratory efforts was likely more than my canoes had aboard.  If he was going to nab some of the Pirate coins, I was at least able to spy which ones via Yeshaji.  However, I knew my time was running out.  Due to the fog bank chain connecting kogz03’s HI to Randy’s HI, the Guichuan could probably remain completely safe in fog if she wanted to as soon as she stopped raiding the Pirate HI.  From there she could dock home stolen loot, at which point it would be extremely difficult to permanently steal, between the Guichuan’s protective firepower and ability to re-steal it.  Thus, I had to prevent the Guichuan from getting home, preferably sinking her with as much gold as possible aboard to deny it from going to Randy or kogz03.  I did use my remaining 4 canoes to move the great turtle towards the Guichuan, but due to the moving restrictions I couldn’t get it into an effective blocking position.

The Zhanfu started towing the Sea Monkey again, as I really thought she might prove useful in the long run if I could ever get her back to my HI for repairs.  The Frontier sped to the southeast with Mycron assistance and did something quite rare and unusual… she used the Hoist keyword to unload one of her own coins to the wild island.  She docked there and rolled only a 2, which changed to a 4 due to Nemo’s Charts (no effect).

Randy redocked the Guichuan twice more (dismasting the Harbinger in the process) to steal an additional two coins from the Pirate HI, bringing the Guichuan to 4 coins total from her thievery.  With a fog exit nearly guaranteed on the next turn for the Guichuan, I knew now was the time to strike.  The Frontier redocked at MI #12, finally getting the 5-6 roll needed to bring in a UT from outside the game.  I was really happy that I had brought some contingency UT’s in my tin on the trip, as I punched a fresh one out and placed it face down on the Frontier.  Mycron then gave the Frontier a second action, with the ship using her hoist to dump another of her own coins on the island before redocking again.  On one of the MI rolls I got a little help from Nemo’s Charts, and with the second roll I had secured the ultimate combo of Pirates CSG.  I went back into my tin and punched out another secret UT and put it face down on the Frontier.  After some brief consideration I knew now was the time to play the combo, immediately.

THE ODIN MISSILE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I flipped Runes of Odin face up to place an iceberg from outside the game right behind the Guichuan.  Next came Runes of Magic, which was used to move the iceberg straight into the hull of the Guichuan.  And just like that, the Guichuan, all her defensive crew and all her stolen loot was removed from the game!   O_O

Ironically, I had planned to use the same MI for low roll farming in order to fling coins closer to home.  That option became pointless once the coins on the island were gone.  However, once I found Nemo’s Charts and figured there was no better (or easier) option to eliminating the Guichuan as the main threat to my game, the high roll farming became key.  How ironic that in Vegas it was a UT gambling scheme (with a little help from the house 😉 ) that took down a high roller ship.  XD

Now I just had to make sure I would end the game with the most gold.  kogz03’s stolen loot had just gone to the locker, so I peeked at one of Randy’s coins with Yeshaji.  Seeing a 3, I knew he couldn’t have more than me since he only had one other coin.  Throughout the game I was trying to track how much gold was available since we started with 45.  Before the Odin Missile combo I knew I had 15 between the Frontier and canoes in the fog bank.  Essentially “saccing” the lowest value coins on the Frontier (both 2’s) for the Runes brought me to 11, still enough to win since Randy’s second coin couldn’t be more than 7 (so he couldn’t have more than 10 total).  Knowing all this I quickly brought the Frontier and my canoes home, ending the game as quickly as possible now that the Guichuan had been eliminated.

The final scores:

1. Ben: 11 gold
2. Randy: 7
3. Kogz03: 5

Quite the finish!  The Guichuan only had 6 gold on her when she went down, but that still would have been enough for Randy to win with 13 (or kogz03 to tie me at 11) if she hadn’t gone down.  Theoretically I still had the most at 15-13 over Randy if we both had just brought all our gold home, but I have a feeling it would have gotten more complicated than that and Randy would have raided my HI for more (at which point it would have been extremely difficult to re-steal between the Guichuan having Ghost Ship, a canceller, and Bianco’s Haulers).  Besides, it was far more fun for me to sacrifice 4 of my gold to deny 6 gold from either of the other players, essentially ending the game in a grand climax of epic combo savagery!!  Another 10 master crushed by the power of the Norse gods, called by the Frontier’s crew with Nemo’s help!!  O_O

Game in Las Vegas Nevada – Points in Play at 2×60

9/1/2022

This game in Las Vegas Nevada was with Captain Randy!  The player with the most total points in play (including gold) would be the winner.  We also used a few other house rules such as no ram damage in addition to the house rules from this week of gaming in Vegas.  Captain Randy rolled to go first with what I called a “spite fleet”, using various game pieces I don’t yet own.  (USS Morning Star and USS Denver, along with the Bonnie Liz which I do have.)

I followed with my favorite faction, the English:
HMS Swallow + RotF TGunn, Mercer, Commander Temple, explorer, oarsmen x2
HMS Rye + explorer, oarsman, towing Gibraltar
HMS Phoenix + Bratley, helmsman, oarsman
UT’s: Missionary, Jail!, Neptune’s Figurehead, Marines

My goal with the UT’s was to take oarsmen off his ships, which would make them easier prizes for Commander Temple.  Each player was allowed to place 2 oversized terrain and 3 regular terrain.  We each contributed 8 coins worth 15 gold, but gold worth points would be multiplied by 4 so there was an equal amount of gold points and regular points in play (120+120=240 total).

Definitely some monetary value in Randy’s fleet:

I was intrigued by the idea of the Phoenix as a bulky and well-defended gold runner.

What happened next was nothing short of astonishing!  The Americans didn’t factor round earth into their maneuvering calculations, with the Morning Star dismasted by the Swallow on turn 1!  The Rye explored for England, finding good values.

Commander Temple snatched up the Morning Star and I already had a big advantage.

In a perfect stroke of luck, the Bonnie Liz found the Jail UT which warped all of her crew to Randy’s home island!  This left her easy pickings for the Swallow, who sacced to emerge from a whirlpool and dismast her!  The Swallow captured her on the next turn, and an English win was looking inevitable.

Just when it looked like it couldn’t get any more ridiculously one-sided….

The repaired Morning Star and Bonnie Liz will now make gold runs for me:

The Swallow and Rye+Gibraltar did their best to partially block some fog exit locations of the Denver, while I continued making gold runs.

The Denver got a good enough fog roll to dock home some gold safely, but soon afterwards the game ended.

The final points in play scores:

1. Ben: 186 points in play
2. Randy: 48

One of the most lopsided games I’ve ever seen!  The luck and fleet strategy was entirely on my side tonight, which resulted in a quick and decisive English victory.  It was almost like karma for intentionally teasing me with game pieces I don’t have yet!  XD

Water World Returns

8/31/2022

The first game of seven on my 2022 Las Vegas trip saw the return of brettb45’s Water World scenario!  This is a super fun game idea I pretty much always enjoy playing.  We played at McMullan’s Irish Pub, which was very on-theme with nautical things all around us.

Captain Randy used a Spanish fleet with the Principe de Asturias, Joya del Sol and Rosario. Maddy brought a French Mercenary fleet with the Celtic Fury, Libellule and Bon Marin.

This was the Pirate fleet I used:
Red Curse + Hag of Tortuga, Captain Blackheart, helmsman, explorer, oarsmen x2
Treasure + F&S Hammersmith, SM Fantasma
Dragon + helmsman, explorer
UT’s: CC Letter of Marque, Marksman’s Map, Wolves, abandoned musketeer, abandoned oarsman

This doc has the house rules we used.

The pub was actually quite dim inside, making it feel kind of like we were playing on a wooden ship with lanterns.

We were off to the races and the Las Vegas Pirates gaming week was underway!

The Spanish lose their main gunship in short order:

Ships got busy exploring, with Captain Randy finding turtles right near his home fort!  The Bon Marin finds both Wolves and the abandoned musketeer on the same island, meaning that my UT plan has partially backfired.  However, the goal of including Wolves to extend the game (and thus give my HI Raiders more time for thievery) was still working, as it eventually became known that the game couldn’t end under normal Water World conditions of “no more dry ground”.  With no player having a musketeer or Marine to eliminate the Wolves, the game would continue until only one player remained.  At the bottom you can see another gift from Redgoat, a super useful L/S measuring tool chain made of thin metal tubing.

With no oarsman aboard, the Principe was ripe for capturing by the Red Curse.  The Treasure docked at the Spanish home fort and shot off some flags, revealing SM Fantasma to steal a coin to boot!  Indeed, the Spanish were under heavy fire, as the Celtic Fury gets in on the action by running over a turtle.

However, the Spanish have their own HI Raider!  The Joya del Sol is carrying both Fernando Sanchez and Bianco’s Haulers (who prevent the ship from being shot at while docked), making her a major threat to the nearby Pirate home fort!  Any coins the Treasure steals from the Spanish will likely just be stolen back, and the Joya is within one move action of the Pirate/Spanish home forts for quick raids.  The Rosario builds a Spanish fort on a wild island, which diverts gold away from Fantasma… but basically ensures that the gold in the fort can only count for Randy if he retains the fort until an endgame condition is reached. (since if the fort is destroyed, all the gold in it and used to pay for it are permanently locked up by the “immortal” Wolves)

Soon all of the wild islands except the “Wolves island” had sunk, leaving the home island raiders to do more work.  I was chipping away at the Spanish home fort with the Treasure, but didn’t want to sink it while it still had valuable coins on it.  The Celtic Fury has lost masts to the Spanish fort, but the Bon Marin rams the Rosario derelict.

As the Joya goes for another coin while being immune to cannons while docked, the Treasure shields the Red Curse from the Spanish home fort as Randy and I pilfer from each other.

The Pirates struggle to keep up with the Joya’s theft pace, as Hammersmith decides not to dock the Treasure at my home fort.  My strategy was shifting – since Randy could just steal back whatever gold I stole and deposited in my home fort, I had to start planning to win the game based on treasure on ships (which counts in 3+ player games).  My path to victory was basically to destroy all 3 of the other forts in play while keeping all the gold I could on the Dragon, who would hide out in fog where my gold couldn’t be stolen.

The Joya heads west, opening her up to Pirate cannons as she is finally not docked somewhere.  Despite an extra action for the Red Curse, my shooting is abysmal, leaving the Spanish galleon with a mast standing.  The captured Principe is finally ready to set sail after repairing.

The Joya fled for the safety of the fog as the French approached my home fort.  I was not in a good position in the gold race, with both of the other players likely benefiting hugely from suicide plays.  I figured the French would try to grind themselves out on my home fort to eliminate themselves from contention, with a few islands worth of gold in their home fort from early in the game.

At some point in this endgame Randy and I made a deal to keep the game alive so I would have time to destroy the French home fort, sinking all their gold if I could pull it off with my guns-heavy fleet.  I decided to go all-in on my strategy of winning by having some coins on the Dragon and just denying the other players’ gold through fort destruction – abandoning my own home fort in the process as the captain-less Celtic Fury approached and got blasted.  The Joya del Sol ran over a reef but did not wreck herself.

The Celtic Fury got SAT from Eileen Brigid O’Brien and rammed the Treasure, but was sunk soon afterwards by the Pirates.  The Joya goes back to her stealing ways, racking up more gold from my home fort.

At this point I had to keep Randy’s Spanish home fort alive because if I sank it, he would suicide the Joya on a reef to end the game before I could reach his other fort and Maddy’s French home fort.  I left it with no flags and headed west, with a plan to destroy the Spanish “Wolves fort” before then moving on to the French home fort.  This was because if I destroyed the French home fort first, Randy would again have incentive to wreck the Joya to end the game in his favor, so I had to go after the forts in a specific order to maximize my chances.  My gunships headed west, with the intention of grouping together to blast a fort with all three captained ships at the same time.

However, the Spanish thought they had more gold than the French and decided to end the game by suicide with the Joya wrecking herself on a reef anyway!  They should have waited for me to eventually destroy the French home fort!

1. Maddy’s French Mercenaries: 29 gold
2. Randy’s Spanish: 18
3. Ben: 0 (my gold was in a fog bank at game’s end)

Quite the game!  It was pretty interesting how the abandoned musketeer ended up on the same island as Wolves, essentially meaning the game couldn’t end until two of the three players were eliminated.  I was a bit frustrated that I finished with 0 gold despite playing hard and to win, but it was a consequence of the all-or-nothing strategy I felt was necessary for a come-from-behind win.  Maddy found really good gold values on islands early in the game, which proved to be enough in the end.  The Spanish had a lot of coins, but mostly lower values.  In the strange endgame their best play was to suicide immediately after I destroyed the French home fort, which would have been enough to win as the gold in their home fort was more than what I had on my ships that I would have taken out of fog.  A fun and interesting return to Water World!

–

Ben vs. Captain Randy at 60 Points

September 12th, 2021

Once again I played against Captain Randy in Las Vegas, this time at his house where we played some games in July 2021.  We used the same custom rules as the previous game.

I used the Deliverance, Frontier and Philadelphia while he went with a mostly Cursed fleet:

Executioner + OE El Fantasma, DJC Tabitha McWarren, Gendermarie Rene Moreau, RotF Ralph David, helmsman, oarsman
Grinder + chieftain, helmsman
Coeur du Lion + helmsman
Cursed native canoes

On Randy’s first turn the Executioner used a whirlpool and Sac to sink the Frontier!  Things were already not looking good for me.

Similar to our last game, I struck back quickly, eliminating 3 masts from the Executioner:

The Cursed were laying claim to 3 of the 4 wild islands when the Deliverance zoomed over and started sinking native canoes!

The Deliverance caught the Executioner on her way home and dismasted her.  However, the Philadelphia has been useless so far (I really wanted to take advantage of her ability given the points in play win condition) and the Coeur has unloaded gold for the Cursed.

The pesky marine made the Deliverance go home for repairs, while the Philadelphia rammed the Coeur to try and steal some gold.  At this point the Executioner had one remaining face down crew, which I first assumed was an oarsman (especially with the Sac Captain El Fantasma aboard).  However, Captain Randy didn’t move the Executioner for a turn or two, so it became more evident that it was unlikely to be an oarsman.  I didn’t want to touch the Executioner with one of my ships (trying to tow if it didn’t have an oarsman) and end up losing valuable crew in an accidental boarding party.  Overall it made for a memorable time and is one of the cool things about having crew face down.  Between potential bluffing about face down crew and not reacting when you discover really good gold coins, there is definitely a “poker face” aspect to Pirates that is really interesting to see play out in real time.  🙂

Now it got a bit crazy.  The Philadelphia captured the Executioner (no oarsman to prevent dereliction), while the Deliverance tried to steal gold from the Grinder as she approached the Cursed HI. (the 6 marks a successful scuttle roll on the Executioner, as Ralph David made her Eternal)

The Gunship Swap

Within a turn, the fleets started looking rather strange.  The Executioner warped the short distance home with Eternal and started repairing, while the Cursed fleet was able to dismast and capture the Deliverance!  However, this is where we messed up a bit – under the points in play victory condition, we had already made a modification to Eternal that says “all cargo assigned to the ship is removed from the game” when Eternal kicks in.  This is to prevent the keyword from being OP with the alternate rules.  We forgot to remove the cargo (a bunch of valuable crew including the source of Eternal itself) so this game comes with a small asterisk, though I don’t think the end result would change.

Captain Randy and I both admitted that we wish we had played better as both of us made some mistakes in this game.  Here I took advantage of Randy not repairing the captured Deliverance as soon as he had docked her at his HI, which left the derelict ripe for the Executioner to recapture her!  Now I had both gunships under my control, but only 1 mast standing between the two of them.  The Philly did a small chain towing maneuver in an attempt to get the Deliverance out of range of the Coeur and Grinder.

The Executioner was dismasted but the Philadelphia was able to use her ability to warp the Deliverance to my HI where she repaired a mast.

Somehow the Philadelphia ended up capturing the Grinder as well!  This was a convenient boon for me, as the Turbine keyword allowed the Grinder to speed straight to my HI without any masts.  However, I just now realized that this is another gaffe, as Turbine says: “A ship with this keyword is not derelict when it has no masts remaining. If it has no masts, one hit still sinks it.”  Since it’s not derelict, it can’t be captured….

I think we swapped gunships again (now back to their original fleets) and the game ended shortly afterwards.

Congrats to Captain Randy on a 95-35 victory! (mostly from gold multiplied by 4) It was certainly a learning experience, both for the new rules and even understanding normal keywords.  I will say that I LOVE towing and capturing logistics, as well as the face down crew intrigue game.

Game on the Las Vegas Strip with Captain Randy!

Captain Randy and I met up at The Park by the New York New York hotel to play a game of Pirates on the Strip!  😀

Here’s the little preview footage:

We used a 60 point build total, round earth rules, and some new rules myself and few others have been working on.  The biggest change is that the winner of the game is the one with the most total points in play at the end of the game, which includes points and gold in your fleet.  Each player had to contribute 8 coins worth 60 gold (right now we’re trying an equal amount of points and gold at the start of play, so 60 points and 60 gold per player for 240 total at the beginning of the game), which we accomplished by simply multiplying the values of all coins by 4.  (since the standard rules call for 8 coins worth 15 gold)

I went first with a Pirate fleet:
Deliverance + OE Calico Cat, OE Griffin, The Hag of Tortuga, helmsman, oarsman
Cursed Blade + captain, helmsman
El Dorado + helmsman
Lightning

He used an English Pirate fleet.

The lighting affected the picture quality a bit, but here the Lightning is being blocked from Randy’s fleet by the Cursed Blade and El Dorado:

Deliverance in a fog bank with the lights of the Strip in the background:

The block ships didn’t stop Captain Randy!  With HMS Gallows he came in guns blazing real hot, using a double action to sink the Cursed Blade and El Dorado and dismast the Lightning!!  O_O

The Pirates got instant revenge on my turn, with the Deliverance coming out of the fog to dismast the Gallows!  Mostly due to the close home islands, this was definitely going to be one of those games where a flurry of actions and casualties happen at the start, and the remainder of the game is basically picking up the pieces and salvaging what you can to try to win.

Not as picturesque or piratey as Senor Frogs where we played in 2019, but a nice night in Vegas!  The Deliverance has sunk the Gallows.

The Aberdeen Baron round earthed to get some gold, with the Deliverance the only hope for the Pirates at this point.

Eventually the Deliverance got around to towing my Lightning, but the Aberdeen Baron (after getting some gold home) went on the attack.

After some more shenanigans I think I was able to end the game with the Deliverance!  However, we had forgotten that coins were worth 4 times their printed values, so Captain Randy won 40-35!

Afterwards we got up to some shenanigans at the Bellagio, where I disposed of an $1800 ship and we threw some coins into the water for good luck.  😉

Four Player Game at 100 Points

Las Vegas, NV

July 5th, 2021

Ahoy everyone!  This is a game I played with Captain Randy and his friends Curren and Drew in Las Vegas on 7/5/2021.  It was a four player game with 100 point fleets.  Flat earth rules.  The report was written more than 2 weeks after the game, so some details are fuzzy and this report is extremely biased from my perspective playing in the game.

I played The Cursed:
Sea Hag + tribal chieftain, captain, helmsman, oarsman
Native Canoes
Hangman’s Joke + captain, helmsman
Sea Rat + helmsman, explorer
Cutlass + helmsman
Raptor Maw
Namazu (from Return to Savage Shores)

Captain Randy used the Pirates:
Zeus
Neptune’s Hoard
Akua Lapu
Angelica

Curren used a Spanish Jade Rebellion fleet:
Baochuan
El Acorazado
Morning Star
Native Canoes

Drew used a French fleet:
Le Bonaparte
Behemoth
La Dijon
Le Bon Marin
Le Pique
Le Coeur du Lion (with Deleflote aboard)

I was using the Raptor Maw for the first time!

The one whirlpool in the center led to another world containing 5 whirlpools and 8 wild islands!

On the first turn a dragon standoff developed between Raptor Maw and Angelica.  Randy was just jealous he doesn’t have the LE yet.  I was still hoping we could do some “play for keeps” rules after I captured his Morning Star two days prior…. XD

I pulled out, not wanting to lose the Cutlass to the Akua Lapu:

After eliminating a Spanish canoe, the Zeus quickly whirled out of the main ocean, making a huge discovery in the Other World: Altar of the Loa, one of the most powerful UT’s in the game!!  O_O  (I had gone kinda crazy picking chaotic UT’s from Randy’s pile during setup lol)

Namazu surfaces to hit the Akua Lapu with a tidal wave attack!  Raptor Maw swoops on the Akua Lapu but fails!

Could a clash in the center be brewing?

Moving on from the Altar, the Zeus found a UT that improbably and randomly eliminated Emperor Blackheart!!  O_O  However, the Castaway turned out to be Calico Cat, allowing the junk to still have a source of double actions.

Maps of Alexandria or Pirate Globe was found, revealing quite a crazy assortment of UT’s across the map!  O_O

A second dragon standoff occurs, with the Cutlass eyeing Neptune’s Trident:

Raptor Maw with Namazu in the background:

However, then I made the mistake of sending Raptor Maw into French territory….

The Spanish made up the support for the Baochuan:

My Cursed fog hoppers hopped into the Other World, but they were joined by the Baochuan:

I hadn’t seen the full crew setups in the French fleet.  It was optimized for nasty combos, with the Bonaparte’s canceller basically freezing the Raptor Maw in place by cancelling Sea Dragon after Deleflote allowed the Bonaparte to move S+L+S x2 for max range.

Both dragons fell on hard times here, with Angelica losing body parts to the Baochuan:

The Hangman’s Joke explored the Lost UT to place some extra terrain.  In hindsight I probably could have made better choices, but either way the Cursed fleet was almost entirely united in an accidental homecoming party of sorts.

I had some cargo logistics to work out….

The Baochuan returned home with a large load of treasure, establishing the Spanish Rebels as the favorite to win!

At this point the Zeus had returned to the main ocean as well, with the “French Behemoth” lurking near the center:

At this point a coalition to take down the Spanish Rebels was discussed.  However, it wasn’t formalized and the players were having a hard time getting on the same page, as you’ll see….

I saw my own path to victory being long term and somewhat under-the-radar, so I was willing to bide my time and continue operating as-is until the opportune moment came to strike….

Various ships continue to run gold as the lengthy game draws onwards….

The French and Pirates got into an ugly fight.  Ugly because the Zeus cannot hit the Bonaparte with her S-range cannons.  The Bonaparte continued circling the Pirates and picking off masts while the opposition was powerless to do anything.  Hard to watch.  🙁

Two of my 2 masters returned to the Other World to max out gold income:

The Pirates were able to get some gold home, and the Zeus was busy blocking the Bonaparte as the Neptune’s Hoard approached their HI.  At the whirlpool you can see my Sea Rat, the only home island raider in play.  A plan was coming together.  Namazu and the Sea Hag team up to eliminate 4 masts from the Morning Star.

You know something is broken when the Zeus is a terrible counter against it.

Around this time the Other World became an interesting Wild West kind of theater.  I was still sending random Cursed canoes there out of desperation for more gold, hoping the whirlpool wouldn’t swallow it on the way home.  The Hangman’s Joke and Morning Star are on a collision course….

A situation was finally starting to develop off the coast of the Spanish Rebel home island.  The Sea Hag has dismasted one of the French gold runners.

She was captured and dragged into the fog bank where the Sea Rat was lying in wait to rob the Jades.  Namazu has slowly made its way over the sea to help out.

The Hangman’s Joke captured the Morning Star:

However, Behemoth was coming:

Le Bonaparte decimated the Pirate fleet, killing Angelica and sinking the Akua Lapu and Neptune’s Hoard.  I was still doing cargo logistics with the Cutlass and a canoe, though it wouldn’t end up mattering at all….

We had finally reached the endgame!  Now it would go down.  My story was: could I steal enough gold from the Spanish Rebel hoard AND get away with enough of it to win?

By this point the Other World was kind of a depressing mess:

The Bonaparte captured the Hangman’s Joke:

However, I had plenty of firepower to make a stand!!  The Sea Hag let loose with Neptune’s Trident and excellent shooting, taking the Baochuan down to 1 mast!

Now it was time to raid!  I essentially had a second (though temporary) HI Raider, with the Cutlass acquiring the Wine UT earlier in the game.  She snagged a 7 from the Spanish Rebel hoard, with the Sea Rat not far behind.  In the meantime there’s chaos!  The Zeus sank the Baochuan, but was then dismasted by the Acorazado!  The Sea Hag has the Plague and loses masts.

At this point Namazu and the Cursed canoes were gone, leaving few ships left in my fleet:

I couldn’t lobby hard enough for round earth rules before the game, and now it would have come in really handy.  The Cutlass didn’t have a good place to run, while the Sea Rat stole a coin but was besieged by ramming attacks.

I made a good run at it, but who was there to ruin it? Le Bonaparte of course!!  O_O  🙁   Although the Sea Rat escaped into a fog bank, Behemoth and the Bonaparte had arrived.  The Cutlass was cornered and fell to the French on the final turns.

The game ended soon afterwards.  Here are the final scores:

1. Drew’s French: 48 gold
2. A7XfanBen’s Cursed: 41
3. Curren’s Spanish Rebels: 38
4. Captain Randy’s Pirates: 35

Wow, some nice close scores and nobody got blown out!  It was interesting to see the Spanish Rebels fall towards the end, with some stolen coins preventing them from holding on.  I made a good run at it and thought I might have had it, but of course the French swooped in to claim victory.

This game serves as a great exhibit of why Le Bonaparte should be way up high on any potential ban lists.  Ugh!

Fourth of July 2021 with Captain Randy

This was the 60 point game that Captain Randy and I played on the Fourth of July 2021!  We drove southeast of his place in Las Vegas to his houseboat on Lake Mead!  The game took place on a nice glass table on the upper deck of the boat, with a nice wavy water effect.  The plant on the table is immoveable, so we decided to base the 3 wild islands around it.  The winner of the game would receive and open a Revolution pack that I had space for in the OE tin I brought on my trip!

Naturally we had to use the English and Americans.  I went first:

English
HMS Goliath (ghostly version) + LE Griffin, captain, helmsman, oarsman
HMS Hyena + captain, helmsman, explorer, firepot specialist
HMS Sea Phoenix + captain, helmsman

Americans
USS Thomas Jefferson + Commodore Peregrine Stern, Wayne Nolan, helmsman, explorer, oarsman
Bonhomme Richard + tribal chieftain, captain, helmsman
Native Canoes

USS Thomas Jefferson was the first non-canoe to get some gold.  I opened the hostilities, but HMS Goliath rolled horribly, leaving her open to a devastating American attack.

Would this pack contain the RV Super Rares?

Full size masts in the background! 😀

The Bonhomme Richard struck hard, eliminating 4 masts from the Goliath!

In the meantime, the rest of the American fleet was running home with gold:

HMS Hyena and the Goliath teamed up to severely damage the Bonhomme Richard:

The Americans might be looking to swap their 5 masters.

Finally a game on water!

In a surprising development, the English press their attack with everything they’ve got!  HMS Goliath takes 2 masts off the TJ, while HMS Hyena sinks the Bonhomme Richard!

Carnage ensues!  What else in a Fourth of July game between the English and Americans?

The Americans continue the war effort, with the TJ sinking the Goliath!

HMS Hyena dismasts USS TJ!

Up until now we had both kind of forgotten that HMS Sea Phoenix was a home island raider!  At this point it had been looking like the Americans would win handily on gold.  However, with both American 5 masters out of the mix, now the English could pick off all but one American canoe and then rob their home island slowly dry over time while extending the game!

But the Americans had a counter – Runes of Odin!  O_O

In one of the weirdest and WORST strokes of luck I’ve ever had in Pirates CSG, I proceeded to roll the exact combination of two d6 rolls (3 and then 6) required to push the new and deadly iceberg straight into my own HMS Sea Phoenix, ending the HI Raider threat and likely dooming my chances at a comeback!!  O_O

A beautiful setting for a beautiful game….

Even though HMS Hyena sunk the TJ, it was as good as over.

The Americans won by quite a margin, giving Captain Randy the revenge he sought after I won our first game!

I’ll let you watch the video to see him open the pack!