Game 1
French:
La Lyon + captain, helmsman
L’Intrepide + explorer
Mont Blanc
St. Joan + explorer
American Spanish:
Virtuous Wind + captain
El Alma
USS Montezuma + captain
All of the islands were mysterious, and the fleets set out to do battle!
The Lyon caught the Virtuous Wind and took off 2 masts, but the Spanish Americans were quick to retaliate, using both the Wind and the Montezuma’s ability to dismast the dangerous 3 master.
The Montezuma captured the Lyon, but in the meantime the St. Joan and Intrepide had been running around getting gold for the French.
The St. Joan used her speed to grab gold under the nose of El Alma as the Virtuous Wind returned home to repair. The Montezuma tried to tow the Lyon but was pursued by the Intrepide towing the Mont Blanc.
The St. Joan had found a 5 and 3 on the far-away island, which gave the French the 16-0 win!
Game 2
Cursed Corsairs:
Juggernaut + captain, helmsman, firepot specialist
Squalo
Golden Peacock + explorer
Spanish-English: (referred to as the Spanish)
Virtuous Wind + captain
El San Salvador + explorer
HMS Lord Lineton
This game featured a ton of terrain, some of which was strung together to make an island completely inaccessible without sailing through the fog. The Spanish chose the Cursed’s HI to be close to their own, in order to exploit the HI-raiding abilities of the Wind and Lord Lineton.
The Lord Lineton was chased by the Juggernaut as the ships split up.
With all ships except for the Golden Peacock headed for the western fog, a conflict was inevitable.
The Juggernaut caught the Lord Lineton and set her on fire!
True to their nature the Cursed kept up a hot fire and slaughtered the Spanish explorer and set the San Salvador aflame. The Lineton’s crew managed to put out their own blaze but the Englishman was dismasted.
The Virtuous Wind started towing the dangerously flaming San Salvador, taking a mast off the Juggernaut in the process. The Juggernaut struck back with a vengeance, which meant that she had landed at least one firepot on each of the three enemy ships!
By this point the Golden Peacock had brought home 11 gold for the Cursed, giving them the win (11-0) after the Juggernaut finished off the Virtuous Wind and therefore the Spanish-English.
(As a side note, you may have read that I think fire is overrated in this game. Although it can be devastating, even landing three separate firepot hits didn’t actually help the Cursed win the battle because it didn’t spread to eliminate their other masts (the San Salvador was already derelict when her fire spread).)
Game 3
Multi-nation swarm fleet:
Dragon
Paradox + helmsman
L’Intrepide
La Fureur
La Rosario
USS Annapolis + helmsman
Whisper
Franco-Spanish Americans: (referred to as the French)
Monaque + captain, helmsman
USS Montezuma + captain
La Cazadora + helmsman
This game featured a very tight island setup, with a strange terrain formation in the middle consisting of one iceberg and two fog banks.
The Montezuma encountered trouble at a mysterious island and lost both masts. She was towed home by the Monaque and repaired. However, the swarm fleet could only benefit from such a close-knit group of islands, meaning that some ships reached islands on the first turn, which made up for their lack of explorers.
The Monaque and Montezuma combined to sink a few of the swarm ships, and the Cazadora succeeded in dismasting the Whisper and towing her home. However, some ships like the Dragon and Intrepide got through to give the swarm fleet an early advantage in the gold race.
House rules were implemented that let icebergs and a mysterious island sink the Fureur and Dragon. At one point the Intrepide came out of the fog and slammed right into the iceberg, knocking off a mast and pushing her right back into the fog! The Dragon was sunk after farming an MI to throw the Montezuma into a different iceberg. The Rosario waited patiently in the fog, hoping the Monaque would abandon her mission.
The Rosario finally emerged from the fog and darted home with the last two gold coins. The gold was tallied up, and it came out to be a tie, 15-15! Since there was no more gold on the ships, the “most masts standing” tiebreaker was invoked, giving the French the victory over the swarm fleet!
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