This game marked the return of Daniel Repaire-du-Lion after a long absence, and the departure of Admiral Abigail as a regular player for a season. Paul the Pirate Prince and the Dread Pirate Richard will also be appearing less frequently. This "school" nonsense is cramping our piratical style!
Because it was a sealed-deck game, the pulls were as exciting as the battle. Some of the highlights:
The battle itself was a mad scramble for gold, and with nine players, there wasn't enough gold to go around. Three players (Abigail, Paul, and Mike) had Captain crew; Abigail was hindered by slow ships, but the other two used their fighting ships quite aggressively. The others did a lot of ramming and boarding, and some shooting when they could.
With over thirty ships in play, reconstructing every move would require a camcorder, and since this was a battle of sailing ships, camcorders weren't invented yet. However, there were some highlights to the action that are worth recording.
Bosun Zach's fleet went after Daniel from the first move. Without Captains, Zach had to start by ramming and boarding, then shooting once he was in position. He did a lot of damage to one of Daniel's ships that way, but he took some damage in return as well. Jake came to Paul's aid, but when Zach peeled off to do other things, Jake turned on Daniel instead. The Flying Frenchman later reported that there wasn't a single turn in which he was not attacked in some way.
Mike's initial course alarmed Abigail greatly. That wasn't his plan, so he altered course to starboard, which alarmed the Fire Blossom greatly. "Just don't take the gold I want, and I'll leave you alone," he said. But he must have had his fingers crossed; as soon as Aimee's Cursed Blade got close enough to Mike's Le Courageux, he attacked. And he got what he deserved for breaking an agreement: even though he had Michel Bordeaux on board for three cannons, he rolled three one's and missed everything. L'Atalante had to move for a ram to redeem his fleet's honor. But he left the Fire Blossom's ships alone for the rest of the battle.
Richard decided that Mike needed to be taught a lesson. His course alarmed the Fire Blossom all over again. "I won't hurt you, I'm after Mike," he promised, so she let his fleet pass through hers. But her gold ships inadvertently got in his fighter's way, his ship blocked another of hers, and it became a huge traffic jam. Only the Hades' Flame could keep closing in on Mike, and that was by sailing right through the island that Aimee was pillaging. He knew he couldn't take Mike on with that ship alone, and he really wanted to be aggressive against somebody, so his ghost ship came about, ceased to be ghostly, and rammed into Zach's one-masted galley instead.
The hottest action came at the center island, which was almost covered with gold, and which became a magnet for ships from many different navies. At one time, there were four ships docked and ready to claim its treasure -- Tiger's Eye (Daniel), Bloody Jewel (Mike), and two of Abigail's ships, Le Soleil Royal and La Anunciada. It was Daniel who loaded the treasure, and thanks to First Mate Ismail, he took all six coins. The moment he did so, Mike's Le Courageux jumped him and fired every gun she had. This time, she performed the way Le Courageux usually does in someone else's hands; she hit all three shots (including her Marine crew) and left the Tiger's Eye derelict.
"Are you going to sink me?" Daniel asked. "No, now we're all going to board you and take your gold, one coin at a time," gloated Mike. Daniel instantly invented a new and unconventional naval maneuver: he turned to Paul and begged him, "Sink me! Sink me!" Paul's Julius Caesar had been sparring with Jake's fleet without success, but now he landed the one hit needed to finish off the Flying Frenchman's ship. They gave each other a high five (something else that hasn't been invented yet); Daniel got to keep at least some of his gold, and Paul got his first treasure of the night.
Paul's Hannah took on Antonio's much bigger and better-armed USS Intrepid for some reason. Neither ship had crew or cargo, and the Hannah had no cannons to speak of, but she tried. The American schooner fired back with a Firepot and hit with it, then stopped shooting. She finished off Paul's other mast the next turn, then left her to scuttle herself (but Paul's scuttling roll never worked). Le Pique came up, built Paradis de la Mer on the nearby island, and took a turn attacking the Intrepid, successfully ramming and shrugging off a losing boarding action. The schooner and the fort traded shots and were slowly whacking each other down to nothing when the battle ended.
Meanwhile, Abigail had wanted a piece of the center island's treasure, and she had also been quite willing to join the boarding-fest that Mike had planned. She was balked in both endeavors, so her La Anunciada ran for the last island with gold and loaded it. Paul took a whack at her with the Julius Caesar, but landed only one hit with three cannons before time ran out on the battle. Abigail kept her gold, which made her almost giddy with delight.
Also at this time, Mike's Bloody Jewel was also thwarted from getting any center-island gold. She took out her frustrations on Abigail's Le Soleil Royal, which took some chutzpah, even with the Firepot Specialist on the Jewel. For two turns, Mike's popguns banged away at the huge ship. But he had gone back to rolling nothing but one's, and accomplished nothing except to irritate the Soleil. Finally, as if annoyed by a buzzing insect, the big French ship ran out her guns and swatted the bothersome Bloody Jewel out of existence.
When the gold was counted, it was another tie between Jake and Abigail; he graciously allowed her to get the Captain's Coin. Mike and the Fire Blossom were tied for second, or maybe it was third; it was all so confusing. Nearly everyone got at least a little gold this time. No ship earned battle honors, because no one ship made a significant difference in the outcome.
A quick trading session followed, in which everyone was energetically wheeling and dealing, but only a few trades were actually made. Mike brought home a handful of ships with broken masts and hull parts, awaiting his skill with the super glue. Everyone else went home well satisfied with their new ships, forts, and crew. The Dangerous Lady Lora, who caught the end of the action, decided that she wants to play a sealed-deck game (hey, who wouldn't want free ships?), and since Mike still has a few packs left over, it could happen.