The Captain's Logbook

Last night’s Pirates of the Spanish Main game went pretty well. The scenario was Five 5′s and Forty Lashes, where we built fleets consisting of five 5-masted ships (of any cost), with 40pts of crew. No limit crew were allowed. Also, there were no islands or gold; it was pure gun battle.

Including the Privateer, we had 6 players, so there were 30 ships on the board…and plenty of opportunities for fighting. My fleet did pretty well double-teaming a lone ship or two. I also got my Behemoth into position to un-submerge and attack a couple of ships, but that left him vulnerable, and he was shot and killed.

Late in the game, I realized that one of my derelict ships could still act! One of my ships, the Le Soleil Royal, had been derelicted by another ship, but not sunk. On board, I had a Sacrifice Captain, a couple Oarsmen and a Helmsman, which meant the ship could still move S+S. And, if I sac’ed another Oarsman, I would be able to move S+S+S+S! Ramming speed!

Unfortunately, my ramming roll came to nothing, and he won the boarding roll, killing the last Oarsman. And, the ship was sunk shortly there after. But it was a glorious attempt!

My Pirates of the Spanish Main group volunteered down at the Santa Maria on Saturday to help get the ship ready for the tourist season (which starts April 1st). Basically, we had to get out the yardarms (the cross pieces on the masts that hold the sails), attach the sail, and raise it up to summer height. But, the yard arm for the main sail is incredibly heavy, and we had to lift it up using a couple of pulleys, so it was hard work. Luckily, we were using a 6:1 pulley, and so we could raise the yardarm a few feet, lock it off, readjust, and then do a couple more feet, so it wasn’t horrible. But, it did take 5-6 big guys to get it up to the proper height.

Here we are raising the yard arm. I’m the guy on the left with the blue hood.

Here is my brother Sean lifting something.

Here we are working on raising the mizzen-mast.

At the end of the day, we strung up the canopy so that the ship can give tours in the rain.

Here’s what the ship looked like once we finished.

At one point, the Santa Maria’s crew said that we were 1.5-2 hours ahead of schedule, so I think we got a lot done in one day. They’re pretty much ready to open on April 1st now.

I recently became a Privateer for WizKids Pirates of the Spanish Main constructible card game. Basically, my duties are to run events from time to time, and help promote the game. Last night was my second time running an event, and it went pretty well.

If you haven’t played Pirates before, it’s what WizKids calls a constructible card game. Basically, you buy packs of cards, and each card or sets of cards has a ship, crew, treasure, sea monster, or submarine that you can punch out and put together. The most recent expansion, Frozen North, came out in the middle or February, and introduced Vikings as new faction.

Wednesday night’s scenario was called “Raid!”, where the goal of the game was to raid other peoples’ Home Islands (or ships), and steal gold from them. Although there have been other ships and crew that let you steal gold from an opponents Home Island, the Vikings have a definite advantage in this, with some ships allowing you to steal 2 gold at a time, and one crew letting you take as much as you can carry!

We had 5 players for the game, including my self. I was hoping to see more Viking longboats in the game, but I think that I was the only one with a longboat in my fleet. There were 2 players (myself being one) who had submarines in their fleet, and one player had only one ship, the gigantic Guichuan.

Well, one player, Shiloh, played “Mermaids” onto the Guichuan, effectively pinning it for 6 or so turns, so that ship didn’t do a whole lot. He also had Carbon Charlie on a ship, and spent a couple of rounds turning the gold on his Home Island into cannons on his one-masted Galley. Later on, another player came over and shot off Shiloh’s one mast, turning the ship into the Amazing No-Masted Gunship, which had 3 cannons (that couldn’t be removed), a move of S (Galley), and was immune to Icebergs (since they remove masts, and the ship had none). I’m pretty sure that the ship was sunk later in the game.

The Guichuan’s player, Brian, after coming out of the effects of the Mermaids, was able to ram a ship or two, and had his ship get Spanked by an Iceberg. But, because the Guichuan has 10 masts, it really didn’t affect him.

My fleet consisted of 2 ships (one Longship and one cargo hauler) and a sub. My cargo hauler was derrilicted by another player’s gunship, and I ended up using the hull as cover for my Longship while I looted his island. He was still able to derrilict the Longship, but I was still able to move S, and towed my cargo hualler most of the way home. If we had played one more turn, I would have made it, but as it was I tied for third place.

Next weeks event is a 60pt battle where sunk ships are returned, fully repaired, to our home islands, and the crew put on the nearest Wild Island. My plan is a fleet of small, fast ships, all of one faction (so I can switch crew, if needed). It should be fun.