VASSAL Campaign Game 2!

[a7xfanben]

With much anticipation and planning, the second VASSAL campaign game has begun! This one goes in a separate thread so they don't get confused, with the first one having battle reports in the regular BR thread.

The game is being played by four different players, listed in the order of play below. As with the first campaign game (Campaign Game 1 or CG1), the starting fleets were 30 points. Each wild island had 7 coins which would replenish when at least 4 islands were empty. Flat earth rules are being used.

French (El Cazador)
La Vengeance +
Le Triton +

Pirates (Xerecs)
Darkhawk II + helmsman, explorer
Bloody Jewel + explorer
Banshee's Cry
Mermaid
Lightning

English (a7xfanben)
HMS Yardbird + helmsman
HMS Half Moon + helmsman
Honu Iki + helmsman

Americans (ownage98)
Blackwatch + Commodore Edward Preble
Rattlesnake + captain

Oddly enough, the HI setup coincidentally resembled the real world, with the English in the north, the Americans in the west, and the French in the east. The Pirates took the southern HI.

[a7xfanben]

Progress has been made! Ownage decided to drop out of the game, leaving El Cazador, Xerecs, and myself to continue.

The action saw each faction launch a handful of extra treasure runners, expanding the fleets and leading to the first gold replenishment.

[a7xfanben]

Another handful of turns passed, with even more gold runners being introduced. Among them were the Aberdeen Baron, Tiger's Eye, Hai Peng, and Le Lyon.


Here, the Lyon has gone through a whirlpool to emerge in the northwest, while the Pirates take advantage of the broken abilities of the Rising Sun and Captain Jack Sparrow.

[a7xfanben]

After a month of inactivity, CG2 has continued! Still no shots fired, but this picture gives a glimpse of all the launchings.



A quick ship count, in the order of gameplay:

French: 9 ships
Pirates: 24 ships
English: 19 ships

Total: 52 ships

[a7xfanben]

This game has continued.

The first official point count, in the order of play:
French: 11 ships, ~169 points*
Pirates: 34 ships, 442 points
English: 28 ships, 413 points

Total: 73 ships, 1,024 points

With over 1,000 total points in play, we have already reached huge game status!

(*El Cazador has kept many of his crew face down, so I simply assumed an average of 3 points each for those)



It's worth noting that Emperor Blackheart made the Corse fire upon Le Soleil Royal, but other than that there hasn't been any combat action.

[a7xfanben]

We have begun using the new version of the Pirates module to play CG2.

Exciting things are finally happening!

My English launched the Baochuan with Admiral Zheng He and Katsura-chan!


The Zeus is loose! Xerecs' Pirates respond with a 10 master of their own!


However, the English have attacked! They're not going to be nice like they were in CG1! Whirlpool sub squadron ATTACK!

The Terror came through a whirlpool first, using El Cazador's custom Nobunaga marine crew to shoot a mast off the Pride, a Pirate schooner. Then the Slipstream followed suit, using Major Peter Sharpe to blast off another mast. To complete the attack, HMS Oxford sailed through the whirlpool and was given an AA (Admiral's Action - the crew you must roll a 6 with) to knock three masts off the nearby Darkhawk II and steal a coin!

[el_cazador]

What an exciting development!

I guess it's my turn now.

This is getting interesting...

EDIT:

Given the power of a sub-Marine, I may have to give Nobunaga some 3-4 point ability to prevent abuse. Thoughts so far?

[a7xfanben]

el_cazador wrote:

Given the power of a sub-Marine, I may have to give Nobunaga some 3-4 point ability to prevent abuse. Thoughts so far?

Hmmm, sticking Marines on subs was never TOO hard, with things like the Slipstream and the fact that most factions got at least one Marine (and subs for the Pirates and Cursed to boot!). He's only shot once, so there hasn't been "abuse" of any kind. The whole "subMarine" combo is a bit overpowered in the first place (especially in CG's), but at this point, the only thing to prevent that would be to make a house rule against it.

I had to make it interesting. The game has been stagnant for 4 and a half months now (even if it's been a slow 4 and a half months), and like I said, there's no reason to play my favorite faction the same way I did in the last CG. Throw in the unhindered growth of Xerecs' Pirate fleet which contains various OP game pieces, and it was definitely time for something to change.

[xerecs]

a7xfanben wrote:

The game has been stagnant for 4 and a half months now (even if it's been a slow 4 and a half months), and like I said, there's no reason to play my favorite faction the same way I did in the last CG.

Has it really been 4 months since CG2 saw any decent action? Good grief.......
Well we do have lives outside of Pirates, and other things such as other campaign games, school, reviews, and so on. Speaking of making things interesting......

a7xfanben wrote:

Throw in the unhindered growth of Xerecs' Pirate fleet which contains various OP game pieces

Unhindered. Good choice of word. Kind of like a fungus or mold that was growing under a rock, and was larger than originally thought. Oh wait we're talking about my PIRATES, and not the CURSED.

[a7xfanben]

xerecs wrote:

a7xfanben wrote: The game has been stagnant for 4 and a half months now (even if it's been a slow 4 and a half months), and like I said, there's no reason to play my favorite faction the same way I did in the last CG. Has it really been 4 months since CG2 saw any decent action? Good grief....... Well we do have lives outside of Pirates, and other things such as other campaign games, school, reviews, and so on. Speaking of making things interesting......

The game started in the middle of February, and my turn was the first REAL combat of the game, even though it wasn't much. We reached huge game status (1,000+ points) without really even firing a shot... I LOVE when CG's are still relatively small and they have combat. Thinking back to the destruction of Thompson's Island and the capture of the Executioner in CG1, those were some of my favorite moments from those games. Things like that really contribute to the 16th century adventuring feel, which helps the game out from a nostalgic perspective as well. The huge battles that typically happen towards the end are fun too of course, but there's something about the danger of losing your only battle squadron or your main gunship relatively early in the game that excites me and makes the game feel "older" (example being the 16th century) in my opinion. Also, I got both of you to comment on this thread for once, so I guess forcing your hand worked. We can't just run treasure forever!

PS: The Cursed will always be hindered, as long as I'm alive and kicking! (I just really hate the Cursed right now, almost as much as I did when they were released or when I came back from hiatus)

[xerecs]

Hm...If I ever get around to writing the BR's you're not going to like CoEC then, the Cursed have made a great impact on the game. Things are about to get VERY interesting in CoEC.

[a7xfanben]

xerecs wrote:

Hm...If I ever get around to writing the BR's you're not going to like CoEC then, the Cursed have made a great impact on the game. Things are about to get VERY interesting in CoEC.

I'd rather have things be interesting than boring, if even that means the Cursed are involved.

CoEC is heating up, CG2 is heating up, and the World game is due to start in a month!

[a7xfanben]

CG2 has finally continued!

The English press their attack! (southwest of the center) The Pirates managed a nice counterstrike, dismasting the Oxford! However, more submarines were on the way! The Terror and Slipstream were followed through the whirlpool by the Mobilis and Hephaestus, as well as HMS Bolingbroke! The Bolingbroke splintered masts on the Darkhawk II and the Thirty Tyrants, while the Terror surfaced to shoot at the Windjammer! The Pride has been dismasted, but the Pirates have the Broken Key and Ranger nearby to help recover from the raid.


After another turn, the English and Pirates have unloaded quite a lot of gold, while the French appear to be heading east, despite the flat earth rules.


Up close in the action! The Bolingbroke was dismasted, and is due to be scuttled. The Terror was sunk! The other English-controlled subs were ineffective, but they had a final ship join them: HMS Success. She was given an AA (admiral's action) after coming through the whirlpool, inflicting minor damage on the Ranger. This burst of combat has spiced up the game, and we hope to continue soon!


In terms of launches, El Cazador launched a custom 5 master, while I launched HMS Durham with Lord Cutler Beckett, giving the English 4 total AA (admiral action) crew.

[a7xfanben]

Two more turns have been played. HMS Success and HMS Oxford were captured by the Pirates, who launched the Prussian Crown, presumably to deal with the Mercenary subs hired by the English. Those three subs were ineffectively ramming the various Pirate gunships in the area, while Major Peter Sharpe missed sinking the Oxford (to deny the Pirates from using her).

The French nearly sailed off Ocean's Edge, but had second thoughts and eventually turned their ships around. Introducing El Cazador's custom Hyrule faction to the game, the French launched the RHS Nayru and built Hyrule Castle on their home island!

At the end of my turn, the English launched the Shui Xian and hired crew for the Baochuan!

[xerecs]

Yikes, the Shui-Xian........ I'll see if I can get around to playing a turn later tonight and sending the file onward.

Hmmmmmmm. Very interesting......