This weekend was a sealed deck. Out of 3 packs I pulled what I originally viewed as junk. We had 7 again, 5 from last week and 2 new. I figured it out at a total of 12 people could play if all show up.

HMS Bolingbroke
El Leon x 2
Carrion Crow x 2
El Duque
Pi. Shipwroght
pi. Oarsman
Fidel Zuan + Pi. Musketeer
Br. Musketeer
Powder Pete + Br. Oarsman
Master Binaco + Sp. Shipwright


Of this I created and ran the following:

Bolinbroke
Musketeer
El Leon
Carrion Crew
Oarsman
Carrion Crew

I was surprised to see how many people seemed to be intimidated by this just because it had 4 ships + some crew. It turns out that they were right.

First Game:
This was CW again from last week. We play each other regularly now and he has the rules down. I lose the opening die roll and place second.
CW Fleet:
El Ladron
Muerta De La Corona
Juaquin Vega
El Tirador
I am able to place him off to the side and run for treasure.
I ran at 3 islands and by turn 3 I had exactly 13 gold. He almost cut off one of my ships but I outraced him home and run.

Props: Island placement, having 2 carrion crows

Slops: stupid island placement rules for CW
1-0
Second Game:
John, last weeks winner
John is running this:
Bonny Kate
HMS Wycliffe
Cannoneer
Thomas Gunn the Younger
HMS Meresman
oarsman - left on opening island, never used

I am able to set him up almost identical to my previous game. That is 5 islands clustered about 2L from each other in the center with one being 4L to the west. I place John on the western island and he places me on the southwestern most island. He proceeds to send his fleet towards the center. with the bonnykate running at the Nw most island. I split 3 ways again with the Bolingbroke (gunship) and a carrion crow running at the Northwestern most, Leon at center, and the other CC going to the southwestern most. I grab exactly 12 gold from the two uncontested islands. It is going to come down to the island we are both going for. I mess up the bonny kate badly with the bolingbroke and land the CC to get the last treasure that I need. He unveils T. Gunn on his wycliff, which had been veering to intercept me. He then rolls 3 sixes and derelicts my bolingbroke. The next turn I attempt to flee with the CC but he cuts me off, derelicts me and then tows me off. The rest of the game consisted of his wycliffe preventing the rest of my fleet from gathering the last gold that I needed. I swear that John has my number.
Jhon will place second, his son finally beat him in the finals.
Props: T Gunn the Younger, my Gunship
Slops: random placement of treasure didn't work my way.
1-1
Third and Final Game:
Joe
Silver Dagger
Musketeer
Helmsman
HMS BolingBroke
Helmsman
Explorer
Shipwright

Once again I lose the roll and stick my opponent off at the far western end of the map. He places me on the opposite side and this time the islands are closer to 3L apart.
He proceeds to just completely pick up half of the gold on the board, quite literally. He mops up the two western most of the wild islands, drops off the treasure, and is on his way back to the middle when I finally mange to get my first two ships back home. When I pick up the last two pieces of treasure (both are ones) he tells me that we are going to have a tie, 12 -12 on the gold split. He refused to accept this so he tried to stop my ships. I get the Leon back to my home leaving me with the bolingbroke with 1 gold approximately 1 1/2 S from home. He rammed me with both of his ships (after I did a double pin that our TO ruled against because of a previous ruling he had made earlier.) He ended up stealing my gold after the second boarding attempt. I then proceeded to blast his two remaining ships sinking first the non treasure holding one and then derelicting and boarding the final one to get my gold back. Since I am the only one with a working ship, I win.
I believe that is the order it happened. This entire game is about tieing. On his first boarding attempt we tied 4 times and had to keep rerolling. (Someone please tell me if a tie means rerolling in boarding).

Props: Bolingbroke the gunship, El Leon(cargo space)
Slops: poor rulings and both Joe and my knowledge of the rules (my fault, I taught him to play)

2-1

The day was not a total loss. I traded Garante for a Harbinger (I had to part with a few crew in that trade) and I won the fellowship prize (warm fuzzies) which was a LE Snipe. I am still trying to figure this one out since I am a prick to play against. Oh well, it probably had to do with me showing up with copies of the FAQ, multiplayer rules, and checklists for everybody. It pays to work in a school sometimes.

So what do you all think? Any comments on how I could have built my fleet differently? Anyone else have a tourney they want to share? These are common place things in the L5R world (my background). I hope that we can have these reports regularly from those who play in the big convention tournaments.

I think you got ripped off in the draw. Not one 4 or 5 master or decent crew in 3 pulls? Ah well, it worked out, so I guess you can't complain.

You picked the right ships from what you had, El Duque is overpriced for what you get, El Leon and Bolingbroke are both better for their price. Looks like you had an illegal point total-- unless I am missing something--> Bolingbroke 10, El Leon + Oarsman for another 10, 2 Carrion Crows at 8 total for 28 points so far, then you toss in a 3 point musketeer for 3 and 31 total. Not really a big deal, I doubt it would've been any different had the oarsman been left out.

No, no, when you place islands second you've "won" the roll. When you get to send your opponent out in the 4L boonies you're more than halfway home. Just remember that if you ever place first you have to put 2 islands out in the boonies.

I'm not exactly sure of the tactics you used vs Gunn. Your best bet would've been to ram him, using all 4 ships, and fight a boarding action every time you ram, trying to kill Gunn. If your opponent has a strong ship and you know you cannot outrun him, keep all your ships together. You had 10 masts to his 7, so you had some staying power for a fight. You could've even pinned his Wycliffe to keep Gunn from running. Hindsight is 20-20 and you still might've lost even if you had fought him 4 ships on 3.

Overall you played very well and you have a very good grasp of strategy, I'm sure there are more LEs waiting in your future.

</GaymBoi>

Thanks for the compliment.

Unfortunately I could not swarm Gunn. I had already "dispersed the fleet" so to speak. It was just the crow and the bolingbroke over there at that time and he had held back with his wycliffe. It wasn't until I had committed to taking his bonnykate that he swept in and sunk derelicted the bolingbroke. No one was in position to ram. Though in hindsight, I almost just sent my entire fleet to intercept his at the beginning and just go for a bloodbath.

TIP OF THE DAY: observe the point total of a fleet, then look at what is left and check the number of crew on board. I should have anticipated the captain but I wasn't thinking about it that way. Live and learn.

My point totals break down as follows

Bolingbroke 9
El Leon 9
Carrion Crow 4x2=8
That's 26 + musketeer (3) and oarsman (1)=30

I got one pack that had parts of three different ships...needless to say, I traded that one in. :) Got one four-master out of three packs, but decided to go with a fleet of Furia, Wycliffe and Venture, with a crew on each (the Spanish guy who kills crew, a cannoneer and an explorer). Also got Marksman's Map (which I still needed) and Rum, so put both in the mix for extra drunken fun! Managed to win the (small) tourney, too, woot.

---Dave

Were you at the same tourney? I ask because I don't remember the name of the guy who won. There are two people who show that I don't know yet.

In response to your earlier question:

On the event of a tie, the boarding action is OVER. Boarding has failed.

Your draw wasn't great. No captains or helmsmen BUT you did get alot of cheap ships that can be used swarm.

I would have played a fleet similar to yours.

In this case, as pointed out earlier by Gaymboi, Island placement is crucial. If you place second, you place last island way out and put opponent there. If you place first, SPREAD all your island out wide so that you don't get chucked in the corner!

But you did well. If you find that an opponent has a strong ship cutting your ships off, you can sacrifice a small ship and pin him BOW to BOW head on This way, he can't move (neither can you) BUT he can only hit you with the front cannon and takes at least 2 to 3 turns to kill your Carrion Crow, by which your other ships may have made it home already!

Ahhh, that's where I messed up. Wizkids own page says Bolingbroke is 10 points and I don't have one myself, so I just went by the web page.

I'd put in my own sealed deck report here but I was the only one that showed up. Oh, there were 8-10 kids playing Yu-Gi-Oh, but nobody else with Pirates.

</GaymBoi>