Plunder and Fighting

 

That was rough! The ship sank so fast all we could save was our personal weapons, and after the sharks had their fill we were down to just the four of us. Thankfully we washed ashore on an uninhabited island that had freshwater and enough materials to start building a base. A few months later a small merchant sloop made the mistake of anchoring in the bay and we snuck onboard during the night. Now we have a ship, six more crew who were quick to declare their desire to join us, and we are ready to start plundering the seven seas again! 

This campaign follows the Rivals Story Arc.

My Captain is Black Bart, and Bart’s Barracudas set sail under the Jolly Roger onboard the Sloop that is now called the Blackfin.

From left to right - Nutter, Charlie, Big-boy, Zeb, Black Bart

From left to right - The kid, Salty Bob, The Crow, Harry, Easy

Information about these figures and the other figures used throughout can be found in my Other Figures page.

Game 1 - Hit the warehouse 

This is a Low difficulty Plunder voyage that takes part in the harbour.

With a bit of a dysentery problem in the crew, Bart sets sail with Salty Bob, The Crow, Charlie, Zeb, and also Big-boy (despite him suffering from scurvy).  The Crow goes ahead a bit to scout out the lay of the land.  What should have been a simple warehouse raid seemed too good to be true, and sure enough the crew come up against an unexpected level of opposition.

Round 1 - The Crow hops up onto a low roof to get a good look around and spots a couple of guards near the church, while the rest of the Crew make their way off the jetty.  One of the guards makes his way towards them, but the other holds back.  Then two more guards come into view, another by the church and the fourth out from between two buildings.  The bystanders clearly realise something is up and either start heading for the dock or just leave the area entirely.

Round 2 - the Barracudas keep moving through, with The Crow keeping a close eye on the guards from her nice vantage point.  Two of the guards take cover, but the other two are of hardier stuff and head towards the crew, one of them at the run!  This allows The Crow to spot a fifth guard by the church. Two of the remaining bystanders make off, one seems a little confused, and the priest keeps heading for the Barracudas!

Round 3 - Charlie fires his pistol at the running guard, but misses, then The Crow jumps down on him, knocking him to the ground and spilling the first blood. Big-boy and Salty Bob head towards the fight, while Bart and Zeb keep moving towards the church.  The wounded guard hops up and fights back against The Crow which doesn’t go well for him as he breaks his axe and gets another wound for his trouble. Two of his mates come to help, one approaches the Captain, and one is still hiding behind the scaffold.  At which point the sixth and final guard appears out of another side alley. Both remaining bystanders decide to stick round and watch the fighting.

Round 4 - Captain Bart fires his pistol at the oncoming guard, causing a wound that knocks him to the ground.  Big boy goes at the guard fighting with The Crow and fells him with one hit! Salty Bob decides to gain some height and scurries up the Scaffold.  The Crow hops over the dead guard and lays into another guard landing a wound. Charlie reloads.  Zeb takes on the sixth guard that just appeared, smashing the other’s sword and drawing blood.  

Zeb’s opponent ducks behind a stack of barrels.  The Crow’s opponent fights back and scores a wound on her. The next guard in the middle scores a wound on Big-boy to avenge his dead comrade. The one cowering behind the scaffold is staying put.  The one facing off against the Captain gets up and attacks him, but the Captain scores another wound on him and forces him back prone. At this point the priest has seen enough and scurries away to the jetty.

Round 5 - Captain Bart doesn’t care about “a fair fight” and slashes at his prone opponent, cutting him again (now at 3 wounds) and keeping him prone.  Over the other side, Zeb goes after his cowering opponent, who seems to fight better when scared, cornered and unarmed still manages to push him away! In the centre then, Big-boy is being bested by his opponent, maybe that’s down to the scurvy?  The Crow is doing better and wins against hers, especially as then Salty Bob leaps on him and knocks him flat. Charlie climbs up on some crates.

Zeb’s opponent regains his nerve and attacks by throwing a barrel, Zeb is so surprised that he fails to defend himself and is incapacitated by the blow!  The Captain’s opponent leaps to his feet and charges … right onto the Captain’s cutlass, and falls dead at the Captain’s feet.  Big-boy’s opponent senses victory and lays into him again, and does indeed cut him down.  The guard floored by Salty Bob gets up but is too dazed to attack so his mate finally surfaces from behind the scaffold.  He should have stayed there, Salty Bob gets the better of him and draws a wound that forces him to the ground.

Round 6 - with two out of the fight on each side, the battle rages on.  Charlie shoots at Big-boys’s nemesis and plugs him right between the eyes! The Crow whales into the dazed guard doing a fourth and fatal wound.  Salty Bob hacks at the one rolling on the ground and adds a second wound there.  The Captain is on his way to help.  

There’s two guards left alive.  The one that took out Zeb doesn’t fancy any further involvement and legs it.  The one at Salty Bob’s feet has just seen two comrades killed and is facing four angry pirates, he heads for the exit.

Round 7 - the Barracudas have no intention of letting that last guard get away, Captain Bart jumps onto a barrel, from there up on a crate, and jumps at the fleeing landlubber, knocking him flying and gaining a third wound, and The Crow then dashes over and administers a final blow.  The battle is over, the plundering can begin!

Aftermath - Big boy was bleeding profusely and yet could stand and walk back to the ship unaided, which impressed the locals immensely!  Zeb likewise was only unconscious. The looting turned up a measly 1 Dubloon. The Barracudas gained 2 reputation plus 5 from Big-boy’s heroics, and Charlie gained 4 Experience points.

What they learnt - Ah, plunder, that’s what it’s all about!

Game 2 - You don’t look so tough

This is a Low difficulty Fight voyage that takes part in the town.

This time Salty Bob is off doing something else, so Bart decides to take Nutter along.  Soon after arriving in the town though, they run into some locals acting all tough telling them they aren’t welcome here … Bart says, “we’ll show them what tough is!”

Round 1 - the Barracudas start to move into the town but are soon faced by 3 armed thugs (three 10s rolled on the 8 markers).

Round 2 - Zeb and Charlie both fired off pistols, but must have been surprised by the sudden appearance of the thugs as both shots went wide of their targets.  Captain Bart fared even worse 

As his pistol failed to fire at all!  The Crow went up the rear balcony and through the building, while Big-boy and Nutter hurried round to see what all the shooting was about.

The thug in front of Zeb ducked for cover, the Captain was attacked and wounded, and the third thug just stood and watched.  Another thug appears in front of Big boy.  The Bystanders are scattering.

Round 3 - Zeb goes up and over the crates but lands awkwardly leaving an opening for thug who skewers him good and proper!  That doesn’t stop Charlie trying the same thing though, and he does better, wounding the thug and knocking him to the ground.  The Captain meanwhile makes up for his poor performance so far and cuts down the fool that dared to attack him.  The Crow then leaps down off the balcony into the next thug, just besting him in the fight that ensues.   Finally it’s Big-boy and Nutter against the new arrival, leaving two wounds leaking from the hapless thug.

Zeb’s nemesis is cowering at the feet of Charlie, not daring to move.  The Crow’s opponent decides to scuttle past her and head for the edge of town.  The other thug decides to fight Nutter, and takes a third wound as Nutter knocks him to the ground.  Three of the Bystanders are heading rapidly away, one goes to remonstrate with The Crow, the last two seem to be stunned by the fight going on in front of them.

Round 4 - the Barracudas are showing no mercy given that Zeb is down.  Nutter does a fourth and final wound on that thug. Charlie does a second wound and keeps his opponent pinned on the floor.  The Captain slashes at the thug trying to get away, and The Crow joins in from behind!  Big-boy hops up on some barrels to get a look around and spots another thug, but then the Captain realises yet another has appeared behind him.  

Charlie’s opponent realises he needs to fight back, but Charlie scores another wound on him.  The one stuck between the Captain and The Crow has nowhere to go and can only hope his mate is coming to help him. The other newly appeared thug heads towards Big-boy but a Bystander stabs him and runs off!

Round 5 - The Crow finishes off the thug on the ground.  Charlie wounds and knocks down his opponent again.  The Captain wounds and knocks over the new guy. Big-boy goes for the one the Bystander wounded and the poor thug’s axe breaks, it’s just not his day!  

Charlie’s opponent has decided it is time to try and get away.  The Captain’s opponent tries to make a fight of it but gets another wound for his trouble. The poor sod with no weapon and faced by Big-boy and Nutter actually goes for Big-boy anyway, but gets a sword stroke to the head and his unlucky day becomes terminal.  However, that uncovers the fact that one more thug had been sneaking up unseen!  

Round 6 - Charlie gets some height to see if that thug is really going to leave.  The Captain’s opponent tries takes a wound from his opponent so the Crow goes over to help and deals a third wound to that thug. Big-boy goes for the newcomer but gets wounded and Nutter isn’t quite close enough to help yet.

The Captain’s opponent encouraged by causing a wound, stays to fight on, but the two of them are at deadlock now and neither does any damage. The new guy tries to take out Big-boy before  Nutter can interfere, but Big-boy is ready for him and slashes him right across the throat! The thug heading away clearly doesn’t realise where Charlie has gone and decides to head back to support his mate fighting the Captain.

Round 7 - Captain Bart and his opponent are toe-to-toe trading blows but causing no damage when The Crow slips a dagger into the thug and he’s done for!  Then Charlie leaps off the balcony onto the last thug and does for him too, it’s all over!

Aftermath - Zeb will have to miss the next two Voyages, but on the plus side the Barracudas found hidden treasure worth 15 Doubloons so they can definitely buy the Captain a new pistol!  That also gained them 5 Reputation points, plus a further 5 Reputation from the fight itself. Oh and Big-boy gained 2 Experience points.

What they learnt - Correction, fighting is what it’s all about!

Game 3 - Who are they?

This is the first special voyage that progresses the arc and has the Barracudas up against Freebooters from another crew in the town.

With Zeb recovering, Easy off on a secret mission, Big Boy suffering from Dysentery, and Zeb from Survy, Bart takes Bob, Crow, Harry, Charlie, and The Kid into their favourite town.  But when The Crow and The Kid scurry on ahead they find some other crew there already.  

Round 1 - The rest of the Barracudas head into town, but from their vantage points on balconies the two scouts soon identify four rough looking crew they haven’t seen before heading through the town, and realise that half the locals have made a rapid exit!

Round 2 - seeing another crew swaggering through ‘their’ town, the Barracudas start heading straight for them and The Crow spots another one, but then as they all start moving towards her (as she’s made herself their closest target) she realise a sixth one was hiding behind one of the others! At which point, brave Polly the pie seller takes a whack at one of the crew before running off! Sadly one of the other locals starts shouting at her and draws even more attention her way!

Round 3 - The Crow swings into action, literally, catching a good blow on the nearest adversary, and Harry gains some height while the rest start hustling towards the enemy.  The Crow’s opponent tries to hide himself behind some barrels, while the one that Polly attacked shows his true colour of yellow and makes a run for it!  The bystander that had been remonstrating with The Crow, aghast at the sight of blood, hits the deck behind a hand cart.

Round 4 - shots ring out!  The Captain wounds the freebooter heading towards him, but Charlie misses his target, and Harry’s pistol misfires completely!  The Kid swarms up a market stall while Salty Bob tries to lure in a freebooter by taunting him mercilessly.  The Crow goes hand-to-hand with another miscreant and just gets a cut on him, but that just seems to annoy him and he attacks back … The Crow is down! This encourages the others nearby to head towards Harry.  Salty Bob’s plan worked, his target moves into range of both him and The Kid. Meanwhile, on the other side of the market, the Captain’s opponent is of much weaker spirit and that one shot was enough to send him running. The bystander stuck in tge middle of all this senses an opportunity and makes a run for it, leaving just one innocent bystander in the market square who picks now to go and have a word with Captain Bart!

Round 5 - The Kid leaps down at Salty Bob’s poor goaded target, cutting him and knocking him to the ground, followed by Bob wading in and cutting him some more.  The Captain gets away from the Bystander by climbing over a market stall, and Charlie manages a perfect reload!  Harry’s weapon can’t be reloaded so he bides his time, up on the balcony, waiting for The Crow’s nemesis to come to him.

The ambushed freebooter gets up and tries to attack Salty Bob but loses that exchange too, but his mate behind him is incensed by all this and charges into The Kid, cutting him down with a single blow! That leaves Bob facing two opponents and Harry is now facing two as well.

Round 6 - Thanks to Charlie’s perfect reload, his next shot flies true and puts another hole in the  already pin-cushioned guy facing off against Bob, so he’s out of action. This leaves Bob free to attack the guy that did in The Kid, and he wounds him.  Harry then makes a reckless decision and leaps down on tge first of his two opponents, it does not go well, Harry is incapacitated!  It’s now three-verses-three now in the marketplace.  

Salty Bob’s new opponent tries to take him on, but his cheap sword breaks and he gets a second wound. The one that did for Harry heads towards the melee, but his fellow crewman senses Bob’s growing fury (well hard not to the way Bob is mouthing off, they call him ‘Salty’ after all), and skedaddles! Three-verses-two then.

Round 7 - Salty Bob swings at his opponent but the foe gets the better of him. Then the Captain wades in and scores a wound, and freebooter fights back but they are locked in a duel with neither drawing further blood.  Charlie calmly reloads as the other adversary now heads towards him.

Round 8 - Charlie fires at his attacker, a clean shot that draws a second wound. The Captain finishes off his opponent, leaving Bob free to go after Charlie’s and giving him a third.  That’s enough for the freebooter, who realising he is now alone against three annoyed Barracudas and his leaking blood profusely, runs away!

Aftermath - while Harry and The Crow were up and fine soon after, The Kid will need a couple of weeks to recover.  They found 2 Doubloons and gained 2 Reputation, while Salty Bob picked up 2 Exp. Bart stopped at a Trader before heading back to base, buying a Powder flask, Grappling hook, and a Bandage.

What they learnt - those were another crew and they were in their favourite town!

Game 4 - Good grief!

A low difficulty Rescue game against Veteran Military at the Inn.

Robbie the cabin boy has been caught up in a sweep by the local authorities and it is terrible timing as a bad case of Scurvy has hit the crew!  With The Kid and Zeb out injured, Charlie off doing something else, and The Crow down with dysentery, there’s no choice but to set sail with the rest despite the fact that three of them have scurvy. 

Round 1 - The Barracudas could see Robbie on the road outside the inn and headed off towards him but then things kicked off pretty swiftly as the soldiers started to show themselves, one behind right behind them, one off the right, and one that Robbie signalled was behind him, while the rest of the locals decided to beat a path out of the way.

Round 2 - Big-boy and Salty Bob made off towards the fellow on their right. The Captain, Harry, and Easy all fired their pistols at the one behind them … and all missed!  In fact Easy’s pistol completely fouled and he threw it down in disgust. This left Nutter to go hand-to-hand, and his sword broke against the hastily raised musket of the soldier! To make things worse, the soldier then shot him too! 

Robbie had hopped over into the paddock, but the soldier must have spotted all the frantic signalling and took off after him, thankfully there was a bystander running the same way so he couldn’t shoot. The other soldier had better aim and shot Salty Bob (he didn’t shoot at Big-boy because again there was a Bystander too close) who was just in range!  The Bystanders all continued to hot foot it out of there except the one near Robbie, who hit the deck leaving Robbie exposed.

Round 3 - Salty Bob and Big-boy both took advantage of a fleeing Bystander and got up close, while Robbie continue to vault fences in the hope of gaining some cover. Harry leapt over the hedge to Nutter’s defence, but the soldier caught him on the way and he was taken out! Easy also had a go but the soldier held him off, but his luck had run out and the Captain skewered him on his cutlass and the valiant fool was dead. “By god I hope they’re not all this tough!”, Nutter said as he ploughed through the hedge to gain some cover from the one outside the inn. That soldier was now able to take a shot at Robbie, but his musket failed. The one to the right hurriedly reloaded.

Round 4 - the Barracudas make their way towards the two visible foes, trying to make use of cover. The one with the broken musket decides he’s had enough and makes a run for it, uncovering another soldier coming down the path.  The other takes a shot at Big-boy and gets a hit (his second wound). Then another soldier appears around the corner of the inn.

Round 5 - Big-boy closes on his opponent with Salty Bob behind him. The Captain stops to reload his pistol, but fumbles it, while Robbie goes to join him. Nutter gets some height on the veranda of the inn and spots the last soldier. Easy heads around the back of the inn. The soldier with Big-boy bearing down on him abandons any thought of reloading and hits Big-boy with his musket, breaking it in the process and getting wounded instead.  

The soldier at the far end of the path starts coming forward while his other two colleagues have both spotted Salty Bob hustling over to support Big-boy.  Two shots ring out and Salty Bob is down, one of them hit true. 

Round 6 - as the remaining Barracudas try to get into contact with their foes, Big-boy lands another blow on his now unarmed opponent, who in turn opts to fight back taking a third hit so hard he’s knocked to the floor! The two unloaded soldiers attempt a reload, only one is successful. The fourth keeps on coming down the path.

Round 7 - Big-boy finishes off his opponent. Nutter keeps creeping across the roof, Easy is still round the back of the inn, the Captain sidles up to the last Bystander to use him as a human shield! The soldier who reloaded loses his nerve and not wanting to draw attention to himself by firing, ducks behind a tree.  The one on the path still doesn’t have a target so has to keep coming forward. The unloaded one successfully reloads.

Round 8 - Big-boy seeing three musketeers looking for targets, gets behind a tree, hoping that will help save him from more musketeers balls.  Nutter is feeling a bit exposed now but doesn’t have anyone he can jump on. The Captain successfully reloads his pistol this time.  Easy rounds the corner of the inn, startling the soldier there in to firing poorly.  Nutter was right to worry as two musket balls plough into him!  With four wounds and the drop off the roof, he’s out of the battle. 

Round 9 - with all three soldiers needing to reload, the last three Barracudas take a target each.   Big-boy starts advancing on his, the Captain shoots and wounds his, and Easy attacks and wounds his.  Both Easy’s foe and the Captain’s nerve fails them and they run off! Only one soldier left, who hurriedly reloads!

Round 10 - one Adversary and three pirates bearing down on him, but he takes a shot anyway, landing a third wound on Big-boy.

Round 11 - Big-boy takes a risk and ploughs into the soldier but neither manages to wound the other and the Captain and Easy are still too far away.  The soldier fights back and this time Big-boy gets the better of the exchange, causing a wound.

Round 12 - Easy joins the fight, causing a second wound.  Big-boy hits again causing a third.  The Captain is nearly there too, but the soldier holds his nerve, decides to fight Big-boy but it’s a bad call, and a fourth wound takes him down. The Barracudas take a breath, the fight is over.  Robbie goes to check on their three downed companions.

Aftermath - Salty Bob will be fine, Harry is going to be laid up for a couple of weeks, but Nutter is lucky to be alive and will be out for five weeks. They looted 5 Doubloons but with equal casualties on the two sides there was no gain in Reputation. The Captain learnt from the experience (4 Exp).

What they learnt - That cabin boy always gets into trouble.

Game 5 - Good sailing!

A low difficulty Find game against Sea Dogs on board their ship.

With Harry, Nutter and The Kid out of action and Zeb busy, it’s Bart, Salty Bob, The Crow, Big-boy, Charlie (still with a bit of dysentery) and Easy on board the good ship Barracuda. A little jaunt at sea turns into a fight as the Captain spots an old rival and decides we are going to board their ship. We manage to sneak onto the prow without the rival crew noticing, but our luck probably won’t hold for long. Round 1 - from her perch on the forecastle, The Crow started calling out positions of the opposing crew, quickly spotting four of them, one pretty close to the rest of the Barracudas.  The poor unfortunate then became the focus and was shot by both Bart and Easy before Big-boy charged into him and hit him so far he fell to the ground.  This left Salty Bob and Charlie to head towards the stern and three others. The brave Sea Dog got back to his feet and tried to fight back, but Big-boy ran him through and that was the end of him. The three remaining foes had different reactions to seeing this, one started towards them, one stood thinking about it, and the third made a loud splash as he leapt overboard! This also prompted the remaining two opponents to show themselves. Round 2 - Captain Bart calmly reloaded his pistol but Easy fumbled the job, while the rest gained some height and waiting for the Sea Dogs to approach, but they seemed in no hurry to do so, with only one moving at all. Round 3 - this wasn’t the time to just stand around glaring, Captain Bart ordered the crew forward and The Crow swung down to join them. This in turn spurred the other crew forwards too.  Round 4 - Charlie took a shot at the guy coming down the right side of the boat, but his pistol fouled and nothing happened, so Easy went forward to take him on in hand-to-hand, not bothering to try reloading again. The Captain took up prime position at the central mast, and The Crow swung further down the ship, while Big-boy and Salty Bob took on the guy coming down the left. As the clang of cutlass on cutlass came to an end both Big-boy and the opposing Sea Dog were bleeding out on the deck!  The adversary on the right couldn’t decide what to do next, but the other two kept advancing. Round 5 - on the left of the boat, the Captain shot the advancing enemy, and then the Crow leapt at him from the top of the barrels, while Salty Bob made his way over in case he was needed. On the right, Easy got a clean hit at the opponent, killing him outright, while Charlie successfully reloaded. The Crow’s opponent scuttled off to seek cover, as the other remaining Sea Dog kept advancing. Round 6 - Salty Bob and The Crow get ready to gang up on one adversary, while the Captain and Charlie go to help Easy as he takes on the other.  Easy draws blood, but then his opponent fights back and also gets a hit. The other pirate regains his backbone, decides that The Crow is the easier opponent, and gets a hit on her. Round 7 - the superior numbers of the Barracudas come in to play. Salty Bob takes on the the guy fighting with The Crow, and expertly flicks his cutlass from his grasp while also drawing a third wound, leaving The Crow to expertly slip a dagger into him and see him off.  Charlie fights back at his opponent, getting the better of him again, then the Captain joins in and scores a heavy wound forcing their target to the deck and giving Charlie the opportunity to get a clear shot, which also sees him off. The battle is over! Aftermath - Big-boy is alive but hurt and will need a couple of weeks of recovery, but a search of the boat turned up a stash of jewels worth 15 Gold Doubloons! What they learnt - Afterwards the Captain is furious, he’s sure the reason those Sea Dogs were hesitant to fight them at first was because they thought the Barracudas were that other crew, and they only became brave enough to attack when they realised their mistake.