We played a "small" pirate game yesterday afternoon in Lycée Bienvenüe (a college) in Loudéac, Brittany, it was a small event about history and games. We only had a few hours to play in the afternoon and spent most of the time explaining things to the visitors so we didn't finish the planned scenario but I share a few pics anyway:
My usual character, the French governor: Monsieur de Toulvarère, is visiting a colonial plantation with his wife and his famous niece Mademoiselle Clotirisse. The place is very quiet and sunny.
Pic from the sea:
Pic from the other side of the table:
But a ship without flag (the ship with the white sails) comes towards the coast. The other ship is a French whaleship called "la Graine-Pisse".
The fishermen look at the foreign ship but do not suspect anything. The foreign ship sets anchor close to the coast. On the left you can see another foreign ship also approaching!
An officer of the French Bombardiers de la Marine, who was busy drawing maps of the coast, finds all this intriguing and sends his soldier running to tell it to the governor.
The governor's foot guards (for some reason they are wearing yellow uniform that day - I think we did not bring the planned figures
) were drilling near the plantation. They come to inspect the situation, accompanied by four mounted guards. A rowing boat from the foreign ship comes to the coast!
The row-boat of the second foreign ship also approaches the coast, they row in the direction of the river mouth!
Sailors from the first foreign ship set foot on the coast. The ship opens fire on the governor's guards! It's a pirate ship! The pirates from the rowing boat set foot on the rocky coast, one of them slips and drowns into the sea, some fell under the sabres and pistols of the governor's cavalry, but three manage to enter an old ruined tower (dating probably from Spanish presence on the island).
The guards try to enter the tower to fight with bayonets... but the pirates shoot pistols at them! Two pirates reload their pistols while the third pirate shoots, and most of the guards are killed (nearly one each game turn, a lot of luck with dice for the pirate player!)
This attack from the first pirate ship was a diversion (as a player I understood this, but pretended not to). The rowing boat from the second pirate ship rows up the river, their intention is to attack the plantation by surprise, from the jungle.
But these pirates come near a hill where marooned slaves live. A voodoo priestess appears and a strange mist rises on the river (luck with weather dice!). A black pirate from the rowing boat tries to negociate that she could help the pirates, but he fails (bad luck with emoticon dice!).
The fishermen, who at first sailed away when they heard the first cannon shots, decide to attack the second pirate ship who now only has four men on deck. But the wind is against the French.
After some time they come close enough to attack the pirates.
We had to stop there because time was running out.
But why did these pirates attack? ...They wanted to take the governor's niece as hostage!
And when I went home after the fight ...this little thing was just born! Because of these pirates I had been all afternoon away from my "fatherly" duties!