Pirates using En Garde

[SteveBurt]

We had our first try of En Garde last night using some of my pirates. We played the second scenario (capture), with a treasure chest in the ruined temple at the centre of a Caribbean island. Two groups of pirates, and one of Royal navy, started beside their ships, and try to recover the treasure or die in the attempt.
Because this was a first game, I kept things simple. Each group had one rank 5 captain (Weapon Master, Pistol, Commander, Lucky), one rank 3 mate (Weapons Master, Pistol, Commander), and 6 rank 1 crew, half of them armed with muskets.

It was a fun game; the rules work well. Did a few minor things wrong, but nothing critical. We very much liked the combat system. Interestingly, the victory conditions reward you for killing enemies as well as getting the treasure, so the pirate band which was in the thick of the action won in spite of almost all being killed, while the ones who hung back and picked up the treasure at the end didn't kill so many and even with the VPs for the treasure came last.

The island:

Close up of the Royal Fortune: