This week we continued our game of Twilight Imperium 3. After a few rounds we decided to call the game. We all agreed that Owen would probably win, even though the rest of us all had our plans…really good plans. We just decided that since Owen ruled his HALF of the entire galaxy with an iron fist, two War Suns, and his flagship that maybe we should give the win to him.
We had time for another game so we broke out an old favorite, Pirate’s Cove. I hate this game. Not because of any shortcoming in the game, but because the game simply hates me first. This particular game started off with me losing three straight battles in the first three rounds of the game. So fame-less I languished in Butcher Bay, or whatever that place is called where you repair your ship and vow revenge on all those involved with putting you there. It seemed an eternity before I earned that first fame point. Everyone else was doing fine. Their ships all included Parrots that improved various parts of their ships and many had Master Craft cards attached to their ships as well. Then my luck changed.
When you go to the Island to repair your ship you have the opportunity to get two Tavern Cards. I got Davey Jones Parrot that allowed me to roll SIX dice in ship battles all of the time. I also got a Master Craft card. I was back in the game! I few rounds later I made a play to take out the pirate ship and earn a bunch of much-needed Fame points. Ben rolled for pirate. The odds were in my favor. Things were going well. All I needed was for Ben to roll one or less hits on his three hit dice. Ben (the dog) beat the odds and rolled TWO hits! He sunk my battleship! Er, pirate ship. Once again I visited the island whose name I should have edged in my arm by now.
By this time Mike had a pirate ship full of treasure. (His Parrot allowed him to carry as much treasure as he wanted.) Soon after, he visited Treasure Island and scored 14 Fame points, shooting him far into the lead.
So now it’s the last round of the game. Mike’s got the win apparently sewn up. The Pirate is sitting at Treasure Island. Ben and Owen both go to Treasure Island hoping to destroy the pirate and gain the five Fame points from sinking her. Mike and I also ended up at the same island. I had a clever plan. I sent the Royal Navy to where Mike and I were. Mike had the faster ship, so the Navy would fire at him first. My hope was to sink Mike, Sink the Navy (I still had those 6-dice guns), and gain some much needed Fame points—so I wouldn’t come in last. The odds were once again in my favor. Things were going well until Mike’s 2-dice volley at me. Two hits would sink me. The odds were 9 to 1 that he would roll two hits. (A 5 or 6 on either dice is a hit.) Mike rolled double sixes! He sunk my ship. (By the way, the odds are 36:1 to roll double sixes.) This game hates me.
Back at Treasure Island Ben and Owen were fighting the pirate ship. Once again Ben’s luck held and he was able to end up being the one who sunk the pirate and gain the five Fame points.
Ben was now pretty close to Mike in Fame points. We revealed our Tavern Cards that gave us Fame Points. I thought I was doing well with three Fame points, but both Ben and Owen had five or six extra Fame points hiding in their hand. This caused Ben to tie with Mike for most Fame. So what was the tie-breaker? You fight to the death of course. Ben (the lucky dog) was able to sink Mike and win the game! The final scores were: Ben and Mike with 36 Fame, Owen with 30 Fame, and me languishing at 22 Fame points. Stupid game.
Chaos Steve