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A bit like a bus, there’s never one when you want one and then two come along together!
This is a summary of my first fully logged solo session that involved the full requisite three rounds.
Round 1:
This round saw me initially start with the Raiders Seeadler (sail powered!!), Leopard and Wolf. My PP opponent started with a slightly more salubrious mix of the Raiders Iltis and Greif and the Warship Karlsruhe. All that said the round saw 10 vessels sent to the bottom, 8 of which were due to my use of the Royal Naval and German Raider forces at my disposal. The initial 4 turns of the first round set a giddying pace of destruction. In the first turn alone my RN forces sunk the Karlsruhe, whilst my Raider Wolf sent the British Merchantman Otaki to the bottom as well. In the fourth turn Wolf struck again sending another British Merchantman (Rio Iguassu) to the depths during a night action. The only positive response made by the PP was the safe passage of the (USA) William. P. Fyre.
The round then calmed down for a period, during which both sides traded limited damage to respective Merchant Marine and I lost one Merchantman due to it foundering in heavy seas. The touch paper was soon lit again as my RN forces sunk the Raider Greif, leaving the PP with one offensive German ship. This remaining ship (Iltis) made its present felt by sinking a French Merchantman of mine, the Dupleix, in the very next turn. Not to be outdone on the subsequent turn my Raider Wolf delivered a hammer blow to the PP by successfully mining and sinking its British Merchant ships Horngarth, Voltaire and Vandyck! A passage then followed wherein my Raiders were damaging the PP Merchant Marine, but he was inflicting little on me. His raider Iltis rallied briefly by sinking my Russian Merchantman Isabel Brown, but that was to prove to be the PP’s last action of real note. The last proactive actions were to be attributed to my forces as the Wolf secured its sixth scalp of the round in sinking the (British) La Correntina, whilst the (Japanese) Hudson Maru secured safe passage. Sadly, the PP did subsequently secure the internment of the Raider Wolf in a neutral port, but the damage had already been done.
The final scores on the door where a healthy 91 points for (2x R/W sunk by my RN, 6x Merchantmen sunk by my Raiders, one ship to safe passage), against a paltry 11 for the PP (2x Merchantmen sunk by Raiders, one ship to safe passage).
Round 2:
The second round was to prove to be a much closer and somewhat different affair. I started with the Raiders Cap Trafalger, Greir and the Warship Konigsberg, whilst the PP began with Raiders Berlin, KPW and KWDG. This round was to prove to be a different affair as even though I was to later add the Raider Prinz Eital and the Warship Nurnberg to my raiding fleet during the round, this combined force was to prove to be responsible for one solitary sinking in the whole round (Konigsberg destroyed HMS Alcantra)! My RN assets were to sink the PP Raider KWDG, but my main scoring outlet proved to be the successful safe passage of the Merchantmen Mongolia (British), Ryazan (Russian) and the Pontoporos (Greek). Altogether this was to secure me 53 points for the round.
The PP was to be hampered through the round with my application of limited supply on his Raiders. Nevertheless, during the round two of his Raiders, KPW and Berlin respectively, sank my Merchantmen Manchester Commerce (British) and Guadeloupe (French). Added to this his RN forces secured one successful sinking with the destruction of my Warship Konigsberg, but his most successful avenue was his use of submarines and mines. In the very first turn using one such attack he sank two of my Merchantmen, the Luxembourg (Belgium) and the Storebror (Norway). Much later in the game Anne De Bretagne (France) was to go the very same way. Interestingly, the PP failed to secure any safe passage during this round which gave him a final point total of 45. For a host of reasons and for both sides there were far more inactive turns in this round than the previous one.
Round 3:
And so to the final round…..before starting this one I knew that I already had a commanding points lead and in hindsight this may have led me to adopt a less aggressive initial approach to my play; that and of course the successive crippling limited supply actions played upon me by the PP during different stages of the round. I began with a very strong hand including the Warships Emden, Nurnberg (carried over from the last hand) and the Raider Meteor. The PP had a similar set up with the Warships Dresden, Leipzig and the Raider Cormoran. Like the second round this one was to be a strange affair with lots of flat and empty turns, often stymied by limited supply / damage related and / or other issues. 3 extra ships were added during the turn to my force, though that was somewhat countered by the successful transfer of command of the Nurnberg and Emden to the PP force.
The round started well for me as the UC-29 sank the PP Merchantman Dee (British) and I successfully interned the PP Warship Dresden to a neutral port all in turn 1. After this initial burst successes for either side became limited and sporadic. I only managed to sink three more ships during the round: Nurnberg sank the Bowes Castle (British), U-41 torpedoed and sank the Indrani (British), and the RN sank the Nurnberg after it had switched command to the PP! The only other success I had in the round was the safe passage of the King George (British). The PP fared little better: they sank the Georgic (British) with a submarine, in separate attacks the Raider Cormorant sank two of my Merchantmen, the King Lud and the Banksfield (both British), and secured the safe passage of the Troilus (British). The PP failed to make any impact with its RN assets. All this boiled down to a round total of 41 points for me and 26 for the PP.
The final scores on the doors:
185 points for me
82 points for the PP
Reflection:
I was able to play quite an aggressive and confident approach in the first round that was in no small part bolstered by the PP failure to get out of first gear in relation to its attacking die rolls. During this round I scored points in all three main avenues to do so: Royal Naval attacks against enemy Raiders and Warships, aggressive actions by my Raiders and Warships against enemy Mercantile Marine and the safe passage of ones own Merchant fleet. Indeed, I scored over 40+ Victory Points in both of the former two categories in this round. This contrasted starkly with the performance of the PP wherein it consistently scored in only two categories (varied) each round.
Any hopes of a repeat of this outcome disappeared quickly in the second (and third) round as the PP die rolls improved, leading to a much more proactive and expansive role on its part. This in turn forced a more measured approach on my part as damage, limited supply, transferred commands, interned / sunk Warships and Raiders increasingly stunted my capacity to attack. This forced me to look less at the straightforward ‘Intercept’ aspect of the Action cards and more at the alternatives they offered. This generated a more frustratingly competitive game which I never was quite able to dominate as I had in the first round.
That said a win is a win and I have played enough stand alone solo rounds to know that this is not always a given in this particular format of the Kaiser’s Pirates, nor that any of the above rounds was particularly typical of what this aspect of the game offers. A very dominant first round on my part, supported throughout by the ability to consistently score in all three avenues helped secure what was to be a significant victory.
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