Freebooter's Fate - First Game!

Rob and I finally played our first game of Freebooter's Fate, and I really enjoyed it. We played with the crews we had, matching 395 doubloons and 6 Pirates for Rob, and 390 doubloons and 5 models for my Brotherhood. As our first game, we opted against adding equipment, simply to keep things as manageable as possible.

We were definitely learning as we were going, but I think we picked up some key things quite quickly, and I like the card driven game mechanics. In fact, I really like the combat mechanics for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, trying to out-think your opponent's choices in combat; when Attacking or Defending you secretly choose which body locations (of 6 choices) to attack or protect. When attacking, as the game progressed I was always trying to include a location I thought Rob wouldn't protect, not just the most tactically beneficial targets. When Defending, I was trying to cover the locations I thought he would go for.

Second, as a model takes critical hits, you are effectively forced to protect those locations, making it easier for the Attacker. I like that things become progressively harder for injured models. There may be a down side to that I have yet to see, but I think it is pretty elegant in function. Add in that base Defense is typically 3, and base Attack value is typically 2, and the Defender does have options, especially if they use cover etc.

During the game I was very, very lucky with some of my Attacks, so much so that Rob's Leader was taken out early in the game. My crew hugged cover as they advanced, and my Leader took advantage of it for his Shadow Run ability. We took away from that impact that Rob should have kept more open ground between his models and mine, and probably should have let me cover more of the open ground between us.

The game had moments of drama, both great and small: the Pirates hunting my Brotherhood through the little alleys and streets created by our terrain layout; the Pirate Leader being brutally injured by a sneaky assassin attack by Apagado; 3 Pirates ganging up on my hapless Coscritti; my Harlequin leaping on top of a cart to get better range to shoot a pirate shooting out from a window frame; my Master Assassin using Shadow Run to attack a Pirate who was defending a doorway in a house.

I think we both enjoyed the game, and we have discussed further additions in terms of adding to our available terrain and also future crews: Rob is thinking about Imperial Armada, and I am thinking about a Mercenary crew as there are a couple of characters who allow you to build an all-Mercenary crew. I am really looking forward to the next game!