Francis Drake: 2-Player Variant

With this 2-player variant, we're basically blocking out half of the map to keep things tight during
the Sailing phase, and we're using an NPC to block locations during the Provisions phase (Glen
More style).

Here is the variant:

- Use the 3p tiles for Plymouth Street
- Take the 1 Frigate and 10 Player Discs in an unused color
- Place the NPC Frigate in the 3rd spot of the Homebound Docks
- Block 2 Towns, 2 Forts, 1 Galleon, and 1 Trade Port randomly prior to each voyage (described
below)
- Do not setup Silver, Gold, Jewels, Commmodities, Spanish Frigate counters, or Spanish Troop
counters in the blocked areas at any point
- During the Provisioning Phase, the NPC will select a Plymouth Street Location on its turn
(randomly, as described below), and a disc will be placed in that location.

Blocking Areas of the Map:

- Prior to each round, roll the provided 6-sided die once to determine the blocked Trade Port, and
once again to determine the blocked Galleon:
-- On a 1/2, the right most location is blocked (San Juan and/or the purple Galleon).
-- On a 3/4, the middle location is blocked (Santo Domingo and/or the yellow Galleon).
-- On a 5/6, the left location is blocked (Santiago de Cuba and/or the red Galleon).

- Prior to each round, roll an 8-sided die twice to determine the two blocked Towns (re-rolling
duplicates).
-- On a 1/2, the right most Town is blocked (Puerto Cabello).
-- On a 3/4, Portobelo is blocked.
-- On a 5/6, Gran Granada is blocked.
-- On a 7/8, the left most location is blocked (Campeche).

- The non-corresponding Forts from the blocked Towns are also blocked.
-- Each Zone contains a single Town and a single Fort. A Town and Fort within the same
Zone are considered 'corresponding.' After the blocked Towns are determined as stated
above, then the corresponding Forts will not be blocked for the round. The two non-
corresponding Forts will be blocked instead. In other words, the two Forts in those Zones
without blocked Towns are also blocked.
-- i.e. if Puerto Cabello and Gran Granada are blocked, then Panama and Veracruz are
also blocked.

- If you don't have an 8-sided die, then you can use the 6-sided die, and just re-roll any 5s or 6s.
Use 1=right (green), 2=middle right (purple), 3=middle left (yellow), and 4=left (red) to
determine the blocked areas as described above.***

NPC Plymouth Street Location Selection:

- Roll a 6-sided die. On a 1-3, the NPC selects the 'best' spot available on the 1st available
Location Tile. On a 4-5, the NPC selects the 'best' spot available on the 2nd available Location
Tile. On a 6, the NPC selects the 'best' spot available on the 3rd available Location Tile. (This is
 similar to Glen More if you've ever played)
- NPC is limited to the same rules as a normal player (i.e. must choose downfield, may not place
two on the same location, etc.)
- Investor is available to the NPC every round.
- If the NPC selects the first Drake spot, then the next selection must be the second Drake spot.
- If the NPC is to select a spot passed the Dockside location, then it is done for the round (but the
NPC Frigate does not need to be placed in the Outbound location****).
- The NPC is always last in the Homebound location.

***(Zone 1 may be considered the Green Zone, while Zones 2, 3 and 4 may be
considered the Purple, Yellow and Red Zones respectively.)

I'm open to questions, thoughts, and suggestions!

Notes:
I also highly recommend playing with both Spain's Revenge and Montezuma's Legacy.
Both of those mini-expansions make for a tight, tense game!.
Edit:
****In discussion with Richard Ham, I've realized that the rules as written suggest that
the NPC does not affect the Governor tile. In other words, whoever snags the Governor
will automatically go first. I actually don't like this, as I think it makes the Governor too
strong and the Provisioning Phase less interesting. As such, it may be better to place the
NPC ship in the Outbound dock as if he were a regular player. This pushes the player
holding the Governor to finish ahead of the NPC if his/her opponent has already
completed Provisioning.