I for one was dubious. But we got the board out (which is in two sections, one for the Carribean, one for the Gold Coast and India) and then chose our pirate. To do this you split the deck of pirate cards in two and take the bottom card of the half you removed. This card itself is a treasure, not only showing you a picture of your pirate but also giving you an account of his deeds and life on the back.

We then chose whether we wanted the speedy sloop, or the less armed schooner with a lower draft that gives it a bonus for evading warships in coastal hexes. (Personally I'm a devoted sloop fan).

The game gives you two options for gaining gold, attacking merchant ships or attacking ports, but I wouldn't advise attacking anything with a defence higher than six without a three masted rigger.

The game revolves around the action cards. These not only determine whose turn it is, but also if Merchant ships will appear, where they will appear, how much booty you gain, if there is a hostage onboard, if warships turn up, as well as any random events. The cards themselves are really well thought out, but with one dislike - the player turn selection - Brian

I must say this game plays very well, but I do secretly detest one of the game functions, and that's the turn sequence. On the action cards is a section depicting rows of two, three and four jolly rogers. The number of players decides which row you look at. If, for example, the second skull is black, it is player two's turn. On the face of it this adds a dimension to the game that I have not witnessed before, and I suppose in most cases it works well...but why is it that no matter what number I am, my turn hardly ever seems to come around?

I think it would be better for this for players to take turns as they normally do, clockwise round the table, as the downtime between turns can stretch out to half an hour quite easily. We must give this a try next time we play

Combat is fairly straightforward. The pirate totals Combat & Speed of his ship, plus his own ability rating, less the defense rating of the Merchant ship. A d12 roll is made and the pirate must roll less than or equal to this to capture the Merchant.

Attacking Ports is similar. A pirate adds ability to ship combat strength plus a d6 roll. The Port gets Defense plus a d12 roll. If the pirate gets less than or equal to the port he fails and takes damage. Otherwise he succeeds and can raid the port.

Raiding Ports can be more profitable than taking Merchants, but it can also see the pirate suffering greater losses, including his own life. Also, the only way a pirate can get a bigger ship is by capturing a Merchant and rolling a double. Success in either venture earns Notoriety Points. To win the game, a pirate needs to earn 100 Notoriety Points.

Attacking nations ships/ports also makes them your enemy. The last game I played I miscalculated and all ports were my enemy. I had no choice but to sail from the Carribean to the Gold Coast, which took ages. So you need to remember not to attack every Nations ships/ports - or you'll have no where to sell your hard won booty.

And yes, I could sell at a pirate haven, but you only get 80% of your booty's value. Also, by this time I was on my 3rd Pirate, having lost the previous two, one to a port attack, the other to a Warship attack - Brian   :-(

Over all though this game is fantastic and was played to death by our little group when we first got it (it even managed to get a non-game playing friend to buy it for solo games!!), sadly, though 'to death' is exactly what happened and it was left on the shelf for some time until recently...And yet again it was loved by all.

SUMMARY: A fantastic game that everyone will enjoy that's simple to play, need I say more? ;o)

I agree. This game really captures the feel for the time period. Another nice touch I like, not mentioned above, is the crew morale track. If this drops too low, the crew will mutiny. The strange Turn order came from the designers wish to build in some way to represent a pirates long waits in port between raids, which the game mechanic represents well, but doesn't lead to a good idea when put into practice during play of the game. One downside to an otherwise excellent game.

Review by TOM and Brian