On the play in 2010 in Essen, the Polish publisher Kuznia Gier had built an oversized game plan 2ed edition of Pirates, who had a certain attraction and was impressive. As its name suggests already, we are dealing with a bona fide pirate game where it goes to the usual cliches: rob treasure, ships, rescue governor's daughter.

The Mission

The players must try to rid the governor's daughter from the clutches of the terrible pirate "Roberts". Roberts is in hiding on an island. The exact location is not known, but can only be determined when two parts of a mysterious treasure map to be merged. To get this treasure maps, players must acquire fame. These activities, they can earn in the pirate world, for example through trade, boarding of ships or even the attack on a seaport. So the pirate Roberts releases the governor's daughter, yet he also expects the submission of 50 pieces of gold and 30 fame points.

The mechanism

Each round starts with the "archipelago" phase. A player turns over a card from the draw pile and determines the raw material that is now brought into play. Either he is now filling the islands leading to the products, according to his or goods from any island, which leads the commodity. If merchant ships are in port, they will be checked and filled if necessary put in place. Warships are also moving into this phase, if an icon is revealed ..
The face-up card to identify the merchandise is then placed on the discard pile. This was unfortunately not usually mentioned explicitly, so that we only found out on request from the publisher.

In the following "Sailing" phase, the players at least three actions available, they may have spread in the following ways:

1 Field sail far
1 card draw;
1 card store;
Buy goods;
Sell ​​goods;
go into the yard;
a fort attack
the hold spaces

In addition, players can sail into the stage play cards from their hand. Some of these cards were commissioned maps, but others refer to specific game situations such as battles or actions of other players.

Trade

In the world of Pirates 2ed can operate with sugar, cotton, coffee, spices and rum trade. This is done by the players carry these commodities on their vessels from one island to another. The same is done but also neutral merchant ships, which are firmly set on the road trade routes.

The merchandise Rum plays a special role, because - how could it be otherwise - Rum also influenced the mood of crouching in his hiding pirate Roberts. Patience is always at a bar then pushed a marker if the players have rum into play. The patience of the pirate strip affects the strength of the commercial and naval ships, their number gets higher canon "strained" the patience of the pirates.
Battles

To a pirate game, of course, includes the ability to board ships and rob them. This is what the ships of the players, the merchant ships and a few neutral warships available. Ship battles are decided with this special card, and the canon number of individual ships. The combat system is not very complex, but also no coincidence. Thus, for the right cards and maneuver very well decide many a fight.

Port trigger.

If the ship is fully loaded and / or damaged, the run will help in a nearby harbor. There it is possible to sell merchandise profitably and repair the ship in the shipyard and expand to let. in the yards of two islands, there are certain, moreover, to each buy a portion of the treasure map. Alternatively, a courageous attack players also said the city and bring the treasure map by force. In this case it is considered a banned and not a full round of long-acting honest and call at any shipyard.

Conclusion:

Compared to the Pirates of the Caribbean pirates 2ed feels a bit like a light version because it does away with the political complexity of the monumental Pegasus game. A comparison is no denying, however, by the hand, with a slightly stripped down version Pirates 2ed game with similar components. In particular, the mechanism has simple combat and tactical, and thus less dependent on luck. With us, Pirates 2ed works very well, lasted approximately 90 minutes of playing time is not excessively long, and offered during the entire game duration sufficient variety.

Year: 2010
Publisher: Kuznia Gier
Author: Malgorzata Majakowska, Tomasz Mayakovsky
Design: Krzysztof Rogulski
Players: 2-4
Age: 12 years
Duration: about 90 minutes

Tags: Knuzia