Stonemaier Games | Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest | Board Game | Ages 14+ | 1-6 Players | 45-60 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

This is repeated with each voyage and coins are earned and stashed in the treasure chest. Each voyage lasts a day longer than the previous and six more character cards are added (and combine with characters not played in the previous voyage) until the end of the final voyage. Anchors Away You place the Automa tiles at the bottom (the hook and saber have been replaced here, it’s a bit different for the stormy side of the board, where there’s a specific Automa tile for Barrel and Amulet). The reputation tokens are randomly placed with yours and the Automa’s tokens placed in the third and fourth spot. The loot tiles are randomly selected as usual but with three tiles. One is for the Pilferer who is separate to the Automa. Something to be aware of about the Automa in Libertalia, is that it’ll normally play it’s highest ranking cards (which makes sense), I thought I could get away with using my lower ranking cards to win when the Automa had already used a lot of their higher ranking cards but it was a no. Reputation doesn’t matter as much here as ties are uncommon, sometimes I think it’s better to plummet your reputation as it gives you more coins each round.

When the Saber is taken you must choose a character from an adjacent player's den and discard it if possible. In some circumstances there might be no more booty to claim when a crew's turn to claim is resolved which means they get no booty and go to their den empty handed. Night abilities happen at the end of every turn where that character still resides on your ship, which is a fancy way of saying “the table in front of you.” The rules are brief and concise; no confusing language, but there are a couple of places where I would have grouped information differently. To setup for the next campaign each player gets 10 new doubloons and add an identical random set of 6 crew cards to the three crew left over.So that Barkeep (his action is to score you 1 doubloon each night) you played on day 1 of the current campaign, will keep paying you every night (as long as he stays alive.) My experience is that with 6 players, game duration fall in the 45-60 minute range. You might find some turns take a while, depending on the mix of cards in the hand. Between campaigns, players have up to three cards left that have not been played and the first player draws 6 news cards, announces them, and players add these cards to their remaining cards in hand. A new campaign begins as the plundering continues. This is a simple competitive game that I can bring out and play with just about anyone as it’s really easy to teach. The pirate theme is always easy to convince people to play, so it’s not hard to find people to enjoy it with. The arrrs will be in full swing before you know it.

Shellhead, thank you for mentioning EEAaO. Watched it last night and it was an enjoyable and unexpected experience. Girlfriend and I talked about it quite a bit afterwards. During three campaigns, you have to gather doubloons and booty tiles to become the wealthiest pirate. I don’t normally enjoy the “Take That” mechanism. Also, I find it confrontational when people have decided to spend their time playing with me, but in this game, it works incredibly well with the theme, so everyone knows what to expect. The tactical decisions you make are based on almost complete information. You know what characters your opponent has, how much money they have and what loot items are available.Libertalia was originally released in 2012. Ten years later, we’re celebrating the foundations of the original design with a heavily revised and expanded edition that includes all-new art, 40 characters per player, a reputation system to resolve tiebreakers, premium loot tokens, a robust solo mode, and much more. Libertalia’s strength is in Mori’s design. With each player beginning the game with the exact same cards, emphasis is on timing and card choice as opposed to player resources and random card draws. The 30 different card effects are well thought out and work well in combination with each other. The resulting card interactions, (and consequently, player interactions) provide an entertaining and compelling journey toward Pirate retirement. The components for this game are great. There is some debate but I like the updated brighter artwork with animal crew members. It is less gritty but I like the new fun whimsical design. The rule book is easy to read and follow. And while the game is pretty easy to teach and learn, you can always watch the tutorial here.

I’ve played Libertalia with casual, social, and avid gamers, and all have enjoyed it and wanted to play again. As long as the theme is acceptable, family gamers should enjoy the game, while it may leave power and strategy gamers looking for a bit more.Overall, Sea of Thieves is a tad complex to set up and to teach. But its open world approach allows players to get invested fast. It feels great to play, and from cursed dice rolls to ‘gotcha’ card play, is full of little moments that are sure to make you and up to three friends laugh (in a pirate-y accent, of course, aha harr). That strange idiosyncrasy aside, the game is one of the best designed on the market. Gameplay is elegant. And once more it bears mentioning that the art design is second to none. Artists Ben Carre and Stéphane Gantiez have created a feast for the eyes, each character perfectly rendered to a degree that they could come to life right off the cards. The art alone inspires and supports the theme, and makes the game that much more enjoyable.