Brethren of the Coast Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Aim of the game
• Set-up
  • Cards
  • Port Royal
  • Spanish boards
  • Ships
  • Doubloons
• About the cards
• How to play
  • Taking a turn
    • 1. Play a ship
    • 2. Play a card
    • 3. Draw a card
• Fleets
• Reckoning
  • 1. Cannons
  • 2. Muskets
  • 3. Sharing the treasure
  • 4. After a reckoning
• End of the game
  • Treasure chests
• Winning the game

Components

• 1 Port Royal board (double-sided)
• 6 Spanish boards (double-sided)
• 18 doubloons
• 72 ships: 3 large galleons and 9 small schooners, in each of 6 player colours
• 72 cards

Note: the Components list above prints 72 cards, while the Set-up section below gives a 6-player deck of "all 79 cards". Both figures are transcribed as printed in the official rulebook.

Aim of the game

The player with the largest hoard of doubloons at the end of the game is the winner.

Set-up

Cards

Assemble the deck, depending on the number of players.

The deck contains 3 'marked sets' of 12 cards each. The cards in each set are marked with a different symbol on the corner of the cards: Flag symbol, Skull symbol and Parrot symbol. These sets are identical. When setting up the deck for fewer than 6 players, it doesn't matter which sets you remove, provided you remove the correct number of complete sets.

• 3 players: Use 40 cards. Remove 3 of the marked sets.
• 4 players: Use 52 cards. Remove 2 of the marked sets.
• 5 players: Use 64 cards. Remove 1 of the marked sets.
• 6 players: Use all 79 cards.

Shuffle the deck and then remove 4 secret cards at random, without letting the players see them. Put these back in the box and out of play. Deal each player a hand of 4 face-down cards from the game deck, and place the other cards face down beside the play area to form the draw pile.

Port Royal

Place the Port Royal board in the middle of the play area. The table of numbers on the board tell you how many musket, cannon and treasure chest cards were in the deck before the 4 secret cards were removed.

Spanish boards

Lay out a number of Spanish boards equal to the number of players in a circle around the Port Royal board, with the side showing the Spanish galleons face up, and with the line of numbered positions closest to Port Royal. One Spanish board should be in line with the 'North' compass direction on Port Royal. Put any unused Spanish boards back in the box.

The official set-up diagrams for 3, 4, 5 and 6 players are shown as images in the rulebook.

Ships

Each player takes all 12 ships of one colour: 3 large galleons and 9 small schooners. Put any unused ships back in the box.

Doubloons

Give each player the following number of doubloons, and then put any remaining doubloons back in the box:

• 3 or 4 players: 4 doubloons.
• 5 or 6 players: 3 doubloons.

You may spend these doubloons during the game to keep secret some of the cards you play, or keep some or all of them until the end and count them as part of your hoard.

About the cards

Cannons and muskets: During a reckoning, before any treasure is shared, the Spanish may attack the buccaneer fleets with cannons or muskets, changing the strengths of the fleets.

Marked doubloons: During a reckoning, and after any Spanish attack, each pair of marked doubloons is given directly to the player whose fleet is in the position shown on the card.

Doubloons and treasure chests: During a reckoning, and after the Spanish attack, the doubloons and chests are shared by all the players with a fleet present at the galleon or settlement. The player with the strongest fleet will choose a card first, and so on in fleet order.

How to play

The players take turns to play ships and cards alongside the Spanish galleons — and, later, alongside the Spanish settlements on the reverse of the boards — until all the players' ships and all the cards in the deck have been played. Each Spanish galleon or settlement will be 'reckoned' — and have its treasure shared by the players — immediately after the first 6 cards have been played alongside it, and again at the end of the game.

Taking a turn

The youngest player goes first. Players then take turns clockwise. On your turn do the following three things in order.

1. Play a ship

Play one of your unplayed ships alongside any Spanish board.

• You must play a new ship each turn and may not move a ship played in an earlier turn.
• In later turns, when additional ships are played at the same board, group each player's ships into a fleet, and reposition the fleets so that they are always ordered by strength — see Fleets.

2. Play a card

Play one card from your hand alongside a different Spanish board.

You may never play a ship and a card at the same Spanish board in a single turn!

• You must play a new card each turn and may not move a card played in an earlier turn.
• You may play your card face up or face down. It costs nothing to play the card face up, but if you want to play the card face down, you must place one of the doubloons you received at the start of the game on Port Royal. If you have spent all of the doubloons you received at the start of the game, you can only play your card face up.
• In later turns, when additional cards are played at the same board, overlap the cards so that all the previously played cards can be seen.
• If the card you play is the 6th card played at a Spanish galleon, then the buccaneer fleets attack and there must be an immediate reckoning so that the treasure can be shared — see Reckoning. After the reckoning, remove all the fleets beside the Spanish galleon and put them back in the box, then flip the board over to show the Spanish settlement. Settlements may have any number of cards played at them, and are only reckoned at the end of the game.

3. Draw a card

Take the top card from the draw pile and add it to your hand. When the draw pile is used up skip this step, but continue to take turns playing a ship and a card on your turn, until your ships and cards have all been played.

Fleets

A galleon has 3 sails, a schooner only 2 sails. The strength of any fleet is equal to the total number of sails on all its ships. When there are several fleets at a Spanish board keep them ordered by strength, and position them alongside the edge of the Spanish board, with the strongest fleet in position '1'. If, after any ship is played, the strengths of two fleets are tied, the fleet already ahead stays ahead, and the current player loses the tie. More than 3 players may place fleets alongside a single Spanish board. If there are more than 3 fleets at a board, position the weakest fleets to the side of the fleet in position '3', keeping all fleets ordered by strength.

Example: Five ships and 4 cards have been played at this Spanish board. The blue fleet is the strongest with 5 sails. The green fleet has 4 sails. The yellow fleet is the weakest with 3 sails.

Reckoning

When a Spanish galleon or settlement is reckoned, pause the game and immediately reveal any face-down cards and lay them face up. If there are any cannons or muskets among the cards then the Spanish attack the fleets before any treasure is shared. If there are both cannon and musket cards at a Spanish galleon or settlement, the cannons always attack the players' fleets first. After the attack, put any cannon and musket cards back in the box.

1. Cannons

If there is a single cannon, the Spanish attack the strongest fleet (the fleet in position '1'). This fleet is reduced to its single smallest ship. Put any other ships lost from the fleet back in the box, then reorder the fleets by strength as usual. If the strength of the attacked fleet is now tied with another fleet, the attacked fleet loses the tie and must be positioned behind the other fleet. If there are 2 or more cannons, the Spanish bungle their attack on the strongest fleet and mistakenly fire at each other. The buccaneers survive the Spanish cannon attack unscathed!

2. Muskets

If there is a single musket, the Spanish attack the weakest fleet (the fleet in the lowest occupied position). This fleet loses its single smallest ship. Put the ship lost from the fleet back in the box. If the fleet only had one ship, the fleet is destroyed. If there are 2 or more muskets the Spanish bungle their attack on the weakest fleet and mistakenly fire at each other. The buccaneers survive the Spanish musket attack unscathed!

It is possible for a single cannon and a single musket to combine to completely destroy the strongest fleet. First, the cannon attacks, reducing the strongest fleet to its smallest single ship. Before the musket attacks, the fleets must be reordered by strength. If the strongest fleet is now the weakest, its single remaining ship would be attacked by the musket and the fleet destroyed completely!

3. Sharing the treasure

If only one player has a fleet at the galleon or settlement, that player takes all the treasure. Otherwise, share the treasure as explained below. Players must keep all the cards they take during reckonings face up so that all players may see the cards already collected.

• Marked doubloons: If there are any marked doubloons, give each one to the player with a fleet in the matching position alongside the galleon or settlement. If there is no fleet at that position, give the card to the player in position '1'.
• Doubloons and treasure chests: The players with fleets at the Spanish galleon or settlement now take the remaining cards in fleet order until all the cards have been taken. The player whose fleet is in position '1' chooses one card, then the player whose fleet is in position '2' chooses one card, and so on. If there are cards remaining after all players with a fleet at the galleon or settlement have taken one, begin again with the player in position '1'.

You cannot spend doubloons gained during reckonings to play treasure cards face down on a later turn.

4. After a reckoning

After reckoning a Spanish galleon, remove all the ships in the fleets beside it and put them back in the box. Then flip the board over to show the Spanish settlement before continuing the game. Settlements may have any number of cards played at them, and are only reckoned at the end of the game.

End of the game

The game ends when all the players' ships and cards have been played. Now reckon each board in order following the same Reckoning rules used to reckon the Spanish galleons. When you reckon the boards at the end of the game, always start with the board directly 'north' of Port Royal, according to the compass, and then reckon the boards in clockwise order.

Treasure chests

After all the boards have been reckoned, count the number of treasure chests collected by each player. If there is a single player with the most chests, give him/her the Port Royal board. Port Royal has a 'booty' worth 4 doubloons. The booty is only awarded if a single player has more chests than everyone else. Otherwise, no player receives the booty.

Count up all the doubloons on Port Royal: this is the 'loot'.

The player with the most chests gets half the loot, and the player with the second-most chests gets the other half!

If the loot cannot be evenly split into two halves, split the loot as follows:

• Give the extra doubloon to the player with the most chests.
• If players are tied with the most chests: Evenly split the doubloons between all tied players, discarding any remainder. Other players get nothing.
• If players are tied with the second-most chests: The player with the most chests still gets half the loot, but evenly split the other half between the players tied with second-most chests, discarding any remainder.

Winning the game

Count the doubloons on all of the treasure cards you collected, plus any doubloons remaining from those you received at the start of the game, and the value of the booty and loot you may have collected for your treasure chests. The player with the largest hoard of doubloons is the winner. If two or more players are tied with the most doubloons, the tied player who collected the most treasure chests wins. If players are still tied, then all tied players share victory.

Transcriber's note: minor typographical errors in the printed rulebook have been corrected in this transcription ("start of he game" read as "start of the game", a stray drop-cap letter before "Give" and "loot", and "behind of" read as "behind the"). The card count difference between the Components list (72) and the Set-up section (79 for six players) is as printed in the source.