Ghost Pirates
Ghost Pirates Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Summary
Ghost Pirates is a tactical board game in which two Ghost Pirate Captains encounter each other on the high seas. Old rivalries, grudges, whatever it was that happened on Skull Island, and simply the joy of battle impel them to turn broadside and lay-to.
A player's turn consists of drawing a card, playing one or more cards to strengthen their ship and tactical position, moving their pirate crew, and finally having them fight the foeman or pillage the enemy's ship. The goal of the game is to keelhaul your opponent's captain.
Setup
- Each player takes a Pirate Captain card.
- Shuffle and lay out the five Ocean Current cards across the center of the table next to each other as shown in the diagram below.
- Each player takes a Forecastle, Main Mast, and Poop Deck and puts them together to make a ship centered on their side of the ocean currents. Place crew on your ship as indicated on these cards.
- Separate the treasures from the main deck, shuffle each separately.
- Set the treasures aside and deal 4 cards from the main deck to each player.
About the Cards
There are three types of cards that are used during the game: Ship, Loot, and Treasure.
- Ship cards have a number in the lower left-hand corner that indicate how many crew come into play with the part. If you are replacing parts, place all crew from the old part on to the new one. You may only play one of these cards per turn.
- Loot cards have a brown background and may be played only during the Cards & Cannons phase.
- Treasure cards have a blue background and may be played at any time, on either player's turn.
About the Crew
There are three types of Crew: The ordinary crew (referred to as "Crew"), the Mate, and the Captain.
- Crew can move two spaces and each contribute one die to the pool you'll roll for your side in a fight. Crew tokens that remain in your reserves are referred to as "below decks." Crew that are hit in a fight go below decks.
- The Mate moves like ordinary crew, but adds two dice to your fight pool. Additionally, when hit, the Mate does not go below decks like ordinary crew. Instead he goes overboard and will return to his owner's Poop Deck at the start of their next turn.
- The Captain never moves unless he would be hit in a fight (or by cannon fire), in which case he advances towards the bow of your ship by one space. The Captain adds two dice to the pool you roll in a fight.
Gameplay
Winning: Fight your way across to the captain of your opponent's ship. A successful hit on the Captain forces him to move forward one space towards the bow of the ship (the Forecastle). Once the captain is at the bow of the ship, one last successful hit keelhauls the Captain!
Turn Summary
- Draw Cards
- Cards & Cannons
- Crew Movement
- Fight & Pillage
Each player begins their turn by drawing a card and playing cards to alter the battlefield in order to set up their tactics for the turn. They will then command their crew to move and take action against their opponent.
- Draw Cards: At the start of each turn, take one card from the Play Deck and add it to your hand.
- Cards & Cannons: You may play a maximum of one ship card and one boarding plank per turn. Loot and Treasure cards have no limit. You may also fire each of your cannons at any point during this phase. Roll a single die for the cannon you wish to fire and look up the result after applying any modifiers.
- Crew Movement: Crew and the Mate may each move up to two spaces (three when starting at a Mast). The captain does not move unless forced by a fight or cannon fire.
- Fight & Pillage: When you occupy locations on your opponent's ship (and vice versa), one or both of these events will take place. If there are any locations on either ship that contain mixed groups of crew, they must fight. If you control a location (unopposed) on your opponent's ship, you may attempt to pillage. The order in which these occur is entirely determined by the active player.
Diagram: Standard Movement (Forecastle, Main Mast, Poop Deck, with crew tokens and movement arrows).
Movement
If enemy crew occupy a space you want to depart or move through, you must leave at least one unit for each of your opponent's units in the space before any other crew can move past.
In the example above, the red crew pieces are going to move. Two of the red crew's movement is restricted, as they must stay and fight the two blue crew, while the third may move freely. However, when that crew moves to the main mast, he must stop and fight the blue crew there.
Retreat
Retreat: Crew that are evenly matched or outnumbered may, as their movement, attempt to retreat from their current deck location. The crew may only move to an adjacent space, and your opponent rolls one die for each retreating crew. For each die that shows a SKULL (the 1 face), one of your retreating crew is hit.
Diagram: Retreat (Forecastle, Main Mast, Poop Deck, showing crew retreating to an adjacent space).
The retreat example above shows only one crew retreating. Both crew have the option to do so; the opponent would roll two dice, and only if they both came up SKULLS would they both be hit.
Fight
Each player rolls a pool consisting of 1 die for each Crew they have at the location and 2 dice each for Officers (Captain and Mate). SKULLS (1s) rolled each hit one opponent crew. Each paired numeral that is not a SKULL hits one opponent's crew (i.e. paired SKULLS do not hit 3 crew).
Example: In this example, the 1 (SKULL) hits one crew, and the paired 2s hit a second crew. There is no bonus for the triplet.
Resolve each player's roll simultaneously. Opponent chooses which crew are lost from his side, and you decide which are lost from yours. When a captain is hit, he advances only one space from a given fight, regardless of how many hits were rolled. When a Mate is hit, he rolls with the blow and dives overboard. He'll come back to that players poop deck at the start of his player's next turn.
Pillage
Roll a die and add the number of crew tokens you have at any site you control (unopposed occupation on your opponent's ship) plus any modifiers (such as Captain Night Macklin's power, or a Cargo Hold site). If the total is 7 or more, draw one treasure card. This only occurs instead of a fight; not afterwards.
Hints and Strategies
Ghost Pirates is designed to be a game of high seas battle and adventure. Any movie where pirates swarm an opposing ship has a style of tension that goes back and forth. One side presses an advantage, and then stumbles into an overwhelming force that turns the tables on them; advantage goes back and forth, turning on a dime. Ghost Pirates works best when you embrace that as a style of play.
The first player's turn often appears extremely strong and can be terrifying. Your opponent's draw of a high numbered card (especially a Mast) and a Boarding Plank can flood your ship and force your captain to move (possibly even twice) on the very first turn. Don't worry, this is intentional. The game hits its stride right away, and jumps into hard hitting action at the outset, and generally doesn't let up. This is not a game of strategy—it's a game of tactics. Respond to the situation on the battlefield and make the most of your resources right away. You're not here to win a war, you're here to capture your opponent's ship. To that end, go on the offensive as much as you possibly can. It doesn't matter how much your Captain moves, as long as your opponent's is the first to be keelhauled.
"Turtling," (which is to say, surrounding your Captain with Crew and going heavy on the defense) may be useful short-term, but done extensively will only serve to prolong the game indefinitely and will not help you win. It's fine to send a few crew to the Captain to add to his defense, but keep in mind—if you put all your crew in one piece of deck for defense, that deck is extremely vulnerable to cannon fire, and you give your opponent more opportunity for pillaging.
Card List
Ship Cards
You may play one Ship card (cannon, mast, or cargo hold) each turn. These are played to expand or alter your own ship and replenish your crew. You may have up to three ship cards between the forecastle and poop deck at any time (matching alignment with the ocean currents in play). Each ship piece has a number in the lower right corner. This is how many crew come into play with this piece of the ship. If you have fewer crew below decks than is listed on the card, ignore the remainder.
Instead of playing a new ship piece, you may replace one ship piece (not the Forecastle or Poop Deck) with one card from your hand, with two exceptions. You may not replace the ship piece that the captain is on and you may not replace a ship piece with another one of the same name, e.g. a Cannon may be replaced by a Mast or a Cargo Hold, but not by another Cannon. Place all crew that are present on to the new ship piece.
Cannons: Cannons fire on your opponents ship, with the potential to cause crew to be killed or a portion of the ship to be destroyed. Select the cannon to fire and roll a die. On a SKULL, 2, or 3: two crew on the tile directly opposite a cannon are hit. On a die result of 6, destroy the deck piece across from the cannon.
All hands present are considered hit. If a boarding plank is anchored on this piece, it falls in along with any crew. No effect on a roll of 4 or 5.
Cannons may not destroy the Forecastle or Poop Deck, though a roll of 6 still causes all hands to be hit. If the Captain is hit by cannon-fire, he advances to the next piece of deck. The Captain may not be hit by cannon fire while he is on the forecastle, though all other crew may.
Ocean Currents determine which direction a ship collapses when a portion of the ship is destroyed. If the current at the missing portion of the ship is pointing fore, move the stern and any other pieces of ship forwards (as shown in the example below), and vice versa if the current is pointing aft. Any boarding planks that shift or lose their anchor point are lost along with any crew.
Diagram: Ocean Currents example (a destroyed Main Mast; the Poop Deck and Forecastle shift along the currents).
Masts: Masts grant extra speed to a ship's crew. Any crew that starts their turn on a mast part gains one extra movement point for that turn (3 instead of 2).
Cargo Holds: When you play a Cargo Hold, immediately also draw a treasure card. However, cargo holds are also the easiest to pillage, and grant your opponent a +2 to their pillage roll there.
Boarding Plank: One Boarding Plank may be played per turn over an ocean current between two midships parts (Forecastle and Poop Deck are the only two deck parts that are not midships). Either player's crew may cross the plank using normal movement rules. If ships shift or are altered such that one end of the plank loses an anchor point, or the anchor point shifts, the plank falls along with any crew.
Loot Cards
Rum: Play at any deck location, to send 2 enemy crew "overboard." Crew will return to their own poop deck on their player's next turn. Rum may not target the Captain or the Mate. Alternately, you may play Rum to draw 2 cards from the main deck.
Pieces of Eight: Bribe an opponent's crew to your side (replace his token with your own—you must have at least one Crew ready "below decks"). You do not need to have other crew present at that token's location.
Treasure Cards
Lucky Dice: Change any single die rolled (by any player) by an increment or decrement of 1, e.g. a 3 may be shifted to a 4 or 5, but not a 1, 2, or 6. This does not wrap, e.g. you may not change a 6 to a 1 or vice versa.
Cursed Dagger: Play to roll two extra dice during a fight. Lose one additional crew from the location after the fight resolves.
Grappling Hook: Play at any time. Move one of your crew tokens from any ship part to the ship part directly across the ocean current. This does not count against regular movement.
Pirate Captains
Four notorious Pirate Captains are included with this playset. Each Pirate Captain has their own influence over their crew and ship granting special powers. Pirate Captain powers override the standard rules. Feel free to come up with your own Captains!
- Captain 'Deadeye' Saxon: +1 to all Cannon rolls you make.
- Captain Night Macklin: +1 to all Pillage rolls you make.
- Captain 'Bilious' Bertram: Opponent rolls 1 fewer die when any of your crew retreat.
- Captain Reinheimer: Play any card as a boarding plank. This plank provides (0) crew.
Components
Parts Required
- 15 red Crew tokens, 1 red Captain token, 1 red Mate token
- 15 blue Crew tokens, 1 blue Captain token, 1 blue Mate token
- At least 4 six-sided dice (with a skull replacing the 1s face)
Main Deck (48 cards)
- 4 Cannon (2 crew)
- 4 Cannon (3 crew)
- 4 Mast (4 crew)
- 4 Mast (5 crew)
- 4 Cargo Hold (6 crew)
- 4 Cargo Hold (7 crew)
- 8 Boarding Plank
- 8 Pieces of Eight
- 8 Rum
Treasure Deck (9 cards)
- 3 Lucky Dice
- 3 Cursed Dagger
- 3 Grappling Hook
Setup Cards (15 cards)
- 2 Forecastle
- 2 Main Mast
- 2 Poop Deck
- 5 Ocean Currents
- 4 Pirate Captains
Total: 72 Cards