Piece Packing Pirates
Piece Packing Pirates Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Build the Sea. Individual tiles are parts of the sea, and collectively they make up the whole sea. Parts of the sea are left face-down until you sail your pirate ship into them, whereupon they are flipped. Regardless of orientation, each part of the sea has four spaces (or quadrants: NE, SE, SW and NW) that may be occupied by ships. The values of face-up parts of the sea determine the likelihood of spotting another ship nearby, while the pips indicate prevailing wind directions. Shuffle all twenty four parts of the sea face-down, then arrange them into one large flat connected surface. Adjacent parts of the sea must overlap at least one quadrant, but otherwise, your sea may take almost any shape. Use your imagination! The edges and open areas in the middle of the sea are land. (The source shows a few possible unexplored seas as diagrams.)
Sort Ships. Coins are various types of sailing ships ranging in size from small sloops (value = null) to gigantic ships of the line (value = five). Your pirate ship sails under a black moon flag, and ships having other loyalties sail under other flags. But when you're a pirate, nationality matters less than a hearty crew, a barrel of rum and plenty of ammunition. Shake the non-pirate ships (arms, crowns and suns coins) in an opaque bag and set it nearby. Place the pirate ships (moons coins) face-up on the corresponding spaces at the bottom of the play mat.
Sort Dice. The arms and suns dice are used to determine the results of ship-to-ship conflicts. These happen frequently, so keep these two dice handy. As your booty increases, you will probably want to bury some of it for safe-keeping until you retire. The moons and crowns dice will be used to map your buried booty, but they begin the game on the moons and crowns spaces at the bottom left of the play mat.
Sort Pawns. Pawns are used to keep track of turns, crew, notoriety, and most importantly, booty! All four pawns start on the color-coded spaces at the lower left of the play mat. During the game, the pawns will move up and down the corresponding scoring tracks, but the tracked values can never fall below zero.
Get Starting Booty. Roll the suns and arms dice, then add five to the result (null = zero, ace = one). Place the crowns pawn onto the booty track space corresponding to the sum. This is how much booty you have available to pay for your starting ship and crew.
Buy Ship & Crew. Prices for the various types of ships and incremental increases in crew are indicated on the booty track on the play mat and on the reference sheet. Crew requirements for the various types of ships are indicated on the crew track on the play mat and on the reference sheet. You may only have one pirate ship at a time, but you may trade them in later. After your purchase, adjust the crowns pawn on the booty track to reflect how much booty you have left (if any).
Example: Suppose you get the worst possible roll, a double null, which leaves you with only five booty. You can still purchase a sloop (ship size = null) for two booty, and a single crew to man it for three booty. The total cost for a minimally manned sloop is five booty. If you're a lucky salt, you might be able to buy a ketch (ship size = ace) for five booty, and three crew to man it for three booty each. The total cost for a minimally manned ketch is fourteen booty.
Note that one crew is not equal to just one man. Ships require many more men than that to run, and the range from one to ten is merely for convenience. Each incremental increase in crew probably represents anywhere from twenty to fifty men. Likewise, there are no hard and fast conversion factors for turns taken and the amount of time that passes between them, nor for booty and its monetary value. Piece Packing Pirates is a game, not a simulation.
Weigh Anchor. Finally, place your pirate ship in any sea space adjacent to land. Flip that part of the sea face-up and orient it so the prevailing wind blows in any direction you choose. Now ye be ready to plunder! Arrr! For your convenience, all of the steps taken during setup are summarized on the reference sheet.
Goal & Play
Your goal is to explore the sea, plunder booty from other ships, and finally retire rich and notorious. But watch out for the big ships of the line, especially as your notoriety grows! Their cannon have cut short the careers of many a scurvy bilge rat such as yourself. The game advances in turns, and each turn is comprised of a number of steps. It may look complicated at first, but all of the steps are summarized on the reference sheet and at the bottom right of the play mat.
Sail
The first step in every turn is to sail your pirate ship zero, one or two spaces orthogonally, including a 90° turn, if desired (the source prints this as "90/"). At any time while sailing, you may also move up to one space diagonally in the prevailing wind direction (as indicated by the pip icon) for the part of the sea your pirate ship is currently in. Sailing is always optional, and you may choose to stay put if you wish.
Example: In the following partial map of a typical sea, the sloop (null coin) may sail to any of the shaded spaces. See if you can figure out how, as well as why it can't sail to any of the unshaded spaces. (The source shows this as a diagram.)
The sea is vast and dangerous, and several things could happen to you while you're sailing. Your ship might enter previously unexplored parts of the sea, your lookout might see another ship on the horizon, or you may finally catch that other ship you've been pursuing the last several turns. Arr! Every time your ship moves into a previously unexplored part of the sea (a face-down tile), flip it face-up and orient it so the prevailing wind blows in any direction you choose. (This may happen more than once during a turn.)
Example: In the following partial maps of a typical sea, the pirate ketch wants to explore the part of the sea to the east. As the ketch sails east, the unexplored part of the sea is revealed to be the four arms tile, and the player chooses to orient the newly explored part of the sea such that the prevailing wind blows toward the northeast. (The source shows the sequence of four diagrams.)
Every time your ship moves into an unoccupied part of the sea, roll the suns die. If the result is less than or equal to the value of the tile, a ship is sighted! Draw a coin from the bag, and after looking at it, place it face-up in the quadrant diagonally opposite your ship, then continue your sailing phase. Obviously, higher valued parts of the sea are the most likely places for ships to be sighted – the prime shipping lanes.
Example: In the previous partial maps of a typical sea, when the ketch entered the four arms part of the sea, a roll on the suns die resulted in a three. A ship! Drawing at random from the bag produced a brig sailing under the suns flag! In Piece Packing Pirates, a brig is bigger than a ketch, so it will give chase and try to attack if possible. (The rules for other ships sailing are next.) The pirate ketch can use this to its advantage by moving to the northeast quadrant of the four arms part of the sea to lie in wait.
Every time your pirate ship moves into the same space as another ship, the two ships engage in combat. Your combat score is the value of your ship (null = zero, ace = one) plus the value of your crew plus whatever you roll on the arms die. Your opponent's combat score is the value of their ship plus the value of your notoriety plus whatever you roll on the suns die. Highest total wins.
If your ship wins, remove the opposing ship, increase your notoriety by one and collect booty equal to whatever you rolled on the arms die during combat times the total of the opposing ship size plus whatever you rolled on the suns die during combat, then subtract your crew size from that product to represent booty shared with your crew. Note that even if you win, your net booty could be negative!
If your ship loses, leave the enemy ship in play, decrease your notoriety by one, decrease your crew size by one (which may also necessitate a decrease in ship size, for which you get nothing), and lose either all the booty you have aboard or booty equal to whatever you rolled on the suns die during combat, whichever is less. If the loss of your last crew precipitates the loss of a sloop, and if you cannot afford to replace them in the upgrade step, you will drown at sea at the end of this turn. (Rules for these are coming up soon.) If both combat scores are equal, there is a standoff and nothing happens.
Other Ships Sail / Attack
All nearby ships (those in the same part of the sea as your pirate ship and those in all bordering parts of the sea) sail. In the following partial map of a typical sea, any ships in the shaded parts of the sea would sail, but those in the unshaded parts of the sea would not sail. (The source shows this as a diagram.)
Where the other ships sail depends upon their types. Smaller ships flee. All nearby ships that are smaller than your pirate ship move one space orthogonally away from your pirate ship. Ships in previously explored parts of the sea automatically use the wind to move one space diagonally if it helps them flee further, but ships in unexplored parts of the sea may never use the wind to sail diagonally. Smaller ships will always choose the routes that maximize the distance between their ships and yours; in case of a tie, you may choose among the best options.
On the other hand, larger ships give chase. All nearby ships that are larger than your pirate ship move one space orthogonally toward your pirate ship. They also automatically use the wind to move one space diagonally if it helps them get closer. Larger ships will always choose the routes that minimize the distance between their ships and yours, but as with smaller ships, in case of a tie, you may choose among the best options. Ships equal to yours in size do not move.
As in your sailing step, after another ship moves onto the same space as your pirate ship, the two ships engage in combat, which is resolved as in the sailing step. Ships sailing under other flags do not engage one another, but may occupy the same space peacefully. If two or more ships sail into the same space as your pirate ship, engage them sequentially, in any order you wish.
Example: in the previous example, the pirate ketch lay in wait in the northeast quadrant of the four arms part of the sea. Since the brig is bigger than the ketch, it will give chase by sailing one space orthogonally, in this case to the north. Now that both ships are in the same space, they immediately engage in combat. Both the arms and suns die are rolled, producing a five and an ace, respectively. If the pirate ketch has a crew of five and a notoriety of four, the combat scores for the pirate and enemy ships would be [1 ketch + 5 crew + 5 arms die = 11] and [2 brig + 4 notoriety + 1 suns die = 7], respectively. The pirate ship wins! The suns brig is returned to the bag, and the pirate's notoriety increases from four to five. The arms die was a glorious five, but the suns die was a disappointing ace, so the booty from this engagement is only [5 arms die × (2 brig + 1 suns die) - 5 crew = 10 booty].
Bury / Retrieve Booty
A pirate ship of any size can carry a maximum of fifty booty. For the sake of simplicity, booty is merely represented by numbers. But if it helps you get into the game, imagine the booty represents rum, gold, sail cloth, ammunition, cannons, silk, ropes and whatever else a pirate might find useful. If you somehow manage to acquire more than fifty booty, or if sailing around with a lot of booty makes you nervous, especially with those ships of the line in hot pursuit, you might want to bury part of it for safe keeping. Mark the spot where you want to bury your booty (it must be an orthogonally adjacent land space) with the moons die (the treasure chest). Record the amount of booty you bury by placing the crowns die onto the appropriate space on the booty track, then adjust the crowns pawn to indicate how much booty remains aboard your pirate ship. Move the crowns die to the right-hand columns to track buried booty in excess of fifty. Similarly, you may retrieve any amount of previously buried booty from any sea space orthogonally adjacent to your buried treasure chest by merely adjusting the crowns die and pawn on the booty track. You may bury and retrieve booty at the same location any number of times, but if you bury booty elsewhere without first retrieving your previously buried booty, the previously buried booty is lost!
Example: Having just plundered ten booty from that suns brig, you would like to upgrade your pirate ship. A brig would cost [8 - 5 = 3] booty for the ship upgrade, and your five crew are enough to man it. That leaves seven extra booty that you could lose if you run up against a powerful opponent. Alternatively, you could try for a frigate, which would cost [13 - 5 = 8] booty, but your current crew is only minimal for such a large ship, and you can't afford any more crew right now. It might be best to save the three booty needed for the upgrade to a brig and bury the rest on the nice beach to the east.
Purchase Upgrades
If you have enough booty and wish to do so, you may purchase a different ship and/or more crew according to the following cost schedule:
| Ship | Coin Value (Cost) | Minimum Crew (Cost) | Maximum Crew (Cost) | Total Booty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| • Sloop | null (2) | 1 (3) | 3 (9) | 5 to 11 |
| @ Ketch | ace (5) | 3 (9) | 5 (15) | 14 to 20 |
| k Brig | two (8) | 4 (12) | 6 (18) | 20 to 26 |
| l Frigate | three (13) | 5 (15) | 7 (21) | 28 to 34 |
| m Galleon | four (21) | 7 (21) | 9 (27) | 42 to 48 |
You may only own one pirate ship at a time, but you are allowed to trade in your old ship (at full value) as part of the payment for the new one. Keep in mind that larger ships require a larger crew to operate, and smaller ships cannot carry crew beyond a certain size. This table also appears on the reference sheet. For advanced players who no longer need the reference sheet, the types of ships that can be run by crew of various sizes are marked with appropriate icons on the crew track, and the prices for crew and various ship sizes are marked with appropriate icons on the booty track.
Advance Turn Pawn / Retire
A pirate's life is hard and usually short, so at the end of every turn you are faced with a choice. Do you continue pirating, risking your life and ship for more notoriety and booty? Or do you hand your ship over to your first mate and retire? After twenty turns, you must retire.
Scoring
When your pirating career finally ends, whether you survive for twenty full turns, if you decide to retire early, or if you lose your ship and drown at sea, figure your final score by multiplying your crew times your current ship type (null = zero, ace = one), then multiply your buried booty times the booty you currently have aboard ship times your notoriety. Add those two products together, then add the number of turns you completed for your final score.
Example: imagine you have taken sixteen turns, and you have a frigate (ship size = three) manned by seven crew with only five booty aboard. You also have fifteen booty buried several spaces away and a notoriety of eight. Furthermore, there are three ships of the line who are in hot pursuit, and no matter where you try to run, at least one of them is likely to catch you on your next turn. Rather than facing repeated attack and possible loss of your ship and crew, now might be a good time to retire. Your score would be figured as [(3 frigate × 7 crew) + (15 buried booty × 5 booty aboard ship × 8 notoriety) + 16 turns = 637 points]!
Keep track of your scores on the Notorious Pirate History Sheet and try to beat your own record.
Tips & Tactics
- In general, keeping your pirate ship face-down makes it easier to tell which ship is yours – the only one sailing under a black moon flag. Keeping other ships face-up makes it easier to plan routes of attack (or escape). Once another ship has moved, you may want to flip it face-down to simplify the bookkeeping task of tracking which ships have and have not moved.
- Diversify. The geometric scoring mechanism rewards well-balanced pirating much more than focusing on a single task. Of particular note, if you have no buried booty, none of the booty you have aboard ship will count toward your score. If you only have a sloop, your ship and crew won't count, either.
- Be aggressive, especially if you have a good crew. Go for booty, because it has the biggest influence on your final score. Normally, the biggest one-time loss you might incur is eight booty (the value of one crew combined with an unlucky roll of five on the suns die). That is, unless you have a minimal crew for your ship. Remember, ship downgrades due to crew size decreases are non-refundable losses. On the other hand, the potential for gain is great – up to fifty booty if you manage to board a rich ship of the line!
- Obviously, try not to lose in combat because decreases in crew (and ship size) are very expensive. If you're being chased by bigger ships that you'll never be able to defeat, run away. Yours is the fastest ship on the sea, so with a good wind at your back, you should be fine. If you're surrounded and can't run away, retire. There's no shame in escaping with your life!
- Try to end your last turn next to land, so if you haven't buried any booty yet (Shame on you!), you will be able to.
- Invest in crew before upgrading your ship. More crew improves your combat odds, and a smaller ship means newly sighted ships are less likely to run.
- That said, invest in bigger ships as soon as you are able. A bigger pirate ship means you can go after bigger ships and get even more booty! But if everyone is always running away, even the biggest ship may not be as profitable as something smaller.
- Upgrading to a smaller ship (for example, to make other ships chase you) is perfectly legal.
- Use geography to your advantage. Ships are more vulnerable in open waters, and it's often easier to find escape routes by ducking behind islands and peninsulas.
Reference Sheet
Setup
- Build the Sea. Connect all of the shuffled face-down parts of the sea (tiles) into one large surface.
- Sort Ships. Shake the non-pirate ships (arms, crowns and suns coins) in an opaque bag. Place the pirate ships (moons coins) on the corresponding spaces on the play mat.
- Sort Dice. Place the crowns and moons dice on the corresponding spaces on the play mat. Keep the arms and suns dice nearby.
- Sort Pawns. Place the pawns on the color-coded spaces on the play mat.
- Get Starting Booty. Roll the arms and suns dice and add five to their total (null = zero, ace = one). Place the crowns pawn on the corresponding space of the booty track on the play mat.
- Buy Ship & Crew. Spend booty to purchase a ship and crew, and adjust the crowns pawn accordingly. A sloop (null coin) costs two booty, a ketch (ace coin) costs five booty, and each crew costs three booty. A sloop requires at least one crew and can accommodate up to three crew (minimum cost of five booty, maximum cost of eleven booty). A ketch requires at least three crew (minimum cost of fourteen booty). You may only have one pirate ship at a time, but you may trade them in when purchasing upgrades.
- Weigh Anchor. Place your pirate ship on any sea space adjacent to any land space.
Turn Sequence
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Sail. Move your pirate ship zero, one or two spaces orthogonally, including a 90° turn, if desired (the source prints this as "90/"). At your option, you may interrupt this movement with one diagonal move in the prevailing wind direction. Flip any unexplored parts of the sea face-up as your pirate ship enters them and orient them however you choose. If your pirate ship enters any parts of the sea that are unoccupied, roll the suns die to determine if your lookout spots another ship. A ship is sighted on a roll equal or less than the tile value. If your pirate ship enters the same space as another ship, resolve the engagement using the following formulæ:
- Your combat score = (pirate ship + crew) + roll the arms die (null = zero, ace = one)
- Opponent's combat score = (enemy ship + notoriety) + roll the suns die
If your combat score is higher, remove the enemy ship, increase your notoriety by one and plunder the enemy ship for booty:
- Booty = arms die value from combat × (enemy ship + suns die value from combat) - crew
If your opponent's combat score is higher, leave the enemy ship in place, decrease your notoriety by one, lose one crew and lose booty equal to whatever you rolled on the suns die during combat (booty can't go less than zero). Note that the crew decrease may necessitate a decrease in ship type. If both combat scores are equal, it's a standoff and nothing happens.
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Other Ships Sail / Attack. All ships in your part of the sea and all bordering parts of the sea sail one space orthogonally, plus one space diagonally if the wind would help them. Ships may not use the wind to sail diagonally while in unexplored parts of the sea. Smaller ships flee, larger ships give chase, and ships equal in size to your pirate ship stay put. Ships always sail to their best advantage (flee, chase or stay – this may require a brief search), but if there is a tie among several best sailing paths, you may choose freely from among them. After other ships sail, resolve any ship-to-ship engagements as in the sailing step.
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Bury / Retrieve Booty. To bury booty, mark the chosen adjacent land space with the moons die, mark how much booty you bury with the crowns die on the booty track, and adjust the crowns pawn to reflect how much booty you're keeping aboard your pirate ship. To retrieve buried booty (only from a sea space orthogonally adjacent to the buried booty) merely adjust the crowns pawn and crowns die on the booty track. Note that there is only one moons die (treasure chest), so if you bury booty again somewhere else, your former buried booty is lost! Move the crowns die to the right-hand column to track buried booty in excess of fifty.
Scoring
Your final score = (pirate ship × crew) + (buried booty × booty aboard ship × notoriety) + turns completed.
The reference sheet also carries a scoring grid of the Turn, Crew, Notoriety and Booty tracks in graphic form. It is an image in the source and is not reproduced here; the formula above is the printed scoring rule.
The turn sequence printed at the bottom right of the play mat reads: 1. Sail; 2. Other Ships Sail / Attack; 3. Bury / Retrieve Booty; 4. Purchase Upgrades; 5. Advance Turn Pawn / Retire.