Pirates & Plunder Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Parts
• Goal
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Drawing and Placing Land Tiles
  • Placing Ships
  • Scoring Islands and Trade Routes
  • Moving Pirates and Battle
  • Ports
• Final Scoring
• Advanced Rules
  • Exploration Tiles
    • Archipelago
    • Buried Treasure
    • Natives
    • Pirate Cove
    • Reef
    • Royal Cartographer
    • Royal Port
    • Storm
    • Treasure Fleet
    • Viceroy
• Options
  • Battles

Parts

• 80 Sea Tiles (including 1 starting tile with Captain's Wheel icon and a dark back), which picture islands, trade routes, sea zones, and ports.
• 10 Exploration Tiles (Natives, Treasure Fleet, Pirate's Cove, Storm, Buried Treasure, Natives, Reef, Archipelago, Viceroy, and Royal Cartographer) - Advanced Game
• 5 Scoring Tiles (50/100 double-sided tiles)
• 40 Ships in 5 Colors (8 Blue, 8 Yellow, 8 Green, 8 Red, and 8 Black) Tongiaki Boats work great
• 60 Resources in 4 Colors (15 Cloth, 15 Rum, 15 Spice, 15 Dye)
• 1 Scoring Track
• 1 Rules Booklet

Pirates and Plunder is a complete game with many of the same rules as Carcassonne, but it does not require Carcassonne to be played. Pirates and Plunder may not be combined with any other games in the Carcassonne line.

Goal

The players take turns laying land tiles. They create islands, trade routes, sea zones, and ports, on which the players may place their ships in order to earn points and collect resources. Players score points during the game and at the end of the game, so the players will not know the winner until the end.

Setup

Place the starting tile (with the Captain's Wheel icon) face-up in the middle of the table. Shuffle the remaining 79 land tiles and place them face-down in several supply stacks on the table so that all players can reach them. Place the scoring track at the edge of the table and the scoring cards next to it.

Each player chooses a color, takes the 8 ships in that color, places one ship on space "0" of the scoring track as his scoring marker, and places the remaining 7 ships nearby to form a supply. The youngest player decides who will start the game by taking the first turn.

Playing the Game

Players take turns in clockwise order. On a player's turn, he takes the following actions in the order shown:

1. The player must draw a land tile from one of the face-down supply stacks and place it face-up next to a previously placed land tile (in the playing area).
2. The player may place one of their ships on the tile just placed.
3. If, as a result of placing the tile, the player completed an island or a trade route, it is scored now.

Each of these steps is described in greater detail below.

Drawing and Placing Land Tiles

As his first action, a player must draw a land tile from one of the land tile supply stacks. He shows the tile to all players, and then places the tile face-up in the playing area according to the following rules:

• The land tile must be placed with one or more of its sides adjacent to a previously placed land tile. The land tile may not be placed such that it only touches a previously placed tile on one corner. The edge of the table limits the playing area.
• The land tile must be placed such that all of its edges match with the previously placed land tiles adjacent to it (island to island, trade route to trade route, sea to sea).
• If a land tile has no legal place where it can be played, the player discards the land tile from the game, draws another land tile, and places it following these same rules.

Placing Ships

After placing a land tile, the player may place 1 ship according to the following rules:

• The player may place 1 (and only 1) ship on the tile just played. The player may not play a ship on any tile other than the tile just played.
• The player must take the ship he wishes to place from his supply. If his supply is exhausted, he may not play a ship on this (or any other) tile. A ship may not be removed from the board at this time.
• The player must place the ship so that it is clear on which segment of the tile it rests. Each terrain type on a tile (island, trade route, sea, port) represents a different segment, and any segment divided by another terrain type is split into two separate segments. The player must be clear in their placement which segment their ship is placed upon. Segments of two adjacent tiles may combine to form a single, larger segment.
• The player may not place a ship on an island, trade route, or sea segment that already contains a ship (his or an opponent's). It does not matter how far from the new segment the other ship is as long as the segments are connected by an uninterrupted area of the same terrain type. It is possible for several ships to occupy the same terrain segment, but this can only happen if they are first placed on their own segment and then later joined by a connecting tile.

A ship placed on a segment acquires a new name based on the type of segment on which it is placed. Ships on trade routes are merchants; ships on islands are explorers; ships on ports are harbormasters; and ships on the sea are pirates.

When a player has no ships in his supply, he continues to place land tiles and score completed islands and trade routes, but he may not place a ship until one is returned to his supply during scoring.

Once a ship is placed, it may only be moved during the scoring phase according to the rules described in the next section.

Scoring Islands and Trade Routes

After a player has decided whether to place a ship or not (if they are legally allowed to do so), any completed island or trade route segments are immediately scored. Trade routes are completed when an island or crossroad terminates both ends or when they form a complete loop. Islands are completed when they are completely surrounded by sea, they have no open sides, and there are no open spaces within the island's interior.

• A completed trade route scores 1 point for each segment in the route. The player with the most merchants on the trade route scores these points AND collects any resources along the trade route. If there is a tie for control of the trade route, all of the tied players score these points and collect these resources.
• A completed island scores 2 points for each island segment. The player with the most combined explorers and harbormasters on the island scores these points BUT the player who completed the island collects any resources indicated on that island. If there is a tie for control of the island, all of the tied players score these points (but the resources are still collected by the player that completed the island).

Note that the Exploration Marker on the island tiles is ignored in the basic game. For further explanation of these markers, see the Advanced Rules at the end of this booklet.

Players record their points by moving their scoring marker along the scoring track. When a player's scoring marker passes the "0" space, he takes a scoring tile and places it with the "50" face-up in front of him. When a player's marker passes "0" a second time, he turns the scoring tile over to show the "100". If the player passes the "0" a third time, the player takes another scoring tile from the supply and places it with the "50" showing next to his other scoring tile.

After all islands and trade routes that were completed have been scored, return any ships located on that trade route or island to their owner, with the exception of harbormasters. Harbormasters are not returned to their owner after island scoring (see the Ports section below).

After any ships that have scored have been removed from the playing area, the player who completed a trade route by their tile placement may move one or more of their pirates according to the rules described in the Moving Pirates section below.

Moving Pirates and Battle

If a player completes one or more trade routes by their tile placement, that player may move one or more of their pirates in any order they choose (one pirate for each trade route completed) according to the following rules:

• A pirate may move up to a number of movement points equal to the length of the trade route completed. Moving a pirate from one tile to an adjacent tile costs one movement point, as does crossing a trade route from one sea segment to another.
• A pirate may not move onto a sea segment containing a pirate or merchant owned by the same player. A merchant on a trade route is considered to occupy both sea segments on either side of the trade route for purposes of pirate movement.
• A pirate may move onto a sea segment occupied by an opponent's pirate or merchant. The pirate must then immediately stop and battle the opposing pirate or merchant. Any remaining movement points are lost.
• A pirate may not move more than once per completed scoring phase; i.e., for each trade route completed, a different pirate must be moved (if the player wishes to move more than one pirate).
• A pirate may not be moved on the turn in which it was placed.
• A pirate may be moved off an open edge of a sea tile, which causes the pirate to return to the owner's ship supply. This is the only way in which a ship may be returned to a player's supply without scoring it or losing it in battle.

Battles occur when two pirates or a pirate and a merchant owned by different players occupy the same sea segment. Battles take place in the following sequence:

• The attacking player chooses a number of resources from their resource supply. They may choose any combination of resource types - only the number of resources is noted. This is added to the base attack strength of 0 to determine the attack strength.
• The defender determines their base defense. The base defense for a pirate on a sea segment is 0. The base defense for a merchant on a trade route is 1.
• The defending player, after reviewing the resources the attacker has selected for the attack and the resources that the attacker has remaining, may choose any combination and number of resources (0 or greater) from their supply with which to defend themselves from the attack. The number of resources chosen is added to the base defense and if it is equal to or greater than the attack strength, the defending player is successful in repulsing the attack. If it is less than the attack strength, they must surrender.
• If the defending player surrenders, all resources spent by the attacker and defender are spent and returned to the supply. The defender's ship is removed from the playing area, and the attacking pirate assumes the defender's former position. If the defender was a pirate, the attacker remains a pirate, but if the defender was a merchant, then the pirate becomes a merchant.
• If the defending player repulses the attack, all resources spent by the attacker and defender are spent and return to the supply. The victorious defender must now move the attacking pirate at least one and up to three movement points away as the defender sees fit. The defender may move a repulsed attacker off an open edge on a sea tile if it lies within three movement points away; in this case, the attacker's ship is returned to the attacker's supply.

Ports

A ship played on a port becomes a harbormaster. The harbormaster is considered to be located on the island, and must adhere to standard placement rules (no other explorers or harbormasters on the island at time of placement). After initial placement, the owner of the harbormaster collects one resource of the type indicated on the port each time a tile is placed orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to the port tile. When the port tile is completely surrounded by tiles, it is considered complete, and the harbormaster is removed from the port and returned to the owner's supply. The harbormaster is removed even if the island has not yet scored.

Final Scoring

The game ends when the last land tile has been placed. After the game end, there is a final scoring round where all incomplete trade routes and islands are scored, resources are scored, and sea zones are scored according to the following rules:

• Incomplete trade routes score 1 point per trade route segment, just as if the trade route was completed during the game.
• Incomplete islands score 2 points per island segment, just as if the island was completed during the game.
• The player with the most of each resource type (Cloth, Rum, Spice, Dye) scores 7 points per resource type. In the event of a tie for owning the most of a particular resource, all tied players score the 7 points for that resource.
• The player with the most pirates in each sea zone (bordered by islands, trade routes, and the edge of the playing area) scores 2 points for each treasure galleon within that sea zone and -2 points for each sea serpent within that sea zone. The minimum score that a player may score in a sea zone is 0. If two or more players are tied for control of a sea zone, all tied players score that sea zone.

The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Editor's note: the source prints "sea zones arescored"; it is transcribed here as "sea zones are scored" (a line-join error in the source PDF).

Advanced Rules

After you have mastered the basic game, you may play the game with the advanced rules, which adds the exploration tiles to the game. The game rules are the same, except when scoring islands.

If a completed island has one or more exploration marker symbols on it after the island has been completely scored, ships removed, and any pirate movements or battles due to completed trade routes are resolved, the player who placed the tile to complete the island may draw an exploration tile and immediately take another turn to play that tile. Each exploration tile has a unique effect on the game, as described in detail below.

Exploration Tiles

Archipelago

This tile is placed in the sea and allows the immediate placement of a ship on the archipelago as a pirate, even if that sea already has pirates populating it. A pirate located on the archipelago has a base defense of 1, and counts as having 2 pirates in this sea.

Buried Treasure

This tile is placed on an island and an explorer may be added to it, as per the standard explorer placement rules. An explorer placed on this tile immediately scores 5 points. When the island is completed, the player whose explorer occupies this tile collects up to 5 resources of their choice from the common supply. These 5 resources do not go to the player that completed the island.

Natives

This tile is placed on an island and allows the immediate placement of a ship on the native camp as a Governor, even if that island already has explorers populating it. Each player must then pay 2 resources for each explorer they have on that island, or return that explorer to their supply. The Governor is immune to this effect.

Pirate Cove

This tile may be placed adjacent to a sea zone and a ship may be added to it to become the Pirate King. The pirate king is not considered when determining ownership of the island, and the pirate king may be placed even though the island segment is connected to one owned by another player. The pirate king may be attacked and taken over by another pirate, but its base defense is 1. At the end of the game, the pirate king scores 2 points for every pirate in that sea zone, including the pirate king.

Reef

This tile is placed in the sea and a ship may be added to it to become a scavenger. The scavenger may be attacked by a pirate, and if successful the pirate replaces the scavenger, and the original scavenger is returned to the owner's supply. If the attack is not successful, the attacking pirate crashes on the reef and is returned to the owner's supply. Note that a scavenger does not count as a pirate, and as a result the scavenger may not be removed from the reef until end of game scoring. At the end of the game, the scavenger is worth 1 point per treasure galleon in that sea zone.

Royal Cartographer

This tile is placed in the sea and a ship may be added to it to become the royal cartographer. The royal cartographer may be attacked by a pirate, and if successful the pirate replaces the royal cartographer, and the original royal cartographer is returned to the owner's supply; otherwise, the attack is repulsed as normal.

Note that the royal cartographer does not count as a pirate, and as a result may not be removed until end of game scoring. At the end of the game, the royal cartographer is worth 1 point per completed island in the game.

Royal Port

This tile is placed just like a standard port, but when a tile is placed adjacent to it, the harbormaster at this port may collect any one resource of their choice.

Storm

This tile is placed in a sea zone and requires each player in that sea zone to pay 2 resources for each pirate in that sea zone and for each merchant on a trade route bordering that sea zone. If the owner of those pirates or merchants decides not to pay the resources, those ships are removed from the playing area and returned to their owner's supply. Thereafter, a pirate may move onto the storm tile, pay 2 resources, and add 3 to their movement distance. A ship may never end a turn on the storm tile.

Treasure Fleet

This tile is placed in a sea zone and counts as 3 galleons in that sea zone during final scoring.

Viceroy

This tile is placed in the sea and a ship may be added to it to become the viceroy. The viceroy may be attacked by a pirate, and if successful the pirate replaces the viceroy, and the original viceroy is returned to the owner's supply; otherwise, the attack is repulsed as normal.

Note that the viceroy does not count as a pirate, and as a result may not be removed until end of game scoring. At the end of the game, the viceroy is worth 1 point per completed trade route in the game that is 3 segments long or longer.

Options

Battles

When the Defender and Attacker choose their resources for battling, it is kept secret and then results are revealed simultaneously.

This option offers plenty of bluffing opportunities, and has been played on separate occasions with both the attacker and defender coming out victorious.