Pirates Under Fire
Pirates Under Fire Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
At the end of the game, players score Victory Points for:
- the combinations made (3 or more ship tiles laid side by side with identical numbers or forming a sequence of increasing or decreasing numbers),
- the ships laid in the opponent player's sea boards,
- some mercenary ships, and
- the Victory Points tokens collected during the game.
The game ends after 16 rounds. The player with the most Victory Points wins the game.
Game Material
54 ship tiles
27 ship tiles, numbered from 1 to 9, for the light blue player and 27 ship tiles, numbered 1 to 9, for the dark blue player. Each ship exists in 3 copies.
All ship tiles are structured the same way:
- a flag with the number of the ship (top left corner of the tile),
- a special effect (bottom left corner of the tile).
Each ship tile has an active side and an on fire side (light blue deck active side / on fire side; dark blue deck active side / on fire side).
6 Sea boards (sea)
3 light blue and 3 dark blue sea boards forming the sea (where the ships are deployed). The sea is divided into 42 squares (called hereinafter sea spaces).
12 Mercenary ship tiles
12 Special ship tiles in the 2 players colors.
- 3-cost ships (x6)
- 4-cost ships (x3)
- 5-cost ships (x3)
60 tokens
- 7 Shield tokens
- 14 Mine tokens worth -2 victory points and 1 dummy mine token worth 0 victory point.
- 7 Additional tile tokens: 4 "+1 tile" and 3 "+3 tiles"
- 11 gold tokens: 6 "1 gold" and 5 "3 gold"
- 20 Victory Points tokens
- 6 "1 Victory Point"
- 6 "3 Victory Points"
- 8 "5 Victory Points"
2 Player's aids and 1 rulebook
Setup
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Each player chooses a color (light blue or dark blue) and lays in front of her* the 3 sea boards in order to form together with the opponent's sea boards a 6 x 7 rectangle.
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Each player takes the 27 ship tiles of her color, shuffles them and divides them (without looking them) into 2 piles, one made of 18 tiles, the main deck (2A), and one made of 9 tiles, the reserve (2B). The tiles of the reserve will be accessible only through the effect of sea spaces.
She places both decks with the on fire side visible, in opposite positions: the reserve close to the mercenary ships (2B) and the main deck in front of her (2A).
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Choose 5 mercenary ship tiles among the 12 available.
- 3 with cost 3 (among 6).
- 1 with cost 4 (among 3).
- 1 with cost 5 (among 3).
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Place all the tokens close to the sea as a common supply.
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Each player draws 3 tiles from her main deck. The players starting hand is formed of 3 tiles; it can be increased during the game.
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Choose a first player the way you prefer and give her 1 shield token, which she will lay on her first laid ship.
Note: the sea boards are double-sided to offer more variation during setup. The sea board of 3 spaces can be positioned on the left, or on the right of the 2 sea boards of 9 spaces, or between them.
*From now on, for simplicity and gallantry, we will use female pronouns when talking about each player, while it should be clearly understood that in each instance, we mean to include our male players, as well.
How to Play
Player perform their turn one after another by laying a ship on a sea space. This is the main action.
They can also perform an optional action: buy a mercenary ship by paying its cost.
The game ends when each player has played 16 turns.
Player's Turn
1. Main action
Play a ship from your hand on an accessible sea space.
- A. Apply the effect of the sea space.
- B. Apply the effect of the ship tile.
Effects A and B are applied in any order.
2. Optional action
Buy 1 mercenary ship, by paying the cost indicated on the tile (the gold is returned to the supply).
Lay it immediately on an accessible sea space, and carry out its special action (except the 3 mercenary ships with victory points scored at the end of the game).
Do not apply the effect of the sea space.
The optional action is carried out before or after the main action.
3. Final Action
Draw a ship tile from the main deck and add it to your hand.
Placement Rules
A ship tile must be laid on an accessible sea space. It is forbidden to play a ship tile on a sea space occupied by an other active ship (except the mercenary ship with this effect).
Accessible sea space
- Any sea space of the first row of your sea boards (the row closer to you).
- A sea space orthogonally adjacent to one of your already played active ships.
- A sea space with a ship on fire (of any player) on it may be chosen as an accessible sea space, if the rule of adjacency is respected (rule 2). The ship on fire is permanently destroyed.
Note: you may choose a sea space on your opponent's board if it is accessible. And apply the effect of the sea space.
Note 2: you may choose a sea space with an on fire ship on it, if so do not apply the effect of the sea space.
End of the Game
Ending game conditions:
- The game ends when the second player can no longer draw ships from her main deck. So, when a player draws the last ship tile from her main deck, she has only one turn left to play.
- When a player cannot play any ship of her hand, she loses immediately the game (no final scoring).
Final Scoring
Players sum up the victory points from:
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The combinations of ship tiles laid side by side horizontally or vertically:
- A. 3 or 4 ship tiles side by side with the same number.
- B. At least 3 ship tiles side by side with consecutive numbers in ascending or descending order (2-3-4 or 4-3-2, but not 2-4-3). Combinations made of ship tiles with consecutive numbers are worth victory points based on the length of the sequence (quantity of tiles composing the sequence). The longer the sequence is, the more points it is worth.
The player's aid shows the victory point value of each sequence length: a sequence of 3 tiles is worth 2 victory points, 4 tiles is worth 3, 5 tiles is worth 5, 6 tiles is worth 7, and 7 tiles is worth 9.
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Some mercenary ships give victory points at the end of the game.
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1 victory point for each ship on their active side laid in the opponent's sea boards.
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Victory points tokens.
The player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the most gold is the winner.
Scoring example
- The tile 5 must not belong to 2 combinations different in the same line. It is more interesting to score 3 identical tiles (3 VP) than a suite of 3 consecutive tiles (2 VP).
- The tile X takes a value of your choice, the value is the same for the line and the column. The value X = 3 makes it possible a combination with 3 identical tiles that score more points than a suite of 3 tiles consecutive (5-6-7).
- Tile 4 scores in the horizontal and vertical combinations.
In the worked example, the player light blue wins with 19 points against 18 points for her opponent.
Effects of Sea Spaces
All effects below are immediate.
- Victory point star: Gain 1 "1 victory point" token.
- Shoot (crosshair with four arrows): Shoot orthogonally or diagonally on the first active opponent's ship met in the chosen direction (one of the four directions shown by the arrows). The shot goes beyond your ships and any ship on fire without damaging them. The target ship is turned on the on fire side. Note: therefore, a ship on fire can never be permanently destroyed by a second shot.
- Repair (hammer and wrench): Repair any of your ships on fire. The repaired ship tile is turned on its active side.
- Mine: Place 1 mine token on a sea space of your choice.
- Reserve tile ("+"): Draw 1 ship tile from your reserve and add it to your hand. Take 1 "Additional tile" token and place it in front of you.
Effects of Ship Tiles
All effects below are immediate.
Each ship with the same number is always associated to the same effect:
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even ships give 1 gold,
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odd ships have a specific effect.
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Ship 2, 4, 6, 8 (gold coin): Gain 1 gold token from the supply.
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Ship 1 (shield): Place 1 shield token on 1 of your active ships. The shield protects the ship from 1 shot.
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Ship 3 (shoot): Shoot orthogonally on the first active opponent's ship met in the chosen direction (as already described for the sea spaces effects).
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Ship 5 (repair): Repair any of your ships on fire. The repaired ship tile is turned on its active side.
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Ship 7 (remove mine): Remove 1 mine token from a sea space of your choice (including the sea space on which the ship is laid).
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Ship 9 (x2): Apply twice the effect of the sea space (shoot 2 times, repair 2 ships, ...).
Mercenary Ship Effects
Mercenary ship tiles are available for both players.
On your turn, you may carry out an optional action before or after your main action. It consists in buying a mercenary ship. This mercenary ship must be laid according to the same rules as a ship (see Placement Rules) except that it doesn't activate the effect of the sea space on which it is laid.
Lay the mercenary ship on the side of your color. So, if you carry out the optional action, you lay 2 ship tiles in the same turn.
Mercenary ships may have several numbers. Choose a number among the numbers shown. The chosen number is valid both horizontally and vertically. The X corresponds to a number of your choice between 1 and 9.
Mercenary ships cost 3, 4, or 5 gold.
All the mercenary ships are protected by a permanent shield. They will never go on fire. They protect the ships behind them.
Special effects of mercenary ships:
- Shield: Place 1 shield token on 1 of your active ships.
- Reserve pick: Choose 1 ship tile from your reserve and add it to your hand. Take 1 "Additional tile" token and place it in front of you. Shuffle the reserve.
- Remove 3 mines: Remove 3 mine tokens from sea spaces of your choice.
- Place mines: Place 2 mine tokens and 1 dummy mine token (token worth 0 victory points instead of -2).
- 4 shots: 4 shots on the 4 adjacent sea spaces.
- 2 horizontal shots: 2 horizontal shots (also on the same direction).
- 2 diagonal shots: 2 diagonal shots (also on the same direction).
- Board an opponent ship: You may lay this ship on 1 opponent active ship not protected by shields. The rule of adjacency must be respected.
- +1 VP for adjacency: +1 Victory point at the end of the game for each of your active ship orthogonally adjacent to this ship.
- +1 VP per shield: +1 Victory point at the end of the game for each shield on your ships (including permanent shields on your mercenary ships).
- +1 VP per number combination: +1 Victory Point at the end of the game for each combination of 3 or 4 ships with the same number.
Token Effects
- Shield token: Place the shield token on 1 of your active ships. You may place several shield tokens on the same ship. Each shield protects the ship against 1 shot. When the ship with a shield on it is hit, remove 1 shield token instead of turning the tile on the on fire side. The shield token is returned into the supply.
- Gold token: Keep gold tokens in front of you. If you have 3 tokens, exchange them with a "3 gold" token.
- Mine token: The mine token is laid on any sea space free from ships. The sea space with the mine token is still accessible, but if you lay a ship there, you are hit by the mine. The ship remains on the active side, but you have suffered a damage. Take the mine token from the sea space and keep it in front of you, with the victory-point side visible. At the end of the game, you will lose 2 victory points.
- Additional tile token ("+1"): Keep this token in front of you. It reminds you that the number of tiles in your hand has been increased by +1 until the end of the game. During the game you may have several tokens and your hand will increase accordingly. If you have 3 tokens, exchange them with a "+3 Additional tiles" token. Therefore, the number of tiles in your hand is 3 plus the numbers shown by the additional tiles tokens in front of you.
- Victory Points token: Keep it in front of you. At the end of the game the token will give you the victory points shown on itself. If you have 3 or 5 tokens, exchange them with a "3 victory points" or "5 victory points" token respectively.
Important
The shot goes beyond your ships and any ship on fire without damaging them. The target ship is turned on the on fire side. A ship on fire can never be permanently destroyed by a second shot.