The Pirate Republic
The Pirate Republic Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Objective
- Components
- Component Notes
- Initiative Die
- Tidings Die
- Pirate Sheets
- Pirate Markers
- Pirate Ship Miniatures
- Treasure Fleet Miniatures
- Pirate Hunter Miniatures
- Pirate Decks
- Captain Mission Cards
- Flying Gang Mission Cards
- Territory Cards
- Chaos Cards
- Elite Pirate Cards
- Crew Cards
- Treasure Cards
- Bloodshed Tokens
- Reputation Tokens
- Ship Tokens
- Land Tokens
- The Board
- Territory Example
- Cards and Tokens
- Setup
- Game Overview
- Turn Overview
- End of Round
- End of the Game
- Combat Against Tokens
- Resolve Defeated Tokens
- Combat Between Players
- Growing Your Fleet
- Level and Swagger
- Chaos Cards
- Bloodshed and Capture
- Playing as a Company
- Saboteurs (Cooperative Only)
- Variants
- Solo Play
- Play-Through Example
- The World of The Pirate Republic
- Combat Against Tokens – Reference
Introduction
It is 1713. After a decade of war, a rare peace comes to the Spanish Main. With thousands of demobilized sailors, pirating has exploded in the West Indies, where the port city of Nassau serves as piracy's headquarters. One crew of pirates, calling themselves the Flying Gang, seek fame, fortune, and self-governance by building their own republic free from the constraints of kings, queens, and imperialism. Who will prevail—this loose band of outcasts or the European colonial powers? Your ultimate mission: forge the Pirate Republic while becoming the greatest pirate of the West Indies. The sea is your territory; anyone on or near it, your prey.
Objective
The Pirate Republic is a thematic adventure game for 1–5 players, set in the early 18th-century Spanish Main. It's a time of conquest and the lure of riches, indomitable spirit and fat treasure galleons, pirate utopias and watery graves. As a cooperative or competitive game, it is possible for all, some, or none of the players to win.
In competitive mode, each player is an infamous pirate captain working to perform daring feats and plunder on the high seas, becoming the greatest pirate of the West Indies. The winner is the player with the most Swagger (victory points) at the end of round 3.
In cooperative mode, the players work together as pirates in the Flying Gang. The players win together if they complete their Flying Gang Mission card by the end of round 3. However, some players may become saboteurs, looking to hinder the Flying Gang.
Components
- 1 Board
- 1 Initiative Die
- 1 Tidings Die
- 5 Pirate Sheets (one for each player)
- 35 Pirate Markers (seven for each player)
- 5 Pirate Ship Miniatures (one for each player)
- 6 Treasure Fleet Miniatures
- 5 Pirate Hunter Miniatures
- 5 Pirate Decks (one for each player)
- 12 Blackbeard Pirate Cards
- 12 Calico Jack Pirate Cards
- 12 Black Sam Pirate Cards
- 12 Anne Bonny Pirate Cards
- 12 La Buse Pirate Cards
- 25 Captain Mission Cards (+1 blank)
- 12 Flying Gang Mission Cards (+1 blank)
- 50 Territory Cards
- 50 Chaos Cards (+1 blank)
- 22 Elite Pirate Cards
- 16 Crew Cards
- 16 Treasure Cards
- 5 Bloodshed Tokens
- 25 Reputation Tokens
- 70 Ship Tokens
- 18 Merchants
- 18 Pirates
- 8 Pirate Hunters
- 8 Treasure Fleets
- 18 Naval Ships
- 5 Spanish
- 5 British
- 4 French
- 3 Dutch
- 1 Danish
- 30 Land Tokens
- 10 Ports
- 15 Forts
- 5 Main Forts (double-sided)
Component Notes
Initiative Die
In combat, you will roll this die to see whether you attack first or second. Some Chaos cards will also prompt you to roll this die.
Tidings Die
Each turn, the acting player rolls this die to see whether the winds favor their movement and whether hostile ships come in their sights.
Pirate Sheets
This reference sheet summarizes the key game concepts and gives you a place to store your Pirate deck, Reputation tokens, and Treasure cards, and to track your movement.
Pirate Markers
These mark your Pirate Haven, your ship, and the land spaces you have sacked.
Pirate Ship Miniatures
Each player is represented by a ship on the board.
Treasure Fleet Miniatures
You can place these miniatures alongside their respective tokens on the map.
Pirate Hunter Miniatures
You can place these miniatures alongside their respective tokens on the map.
Pirate Decks
Each player starts with a Pirate deck of 12 Pirate cards. Of these cards, 10 cards are identical in all Pirate decks, and 2 cards are unique to a deck. You will play these cards to fight in combat, mitigate unlucky rolls, and move around the map faster.
Captain Mission Cards
Completing these missions increases your Swagger, but failing to complete them decreases your Swagger at the end of the game.
Flying Gang Mission Cards
Completing these missions helps to spread the Pirate Republic cause. In cooperative mode, the players must complete a Flying Gang Mission in order to win the game together.
Territory Cards
These cards match the territories on the map. When something happens in a random territory, you'll draw one of these cards to determine where.
Chaos Cards
These cards represent how fate shifts in unforeseen ways. While taking your turn, you might trigger the effect of your Chaos card, held by the player to your right.
Elite Pirate Cards
These more powerful Pirate cards get added to your Pirate deck throughout play, especially as you increase in level.
Crew Cards
You will add Crew cards to your Pirate deck as your infamy and fame grow, especially as you level. When played, your Crew cards will aid you throughout your turn rather than being discarded. You cannot have more than 2 Crew cards at any time between your Pirate deck and your hand. If you ever have more, discard Crew cards of your choice until you only have 2.
Treasure Cards
Treasure cards are the most powerful cards in the game, most often acquired by sacking Treasure Fleets. However, once you play a Treasure card, it is removed from the game.
Bloodshed Tokens
You can accrue these wounds from combat and Chaos cards. Take two of these, and you get captured, causing you to lose Swagger and some booty—bad tidings indeed.
Reputation Tokens
A valuable resource spent to rest, fight, and strike fear into your enemies, as well as to use the improved effects of Pirate and Elite Pirate cards.
Ship Tokens
Various ships sail the seas: Merchants, Pirates, Treasure Fleets, and Pirate Hunters. Naval Ships represent the five imperialist nations: Denmark, Dutch Republic, France, Great Britain, and Spain.
Land Tokens
The settlements of the imperialist powers: Ports and Forts. Main Forts represent Denmark, Dutch Republic, France, Great Britain, and Spain.
The Board
- Swagger Track: The players track their Swagger here. The legend to the right shows the rewards for increasing in level.
- Map: The players move around the map throughout play, and the map holds enemies that the players encounter and combat. The lower-left and upper-right sections of the map are not territories and cannot be moved into.
- Enemies Stacks: Throughout play, the players may provoke the enemies of the Pirate Republic, moving tokens from these stacks onto various territories.
The map is separated into fifty territories, each bounded by a black line. Territories are adjacent if their borders share any point. For example, the territories of Tobago and Barbados are adjacent to each other. Each territory can contain a sea space, one or more land spaces, or both. In a given territory, the land spaces and sea space are adjacent, but the land spaces are not adjacent to each other unless specified.
Some sea spaces are Treasure Fleet routes, which Treasure Fleets will appear on and move along throughout play.
Territory Example
- A territory that contains multiple land spaces and a sea space 1A.
- Treasure Fleet route
- Neutral land space (Ocracoke)
- Imperialist land space (Bath)
Types of Land Spaces
Most land spaces are imperialist, showing the flag of one of the five nations: Denmark, Dutch Republic, France, Great Britain, and Spain.
Many land spaces are neutral, showing the skull and crossbones.
The remaining two land spaces are Nassau and the Indian Villages near Essequibo and Pánuco.
Cards and Tokens
This chapter will familiarize you with the anatomy of the cards and tokens, and their foundational rules.
Card and Token Anatomy
Most cards and all tokens use a common set of symbols, as explained below.
Combat Symbols
During combat, or when prompted by some Chaos cards, you can generate an attack or defense by playing cards and activating tokens with combat symbols, as follows: Long Range, Close Quarters, Strike Fear.
Effect Symbols
When played, certain cards produce specific effects, as follows:
- MOVE: Move as if you spent the listed amount of movement.
- REROLL: Reroll any die that you just rolled.
- DRAW: Draw a card from your Pirate deck.
- REST: Perform the Rest action as if you had spent a Reputation token.
Reward Symbols
When defeated, tokens give you rewards, as follows:
- SWAGGER: Gain the listed amount of Swagger.
- REPUTATION: Gain the listed number of Reputation tokens.
- TREASURE CARD: Draw the listed number of Treasure cards and place them in front of you.
- ELITE PIRATE CARD: Draw the listed number of Elite Pirate cards and place them on top of your Pirate deck.
- CREW CARD: Draw the listed number of Crew cards and place them on top of your Pirate deck.
- CHAOS: The player to your right discards the Chaos card they're holding and then draws another. (You will find all the rules for these cards on page 18.)
Playing Cards
When you play a card, you gain the benefits of all symbols linked with a "+". If symbols are separated by a "/", you gain all of the benefits on one side of the "/" symbol. You also gain the benefits of any text effects on the card. Or you can spend 1 Reputation token to use a card's improved effect, if any, instead of its basic effect.
When you play a Pirate or Elite Pirate card, discard it immediately after resolving its effect.
The "/" is superior to the "+". For instance, using the card, Parlez-Vous Pyrate, the basic effect is to be read as, "(1 Long Range + 2 Close Quarters) or 2 Strike Fear". It is NOT to be read as, "(1 Long Range) + (2 Close Quarters or 2 Strike Fear)".
Basic vs. Improved Effect
Example card: No Quarter Given.
- BASIC EFFECT: Choose to generate +2 Long Range OR +1 Close Quarters.
- IMPROVED EFFECT: Spend 1 Reputation token to draw 2 cards from your Pirate deck, gain 2 Reputation tokens, and generate +1 Strike Fear.
When you play a Crew card, keep it in front of you. This Crew card still counts toward your hand size.
You may choose when during your turn to resolve its text effect, if any, unless the card specifies otherwise.
You may gain the benefit of each Move, Reroll, and Rest icon once per turn.
You may gain the benefit of each Long Range, Close Quarters, and Strike Fear icon once per combat.
When you play a Treasure card, remove it from the game immediately after resolving its effect. Treasure cards do not count against your hand size.
Drawing Territory Cards
If you are ever prompted to draw a Territory card and the card shows an unsuitable territory—for example, if a Chaos card prompts you to move to a land space and the drawn Territory card only has a sea space—discard the Territory card and redraw until you get a suitable one.
Drawing Tokens
When you are prompted to draw a random Ship token or Land token, draw it from the matching token supply. When you are prompted to draw a Treasure Fleet, Pirate Hunter, or Naval Ship, draw it from its matching Enemies stack.
Setup
- CHOOSE PLAY MODE: The players decide whether to play cooperative or competitive mode.
- SELECT MISSION (COOPERATIVE MODE): As a group, select a Flying Gang Mission card, randomly or by choice. Place this card face-up next to the board and return all other Flying Gang Mission cards to the box. If this is your first game, we recommend playing Flying Gang Mission #7, Open Seas, and removing the five Captain Mission cards marked with saboteur: #3, #4, #7, #19, and #25.
- SET UP BOARD: Place the board in the middle of the table. Separate the four Main Fort tokens matching the French, British, Dutch, and Spanish, and place them, showing the side with lower numbers, on the land spaces of Martinique, Port Royal, Curaçao, and Havana, respectively.
- PREPARE DECKS: Shuffle separate decks of the Captain Mission cards, Chaos cards, Treasure cards, Elite Pirate cards, Crew cards, and Territory cards, and place these near the board.
- PICK PIRATES: Each player picks a Pirate sheet or is assigned one randomly, and then takes and shuffles the matching deck of 12 Pirate cards, placing it beside their Pirate sheet. Each player also takes the matching set of 7 Pirate markers, as well as 1 Reputation token. Return all unused Pirate sheets, cards, and markers to the box.
- PLACE SHIPS: Randomly determine the first player. Starting with the first player and moving clockwise, each player places a Ship miniature on the land space of Nassau or on any neutral land space, placing their Pirate marker under or beside it. Multiple players can start on the same space. Return all unused Ship miniatures to the box.
- DRAW CARDS: Each player draws 1 Chaos card and draws 4 cards from their own Pirate deck.
- SET SWAGGER: Each player places a Pirate marker on the "0" space of the Swagger track.
- PREPARE ENEMY STACKS: Collect the Ship tokens. Then, set up the Enemies stacks, below the Swagger track, as follows:
- Separate and shuffle the Naval Ships facedown, and then stack 8 Naval Ships facedown on their matching image.
- Separate and shuffle the Pirate Hunters facedown, and then stack them all facedown on their matching image.
- Separate and shuffle the Treasure Fleets facedown, and then stack them all facedown on their matching image.
- FORM TOKEN SUPPLIES: Place Bloodshed and Reputation tokens beside the board. Flip the remaining Ship tokens (all Pirate and Merchant Ships, plus remaining 10 Naval Ship tokens) facedown and shuffle them to form the Ship token supply. Then, shuffle all the Land tokens facedown to form the Land token supply. Place both supplies beside the board.
Game Overview
The Pirate Republic is played over three rounds (each representing a two-year period). Each round is divided into a series of turns. Starting with the first player and moving clockwise, the players take turns one by one. The player taking a turn is called the acting player.
When the acting player must draw cards but cannot, they must declare end of round. The acting player finishes their turn, and the other players continue taking turns until all the players have taken the same number of turns. Then, the round ends.
At the end of round 3, the game ends.
- In competitive mode, the winner is the player with the most Swagger.
- In cooperative mode, if the players have failed to complete their shared Flying Gang Mission card, they all lose.
Turn Overview
During your turn, resolve the following phases in order:
- STARTING DRAW PHASE
- TIDINGS PHASE
- ACTION PHASE
- ENDING DRAW PHASE
Phase 1: Starting Draw Phase
Skip this phase during the first round.
Draw cards from your Pirate deck until you have cards in your hand equal to your hand size.
At the beginning of the game, your hand size is 4. (Various effects throughout play can modify your hand size.)
It is the second round, and Calico Jack is the first player, so he takes a turn first. Because he is level 3, his hand size is now 5, so he draws 5 cards from his Pirate deck.
Phase 2: Tidings Phase
Roll the Tidings die and resolve the rolled result.
- If you are on a land space, resolve only the "−1," "+2," or "+3" result. Do not resolve any other result.
- If you are on a sea space, resolve any result.
Number Results
- −1: This turn, you suffer –1 movement. Then, the player to your right discards the Chaos card they're holding and draws a new one. Do not resolve any further effects of the discarded Chaos card.
- +2: This turn, you gain +2 movement.
- +3: This turn, you gain +3 movement.
Chaos Cards?
The player to your right has the Chaos card that affects you. They will keep track of whether you trigger your Chaos card. Likewise, you will keep track of whether the player to your left triggers their Chaos card.
You will find all the rules for Chaos cards on page 18.
White Lookout
If any Naval Ships or Pirate Hunters are on the map, move the closest one to your space. If multiple Naval Ships and Pirate Hunters are equally close, you choose which token to move. If there are no Naval Ships or Pirate Hunters on the map, draw a random Ship token and place it face-up on your space.
Then, you may combat that Ship or avoid combat. If you choose to avoid combat, you must spend 1 movement to move into a land space in your current territory or into a sea space of an adjacent territory.
Red Lookout
If any Naval Ships or Pirate Hunters are on the map, move the closest one to your space. If there are Pirate Hunters and Naval Ships at equal distance from your space, the Pirate Hunter moves. If there are no Naval Ships or Pirate Hunters on the map, draw a random Ship token and place it face-up on your space.
Then, you must begin combat with that Ship.
Treasure Fleet
First, find the closest Treasure Fleet route. If multiple routes are equally close, you choose the route.
Then move each Treasure Fleet (if any) along that route to the next sea space showing a Treasure Fleet symbol.
If a Treasure Fleet would move but its space has the last route symbol on the route, return the Treasure Fleet to the bottom of the Treasure Fleet token stack.
The Manila and South Seas routes each only have one sea space.
Finally, if that route has no Treasure Fleets, place new Treasure Fleets as follows.
- If it is a silver route, draw 1 Treasure Fleet and place it face down on the sea space at the start of the route.
- If it is a gold route, draw 2 Treasure Fleets and place them face down on the sea space at the start of the route.
Treasure Fleet Routes
Starting routes of Treasure Fleets: Manila, New Spain, Seville, South Seas, Tierra Firme.
Phase 3: Action Phase
During this phase, you may perform these actions:
- Move
- Draw Missions
- Combat
- Rest
- Establish Pirate Haven
- Raze Pirate Haven
You may perform these actions in any order, any number of times, until you use the Rest action or you choose to end your Action Phase.
Movement
Each turn, you get 3 movement, which you can spend to move your Ship miniature around the map. This amount of movement can be modified by your Tidings die result and by other effects.
If you wish, you can track how much movement you have remaining by moving 1 of the 5 Reputation tokens (with a Movement icon on the other side) along the track shown on your Pirate sheet.
You can spend 1 movement to:
- Move from a sea space of one territory to the sea space of an adjacent territory.
- Move from a land space to the sea space, or vice versa, of the same territory.
Sample Turn
- Calico Jack is in the Exuma land space, so only the numbered results on the Tidings die will take effect. He rolls the Tidings die and gets the "+2" result. Good winds! This turn, Jack will have +2 movement to spend.
- Calico Jack starts by spending 2 movement to move out of Exuma into the territory's sea space and from there to the Nassau sea space. There are 2 Merchant Ship tokens in this sea space, so Jack must combat them. (The combat example begins on page 12.)
- After combat, Calico Jack continues his turn, spending 2 movement to move to the St. Croix sea space and into a Pirate Haven established at Eleuthero. Once there, he spends a Reputation token to take Rest action, discarding his Bloodshed token and ending his Action Phase. Even though he has 1 movement left to spend, the Rest action ends his Action Phase.
Special Moves
There are three moves that cost more movement (marked on the map with +3 or +5):
- Moving between the land spaces of Vera Cruz and Acapulco costs 5 movement. Moving between the land spaces of Porto Bello and Panama costs 3 movement.
- Moving between the sea spaces of Essequibo and the Pacific Ocean (around Cape Horn) costs 5 movement.
These three special moves are the only ways in the game to move from a territory land space to an adjacent territory land space or from a sea space to a non-adjacent territory sea space.
If you move between two land spaces, you cannot move out into the sea space of the new territory; you can only move back to the land space from which you came, and into the sea space of the territory from which you came.
Scouting
While in a sea space, you can spend 1 movement to scout a land space in your current territory: draw a Land token and place it face-up in the scouted space.
- You can scout a space even if it holds another player's Pirate marker.
- You cannot scout neutral spaces, Nassau, Indian Villages, or spaces that already have a Land token.
If you move onto a sea space holding a Ship token, flip the token face-up, if needed. If it is not a Treasure Fleet, you must combat it. If it is a Treasure Fleet, you may combat it. If you move onto an imperialist land space without a Land token or Pirate marker, you must immediately draw a Land token and place it face-up on that space.
Covert Capture of Treasure Fleets
If you sack a land space in the starting or ending territory of a Treasure Fleet route (Havana, Manila, New Spain, Seville, South Seas, or Tierra Firme), you may also perform a covert capture of any Treasure Fleets in that territory. To do this, the land space cannot already hold your Pirate marker. (The Treasure Fleet would be expecting you!)
When you perform a covert capture, return each Treasure Fleet token in your territory to the bottom of its stack. You do not combat these Treasure Fleets. For each Treasure Fleet token captured, draw a Treasure card. You do not gain any other rewards listed on the token.
Havana is a unique territory, since it is the starting territory for the Seville route and the ending territory for the Tierra Firme and New Spain routes. Sacking Havana at the right time could mean capturing 3 Treasure Fleets!
Draw Missions
If you are on an Indian Village or Nassau, you can spend 1 Reputation token to draw 2 Captain Mission cards and keep one or both cards. If you keep one, return the other to the bottom of the Captain Mission deck.
You may hold any number of Captain Mission cards, and you must keep them secret.
DESIGNER'S NOTE: Remaining true to the free will of a pirate, your group can track the effects of Flying Gang, Captain Mission, and Chaos cards however you mutually choose. The honesty method or placing any spare tokens next to the card is preferred, though you can write down notes if necessary.
Completing Missions
When you fulfill a mission's requirements, you must reveal the card and choose to gain Swagger immediately or at the end of the game. You cannot choose one option and then later choose the other.
Be sure to complete your missions! At the end of the game, you will subtract the immediate Swagger rewards of any incomplete Captain Mission cards from your final Swagger.
Combat
If you enter, or are on a space holding a Land token or Ship token other than a Treasure Fleet, you must combat it.
If you are on a space holding a Treasure Fleet or a player's Ship miniature, you may choose to combat it.
You can attack players even in cooperative mode. Of course, if this goes against the spirit of your group, you can choose to allow attacking other players only in competitive mode or as the saboteur in cooperative mode.
If you are combating any tokens, read Combat Against Tokens (page 12). If multiple players in a company are combating any tokens, there are some changes to the normal rules in Company Combat Against Tokens (page 19).
If you are combating another player, read Combat Between Players (page 17).
Rest
Unlike with the other actions, you must pay a cost to perform the Rest action, as follows:
- If you play a card with the Rest icon, you may Rest on any space.
- If you spend a Reputation token, you may Rest on any Pirate Haven, or on a land space with your Pirate marker. You do not need to get permission to rest on other players' Pirate Havens. (You are a pirate, and pirates do what they please.)
When you Rest, discard your Bloodshed token, if any, and then take 2 random cards from your discard pile and place them on top of your Pirate deck. Your Action Phase then ends; move to the Ending Draw Phase, ending your turn.
Once you perform the Rest action, you cannot perform it again until you have been in combat.
Establish Pirate Haven
If you are on a neutral land space (with the skull and crossbones) with no Pirate marker, you can spend 1 Reputation token to place your Pirate marker there, establishing your Pirate Haven.
Each player can only have one Pirate Haven at a time. If you establish a Pirate Haven but already have one, move your Pirate marker from your old Pirate Haven to your new one.
The Nassau land space is a permanent Pirate Haven.
Raze Pirate Haven
You can raze another player's Pirate Haven on your space. When you raze a Pirate Haven, remove its Pirate marker and return it to the owning player. Until the owning player re-establishes their Pirate Haven, the owning player suffers from –1 hand size. If the owning player has more cards than their new hand size, they must discard down to their new hand size immediately.
If you Rest at a Pirate Haven, you cannot raze it during the same turn.
The Nassau land space cannot be razed.
Phase 4: Ending Draw Phase
First, return any Crew cards in front of you to your hand.
Then, draw cards from your Pirate deck until you have cards in your hand equal to your hand size. Then, your turn ends. Check whether the round ends, as described in the next chapter. If not, then the next clockwise player begins their turn.
End of Round
At any time during your turn, if you are prompted to draw from your Pirate deck but it is empty, you must declare end of round.
After you declare end of round, finish your turn as normal. Then, the other players continue taking turns until everyone has taken an equal number of turns during this round. This number of turns does not count extra turns gained or turns forfeited for any reason (such as by using the effect of a Treasure card). Once each eligible player has completed their final turn, the round ends.
At the end of the round, each player shuffles together their Pirate and Elite Pirate cards from their deck, hand, and discard pile in order to reform their deck. Do not shuffle Treasure or Crew cards into your deck. Keep Treasure cards in front of your Pirate sheet, and keep Crew cards in your hand.
Then, the next round begins. The first player for this round is the player with the least Swagger. If there is a tie, the first player is the tied player who was furthest from the first player in turn order during the previous round. Follow the setup steps listed in the next sections.
Setup for Round 2
At the start of round 2, each player discards their Chaos card and draws a new one.
Then, draw 2 Territory cards and place a random Ship token face-up on the sea space of each drawn territory. Then, shuffle the Territory cards back into their deck.
Setup for Round 3
At the start of round 3, each player discards their Chaos card and draws a new one.
Then, draw 2 Territory cards for each player and place Ship tokens as follows:
- For the first card, place a Pirate Hunter face-up on the sea space of the drawn territory. However, if there are already Pirate Hunters on the map equal to the number of players, place a Naval Ship instead.
- For the second card, place a random Ship token face-up on the sea space of the drawn territory.
Finally, remove all Pirate markers from the imperialist land spaces of the drawn territories. (They are liberated by the European imperialists!) However, do not remove a Pirate marker from a land space if its owning player is on that space. Instead, at the start of that player's Action Phase, they must combat the placed Ship token. If the player flees or is captured, remove their Pirate marker from that space.
End of the Game
At the end of round 3, the game ends.
In cooperative mode, the players win immediately if they complete the requirements of their Flying Gang Mission card. If the players have not completed it by the end of the game, they all lose.
In competitive mode, perform endgame scoring as follows.
First, each player gains 2 Swagger per level.
Then, reward Swagger to the winner in each category below (on a tie, award no Swagger):
- HIGHEST LEVEL: +3 Swagger
- MOST REPUTATION TOKENS: +3 Swagger
- MOST CARDS EXCEPT TREASURES: +3 Swagger
- MOST TREASURE CARDS: +4 Swagger
- MOST PIRATE MARKERS ON THE MAP: +3 Swagger
The "most cards except Treasures" reward includes all cards in your hand, deck, and discard pile.
Finally, each player checks for Swagger gained or lost from Captain Mission cards.
- Gain Swagger equal to the end of game rewards of your completed Captain Mission cards that you set aside for scoring at the end of the game.
- Lose Swagger equal to the immediate rewards of your uncompleted Captain Mission cards.
Add it all up. The player with the most Swagger is crowned the greatest pirate king or queen to ever live!
If there is a tie, each tied player reforms their Pirate deck by shuffling together their deck, hand, and discard pile—except for Crew cards and Treasure cards—and then draws up to their hand size. Then, the tied players combat each other. The winner of this combat is the winner of the game.
If there are more than two tied players, the tied players combat each other in a round-robin tournament: each player combats each other player once, and the player with the most wins in this tournament is the winner of the game. Between each combat, each participating player reforms their Pirate deck and draws cards, as described above.
Combat Against Tokens
If a single player and any number of tokens are in combat, use the rules in this chapter. The rules in this chapter refer to the player in combat as "you."
First, declare which tokens on your space you wish to combat, and which token you wish to combat first. You must combat Land tokens and Ship tokens except for Treasure Fleets, which you may combat.
Combat Begins
Calico Jack entered a sea space holding 2 Merchant Ship tokens, so he must combat both of them. He chooses which one of the Merchants to combat first.
Step 1: Initiative
ROLL THE INITIATIVE DIE to determine whether you must attack first or defend first.
When combating a Treasure Fleet, do not roll the Initiative die. Instead, treat the Initiative die as a miss, unless you play a card that sets the Initiative die to another face.
ON A CRITICAL HIT, you attack first, and you may use Strike Fear attacks. Also, you gain one bonus of your choice:
- Add +3 Long Range attack in the Attack step, if you can use that attack type.
- Add +3 Close Quarters attack in the Attack step, if you can use that attack type.
- Gain 1 Reputation token, unless you flee in the next step.
ON A HIT, you attack first, and you may use Strike Fear attacks.
ON A MISS, you defend first.
ON A CRITICAL MISS, you defend first. Also, you must suffer one penalty of your choice:
- Discard 1 card.
- Discard 1 Reputation token.
- Take 1 Bloodshed token.
THEN, YOU MUST CHOOSE WHETHER TO FLEE. If you choose not to flee, do the following:
- If you rolled a critical hit and chose a Reputation token, you gain it now.
- If you are attacking first, continue to the Attack step.
- If you are defending first, continue to the Defend step.
If you choose to flee, and you are attacking first, you flee. Skip to the End step.
If you choose to flee, and you are defending first, roll the Initiative die again:
- If you roll any hit, you flee. Skip to the End step.
- If you roll any miss, you do not flee. Continue to the Defend step.
Critical hits or misses on this extra roll do not confer their benefits or penalties.
Reading Hits
The result on the Initiative die that says "+2" is a miss for players of level 1 and a hit for players of level 2 and above. The result that says "+4" is a miss for players of level 1 to 3 and a hit for players of level 4 and above.
Initiative
Jack rolls a critical hit on the Initiative die, so he attacks first. He also chooses to gain a Reputation token, which he gains once he chooses not flee.
Step 2a: Attack
FIRST, YOU MAY GENERATE AN ATTACK, which must match a combat symbol shown on the defending token: Long Range, Close Quarters, or Strike Fear.
- If the token shows one combat symbol, you must generate an attack of that type.
- If the token shows multiple combat symbols separated by a "/", you may generate attacks of any of those types.
- If the token shows multiple combat symbols separated by a "+", you must generate an attack of all of those types.
You can only generate a Strike Fear attack if you rolled any hit on the Initiative die.
You can contribute to your attack value in three ways:
- PLAY CARDS showing the combat symbol matching your attack type.
- ACTIVATE CREW CARDS AND FRIENDLY SHIP TOKENS showing the combat symbol matching your attack type.
- SPEND REPUTATION TOKENS to generate +1 Strike Fear attack per token spent.
THEN, RESOLVE YOUR ATTACK as follows:
- If your attack value is equal to or greater than the token's defense value, you defeat the token.
- If your attack value is less than the token's defense value, you do not defeat the token.
A token's defense value is shown by its combat symbol matching your attack type. If you are attacking a token with multiple combat symbols separated by a "+", you must generate an attack for each of those combat symbols, equaling or exceeding the defense value for each.
FINALLY MOVE TO THE NEXT STEP as follows:
- If you did not defeat this token and have not yet done the Defend step for this token, continue to the Defend step.
- If you did defeat this token or you have already done the Defend step for this token, continue to the Target step.
First Attack
Jack is attacking first. The Merchant token shows the Long Range and Close Quarters combat symbols separated by a slash, so Jack can choose either of these attack types. He chooses Long Range as his attack type.
Jack plays Fire in the Hole to generate a +2 Long Range attack. This attack equals the Merchant's +2 Long Range defense, sinking the Merchant.
Step 2b: Defend
FIRST, THE TOKEN GENERATES ITS ATTACK. Its attack type is its combat symbol of the highest value. If it has multiple combat symbols with the same value, you choose which of these attack types the token uses. The token's attack value is the value of its chosen attack type.
If you are defending against a token with multiple combat symbols separated by a "+", you must defend for each of those combat symbols, equaling or exceeding the defense value for each.
NEXT, YOU MAY GENERATE A DEFENSE, which you can contribute to in three ways:
- PLAY CARDS with the combat symbol matching the token's attack type. If you play a Crew card to generate defense, you must then remove the card from the game.
- ACTIVATE FRIENDLY SHIP TOKENS with the combat symbol matching the token's attack type. You must then remove the activated token from the game.
- SPEND REPUTATION TOKENS to generate +1 Strike Fear defense per token spent, if the token is generating a Strike Fear attack.
FINALLY, RESOLVE YOUR DEFENSE AS FOLLOWS:
- If your defense value is equal to or greater than the token's attack value, you do not take a Bloodshed token.
- If your defense value is less than the token's attack value, but not less than half, then you take 1 Bloodshed token. If this means you have 2 Bloodshed tokens, you are captured (page 19).
- If your defense value is less than half of the token's attack value, then you take 2 Bloodshed tokens, so you are captured (page 19). However, if the token's attack value is 1, you take only 1 Bloodshed token.
IF YOU WERE NOT CAPTURED, MOVE TO THE NEXT STEP as follows:
- If you have not yet done the Attack step for this token, continue to the Attack step.
- If you have already done the Attack step for this token, continue to the Target step.
Step 3: Target
FIRST, CHECK FOR THESE CONDITIONS:
- If all participating, undefeated tokens have acted, you flee automatically. Continue to the End step.
- If you have defeated all participating tokens, combat ends. Continue to the End step.
THEN, YOU MUST CHOOSE WHETHER TO FLEE.
If you choose not to flee, choose a token to act that has not yet acted, and do the following:
- If your most recent step was Attack, then continue to the Defend step.
- If your most recent step was Defend, then continue to the Attack step.
If you choose to flee, and you are attacking first, you flee. Skip to the End step.
If you choose to flee, and you are defending first, roll the Initiative die again and do the following:
- If you roll any hit, you flee. Skip to the End step.
- If you roll any miss, you do not flee. Choose a token to act that has not yet acted, and continue to the Defend step.
Critical hits or misses on this extra roll do not confer their benefits or penalties.
Target, Defend, Attack Again
Jack sunk the first Merchant, but there's a second Merchant. Jack can flee, but he chooses not to. Because the most recent step was the Attack step, combat continues to the Defend step. This Merchant chooses Close Quarters, because its other combat symbols have lower values, and generates a +3 Close Quarters attack.
Calico Jack plays the Brigands of Madagascar Crew card to generate a +3 Close Quarters defense. Since his defense value equals the Merchant's attack value, Jack avoids taking a Bloodshed token. However, because he generated defense with a Crew card, he must remove it from the game.
Play returns to the Attack step. The second Merchant has all three combat symbols, so Jack can use any attack type. Calico Jack generates a +2 Strike Fear attack—+1 from playing Cut 'em to Pieces and +1 from spending a Reputation token—which sinks the second Merchant.
Step 4: End
If you defeated a Ship token, you sink it. (This term is referenced on many cards and other rules.)
If you defeated a Land token, you sack its land space. To show this, place your Pirate marker on it. (It is now Pirate Republic territory!) If it holds another player's Pirate marker, return the marker to its owner.
If you fled from a battle on land, move to the adjacent sea space. If you fled from a battle at sea, move to a land space in your current territory or to the sea space of an adjacent territory that holds no Ship tokens. If you rolled a critical hit and chose to gain a Reputation token, do not gain it. Fleeing does not cost movement.
Gain Rewards
If you fled or were captured, you receive no reward, even if you defeated tokens. If you defeated a token, you gain the rewards listed on its right side, as follows:
- SWAGGER: Gain the listed Swagger.
- REPUTATION TOKENS: Gain the listed number of Reputation tokens, or discard the listed number if it is negative.
- CREW CARDS: Draw the listed number of Crew cards and place them on top of your Pirate deck.
- ELITE PIRATE CARDS: Draw the listed number of Elite Pirate cards and place them on top of your Pirate deck.
- TREASURE CARDS: Draw the listed number of Treasure cards and place them beside your Pirate sheet.
- CHAOS: The player to your right discards the Chaos card they're holding and then draws another. (You will find all the rules for these cards on page 18.)
Rewards may be separated by "+" (gain all) or "/" (choose one).
Gain Rewards (Example)
Jack sunk two Merchants, so he collects the spoils of combat listed on those tokens. He chooses to gain 2 Reputation tokens for one, and 2 Swagger for the other.
Combat 101
Gain initiative ▷ attack first or flee. Lose initiative ▷ roll die again to try and flee and if unsuccessful you must defend. Defend at least half of the attack ▷ take 1 bloodshed. Defend all the attack from each token(s) ▷ take no bloodshed. Then you may flee or continue the attack. Although you attack one token at a time, combat is always against any group of Ship tokens in a sea space triggering combat.
Resolve Defeated Tokens
First, add the tokens you defeated to the Enemies stacks as follows:
- PIRATE HUNTER: Return it facedown to the bottom of its token stack.
- NAVAL SHIP: Return it facedown to the bottom of its token stack.
- ANY OTHER SHIP OR LAND TOKEN: Place it face-up on its matching image.
Then, check if you trigger any effects of the Enemies stacks, as described below:
-
6 MERCHANTS SUNK: Draw 1 Territory card and place a Naval Ship face-up on the sea space of the drawn territory. (The Royal Navy arrives.) Then, shuffle the Merchants facedown into the Ship token supply.
-
6 PIRATES SUNK: Remove all Pirate markers from neutral spaces and return those markers to their players. Then, every player, even if they did not have a Pirate marker there, suffers from –1 hand size until they establish a new Pirate Haven. Then, shuffle the sunk Pirates facedown into the Ship token supply.
-
2 LAND TOKENS SACKED: Draw 1 Territory card and then place a Pirate Hunter facedown on the sea space of the drawn territory. Then, shuffle the sacked Land tokens facedown into the Land token supply.
-
1 MAIN FORT SACKED: Draw 1 Territory card and then place a Reputation token and a Land token facedown on the imperialist land space of the drawn territory. Sacking this Land token gives a reward of 1 Treasure card and 1 Reputation token in addition to the token's listed rewards.
To remember this special reward, place the sacked Main Fort token on the drawn Territory card. When a player collects this reward, set the sacked Main Fort token aside and shuffle the Territory card back into its deck.
-
1 TREASURE FLEET SUNK: Place 2 Ship tokens facedown on the sea space of Havana. (Havana fortifies.) Then, place the sunk Treasure Fleet on the bottom of its token stack.
For your first game, we recommend only triggering the "2 Land tokens sacked" effect once. You can mark this by leaving the Land tokens on the Enemies stack.
Resolving Defeated Tokens
Jack sunk 2 Merchants, so he places the 2 Merchant Ship tokens on their matching Enemies stack. The first Merchant brings the stack up to five tokens, so nothing happens, but the second Merchant brings the stack up to six tokens, so its effect triggers.
Jack draws a Territory card, which shows St. Martin, so he takes a Naval Ship from the Enemies stack and places it on the sea space of St. Martin. Then he shuffles the Merchant Ship tokens facedown back into the Ship token supply.
Even the Pirate Republic's power can no longer go unchecked. The "sweet trade" will have its consequences from those foes not keen on your good fortune.
Your foes declare: We will hire pirate hunters, root out corruption, improve swift justice, pardon pirates who surrender voluntarily, increase antipiracy naval ships, cooperate with other nations, convoy our merchant ships, block and bombard your pirate ports, chase you both at sea and on land, and, finally, occupy and dismantle your pirate lairs. We will show no mercy to your species of outlaws until you are eradicated from this earth.
Combat Between Players
If a single player and another single player are in combat, use the rules in this chapter.
In this chapter, all uses of "you" refer to either player.
Step 1: Initiative
Each player rolls the Initiative die. The player with the better result gains initiative, which will break ties in the Combat step. If both players roll the same result, reroll until one player rolls a better result than the other player.
Step 2: Flee
The player who did not initiate combat may choose to attack or flee, but that player can only flee if they rolled a critical hit on the Initiative die. If that player flees, move to the End step.
The player who began combat cannot begin combat with the fleeing player again during the same turn.
Step 3: Combat
FIRST, COLLECT AND REVEAL COMBAT VALUES. Both players secretly choose the cards and Ship tokens they each wish to play and activate, then reveal all of them, stating their combat values simultaneously.
THEN, VERIFY COMBAT VALUES AND GIVE A BLOODSHED TOKEN. Each player states which attack type they used (Close Quarters, Long Range, Strike Fear) and shows how they counted up their combat value. Regardless of combat type, the player with the lower combat value takes 1 Bloodshed token. For example, Blackbeard generates +4 Close Quarters against Anne Bonny's +3 Long Range, so she receives 1 Bloodshed. On a tie or when players cannot generate attack, the player who did not gain initiative in the Initiative step takes 1 Bloodshed token. When you activate a friendly Ship token or Crew card, you cannot use any of its combat values each time you do the Combat step.
FINALLY, MOVE TO THE NEXT STEP.
- If neither player has been captured, move to the Flee step with players able to flee if they rolled a critical hit.
- If either player has been captured, continue to the End step.
DESIGNER'S NOTE: One of the subtle benefits of some of the game cards with free text and Chaos & Elite card icons is they help remind players of the rules of The Pirate Republic...by breaking those rules. For instance, Elite Pirate cards Lookout and Jack Of All Trades grant the player 1 movement point for a move action but also have icons that can be used for combat. Another example is the "Draw 2 cards" icon. If played during the Draw Phase or Combat, that player's hand can temporarily increase beyond the starting hand size for the duration of their turn.
Step 4: End
The captured or fleeing player is the loser, and the other player is the winner.
If you activated any Crew cards or friendly Ship tokens, do not remove them from the game (as you would if you generated a defense in token combat). Instead, return played Crew cards to your hand, and leave activated friendly Ship tokens in front of you.
If the loser was captured (rather than fleeing), the winner gains Swagger equal to the round number (1, 2, or 3) times the level of the loser, and the winner may swap one of their Treasure, Crew, or Elite Pirate cards for one card of the same type from the loser.
To swap cards, the winner looks through the loser's Pirate deck, discard pile, and hand, swapping one card with any one card from the winner's own Pirate deck, discard pile, or hand. After swapping cards, shuffle any searched decks.
Growing Your Fleet
As you sack land spaces, you gain command over a larger fleet of ships, as follows:
2 LAND SPACES SACKED: Draw 1 Ship token and place it in front of you. If it is a Naval Ship, draw a new Ship token and shuffle the Naval Ship back into the supply.
5 LAND SPACES SACKED: Draw 1 Naval Ship and place it in front of you.
To gain one of these rewards, you must have 2 or 5 Pirate markers currently placed on imperialist land spaces. You can only gain each reward once.
You can activate these friendly Ship tokens, as you would play cards, to generate an attack or defense. If you activate a friendly Ship token to generate a defense, you must then remove it from the game, as you would with a Crew card.
If you generated an attack with the friendly ship token, keep the token in front of you and flip it facedown to show that it cannot be activated again this turn. Then at the end of your turn, flip the token face-up, showing that it's ready to be activated again.
Level and Swagger
Each player starts the game at level 1 with 0 Swagger. Various actions, mainly combat, award Swagger. When you have earned enough Swagger to meet a level threshold shown on the Swagger track, you gain a level and its benefits, as follows:
- 8 SWAGGER: LEVEL 2. Draw 1 Elite Pirate card. Whenever you roll the Initiative die, the result with the "2+" modifier now counts as a hit.
- 20 SWAGGER: LEVEL 3. Draw 1 Crew card. Your hand size increases by +1, giving you a default hand size of 5.
- 38 SWAGGER: LEVEL 4. Draw 2 Elite Pirate cards. Whenever you roll the Initiative die, the result with the "4+" modifier now counts as a hit.
- 60 SWAGGER: LEVEL 5. Draw 2 Crew cards. If you still have your Crew card from level 3, then return any one of your Crew cards to the Crew deck. Your hand size increases by +1, giving you a default hand size of 6.
Place the drawn Elite Pirate and Crew cards on top of your Pirate deck. You may look at them and choose the order you place them on your deck.
You can continue to gain Swagger beyond 60 Swagger. You can mark this with any spare components.
If you lose enough Swagger to drop below a level threshold, you do not lose the level or its benefits. Likewise, when you meet a level threshold that you have already crossed, you do not gain its benefits again.
Chaos Cards
Chaos cards represent challenges or events to be faced when fate or luck shifts in dramatic ways.
Throughout the game, each player will hold a Chaos card, whose effect applies to the next clockwise player. Each player can hold no more than 1 Chaos card at a time. If you discard a Chaos card, only draw a new Chaos card if you are prompted to.
Triggering a Chaos Card
If the player to your left is taking a turn and they meet the requirements to trigger the Chaos card you hold, announce this. Play stops immediately. Read the Chaos card aloud. Then, the player to your left must resolve the Chaos card.
Resolving a Chaos Card
Some Chaos cards have immediate effects. After you resolve an immediate effect, discard the Chaos card.
Some Chaos cards have lasting effects. These Chaos cards will state when they are discarded.
When a Chaos card prompts you to generate an attack, you may play cards and activate friendly Ship tokens as you would during the Attack step of combat (page 13).
Chaos cards give rewards even if doing so breaks the rules. For example, a Chaos card might reward a Crew card to a player who is not at level 3.
Are the Results of Chaos Cards Secret?
Some Chaos cards ask the acting player to make a choice. As a group, you can agree either to let the acting player see the results of their decisions or to force players to make a decision before knowing the effects of their decision.
By default, we recommend playing where the acting player must decide their course of action without knowing the effects of their decision. Over time, as the players become familiar with the cards, it may become worth it to let them see the card text.
Bloodshed and Capture
Bloodshed tokens represent the wounds that you suffer as the captain. They can come from Chaos cards, but they mostly come from combat. If you take a Bloodshed token, place it near your Pirate sheet.
If you ever have 2 Bloodshed tokens, you get captured. You must do the following:
- End combat, as normal. You earn no rewards.
- Move to your Pirate Haven, to the closest neutral space without a Pirate marker, or to the land space of Nassau, whichever is closest.
- Remove all of your Treasure cards from the game.
- Discard all of your Bloodshed tokens.
- Move your Swagger marker down to the threshold for your level, or down to the "0" space if you are at level 1.
- End your Action Phase immediately, and complete your Ending Draw Phase as normal.
Capture (Example)
Blackbeard, a player at level 3 with 22 Swagger, is captured. Nassau is closer than his Pirate Haven and all neutral spaces without Pirate markers, so he moves to Nassau. He has 1 Treasure card, so he removes it from the game.
He moves his Swagger marker down to 20 Swagger, the threshold for level 3. Finally, he draws back up to his hand size of 5, and ends his turn.
Playing as a Company
At the start of your turn, you may choose to form a company with any number of willing players on your space. Each player can only be part of a company during one turn per round.
When you form a company, you become its leader. As the leader, you can move other players in your company along with you, and you can enter combat together as a company. When you move together, spend only the leader's movement.
During the Tidings Phase, if you roll the "Red Lookout" or "White Lookout" result on the Tidings die, resolve the effect once as normal, rather than resolving it for each player in the company.
A company cannot use the Combat action against another player. A company disbands at the end of its leader's turn.
Leaving a Company
While in a company, you can decide to leave the company at any time, except during combat. If the company enters combat, players who wish to leave the company must declare that intent before the Initiative die is rolled.
- If you are the leader, the company dissolves.
- You can remain on any space that the company moved onto, and you forfeit your next turn.
- You can immediately combat any other players in the company.
Example: Calico Jack and Blackbeard sail from Nassau to the Gulf of Mexico. When the company enters Havana, Calico Jack decides to leave the company.
Chaos Cards in a Company
While players are in a company, their Chaos cards cannot be triggered.
Rolling a "–1" result on the Tidings die generates 1 Chaos card for the whole company. Only keep the card if it shows the Chaos symbol on the right. If it does not show a Chaos symbol, discard the Chaos card and do not draw a replacement. Most Chaos cards with the Chaos symbol will trigger immediately, while some others you will know how to trigger (unlike how Chaos cards normally work, where you do not know the trigger).
Anything the company accomplishes counts for each of its members in fulfilling the requirements of their Captain Mission cards. For example, if the company sinks a Merchant and two players have Captain Mission cards that require sinking a Merchant, then both players have fulfilled that requirement.
Company Combat Against Tokens
Before beginning combat, each player, starting with the leader and going clockwise, declares whether she will participate in the combat.
Uses of "player" in this section refer to a player participating in the combat.
The key difference in company combat is that in the Attack step, all players attack, and in the Defend step, all tokens attack. Thus, there is no need for a Target step.
Step 1: Initiative Phase
Each player rolls the Initiative die. Resolve these results as follows:
- If any player rolls any hit, the company attacks first.
- If no player rolls any hit, the company defends first.
If the company rolled any critical hits or misses, resolve them as follows:
- If the company rolls the same number of critical hits and critical misses, cancel the bonus and penalty of the critical hit and miss.
- If the company rolls more critical hits than critical misses, each player in the company chooses one critical hit bonus to gain.
- If the company rolls more critical misses than critical hits, each player in the company chooses one critical miss penalty to suffer.
The critical hit bonuses and critical miss penalties are identical to those listed on pages 12-13.
Step 2a: Attack
Resolve this step as described in the identical step on page 13, with the following changes.
The leader decides whether to attack or flee. If the Initiative die needs to be rolled again, the leader rolls it once.
Each player may generate an attack against one defending token. (You do not get to generate an attack against each defending token, as in the normal rules.)
Multiple players may generate an attack against the same token, adding together all their attack values of the same type. If you haven't done the Defend step, and any tokens remain undefeated, continue to the Defend step. Otherwise, continue to the End step.
Step 2b: Defend
Resolve this step as described in the identical step on page 14, with the following changes.
The leader decides whether to attack or flee. If the Initiative die needs to be rolled again, the leader rolls it once.
The token with the greatest combat value attacks the player with the most Swagger, the token with the second-highest combat value combats the player with the second-most Swagger, and so on.
If there are more tokens than players, restart the order of attack: the remaining token with the highest combat value attacks the player with the most Swagger, and so on.
If a player is not attacked by any token, that player may generate a defense to add to another player's defense value of the same type.
If you haven't done the Attack step, continue to the Attack step. Otherwise, continue to the End step.
Multiple Defense
Several tokens show an "X" next to their combat symbols. This symbol means that each player, not one, must generate a defense against the token's attack.
Multiple Defense (Example)
Black Sam and Anne Bonny begin combat with a Pirate Hunter. They each roll a miss on the Initiative die, so they defend first. Because the Pirate Hunter token has an X, it attacks both Sam and Anne, who must each generate at least a +11 Long Range and +10 Close Quarter attack to avoid bloodshed (or +6 Long Range & +5 Close quarter to avoid capture).
Then, during the Attack step, they must generate both a +11 Long Range and +10 Close Quarters attack to sink the Pirate Hunter.
Step 3: End
Resolve this step as described in the identical step on page 15, with the following changes. If any participating tokens remain undefeated, they flee automatically, so the company does not collect any rewards.
If the company sacks a land space, each player places their Pirate marker on the space.
Divvy up the gained Reputation tokens and Swagger as evenly as possible between players. Give all excess Reputation tokens and Swagger to the player with the least Swagger. If players are tied for least Swagger, give the total amount of excess Swagger and Reputation tokens to each tied player.
To divvy up any cards rewarded, deal out the cards in front of the players. The player with the least Swagger chooses one card, then the player with the second-least Swagger chooses one card, and so on, until all of the cards have been taken.
Example of a Company Turn
- Anne Bonny, the company leader, and Blackbeard begin the company's turn on the sea space of St. Martin. Anne Bonny rolls the Tidings die and gets a "White Lookout" result, so a British Naval Ship moves from St. Thomas to St. Martin. Anne decides to avoid combat and instead sails to Guadeloupe, spending 3 movement. This space has a previously scouted Port, and they want to combat it, so they use the Combat action.
- They each roll the Initiative die and each get a miss. However, Blackbeard plays the card Try Again, Matey to reroll his Initiative die and gets a hit, so the company attacks first. They need to defeat both the Port's +6 Close Quarters defense and its +5 Long Range defense.
- To start, Anne Bonny plays the improved effect of Scourge of the 7 Seas and the Quartermasters Crew card to generate a +4 Close Quarters attack. Blackbeard plays Fire Ship and Improvised Shot to generate a +3 Close Quarters attack. Their combined +7 Close Quarters attack defeats the +6 Close Quarters defense of the Port.
- Now they need +5 Long Range defense. Anne Bonny already has a +2 Long Range attack from Scourge of the 7 Seas, and Blackbeard already has a +2 Long Range attack from Improvised Shot, so they only need to generate a +1 Long Range attack, so Anne plays Not So Pirate's Folly. They sack the Port before it gets a chance to attack!
- Because they sacked the Port, Anne and Blackbeard each gain 2 Swagger and place a Pirate marker on Guadeloupe. Both players discard the cards played, except Anne's Quartermasters, which stays in front of her because it is a Crew card. They sacked a Port, placing the second Land token on the Enemies stacks and triggering the "2 Land tokens sacked" effect. They draw a Territory card, which shows St. Thomas, and place a Pirate Hunter on its sea space, then shuffle the Territory card back into its deck.
- After combat, Anne completes the company's Action Phase: she takes a Rest action by playing Grog Before the Fog, so she shuffles 2 random discarded cards back into her Pirate deck. The company is disbanded, and Anne Bonny and Blackbeard won't be able to join another company until the next round.
Saboteurs (Cooperative Only)
Five of the Captain Mission cards are marked with saboteur. In cooperative mode, a player who completes a saboteur Captain Mission card becomes a saboteur. A game can have multiple saboteurs.
When the game ends, if the other players have not completed their Flying Gang Mission card, the saboteur wins. If the other players have completed their Flying Gang Mission card, the saboteur wins along with the Flying Gang only if the saboteur has equal or more Swagger than every individual player in the Flying Gang.
If your group wishes, the saboteurs can tally and compare their Swagger scores at the end of the game, as in competitive mode, to find the winning saboteur, but this is not required.
In competitive mode, you can still complete saboteur Captain Mission cards for their Swagger rewards, as normal, but you do not become a saboteur, so ignore any references to the Flying Gang.
DESIGNER'S NOTE: Hate them or love them, pirates turning pirate hunters or saboteurs was very much part of the times. We can thank the likes of famous pirate-turned-hunter Benjamin Hornigold and many others for bringing this narrative into the game. Play with or without them depending on your group's desires.
Variants
Teams in Competitive Mode
You can play with a team of two players versus another team of two or three players, with one team representing the Pirate Republic and the other representing a competing Pirate Republic or a European nation. In this variant, change the following two rules:
- During step 2 of setup, each team draws a Flying Gang Mission card. The first side to complete their card wins. Also, if a player is captured, their team loses.
- At the start of round 3, only add 1 Ship token per team rather than per player.
Starting Mission Card
Some players like to have some focus right from the start. If this is true, then at the end of step 7 of setup, each player draws 2 Captain Mission cards and picks one.
Make Your Own Variant
The game includes two blank cards for the Captain Missions and Flying Gang Missions. These aren't just for replacing one you've lost! Maybe you want another Treasure Galleon route from Panama to Acapulco, or perhaps you'll give the Scots some love by writing up the Darien scheme and making them an upstart empire. Maybe you'll add a fourth round of play? This is your opportunity to be creative and have some fun!
Denmark Arrives
Give Denmark some love! Did you know they have the oldest unchanged flag?
During step 3 of setup, place the Main Fort token for Denmark, showing the side with lower numbers, on Old Providence.
Difficult Main Forts
If you want to make the Main Forts more difficult to defeat, place them on their sides with the higher numbers during step 3 of setup. This variant is helpful if you are playing with experienced players or with five players.
Time Keeper
Instead of ending the round normally, use the dummy player rules from Solo Play (page 23). For a 5-player game, use a standard deck of playing cards as the dummy player's deck. Start with 12 cards from the standard deck, and add cards to its deck when called for, as normal.
Pirate's Lair
Do not place Ship tokens in Nassau and its adjacent territories during setup and the first round of play.
Solo Play
To play the game solo, modify the normal rules as follows.
Solo Setup
Skip step 2. In step 4, remove the following Captain Missions cards from the game: 3, 5, 7, 14, 18, 19, 23, 25. Form the Chaos deck only with cards that have the Chaos symbol. Return all cards without the Chaos symbol to the box.
In step 5, after you choose your pirate, randomly choose another pirate to be the dummy player. This dummy player will influence when the round ends, but it won't do anything else. Return its Pirate sheet and Pirate markers to the box. Shuffle its Pirate deck, and the dummy pirate is ready to go.
Solo Play
During setup for rounds 2 and 3, do not discard and draw a new Chaos card.
During the Tidings Phase, if you roll the "–1" result, draw a Chaos card and read it. Most Chaos cards in solo play will trigger immediately, while some others you will know how to trigger, unlike in multiplayer games.
Only the dummy player can declare end of round. Although unlikely in solo play, if at any time you are prompted to draw from your Pirate deck and it is empty, finish your turn, then play passes to the dummy player, who declares end of round (even though the deck may not be empty). Take your final turn.
If you ever gain a Crew, Elite or Treasure card, add a similar card to the dummy player's deck.
To simulate Playing As A Company, once per round you may reroll the Initiative die once for the Initiative Step (attack first) of combat on a "Miss" result. You may perform this action for your entire turn for each new combat with tokens.
At the end of the game, do not score the Swagger bonuses listed on page 12. Compare your Swagger to the chart below to see how well you did.
| Swagger | Profession |
|---|---|
| 20 | Landlubber |
| 38 | Swab |
| 55 | Lieutenant |
| 70 | Sailing Master |
| 85 | Ship's Captain |
| 100 | Fleet Admiral |
| 110 | Pirate King or Queen |
Playing the Dummy Player's Turn
The dummy player always takes the first turn of a round. First, if the dummy player's Pirate deck is empty, it declares end of round. At this point, you take one more turn, and then the round ends.
Then, draw from its Pirate deck until it has a hand of 4 cards, and place them face-up nearby.
Finally, roll the Tidings die and resolve the result as follows:
- -1: Discard 1 card from the dummy player's hand.
- +2: Discard 2 cards from the dummy player's hand.
- +3, WHITE LOOKOUT: Discard 3 cards from the dummy player's hand.
- RED LOOKOUT: Discard 4 cards from the dummy player's hand.
- TREASURE FLEET: Do not discard cards from the dummy player's hand. Move an existing Treasure Fleet or spawn a new one by selecting the route closest to the solo player even if it is on a land space (page 8).
Solo Play Missions
In addition to scoring Swagger at the end, select one of the following missions as a victory condition for solo play. To win, you must complete your mission before the end of the game.
1) Hunter's Revenge
Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal British Navy must be stopped. During setup, randomly select and place 2 British Navy tokens facedown next to the board. You must defeat 6 Merchants and 6 Pirates. When you do, draw Territory cards until you reveal one with no Ship tokens. Place the 2 British Navy tokens on the selected sea space of this territory.
Mission: Defeat both British Navy tokens. Reward: Gain 2 Elite Pirate cards.
2) Pirate's Lair
Draw Territory cards until you find one with an imperialist land space that does not have a Main Fort. Select an unused pirate, and place its Pirate markers on the sea space and imperialist land space of that territory, as well as the sea space of each adjacent territory. After step 10 of setup (Form Token Supplies), place a random Land token face down on the selected territory and a random Ship token face down on the sea spaces of the selected territory and each adjacent territory.
Mission: Defeat the Land token and all Ship tokens in the spaces with the placed Pirate marker. Reward: Gain a Naval Ship token.
3) Rum Runner
We'll need commerce to keep the Pirate Republic alive. Take 5 Reputation tokens to act as Rum tokens. You must sail this rum into the land spaces in the starting territories of the 5 Treasure Fleet routes by rolling a hit on the Initiative die. Successful, whenever you enter one of these land spaces without a Rum token, place a Rum token on it. Once per turn when attempting to deliver a Rum token, you may flee from combat even if you roll a miss or critical miss on the Initiative die.
Mission: Deliver a Rum token to or sack the 5 land spaces described above. Reward: Gain Reputation tokens each time you place a Rum token, as follows. 1st space: 1 Reputation token 2nd space: 2 Reputation tokens 3rd space: 6 Reputation tokens 4th space: 8 Reputation tokens 5th space: 10 Reputation tokens
4) Scouter's Delight
Once per turn, while at sea, you may spend 1 movement to scout a Ship token on the sea space of any adjacent territory. During setup of round 2 and 3, place these Ship tokens face down.
Mission: All Ship tokens on the board must be face up. Reward: Draw 2 Crew cards and keep one or both.
5) The New Republic, Battle of San Juan Take 2
Nassau is overloaded with pirates, and the Republic needs another haven. Pick up where the Dutch left off and sack the famous Castillo San Felipe del Morro on San Juan. During setup, place 1 Ship token face down on San Juan's sea space and 1 Port token and 1 Fort token face down on San Juan's land space. Do not place any other Ship tokens in San Juan during setup.
You may not scout San Juan's land space. In combat at San Juan's territory, you must combat the following tokens:
Round 1-2: Combat the Ship token and Port. Round 3: Combat the Ship token and Fort.
Similar to combat against a Treasure Fleet, you treat your Initiative die result as a miss unless you have an effect that lets you roll it (page 12).
Mission: Defeat the tokens at San Juan, as described above. Reward: Draw a Treasure card.
Play-Through Example
Here, we will walk through a full turn and support this explanation with examples and pictures. You may wish to set up the game in front of you and follow this play-through at the table.
It is the start of round 3 in a two-player competitive game. Because it's the start of round 3, both players discard their Chaos card and draw a new one. Anne Bonny, the other player, says to stop! The Chaos card she drew for La Buse says to announce it immediately, so she reads it aloud: "Your foes and your woes are mine, and mine are thine. The Pirate Republic demands you strike fear to defeat an enemy into submission. Will you follow their orders?"
Not wanting to take a chance with chaos, he answers no. Anne Bonny discards the Chaos card but does not draw a new one. La Buse won't be affected by more Chaos cards this round unless an effect (such as the "–1" result on the Tidings die) prompts drawing a new one.
(Starting round 3 has some more steps, but for the purpose of this play-though, they are not relevant.)
Now the players will begin taking turns. Olivier La Buse has the least Swagger, so he takes the first turn of this round. He has one Merchant token in front of him, ready to activate.
1) DRAW PHASE: La Buse is at level 4, so his hand size is 5 cards. He has no cards in hand, so he draws 5 cards from his Pirate deck: Scourge of the 7 Seas, Parlez-Vous Pyrate, Red Jolly, Filibustiers, and Old Salts. Old Salts is a Crew card, so he places it in front of him.
2) TIDINGS PHASE: La Buse rolls the Tidings die and gets the "Treasure Fleet" result. La Buse's ship is in the sea space of the San Juan territory, so this result is resolved. (On land, only number results resolve.) He doesn't like this roll and could use his Crew card, Old Salts, to reroll the die, but he decides against it. He only gets to use this reroll effect on Old Salts once per turn, and he wants to save it for combat later.
The Treasure Fleet route closest to his ship is the Tierra Firme route, which has a Treasure Fleet on it already, so he moves this Treasure Fleet along its route from Cartagena to Old Providence.
3) ACTION PHASE: Now La Buse can take actions as he pleases. He has 3 movement to spend throughout this phase on the Move action. He spends 2 movement to sail to the Dominica sea space, where a Pirate Hunter (+8 Long Range and +9 Close Quarter) and a Merchant (+1 Long Range or +1 Close Quarter) await.
He must combat Ship tokens other than Treasure Fleets in his space, so combat begins.
4) COMBAT: In the Initiative step, La Buse rolls and gets a critical miss. He chooses to use the effect of his Crew card, Old Salts, to reroll the Initiative die. Good fortune! It's a critical hit, so La Buse gets to attack first!
Just like outside combat, in combat you can play any combination of cards. After playing a card and gaining its effect, you immediately discard it once it can no longer be used in any of the 4 steps of combat. Some cards may be used in each step depending on the card's icons. When you use the effect of a Crew card, you generally won't discard it, but in combat you can only use its effects once per combat, in one combat step, even if you're combating multiple tokens.
He plays his Crew card to generate +4 Long Range and +1 Close Quarters, and he chooses for the critical hit to generate +3 Close Quarters, adding up to +4 Long Range and +4 Close Quarters. He then plays Filibustiers for +2 Close Quarters and can play another card for its improved effect without spending a Reputation token. He plays the improved effect of Scourge of the 7 Seas, so he adds +2 Long Range and +2 Close Quarters, and returns it to his Pirate deck, per the text. Finally, he plays Parlez-Vous Pyrate for +1 Long Range and +2 Close Quarters. Added up, though, he's only generated +7 Long Range and +10 Close Quarters. He still needs +1 Long Range, so he plays Red Jolly for +2 Long Range and sinks the Pirate Hunter! He discards all of the cards he played, so he loses any leftover effects from the played cards—in this case, +1 Close Quarters.
But now he has to defend against the Merchant. He wishes he could use his Crew card, but he already used it to combat the Pirate Hunter, so he can't generate defense. (If he could generate defense, though, he could always choose not to.) The Merchant has a +1 Long Range attack, so he takes 1 Bloodshed token.
Then he has the opportunity to attack. He activates his Ship token, flipping it, to attack with +2 Long Range, which sinks the Merchant. He gains 6 Swagger and draws an Elite Pirate card.
At this point, he has discarded all his cards and activated his Ship token. He keeps his Crew card, Old Salts, in front of him. (If he had used the Crew card to generate a defense, though, that would remove the card from the game.)
5) ACTION PHASE, CONT: To finish his turn, he spends his last movement to scout the land space in Dominica, drawing a Land token and placing it in the space face-up. It's a Fort!
At this point, he declares end of turn. He still has 1 card in his hand, so he draws 4 cards from his Pirate deck to fill his hand to 5 cards. He also flips over his Ship token, to show that he can activate it during his next turn.
The World of The Pirate Republic
The Flota and Galeones
Normally every year, Spain sent two escorted galleon fleets from Seville, Spain for the New World laden with European goods in demand, the mother of all treasure loads. The New Spain fleet, or flota, sailed to Veracruz in Mexico to take on silver and porcelain shipped from China on the Manila galleons and brought overland from Acapulco by mule train. The Tierra Firme fleet, or galeones, made for Cartagena to take on South American products. The rest of the fleet sailed to pick up emeralds and Peruvian silver off-loaded from the South Sea fleet at Portobelo, where mule trains had carried it over the Isthmus of Panama.
After wintering in America, the flota and galeones met at Havana in the spring and returned to Spain together, protected by warships. Only once in the two and a half centuries of Spanish domination did a pirate captain plunder one of these fleets at sea. Most plundering happened while the treasure fleets were in port. You'll get a chance to chase down two treasure fleets: the New Spain and Tierra Firme fleets. Who knows, you might even get a chance to hunt the Manila and South Sea fleets. Let's change some history!
The Pirates
You play one of the historic pirates who joined the Flying Gang. Here you will find descriptions of each of them.
Olivier Levasseur, aka "The Buzzard"
His moniker "La Buse" (The Buzzard) came from the speed and ruthlessness with which he attacked his enemies. When the war ended, the French privateer became a pirate, like so many. As a member of the Flying Gang, he sailed with the likes of Blackbeard and Sam Bellamy. Famous for capturing the Portuguese treasure ship Nostra Senhora do Cabo, he was one of the longest lasting and most successful pirate captains of all time. He is also known for allegedly hiding one of the biggest treasures in pirate history, estimated to be worth over one billion pounds, and leaving a cryptogram behind with its whereabouts.
Anne Bonny
An infamous female pirate and a crewmate of John Rackham. Born in Ireland, she had a fiery temper and likely red hair to match. Bonny was exceptionally good in combat and commanded a deep, affectionate respect from her crew. Infamous for the quote, "Sorry to see you there, but if you'd fought like a man, you would not have to hang like a dog."
John Rackham, aka "Calico Jack"
An English pirate noted for flying the iconic Jolly Roger pirate flag, popularized today with the skull and two crossed swords. (Yes, the one on beer can coolers, plates, shirts, and sport team's paraphernalia.) He was also given the nickname "Calico" for the expensive, flamboyant calico shirts that he wore. Think of him as owning twenty pairs of shoes or shopping at modern-day Banana Republic or Calvin Klein. He lived by the motto: if you are going to pirate, always look cool. A capable pirate in his time, for sure, but an even better ladies' man.
Sam Bellamy
Black Sam Bellamy was one of the original members of the Flying Gang. An English pirate known as a great strategist, he showed generosity and mercy toward those he captured on his raids. Tall and well-mannered, he preferred using a set of four dueling pistols in combat and is rumored to have had a love affair with Ms. or Mrs. Goody Hallett that would rival your daytime TV soap operas. He's perhaps best known for his lucrative exploits, bringing in over $130 million in plundered booty from only 53 captured ships!
Edward Teach, aka "Blackbeard"
His life is shrouded in mystery, but Edward Teach wrote the book on advancements in buccaneering tactics, foreshadowing today's military special operations principles. He used his terrifying appearance and reputation to force crews to surrender before shots were fired. His pirate flag, with fierce wild eyes, hair, beard, and devil-incarnate appearance—thanks to the smoke fuses in his hair that he lit before battle—commanded respect from and struck fear into his enemies. A master of psychological warfare, he preferred to subdue his prey. As described by Navy SEAL Rear Admiral McRaven, Blackbeard was Mr. Relative Superiority: "A condition that exists when a smaller attacking force gains a decisive advantage and control over a larger, defending enemy...now having the initiative to exploit the enemy's weakness and secure victory."
Combat Against Tokens – Reference
This chapter presents a compact summary of the Combat Against Tokens decision flow described in full starting on page 12.
- Step 1: Initiative. Roll the Initiative die.
- Critical Hit: You may use a Strike Fear attack. Choose one bonus: +3 Long Range, +3 Close Quarters, or +1 Reputation token. Then choose Step 2a: Attack, or Flee.
- Hit: You may use a Strike Fear attack. Choose Step 2a: Attack, or Flee.
- Miss: Continue to Step 2b: Defend.
- Critical Miss: Choose one penalty: discard 1 card, discard 1 Reputation token, or take 1 Bloodshed token. If you flee, roll the Initiative die again: any miss continues to Step 2b: Defend; any hit moves to Step 4: End.
- Step 2a: Attack. Generate an attack of the type matching the token's combat symbol(s).
- If Attack ≥ Defense, you defeat the token. If you have not yet done Step 2b for this token, move to Step 2b: Defend; if you have already defended against this token, move to Step 3: Target.
- If Attack < Defense, you do not defeat the token. If you have not yet defended, move to Step 2b: Defend; if you already attacked, move to Step 3: Target.
- Step 2b: Defend. The token attacks with its highest combat value.
- If Defense ≥ Attack, you take no Bloodshed token.
- If Defense is less than Attack but not less than half, you take 1 Bloodshed token.
- If Defense is less than half of Attack, you take 2 Bloodshed tokens; if the attack value is 1, you take only 1. Two Bloodshed tokens means you are captured.
- If not captured: if you have not yet attacked this token, move to Step 2a: Attack; if you already attacked, move to Step 3: Target.
- Step 3: Target. If you have defeated all tokens, combat ends—move to Step 4: End. If any undefeated tokens have not yet acted, choose one of these tokens to act, then return to Step 2a or Step 2b as appropriate. If all undefeated tokens have acted, you flee: roll the Initiative die; any miss returns to Step 2b: Defend; any hit moves to Step 4: End.
- Step 4: End. If you defeated a Land token, place your Pirate marker on its land space. If you didn't flee or get captured, resolve and gain rewards for defeated tokens. If you fled from a battle on land, move to the adjacent sea space. If you fled from a battle at sea, move to a land space of your current territory or to the sea space of an adjacent territory that holds no Ship tokens.
Pirate Marker Identification
Bellamy, Blackbeard, Bonny, La Buse, Rackham. (From: The Pirate Republic Collector's Elite: Black Bart.)