Tides of Infamy Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the Game
• Map Setup
• General Setup
• Map Tiles
• The Game Round
  • I. Harbor Phase
    • Repair Cards
  • II. Movement Phase
    • Normal Ship Movement
    • Special Ship Movement
      • Exploring a New Map Tile
      • Sailing Around the World
      • Moving in and out of Pirate Bay and Harbors
      • Currents
      • Portals
      • Rocks
• Islands, Ports and Cargo
• Pirate Luck Cards
• Battles
  • Shared Battle Rules
    • Armada Effect
  • Method 1 - Scuttle
    • 1. Combat Phase
    • 2. Salvage Phase
  • Method 2 - Red Sky
    • 1. Canon Phase
    • 2. Surrender Phase
    • 3. Boarding Phase
    • 4. Resolution Phase
    • 5. Salvage Phase
• Winning the Game

Components

• 12 Pirate Ships
• 6 Plunder Tokens
• 12 Shadow Trade Tokens
• 12 Treasure Tokens
• 99 Marks of Infamy
• 25 Map Tiles
• 4 Harbor Tiles
• 4 Game Guide Tiles
• 72 Movement Cards
• 62 Battle Cards
• 30 Pirate Luck Cards

Object of the Game

The object of the game is to become the most infamous pirate by collecting Marks of Infamy. Marks of Infamy can be earned by ferrying black market contraband, raiding your opponents' Pirate Ships, exploring the farthest reaches of the ocean, surviving the fickle winds of destiny, and bringing wondrous plunder back to Pirate Bay.

The first player to earn 20 (2 players), 17 (3 players) or 15 (4 players) or 25 (4-player team play) Marks of Infamy goes down in legend as the most infamous pirate of the age, and wins!

Rules for scoring Marks of Infamy are written in bold italics throughout the original manual. Rules applying to Team Play are in italics. Options rules are written in underlined italics.

Map Setup

A different set of Map Tiles will be used depending on the number of players in the game. Set up the deck as follows:

• 2 Players - Remove 1 Pirate Bay, 1 Port, 1 Ocean, 1 Rock and 1 Portal Tile and place them back in the box. They will not be used in this game.
• 3-4 Players - Remove 1 Port, 2 Ocean, 1 Rock and 1 Portal Tile and place them back in the box. They will not be used in this game.

From among the remaining 20 tiles find a Pirate Bay Tile, flip it face-up, shuffle it back into the deck of face-down Map Tiles, and deal the Map Tiles into a 5x4 grid. All tiles except the Pirate Bay will be face-down.

Optionally, you may use all 25 cards in a 5x5 grid for a longer game.

General Setup

1. Give each player 3 ships in their color: a Bilander, a Sloop of War and a Man of War.
2. Each player also receives a Player Aide Tile, and a Harbor tile showing a Harbor and Shipyard on it. All players place their ships in their Harbor.
3. Shuffle the (A) Pirate Luck Deck, (B) Movement Deck, and (C) Battle Deck separately and place them along the board in easy reach of all players.
4. Make separate piles of each of the different tokens and Marks of Infamy.
5. The youngest player goes first, or randomly determine the start player. Give that player the black Lead Player Marker, and to the player to his or her right, the red Last Player Marker. After the Lead Player's turn, play will pass clockwise, and at the end of each round, the Lead Player Marker and Last Player Marker will pass clockwise.
6. You are now ready to begin play.

Map Tiles

Map Tiles may have many features, some of which have game effects and some of which do not. Currents, Ports, Islands, Portals, and Rocks all have game effects that will be described later. Seaweed, sea gulls, fog, mermaids, dolphins, tentacles, giant turtles, and sea serpents have no game effects - but they're fun to look at!

The Game Round

During the Game Round, players will draw movement cards and play them to move each of their seaworthy vessels, possibly discovering new Map Tiles, collecting trade goods or plunder, bringing cargo back to a Pirate Bay to exchange for Marks of Infamy, and engaging in combat with other ships. At the end of the round they will begin repairing damaged ships in their Shipyard and place repaired ships in their Harbors.

The Game Round is divided into three phases:

1. Harbor Phase
2. Movement Phase
3. Repair Phase

Players take turns during each phase taking one action at a time.

I. Harbor Phase

In turn order draw a Movement Card for your ships, excluding ships in Shipyards, as these ships are being repaired and are not yet seaworthy and may not move this turn. Standard Movement Cards show a number at the bottom that tells you how far you may move a ship, while other cards, such as Repair Cards, have text abilities. Some cards have crossbone symbols, which will trigger Pirate Luck Events when they are played, as described later in these rules.

Repair Cards

If you draw a Repair Card, you may use it immediately to repair a ship in your Shipyard. Move the ship to your Harbor and draw another Movement Card. If you don't want to or can't use the Repair Card immediately, you may store the card next to your Harbor and draw another Movement Card. You may only store one Repair Card though, so if you draw a second Repair Card you must either use it immediately, or discard it and draw another Movement Card.

Team mode: You may use Repair Cards to repair a teammate's ship and move it to your teammate's Harbor. You may not store a Repair Card you draw in your teammate's Harbor.

II. Movement Phase

On your turn, select a Movement Card to play. If it is a standard Movement Card that shows a number at the bottom, choose one of your seaworthy ships and move it at least one space and up to the number of spaces shown on the card. If the card shows a crossbones symbol on it you'll also trigger a Pirate Luck Event, which will be described in detail below.

You may only use one standard Movement Card on each ship each round. Besides the standard Movement Cards there are special Movement Cards that allow you move to one of your ships a number of spaces based on the ship's type, and then draw an additional card. If you use the special Movement Card to move one of your ships, play a standard Movement Card on that ship immediately after drawing a new Movement Card. Note that ships in the Shipyard can never move. The maximum number of cards that you may use to move a ship is two per turn, one standard Movement Card and one special Movement Card.

Place the Movement Card(s) under the Harbor space of the ship you moved, to help keep track of which ship you moved. You will not be able to play another Movement Card on that ship until the following Movement Phase.

The Movement Phase ends when all players have finished playing their Movement Cards and any outstanding battles are resolved.

Normal Ship Movement

Ships normally move orthogonally one space for each movement point granted by the Movement Card played. Each Map Tile is divided into nine spaces, and sailing from one Map Tile to the next is a regular move. Your own ships may not enter, share or move through the same space. If you enter the space of an enemy ship, your movement stops and a battle will ensue. Rules for battling are described later on. If you enter a space with tokens in it, you may load them onto your ship. This doesn't stop your movement. When collecting cargo, you may jettison tokens of one kind to replace them with other tokens. Jettisoned tokens are left on the map space you currently occupy, and other ships may collect them later.

Team Mode: Your ship may share a sea space with your teammate's ship without triggering a battle. You are still prohibited from sharing a space with your own ships.

Special Ship Movement

There are several special rules for how ships move:

Exploring a New Map Tile

When a ship sails off the edge of a face-up Map Tile and onto a face-down tile, flip it over to reveal the face-up side. Each Map Tile has a small arrow on the middle space of one of its sides. Rotate the Map Tile so that this edge is adjacent to the edge that the ship sailed in from. The arrow should now be pointing in the same direction the ship is sailing. If the Map Tile has an Island or Port on it, place the matching Plunder Token (eg Emerald, Ruby, Gold, etc.) on the Island as shown on its flag, or place 3 black Shadow Trade Tokens on the Port.

Scoring: One Mark of Infamy is awarded each time one of the final 6 Map Tiles is explored (ie flipped to the face-up side). Once only 6 map tiles remain, you may wish to place a Mark of Infamy on each of those tiles to remember to award the Mark when they are explored.

Sailing Around the World

If you move off the edge of the last Map Tile, re-enter the Map Tile on the opposite side of the board - for example, if you sail off the top of the map, sail into the bottom of the map. You must stay in the same row or column of the Map Tile grid when you do this.

Moving in and out of Pirate Bay and Harbors

You may move a boat out of your Harbor and onto any Pirate Bay on the map. The Pirate Bay is the center space of a Pirate Bay Tile. This is a free movement. When you leave a Pirate Bay the first space you move into may be diagonally adjacent to Pirate Bay. You may also enter Pirate Bay from a diagonally adjacent space. This is the only place in the game where diagonal movement is permitted.

You may only move your boat back into a Pirate Bay when your ship is carrying cargo. When you move a ship from a sea space onto any Pirate Bay immediately place it in your Harbor for free. You may not occupy a Pirate Bay or battle in a Pirate Bay.

Scoring: When entering a Pirate Bay, exchange your cargo for Marks of Infamy. See below under "Islands, Ports and Cargo" for the values of different kinds of cargo.

Currents

Powerful currents are found next to every Island, Port and Portal. Ships launching off of Islands, Ports and Portals must follow the Current and make their first move into a space that one of the Currents is pointing to. Ships may not launch into spaces that do not have Currents pointing at them.

Portals

Accursed sirens and sea hags work mysterious magic to create mystical Portals. A ship entering a Portal can emerge from another portal, perhaps thousands of miles off her original course! A cunning sea captain may be able to take advantage of these eldritch gateways to speed ship and crew to other potentially profitable locations.

When your ship enters a space with a Portal, you must move the ship to another Portal of your choice. This is a free movement. If no other Portals have been revealed, ignore this effect.

Rocks

Spaces containing rocks may not be intentionally entered or crossed. A space is considered to contain rocks if an entire rock is in the space. Spaces that have only part of a rock on them are not considered Rock spaces. Note also that Islands and ports, which may appear to be rocky, are not considered Rock spaces for the purposes of these rules. If your ship accidentally strikes a Rock space when exploring a new Map Tile, move the ship to your Harbor. If the ship was carrying any tokens, place them on the space that the ship was on prior to hitting the Rocks.

Islands, Ports and Cargo

When you land your ship on an island, take that island's Plunder token and place it on your ship's mast. Note that there is only one Plunder token for each island, and once it is taken, no other ships can plunder the island. Players landing on a port take that port's 3 Shadow Trade tokens and place them on their ship's mast. Landing on an Island or Port does not stop your ship's movement. Each ship has a different carrying capacity. A Sloop of War can carry 2 tokens, a Bilander can carry 4 tokens and a Man of War can carry 6 tokens. If you discover more cargo than your ship can hold, choose which tokens to keep and which tokens to leave behind on the space your ship currently occupies.

Cargo can be traded in for Marks of Infamy at any Pirate Bay. The value of the different Plunder Tokens is listed on the table below:

Token Type	# of Marks Awarded
Emerald (Green)	3
Diamond (White)	3
Sapphire (Blue)	3
Ruby (Red)	2
Gold (Gold)	2
Silver (Silver)	1
Treasure Chest (Brown)	1
Shadow Trade (Black)	1 or 2*

*After the last tile is explored, Shadow Trade tokens are worth 2 Marks of Infamy.

Pirate Luck Cards

Any time after the first round of the game, if you play a Movement Card with the crossbones symbol on it, a Pirate Luck Event will trigger.

To resolve a Pirate Luck Event, select a Map Tile with at least one opponent ship on it. Each of your opponents with one or more ships on that tile receives a Pirate Luck Card, face down, for each ship they have on the Map Tile. If the player receiving the Pirate Luck Card(s) has more than one ship on the chosen Map Tile, he or she decides which of their ships the card will apply to before the card is revealed. In turn order, each player decides if they want to avoid the Pirate Luck Card, or tempt fate. To avoid the Pirate Luck Card, a player must throw overboard a cargo Token to appease the gods of the seas, and then place the Pirate Luck Card face-down at the bottom of the Pirate Luck Deck. If your opponent throws a cargo Token overboard, take the Token and reassign it as follows: place Plunder Tokens on the Island of your choice, Shadow Trade Tokens on the Port of your choice, and Treasure Chest Tokens on either an Island or Port of your choice.

Players who choose not to avoid the Pirate Luck Card and tempt fate instead now turn the card over, read it, and apply its effects. Pirate Luck Cards are kept by the player they target.

Scoring: For each Pirate Luck Card past the first that you have face-up, receive a Mark of Infamy. Do not receive a Mark in a 2-player game, or if it's the last Mark you need in order to win the game.

Face-up Pirate Luck Cards may be spent to repair a ship in your Shipyard or exchanged for an additional Battle Card while engaged in battle.

Optional (Hardcore) Rules: A Pirate Luck Card that sinks your ship sends it to your Shipyard instead of your Harbor. One Repair Card or Two Pirate Luck Cards are required to repair one ship.

Battles

When a ship enters the same space as an enemy ship, a battle is triggered which will be resolved after the player holding the red Last Player Token takes his or her next turn in the Movement Phase. Battles are resolved in the order in which they were triggered. Use one of the numbered markers to properly order battles if necessary. Ships engaged in a battle may not move until that battle is resolved. Each player may have at most one ship in any given battle, and multiple players may all participate in one battle by moving their ship into a contested space. Ships in a contested space may not move out of that space until after the battle. Any Movement Cards played on them or affecting them will only trigger following the battle's resolution, in turn order.

Ships fight by playing Battle Cards and comparing the results based on the values and suits of those cards. Cards range in value from 1-6 in five different suits: Fire, Cannon, Flintlock, Cutlass, and Grog. There are also two Sea Dragon cards that have special rules depending on which Battle Method you choose.

There are two methods for resolving battles, Scuttle and Red Sky. Scuttle is recommended for younger children, while older children and adults are encouraged to use Red Sky.

IMPORTANT: Choose a Battle Method to use for the entire game before you begin play!

Shared Battle Rules

No matter which method you choose, start by dealing Battle Cards to each player participating in the battle, based on the type of ship they have, and whether they are the attacker. Every ship that enters an occupied space is considered an attacker, and the original ship occupying the space is the defender. If the Battle Deck is exhausted at any time, simply shuffle the discards and create a new Battle Deck.

Ship	Attacker	Defender
Man of War	7 cards	7 cards
Sloop of War	6 cards	5 cards
Bilander	5 cards	6 cards

Team mode: The team that first entered an occupied space is the attacker, and both team members are considered attackers. The defender's teammate is also considered a defender, even if that ship entered the space as the third or fourth ship in.

Armada Effect

Each defending player with another ship on the Map Tile in which the battle occurs draws two additional battle cards.

Team Mode: Your teammate's ship counts for Armada Effect for both you and your teammate, so even if only one additional ship is present on the Map Tile, both you and your teammate will draw an extra 2 Battle Cards. Note that your teammate's ship in the contested space itself, that is also participating in the battle, doesn't provide the Armada Effect benefit.

Method 1 - Scuttle

1. Combat Phase

All participating players select and simultaneously reveal a Battle Card, and the player with the highest value wins the round. The Sea Dragon card is the highest card. If two or more players are tied, the tied players draw and play an additional card from the top of the Battle Deck to break the tie. Repeat until there is a winner. Play additional rounds until one player has won three rounds of combat.

Team Mode: Compare the highest card played by each team to determine which team won each round. Players may not discuss which cards they intend to play before playing them. The team that wins three rounds first is the winning team.

2. Salvage Phase

Remove all cargo tokens from the losing ships, place them in the battle space, and add a Mark of Infamy for every losing ship to that space. Move losing ships based on the chart below:

Ship	Destination
Attacker	Place in owner's Shipyard, keeled over
Defender	Place in owner's Harbor

Ships that move to the Shipyard will be out of action for a turn unless repaired sooner using a Repair Card or discarding a Pirate Luck card.

The winning ship collects as many of the cargo Tokens of the losing ships as it can hold. The remaining tokens stay in the battle space.

Scoring: The winning player also collects all the Marks of Infamy in the battle space, which should be equal to all the ships that were defeated or surrendered. Finally, the winning ship may choose to move to an adjacent unoccupied space.

Team Rules:

• The winner does not collect Marks of Infamy that were added to the battle space by his or her teammate's surrender or loss.
• If teammates both participated in a battle and won, both ships are considered winning ships, and the players may divvy up the cargo between their ships however they wish.
• Teammates collect Marks of Infamy together into a shared pool.

Method 2 - Red Sky

1. Canon Phase

After dealing cards to the participating players, deal one card, face-up, to the table, to be used as a shared community card among all players. Each player then has the option to place one OR two Battle Cards face down in front of them, and then draw an equal number of Battle Cards. Starting with the attacker and proceeding clockwise, each player plays two cards face-up. Though Sea Dragon Battle Cards are normally a wildcard that can take any value, if a Sea Dragon Battle Card was played by a player in the first round of combat, all ships in the battle sink, and all players are considered defenders who lost the battle to the Sea Dragon. Go immediately to 5: Salvage Phase, later in this section. If no Sea Dragon Battle Cards were played this round, each player, in order, decides whether to surrender or continue the battle.

Optional (Hardcore) Rules: Players losing to the Sea Dragon Battle Cards played in the first round are considered attackers, and their ships will go to the Shipyard for repairs, instead of the Harbor.

2. Surrender Phase

When surrendering, remove any cargo on your ship, leave it in the battle space, and move your ship one space in any direction to an unoccupied legal space. If there is no such space, you may not surrender. Add a Mark of Infamy to the battle space, where it will be collected by the winner of the battle.

3. Boarding Phase

After all surrendering players have retreated, if more than one player remains in the battle, the battle continues. Starting with the attacker and proceeding clockwise, each player plays another two cards, face-up.

4. Resolution Phase

Each player makes the best hand they can out of the four cards they have played and the one community card on the table. The player with the highest-ranking hand is the victor. Sea Dragon Battle Cards are wild and can take any value. Note that if players have the same hand names, break ties based on the highest ranking cards in the set that makes the hand. For example, if two players have a Full House, break the tie in favor of whomever has the higher-ranked three-of-a-kind. If still tied, break the tie in favor of whomever has the highest-ranked pair. The table below ranks the hands from best to worst:

Hand Description and Rank	Hand Name
All-Weapons Five-of-a-Kind (all cards are of different suits)	Red Sky
Straight Flush (all cards share a suit and are sequential)	Keel Haul
Five of a Kind	Five Pounders
Flush (all cards share a suit)	No Quarter
Four of a kind	Four Pounders
Full House (three-of-kind and a two-of-a-kind)	Crushing Blow
Straight (all cards are sequential)	Grape Shot
Three-of-a-kind	Three Pounders
Two Pairs	Chain Shot
One Pair	Cutlass
High Card	Stink Pot

If players are still tied, the win goes to the first attacker or, if the first attacker was defeated, the second attacker and then third attacker will win.

Team Play: You may use one of your teammate's Battle Cards as though it was part of your hand when constructing your best possible 5-card hand. You and your teammate may both use that shared card. If you do, ignore one of the cards you have played.

5. Salvage Phase

Once all but one player has surrendered, or the Resolution Phase is complete, the Salvage phase begins. Remove all cargo from the losing ships, place them in the battle space, and add a Mark of Infamy for every losing ship to that space. Move losing ships based on the chart below:

Ship	Destination
Attacker	Place in owner's Shipyard, keeled over
Defender	Place in owner's Harbor

Ships that move to the Shipyard will be out of action for a turn unless repaired sooner using a Repair Card or discarding a Pirate Luck card.

The winning ship collects as many of the cargo Tokens of the losing ships as it can hold.

Scoring: The winning player also collects all the Marks of Infamy in the battle space, which should be equal to all the opponents' ships that were defeated or surrendered. Finally, if the defending ship did not surrender and the attacking ship wins, the attacking ship may choose to move to an adjacent unoccupied space.

Team Rules:

• The winner does not collect Marks of Infamy that were added to the battle space by his or her teammate's surrender or loss. Those Marks are returned to the supply.
• Only players with a worse hand than at least one opponent are considered losers for the purpose of the Salvage Phase. If two teammates are both winners they may divvy up the cargo between their ships however they wish. The player with the highest ranked hand has the final say over the division of loot.
• Teammates collect Marks of Infamy together into a shared pool.

III. Repair Phase

Once all Movement Cards have been used and all combats have been resolved the Repair Phase begins. In turn order, decide whether to spend a Repair card or Pirate Luck card to repair any keeled-over ships in your shipyard and turn them keel-up. Then, take any ships in your Shipyard that are keel-up and move them to your Harbor. Take any ships that are keel-down in your Shipyard and put them keel-up. They will remain in your Shipyard all of the next turn before being seaworthy again.

Both Lead and Last Player Markers pass to the left. You're ready to begin the next round.

Team Rules: You may use your Repair or Pirate Luck cards to repair a teammate's ship.

Winning the Game

The first player to collect 20 (2 players), 17 (3 players), 15 (4 players) or 25 (4 players - team play) Marks of Infamy is declared champion of the seas and goes down in legend as the most infamous pirate of the ages.