Pursue and Plunder

Avast Ye, Matey! The song has been sung! The Pirate lord has called for a gathering at his stronghold to elect a successor. It could be you. All that is needed is for you to answer the calling and bring your ships and crew to the stronghold. But beware, there are pirates everywhere. And what pirate can resist an easy treasure, even if it is already on your ship? There are merchant ships to raid but be watchful of the Royal Navy. Be the pirate with the most prestige at the end and you are unanimously elected the pirate king. That is the pirate rule. He who has the most gold makes the rules.

Overview: Pursue and Plunder is a strategy game for 2 to 4 players. Each player controls 4 pirate ships in an alcove of 9 islands which each hold various artifacts, items and gold. The players will plunder the islands, establish strongholds and attack merchant ships and each other in order to gain the most prestige. Players also have to avoid the Royal Navy that is patrolling the alcove. The game is played in rounds and at the start of each round each player distributes 7 crew tokens (4 regular crew, 2 drunken sailors, 1 captain) on their game mat secretly behind a player screen. Once all players are ready the screens are removed. Each player then takes 2 actions to move, attack opponents or plunder islands. The success of the actions depend on how the player distributed their crew tokens for the round. Artifact items and experience tokens provide additional flexibility to the actions being performed. At the end of the round, players may upgrade their cannons and sails, establish strongholds, and train crew to improve their chance of success in future rounds. Players are competing to be the first player to earn a set number of prestige points depending on the number of players. Prestige points are earned by finding artifacts, collecting gold, establishing strongholds and defeating merchants and the Royal Navy.