Glory Point! When a rumor is found to be true and its effect has been resolved, you get a Glory Point and therefore also a Glory Card. Note that most of the combat related ship modifications do not have an effect during Merchant Raids. They are mainly used for the elaborate Player vs. Player or NPC battles.

Randomly place one Demand Token face up in each Sea-Zone. Place the tokens on one of the two square areas close to each port. The remaining 8 Demand Tokens are put in a pile face down (or in a cup) next to the Game Board for later use. Note that the 'Caribbean Sea' Sea-Zone does not get a Demand Token as there is no port there. Merchants and Marauders is an incredible open-world adventure. Every game feels unique. The core rules are straight-forward, but there are some intricacies that might put off anyone looking for a simple game. The multiple ways to win are all great, and all have their own difficulties. The game has a large element of PvP, that rewards the bold and can be an issue for any players who don’t want that element to the game, but those who don’t mind will have an incredible experience and plenty of stories to tell. Get This Game If: But if you persevere… oh my God, you should persevere. This game is so rich and varied in scope and wish-fulfilment that Mrs Meeple and I still haven’t even begun to drain it of its variety. I’ve even played it solo, and still never managed to get around to claiming and completing a mission. I’ve never managed to capture a Man O War and turn it into my flagship. I’ve yet to beat the game by reaching the required number of glory points before the time runs out. I think I could play this another ten times before I stopped having new things I could do. It’s more than just a game, it’s a gloriously evocative pirate sandbox and it leaves it entirely up to you to decide how you’re going to play in it.

A Pirate’s Life for Me

When a player ship with Ship Modifications is sunk, sold or discarded, the player owning the ship must immediately distribute the Ship Modification tokens. They are placed randomly, and face down in any port of his or her choosing, currently without Ship Modification tokens.

Once all of that is done, we can place the ship type we chose into our home port. Each player is going to have their own ship, their own colour, and their own player board. From this point on, the adventure begins and we can really throw ourselves into the drama and excitement of a life on the ocean waves. Even though you’re free to take whatever path you’d want to, the starting captain has certain skills that make them better for piracy or trading. With that in mind, you can select your starting ship — flute for transporting cargo, or sloop for maneuverability. Non-Player CaptainsFirst-time players will struggle with Merchants & Marauders, partially because of the complexity of the game, and because of how long the game session will take. Expecting someone to be attentive for four or five hours is unreasonable, which is why this game will take several playthroughs to figure out. The only time you are required to let the other players see how much Gold you have stashed is when you declare that you have 10 Glory Points. When you are in your home port you may freely spend Gold from your stash or move it onto your ship. The game board is massive and takes a lot of room on the table, but is otherwise fairly clutter-free. The text written underneath locations is important, so such a big board isn’t a bad idea, as it allows the players to position comfortably so that nobody has an upside-down view of the board. Having sailed into port for an action, Juarez then takes his second action – a port action. This is… an involved process, involving any or all of the following: The relatively high complexity of the game stems from the amount of information new players need to take in. Once the initial hurdle of learning all the mechanics has been surpassed, Merchants & Marauders will become more accessible.