Merchants and Marauders
Feb. 7th, 2014 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfinblazeI had a horrifying realisation a few days ago. It started when the lady at my friendly local game shop recognised me ("I've seen you come in occasionally. Do you play a lot of board games?"). You know you go into a busy shop too often when the owner recognises you. I ended up buying Merchants & Marauders, the most complicated game I've bought so far. The realisation hit me as I was walking home with my purchase: I'm an actual gamer now. I don't even know how this happened.
Merchants & Marauders is long, complex, and has a lot of detailed rules. It's definitely not for beginners. Unlike most of my other games, a non-gamer would never own this particular game. I spent four hours the next day walking myself through it with the rule book in front of me, and it's still going to take some learning to get the hang of. But from what I can tell, it has the potential to become a game I really love.
It's a game where you play the owner of a ship, you get a captain, and the goal is to gain wealth and glory across the Caribbean seas. You can do that through both honest means such as trading (as a merchant), and dishonest means like robbing other ships (as a marauder); it's all up to you. Meanwhile, the Spanish, French, English, and Dutch navies patrol the same seas, as well as two non-player pirate ships you also need to watch out for. With smart trading you can make a nice little profit, or you can just raid other merchants and steal all their stuff. Pirates can play dirty to get ahead, but they also end up with bounties on their heads from whichever nations they offend in the process, so they end up with all the navies of the Caribbean on their tails. And if your ship goes down in a navy battle and your captain drowns, you need to start finding yourself a new ship and captain again. You win when you get 10 "glory" points all up.
If it all sounds a bit like a computer game that's because the board game manages to accomplish all of that, hence all the detailed rules. My first impression was that it juuust verged on needlessly complicated, but not so much that I was going to pass it up. I have enough experience and confidence with board games that I was confident about learning it all after a few games.
So after reading the rules and checking Boardgame Geek, I decided I was ready to try my first game. I resolved to leave out the pirating aspect for the moment and concentrate on just legal trading, learning player movements, and getting used to the unfolding of the game. Three hours later those resolutions had gone out the window and I was left with one pirate captain, me punching the air and cheering out loud in my bedroom, and at least five sore muscles from being hunched over the board so long. It was so worth it.
Before I go into my specific game, here's what I love about Merchants & Marauders in general:
I love how versatile the game is, how much you can do. You can literally do anything you want, break the law, go where you want, explore, commandeer someone else's ship, run a successful business... it's all possible, and the game gives you those options. The only down side is that with all those options comes a very complex game with lots of rules and small pieces, so it's a lot to take in and deal with. Pirates are harder to play successfully, so new players are dissuaded from becoming pirates, and the game is on the longer side (the box says 45 mins per player/ship, but I took three hours with two ships, i.e. 90 mins per ship).
But the design is great. The non-player ships move cleverly to seek out enemies, the markets fluctuate with different ports wanting different supplies throughout the game, the quality is good, and the artwork is beautiful. The rule book could be laid out better, but it's a minor quibble, because you do work things out once you have them in front of you.
For those to whom such things matter, of the sixteen or so captains you can choose from, three are female, two are East Asian, one is native American, and a handful are of African descent. The reason that appealed to me was because it added to the realism of the setting. This really was the Caribbean I was in. The game's setting/theme is so strong - so real - you can almost smell the salt water, hear the waves, and feel the sun on your back. And when something exciting happens, the adrenalin kicks in and you really, really feel it.
I'll give you an example...
In my game I played two ships, and as with all my favourite games, it ended up coming right down to the wire. It was probably the most exciting game I've played in a while.
Thomas Nelson was an English merchant, and Nicolas Jaurés was a French merchant. They both owned small Flutes with plenty of cargo space, and what they lacked, they bought, such as extra cannons and crew, before they both set off to do some business across the Caribbean islands.
Captain Nelson was lucky with some of his early trading, picking up bargains and selling them for profit in nearby ports, leaving Captain Jaurés way behind. Captain Nelson also had a nose for sniffing out rumours in the ports where he landed, leading him to find some cheap ship upgrades and other bonuses. His mistake was leaving his stash of gold at home.
Captain Jaurés liked to keep his gold on him at all times, even knowing it was unwise in the dangerous Caribbean waters, but it came in handy when he landed in St John, in the Virgin Islands, and found he had saved up enough money to sell his Flute and buy a Frigate. Meanwhile Captain Nelson had to go all the way home to Port Royal, Jamaica, in the absolute opposite direction, to retrieve his gold. While he was busy sailing, Captain Jaurés took the chance to attack a Dutch merchant. The merchant never stood a chance, and Captain Jaurés made off with all his gold.
That was how the glory points equalised. Captain Nelson finally retrieved his gold and Captain Jaurés had a Dutch bounty on his head, but he was a very happy pirate now. By the time Captain Nelson made it to St John port, all Captain Jaurés needed to do was stash the rest of his gold back in his home town, Petite Goave, in Haiti. Considering he was only a short hop away, I was certain Captain Jaurés would win the game. The race was on. Who would make it home first? There were four navy ships Captain Jaurés had to avoid, and two pirate ships Captain Nelson had to avoid, not to mention each other. But now they were on the home stretch, racing for home, to be the first to stash their gold.
Captain Nelson had his new ship, but he needed to get all the way to Jamaica to stash his wealth, and Captain Jaurés only needed a single turn to make it home, stash all his gold, and claim the winning glory.
Still, ever the optimist Captain Nelson left St John with his new Frigate, determined to see it through to the bitter end. No sooner had he left port than he got attacked by the non-player pirate Frigate! I thought for sure this was the end of Captain Nelson's fortunes.
But I underestimated what a good captain he was. Thanks to his seamanship and thoughtful cannon upgrades, it turned out that the pirate ship had bitten off more than it could chew. A short sea battle and the pirate ship sank to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. I actually punched the air and cheered when that happened. The authorities were so thankful they rewarded Captain Nelson with fifteen gold pieces for ridding the world of such pirate scum.
Battered, but triumphant, Captain Nelson limped his ship into the Dutch port of Sint Maarten where he could repair what he needed, and where he managed to sell all his cargo for a very nice profit! The money was just flowing in now, but he was still a long way from home.
That's when he remembered the gold courier that operated out of Sint Maarten. For a small fee, the courier would deliver Captain Nelson's gold to Port Royal before Captain Jaurés could even lift anchor. The deal was made, and Captain Nelson claimed ten (actually eleven, but the scale only goes up to ten) glory points in one swoop!
The tables had turned, just like that, and Captain Jaurés was behind again. And then, to make matters worse for Captain Jaurés, the Dutch navy ship moved into the Petite Goave sea zone! Just where Captain Jaurés needed to go. With his Dutch bounty still active!
It looked like it was all over for Captain Jaurés. Captain Nelson had all the glory points, and there was a Dutch ship between Captain Jaurés and his home. But he still had his turn to complete, and stubbornly he set out.
His goal was to sneak through the Petite Goave sea zone without getting spotted by the Dutch Frigate. If he could manage to get by the ship without the captain spotting him, he would be home free.
No such luck.
The Dutch captain was an eagle eyed old sea dog and spotted Captain Jaurés as soon as he got into the sea zone. That set off the second sea battle.
The ships were evenly matched and both captains were skilled. Damage after damage was inflicted on both sides. Captain Jaurés' mast shattered. He lost his entire cargo hold and watched in disbelief as all his cargo sank to the bottom of the ocean. One more hit to the hull and he was done for.
Then the Dutch captain made a mistake. Captain Jaurés never knew what it was, but no shots hit him. He didn't stick around to find out though, and made for his escape.
With no mast and a hull that was more broken than whole, Captain Jaurés made it into Petite Goave port. It was French controlled and the Dutch couldn't follow him there, and because he wasn't wanted by the French navy he was protected there.
Finally Captain Jaurés managed to stash all his gold, all forty gold pieces of it, and claim his ten glory points.
Thus both captains finished in the same turn, through a lot of struggle and creativity.
Captain Nelson had 11 glory points (off the scale, so I'm not sure if that counts), but Captain Jaurés had more gold in his stash.
I thought that was a very fair ending. They both won in their own way and gave me the most exciting game I've played in ages: the honest merchant, and the merchant turned marauder.
At that point my niece knocked on the door to get my attention and I was out of the game, but it was a great ending. I can still hear the cannon fire and smell the smoke of those last two battles. It was exciting enough to leave me bouncing on my bed with joy.
I'm looking forward to learning this game better.
Merchants & Marauders is long, complex, and has a lot of detailed rules. It's definitely not for beginners. Unlike most of my other games, a non-gamer would never own this particular game. I spent four hours the next day walking myself through it with the rule book in front of me, and it's still going to take some learning to get the hang of. But from what I can tell, it has the potential to become a game I really love.
It's a game where you play the owner of a ship, you get a captain, and the goal is to gain wealth and glory across the Caribbean seas. You can do that through both honest means such as trading (as a merchant), and dishonest means like robbing other ships (as a marauder); it's all up to you. Meanwhile, the Spanish, French, English, and Dutch navies patrol the same seas, as well as two non-player pirate ships you also need to watch out for. With smart trading you can make a nice little profit, or you can just raid other merchants and steal all their stuff. Pirates can play dirty to get ahead, but they also end up with bounties on their heads from whichever nations they offend in the process, so they end up with all the navies of the Caribbean on their tails. And if your ship goes down in a navy battle and your captain drowns, you need to start finding yourself a new ship and captain again. You win when you get 10 "glory" points all up.
If it all sounds a bit like a computer game that's because the board game manages to accomplish all of that, hence all the detailed rules. My first impression was that it juuust verged on needlessly complicated, but not so much that I was going to pass it up. I have enough experience and confidence with board games that I was confident about learning it all after a few games.
So after reading the rules and checking Boardgame Geek, I decided I was ready to try my first game. I resolved to leave out the pirating aspect for the moment and concentrate on just legal trading, learning player movements, and getting used to the unfolding of the game. Three hours later those resolutions had gone out the window and I was left with one pirate captain, me punching the air and cheering out loud in my bedroom, and at least five sore muscles from being hunched over the board so long. It was so worth it.
Before I go into my specific game, here's what I love about Merchants & Marauders in general:
I love how versatile the game is, how much you can do. You can literally do anything you want, break the law, go where you want, explore, commandeer someone else's ship, run a successful business... it's all possible, and the game gives you those options. The only down side is that with all those options comes a very complex game with lots of rules and small pieces, so it's a lot to take in and deal with. Pirates are harder to play successfully, so new players are dissuaded from becoming pirates, and the game is on the longer side (the box says 45 mins per player/ship, but I took three hours with two ships, i.e. 90 mins per ship).
But the design is great. The non-player ships move cleverly to seek out enemies, the markets fluctuate with different ports wanting different supplies throughout the game, the quality is good, and the artwork is beautiful. The rule book could be laid out better, but it's a minor quibble, because you do work things out once you have them in front of you.
For those to whom such things matter, of the sixteen or so captains you can choose from, three are female, two are East Asian, one is native American, and a handful are of African descent. The reason that appealed to me was because it added to the realism of the setting. This really was the Caribbean I was in. The game's setting/theme is so strong - so real - you can almost smell the salt water, hear the waves, and feel the sun on your back. And when something exciting happens, the adrenalin kicks in and you really, really feel it.
I'll give you an example...
In my game I played two ships, and as with all my favourite games, it ended up coming right down to the wire. It was probably the most exciting game I've played in a while.
Thomas Nelson was an English merchant, and Nicolas Jaurés was a French merchant. They both owned small Flutes with plenty of cargo space, and what they lacked, they bought, such as extra cannons and crew, before they both set off to do some business across the Caribbean islands.
Captain Nelson was lucky with some of his early trading, picking up bargains and selling them for profit in nearby ports, leaving Captain Jaurés way behind. Captain Nelson also had a nose for sniffing out rumours in the ports where he landed, leading him to find some cheap ship upgrades and other bonuses. His mistake was leaving his stash of gold at home.
Captain Jaurés liked to keep his gold on him at all times, even knowing it was unwise in the dangerous Caribbean waters, but it came in handy when he landed in St John, in the Virgin Islands, and found he had saved up enough money to sell his Flute and buy a Frigate. Meanwhile Captain Nelson had to go all the way home to Port Royal, Jamaica, in the absolute opposite direction, to retrieve his gold. While he was busy sailing, Captain Jaurés took the chance to attack a Dutch merchant. The merchant never stood a chance, and Captain Jaurés made off with all his gold.
That was how the glory points equalised. Captain Nelson finally retrieved his gold and Captain Jaurés had a Dutch bounty on his head, but he was a very happy pirate now. By the time Captain Nelson made it to St John port, all Captain Jaurés needed to do was stash the rest of his gold back in his home town, Petite Goave, in Haiti. Considering he was only a short hop away, I was certain Captain Jaurés would win the game. The race was on. Who would make it home first? There were four navy ships Captain Jaurés had to avoid, and two pirate ships Captain Nelson had to avoid, not to mention each other. But now they were on the home stretch, racing for home, to be the first to stash their gold.
Captain Nelson had his new ship, but he needed to get all the way to Jamaica to stash his wealth, and Captain Jaurés only needed a single turn to make it home, stash all his gold, and claim the winning glory.
Still, ever the optimist Captain Nelson left St John with his new Frigate, determined to see it through to the bitter end. No sooner had he left port than he got attacked by the non-player pirate Frigate! I thought for sure this was the end of Captain Nelson's fortunes.
But I underestimated what a good captain he was. Thanks to his seamanship and thoughtful cannon upgrades, it turned out that the pirate ship had bitten off more than it could chew. A short sea battle and the pirate ship sank to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. I actually punched the air and cheered when that happened. The authorities were so thankful they rewarded Captain Nelson with fifteen gold pieces for ridding the world of such pirate scum.
Battered, but triumphant, Captain Nelson limped his ship into the Dutch port of Sint Maarten where he could repair what he needed, and where he managed to sell all his cargo for a very nice profit! The money was just flowing in now, but he was still a long way from home.
That's when he remembered the gold courier that operated out of Sint Maarten. For a small fee, the courier would deliver Captain Nelson's gold to Port Royal before Captain Jaurés could even lift anchor. The deal was made, and Captain Nelson claimed ten (actually eleven, but the scale only goes up to ten) glory points in one swoop!
The tables had turned, just like that, and Captain Jaurés was behind again. And then, to make matters worse for Captain Jaurés, the Dutch navy ship moved into the Petite Goave sea zone! Just where Captain Jaurés needed to go. With his Dutch bounty still active!
It looked like it was all over for Captain Jaurés. Captain Nelson had all the glory points, and there was a Dutch ship between Captain Jaurés and his home. But he still had his turn to complete, and stubbornly he set out.
His goal was to sneak through the Petite Goave sea zone without getting spotted by the Dutch Frigate. If he could manage to get by the ship without the captain spotting him, he would be home free.
No such luck.
The Dutch captain was an eagle eyed old sea dog and spotted Captain Jaurés as soon as he got into the sea zone. That set off the second sea battle.
The ships were evenly matched and both captains were skilled. Damage after damage was inflicted on both sides. Captain Jaurés' mast shattered. He lost his entire cargo hold and watched in disbelief as all his cargo sank to the bottom of the ocean. One more hit to the hull and he was done for.
Then the Dutch captain made a mistake. Captain Jaurés never knew what it was, but no shots hit him. He didn't stick around to find out though, and made for his escape.
With no mast and a hull that was more broken than whole, Captain Jaurés made it into Petite Goave port. It was French controlled and the Dutch couldn't follow him there, and because he wasn't wanted by the French navy he was protected there.
Finally Captain Jaurés managed to stash all his gold, all forty gold pieces of it, and claim his ten glory points.
Thus both captains finished in the same turn, through a lot of struggle and creativity.
Captain Nelson had 11 glory points (off the scale, so I'm not sure if that counts), but Captain Jaurés had more gold in his stash.
I thought that was a very fair ending. They both won in their own way and gave me the most exciting game I've played in ages: the honest merchant, and the merchant turned marauder.
At that point my niece knocked on the door to get my attention and I was out of the game, but it was a great ending. I can still hear the cannon fire and smell the smoke of those last two battles. It was exciting enough to leave me bouncing on my bed with joy.
I'm looking forward to learning this game better.
