Really cool and very unique with the way the faction acts. So it looks like the faction cannot recruit outside Arrive and Parlay. So you start with 15 warriors and these get kind of whittled down until your ship is destroyed? Then a new ship arrives (and the woodland sighs "Here we go again!"). It seems to me there is a point where the faction might be nearly wiped and can't recover unless the ship is destroyed? Did you find that when playtesting? Also bribing seems like it would happen rarely as you are losing a point and giving someone else a point. Do i have that right?
Viewing post in Pirates of the Black Gulleon jam comments
Yep, you got both rules right! In an ideal scenario, the Pirates are able to arrive in the Woodland with a big force, gather some loot, put it on the ship, and then sail off the edge of the map to secure their stolen treasure. They could get hampered by heavy losses in battle, but the warriors that stay on the ship for your Daylight actions are never "in" the clearing (i.e. they wouldn't be removed in battle) and should be able to sail the ship to safety (and reinforcements). I haven't had them fail in play testing, but I'd be curious what a new player tried to do with them.
As for Bribing, you do give someone 1 of your points. My hope was that factions would do it to take advantage of the rule (e.g. maybe the Eyrie doesn't rule a clearing to Build, but they can pay off another faction to let them continue their Decree). Plus, the token doesn't ever go away, which just means there's a "floating" point available to take back on another turn. It's definitely a player-dependent mechanic that I'll want to work on with other people at the table.