itch.io

Thanks for the feedback!

1.  Correct, the ship can't turn back and eventually needs to leave the map.  I was trying to force the ship to more through the map instead of just showing up, turning around and leaving (plus, how easy is it to turn around a pirate ship in a river?).  I thought I had looked at all the maps, but realizing now that the Mountain and Gorge maps only require 3 movement to leave.  You are right that "Helm" and "Main Sails" are essentially redundant; I might look at changing one of those actions, or removing one altogether.

2.  I like the idea of the ship being a pawn.  It hadn't crossed my mind when I was designing, but it would certainly stand out better on the map.  The only hangup was that I did intend the ship to be considered defenceless if there weren't Pirates in the clearing itself.  If all the Pirates are in the Crew's Quarters, they aren't prepared to defend the ship.  

3.  It's all good; I took some big swings with some aspects of this faction, and I might need to review how it's presented on the board.  Hopefully the following helps clear up some of the basics:

Warriors: Yes, you have that correct: warriors can be moved between the Crew's Quarters and the map (similar to the Duchy's Burrow).  When the ship arrives in the Woodland, it's carrying a bunch of Pirates that can either be used to trigger actions (on the Upper Deck, in Daylight) OR moved to the map to rule/move/battle etc.  You don't have a true Recruit action, so what you start with is all you get.  

Points: Unfortunately, this was a mechanic I was cooking up that doesn't really fit on the board (you'll see why in a minute).  It's explained in more detail in my Law of Root, but I didn't get that finished before the deadline.  It's posted on Discord if you want to take a look, but I'll try to summarize it here:

When playing with the Pirates, a new mechanic is introduced for the whole table: loot tokens.  On any player's turn, they can "convert" one of their Victory Points into a loot token and give it to the faction that rules a clearing (giving loses one point, receiving gains one point).  In exchange, the giving faction gets to act as if they rule that clearing for the rest of the turn.  You're essentially bribing the rulers to let you do what you want on your turn.  The loot token remains on the map (tucked underneath a warrior to show who it belongs to) and can be moved, battled, removed, or given in a future bribe.   If a faction loses all of their warriors in a clearing but still has loot tokens on the board, those are transferred to the attacking player.

The Pirates can also generate loot using two actions:

- "Plunder" (in Daylight): spend a card, create a loot token, and gain a point (need to fix that last bit on the board).  This is supposed to be the Pirates extorting the denizens of the Woodland directly, instead of the other factions.

- "Parlay"  (in Evening): In each clearing they rule, the Pirates choose one faction with pieces there and make a demand: give me [a warrior, two cards from hand, or a crafted card] or a loot token.  The generation of loot is very dependent on other players, but I hope that the tradeoff makes people think twice.

 The goal of the Pirates is to come to the Woodland, gather this loot, throw it in their Cargo Hold, and sail back to wherever they came from.  Because they are so dependent on the volatile loot tokens for scoring, they need to be able to sail off the map to secure their score.  Otherwise, they accumulate a bunch of wealth and become a target for the other factions.

Sorry for the long response, but you asked some good questions!  Let me know if there's anything else I can clear up.