Thanks for the feedback. It's true - that the game is a bit mechanically complex. My intention for the sailing phase of the battle was meant to be more of a game of wits - trying to decide if your opponent was going to try and outsail you to max out damage or grapple quickly. You might not play all cards depending on tactics... for example, you may hold onto a Carpenter card to reduce damage in a proceeding round - or build enough sails over 2-or-3 rounds to make sure your cannons hit. This decision was meant to be important as a played card wouldn't come back into play until the draw deck was empty, and the discard pile shuffled back into the draw deck. The other idea was to balance risk and reward; taking on a stronger ship for greater reward, but would require you to deal cannon damage to even the crew-to-crew fight. The prototype is a bit broken for now, or at least unbalanced with the prefixed deck. I'll certainly be releasing this game fully working. Oh... lots of hearts you say... ha, I did notice too late that there is a bug in the Musician card that ends up adding 20 hearts for free - which certainly broke the balance of rum and hearts lol.