I don’t know about you gals and guys, but I’m a real sucker for anything pirate-themed. Movie, book, videogame, board game, stick a few rogue captains and their crew of cutthroat scallywags in it and I’m there, cheap and tatty headscarf and plastic cutlass at the ready.
What we have here, then, is a crew-building, swashbuckling, treasure hunting pirate board game, prepped for one to four players, at around 20 minutes or so per player.
Many moons ago, a mighty Spanish ship, The San Miguel, was barrelled up with precious metals and stones. To escape pirates hot on their trail, the crew ventured into the perilous Infinity Storm and were never to be seen again.
Since that fateful day, Pirate Captains from every port in the Seven Seas have flocked to these waters in search of the fabled lost treasure. Become one of these mighty captains, assemble a hearty crew, outfit your ship, and begin your search for treasure. Aye, but with so many greedy scallywags about, you must be prepared for anything as these ROGUE SEAS are not to be reckoned with!
Players get to choose from six of the most legendary captains from the heyday of late seventeenth century piracy. You wanna be Blackbeard? Who doesn’t? Anne Bonny’s here and so’s Jack Rackham, and each has their own special abilities to give your strategy a cutlass’s edge. Your aim? Become the greatest scourge of the seas and collect all that treasure before your opponents can get their grubby hooks on it.
To further your aims there are several ports dotted across the ocean, where you can upgrade your ship with heavy cannons and faster sails, and recruit better crew members who can give vital bonuses to your dice rolls. Take on merchant ships to gain gold and notoriety (you ain’t nothin’ on these seas if you ain’t got a foul rep)
Even better, you can take on one of the legendary monsters - such as the kraken - for a chance to seize a prized treasure map… although you’d best be prepared for a tough fight. Those tentacles won’t relinquish those rewards easily.
Whether you plunder enemy ships for loot, scour islands for buried treasure, or hunt monsters, you’re going to want those treasure maps because they’re your only hope of finding the riches hidden on Treasure Island. Even with the maps, you’ll need the best crew and the finest ship, because the island is hidden behind one final terror, the Infinity Storm…
Plenty to keep an errant pirate captain busy, then. And you know what? I reckon this one’s goin’ to be gaarrr-rand.
Take a quick voyage to their website and sign up so that you’re first to know when the crowdfunding campaign launches: https://playrogueseas.com