Learn the Core Rules, then make the game your own!
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Optional Rules
Submit a House Rule
Optional Rules
Optional Rules We Suggest For More Intricate Play
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Core Rules
Articles of War: Privateer
It is the age of sail. Distant empires, hungry for the wealth and resources of the New World, have bankrolled colonies on these distant shores to avail themselves of a land full of precious things and send those treasures home. Now, as ancient grudges and rivalries reignite, piracy and privateering are expanding from single-ship engagement into small flotillas commanded by young commodores. Their goal: take the seas back for their home nations, and perhaps win more than a little gold in the process…
GAME COMPONENTS
1 Game Board
6 Sail Dice (4-sided, numbered 2-4)
5 Cannonball Dice (20-sided, numbered 1-5)
3 Ships for each faction (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Gray, and Black)
1 White Merchant Ship
12 Terrain Tiles
30 Gold Doubloons
6 Commodore Cards
1 Rolling Barrel
OBJECTIVE
A typical game of privateer takes 20-30 minutes. The objective of the game is simple: be the player with the most gold when the battle ends!
SETUP
Each battle begins with the ocean section of the game board empty. Ship pieces should be in the shipyard section of the board, doubloon pieces in the treasure section, and all eleven dice should be in the map section.
Each player draws a random Commodore Card which assigns them a color for their fleet, a special gambit (see “Commodore Gambits” below) and a turn order number. The player who has the lowest turn order number (the number in the corner of their Commodore card) will go first. Play then proceeds to the first player’s left.
Execute the following steps in order:
1) Each player takes 2 gold doubloons from the treasure space of the game board
2) Place the neutral merchant in the center hex of the ocean (the diamond hex)
3) Each player, in turn order, selects one of the six starting hexes (the circle hexes) and places one ship of their color in that hex, and another ship of their color in a hex adjacent to the starting hex.
4) Each player, in turn order, MAY spend two gold doubloons to place a third ship of their color in an empty hex adjacent to their starting hex. If they do not purchase a third ship, they keep the doubloons for their final score.
5) The last player (in turn order) selects how dense they want the terrain to be and places a number of terrain tokens into the Barrel. For a low level of terrain, use 2 of each type of terrain tile. For a moderate level, use 3 of each type. For an absurd level, use 4 of each type. In general, games are shorter with less terrain.
6) Each player, in turn order, randomly draws a terrain token out of the barrel and places it in an empty hex on the ocean zone. This is repeated until all tokens are placed. Observe the following limitations:
a) Terrain tiles MAY NOT be placed adjacent to any enemy ship (including the neutral merchant.)
b) Terrain tiles MAY be placed adjacent to other terrain tiles or adjacent to ships of the placing player’s own color, if desired.
Once setup is completed, play begins in the same turn order as setup. Play proceeds clockwise until only one player has ships remaining on the ocean zone. That player receives an additional gold doubloon for “winning the day” and all players then total up their doubloons. The player with the most is the victor!
YOUR TURN
Begin each turn by taking two dice for each ship of your color currently in the ocean. Place these dice into the Barrel and roll them all together. Then spend the dice, one at a time, to make your ships do different things. There are two limiting rules:
1) Two dice must be spent on each ship.
2) Of the two dice spent on each ship, at least one must be a sail.
You may spend the dice in any order you wish; just set them back into the dice section of the game board as they are used to keep track of which dice are left. If for any reason you are unable to spend all of your dice (a boarding action gone wrong, or a wreck on a reef, for example) any unused dice that would have been spent on the lost ship(s) are forfeited at the end of your turn.
Example: The Green Player has 3 ships on the board, so she will get 6 dice to roll and spend on those ships. At least three of the six dice must be sails because Green knows that she must spend at least one sail on each ship. After studying the board, Green elects to roll 4 sail dice and 2 cannonball dice. Exactly which dice she will spend on which ship is not decided yet.
The Green Player now puts all six dice into a barrel cup and rolls them, getting four different sail results and two cannonball results. She now spends those dice on whichever of her ships and in whichever order she likes, so long as each ship gets 2 dice and each ship gets at least one sail.
SAILING
Spending a sail die moves a ship in a straight line, exactly the number of spaces indicated on the die. The ship must move the full number of spaces indicated; it may not voluntarily move less than the number on the die. The ship may move through hexes containing ships of its same color, but it may not execute a move that would leave two ships of the same color in the same hex.
Two sail dice may be spent on ships during the same turn if desired. Each die is spent separately and can be used to move the ship in two different directions or in the same direction twice. A ship cannot spend the second die to move in the direct opposite direction of the first.
If a ship moves off the edge of the map, it has fled the battle and is out of play (with no gold awarded to anyone). Return such a ship to the shipyard. If a ship attempts to cross or end its movement on a terrain hex, there can be several different effects: see the “Terrain” section below. If a ship attempts to pass through or end its move on a hex containing an enemy ship, the result is a Boarding Action (see Boarding Actions section.)
Red ships are positioned at A and B. If a sail-3 die is spent on the ship at A, it may move to any of the spaces marked C. It may not move into hex B; allied ships cannot share a hex. It also cannot move through the volcano hex
A red ship is positioned at A. A sail-4 die is spent on the ship, moving it to the space marked B. From there a sail-3 dice is spent, allowingthe ship to move to any one of the spaces marked C. Not that it cannot move directly opposite to its first move, nor can it move through thedesert island hex.
FIRING CANNONS
Spending a cannonball die on a ship attacks a single hex at the specific distance indicated on the die. The target hex must be in a straight line from the attacking ship. If an enemy ship is located in the target hex, it will sink and be removed from play (only a single hit is necessary to sink a ship.) A sunken ship is immediately moved back to the shipyard and a gold doubloon is awarded to the attacker from the treasure section of the board.
Bear in mind, when spending a cannonball dice the only hex affected is the one at EXACTLY the distance specified. If a die shows a 4 and an enemy ship is 3 hexes away, the cannonballs will fly over the target and do no damage.
Under no circumstances may two cannonball dice be spent on the same ship in the same turn (See Rule 2 under the Your Turn section). To use guns successfully, players will need to combine both maneuvering and gunnery to get their ships into exactly the right angle and distance to send enemy ships to the deep!
A green ship is positioned at A. If a cannonball-3 die is spent on the green ship, it may sink an enemy in any one of the spaces marked D.
The enemy in hex B is too close to be hit, and the enemy at hex C is protected by the volcanic island.
A green ship is positioned at A and its owner has a sail-3 and cannonball-4 dice to spend on it. If the cannonball die is spent first, the greenship can sink the yellow ship marked C. If the green ship moves to the hex marked B before firing, it can fire on either the red ship at D orthe gray ship at E instead.
BOARDING ACTIONS
As an alternative to sinking enemy ships with guns, a ship may attempt to seize an enemy vessel via boarding. Boarding is automatically attempted whenever a ship moves into or through a hex containing an enemy ship. Note that this is an exception to the normal rules for sailing dice: a ship attempting to move through a space with an enemy ship will stop short of the full value of the sail die.
The boarding ship is placed into the hex with the enemy ship and the players involved each roll a single cannonball die. Whichever player rolls higher succeeds in capturing the other’s ship; in the case of a tie, re-roll until the tie is broken.
The victor has two options of what to do with the captured ship:
1) They may immediately scuttle (sink) the captured enemy ship, removing it to the shipyard zone of the board and earning one gold—just as if it had been sunk with cannons. The victor’s ship remains in the hex where the boarding action took place.
2) If the victor has less than three ships in the sea zone, they may take control of the captured ship. The enemy ship piece is returned to the shipyard zone, and a ship piece of the victor’s color is placed in an empty hex adjacent to the winning ship. The victor does not receive gold for this action, but may use the new ship on subsequent turns. If a ship initiates a boarding action with its first die, it may still spend a second die after the boarding action is resolved. No dice may be spent on newly captured ships until the following turn, however.
TERRAIN
Although the seas are mostly clear, there are still three types of obstacle players must concern themselves with. These terrain hexes are placed by the players before the battle begins and can affect both ship movement and the line-of-sight for cannons.
Volcanic Island: A ship may not fire on any hexes on the opposite side of a volcanic island. If a ship attempts to move into or through a hex with a volcanic island, it is dashed to splinters; immediately remove the ship to the shipyard without awarding gold to anyone.
Desert Island: A ship may fire over desert islands to strike hexes on the opposite side, but if a ship attempts to move into or through a hex containing a desert island it is beached. Immediately remove the beached ship to the shipyard without awarding gold to anyone.
Reef: A ship may fire over or into reefs, but if a ship attempts to move into or through a reef it may be destroyed. If a ship moves into or through a reef hex, the owner must immediately roll a cannonball die. If the owner rolls a 1, the ship’s hull is breached; immediately remove the ship to the shipyard without awarding gold to anyone. If the owner rolls anything other than a 1, the ship proceeds safely. A ship that begins its turn in a reef hex need not roll; it rolled for safely navigating the reef on its previous turn.
THE MERCHANT
Each battle begins with a merchant ship at anchor directly between the players, her hold packed with spices and other treasures of the new world, just waiting to be seized in the chaos of battle. The first player to execute a boarding action on the merchant automatically succeeds with no dice roll necessary.
The player who seizes the merchant ship may choose to scuttle it or press it into service as their own vessel, exactly as specified in the Boarding Action rules, above.
In order to deny the merchant ship to other players, it is possible to sink it with guns. However, the players do not have a letter of marque and reprisal for the merchant, so no gold is awarded to a player for gunning down the merchant. Simply remove the merchant ship to the shipyard and pity her poor crew....
COMMODORE GAMBITS
Each commodore card details a special ability called a “gambit” that the controlling player may use ONCE per game to alter the normal rules of play in the player’s favor. The text on the card details when the gambit is used, what effect it has, and describes any limitations.
Once a player has used a gambit, the commodore card should be turned face down or upside down as a reminder to all players that it is no longer available for use.
PLAYER COURTESY
It can be tempting to notify other players when you see a good combination of dice for a successful play. Players may prefer pledging silence during the dice spending process; part of the fun of a game of Privateer can be discovering dice combinations yourself, and watching your opponent overlook such combinations without input from others.
Optional Rules
After a few games of Articles of War: Privateer, players may be interested in spicing up the game with some optional rules. We suggest the following advanced rules for your gaming enjoyment—at least until you start playing around with your own house rules.
DESPERATION DICE
This rule is designed to give some extra flexibility to a player’s fleet once it has been reduced to its last vessel. It also helps speed a game to its conclusion once the number of ships left in play starts to drop off.
When a player has only one ship of their color left in the ocean, they select and roll three dice instead of two. There are three legal Desperation Dice sets:
The player must still spend the dice they roll in compliance with the two rules in the “Your Turn” section of the basic rules. In effect, the lone ship will have more options for dice to spend, but it will still be limited to using only two of the three dice rolled and it must still spend at least one sail dice.
ADVANCED 2 PLAYER GAME: THE DUEL
Articles of War: Privateer can be played by 2 players following the rules in the basic game, with each player controlling a single fleet of a single color. However, a more interesting option is detailed here.
Each player draws two commodore cards rather than one; they will control two different-colored fleets. Play order alternates between the players and their fleets as follows:
1) The player with the lowest numbered commodore will go first, using the ships of that commodore’s color
2) The opposing player will go next, using the fleet matching their lowest numbered commodore
3) The first player’s remaining fleet goes next
4) The second player’s remaining fleet goes last
Setup proceeds as normal with the following exceptions:
1) Ignore step 1. Neither player receives starting doubloons in The Duel
2) Ignore step 4. Instead, each player, in turn order MUST choose one of their two fleets to supplement with a third ship. Their second fleet will be left with two ships.
Gameplay proceeds in the same order as setup, ending when one player has lost all of the ships from both of their fleets. Award a single extra doubloon to the remaining player for “winning the day” in the same manner as the basic game.
CAMPAIGN GAME
A significant amount of diplomacy (and drama!) can be added to Articles of War: Privateer by playing a series of battles and carrying over any gold won from one battle to the next. This is referred to as a Campaign Game and is described here.
When playing a campaign, players must first agree in advance on the number of battles that will be played. The first battle will play out just as a normal game, including each player drawing a random Commodore Card to assign them a fleet color and establish turn order. The gold won by each player is retained for the next battle in the sequence.
Subsequent battles have the following changes:
1) Players do not draw a new Commodore Card during setup. Turn order in game two begins with the player who has the second lowest number on their commodore card, with play proceeding to that player’s left. Turn order in game three begins with the player who has the third lowest number, and so on.
2) Setup step 1 is skipped on every game after the first. Players only receive the 2 “free” doubloons in the first game of the campaign.
3) Regardless of the outcomes of previous battles, each player still places two and only two ships into the ocean during setup step 3, and each player has the option of spending two doubloons to purchase a third ship during setup step 4… assuming they have the doubloons to spend from previous battles.
4) The bonus gold doubloon awarded to the last player with ships in the ocean is increased by one for each battle after the first. Thus, the last player with ships in the ocean during battle two receives two doubloons for “winning the day.” The last player in battle three receives three doubloons and so on.
5) The victor of the campaign is the player with the most gold at the end of the last battle in the sequence. Players are encouraged to make and break treaties and alliances based on this knowledge….
MARQUE FOR THE MERCHANT
This rule expands the rewards for attacking the merchant ship, helping to offset the risks associated with taking the merchant in a game of experienced players. Under the basic rules, the merchant can be boarded and then pressed into service or scuttled for gold in the same manner as an opposing player’s ship, except that no roll is needed to succeed in boarding. No reward is issued for sinking the merchant with guns.
Under the Marque for the Merchant rules, sinking the merchant ship with guns awards the same reward of one gold doubloon that a player gets for any other enemy vessel. If boarded, the merchant surrenders without a fight (as in the normal rules) but immediately awards one bonus doubloon to the capturing player, representing seizing the treasure in her hold. At this point, the player decides as normal whether to scuttle the ship or press it into service. If scuttled, the player receives a second doubloon.