Pirates Under Fire (2019)

About this game

Pirates Under Fire is an original, tactical, and dynamic two-player tile game that lasts 30 minutes and that can be played from 10 years old. Each player is a pirate in charge of a fleet; each ship is numbered from 1 to 9, each of them having a special ability. The goal of the game is to deploy your ships to form combinations while performing their effects. Players perform their turns one after another by laying a ship on a sea space. They apply the effect of the sea space and the effect of the ship tile. This is the main action. They can also perform an optional action: buying a mercenary ship by paying its cost. The game ends when each player has played 16 turns. At the end of the game, players score victory points (VPs) for: • the combinations made (three or more ship tiles laid side by side with identical numbers or forming a sequence of increasing or decreasing numbers), • the ships laid in the opponent player's sea side, • some mercenary ships, and • the VP tokens collected during the game. The player with the most VPs wins. —description from the publisher

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Strictly 2 players — no more, no fewer.
• Rules load. At 1.5/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 10 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.