Cannons & Coastlines

1. 1

   Set up

   Everyone picks a fleet and takes its ships, flags, cannons and cannonballs. Going around the table, each player places one island. Keep islands at least 6" apart and 12" from the edges (on a narrow folding table, run them down the middle).

   Add a few rocks or reefs if you like (household objects work fine). Then everyone takes a stretch of table edge and lines up their ships touching it, facing in. Two players sit diagonally across a folding table, or a quarter of the way round a round one.

   Each player keeps back their fleet's favoured coins (on its faction card), puts the rest of their 20 coins into a bag and gives it a shake. The youngest player goes first.

2. 2

   Take your turn

   First, spend any coins you want to use. Ships are always sailing, so each of your ships takes one action, then clicks forward at least once, up to your fleet's Move Count:

   A. Steer

   Turn the ship up to 90°. Steering doesn't move it (the forward clicks do that).

   B. Fire

   Plug a cannon into an open slot and press it until it fires. The ship can't turn on a turn it fires, so you line up the shot the turn before. The shot happens before it sails on.

   C. Island

   If the ship is touching an island, it can raise your flag there (if the ship was already touching it at the end of your last turn), collect a coin from the bag (if it's your island), or fire from one of the island's cannon slots. It then stays put, which makes islands the only place a ship can hold still.

   A ship that bumps into a ship, island or rock stops there. Watch the table edge, too: a ship that runs out of room stops there, and a ship that would be forced off the table sinks. Also, a cannon only fires if one of your ships is touching it and spends its action on it, so a held island can't shoot at anyone by itself.

3. 3

   Take hits

   Every hit knocks one fitting (a mast or a crate of cargo) off the ship, and whoever fired keeps it as a prize. A ship with no fittings left is dead in the water. It can't move, but it can still fire. The next hit sinks it, and the shooter takes the hull.

   The first ship a cannonball touches takes the hit. Ricochets onto a second ship don't count, and if the first ship it touches is one of yours, the shot is just wasted.

   Ships take their fittings + 1 hits to sink. A ship with 3 fittings goes down on the 4th hit.

4. 4

   Spend coins

   Coins come from islands you hold. Each turn, your ship nearest each of your islands can collect a coin there, even out at sea. Spend them before any of your ships takes its turn, as many as you want, then put them back in the bag. Each coin you still hold is a point, but they're worth far more spent.

   

   Skilled Gunner. One ship fires twice.

   

   Repair Crew. Put a fitting back on one of your ships.

   

   Boarding Party. Knock a fitting off an enemy ship you're touching.

   

   Brace for Impact. The next hit on that ship does nothing.

   

   Full Sail. One ship steers and sails twice, but doesn't fire.

   

   Evasive Maneuvers. One ship slides one ship-width sideways.

   Boarding Party and Repair Crew together, while touching a dead enemy ship, captures it. It joins your fleet with one fitting.

5. 5

   Win

   If you're the last fleet with ships on the table, you win. Otherwise, at the start of your turn, before you spend any coins, you can declare victory if you think you have 60 points. Everyone counts up. If you're at 60 or more and nobody is ahead of you, you win. Points you earn during your turn only count from your next one. Your prizes are right there in front of you, so there's nothing to write down.

Both playtests and what changed between them

(Short on players? The computer can take the empty seats in an online game.)