¡Abordaje!

¡Abordaje! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

12 Action Cards, 5 Ship-deck Cards, 37 Crew Tokens (15 black, 20 red), 2 Captain Tokens, 6 Control Markers, 1 Initiative Card / Actions Summary.

Setup (basic game)

The basic game has been designed to learn the game mechanics easily. They represent fast combats between two small sloops that can be played in 15 minutes.

Arrange 4 Ship-deck cards (numbers 1, 2, 4 & 5) ordered by number, with the color face up to make the battle field. Notice each Ship-deck card shows 2 different decks, pirate and Spanish, which are independent areas. Some rules will say Ship-deck card while others will refer to a deck, don't mix up both concepts.

Each player chooses side and puts 2 of his crew tokens in his side of each Ship-deck card (black cubes for the Pirate/red cubes for the Spanish). Then, players take 7 more crew tokens (onwards named just as 'crew') this will be each player's pool.

The Spanish captain meeple goes to the stern deck card and the pirate one to the prow deck card (hint, the cards with the flags). (Note: captains can't be casualties and they don't count as crew while in his own ship).

Crew tokens are a depiction of the moral and fighting strength of your crew on this deck. You play and resolve action cards even in decks where you don't have any tokens.

Gameplay

During odd turns initiative goes to the pirate player and the game is played from prow to stern (cards are placed from the pirate flag to the Spanish flag). During even turns initiative goes to the Spanish player and the game is played from stern to prow (from Spanish flag to pirate flag). Initiative is marked by flipping the resume card to show the initiative player flag.

Shuffle all 12 action cards and deal 5 to each player, putting the 2 left cards aside.

Assign cards

Each player looks at his hand, chooses one card and places it face-down in the first Ship-deck card (the one with the pirate flag in the first turn) and swaps the remaining cards with his rival. Remember, cards aren't going to be solved yet until all Ship-deck cards have been filled with actions.

Players put another card in the second Ship-deck card and so on, swapping hands each time until they arrive at the last Ship-deck card. To avoid knowing which card will be played in the last position, each player takes randomly one of the 2 cards left from the initial deal before setting the last card.

Swapping tactics

After playing their cards both players can swap the position of 2 of his action cards, beginning with the player with the initiative (in the advanced game this maneuver is only available for the pirate player).

Captain movement

Each player can move their captain to an adjacent deck in the same ship he is (horizontal move) or move it back to his own ship (vertical move), as long as the deck he is moving to has crew tokens of his colour or is under his control (decks of his own ship without enemy tokens). The player with the initiative moves his captain first.

Reveal and execute action cards

All action cards are flipped and executed by priority order, first the Fight! cards (number 1), next the Boarding! card (number 2), and so on (see Action Cards below for how to resolve each card). In case of a conflict (for example, when 2 Boarding! cards are played on both sides of the same Ship-deck card) the initiative player's cards solve first.

When 2 Fight! cards are revealed in the same Ship-deck card, you can have 2 possible scenarios:

Only 1 deck has crew of both players: In this case, both Fight! cards are executed in the same deck and solved as a unique combat at the same priority (see Action Cards).
Both decks have crew of each player and a potential combat: The player with initiative chooses on which deck his Fight! card will apply, then the other player chooses on which one his card will apply. This can result in a unique combat or in 2 independent combats. Remember the Fight! card only applies to the combat selected, not to the other one.

Crew losses are removed from the game, don't put them back in your crew pool.

Deck control

After solving all action cards, any captain left alone with enemy crew tokens must withdraw moving (on the ship he is or back to his own ship) to the closest deck with his own crew tokens or under his control (an own deck without enemy crew tokens).

Then check for extermination victory: if a player has less crew tokens in play than active Ship-deck cards (color face up) he loses the game.

Now check for deck control. If a player has the most crew tokens in an enemy deck, he puts a yellow Control Marker on it. Captains in enemy decks count as one crew token but can't conquer decks by themselves (they must be with other friend tokens). Captains in their own ship never count as a crew token.

If a player no longer has the majority on the enemy deck at this step, remove any Control Marker on it.

If it's the second consecutive turn that this player has control over the deck (the deck already has a Control Marker from the previous turn), it becomes conquered. Flip the Ship-deck card to its non-color face and leave the Control token over the conquered deck (it's possible for the 2 players to simultaneously conquer both sides of the Ship-deck card, just flip the card as usual and put both Control tokens on top).

Crew still in the decks go to the players' crew pools. Captains, if any, go back to their own ships to an adjacent Ship-deck card. From now on, cards will NOT be played on the conquered deck and the two contiguous Ship-deck cards are considered adjacent for all purposes.

This is the end of the turn: flip the Initiative Marker, shuffle the action cards and start the next turn.

End of the game

A player wins if he conquers 2 decks or if, before checking for deck control, the enemy player has less crew tokens than active Ship-deck cards. If both players conquered their 2nd deck at the same time or lose by extermination, the game is a tie.

Action Cards

Action cards are the heart of the game. Each card shows orders the captains give to their crew members during the fighting, yelling at them to fire, charge or simply to take cover. There are two sets of 6 different cards numbered from 1 to 6 (that's the priority of the action card); when cards are executed they do so from 1 to 6.

1. Fight!

You rally your men to fight in bloody close combat. For this card to take effect, crew tokens of both players must be on the same deck; it is not possible to fight from ship to ship.

Follow these steps.

If the captain of a side who played a Fight! card is in the combat (in the deck) he kills 1 enemy crew.
If a side hasn't played a Fight! card on this deck it loses 1 crew.
Both sides lose 1 crew.

If during one step one side goes out of crew, the fight ends immediately, don't resolve the following Fight! steps.

If there are confronted crew tokens on both decks of a Ship-deck card, each player chooses (by initiative order) on which deck he will play his Fight! card. Both players can choose the same deck.

If 2 Fight! cards are solved in the same deck, only one combat occurs (even with the Spanish captain skill on the advanced games, see below). With both sides having played a Fight! card and getting no losses on step 2 of the combat sequence.

2. Boarding!

The sailors jump from one ship to another with ropes, hooks and planks, in a bold attempt to conquer the rival deck. Follow these steps.

Remove 1 enemy crew token from the opposite deck side.
Move 2 crew tokens from your deck to the opposite deck (mandatory; if you don't have enough crew you must move as much crew as possible). You can optionally cross with a third crew token.
The captain can also walk across if present (this is the only way a captain can cross to the enemy ship).

3. Fire!

Remove 2 random crew tokens from the opposite deck; this means you can kill your own crew if there are crew of both players in the deck you are shooting at. If the captain is present you can kill one extra enemy crew. You select which crew token is killed after removing the 2 random crew tokens.

4. Repel!

Cancels a Boarding! card played on the same Ship-deck card. When played this way, ignore priority numbers, both cards are just used and cancelled.

You can put 1 crew from your reserve on your deck side and can move 1 crew 'to' or 'from' an adjacent deck. You can move freely horizontally, or from the enemy deck to your own deck. You can also move vertically to the enemy deck, but only if you already have crew tokens on it.

If the captain is present, the player can take both options (cancel Boarding! and reinforce & move).

5. Take cover!

Cancels a Fire! card played on the same Ship-deck card. When played this way, ignore priority numbers, both cards are just used and cancelled.

If the captain is present, the player can take both options (cancel Fire! and reinforce & move).

6. Stand up!

Put 1 crew from the reserve on your deck side. If captain is present, also put 1 crew from the losses on your deck side.

Card clarifications

Reinforcements & movements are always optional. The rest of the orders are mandatory, you can't choose to cancel a card that is harmful to you in any way.

With the exception of Fight! which can be played simultaneously, if there are any conflicts between cards of the same priority, the initiative player's card executes first. For example, imagine 2 crew tokens on each side of the ship-deck card, both players have played Boarding! there. The player with the initiative will solve his card first, killing 1 enemy and moving both of his crew tokens towards the other deck. Then the non-initiative player could not be able to kill anyone (as the opposite deck is empty) and will move his only crew to the other side.

Captains in enemy decks (only) count as crew toward conquering decks, but they can never be casualties or conquer decks by themselves.

Advanced Rules (full game)

Once you have played some basic games, you can try the advanced rules for a more challenging experience.

Setup

Arrange the 5 Ship-deck cards to make the battle field. The pirate player has only 15 crew tokens. Put 2 tokens in each of the three mid sections and 1 on the prow & stern decks. The 7 remaining tokens are his pool. The Spanish player has 20 crew tokens. Put 2 tokens in each deck. He has 10 tokens as his pool.

Pirate cunning (Swapping tactics)

Only the pirate player can swap tactics during this phase. The pirate captains are smart and unpredictable but have lower numbers and can be overwhelmed by the Spanish marines.

Navy discipline (Revealing and executing action cards)

Before executing action cards, the Spanish player can activate the action card on his captain first of all, as if it had the priority number '0'. Remember that in some situations such as playing 2 Fight! cards applied on the same deck or the counter cards Repel! and Take cover!, which ignore priorities, in this case the Spanish ability will have no effect.

Handicap rules (making pirate life easier)

If you find the pirate player too hard to play with in the advanced games try this: Remove one Repel! card from the game. In the last 'Assign card' step, only the pirate player gets the card left from the deal.