Chaos Cove

Chaos Cove Rulebook

Table of Contents

Overview of Play

Chaos Cove is a board game for 2 to 4 players. The game is played over four rounds. Every round, each player controls four different heroes. Each round is broken into 6 phases.

Phase 1: Players place their heroes in town locations. Each hero has special abilities, and each location has its own effects and resources to help defend the town.

Phase 2: Collect resources from forts and use ships to trade rum for doubloons and gunpowder.

Phase 3: Spend resources to build new forts and ships, and throw rum parties.

Phase 4: Players can attack any face-up invader tiles. To defeat an invader, players must spend combat points which are gained from cannons, sabers, gunpowder, crew, the Fortress token, and hero cards. These combat points must be equal to or greater than the value on the invader tile. Pirates invade from the sea and barbarians invade by land.

Phase 5: Remaining invaders are flipped face up and attack. If players cannot defeat them, the invaders will sink ships or destroy forts and threaten the town by breaking through its defenses. If too many invaders go unchecked, all players lose.

Phase 6: Players pass their four hero tiles clockwise to the next player and take the four from the player to their right. In a full game, all heroes can be played by all players.

The game ends after four rounds. Players earn points for forts and ships still in play, rum party cards, and for defeated invader tiles.

The player with the most victory points wins the game.

Developer Advice: For your first game and when you play with new players, play three rounds instead of four.

Components

Player Components

4 Starter Fort Cards (1 per player)
4 Starter Ship Cards (1 per player)
Wooden Components in 4 colors: 6 Crew, 6 Ships, 6 Forts

Game Components

1 Chaos Cove Map (2-sided)
16 Hero Tiles
24 Pirate Invader Tiles (6 per wave)
24 Barbarian Invader Tiles (6 per wave)
16 Hero Figures
1 First Player Marker
4 Fortress Tokens
2 Token Bins
4 Player Aids

Construction Cards

18 Fort Cards (Stacks 1, 2, 3)
18 Ship Cards (Stacks 4, 5, 6)
12 Rum Party Cards (Stacks 7, 8)
16 Random Cards (Stacks 9, 10; see set-up)

Resources

64 Hero Cards
64 Doubloons

Supplies (a sub-category of Resources)

24 Cannons* (front/back; +3 in naval combat)
24 Sabers* (front/back; +3 in martial combat)
22 Gunpowder (value 1) and 6 Gunpowder (value 3)
22 Rum (value 1) and 6 Rum (value 3)
22 Food (value 1) and 6 Food (value 3)
22 Planks (value 1) and 6 Planks (value 3)

*Cannons and Sabers are limited. All other supplies are unlimited.

Game Setup

Each player selects a color and the corresponding set of game pieces (six crew, six ships, and six forts), one starting fort construction card, one starting ship construction card, and one player aid. These should be placed in front of the player.
All players place two of their crew in the Fountain area on the board.
Divide the resource counters between the token bins. Players start with one of each type of resource counter (cannon, saber, rum, food, planks, and gunpowder). Rum, food, planks, and gunpowder are considered unlimited. Cannons and sabers, however, are a limited resource.
Randomly deal four hero tiles to each player. Players take the matching hero figures and place them on the tiles. These are each player's starting heroes. If there are two or three players, create dummy hands of four hero tiles so that all sixteen hero tiles are visible.
Divide the doubloons between the token bins. Each player starts with five doubloons.
Shuffle the hero cards and deal out five to each player. Place the remaining cards near the board to form a draw deck.
Arrange construction cards into eight face-down stacks using the numbers on the front of the card. There are 6 identical cards per stack. The remaining 16 random construction cards have an asterisk (*) instead of a number. Shuffle the random construction cards and split them into two equal stacks. Place them face-down next to the other construction cards. Flip the top card of each of the 10 stacks face-up.
Separate the pirate tiles into four stacks, marked 1, 2, 3 and 4. Shuffle each set and form them into a pile. Take the first set, marked with a 1, and place one tile face-down in each pirate sea space.
Repeat the same procedure with the barbarian tiles. Take the first set, marked with a 1, and place one tile face-down in each barbarian land space.
The player that most recently pillaged a Caribbean port gets the first player marker.
The first player places one of their ships in the top ship space adjacent to the top pirate sea space. The next player places one of their ships in the top ship space adjacent to the second pirate sea space. The third and fourth players do the same next to the third and fourth pirate sea spaces.

Figure 2: Play Area Setup. The figure shows the set-up numbers (2 through 13 above) on the board: the crew in the Fountain area (2), the resource tokens (3), the doubloons (5), the draw deck (6), the construction card stacks (7), the pirate and barbarian tile stacks (8, 9), the first player marker (10), the first ship and fort placements (11, 12), and the Fortress token (13).

Playing the Game

There are four game rounds. Each game round is played over six phases, as follows:

Phase 1 - Place heroes
Phase 2 - Use forts and ships
Phase 3 - Buy construction cards
Phase 4 - Surprise attack in player order
Phase 5 - Defend the cove in invader order
Phase 6 - End of round

Phase One - Place Heroes

Starting with the first player, players take turns placing one of their four hero figures in one of the twelve locations on the board. When they do so there are three different effects (see Figure 3 for an example):

Location effect: Each location has an effect that the player can choose to activate. The effects are shown on the player aid and are explained in the Location Effects section later.
Hero effect: The hero placed in the location has an effect that the player can choose to activate. These effects are shown on the hero tile and are explained in the Hero Tile and Card Effects section later.
Gaining resources: The player can take up to two of the resources indicated on the map. They can also pay doubloons to take one additional resource per doubloon. A resource can only be taken as many times as its symbol appears in the location. Crew resources gained should be placed in the Fountain area from the player area. Resources are immediately available for use.

Before or after placing a hero, players may play hero cards matching any hero currently on the board. The hero figure may have been played by any player, not just you. Playing a hero card means discarding the card for its action. If combat occurs during this phase players can also discard hero cards for their combat value.

Hint: If there are any face-up invaders on the board, Calvin's hero effect and hero cards may be used to conduct combat during this phase. See Figure 9 (page 12) for an example.

When a player takes resources and resolves effects is entirely up to them and can be performed in any order.

Only two heroes can be in a single location. Some hero and card effects may break this restriction.

Hint: Cannons and sabers are essential for defeating invaders, so players should stock up on them early.

The above procedure is repeated until all players have placed two heroes each. Players can then continue placing heroes in turn order, but they must pay three doubloons to do so. Once a player passes on hero placement, they cannot place again this round. Repeat this until all players have passed. Players cannot play hero cards the turn they pass.

Each player can place a maximum of four heroes.

Figure 3: Placing a Hero. (1) Gloria is placed in the tavern. (2) Gloria's hero effect is to use 1 or 2 of the player's forts and/or ships. They use 1 fort to gain 1 rum and 1 plank. They use 1 ship to trade 1 rum for 1 doubloon and 1 gunpowder. The rum is taken from the player's supply and they gain a doubloon and a gunpowder. (3) The tavern's location effect is that the player gets to draw two hero cards to add to their hand. (4) The player gains two resources from the tavern picking 1 rum and 1 crew. The crew is placed in the fountain area. The rum is placed into their supply.

Phase Two - Use Forts and Ships

All players simultaneously collect resources from their forts and make trades with their ships.

The resources gained from a fort are illustrated at the bottom of the fort card.
Trades that can be made with a ship are illustrated at the bottom of the ship card. A trade can only be made at most once with each ship card during this phase.

For example: Using your starting ship, you can trade one rum for one doubloon and one gunpowder, but you cannot use more rum to repeat this trade with the same card.

Players may use these cards in any order.

Figure 4: Using Your Forts and Ships. A player with these forts and ships would: (1) gain one rum and one plank from the resource pile into their play area; (2) gain two more planks from the resource pile into their play area; (3) trade in one rum from their play area and gain one doubloon and one gunpowder from the resource pile into their supply.

Resources are immediately available for use (even rum gained from a fort this round). Resources gained are added from the general supply into their play area.

Note: Hero cards cannot be played during this phase.

Key Game Resources

Hero Tiles. The 16 hero tiles show the hero effects when a hero figure is placed in a location. See Hero Tile and Card Effects (page 15) for full details.

Hero Cards. There are 4 hero cards per hero for a total of 64 cards. Each card can only be played if the depicted hero is on the board. Cards can be used for either naval combat or martial combat if shown on the card. Cards can also be used for their ability. If the ability is restricted, the Phase it can be played is shown next to the ability. A hero card is either played for its combat value OR its ability. Never both. It is then discarded.

Hero cards can only be played in Phases 1, 4 and 5. If the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discards into a new deck. There is no limit to the number of hero cards a player can have in their hand. Once drawn, a player can immediately play a hero card. There is no limit to how many hero cards can be played on a turn. See Hero Tile and Card Effects (page 15) for full details.

Construction Cards. The cards you use to build defenses and throw rum parties are arrayed at the top of the board in 10 stacks. At the top of each construction card is its cost.

When you construct, pay the resources listed to the supply and take the card. If you build a fort or ship, place a ship or fort in an empty location on the map.

When you use a fort you take the resources listed on the bottom of the card from the supply. When you use a ship, trade a rum for the resources listed on the bottom of the card.

All cards award victory points listed at the very bottom of the card with the icon.

Invader Tiles. Invader tiles are either barbarians or pirates. The front and back of each tile shows the invader wave. There are four waves of invader tiles. The front of the tile also shows the invader's strength. The invader strength has to be met or exceeded to defeat it in combat. When it comes to calculating victory points only the number of tiles players have collected matter, not the invader's strength.

Resource icons (key):

+3 in naval combat (cannon)
+3 in martial combat (saber)
+1 in naval combat or +1 in martial combat (gunpowder)
Used to build ships or traded for doubloons at Blacksmith (planks)
Used to build forts (food)
Used to throw rum parties or to trade with ships (rum)
Used to place 3rd/4th Hero or buy additional resources (doubloon)
Used to build forts and ships or by Gus to aid in combat (crew)

Phase Three - Buy Construction Cards

Starting with the first player, players take turns buying one construction card at a time. Do not turn a new construction card face up. This stack is exhausted for the remainder of the round. The purchase cost is at the top of each card. If the cost includes rum, planks or food tokens those are removed from your play area to the general supply. Crew are removed from the Fountain area to your play area to buy fort and ship cards. Players can continue buying until all players have passed.

Cost to buy a Fort. Cost to buy a Ship. Cost to buy a 3 Rum Party. (Cost icons shown on the example cards.)

When a ship card is purchased, place a ship piece in any empty ship space. Note that the third ship space in each set has a wind symbol on it, which allows the ship to avoid combat in Phase Five - Defend the Cove. When a fort card is purchased, place a fort piece in any empty fort space.

Note: Ships and forts do not have a combat strength but their presence on the map enables players to fight adjacent invaders.

It is not possible to buy a card if there is no available space on the board for the corresponding piece. New construction cards will not be available until the end of the round.

All construction cards provide victory points if they survive to the end of the game.

Important: Do not forget to place ship or fort pieces on the board!

Note: Hero cards cannot be played during this phase.

Figure 5: Buying Construction Cards. The purple player decides to buy a ship construction card.

The purple player:

Spends 3 planks, paying them from their player area back to the resource pile.
Uses their crew by moving it from the fountain back to their player area.
Takes the ship card that gives them two gunpowder in exchange for rum and places it into their player area. No one else can buy from this card stack this round.
Places their new ship into the third spot with the wind symbol.

Combat Primer (During Phases 1, 4, and 5)

You can only attack face-up invaders. To defeat invaders, players must expend combat strength greater than or equal to the value on the tile. Blue naval strength is used to fight pirates. Green martial strength is used to fight barbarians. To gain combat strength the active player may:

Fire cannons to fight pirates or wield sabers to fight barbarians

Flip a cannon to give +3 naval strength (anchor), or flip a saber to give +3 martial strength (crossed swords). You may do this as many times as you have cannons or sabers. Used sabers and cannons will be flipped back up during Phase 6. Do not discard your cannons or sabers.

Explode gunpowder to fight any invader

Return a gunpowder to the general supply and add +1 strength per gunpowder to fight a single invader (pirate or barbarian).

Flavour note on the card: No monkeys are harmed in Chaos Cove! The monkeys receive excellent pay and benefits for delivering gunpowder to the front lines.

Play hero cards

You may play hero cards to add either naval (anchor) or martial (crossed swords) combat strength to fight a single invader. Discard any cards used in combat. You may still play other hero cards for their ability. Other players can also contribute hero cards, but no other resource. The active player does not have to accept this assistance. The active player still wins the invader tile.

Reminder: Hero cards can only be played if the matching hero is on the board.

A Fortress token adds +2 strength to all combats

If you have a hero on the Fortress, your Fortress token adds +2 strength to any combat (naval or martial). It is not consumed.

Unleash Gus' crew to fight any invader

If the active player has Gus in play, they may use their crew in the Fountain area to gain +2 combat strength (naval or martial) per crew. Place the crew piece on its side to show that it has been used. It will be stood back up in Phase 6.

Unabashed Victory!

The active player wins if their total combat strength is equal to or greater than the invader's. They claim the invader's tile. It may be used to gain victory points at the end of the game.

Unbridled Defeat!

You fail to defeat an invader if your combat strength is less than the strength shown on the tile. Damage does not carry over. In Phase 1 and 4, nothing else happens. In Phase 5, however, the invader will sink the defending ship or destroy the defending fort and then attack the next adjacent defender. If no defender remains, the invader moves to a breakthrough space on the main board. If there is no breakthrough space, all players lose the game!

Flavour note: You have failed and all our rum is now in the bellies of some not-so-very-nice folk.

Figure: Pirate breakthrough area (the breakthrough spaces shown on the board, with the tile marked 10).

Phase Four - Surprise Attack in Player Order

Starting with the first player, players can attack one face-up invader, including those in the breakthrough area. If the invader is in a sea or land space, then players must have a ship or fort adjacent to that invader.

If Calvin is on the map, a Calvin hero card can be discarded for its action "Attack one face-up barbarian or pirate".

Players do not need a ship or a fort to attack invaders in the breakthrough area.

The Combat Primer (page 9) contains all the ways to earn combat strength.

If a player defeats an invader, they claim its tile and keep it until the end of the game. It may be used to gain victory points.

Players continue attacking in player order until everyone has passed, or all face-up invaders are defeated.

Note: Hero cards can be played during this phase for their action or combat value but only if the matching hero is on the board.

Attacking in Phase 4 (diagram key): Only the gold or purple player can attack an invader adjacent to their ship; OR any player discarding a Calvin hero card for its action; any player can attack invaders on breakthrough spaces. Face-down invaders cannot be attacked.

Figure 6: Surprise Attacks. Gold is the first player and acts first.

Gold decides to attack the face-up pirate adjacent to their ship. The pirate has a strength of 4.
They flip one cannon for 3 points of attack, and discard one gunpowder for 1 point of attack to reach 4 points of attack, thus defeating the pirate.
Gold claims the pirate token.

Purple is the second player. They do not have a face-up pirate attached to their ship.

Purple decides to attack the barbarian in the breakthrough area, which has a strength of 8.
They flip two sabers for 6 points of attack, and discard one Gloria card for 2 points of attack to reach 8 points of attack, thus defeating the barbarian.
Purple claims the barbarian token.

Phase Five - Defend the Cove in Invader Order

Flip all face-down invader tiles face-up. Each invader will attack in sequence from top to bottom, starting with the top remaining pirate. Each invader will attack the top ship or fort it is adjacent to, then the next down and so on. See Figures 7 and 8 (pages 11-12) for examples.

Combat works as described in the Combat Primer (page 9).

Hero cards can be played for their action or combat value during this phase but only if the matching hero is on the board.

Hint: If Calvin is in play and your ship or fort is defending, Calvin cards can be played for their action. Calvin can be played before or after your combat but you must still complete your combat.

If a player defeats an invader, they claim its tile and keep it until the end of the game. It may be used to gain victory points.

If a player cannot defeat an invader, then the invader destroys their adjacent ship or fort. The player must remove the destroyed ship or fort piece and return it to their available supply. If a player loses a ship piece, then they lose a ship card of their choice. If they lose a fort piece, then they lose a fort card of their choice. Damage to an invader never carries over.

If a player's ship's space is marked with a wind symbol, then they can choose not to fight the adjacent pirate and move their ship instead. The ship can move to any empty ship space that is not adjacent to the same pirate.

If an invader tile remains undefeated with no opposing ships or forts, then place it on an empty breakthrough space towards the bottom of the map. There are three spaces for pirates and three for barbarians.

The game ends immediately and all players lose if either four pirates or four barbarians break through!

Figure 7: Defending the Cove.

The gold player's ship will be attacked first. If the gold player cannot defeat the pirate, the pirate will attack the white ship.
The gold ship was destroyed in combat, returned to the player's play area. The gold player removes any ship card from their play area to the game box.
Flee! Eventually, only the white ship is left. They decide to flee combat by moving their ship to any open ship space on the map.
Breakthrough! The pirate token is moved to the breakthrough area.

If a fourth pirate or barbarian breaks through the game is over. (Figure 7 also shows a 16-strength invader and three breakthrough tiles of strengths 12, 8, and 10 as a "Game Over!" example.)

Figure 8: Combat in Phase 5.

White player is defending against the 30 strength pirate. They play a Dennis card and swap ship locations with the gold player.
Gold player cannot defeat the pirate. They remove their ship from the map. They discard a ship card from their play area.
The Blue player cannot defeat the pirate, but they are in a wind symbol location and flee to an empty ship space.
The pirate moves into a pirate breakthrough space.

Figure 9: Combat in Phase 1 due to Calvin's ability.

The first player places Calvin on the lighthouse.
The lighthouse location effect is to flip 1 or 2 pirate tiles. Flipping two pirate tiles reveals a strength 2 pirate and a strength 8 pirate.
Calvin's hero effect is to attack one face-up barbarian or pirate tile.
The player, using the rules in the Combat Primer, attacks the strength 2 pirate by flipping a cannon for 3 combat value and wins, taking that pirate tile into their supply.
The player picks up two resources available at the lighthouse: a doubloon and a rum which they place into their supply.

Phase Six - End of Round

Players pass their four hero tiles clockwise to the next player (who may be a dummy player) and take the four from the player to their right (who may be a dummy player). Players retrieve all hero figures from the board and place them on the matching hero tile.

If the top construction card of any construction card deck is face-down, flip it face-up. For the two columns whose cards have three icons (fort, ship and rum) discard the top card if it was not taken this round and flip a new card face-up.

Players flip their used cannons and sabers face-up and return their crew to their upright position.

Players return fortress tokens to the Fortress location.

Draw and place the next wave of invader tiles face-down. If you have already completed 4 invader phases, proceed to the Ending the Game section.

The player with the first player marker passes it on to the player to their left (who is NOT a dummy player despite whatever you have said about them during the game).

Start a new round.

Figure: Passing hero tiles clockwise between Player 1, Player 2, Player 3 and the Dummy Player.

Ending the Game

The game ends after four rounds. Players will know which round it is by which invader wave tokens are being used.

All players lose if an invader breaks through and cannot be placed on a breakthrough position on the map. If anyone purposefully lost any combat in an all-player loss, they are the biggest loser and deserve derision by all other players*.

*If they purposefully lost a combat and won the game, however, they get the publisher's respect - that is the Chaos Cove way.

If the invaders are defeated, players gain victory points for ship, fort and rum cards, as shown on the construction cards.

The player with the lowest number of defeated invader tiles (pirate and barbarian combined) discards all their tiles. The remaining players discard the same number of tiles. Players now score victory points according to the number they have left, as indicated on the player aid.

Note: The combat strength on each invader tile does not matter in scoring, only the total number of defeated invaders.

The player with the most victory points is declared the protector of Chaos Cove, thus winning the game.

In the case of a tie:

The tied player who has the most defeated invader tiles is the winner.
If there is still a tie, then the tied player with the most resources (doubloons, counters, cards) left is the winner.
If there is still a tie, the player that took the latest turn is the winner.

Only losers tie in Chaos Cove!

Glossary & Reference

Location Effects

Lighthouse - You may flip one or two pirate ship tiles on the board face-up.
Port - You may use up to two of your ship cards to trade rum for goods. Each card can only be used once.
Blacksmith - You may trade planks for an equal amount of doubloons. For each plank you trade, return it to the general supply and take one doubloon.
Fortress - You may take a fortress token. While you have a fortress token, gain +2 combat strength for all combats.
- Note: You may only have one fortress token regardless of the number of heroes you have on the fortress.
- You only get this bonus while your hero is at this location. If your hero is moved off, put the fortress token back on the fortress.
Market - You may trade any three cards, doubloons, cannons, sabers, planks, food, rum or gunpowder, for any three cannons, sabers, planks, food, rum or gunpowder.
- Note: Cannons and sabers are limited and if they run out then they can no longer be taken.
Town Hall - You may build one construction card, paying the indicated cost and take the card. If you build a fort or ship, place a fort or ship on the board from your supply. Flip the next card on the stack face-up.
Garden - Reassign the first player marker.
- Note: This will not affect the order of play in Phase One, but will take effect in Phase Two. The first player marker will still move clockwise to the next player during Phase Six.

Hero Tile and Card Effects

Art - If you have played this hero then in Phase 5 - Defend the Cove you can choose to make any of your forts invisible to attacking barbarians. They will attack the next adjacent fort or forts. If the barbarians are not defeated by the remaining forts, place the barbarian in the breakthrough area at the bottom of the board. The hero card has the same effect but only on one of your forts and is only played when one of your forts is attacked.
Belle - When you play this hero you can take one more resource from the location. The hero card can only be played to gain a resource from the location you just played in. A resource can only be taken as many times as its symbol appears in the location.
Ben - When you play this hero figure you can flip one barbarian face-up. You do the same when you play the hero card.
Calvin - When you play this hero you may attack any one face-up invader. The hero card has the same effect.
- Note: You may attack any face-up invader, you do not need an adjacent fort or ship.
- Note: Playing this hero card in Phase 4 - Surprise Attack, counts as an attack. In Phase 4, you cannot use this hero card to get multiple combats without yielding to the next player.
Claudia - When you play this hero you may take one saber or one gunpowder. The hero card has the same effect.
Colin - When you play this hero you may take one cannon or one gunpowder. The hero card has the same effect.
Dennis - When you play this hero you can move or swap one of your ships. You can either move it to an empty space or you can swap it with another player's ship. In the latter case the displaced ship is moved to the space you vacated, so you are simply swapping positions. The hero card has the same effect.

Player Aid: Round Structure

Placement Phase

Pay 3 doubloons: place your 3rd or 4th hero.
Pay 1 doubloon per resource to take additional resources from the location you just played in. A resource can only be taken as many times as it appears in the location.

Combat

Fortress token: +2 naval (anchor) / +2 martial (crossed swords)
Cannon: +3 naval (flip the token over)
Saber: +3 martial (flip the token over)
Gunpowder: +1 naval / +1 martial (discard the token)
Hero card: +naval / +martial card strength value
Gus: +2 naval / +2 martial per exhausted crew

Round Structure

Place heroes in turn order. Do the following in any order:
- Hero ability (pay 3 doubloons: place your 3rd or 4th hero)
- Location ability
- Collect resources
- Play hero cards (the hero must be on the board)
Use forts and ships simultaneously.
Buy construction cards in turn order.
Surprise attack one invader at a time in turn order.
Defend in invader order (ships then forts, top to bottom).
End of round:
- Refresh construction cards
- Flip up used cannons and sabers
- Place next wave of invaders
- Pass hero tiles left
- Pass first player marker left
- Reclaim heroes to tiles

End Game Scoring

Invader bonus (see below)
Ship: 4 victory points
Fort: 3 victory points
Rum Party: 3 or 5 victory points

Tie breaker: most invader tiles, then most resources.

Invader Bonus

Each player counts defeated tiles. Everyone discards their lowest total. The bonus is tallied from the remaining tiles:

Defeated tiles	Victory points
1	2
2	5
3	9
4	14
5	20
6	26
7	33
8	41
9	50

Invader Tile Strengths

The aid prints two columns of strengths for each wave. It does not print labels over the columns; the left column is read as pirate tiles and the right column as barbarian tiles (the 30-strength pirate in Figure 8 matches the left column of Wave 4).

Wave	Left column (pirates)	Right column (barbarians)
Wave 1	2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12	2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 8
Wave 2	4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14	4, 6, 8, 8, 10, 12
Wave 3	4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24	4, 8, 12, 12, 16, 20
Wave 4	6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 30	6, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28

Note: The column labels are inferred from the Figure 8 example; the printed aid itself does not label them.