Sabordage Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Contents
• Setup
• How to Play
  • 1 - Resupply
  • 2 - Construction (x3)
  • Special Tile
  • 3 - Boarding
    • 1. Cannon Fire
    • 2. Accumulate Treasures
    • 3. Launch the Boarding
  • End of the Game
• Rules for 2 Players
• Expert Rules
• The Earth is Round
• Tiles Reference
  • The Stern
  • The Bow
  • The Decks
  • Cannons
  • Defences
  • Special Tiles

Goal of the Game

The player who sets sail with the largest ship wins the treasure and the game. The number of cannons breaks any ties.

Contents

• 5 pirates on plastic stands and their rudders. They represent you and are used to plan your construction phases.
• 5 Bow tiles. They represent the front of your boat.
• 5 Stern tiles (in the colour of each Pirate). Together with the Bow, they mark the limits of your ship. The Stern stays fixed, while the Bow moves forward and back as the ship is built and destroyed. These two tiles can never be destroyed.
• 68 Deck tiles. On the back, they show a Sail, which has no effect other than making your boat bigger. On the front, they show an upgrade that has game effects.
• 21 Explosion markers, to be assembled. They identify the tiles that will be destroyed by cannon fire during the Boarding phase.
• 63 Fuse tokens. Front: long 2; back: short 1. Fuses identify the cannons that are ready to fire, and when.

Setup

• Each player chooses a captain and takes his Figurine/Rudder, the Stern of the matching colour and a Bow.
• Line up the Sterns and Bows of all players (see diagrams), and place two Deck tiles on their Sail side, without looking at them, between your Stern and your Bow to form the base of your ship. (These tiles will not be turned over during the game.) All ships are side by side, their Sterns always aligned.
• Note: the Sterns form the base of the play area and are never moved during the game. Make sure you have enough room on the table beyond the Bow to be able to extend your ship.
• Warning! The rightmost ship is also considered to be to the left of the leftmost ship.
• Shuffle all the tiles and form a draw pile, placed Sail side up.
• Assemble the Explosion markers and gather the Fuse tokens.

How to Play

A game is played over 3 rounds. Each round is made up as follows:

1. Resupply phase
2. 3 successive Construction phases
3. Boarding phase

1 - Resupply

At the start of each round, all players draw 4 tiles and look at their Upgrade side without showing them to the other players. If the tile draw pile is empty, shuffle the destroyed tiles to make a new one.

2 - Construction (x3)

Repeat this phase 3 times to build a total of 3 decks each round. For each construction, repeat the following steps:

• Each player chooses a tile from their hand and places it next to their ship Sail side up, in the orientation in which they want to build it.
• Then they secretly select, with their Rudder, the rank where they want to build it (ranks 1, 2, 3...).
• All players reveal their tile at the same time, and extend their ship by placing it at the rank indicated by their rudder.

The direction of construction. When you reveal your tile, do it so that it keeps its orientation relative to your ship and to its Upgrade side. For example, if you want to place a cannon on the right (starboard), it must also be on the right when the tile is placed Sail side up.

Add Fuse tokens 1 and 2 on the tiles that have cannons. They indicate the firing order of the cannons during the Boarding phase.

At the end of each Construction phase, pass the tiles of your hand to the player on your left (or to the player on your right in the 2nd round).

Perform this phase 3 times. After the 3 Construction phases, players discard the tile remaining in their hand and move on to the Boarding phase.

Special Tile

The Rotten tile is placed after those of the other players. When you play a Rotten tile, select its rank normally with your Rudder so as not to reveal your intentions. After the players have revealed their tile and rank, you may change your choice and place your tile wherever you want on your ship.

If 2 players build a Rotten tile at the same time, they wait until the other players have placed their tile, then use their Rudder to indicate where they place theirs.

Warning! All Rotten Tiles are destroyed at the end of the game.

3 - Boarding

In order:

• Fire the cannons.
• Accumulate Treasures.
• Launch the boarding.

1. Cannon Fire

Except for the Repeating Cannon, or if you play with the expert rules, Cannons fire only once, in order of priority.

• Fire all the short-fuse (1) cannons of all ships at the same time: remove the 1 fuses one by one and place an Explosion on all the tiles hit, to be sure not to miss a shot. Once all the 1 shots have been made, remove all destroyed tiles and shorten the ships.
• Then fire all the cannons that have long fuses (2) at the same time.

Reminder: the Stern never moves. If your ship loses one or more tiles during a firing phase, shorten your ship by moving the tiles and your Bow closer to your Stern without changing their order.

The Short Cannon and the Repeating Cannon fire at the tile of the adjacent ship in the same rank. Place an Explosion on it if it is not protected by an Armour or a Spring.

The Repeating Cannon is always armed: do not discard its fuses; the short fuse 1 becomes a long fuse 2 and vice versa.

The Long Cannon destroys all the tiles of the rank until it is stopped by a tile protected by an Armour. Place an Explosion on each tile of the rank as long as you do not meet an Armour.

The Bombard lobs its shot at the tile of the same rank but of the ship after next, without being hindered by the defences of the ships. Place an Explosion on it.

Details on defences

• The Pipe is not destroyed by shots from Short, Long or Repeating Cannons. Their ball simply passes through and therefore destroys the tile of the next ship in the same rank.
• The Spring returns the shot to the sender (place an Explosion on its tile), except for Long Cannons, which are too powerful and destroy it.
• The Armour stops all balls fired by Short, Long or Repeating Cannons that arrive in front of it.

2. Accumulate Treasures

The Treasure allows you to store tiles by stacking them to enlarge your Ship at the end of the game. At the end of each round, place a tile from the discard pile or from the draw pile, Sail side up, under each Treasure.

3. Launch the Boarding

The Boarding Deck steals the adjacent tile. Stack the stolen tile on top of your Boarding Deck tile as it is (with or without fuse).

Warning! You cannot steal a tile that has a Boarding Deck (even if it does not face you), or if another player can also board it.

Example: no tile can be boarded.

Notes: if you are facing a stack of tiles, you take all the tiles of the stack whatever they are, without changing their order. Likewise, if you fire on a stack of tiles, you destroy all the tiles of the stack whatever the tiles and their defences below.

End of the Game

After 3 rounds, the ships are ready to set sail and the game comes to its end.

• Destroy all Rotten Tiles.
• Unfold the stacks of superimposed tiles (because of Treasures and Boarding Decks).
• The player who has the largest ship wins the game. In case of a tie, count all the cannons present on the ships still tied. The one with the most cannons wins the game. If the tie persists, there are several winners!

Rules for 2 Players

With two players, each player chooses 2 captains and places their ships alternating with those of their opponent. The players face each other. Place the tiles with Bombards in the decks used, Sail side up, to form your ship at the start of the game. The phases that change:

Resupply: At the start of each round, players draw 7 tiles instead of 4.

Construction: Choose 2 tiles from your hand instead of one, which you place in front of each of your ships, then choose their locations.

End of the Game: Only count the longest ship to determine the winner.

Expert Rules

Play with the Pirates. Their effects are activated as soon as a tile bearing one of these pirates is put into play and there are already identical pirates in play.

• The Carpenter: Another Carpenter of your ship, if you have one, builds a sail. Place a tile from the draw pile, Sail side up without looking at it, on top of the Carpenter that was already there. That Carpenter's tile no longer has any effect and loses its fuses if it had any.
• The Gunner: Relight the fuses of all the tiles of your ship that have a Gunner.
• The Saboteur: If only one player places a tile with a Saboteur, destroy all the other tiles that have a Saboteur on all ships (including yours). Nothing happens if several players play a Saboteur at the same time.

The Earth is Round

Warning, the ends of the play area are connected! This means that the rightmost ship of the play area is considered to be to the left of the leftmost ship and vice versa.

Example: Black Jack's ship (black) on the right is adjacent to Prosper's (yellow) on the left. Black Jack's shot (black arrow) destroys the tile of the yellow ship. Prosper's shot (yellow arrow) passes through Black Jack's Pipe and hits the green ship. The Baroness's shot (green arrow) bounces off the Spring of the black ship and destroys the tile it came from.

Tiles Reference

The Stern and the Bow can never be destroyed. All other tiles are subject to the hazards of the trade.

The Stern

This tile is always placed at the back of your ship, aligned with the Sterns of the other ships. This tile is never moved and cannot be destroyed.

The Bow

This tile is always placed at the front of your ship. Each player has one Bow. This tile cannot be boarded or destroyed, even by a Bombard.

Defence: it is considered to have Armour on all sides and above, as well as a Pipe. If a cannon fires along the axis of the Pipe, the ball passes through the Bow without damage and explodes on the next ship.

The Decks

All tiles have two sides. A front with an Upgrade and a back, the Sail, which has no effect but counts for the length of the ship. At the start of the game place 2 decks Sail side up between your Stern and your Bow to form your ship.

Cannons

When a tile with one or more cannons is put into play, add a Fuse of the length indicated, 1 or 2, on its cannons. A cannon always fires at an adjacent tile, that is, one at the same level as itself. If the adjacent ship is shorter, the shot continues to the next ship in its line of fire. Except for Repeating Cannons, a cannon fires only once.

Short Cannon: destroys the tile of the adjacent ship. Defence: it is stopped by the Armour and sent back by the Spring.

Long Cannon: destroys all the tiles of the ships in its line of fire. Defence: it is stopped by the Armour but ignores Springs.

Repeating Cannon: fires like Short Cannons but relights itself. Do not remove its fuses after the shot, but reverse them after the 2 shot. Defence: it is stopped by the Armour and sent back by the Spring.

Bombard: lobs its shot and destroys the tile located on the second ship in its line of fire. Defence: none.

Defences

• Armour: cancels the shots of all cannons that arrive from its side.
• Spring: sends back to the sender the shots of Short Cannons and Repeating Cannons that arrive from its side.
• Pipe: cannons fire through Pipes without destroying them. The shot destroys the tile of the next ship if it is not protected. Note: a shot can quite well pass through all ships if they all have a Pipe and destroy the tile it came from, or bounce off a Spring and pass back through the Pipe in the other direction.

Special Tiles

• Boarding Deck: At the end of a round, capture the tile (or stack of tiles) of the adjacent ship that faces your Boarding Deck and place it on top of your Boarding Deck. The acquired tile keeps its characteristics as well as its still-active Fuses. You cannot board a tile that has a Boarding Deck even if it does not face you. Two Boarding Decks that target the same tile have no effect.
• Treasure: At the end of each round, add a Sail-side-up tile from the discard pile (if there is any) or from the draw pile and place it under the Treasure tile. Reminder: if the Treasure tile is destroyed, all the tiles under it are destroyed too. If it is stolen by a Boarding Deck, all the tiles under it are stolen at the same time.
• Rotten Tile: When you reveal the Rotten tile, you may place it wherever you want on your ship after the other players have placed their tile, ignoring your Rudder. If several players played Rotten tiles at the same time, they secretly choose the location of their tile using their Rudder after the other players have placed their tile. Reminder: Rotten tiles are destroyed at the end of the game and ships are shortened accordingly, but they can avert catastrophes during the game.