It is the age of sail. Distant empires, hungry for the wealth and resources of the New World, have bankrolled colonies on these distant shores. Now, as ancient grudges and rivalries reignite, piracy and privateering are expanding from single-ship engagement into small flotillas commanded by young commodores. Their goal: take the seas back for their home nations, and perhaps win more than a little gold in the process…
Privateer is the first title in the Articles of War series. It is a fast-paced, hex-based naval engagement where 2 to 6 players use a combination of sailing, cannon-fire, and the occasional boarding action to sink or capture the ships belonging to their opponents. For each enemy ship dispatched, a gold doubloon is awarded to the attacker with ultimate victory going to whichever player has the most gold at the end of the game.
The central mechanic of AoW: Privateer is a special dice economy, where the active player rolls a combination of sail and cannonball dice based on the number of ships they have active and their strategic preferences. After rolling, they spend these dice one-by-one in order to maneuver their ships into position and target their cannons to eliminate enemies. Islands and reefs, placed by the players during setup, provide a limitless variety of map arrangements.
“Avast ye matey, there be a fat prize waiting to be plucked.” That’s the premise behind Articles of War: Privateer.
