Naturelich Games

Seeräuber designed by Stefan Dorra. Published by Queen Games. 3-5 Players

Game Background

Are you ready for a 20-30 minute filler game? Or something which works nicely with your children? Then Seeräuber (Buccabuneer) from Queen Games might be just the right thing. It comes with the ever popular pirate theme: rum, treasures, boarding ships, mutiny, rum, treasures, boarding, treasures, boarding, rum, rum, rum...

Artwork

Fifteen ship cards, 5 pirates per player, ducats and some pieces of booty. That's all the content we get. That's all the content we need. The pirate-pieces are made of thick wooden discs in different colors. After opening the box, stickers with funny-looking pirate faces have to be pasted onto the discs. The ships are printed on wonderfully thick and water-resistant cards. As if Queen Games knew how clumsy I can be at times. Protection has to come first. To sum it up: the game is made up of high-quality components and the artwork is good. But it's a small game and don't expect 1455 plastic pieces or a game board in the size of 4x4 square meters. Buccaneer is small and simple.

The Booty

The Rules

At the start of the game, each player puts five pirates in their color in front of them. Each pirate forms a separate stack. Three ship cards are laid out in the middle of the table. The pirates are going to raid these three ships. The ships come in different sizes: the bigger the ship, the better the booty and the more pirates required to board it. Small icons on the ship cards indicate how many pirates are required to board the ship, how much booty can be "earned" and which treasures are available. The pirate captain will get the first pick at the treasures while his second-in-command might get a second treasure (only if the ship is big enough and carries two treasures). All the other pirates in the crew will only get paid in ducats. Which is not bad either...

Two ships

How do the pirates board the ships? Players have to move their pirates to form stacks. This is done by taking one of your own pirates or pirate stacks and placing him on top of another player's pirate (or pirate stack). This stack is then put in front of the player who has got the top-most pirate. This fortune-hunter has just become the captain of the stack. On your next turn you can use this stack to board a ship and get the prize. Unless, of course, one of your co-players does not put one of their pirates on top of your stack. In this case, your opponent will become captain and can board the ship on his next turn. Unless, naturelich, you don't regain control over this stack on your next turn.

This "I want to be the Captain"-game does go back and forth. But it does not go on forever. The reason is simple: whenever the captain decides to board a ship he has to pay his crew. Let's assume the ship is worth 20 ducats. This prize is shared among the raiders. The captain takes the 20 ducats and has to pay all other players first. The amount is determined by the pirate's experience. While experienced pirates get paid 5 ducats, novices can be hired for only 2. Some shady pirates bear a question mark. Their payment depends on the size of the ship.
In an unfortunate case, the captain will have to pay more to the others than he will get from the ship. Nobody likes opening their private ducat chest, but buccaneering is a difficult business. Therefore, players should carefully remember who is in their crew before they board a ship.

The boarding party

This mechanism can lead to pretty interesting stalemate situations. Players steal the stacks from each other until the stack is simply too high and raiding the ship would be financially unattractive. This captain is pretty doomed. Particularly if the crew contains three or more pirates from one other player. Can you guess what happens? Mutiny... As the other player's tiles are more or less blocked, they can force the captain to raid the ship. As I said, a Buccaneers life is complicated.

The stalemate mechanism is mitigated by the fact that the captain earns the ship's booty, e.g. treasure chests, barrels of rum, candlesticks or daggers. The player who manages to acquire the biggest collection of each type will earn additional ducats at the end of the game. Here comes the real big money that can balance some expensive raids as captain of too large a crew.

Game play and Strategy

Buccaneer is a fast-paced game. Moving the stacks is extremely quick and players will interact on each turn. This creates a tense atmosphere when approaching a stalemate situation and players are constantly required to plan ahead, evaluate actions of others and adjust their own strategies. Should I board the big ship with my big stack? Will someone else please captain this expensive stack? Can I get another pirate into that other stack to force Joe to board a ship? Should I board the ship and open my private chest just to get the barrels of rum?

Summary

Buccaneer has a lighter "vibe". The game does not suffer from analysis paralysis. At least not in my gaming group(s). If your group consists of players who love to do their maths then Buccaneer is not for you. This will kill the game. Players have to play it quick, decide fast, observe the others carefully and take intuitive decisions. The resulting tension and interaction will create a light-weight and fun 20-30 minute session.
The game scales equally well from 3-5. It's not designed for two players as it simply would not work due to the great amount of predictability. Four players might be the best size to enjoy the game.
Buccaneer has the potential to be a great filler as well as a decent shorter gateway game. Easy, light and fun. Particularly suitable for families. The game's nomination for the prestiguous Spiel des Jahres 2006 award is justified. Although Buccaneer did not win (as it was probably too light), Stefan Dorra has created a fun little gem.