Sequence of Play

Setup

This is where the adventure starts. Usually, each player will either have at least one Ship or a Stronghold, (Pyrate's Lair, Smuggler's Den etc.), which is their base and rendezvous. They will have a Captain figure, (a noble, stern but just, figure, the soul of generosity and repository of all finer qualities), and, in the first game, a fund with which to personalise their ship/stronghold and recruit their motley Crew, some of whom will be the Captain's "Officers", or other Specialists. All players should make these figures known to the other players. Between twelve and thirty-six figures for each player make for a good game. (See Officers). Players should individually or collectively be given their objectives.

The game may be overseen by an role-playing-game style umpire, or one player can act as player/umpire, (playing not to win but to provide an entertaining game), or all players can agree a scenario beforehand and amicably settle any unforeseen situations that arise. This is not a competition, sirrah, but an amusement. (For some scenario ideas see Scenarios). The responsible party or parties set up the table or other play area, (omitting any initially hidden features), and give players their starting positions.

Before the game proper starts Captains usually recruit, (see Spending it Wisely), and resupply, (see Supplies). In an ongoing Campaign, or sequence of games, this is the point where Captain's lose Crew who have been disappointed in their rewards, (see Loot). In the case of an open water adventure it is assumed that the ship has not long left a port and these preliminaries took place in the recent past.

Each player draws or is dealt, (face down), three cards from the shuffled and cut Chance Card pack. See Chance Cards to see what the cards mean.

The Initiative deck should be shuffled and cut, this is usually just an ordinary playing card deck, though special decks could be provided by the keen and artistically gifted. Or tokens could be concealed in a pot.

If ships are involved then the wind direction and strength must be determined, (see All At Sea).

The Game Turn
In real-world terms, a turn doesn't equate to any absolute period of time, but does represent minutes rather than hours. Roughly, it's the time taken to throw a ship about, or reload and fire a cannon or musket, or launch a boat or trek a few hundred yards up a jungle path or cross a rope bridge.... Time becomes especially elastic when resolving mêlées. Think of many recent films where the action slows down in moments of extreme excitement.

A turn consists of the following steps:

1) Action

• Someone Draws an Initiative Card
  
• Do Something, or Pass Up theInitiative, if you have the Initiative
• Pass the initiative to Port.
  
• Repeat the above two steps until everyone has passed or done as much as they can or want.
  

2) It Just Happens

• Momentum
  
• Drift
• Prisoners, Poisons, Pestilence
  
• Fires
  
• Swimmers & Sharks
  
• Recovery
  

3) Take a Chance
4) The Ticking Clock, (probably inside a crocodile).

Draw an Initiative Card or Token
You could use an ordinary pack of cards. If there are two players then one is Red and the other Black. If three or four players then allocate a suit to each player. If there are more players then be imaginative. Prior to the first turn they should be shuffled and cut.

• The top card is turned and the designated player has the initiative.
  
• Initiative can be Seized or Interrupted by another player.
  
• Each time the pack is exhausted it should be shuffled and cut again.

The Player with the initiative may make an Action. Granted, in real life many things would be happening simultaneously. That is quite complicated to translate into a game. One way of looking at it is to imagine a series of cinematic shots and cuts of the "Meanwhile, back on the Island…" variety.

Do Something
The player with the initiative announces that one or a group of their figures/models are going to perform an action. If the action is not listed explicitly in the rules then another player might give a convincing reason why an action sequence should be decomposed into several smaller steps, each requiring their own initiative. More likely, another player might suggest that said figure/model is already occupied this turn. Hearken to the jolly cry of "Well who's bl**dy sailing the thing? Eh?". It should be clear in the rules which activities are mutually exclusive, but just in case, use tact, discretion and reason before resorting to belaying pins.

If a figure has already been employed and then something else happens that ordinarily would have prevented the deed, then so be it, previous actions stand, e.g. a ship has moved and steered, it has then been boarded and the helmsman engaged in a little light cutlass play. Had the boarding preceded our ships move, then obviously no steering would have been permitted, but as it's already been and happened it can't be undone. Such are the joys of Initiative. The message is "do the important stuff first".

Actions
This is not an exhaustive list, nor should it ever be, as the inventiveness of the players is to be encouraged, and any Action not catered for in the rules should be carefully and impartially judged according to the Pyrate code, (more guidelines really), and then perhaps added to the list.

• Move a Ship, or Boats (see All at Sea)
  
• Move a Shore Party (see Shore Leave)
  
• Order Figures to Fire Cannons (See Cannons)
  
• Order Figures to Fire Small Arms (See Small Arms)
  
• Order a general Open Fire on a given target – this is one initiative action, but weapons of different range/calibre might be diced for independently.
  
• Order Crew aloft, (and in the next turn the Captain can gain any advantage from the extra sailors). Note that Crew in the rigging need not be sailors – e.g. sharpshooters in the tops.
  
• Take the Helm or order someone to do so
  
• Order Crew to the Guns
  
• Order Crew To Stations
• Order All Hands on Deck!!
  
• Order figures to Grapple or ungrapple (See Making Contact)
• Order figures to Board another vessel (See Making Contact)
• Order Crew to Abandon Ship.
  
• Order Figures to engage in Mêlée (See Mêlée)
• Signal a Combined Attack (See Shore Leave)
  
• Order some Breaking & Entering (See Shore Leave)
  
• Order a Party to Form Up or Break Ranks.
  
• Order a Party to Stand and Fire
  
• Order a Party to Hide.
• Order Figures to fight fires (see Cannons)
  
• Order Figures to Lower or raise the Anchors
  
• Order Figures to Lower/raise/tie-up/unloose/load or unload a Boat
  
• Order Figures to Embark on/disembark from a boat
  
• Order Figures to Set fire to something.
  
• Order Figures to Shoulder or drop burdens.
  
• Order Figures to Mount/dismount steeds.
  
• Assign Duties to Lookouts, Guards, Scouts or Messengers.
  
• Ship/Unship Oars
  
• Call for a Parley (see Parley)
  
• Try to rally a demoralised Party or Crew (see Morale)
  
• Hold an Election (see Officers)
• Break out the Rum (see Mutinous Dogs)
• Distribute some Treasure (see Loot)
  
• Make an escape attempt (see Prisoners)
• Try to liberate prisoners
  
• Trade/negotiate with other players or non-player figures, (this is not Parley)
  
• Deliver the Black Spot (see Mutinous Dogs)
  
• Etc……

Multiple Actions
Figures and models can perform more than one action in the same turn in some combinations, e.g:

• A party can move cautiously and then shoot in the same turn, or shoot and then move, but carefully.
• A ship can move as often as MA will allow, and can fire available firearms at any point in the turn, but any individual cannon or small arm can usually be fired once in a turn, if that.
  
• Crew could help grapple another ship and then swarm/swing over on the ropes as part of a boarding party.

Each step of these actions may require a separate Initiative, but some combinations involve special Initiative Seizing actions – e.g. a grappling action can be followed by an immediate initiative seizing Boarding action if the circumstances permit (see Making Contact).

There are also Special Situations i.e. Ambuscade, Fire As She Bears! , or En Passant attacks that allow multiple actions or interrupted actions to take place in one initiative.

Turn Actions
Many actions are designated Turn Actions. These take effect in the following turn. For Example, lowering a boat can be ordered at any time in the action phase, the two figures who carry out the action cannot perform any other action, and if they are not interrupted then the boat will be lowered by the start of the next turn.

Passing the Initiative
Initiative moves, like the port, (bottle of), to the left of the current player, unless "seized" or interrupted by a player, (who might be a player who has previously moved), invoking a chance card or special rule.

A player can "pass up" the initiative, without having taken an action, to the player on their left, (e.g. to see what the other player(s) will do). A player who passes cannot take the initiative again until another player has taken it, and if all players choose to "pass up" then the Action Phase is over.

A Player who has nothing that they can do must "pass".

The Action phase continues until all units of each player have had a chance to Act or all players have passed.

It Just Happens

• Momentum If ships or boats still have momentum (see All at Sea) to use up when theAction phase ends then they are moved now, on their current heading.
  
• Drift Any Drifting Ships or Boats are moved.
  
• Prisoners - See if Prisoners turncoat or escape.
• Poison - Check for the effects of e.g. Poisoned Darts.
• Pestilence - Check to see how any Fever progresses.
  
• Fires - See how any Fires are getting on.
  
• Swimmers & Sharks - Check that any swimmers are still afloat. Move any sharks towards them.
  
• Recovery - Wounded figures that rested this turn recover.

Take a Chance
If players have less than three chance cards they may Draw a Chance Card. Players with three cards in hand may elect to discard one before the draw in order to draw a new card. Draw cards in age order, oldest first, (optional). The humming of airs from Carmina Burana is also optional.

Increment the turn marker.
(One of those new Harrison Chronometers looks nice).

End of the Game
According to the scenario objectives, or as agreed by the players: e.g. last player still standing, player standing on biggest pile of loot after a fixed time/number of turns, first player to reach scenario objective etc.

© Baggins Wood Ltd. 2009