Merchants and Marauders
Merchants & Marauders lets you live the life of an influential merchant or a dreaded pirate in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy.
180m
2 - 4 Players
Ages 13+
Merchants & Marauders lets you live the life of an influential merchant or a dreaded pirate in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy.
AdmiralACF
I had been looking forward to giving M&M a try for quite some time and recently got the chance to play a game with a friend's copy. I went in expecting a 3-hour marathon of high seas intrigue and ship-to-ship combat. Instead, the game finished in under 2 hours and the winner had reached 11 Glory, with the other 3 competitors at 2, 2, and 1 Glory each. Needless to say, this was a less than satisfying game. While I was one of the also-rans in this particular game, I am not so competitive that losing a game will sour my impressions of it. Instead, what bothered me was that the game was no contest. The winner had everything go his way. Granted, he made good choices and took advantage of his luck, but he so outpaced everyone else that it killed any sense of tension in the game. Perhaps the other players could have set out to try to sink him, but he was the first to gain a big ship and completely outclassed everyone else. I expected M&M to have a high degree of luck involved, but it was still disappointing to have all the luck go in one player's favor. I'd be willing to give it another try at some point, but this experience really dampened my excitement. UPDATE: I got the chance to play this a second time, and even with lowered expectations after my first play, I didn't come away with any higher opinion. This game ended with a closer score (10-5-4), but the ending was abrupt and anti-climactic. It simply seems that being a merchant is a much easier way to win than through pirating. Getting glory both for trading in three in-demand goods, along with the money from the trade, seem to be much more efficient than raiding merchant ships, with less risk involved. While I suppose I'd be willing to play this on occasion, I can't imagine myself asking to play it. My rating of a 6 will stand. +Lots of gameplay options. +Great job of capturing the theme. +Awesome plastic ships. +Allows for both peaceful (merchant) and aggressive (marauder) strategies. +Well-designed player aids. -High degree of randomness can lead to a runaway leader. -Lots of downtime, especially when opponents take a porting action and you do not. -Many of the ship upgrades are geared towards combat, which seems to be a relatively minor part of the game (at least in my one play). -Some fiddly rules (e.g. special weapons, harbor rules, crew combat). -Merchant strategy much more effective than marauder strategy. -Anti-climactic end game.
ahvanpelt
Very fun game. I thought there was a good variety of strategies and a good deal of thought that went into both short term and long term planning throughout the game. I would welcome another chance to play this!
Aerin Rainier
Merchants and Marauders is a game that we enjoy, but there are a few too many moving parts for my liking. It's a great Caribbean simulator, but the combat rules are difficult to grasp and it feels, at times, bloated with too much content. I'd like to see this game streamlined in a new edition.