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Publisher<\/b>: Walter M\u00fcllers Spielewerkstatt<\/p>\n
Author<\/b>: Ronald Wettering<\/p>\n
Tester<\/b>: Aaron Haag<\/p>\n
Game Tested<\/b>: 1993 edition (OOP)<\/p>\n
Scenario<\/b>: Having fought for hours with heavy seas the crew of the Santa Timea
\nfinally gives up and abandons ship. The last words of the captain still ring in their
\nears as the crew boards the lifeboats: “Rette sich wer kann” (trans.
\n“Every man for himself”). While they watch the Santa Timea sink officers and
\ncrew suddenly realize that the years of negligence pay their toll as the first leak
\nsprings: the boats are not at all suitable for a long journey! Luckily enough, three tiny
\nislands are visible in the distance and fighting with the heavy waves seven boats try to
\nreach the safety of their shores.<\/p>\n
The Game<\/b>: The game begins with the crew boarding the life boats. Three to six
\nplayers in turn place one of their officers and sailors into a boat that still has seats
\navailable. Once boarding is completed players are faced with a random selection of
\nsailors in these seven boats. Each of the boats only has to move three spaces to reach
\nthe safety of an island but movement as well as all other decisions are strictly based on
\ndemocratic majority votes. All votes are open so there is ample possibility for
\ndiplomacy, back stabbing and revenge. An important role is given to the turn leader, the
\nman “with the stick”, as he will break any ties. So timing is an issue when
\nplanning a coup.<\/p>\n
Voting is performed by selecting the desired color (boat or crew) secretly on a little
\nwheel and revealing the vote simultaneously with all other players. Each player has three
\ntimes the possibility to solely decide the outcome of a vote, overruling all of the other
\nvotes, by selecting the “captain’s hat” instead of a color on the little
\nwheel. There is a nasty catch to this though: if more than one player decides to use this
\n“wild card” they cancel each other out.<\/p>\n
Each round begins with deciding which boat is to spring a leak. If the boat decided
\nupon by the majority still has vacant seats one of these vacancies is filled with a blue
\n“water” token. Every now end then players select a boat with no vacancies in
\nwhich case one of the men aboard has to leave the boat immediately and is replaced by the
\nleak. This again is resolved by a majority vote but this time only those players having
\nmen in the boat in question are allowed to vote. Each sailor has one vote, each officer
\ntwo, so its good advice to avoid having minority in a boat. Its also a good idea to
\n“support” your valuable officers with at least one sailor in case you have to
\nselect one of your men to leave a boat.<\/p>\n
After the leak has been placed the boat is checked for safety: it will immediately
\nsink if there are more leaks than remaining men aboard who will provide ample food for
\nthe waiting sharks.<\/p>\n
The next decision the players face is which boat should move? Again all players
\nsecretly select a color (or the hat) and the vote is resolved as explained above. After
\nonly three moves a boat reaches the shores of one of the islands and all men aboard jump
\nto their safety, yielding victory points for their players.<\/p>\n
Now comes the final phase of each round, which adds spice (and chaos) to the game.
\nStarting with the turn leader each player has to take one of his men off one of the boats
\nif possible, since it is not allowed to take more than one man out of each boat. Then,
\nbeginning with the player who last made one of his men jump out this player decides into
\nwhich boat his man should climb back into. It is not allowed to climb into the same boat
\nthe man had just left. This again may lead to a situation where a crew member is unable
\nto re-board leaving him to instantly drown. If this happens all boats are checked for
\ntheir safety again, i.e. whether there are at least as many men aboard as there are
\nleaks. Even unattractive boats with many leaks suddenly become the only option to prevent
\none’s man from sure death – a bird in the hand …<\/p>\n
After about an hour’s play all boats have either sunk or reached an island and the
\ngame ends.<\/p>\n
Playing Time<\/b>: The rules are explained in less than 10 minutes, the game plays
\nin about 60 to 90 minutes depending on the “negociation skills” of the
\ngroup.<\/p>\n
Similar Games<\/b>: Flusspiraten<\/a> (Klaus Zoch, Walter M\u00fcller), Intrige<\/a> (Stefan Dorra), Adel verpflichet<\/a> (Klaus Teuber)<\/p>\n Westpark Gamers’ Opinion<\/b>: The game is real fun if you don’t take things More often than not your are faced with the proposal to sacrifice one of your As you can imagine this game needs the right set of players to enjoy. No hurt feelings Like all games from Walter M\u00fcller’s Spielewerkstatt the game components are of Aaron’s Rating<\/b>: 6 (out of 10)<\/p>\n Westpark Gamers’ Rating<\/b>: 6.5<\/p>\n
\ntoo serious. Negotiations can be swift and players who like double crossing and revenge
\nwill have the time of their life. Sometimes it may be hard to stop those two players who
\ndecided to gang up on the others and who constantly help each other. Due to the clever
\nmechanism of changing boats in the last phase of every turn there is however sufficient
\nopportunity for the other players to break the alliance by having these men end up in
\nboats with mainly “hostile” crew.<\/p>\n
\n“hat” votes just to prevent the leader(s) to move a particular boat. As hard as
\nit may sound but this very often is the only chance to prevent early victory of a player.
\nThe problem is: will the group reward this sacrifice later on or will they kick your men
\noverboard at the next opportunity? (“Oh, sorry about that – yes, you’re
\nright, you did us a favor earlier. We shouldn’t really have done this!”<\/i> …
\nfollowed by an evil grin). Alliances shift constantly and back stabbing and revenge are a
\npredominant element of the game.<\/p>\n
\nhere or the game will not be enjoyed. Some tactical whining comes in handy though
\n(“Why me again, I’m last anyway…”<\/i> as Moritz likes to say) just to
\nbe able to prepare for the winning coup later on. Saving those valuable “hat”
\ntokens for later can be a tremendous advantage, too – so take all your negotiation skills
\nand convince the other players that someone else should vote with the “hat”.
\nAll in all it is better to not expose oneself as the early leader giving all other
\nplayers a clear choice of whom to kick out of a boat next round.<\/p>\n
\nexcellent quality. Ships, men, “leaks”, hat tokens and turn leader log are of
\nhigh quality colored wood; only the voting “wheel” is a bit cumbersome to
\nassemble due to the double sided selotape used (I’d recommend taking a very close
\nlook at how this is intended to be assembled as it is hard to correct any mistakes).<\/p>\n