Ice Pirates

Ice Pirates
Dan Isaac
Explore islands, battle opponents, and pilfer their ships and homes in an effort to become the wealthiest pirate around
:Players	Players:	2 - 5
:Time	Length:	unknown
:Complexity	Complexity:	unknown
Trios per color:		5
Number of colors:		1 per player + 2 (opaque)
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes:
Five-color sets:
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
1 postcard per player, a few chits or markers
Setup time:
Playing time:
Strategy depth:		unknown
Random chance:		unknown
Game mechanics:
Theme:		The wikipage input value is empty (e.g. <code>SomeProperty::, [[]]</code>) and therefore it cannot be used as a name or as part of a query condition.
BGG Link:		Ice Pirates
Status: complete (v0.5), Year released: 2005
Inspired by the "Pirates of the Spanish Main" Constructible Strategy Game from WizKids

Premise

You are a ruthless Pirate in charge of a fleet of mighty sailing ships afloat in a sea full of islands rich with treasure. Your only problem is that there are other equally ruthless pirates who are in charge of equally mighty fleets of ships afloat in the exact same sea. And guess what... they are after the same treasures as you. You must explore the islands, battle your opponents, and pilfer their ships and homes in an effort to become the wealthiest Pirate around. Only then will you get the respect you so rightly deserve.

Equipment

• 2 differently-colored opaque stashes of Icehouse pieces which will be used to create the Treasure Islands
• 1 additional stash of Icehouse pieces per player (each of a unique color)
• 1 postcard (or similarly sized object) per player which will be used as each players Home Islands
• A few chits or markers of some sort to indicate damage on the ships

Goal

Collect more than your fair share of treasure, from 4-8 treasures based on player-count.

# of Players	Win Condition	Calculation
2 players	8 treasures	(> 7.50 = 15/2)
3 players	6 treasures	(> 5.00 = 15/3)
4 players	4 treasures	(> 3.75 = 15/4)
5 players	4 treasures	(> 3.00 = 15/5)

Setup

Create 10 Treasure Islands by randomly assembling nests of opaque pyramids in two colors. Set the completed Islands upright in the middle area of the table. They should be distributed approximately evenly with no two nests closer than about 4 inches (the size of two larges) from each other.

Next, each player places their Home Island on the table. Like the Treasure Islands, they should be no closer than about 4 inches from any other (Home or Treasure) Island. Any remaining pieces may either be stored on your Home Island, or somewhere nearby but outside of the play area.

Play

Players alternate taking turns until one player has collected enough treasure on their home Island to win the game. Turn consists of up to three Actions:

• Fire a cannon from a ship that has not fired its full battery yet this turn
• Make repairs to one of your ships (That ship may not take any actions other than repairs this turn.)
• Move one of your ships that has not yet moved this turn
• Transfer cargo to and/or from one of your ships

Firing a Cannon

During a single turn a ship can only fire its cannons a number of times equal to its size, and each shot requires one turn action. So a Small ship may only fire once per turn, a Medium may fire up to twice, and a Large up to three times in a single turn.

All ships can fire cannons at objects up to a distance of one Large away, but only in specific directions.

To fire a cannon, hold a Large piece (regardless of ship size) such that the entire base side of the Large touches one of the two long sides of your ship. The Large piece indicates your possible target area. If the object you wish to shoot at lies in the area covered by the Large piece, and is not obstructed by anything, then you can hit that target.

Illustration 1: Firing a cannon — cannon range examples. (Blue pieces indicate the ship position. Gray area indicates where the cannons can reach.)

When a ship is hit from cannon fire, it takes one point of damage. You can use some form of chits or other markers to indicate ships that have already taken some damage. The damage stays with the ship the remainder of the game until it is repaired. For large and medium ships, make sure to move the damage counters along with the ship whenever you move it.

A ship is Disabled (stood upright with its cargo stacked in a tree on top of it) when it has taken damage equal to its size. A Disabled ship cannot take any further damage until it has been repaired. However, it also cannot perform any other actions besides repairs.

Making Repairs

You can use your turn-actions to make repairs on a ship which has received damage. It is possible to perform repairs to remove some or even all of the damage on a ship. You can use any number of your turn-actions to remove one point of damage each from a ship. For example, you can use all three of your turn-actions to fully repair a large ship which has been Disabled.

Any ship which receives repairs in a given turn must not perform any other actions that turn. (Neither before nor after the repairs.)

A Disabled ship which receives repairs should be laid back down on the table such that it generally covers the same area that it did while it was upright. It can be pointed in any direction you wish. Any cargo that is still with the ship is returned to its hold. (Nested back inside of the ship.)

Ship Movement

As one Action, a ship can move up to a maximum number of steps based on its size.

Ship size	Steps for one action point
::L	1 step
::M	2 steps
::S	4 steps

Each ship-movement step is made as follows:

• Take a spare pyramid that is the same size as the ship that you plan to move.
• Place that piece such that the center of the new piece's Stern (base of the pyramid) touches the Bow (point) of the ship to be moved.
• Orient the new ship in the direction that you wish it to move and place it down.
• Then remove the original ship from the old position. (Any damage counters and cargo should be moved to the new ship location as well.)

Illustration 2: The blue piece indicates the original ship, and the gray area shows the possible positions for the ship after one step.

Continue this process until you have either gone as far as you wish, or until you have traveled the maximum distance allowed based on the size of the ship. (See Illus. 3)

Illustration 3: Distance and movement examples (Blue pieces indicate the initial ship position. Gray pieces indicate individual steps and possible stopping points. Yellow pieces indicate the furthest step that the ship can make.)

You must travel in steps as listed above. A ship must move in increments of its size. No partial-size moves are allowed, only moves that are a number of full steps less than or equal to the maximum. (e.g. A small can move the length of one, two, three, or four small sizes, but no portions of a small unit. For instance, it cannot take two and a half size moves.)

If a ship would come into contact with another object or the edge of the playing surface during a move, then the move is not allowed.

• Note: It will be impossible to orient the new ship in some directions, such as at a 90 degree angle or even straight back, as the new ship position would overlap upon the previous one. Also, it is possible to have a ship in a position such that there are no possible valid directions that it may move. (Its path could be blocked by another ship, or an obstacle such as the edge of the playing field.) In these cases that ship is currently stuck and cannot be moved any further this turn.

Docking & Transferring Cargo

As a side effect of moving, if a ship stops close enough to another object (Treasure Island, Home Island, or another ship - active or disabled) on the playing field, it is said to have docked with that other object. The ship is "close enough" if there is some area between the ship and the other object which is narrow enough that you would be unable to fit an upright small between the two objects.

When you are docked with an object, you are then able to transfer cargo between your ship and the other object as one turn-action. (Regardless of how much cargo is transferred to and/or from your ship.)

If you are docked with a Treasure Island, you may "explore" the island for treasure by lifting the island and examining its contents. The island should then be returned to its original location. You are not required to show anyone else the contents of the island you have explored, but you can if you wish. This "exploring" does not count as a turn-action, but can only be performed when you are docked with the island.

You can use Docking & Transferring to take treasures from a Treasure Island, or even to steal treasure from an opponents ship, or even their Home Island.

Cargo Hold

Each size of ship can only carry a certain amount and type of cargo. The amount is based on what can nest within the ship's hold. Each size of ship can only carry a certain amount and type of cargo. The amount is based on what can nest within the ship's hold.

• A Small ship is too small to carry any cargo.
• A Medium ship can carry only a single Small piece of cargo.
• A Large ship can carry up to one Medium and up to one Small piece of cargo.

(Although it will physically fit, a Large ship is unable to carry two small pieces at the same time.)

Although the ships can hold only a limited amount of cargo, any island can hold any amount of item. If the items deposited on an island will not all fit nested inside of it, then the extra items may be stacked on top of the island instead.

Some (don't be so) Fiddly bits

• If there is any question about whether something is possible from a given situation (e.g. if something is within cannon range, if you can move without running into something, if you are close enough to be docked, etc.) then the answer is "No." You should try to make certain that your moves put you into position such that it is clear if you can hit your target, etc.

• In general, ships and islands should not be moved or jostled outside of actually moving them as part of your turn options. If something does get moved accidentally, you should attempt to put it back in its original position. There are no penalties for this happening, but try to avoid it.

Game End

The game is over when one player has collected enough treasure on their home Island to win the game.

# of Players	Win Condition	Calculation
2 players	8 treasures	(> 7.50 = 15/2)
3 players	6 treasures	(> 5.00 = 15/3)
4 players	4 treasures	(> 3.75 = 15/4)
5 players	4 treasures	(> 3.00 = 15/5)

History

Ice Pirates is the Martian translation of the Pirates of the Spanish Main CSG from WizKids. It was created by Dan Isaac, and is the predecessor of Armada.

Rules are available online.

The game requires three complete stashes, including two opaques. Thus, it requires a TenHouse set of pyramids or a FiveHouse set along with the discontinued grey stash.

Entered in the Icehouse Game Design Competition, Autumn 2005
Iceberg – Ice Fu – Ice Ice Baby – Ice Pirates – Intersect