I was waiting on someone to say this. I have the base game and the expansion… but sadly I haven’t played it yet. Had them for about 2 years now. A sad pirates life for me.
Merchant & Mauraders is ranked # 2 in Pirate themed games on BGG (beat out only by Maracaibo a euro with questionable pirate thematics) and overall # 281 for a reason. The fact that it almost never gets mentioned on this channel is a shame. It came in #10 on this list last time by Vassel in 2017 and was mentioned once as a top game of 2010. Everyone I show this game to loves it but it gets little love from the vocal community.
Got really surpised that M&M don't show up. I'm sure that these are amaizing games, but when I seen this title - I instantly thought about Merchants&Marauders... And I'm even not played them that much!
Suspicious of Analyis Paralysis in port acts. And the battle system has to be seriously upgraded!! (After 5 hours of building a powerful battleship a simple sloop jumps in and with 4 dicerolls fcuks you up) Otherwise a cool game :)
Forgotten Waters, Libertalia, Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates, Francis Drake, Grog Island, Pirate's Cove, and Tortuga 1667 would be on my list of favorites for sure!
1) Black Fleet 2) Pirates Cove (Others: Libertalia, 21 mutinees ) Upgrading rules and/ or artwork of Blackbeard, Broadsides, Merch & Marau, Francis Drake, Letter of Marque Soon testing out: T. E. Pirates Deluxe, Winds of Plunder, Colonial, Extraord. Adv. Pirates, Mutiny, Sea Of Clouds.
I realize this channel deals mainly with board/card/dice games, but my favorite pirate-themed one is "Blood and Swash". It's a set of skirmish rules using miniatures to simulate all of the fun pirate activities...raids, duels, tavern brawls...easily scaleable for multiple players.
Plunder: A Pirate's Life. Came out last year, nobody talks about it! Gorgeous board, fun components, gameplay is great especially with a bunch of people playing.
Merchants & Marauders, Tiny Epic Pirates, Tortuga, British vs Pirates, Rum & Bones, Pirates of the Spanish Main, Pirates Cove and Shiver me Timbers just to name a few. But Tom I always love to see your picks. You and my wife have the same taste.
I will write it every time 'Treasure Island' is mentioned: It's a great unique thematic deduction game that has far less clunkiness IF the person playing long john silver moderates the game and isn't a player playing to win. It fixes most of problems of the game.
As mentioned below Merchants and Marauders is the best pirate game (but it really does need the expansion to be the best). It can be hard to get at times though.
1) Merchants & Marauders with the Expansion Seas of the Glory - 2) Forgotten Waters - 3) Maracaibo - 4) Cartagena - 5) Jamaica with The Crew Expansion - 6) Port Royal - 7) Dead Man's Draw - 08) Treasure Island - 9) Pirate's Cove - 10) A Tale of Pirates. Want to try Dead Man Doubloons and Rum & Bones!
Hoping that Dead Reckoning will be the #1. In the meantime, 1-Maracaibo, 2-Francis Drake, 3-Dead Men Tell no Tales, 4-Libertalia, 5-Merchants and Marauders, 6-Jamaica, 7-Dead Man's Draw.
The Sea of Legends rulebook has been updated (and is continuing to be updated). You can get the latest .pdf via the latest Kickstarter update page. The printed version of it will be included in their next Kickstarter release. When the app updates are released it will make the app 100% more user-friendly. Can't wait for that since my group won't play it again until the kinks are ironed out of it.
I’ve prepared myself for a lot of eye-rolling, but Munchkin Booty is one of the better Munchkin theme variations and my go-to when anyone new wants to give Munchkins a try.
Plunder: Pirates Life. Classic gameplay feel. Absolutely fantastic for casual players. Merchants and Marauders is also brilliant for pirate fans wanting something deeper. Easily my two top picks!!
My Recommendation is a brazilian game called "Piratas 3° edição" from Geeks n Orcs. Very very good party game with a lot of take that. The expansion makes it even better.
Have you ever played it? Its not good. Its a rich get richer issue and lacks fun. I actually gave my copy away to a friend who has little kids becase Pirates Cove is pretty much a kids game.
Jamaica often makes your lists of best “gateway” games, and I think for that reason alone it should be on this list, even if at number 10. In my family, we like three pirate games: Jamaica, Black Fleet and Dead Man’s Chest.
Tom needs to try out Shiver Me Timbers. I wonder if they were sent a copy at the Dice Tower. It is very Sid Meier's Pirates! Should be added to the Dice Tower library. :-)
The Pirates Flag is a fun roll and move with ridiculous card play that we like with the full player count. Tiny Epic Pirates has some cool elements to it, I like the rondel system.
Yeah... Most fantasy stuff... For me Merchants & Marauders is THE pirate game since Blackbeard 1991; Should have made the list since is one of the few "actual" pirate games out there. PiratesCove is a great pic by the way, still have my coppy of it =) Anyway it is HIS top 10 -Edit- A lot of new people in the Hobby rely on those "Top 10 things"; Another reason, >I THINK
For Sea of Legends: They have made an update to the app (and more comming) as well as a new version of the rulebook. I have the game but put off playing it because of the initial critique it got.
Forgotten Waters is almost everything I wanted out of a Pirate Game and the only things it doesn't give me I get out of Rum & Bones Second Tide so I'm set!
Although it was a miniatures game, I miss the late Pirates of the Spanish Main Constructible Strategy Game. The game was hot while the concept was novel but it got bogged down with too much gimmicky stuff like submarines, sea monsters (which were almost never better than ships) and by the time Disney licensed out the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to Wizkids, the Bloom was off the rose. When it became rebranded with the Pirates of the Cursed Seas PocketModel name, the writing was on the wall.
My most played pirate game is easily skull king. A great trick taking game that does feel a little piratey based on what cards take what and just a lot of fun.
Great list idea! I just realized I own more Vikings then Pirate themed games. Vikings aren’t Pirates but similar murdering, plundering and wreaking havoc actions. Will need to rectify that hole in my collection.
Rum and bones is great, but you only get two factions and all the expansions are pretty much out of print or super expensive. The upgrade kit is nearly impossible to find, which is sad because there are so many factions never fixed to the 2nd tide system without the upgrade kit.
Merchants & Marauders is still the definitive pirate game for me but I get it's not going to be for everyone. Also I think Tiny Epic Pirates beats some of the games here. Dead Reckoning is looking like a contender too.
My favourite is still "Blackbeard" a Richard H. Berg design. I have, but have not played it yet, "Pyrates" the new game from White Dog games. Several pirate games do not make any of my lists as I do not like the Eurotrash type games.
Jack Sparrow fan. My list :) Merch&Marau should be the king. But needs serious rule development. WIP. Sea Rovers (has never come out/ Villain author/ too bad :) Captain's Log (overpriced/ bad-looking/ Merch&Marau spin-off) (Its rulebook will be used to rebuild M&M though) Dead Reckoning: incredibly overpriced/ merchants win-pirates enjoy game/ Merch&Marau knock off in its expansions. (Its rulebook will also be used to rebuild M&M though) Games like: - 21 Mutinies - Dead Man's Doubloons (Jamaica on steroids) - Tortuga 1667 (a good party game with min. 3 players) - M&M Broadsides (with rule-development) - Extrao. Adv: Pirates ( good no-three-big-things-in1time life-like lesson :) - Libertalia (1st Ed. kinda piratey trickster game :) - Letter or Marque (with rule-development) - Plunder: very good base of a big pirate game with rule development - Francis Drake (seabattle will be built in) - Dutch Golden Age (on the shelf, haven't tried yet) - Mutiny! (on the shelf, haven't tried yet) - Pirates Cove (got a complete graphics/ components redesign) - Blackbeard: Golden age of Piracy (HC) - Colonial (HC) - Winds of Plunder (HC) No.1: Black Fleet (The most fun :) 30% rule-developed/ graphics-redesigned. And 40+ additional development cards made. Hope it helps you, mateys :)
Closest I have seen to that is maybe Shiver Me Timbers... because it is also "sandboxy." I don't think it is out retail yet, though... it was delivered to Kickstarter backers not all that long ago.
@@KabukiKid the more I’ve thought about this, the more I want it. “Caribbean Legends” (that would HAVE to be the name) could really be amazing while being different enough to warrant adding to a collection.
That's a lot of games with apps. I didn't know pirate games were going digital. World of Yoho is kind of crazy. I'm still waiting for a true pirate sand box game. Until then I think libertalia is the best of the bunch.
Yay for Libertalia & Treasure Island and YAY for Merchants & Marauders not on the list (why does it have so many fans? most of it is just brainlessly dice chunking)!!
Has to be Merchants & Marauders, even better with the Seas of Glory Expansion
I was waiting on someone to say this. I have the base game and the expansion… but sadly I haven’t played it yet. Had them for about 2 years now. A sad pirates life for me.
I have that one! It seems fun but I havn't played it, much like a pirate hoarding treasure I hoard board games instead of playing them.
Merchant & Mauraders is ranked # 2 in Pirate themed games on BGG (beat out only by Maracaibo a euro with questionable pirate thematics) and overall # 281 for a reason. The fact that it almost never gets mentioned on this channel is a shame. It came in #10 on this list last time by Vassel in 2017 and was mentioned once as a top game of 2010. Everyone I show this game to loves it but it gets little love from the vocal community.
Got really surpised that M&M don't show up. I'm sure that these are amaizing games, but when I seen this title - I instantly thought about Merchants&Marauders... And I'm even not played them that much!
Suspicious of Analyis Paralysis in port acts.
And the battle system has to be seriously upgraded!!
(After 5 hours of building a powerful battleship a simple sloop jumps in and with 4 dicerolls fcuks you up)
Otherwise a cool game :)
I was pretty sure that Forgotten Waters was going to be top, but I'm surprised Merchants and Marauders didn't get a spot at all!
Forgotten Waters, Libertalia, Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates, Francis Drake, Grog Island, Pirate's Cove, and Tortuga 1667 would be on my list of favorites for sure!
Dead Men Tell No Tells would be in my top 3
Dead men tell no tales is heavily underrated!! I believe it’s passed because it’s hard. It’s an amazing game
And co-op.
Aggravating circumstance :)
I'm surprised there was no Merchants and Marauders, or even Tiny Epic Pirates. I wonder how Dead Reckoning will affect this list once it hits.
M&M is the quintessential pirate sandbox game!
Tiny Epic Pirates is not a good game. At all. Easily the worst of the Tiny Epic series.
Tiny Epic Pirates is woeful, it has really put me off the whole series
Tom it has probably 10--15 years since you did a Old West/Cowboy Top 10 list. Please do one.
Technically, Maracaibo is a pirate game, but I guess it's a bit too serious to feel piratey.
For as much as it is imperfect, Merchants & Marauders is my preferred one, followed by Forgotten Waters. Great list!
Merchants & Marauders
Pirates Cove gets so much love, I’d really love to see it reprinted.
THE PIRATE REPUBLIC.... Why is NOBODY talking about this game. It's Mage Knight on valium. Sooooo good!
1) Black Fleet 2) Pirates Cove
(Others: Libertalia, 21 mutinees )
Upgrading rules and/ or artwork of
Blackbeard, Broadsides, Merch & Marau, Francis Drake, Letter of Marque
Soon testing out: T. E. Pirates Deluxe, Winds of Plunder, Colonial, Extraord. Adv. Pirates, Mutiny, Sea Of Clouds.
I realize this channel deals mainly with board/card/dice games, but my favorite pirate-themed one is "Blood and Swash". It's a set of skirmish rules using miniatures to simulate all of the fun pirate activities...raids, duels, tavern brawls...easily scaleable for multiple players.
Merchants & Marauders + expansion
Skull Tales: Full Sail
Jamaica
Silver & Gold
Plunder: A Pirate's Life. Came out last year, nobody talks about it! Gorgeous board, fun components, gameplay is great especially with a bunch of people playing.
Yep! Plunder is great.
It's a roll and move game. It has nice components but the gameplay is seriously lacking. Doesnt belong on this list.
Merchants & Marauders, Tiny Epic Pirates, Tortuga, British vs Pirates, Rum & Bones, Pirates of the Spanish Main, Pirates Cove and Shiver me Timbers just to name a few. But Tom I always love to see your picks. You and my wife have the same taste.
I will write it every time 'Treasure Island' is mentioned: It's a great unique thematic deduction game that has far less clunkiness IF the person playing long john silver moderates the game and isn't a player playing to win. It fixes most of problems of the game.
Can't believe Francis Drake isn't on here, my #1 "Pirate" game for sure.
Tis a great one!
Dead Men Tell No Tales would be high on my list. Have you tried Shiver Me Timbers? That would be my #1.
I like Loot, the classic Kinizia semi-trick taking game. Have played it with a lot of people at once. It's pretty fun.
As mentioned below Merchants and Marauders is the best pirate game (but it really does need the expansion to be the best). It can be hard to get at times though.
1) Merchants & Marauders with the Expansion Seas of the Glory - 2) Forgotten Waters - 3) Maracaibo - 4) Cartagena - 5) Jamaica with The Crew Expansion - 6) Port Royal - 7) Dead Man's Draw - 08) Treasure Island - 9) Pirate's Cove - 10) A Tale of Pirates. Want to try Dead Man Doubloons and Rum & Bones!
Hoping that Dead Reckoning will be the #1. In the meantime, 1-Maracaibo, 2-Francis Drake, 3-Dead Men Tell no Tales, 4-Libertalia, 5-Merchants and Marauders, 6-Jamaica, 7-Dead Man's Draw.
Dead Reckoning looks fantastic
The Sea of Legends rulebook has been updated (and is continuing to be updated). You can get the latest .pdf via the latest Kickstarter update page. The printed version of it will be included in their next Kickstarter release. When the app updates are released it will make the app 100% more user-friendly. Can't wait for that since my group won't play it again until the kinks are ironed out of it.
I’ve prepared myself for a lot of eye-rolling, but Munchkin Booty is one of the better Munchkin theme variations and my go-to when anyone new wants to give Munchkins a try.
Plunder: Pirates Life. Classic gameplay feel. Absolutely fantastic for casual players. Merchants and Marauders is also brilliant for pirate fans wanting something deeper. Easily my two top picks!!
What about Dead Men Tell No Tales?
I still love Pirates of Nassau. Very thematic and lots of customization.
My Recommendation is a brazilian game called "Piratas 3° edição" from Geeks n Orcs. Very very good party game with a lot of take that. The expansion makes it even better.
Looked for a copy of Pirate's Cove; found it listed for $446.85. Think I'll wait for a reprint lol
Have you ever played it? Its not good. Its a rich get richer issue and lacks fun. I actually gave my copy away to a friend who has little kids becase Pirates Cove is pretty much a kids game.
Jamaica often makes your lists of best “gateway” games, and I think for that reason alone it should be on this list, even if at number 10. In my family, we like three pirate games: Jamaica, Black Fleet and Dead Man’s Chest.
Forgotten waters is awesome. Yar!
Tom needs to try out Shiver Me Timbers. I wonder if they were sent a copy at the Dice Tower. It is very Sid Meier's Pirates! Should be added to the Dice Tower library. :-)
The Pirates Flag is a fun roll and move with ridiculous card play that we like with the full player count. Tiny Epic Pirates has some cool elements to it, I like the rondel system.
Dead reckoning, still waiting but so hyped!
The same
Huge fan of Merchants and Marauders, especially with the expansion. Also like Jamaica and Tiny Epic Pirates.
If it had ever become more widely available/marketed, SHIVER ME TIMBERS would def be on any "Best Pirates" game.
Yeah... Most fantasy stuff... For me Merchants & Marauders is THE pirate game since Blackbeard 1991; Should have made the list since is one of the few "actual" pirate games out there. PiratesCove is a great pic by the way, still have my coppy of it =)
Anyway it is HIS top 10
-Edit- A lot of new people in the Hobby rely on those "Top 10 things"; Another reason, >I THINK
My favorite is still, I believe, Merchants and Marauders, but Forgotten Waters is a hot contender.
I was waiting for Merchants and Marauders to show up... Awww... oh well, it's fine, everybody has their own taste and can like different things!
For Sea of Legends: They have made an update to the app (and more comming) as well as a new version of the rulebook.
I have the game but put off playing it because of the initial critique it got.
Forgotten Waters is almost everything I wanted out of a Pirate Game and the only things it doesn't give me I get out of Rum & Bones Second Tide so I'm set!
Tom : where is Jamaica !? -i mean the game, i have a vague idea where the island is located...-
Loot of Lima and Tortuga are my favorites!!! I think I would like Treasure Island or Forgotten Waters.
Great list. I'd like to see a companion list of maritime games excluding pirates.
Where was Merchants & Marauders? Together with the Seas of Glory expansion it's a fantastic game!
What about dead Reckoning?? I know it haven't gotten into stores but u guys already have the chance to play it.
Merchants and marauders, Jamaica, Francis Drake,pirates cove,dead mans dooblons
Although it was a miniatures game, I miss the late Pirates of the Spanish Main Constructible Strategy Game. The game was hot while the concept was novel but it got bogged down with too much gimmicky stuff like submarines, sea monsters (which were almost never better than ships) and by the time Disney licensed out the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to Wizkids, the Bloom was off the rose. When it became rebranded with the Pirates of the Cursed Seas PocketModel name, the writing was on the wall.
My most played pirate game is easily skull king. A great trick taking game that does feel a little piratey based on what cards take what and just a lot of fun.
Now that the big box of Port Royal is out, it may make your list once you play it.
Pop-Up Pirate number 1
Yeah I’d probably have to put that one in mine because I doubt if I’ve even played 10 pirate games. Lol
Great list idea! I just realized I own more Vikings then Pirate themed games. Vikings aren’t Pirates but similar murdering, plundering and wreaking havoc actions. Will need to rectify that hole in my collection.
Rum and bones is great, but you only get two factions and all the expansions are pretty much out of print or super expensive. The upgrade kit is nearly impossible to find, which is sad because there are so many factions never fixed to the 2nd tide system without the upgrade kit.
Very surprised Jamaica did not make the top 10. Did it make your previous top 10 Pirates games?
No merchant and marauders on the list or even mentioned?
Great list! Super fun!
Forgotten Waters! 💚
No Jamajka?
i like your pirate game reviews
Merchants & Marauders is still the definitive pirate game for me but I get it's not going to be for everyone. Also I think Tiny Epic Pirates beats some of the games here. Dead Reckoning is looking like a contender too.
My favourite is still "Blackbeard" a Richard H. Berg design. I have, but have not played it yet, "Pyrates" the new game from White Dog games. Several pirate games do not make any of my lists as I do not like the Eurotrash type games.
Skull Tales también es un gran juego de piratas
How on earth is merchants and marauders not on the list?
Jack Sparrow fan. My list :)
Merch&Marau should be the king. But needs serious rule development. WIP.
Sea Rovers (has never come out/ Villain author/ too bad :)
Captain's Log (overpriced/ bad-looking/ Merch&Marau spin-off)
(Its rulebook will be used to rebuild M&M though)
Dead Reckoning: incredibly overpriced/ merchants win-pirates enjoy game/ Merch&Marau knock off in its expansions.
(Its rulebook will also be used to rebuild M&M though)
Games like:
- 21 Mutinies
- Dead Man's Doubloons (Jamaica on steroids)
- Tortuga 1667 (a good party game with min. 3 players)
- M&M Broadsides (with rule-development)
- Extrao. Adv: Pirates ( good no-three-big-things-in1time life-like lesson :)
- Libertalia (1st Ed. kinda piratey trickster game :)
- Letter or Marque (with rule-development)
- Plunder: very good base of a big pirate game with rule development
- Francis Drake (seabattle will be built in)
- Dutch Golden Age (on the shelf, haven't tried yet)
- Mutiny! (on the shelf, haven't tried yet)
- Pirates Cove (got a complete graphics/ components redesign)
- Blackbeard: Golden age of Piracy (HC)
- Colonial (HC)
- Winds of Plunder (HC)
No.1: Black Fleet (The most fun :) 30% rule-developed/ graphics-redesigned. And 40+ additional development cards made.
Hope it helps you, mateys :)
Seems to me like a pirate version of Western Legends would have great potential.
Closest I have seen to that is maybe Shiver Me Timbers... because it is also "sandboxy." I don't think it is out retail yet, though... it was delivered to Kickstarter backers not all that long ago.
@@KabukiKid the more I’ve thought about this, the more I want it. “Caribbean Legends” (that would HAVE to be the name) could really be amazing while being different enough to warrant adding to a collection.
No Jamaica?! Insane.
Hi Tom, I like your list but did you consider Pirates of the 7 seas?
I still really like Dead Man's Doubloons, super fun game :)
Libertalia!
Easy Choice: Dead Men Tell no Tales
Black Fleet is my favorite game. But pirates cove looks similar 🤔
Merchants & Marauders???
Merchants & Marauders.
British vs pirates is a great skirmish game.
Yeah, BLACK FLEET!! I'm surprised to see My favourite game here 👌😎
Tiny Epic Pirates is cool.
I’m interested in a pirate game but none of these sound that good to me except maybe Rum and Bones.
We enjoy Black Fleet, best with 3 and 4 players
Jamaica?
By far the best pirate game is Caribbean..
I like Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot
Surprised not to see Merchants & Marauders nor Francis Drake. Shrug.
No Robinson Crusoe?!!!!
new rulebook for sea of legends is in pdf form for download
So sick of that "The Loop" box cover.
Yeah. It's hideous! It's a sponsorship deal btw.
@@lastburning ohhhh. I didn't think of that. Ugh. I'll be glad when it's gone.
it's gorgeous... so refreshing among so many mediocre medfan artworks.
@@bertrand391 Eye of the beholder, I guess.🙂
No to a game that uses an app. Part of the fun in a board game is there are no computers, phones, or anything like it. I just want a board game.
That's a lot of games with apps. I didn't know pirate games were going digital. World of Yoho is kind of crazy. I'm still waiting for a true pirate sand box game. Until then I think libertalia is the best of the bunch.
no Merchants and Marauders.....?? Insanity
Tiny Epic Pirates is a lot of fun!
Skull tales?
Tiny Epic
Sewer Pi-Rats!
Pirate’s Cove has a good theme. That’s about it. Tom is very much exaggerating with an “excellent” rating imo.
🤮 Merchants and Marauders SHOULD have been on this list. Tom gets a grumpy face from me
Yay for Libertalia & Treasure Island and YAY for Merchants & Marauders not on the list (why does it have so many fans? most of it is just brainlessly dice chunking)!!
No seafall🤣🤣?
No Jamaica :(
Next year: Dead Reckoning