Objective:
The objective of Corsairs is for players to act as pirates and capture merchant ships to earn points. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game, collected by successfully capturing ships or safely delivering their own merchant ships, wins.
Components:
- 48 Pirate Ship cards (in four colors, numbered 1 to 4, plus four black pirate ship cards numbered 1 to 4)
- 24 Merchant Ship cards (valued from 2 to 8)
- 4 Admiral cards (one per player color)
Setup:
- Shuffle all cards and deal 8 cards to each player. The remaining cards form the draw pile.
- Each player chooses a color. The black pirate ships are neutral and can be used by any player.
- Decide who begins the game randomly or by rolling a die.
Gameplay:
The game is played in rounds, with each player taking one of two actions:
- Play a card:
- Lay down a Merchant Ship: Place a merchant ship in front of you as captain. This indicates that you are trying to safely deliver this ship. From that point on, other players can attack it using pirate ship cards.
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Play a Pirate Ship or Admiral card: Place a pirate ship or Admiral card alongside an open merchant ship to attack (if it's someone else's) or defend (if it's your own). Pirate ships assign base combat values, while the Admiral counts as 5.
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Draw a card: Draw the top card from the draw pile.
Special Rules:
- Capturing Merchant Ships: To capture a merchant ship, the attacking player must have stronger pirate ships of the same color than the defending ships combined. Black ships do not bind to a color and can be used as “wildcards”.
- Safe Delivery: If a merchant ship reaches its destination without being captured, the captain scores the points indicated on the card.
- Admiral Cards: These can only be used for defense, adding 5 points to the defending side.
End of the Game:
The game ends when the deck is exhausted and players can no longer draw cards or when all cards have been played. Players tally the values of the merchant ships they have captured or successfully delivered. The player with the most points wins.
Strategic Considerations:
- Attack Timing: Consider when to launch attacks on merchant ships. Attacking too early or too late can be problematic as other players' pirate ship resources may vary.
- Use of Black Pirates: These can be used as any color, offering flexibility but consider the impact on your own hand strength when using them.
- Defense with Admirals: Using Admiral cards to defend valuable merchant ships can be crucial—consider their usage wisely.
