Guns or Treasure Preview

I know, I know. ANOTHER pirate game? Yep! Some may feel that this theme is overdone. They would be quite wrong. There are so many themes in board games I thoroughly enjoy and of which I will never tire: pirates, Sherlock Holmes, fantasy, music, Disney, and absolutely no theme at all. So come at me with your pirate-hate. But check your tears at the door because when I stomp you in Guns or Treasure, I will show you no mercy!

Guns or Treasure is a piratey adventure card game of bluffing and deduction for two to six players. In it, players assume the role of a pirate captain aboard their ship, both attempting to destroy enemy ships and win the most booty at the end of the game (you already know I’m going to make booty jokes in a pirate game).

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T

To setup, shuffle the deck of captain cards and deal one to each player. The players will chooses which of the double-sided card they wish to play. Shuffle the large deck of ship cards and deal each player six cards. Choose a starting player per the rules, and the game is setup and ready to begin!

Guns or Treasure is played over a series of phases: Shipbuilding, Marauding, and Scoring. During the four rounds of Shipbuilding, players will be playing three cards from their hand per round. From their current hand of six cards, players will determine which they will use for their bow (the front of a ship), and which they would like to use as sections of the stern (back of the ship). Ship captains are able to use their cards in one of two ways. They may begin building a new ship by playing a card face-up, showing its value in guns, treasure, or bombs (suits of the cards). On future rounds, players will be starting ships (cards face-up) or adding onto existing ships by playing cards face-down. The values of cards played face-down therefore contain hidden information from all other players. Once all players have finished playing three cards from their hand, they then draw three more from the stack of ship cards and repeat the Shipbuilding until 12 total cards have been played to the table by all players.

The ships are built, and now it’s Marauding time! The first turn in this phase all players are required to Attack one of an opponent’s ships. The attacking player chooses one of their own ships to initiate the Attack, and also chooses an opponent’s ship to directly Attack. Both players reveal all face-down cards in their ship to compare battle values. Simply stated, the player showing the most Guns icons wins the battle and gathers ALL Treasure cards involved in the Attack. However, should one of the involved ships contain any number of Bombs, both ships are completely destroyed and no treasures are awarded.

After the first turn (so on subsequent turns) players may choose to send one ship out to Attack another ship, or they may instead choose to Retreat by revealing their chosen ship’s cards and gathering all the Treasures found into their personal score pile.

When all ships have been either destroyed or scored, gameplay ends, and the Scoring phase continues. Players count their score piles and the captain with the most Treasure icons wins!

Components. Again this is a prototype copy of this game. That said, this is a box with a bunch of cards. The cards themselves are fine, but the true star of this game’s components is the art. Personally, I have grown to appreciate and love this art style. It is cartoony without being a children’s Saturday morning cartoon, but blocky in its lack of shading and fine details. For a light card game like this, it’s all the art I need. The ships are great, and the captains are each individual and interesting.

Continuing with that theme, these captain cards each offer a special ability that may be a once-per-game effect or even an ongoing effect. For example, one captain card states that “All your value 1 and 2 treasures count as guns in battle, but are still scored as treasure.” Another states, “All your ships count as having an additional +1 gun.” And another, “Once per game when you are being Attacked by a ship, you may declare ‘Parlay!’ The owner of the ship must choose to Attack a different ship.” These special effects, when played at just the right time, offer game-changing (and strategy-destroying) experiences that I certainly appreciate.

I think that without the captain abilities, this would be a decent little game. However, once these are added (and they should be used in EVERY game), this decent little game grows up quite a bit to an awesome and quick card game that offers much more variability and vitality. Guns or Treasure has already garnered more backers just from me playing it with other people. I see lightbulbs going off atop others’ heads, and I usually am asked to play, “Just one more time!”

The quick gameplay, easy ruleset, great art, and satisfaction earned by playing and winning this game will definitely keep it in my collection for a long time. I knew that this would probably be a decent game from Castillo Games, because I really enjoyed previewing their first title, Rescuing Robin Hood, and just had a feeling that this publisher is on the right track. I could not be more excited for them and for this project to get going. I know a lot of gamers are going to have a blast with this one, and it may yet earn a spot in my travel bag that I take with me everywhere I travel.

If you are like me and enjoy quick and light games with a good amount of variability, but with entry-level rules, then I urge you to check out the Kickstarter campaign for Guns or Treasure, with launch scheduled for August 2, 2022. Go ahead and throw a note in the comments letting us all know your thoughts on the game and its pirate theme. There is definitely still room in MY collection for more pirates.