Old Salt Preview

One of the coolest things about the board gaming hobby is how it brings people together, and Old Salt is the prime example of that for me personally (Laura). I met the designer back in college when we were both in the University of Northern Iowa School of Music. We were pals, but after graduation and as time passed, we kind of fell out of touch. But lo and behold! One day, as I was perusing Facebook, I came across a post on his profile – he was designing a board game! I reached out to him, and here we are! Board games revived our lost friendship, and it’s great to be back in touch with him again. So yeah, there’s the backstory about this. But down to business. Let’s check out Old Salt, a gateway naval strategy game, by new designer Tim Ferry III!

Disclaimer: We were provided with a review copy of Old Salt. The components pictured are not finalized, and will most likely change in final production. Also, I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook, but rather provide a general overview and understanding of the gameplay. -L

Old Salt is a game of naval strategy in which players sail the seas, eliminate enemies, and conquer islands in hopes that they will be declared the Old Salt. The ultimate goal of the game is to be the first player to conquer and control 6 islands, or to be the last player with ships still in play. To setup, place the game board in the center of the table and set the coin tokens and damage tokens off to the side. Each player will take a bag of matching components to represent their faction. *Note: Each faction has a set of special abilities, thus offering a more advanced level of play. The use of faction abilities is completely optional.* Players will then randomize the Tradewind tokens, claim their 3 starting islands, construct their fleets from the 5 available ship types, and deploy their ships (see the rulebook for the finer details of each step). When all ships are on the board, the game is ready to begin! The picture below is the beginning setup for a two-player game.

Over a series of rounds, players will take turns performing various actions. The first action option is to Sail. On your turn, you may Sail with up to 3 of your ships. All ships have a sailing range of 3 hexes. Although you cannot move all of your ships each turn, you can still perform other actions with them. For example, you may Fire at enemy ships. To do so, count the number of hexes between you and the target – if they are within 5 hexes, they are in firing range! It costs 1 coin (per shot) to Fire at enemies, so keep an eye on your earnings. The distance between the 2 ships is the minimum number you must roll on the provided d6 (numbered 1-5, with one blank/miss face) in order to hit the target. If a target is hit, they will gain a damage token to help track remaining health. When a ship runs out of HP, it is destroyed and the attacking player collects the mast of said ship. Facing/positioning can affect the difficulty of your shot, so think carefully each time you move! The final action you may take is Seize an island. In order to perform this action, you must get a ship adjacent to an enemy island. You will then pay 2 coins, and turn in a mast (collected from combat) belonging to the faction that controls the island. Exchange their banner on the island for one of yours, and you are now one step closer to victory!

A couple of other points – Tradewind tokens. Each round, a new Tradewind token will be revealed, and corresponds to set areas of the board. When a Tradewind token is active, Sailing through hexes of the matching color grant you an extra hex of movement. The Tradewinds remain in effect until another token of the same color is drawn – then the Tradewind has passed, and Sailing in those areas returns to normal. Next, there are 5 different types of ships, each with certain abilities. When deploying your fleet, strategize so your ships are in positions best suited for their type. And finally, money. On your turn each round you will collect a number of coins equal to the number of islands you control (min. of 3 coins). Firing on enemy ships costs 1 coin and Seizing islands costs 2 coins. Figure out how to best spend your money to maximize your strategy and prowess on the seas! The game will end in one of three ways. Once a player has Seized control of 6 total islands, they are pronounced the winner! If all enemy ships are destroyed, and you are the last player with ships remaining in play, you have won! Or if enough rounds pass that the entire Tradewind token pile is depleted, the player who controls the most islands at the end of that round is declared winner.

I know that probably sounds like a lot, but once you get into the actual gameplay, the rounds and actions are pretty intuitive and straightforward. There are really only 3 main actions: Sail, Fire, and Seize. How you use those 3 actions to build your strategy is the challenge of this game. Will you hit the seas, cannons blazing, and hunt down enemy ships at all costs? Or will you try to stay off the radar and skirt around bigger combats in hopes of remaining unnoticed? There are so many strategic options in Old Salt, and that keeps it engaging and entertaining for all players. Add in faction abilities, and you’ve advanced the gameplay to a new level! Each of the 6 factions has 3 unique abilities that can be used at various points throughout the game, and they add another layer of strategy to the gameplay. The fact that you can perform as many actions on your turn as you want to/are able to kind of adds a bit of a push-your-luck element to me, because it forces players to decide just how risky they want to be. Spend all your remaining coins to try to take out an enemy ship, or save some for next turn, where you will hopefully be able to reach an island and Seize it? The possibilities are endless, and each game will keep all players thinking.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a review copy of the game, and the components are not finalized. We always take a second to talk about components, so I will do that even though this is not a production copy. The board itself is big, thematic, and clear to understand. The coin and damage tokens are nice and chunky, and the damage tokens come in two different colors to represent different values of damage. One of the coolest components, in my opinion, are the ships. Each of the 5 ship types is color-coded for ease of identification, and each ship token has a slot where you will literally insert a mast token! So on the board, it really does look like neat little ships sailing around. I just think that’s so clever and neat, and definitely adds to the overall immersion of the game. The iconography of all factions/masts/banners is clear, and everything is just fun to look at. So even though this is only a review copy, the production quality is pretty good, and I can’t wait to see what the finalized components look like!

I have to admit that I’m not generally a person that enjoys combat-based games, but I have to say that Old Salt really changed my thoughts on the genre. Yes, there will be combat, but deciding on a strategy and adapting it as the board changes between turns adds a challenge that I just cannot turn down. Once you get going, the gameplay itself is pretty straightforward. But be warned – players prone to AP might drag out their turns by considering every single option, causing some stoppages in the flow of the game. Not a knock on the game, but just a note when deciding with whom to play! Old Salt is definitely a good gateway game into heavier wargames. If you’re wanting to check out that genre, but are nervous about starting with some of the heavy hitters, consider giving Old Salt a play. It gives you a good taste of that style of gameplay, without being too overwhelming.