Sails of Glory vs Pirates!

How does our new Pirate game compare to Sails of Glory?  Great question. 

Ships

The Sails of Glory ships are painted and more colorful.  That’s cool. 

You could paint the Pirate ships if that’s what you prefer but I also kind of like black, monochrome look. 

They seem about the same scale.  Sails of Glory is all the Big ships:  Frigates and Ships-o-the-Line.

  Pirates does them all.  It comes with small ships:  Schooners & Sloops.  You can add on Brigs.  They have the Big ships you can add on later too.  It’s all one, comprehensive combat system that accommodates the whole range of ships.  Now it might not be much of a fight between the HMS Victory and a little pirate Schooner but you can sure try! Maybe a 12 pirate schooner swarm might start to get the Victory’s attention?

If you get closer match ups, it starts getting very interesting.  Like say 1 Frigate vs 3 Brigs.  Ok, the Frigate will certainly sink at least 1-2 Brigs.  The question is, can the Brigs coordinate and put enough lead into the Frigate before they sink?  With a little luck, they might just be able to pull that off.

SoG ships have a big square base.  That makes them feel more stable and accurate while moving.  I like that.  I don’t care for the way it looks.  It looks a little strange.  The Pirate ships just look like ships.

What is your Point of Sail?  In SoG that’s marked on the outside of the base of the ship.  It’s color coded and those colors match your movement cards.  Simple.  It makes sense.  Very intuitive. 

The Pirate ships have little nav bars that stick out to the sides.  You can tell what your Point of Sail is by which side of the bar you are on.  They aren’t color coded but they are easy to read and keep track of.  Essentially, it does the same thing.  It’s just a different way of doing it.

Movement

The basic concept of movement is the same in both games.  Players plan and select their next move in secret.  Everybody reveals their choice at the same time and then move simultaneously.

In SoG, you do this by picking a maneuver card out of your deck and placing it face down as your next move. 

In Pirates, you have 3 rotating navigation blocks. 

You rotate these around to set your course, direction and speed. 

Instead of a deck of cards to paw through, you’ve got just 1 clear movement template. 

At first I thought this wasn’t as good.  It seems like you have a lot more options to pick from in SoG.

Surprisingly, that 1 little template, does seem to cover all the possible moves in the SoG deck.  It’s just a different approach.  Once I got used to it, I kind of liked the template better.  It’s easier and faster. 

Now there are a few exceptions.  Pirates doesn’t have the broken mast move cards.  All the ships use the same templates.  There is a fast template and a slow one.  I kind of liked the fact that SoG has more custom, individual decks for each ship.  Yeah, in theory.  We compared some of the ships and actual moves.  In practice, there really doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in the end result of moving the ships. 

In SoG, the square base of the ship and the cards makes the moves feel more precise.  The Pirate ships feel a little squirrely.  They can spin slightly as you grab them and let go.  True but after playing some, this isn’t as bad as I thought.  In Pirates, the ships must always be ‘squared with the table’.  So you have to be at 90 or 45 degrees to the table or map edge.  Given that, if your ship rotates slightly to the right as you let go of it while moving, it is really easy to see that.  You can just give it a little nudge and straighten it out.  It is easy to make sure everybody is moving correctly and not getting off.  So like if you move 45 degrees to starboard and then 45 degrees back to port, you’ll end up parallel to the table again.  You can see that and make sure you are. 

In that way, SoG feels more real.  You can move in any angle.  Whatever the card says!  Who knows what angle it is?  I ‘feel’ like I have more options.  On the other hand, once I got used to Pirates, I didn’t really feel limited.  I could get to where I wanted.  I could make my ship do what I wanted.  Ok, so does it really matter if I can only move at 45 or 90 degrees?  Probably not.  In practice, it works just fine.      

So bottom line, SoG does give you more detailed and custom options for moving different ships.  Pirates streamlines and speeds up the process.  While actually playing, I didn’t miss the extra SoG movement options.  I still felt like I had plenty of choices to pick from, for moving in Pirates.

The points of sail, wind effects, in irons, sail speed and such are all very similar.  You can go fast, medium or slow.  Different points of sail will slow you down 1 step.  Sail damage can slow you down. 

One thing interesting in Pirates is that there are Schooners.  In SoG, pretty much all the ships are square rigged.  That means they go faster while running.  They go slower while reaching / beating into the wind. 

In SoG terms, the black directions would be Green and the white ones are like Yellow.

Square Rigged Ships

Well, the Schooners are opposite.  The Schooners are actually faster while reaching / beathing into the wind! 

Schooners

This makes for some interesting matchups and conundrums.  So maybe you have wind gage on me:  you are windward or up wind.  Ok, but if I’m sailing a Schooner, I’m faster reaching up into the wind towards you.  So the tactics would be totally different if you are sailing against a Sloop vs a Schooner, depending on who has the wind gage.  Tricky!  -and also fun. 

Combat

In SoG, you pull damage chits when you take a hit.

  In Pirates, you pull damage cards from a deck.  Ok, same basic idea.  Just like the movement, Pirates is more simple and streamlined than SoG.

The fighting process is more detailed in SoG.  You can pick what kind of shot you want. What you want to target.  You have to reload after you fire.  There is musket fire.  I like that.  On the other hand, it’s a bit fussy and slows the game down. 

In Pirates, you just fire.  You can’t pick what to target.  It’s just random.  Who knows what you’ll hit?  Their sails, crew, rudder? 

In SoG you take damage chits and place them along your track.  Kind of like hit points.  So once you reach your limit, you’re sunk right?  Essentially.  In Pirates, the damage cards are a lot more fun and narrative driven.  Instead of getting a certain number of A or B damage chits, your cards are like a damage report telling you what was hit.  So like you got sail damage that is reducing your speed, a fire has broken out that needs to be put out before it spreads, there is a hull breach that is leaking water now, 1 set of guns was destroyed, and you’ve lost a quarter of your crew. 

The broadsides in Pirates are DEVASTATING!  Holy cow!  It doesn’t take much.  One good broadside can very well sink you, or close to it.  Three in a row most certainly will!

After exchanging broadsides, you’re both going to be scrambling to keep your ships up and in the fight with damage control.  Combat in SoG feels more like a book keeping exercise.  Pirates is very tense.  You always feel like you’re on the verge of complete disaster.

The player decisions after an exchange are agonizing!! The problem is that you need your crew to both fire guns at the enemy AND repair damage. They can’t to both in the same time. Each crew card can only take 1 action per turn. So what do you have them do? Let’s say after the above broadside that you end up in each other’s firing arc and range again.

You have 2 crew cards left. That means you can only repair 2 of the 3 damage cards. This assumes that you don’t return fire. If your 2 crews fire your 2 guns, then you can’t repair any damage this turn. You can do that but if you do, that fire will spread and the breech will leak water into the ship. One turn of that won’t sink you but another turn of it could. Especially if you take more damage from another shot now!

How important is it to get those sails fixed? Do you need to pick up speed to escape? How important is it to fire the guns back at the enemy now? It is very dangerous to ignore a fire burning on your ship. It spreads exponentially. Water leaks are slower. Depending on your situation and what you are trying to do, there are many ways to respond to this mess.

This is ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea‘: A choice between to very bad options. What can you do to keep this ship afloat and give you the best chances of surviving another round?

How do the games compare? SoG feels more accurate and detailed to the period. It’s more technical. The battles also involve player ‘work’. Combat feels more like an accounting exercise. Pirates abstracts some of that detail but wow. It is off the charts for difficult and interesting player decisions, great narrative and tense / fun game play.

Game

What is the game?  In SoG, that’s all laid out.  You know.  You both have SoLs.  You have a little better firepower.  They are a little more maneuverable.  It’s a duel.  That’s the game.  Everybody knows that going in.  No mystery here.

In Pirates, this is all hidden and unknown to the players.

Imagine sailing around the Caribbean in that era.  You suddenly spot a ship on the horizon.  Who are they?  Why are they here?  What is their intent?  Are they friend or foe?  What do they have on board? 

You have no idea. All that is hidden on the ship cards. Are they just a peaceful merchant ship hauling cargo? 

Are they a pirate crew armed with guns?  Maybe they have a minimal crew with guns for defense but the rest of the ship is loaded with cargo.  Are they the prey or will you soon find yourself hunted and running for your life?  You have no way of knowing.

To me, this is the best part of the game!  You have to try to figure out what they are doing based on how they move.  Are they confident?  Sailing directly for you?  What happens if you change course?  How do they respond?  What does that say about their intent?

This cat & mouse game of trying to read and out maneuver your opponent reminds me of Star Trek II Wrath of Khan.  Bluff.  Threaten.  Posture.  Negotiate.  It’s all here.  So much fun!! 

Misc / Summary

They both play directly on the table top.  They are both about the same scale.  SoG is for military naval ship battles in the Napoleonic Wars.  Pirates is an earlier time period.  In the early days of colonial, exploration and trade in the Caribbean.  They both have pre-planned, hidden, simultaneous movement.  They both use some kind of moving template.  SoG has a deck of cards for moving.  Pirates uses one, clear, reversible card that also doubles as a firing range stick.  Pirates uses a deck of cards to keep the contents of the ships secret. SoG uses a ship card with tracks for damage and status. SoG uses damage chits.  Pirates uses damage cards.  SoG has extra terrain you can put down on the table for islands, shoals and such.  Pirates has extra maps you can buy with all that kind of stuff on it. 

The rules are much shorter in Pirates.  Holy cow!  Only about 6 pages and that is stretching it.  Really only about 4 pages of core rules.  Pirates is faster to learn and to play.  Faster action.  SoG is more accurate and detailed.  It seems to be more accurate in its historical detail. They have real, historical ships rated and compared to each other.  Pirates is better for fun, tension, narrative and putting you in the theme.  While playing, I feel like I’m really in the ‘captain’s chair’ at sea.

The Pirates ships are ok.  Kind of minimal.  Kind of a cool look, in that way.  I have to give the better ships to SoG.  All the painted detail, all pre done for you, all historically accurate.  Awesome.  That is cool.