Black Fleet Review

Here’s a fun fact about pirates. Did you know that pirates where murderers, thieves, rapists, and generally all-around disreputable cutthroats? They most likely had horrendous hygiene, too. Indeed, they wouldn’t even trust each other! Wait, you don’t want to play one of those pirates in a family board game? No worries! This game buries all of that uncomfortable history like treasure on a deserted isle. These are caricatured buccaneers, which means they’re cute. Kind of like your seven-year old dressing up as Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween.

To be fair, which real pirates were not, in Black Fleet you only portray such scoundrels for one third of the game. You’ll spend the rest of your time either running away from or trying to sink the scurvy sea dogs. In that sense, perhaps the title is a tad misleading. However, Honorable Fleet and Running Fleet don’t quite have the same ring to them. There is still enough piratical flavor to make booty jokes until your heart’s content, or until everyone else is annoyed enough to run your through or make you walk the plank. Hopefully not the former.

At its black and shriveled heart, this design is a solid pick-up and deliver game, which doesn’t sound much at all like the pirate’s life. That would instead be more akin to a “steal and keep and blow it all on rum and women” game. Black Fleet has elements of both. Well, not the rum and women. You command three ships plying about a non-descript sea, which is not surprisingly reminiscent of the Caribbean. The map is chock-full of little islands which create a watery maze that will both save and frustrate you in equal measure. Your merchantman will navigate from port to port, picking up goods and delivering them with as little incident as you can manage. Your pirate sloop will sail around attacking other merchants and stealing cargo. Meanwhile, the players jointly command a pair of His Majesty’s frigates, hoping to intercept and sink those pesky enemy corsairs. All of these actions earn gold which you use to upgrade your fleet and eventually pay the governor’s daughter’s ransom, which some other pirate demands. Obviously, you didn’t kidnap her. Remember, you’re not that kind of pirate in this game.

If you’re looking for a deep or cinematic pirate adventure, this X does not mark the spot. Black Fleet is a boisterous Errol Flynn’s Captain Blood, rather than a pensive John Malkovich’s Blackbeard. It’s a light and breezy high seas romp. While you’re not completely at the wind’s mercy, there’s a far bit of randomness under the sails. It’s difficult to plan from one turn to the next because the board constantly changes and the next commodore’s move is rather unpredictable. Mostly it’s a game of tactics, adjusting and reacting to opportunities. There are choices to be made, but if you succumb to analysis paralysis, then quite frankly you’re playing the wrong game.

Movement cards resolve navigation. On a turn you’ll pick one card from a hand of two. The card stipulates how many spaces your ships may move. Each card lists your three vessels with a number beside them. One card might allow the merchantman six spaces enabling it to slip away from prowling pirates. However, it gives your own buccaneer a lousy number preventing it from catching up to some fat prey nearby. Which do you choose? Then there is the naval ship. If you hold a card which can get the Royal Navy to sink a pirate, it behooves you to do so no matter what the allowance provided to the rest of your flotilla. Their usage tends to be solely attacks of opportunity because they’re slower and, thanks to the shared control, typically roll around like a tennis ball on a water bed.

Movement cards can also provide fortune cards which give players one-time, rules-breaking abilities. These cards and the ship upgrades, which are unique and ongoing benefits, give the design much needed variety. The primary ailment that pick up and deliver games suffer is monotony. Rote loading and unloading ad nauseum can quickly prove tedious. Fortune and development cards assuage that malady by mixing things up without complicating accessibility.

Black Fleet is also defined by well-implemented player interaction. It is pervasive and unlikely you’ll be able to completely avoid it, but it makes thematic sense. It injects tension and a sense of excitement as you begin the chase or try to elude one. Most appealing of all, it’s not crippling. With all the clearing for action and firing broadsides, single attacks result in the loss of only one goods cube. Sure, it might be frustrating to be a frequent target. However, even if you’re sunk, vessels respawn next turn and you’re ready to exact revenge! So while pick-up and deliver mechanic is the game’s heart, interaction is its soul. Far from discouraging players, all of these elements allow them to embrace it.

Even with its interaction, Black Fleet is a light-weight design with superb ship sculpts that will equally please casual and family gamers. Indeed it’s a nice choice to introduce newcomers to conflict and spite, as it’s not overly contentious. Simple and with little downtime, it delivers plenty of action and smiles. It may not immerse you in the Caribbean world, but Sebastian Bleasdale’s accessible design is good for a jaunty cruise around the table and kicking lots of booty. Yes, the booty jokes will be hard to resist.