Stonemaier Games | Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest | Board Game | Ages 14+ | 1-6 Players | 45-60 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

Well, one thing was for sure—they may all have the same crew at their disposal, but Maylene certainly knew how best to use their skills to their maximum potential. So should they still take the risk and play the top-ranked Governor even though they will lose a tie? The general flow of the game is that each day of a voyage players simultaneously select a character card from their hand to play.

However, there is a second automa thrown in that doesn’t do anything except play a card purely for its rank to keep you from gaming the real automa. It unfortunately won’t work, because several of Automa’s character cards refer to “you” and there’s no single “you” when there are two humans.

Now that we’ve played the new Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest, will it meet the fate of the original and find another home? The reputation tokens are randomly placed with yours and the Automa’s tokens placed in the third and fourth spot. Libertalia: Wind of Galecrest makes full use of the simple day, dusk, night and anchor system to come up with some really engaging effect combos, ensuring there’s plenty of variety among its motley crew. And that’s really what the game is all about – using the character abilities as best you can to maneuver into the lead with the most doubloons.

Ten years later, we’re celebrating the foundations of the original design with a heavily revised and expanded edition that includes all-new art, 40 characters per player, a reputation system to resolve tiebreakers, premium loot tokens, a robust solo mode, and much more.

Players send crew members to an island of riches every round, and that simple choice is at the heart of the game. There are 40 character cards and over the course of 1 game, players will only play with 18 of those characters (6 new characters added to players’ hands for each voyage). After the tension of waiting for the other players, you go up the scale and back down again, scrabbling to try and work out what the cascade of powers is going to be and what loot you’re going to secure. Libertalia is a game about making as much booty (yes, I mean treasure) as you can in classic ‘Golden age of Piracy’ fashion.

If there was a good (hook/map/chest) loot token and a bad token, Automa would play the third card from the right. I provided them with what I was looking to do, and they designed the box I needed, 3D printed it, and I purchased it.

The result is a solo experience that feels truly dynamic, where you find yourself coursing at the sneaky manners of an automated opponent whose soul and intellect consist of nothing more than a deck of cards. Based on my high praise surely then this is nothing short of a slam dunk, an instant and obvious recommendation for any solo board game player to pick up a copy of Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest as soon as humanly possible? Maybe it was meant to prevent kingmaking or dogpiling, but it just felt like my agency was being taken away for arbitrary reasons. e., a number between 1 and 40) and some type of special ability, which are broken into four types: Daytime, Dusk, Night, and Anchor.

Also, let’s be honest here, the metal coin upgrade is going to be top of most people’s wishlist after playing this game. There are a few references to adjacent players, which sit directly beside you on your right or left for certain effects. If you like Mission: Red Planet, Broom Service, and other hand-management games, we think you will enjoy sneakily managing your crew in Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest! Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is mostly a card game, with an identical deck for each player, and the cards themselves are something of a letdown.

What I’m trying to get across here, despite my poor Tube analogy, is the constant indecision and mind-reading attempts you’ll go through. Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is a game of reading your opponents at the table and working out what others might play.