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

Product Information

But even then, I had actually tried the original Libertalia for the first time ever last year and thought it was ok at best. My main gripes were that the design seemed to age poorly in terms of game length, graphic design, tiebreaker resolutions, strategic depth, and so on. Lo and behold, Winds of Galecrest was revealed along with what appeared to be smart solutions to all of the problems I had with the original game. So despite my primal instincts warning me to stay away, I couldn’t help but give Stonemaier Games and Libertalia another chance. In the timeless words of Aragorn: “For Paolo.” …or Frodo. Why not both? We also love how each player carries over to the next voyage any characters remaining in their hand. So even though everyone will add in the same new 6 characters to their hand, each player’s options will still be unique to them for the next voyage. Going into the 3rd voyage, I’ve got a lot of options. Libertalia Winds of Galecrest expertly updates what was once an exciting pirate game to make it even better. There are only three loot tokens per day in a two-player game. The Midshipman sets the stage to not only battle for what loot you want, but what loot you can potentially force the other player to take, such as the nasty money-consuming cursed relics. The game feels much more combative at two, but that was a plus for me, and I really enjoy it.

To tell the truth, I did not expect to be buying another title from Stonemaier Games, especially so soon after having my fill of Scythe and Wingspan, growing weary of Tapestry, losing interest in Pendulum, and completely bouncing off of Red Rising. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with these games, it simply felt like my tastes and their offerings were diverging further apart. That is until the head of Stonemaier, Jamey, announced Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest—an updated design from one of my favorite creators, Paolo Mori—and he suddenly had my attention again.The game slowly ramps players up to a full hand of cards. Rather than beginning the game with a full hand of nine pirate cards, players begin with just 6. Then after the voyage they’ll be left with two cards in their hand they’ll carry over to the next round. Drawing six new cards to add to those, they now have a hand of 8 to use. Then during the final voyage, they’re holding a full hand of 9 cards. This helps players become comfortable and familiar with their cards and abilities without overwhelming them with so many to read all at once. However, if you plan for it, you can take advantage of the situation. If you play the Smuggler, you get to choose a loot token during the day phase instead, so you could force some other poor sap to take the hook. Or perhaps you just play the Bodyguard and discard all hooks and sabers for money instead. You could play the Scout and replace it once you have seen what cards everyone else chose.

Another note about Automa is that it likes money and will gain a boatload of money throughout the game. A lot of the regular character abilities are translated into gaining coins (which makes sense given that this is the likely outcome when playing against other people), which definitely makes the game more challenging. I was only playing on the regular difficulty (Automa starts on 0 coins) and I’ve only beat it twice (once sunny, once stormy). Before starting a new voyage, players get six new cards for their hand -- and this is where things really start to heat up. Although all players get the same six cards, chances are they played different cards during the preceding voyage which means everyone is now holding different hands. This brings a memory element into the game as you’ll be at an advantage if you can recall what other players are holding; but either way, it opens up more variety in potential effect combos. Despite this fresh blood, the arbitrary nature of simultaneous play does make the hour-odd play time feel a little overlong.

Libertalia was originally released in 2012. 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. Gone are the cardboard chits to represent the loot, now replaced with chunky Azul like tiles that are deeply satisfying and the scoring dials, while fiddly to assemble, is lovely to have on the board.