Should You Buy Plunder: A Pirate’s Life?

Plunder: A Pirate’s Life is good fun for any pirate lover. If you’re buying a gift for someone who’s into pirates I think they’ll have a blast.

What I will also say is that the randomness of this game is without mercy. People who are competitive by nature, or who generally don’t like “luck games,” will probably find Plunder to be frustrating.

In a way it kind of adds to the fun of the game, cause everyone has the same fair chance. If you’re having a hard time with your rolls you might feel like it’s only you having troubles. My wife for instance is somehow the luckiest dice roller of this generation. While I, on the other hand, am not.

So that’s my big advice for anyone who’s thinking about buying. Know that a good amount of this game is based on the luck of the dice.

Other than that the game is fun to look at. Easy to learn and set up. It makes you feel like a pirate captain. Has 2-player gameplay and also a team variation.

What’s Plunder: A Pirate’s Life About?

Plunder: A Pirate’s Life is about building your fleet and capturing islands for “Plunder Points.” You start with one ship, a starting island, and set out to discover and conquer the sea. Find resources in buried treasure, while also fending off enemies who want to steal your islands.

General Information
Play Time: 20 Minutes/ Person
Designer: KC Schrimpl
Recommended Age Group: 14+
Player Count: 2-6 Players (including Team Play)
Difficulty 1-10: 4

How Difficult Is Plunder: A Pirate’s Life?

The difficulty of Plunder is medium to low. Learning the Plunder starts off intimidating because of the size of the box and amount of pieces. After reading through the rules, you realize that everything moves and plays how you would expect it to.

When it comes to gameplay the most difficult part is not being able to control the combat or the movement of your ships. Your fate is controlled by the dice rolls.

What Is The Gameplay Like For Plunder: A Pirate’s Life?

The gameplay consists of the players rolling dice to move around the board, collecting “Buried Treasure,” combating islands, and other players. 

As you progress you will spend resources to build onto your ship for extra firepower and movement speed.

Each island owned, ship built, and enemy ship sunk, will get you a “Plunder Point.” The first player with 10 Plunder Points wins the game.

What Do You Think About The Artwork/Components And Board Design?

Ever since Captain Jack Sparrow, pirates have been on my list of super cool things. Ships, swords, and treasure, how could you get any better? Therefore, any of my opinions on a pirate game will be skewed. 

Board Design And Card Design: The water design is clean and realistic. The islands and water match perfectly together. I thought it was fun how they used some of the islands as obstacles.

One of my favorite parts is the replayability of the board. Each section of the board has two sides, which can be rotated and placed in random locations every time due to the many different orientations and sides of the board. You frequently play with a unique board setup.

The pictures for the different card resources are perfect for a Pirates game. The only thing I would change is putting a label on what the resource is. Some of the people I played with got confused while I was teaching them the game.

I’m saving the best for last, the ships are super cool. The 3D prints came out great for all the ship’s accessories. The ships themselves look awesome, I really like the big skull they put on the back of the ships. I’m a big fan of when games create solid miniatures for their games.

Is The Box Organized Well?

Plunder: A Pirate’s Life is the star example of how a big box game should be organized. Everything has its place, and everything fits perfectly. It’s very satisfying to put everything back in the box at the end of the game.

How Do You Setup The Board To Play With Only 2-Players?

Normally when you set up the board for more than 2 players you will use all the boards and all the ocean tiles. With only 2 players you will only use the borders A through L and 1 through 12. For the ocean tiles, you will leave out the two tiles with merchant islands. The board will look something like the above picture, the only difference will be the islands will be different. Also keep in mind that with this new board setup, you will only use the numbers 1 through 12 on the spin dial.

Would You Recommend This Game To Pirate Fans?

Yes! Building a fleet of ships to look for buried treasure?! Destroying your enemies and taking over islands is the way of the pirate. It takes the “no mercy” feel of being a pirate and brings it to a fun board game. They even have different ways to threaten, bribe, and make treaties with other players. What can be more fun than threatening your friends and family for precious loot?

What’s The Best Way To Win Plunder: A Pirate’s Life? 

This is a great question. I have tried a couple of different methods to improve my odds of winning. My short answer is, I don’t know. I will tell you what I’ve tried and let you know how it went. 

First I tried building as many ships as fast as possible. My first game doing this went well but my second game went terribly wrong. I couldn’t get the resource cards I needed to build any new ships. I probably spent half my game just trying to get one resource to build my second ship. It was a pain.

My second strategy was to not focus on ships first but focusing on taking over islands instead. In my first game, I quickly took over two other islands. I quickly snowballed into the end game with a full fleet and 4 total islands after taking another shortly after finishing my fleet. My first game went unbelievably well with this tactic. But like the first method, my second game of this strategy went terribly. I could not for the life of me, defeat a single level 1 island. I just couldn’t roll good numbers, I spent half the game just trying to make something happen after losing 4+ fights against level 1 islands. In the end, I barely had anything to my name.

After spending most of my game having bad rolls I decided on my next game that I would go for islands again, but this time I would bring more firepower. So I bought the maximum amount of cannons and went to my first island and…lost after rolling a 1! Fortunately, the next try went better. I think I still lost in the end but this method felt better.

Due to the amount of rolling, I think early cannons to help improve your rolls are the best option to gain some kind of advantage.

That is my advice for a “strategy” for anyone. Get early cannons, hopefully take a few islands, and then with the resources build out your fleet.

What Are Plunder Points?

Plunder Points are what you need to win the game. You gain Plunder Points by doing different tasks. Owning an island gains you 1 point. Owning a ship gains you 1 point. Sinking an enemy ship gains you 1 point. Spend 5 gold cards to gain a point. Certain buried treasure cards will also reward you with Plunder points. Plunder points come in two forms, some through a physical card, and some by simply having something in your possession (like a ship or island.)

How Many Plunder Points Do I Need To Win?

You need a total of 10 Plunder Points to win the game! For example, if you have a full fleet of 3 ships, own 2 different islands, sunk 2 of your enemy’s ships, and 3 Plunder Point cards. You will have a total of 10 Plunder Points. The instant you have 10 points you’ve won the game.

Is The Game Over When I Run Out Of Ships?

There are many different ways to regain a ship after losing your fleet. Draw a resource card for every island you own as usual. If you have no islands and no Plunder Point cards, take one resource card of your choosing from the individual resource decks.

1. Roll two dice. If you get doubles, you gain a new ship.
2. If you fail to roll doubles, you can elect to acquire a ship in other ways: If you have the required resources, you can build a ship.
3. You can exchange one Plunder Point card for a ship.
4. You can exchange five gold for a ship.
5. You can disown an island. Remove your flag and gain a ship.
6. You can still conduct trade with a player docked in your port or docked at a Merchant island. After trading, you can elect to gain a ship if possible.

You can only acquire one ship through this process. Your ship starts with three lives but does not start with any masts or cannons. Place your newly acquired ship in one of your available ports. If you have no ports available, spin the compasses to determine the ship’s new location. Should the compasses place your ship on land (or atop another ship), choose any adjoining ocean space to place your ship.

What Do I Do If An “X” Lands On My Ship?

If the X relocates beneath one of your ships, that counts as finding treasure. Draw a Treasure card and relocate the X again. If the X relocates beneath an opponent’s ship, that X can only be accessed if you (or a subsequent player) sink the ship first. Otherwise, the opponent will collect the treasure at the start of their turn.

How Long Does A 2-Player Game Last?

A game between my wife and I usually took about 45 minutes. We’ve had a couple of games where it was around 30 minutes but that felt like a rare occasion.

How Does The Storm Work In Plunder: A Pirate’s Life?

At the beginning of the game, the storm has a set location based on spinning the letter and number dials. Put the storm directly over the center of the square spun. After the initial setup, if a player rolls a 1, the storm will be spun again to be placed in a new location.

To enter or exit the storm you will need to give up 2 resources of your choosing.

Any islands that are contained inside the storm will not receive a resource card at the start of the owner’s turn.

If the storm is placed on one of the edge squares, I usually will still place it with the center of the storm being on the square. This will lead it to “hang off” the board a bit, but that’s just how my family plays it.

Conclusion

To wrap this all up I will say that I did have a lot of fun learning and playing this game. I still want to play more games with more people in my groups. I also want to give the team variation a try and see how that plays out.

Overall, my only real problem with this game was how more luck is involved. If for some reason you’re not having a lucky day, you will probably become frustrated at some point in the game. Otherwise, it’s a fun theme, with some cool artwork and game design.

My Wife’s 2 Cents

3 Games We Recommend

Thanks for taking the time to look over my review. I hope that it brought you some value. God Bless.