Is Merchants & Marauders fun? (What about EVERY OTHER pirate board game?)

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Use these links to skip ahead:
0:00 Introduction
0:34 FUN: FREEEDOMMM!
2:01 NOT FUN: PvP
3:16 FUN: Sexy arts
4:32 NOT FUN: UX/UI
4:51 NOT FUN: Randomness
6:16 FUN: Luck mitigation
6:56 NOT FUN: Port downtime
8:11 FUN: Theme!!
12:10 NOT FUN: Fussy rules
15:27 The Scales of Funstice decide!
15:51 i'm not nearly finished.
17:09 Pirate's Cove
17:53 Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot
18:34 Black Fleet
19:26 Jamaica
20:02 Jamaica: The Crew
20:46 Dark Seas
21:29 Chrono Corsairs
21:57 Piratoons
22:19 Piña Pirata
22:42 Liar's Dice
23:24 Cartageña, Libertalia & Treasure Island
23:49 Dead Reckoning
26:29 Conclusion
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Check out Merchants & Marauders on Board Game Geek:
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...
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[@jackbaligad7004]

Great video Ryan. I liked the “ramble” at the end, I thought it was nice to see a sort of comparison portion. I also enjoyed how the eye patch moved from one eye to the other.

[@trevorberry1395]

Loved the comparisons at the end. Extremely helpful

[@ganztaOne]

Been on the fence about this for a while now. Great video, thank you.

[@tjf0388]

Excellent video!!! I think because Merchants & Marauders did it so well any pirate themed game to come out in the future is always going to lend a bit of itself to M&M as it did it so well and got the theme absolutely spot on in almost every aspect. I myself am trying to create a pirate themed game and find myself paying homage to M&M in a lot of ways by using similar mechanisms (because if it aint broke dont fix it) whilst also trying to find new ways of making an immersive pirate adventure fit well thematically as well as mitigate some of that minor gripes and over complicated rules that M&M has. Tis a tough task!

[@gabrieljordaogarcia3057]

This game is awesome!!! Congrats to the great explanation!

[@j_atkinson]

Be curious to see what your thoughts are on Pirate Republic or it's upcoming reimplementation on KS.

[@Mattchew2232]

Star Wars: Outer Rim is a pretty great sandbox (if a little simple after several plays). Not too much PvP, for those that don't want that.

[@trevorallaby5780]

Fantastic Video! Thanks Ryan. I love M&M - it is a top 5 game for me. Really great analysis.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Trevor! It's great to hear the love. No one talks about this game any more!

[@amywright8333]

Great video, happy to see this game getting some attention! I'm looking forward to your how-to video. I'm only able to play this game once or twice a year and having a reference video to watch beforehand would be most welcome.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Amy! Shoot a quick email to [e-mail] and tell them you want to see a Nights Around a Table video for Merchants & Marauders! They seem a bit nervous about supplying me with the assets i need to make a really good-looking video.

[@amywright8333]

@@NightsAroundaTable Will do!

[@paulspo]

Great "Is it Fun?" video. I sill haven't played "Merchants & Marauders" (so many games, so little time!) but you sure are tempting me. Glad to hear your nice comments about "Dead Reckoning"... still waiting for me all-in pledge to manifest! I do enjoy the pickup and deliver aspect of "Black Fleet" and enjoy the NPC aspect of the game. I guess I'm going to have to shell out some shekels and finally pick up a copy!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

You’ll have a great time with Dead Reckoning for sure. i don’t know if anyone needs to own both?

[@wishmeheaven]

LOVE the honesty! ..I wish your bgg collection will be as honest as this review - And reflect your true opinion about board games which you've experience with in a simple numeric actual score. Nevertheless, great review, and you definitely should do it MUCH more often.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Louis! i'm doing one of these every month, so you can look forward to SEVEN more Find the Fun videos before the year is out!

[@Gallasl666]

I bought this game years ago. It never got to the table after I saw how heavy it seemed and knew Id never get anyone to play it. Thanks for reminding me why I bought it, Ill have to try the solo rules and see how I like it. I think I saw the expansion at my FLGS. Looks like that adds some good stuff.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

One of the NAaT crew is a big solo player, and M&M is one of his faves. i tried it on a stream and got knocked out in the third round, so YMMV. :)

[@christianhorvath791]

I really like this style episodes

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Christian! i'm committing to one a month... give that Subscribe button a whack and you'll stay in the loop.

[@aloharay]

agreed, especially with the expansion box. mix and match what you want to add into the base game. I also second the idea that Outer Rim gameplay may appeal to you.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

i‘ve had my one eye on it, for sure.

[@jametrics]

Thanks for the video! I made a mistake, as this was the first pirate themed board game I played. I too have played others since which all pale in comparison. I'll use this video to convince my group to let me play it again. It's been too long since I've taken to lootin' and plunderin'.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Ooh yeah - that's tough. That was my exact problem too. But i can still recommend Dead Reckoning, even though there's a lot of overlap.

[@jametrics]

@@NightsAroundaTable my favorite alt so far is treasure island just because it's different. Theme is ok but the play is really unique. Plus the artwork is pleasant.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@jametrics My big reservation with Treasure Island was that when i was making one video game a week for YTV, if i couldn't think of anything or was majorly pressed for time, i'd pitch a hotter/colder game, where there's a secret pixel on the screen, and whenever you click, it tells you whether you're "hotter" (closer) or "colder" (farther away). And you keep clicking until you find the pixel. Treasure Island just kinda looks like... that. Am i wrong?

[@jametrics]

@@NightsAroundaTable hmmm, it's weird because in short, I would say yes it's that way.... but if the group is good and people get HEAVY into theme. Accents, hats, eye patches, its a lot of fun. It's flawed, for sure, but it has a nice element of 1 v all, that's also a free for all. Plus being able to lie as a rule feels very piratey. It's a game that needs the right group. Without that it's dead in the water...

[@christopher3226]

While I am late to the video (I'm looking at Pickup and Deliver games currently), if you enjoy pirates, Rum and Bones: Second Tide feels like the high seas swashbuckling of something like Pirates of the Caribbean. It isn't mechanically similar at all, but it is a fun pirate battle.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks for the reco! i’ve seen it in stores, but have never explored further.

[@benhoff901]

Great video! I always enjoy your "Is X game fun" video and I loved the comparisons to all the other games. I really want to try Merchants & Marauders but I don't know anyone who would play a game that last more than 3 hour. I got Tiny Epic Pirates hoping it would give me a fun pirate feel in under an hour, but my group/wife did not care for it. Maybe Black Fleet is the answer? Can good pirate board gaming fun be had in under an hour?

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks, Ben! i haven't played TEP... what didn't your wife like about it? i love the heck out of Tiny Epic Galaxies, but i didn't enjoy Tiny Epic Quest, and can't put a finger on it. The bummer with Black Fleet is that it's out of print right now.... but it *does* give you an M&M feel without the M&M play length. But that's the trade-off: if you remove complexity, you also remove content. It's a different style of game entirely, but there's a lot of love out there for Forbidden Waters. It comes up every time i mention pirate games.

[@benhoff901]

​@@NightsAroundaTable My wife really doesn't care for pick up and delivery and that is the majority of what TEP is. My issues with it is that it just doesn't feel very piraty. There isn't any real consequences to battles and so you just need to win a couple to improve your movement and then it is just a race to sell goods and bury treasure. It felt little bit more like Tiny Epic Merchants. My wife also felt it was too long of set up and it was hard to get cubes in and out of those tiny ships.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@benhoff901 Interesting. It's amazing how un-piratey so many so-called pirate games seem, yeah? Give this one a whirl at a cafe when everything opens up (or just buy a copy if you're loaded). Wife likely won't enjoy setup and complexity here either though.

[@mikemudrow]

2 Pirate-themed Games I own are Loot from Gamewright and Tortuga 1667 from Facade Games. Neither are that piratey in the scope of this review, but so lots of fun. Loot is a fun up the ante kind of card game, almost a slow motion bidding game, and pretty fun, but it doesn't really work as well at 2. Tortuga is a social deduction tug-of-war game that works best at higher odd-numbered player counts--and it comes in a box that looks like a book, so that's cool. I also like Dead Men Tell No Tales, but you probably wouldn't because it's co-op.

[@reesew7218]

Take a look at The Pirate Republic there bringing another kickstarter this yr sometime looks good

[@demoninferno2960]

What do you think about Blackbeard? By the way, Feudum is an awesome sandbox.

[@dougcerulli8826]

Great video! I've been recently looking for a good pirate themed game and wondering how this classic compared to newer offerings like Dead Reckoning. I appreciate your analysis on theme versus mechanics, so I can get a good idea where this game would fall for me. Though I can probably strong arm my group to play this game at least once, I feel it will mostly be a solo game for me... using some rules I found on BGG. Seas of Havoc by Rock Manor on KS looked interesting, but I just did not care for the ship meeples - I'm so shallow sometimes! Davy Jones Locker: the Kraken Awakes currently on KS looks kind of cool

[@dougcerulli8826]

(hit send too soon) ... but doesn't appear as "epic" as M&M. Seafall, maybe? I haven't looked into that one very much yet. At any rate, found your video very informative and I have now subscribed to your channel. Thanks again.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@dougcerulli8826 ABSOLUTELY save your pennies for the Sea of Legends Kickstarter tomorrow, and thank me later.

[@samhugo5870]

Hhm some newer and smaller ones a missing to, Shiver me Timbers, Pirates Republic and the one going Kickstarter of Captains Log. Would like to hear ur thoughts on that…

[@NightsAroundaTable]

i’ve been subscribing to Shiver Me Timbers on BGG. The other two are new to me though!

[@DeyaViews]

I think Libertalia and Treasure Island might hit very close to being top tier pirate games! While Treasure Island doesn't have the level of freedom that M&M has, it does have the very tactile and playful feel of the components and the drawing you do in the game, and it hits perfectly on the "treasure hunt" part of pirate legends. I love that about it.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Treasure Island looms large on my brain's wish list, and i've nearly bought it a number of times. But what do you have to say for Libertalia?

[@user-xt9hv2vw9f]

There s one pirate game above them all. The best pirate game, really thematic and with different parts, and mechanics. It's Skull Tales

[@thomasalex9564]

A couple of house rules are needed for M&M :) Endless time too. Games recommended to try out: Blackbeard Winds of Plunder Colonial Francis Drake (with house rules) 21 mutinees Extraord. Adv.: Pirates BTW, are you looking for a mini-M&M? Tiny Epic Pirates + Curse of Amdiak Hope it helps :)

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Very cool - i haven’t heard of MOST of those! Thanks, Thomas!

[@thomasalex9564]

@@NightsAroundaTable You are welcome :) Glad I could help you.

[@grog3514]

What house rules are needed?

[@grog3514]

I would recommend firefly with the pirates and bounty hunters expansion. It's another long game though.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Thanks for the reco! Super digging Xia right now.

[@joshuag7027]

This game looks amazing. But also Forgotten Waters, is really worth playing if you like pirates/role-playing. It's definitely not anywhere close mechanically. But story and theme very Pirate.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Right! i realized there were a couple of pirate games i forgot to mention: Forgotten Waters, A Tale of Pirates, and Tiny Epic Pirates. i own the first two, but haven't managed to devote any time to them. And then i backed My Father's Work on Kickstarter this week, convincing myself i'd like Forgotten Waters, and it's a somewhat similar thing.

[@EX3LO]

Nice video ! What do you think about Tiny Epic Pirates as a smaller pirates adventure boardgame ? :)

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Haven’t played it!

[@EX3LO]

@@NightsAroundaTable because of you I just ordered Merchants and Marauders (2nd hand version) Can't wait to discover it !

[@danddjacko]

Blackbeard beats this game for theme

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Nearly everyone who comments mentions a new pirate game i’ve never heard of!

[@wishmeheaven]

Does "Tiny Epic Pirates" is a "Tiny Epic Merchants & Marauders" ..?

[@CptRoboto]

Great video. I’ll throw in Blackbeard by Avalon Hill/GMT. Also - “quality of life” and “vertical slice” - don’t listen to too many video game podcasts; it will ruin your vocabulary with silly phrases like these. Can’t wait for the play through!

[@NightsAroundaTable]

i was a video game developer for about 16 years. ;)

[@CptRoboto]

That explains it. At least M&M can’t be described as a “visceral experience for consumers” 🤮

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@CptRoboto Skin... crawling.

[@lioneart19]

What about The Pirate Republic?

[@NightsAroundaTable]

New to me! What’s The Deal?

[@SeekerLancer]

So I guess the takeaway is that it's maybe not the best board game for everyone but it is the best tabletop pirate simulator.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Yes, i think that's accurate!

[@chrisstuetzle861]

Rum and Bones: Second Tide?

[@NightsAroundaTable]

This one missed me. i've picked it up in the store before, but it just looked like a minis combat/tactics game...? Did i misjudge it?

[@vinnieyang5422]

@@NightsAroundaTable It's a pirate themed team moba (Multiplayer online battle arena) board game in the vein of League of Legends/DotA. Not really a sandbox game but it's really fun with asymmetric powers, upgrades, and a huge selection of characters and sub themes like a money focused team or a fairytale themed team that you can mix and match with many others! Sea of Legends is a really fun pirate themed sandbox game though!

[@albertolopes829]

What about Maracaibo? It feels piratey to me

[@NightsAroundaTable]

It seems... pirate adjacent? i'll confess my copy is still in shrink!

[@albertolopes829]

@@NightsAroundaTable Try it, I think you will like it or at least you won't regret.

[@Erik20766]

How can you mention “every other” Pirate game without mentioning Treasure Island? It is a game super heavy in theme, and quite an experience if you haven’t played it before (and on replays if it’s been a while since you played last)

[@NightsAroundaTable]

“Every other” is how you get people to click on your video! Of course it’s an incomplete list. i hadn’t played Treasure Island when i made the vid, but have since added it to my collection (along with both expansions!) Have only played it once, but i quite enjoyed it. The compass could stand to be a lot tighter tho. And i do love Vincent Dutrait. But the game has a potential “look at Long John Silver’s eyeballs” problem.

[@nydaloth]

Can you say that Maracaibo is a pirate game? Kind of?

[@NightsAroundaTable]

It's very much "kind of." It's a pirate game without all the cartoonish tropes of pirate games - buried treasure, peg legs, etc. But it also lacks a bunch of stuff that would help us call it a pirate game, like... ship battles. They're implied, but not explicit. You're more of a mercenary than a pirate. Privateers work for countries. i feel like pirates work for themselves. But there are pirates IN the game! Mary Read, for one.

[@Sin4Profit]

So the real question is, how does Merchants & Marauders compare to Sid Meier's Pirates? Or are videogames an unfair comparison? I think Jamaica is the only Pirate themed board game i've played and it was way too simple for me. M&M has been on my wishlist for awhile now but I haven't pulled the trigger on it.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

This is a very good question for my friend MT. Let me get him in here...

[@michaeltodd5806]

M&M is great in the same way as SMP. It has the same everything and the kitchen sink minigame type vibe, but with other player's sailing around there is a far more fast paced vibe than SMP's single player. SMP sound track would fit playing this perfectly. Both are great. Hu-darnin'!

[@Sin4Profit]

@@michaeltodd5806 Oh YOUR the elusive, "MT", couldn't tell if Ryan was making a joke that flew over my head or if he was friends with Mike Tyson. If M&M is SMP in a box than I definitely have to pick it up.

[@michaeltodd5806]

@@Sin4Profit :) *smoke bomb* *darkwing duck cloak twirl* elusive MT awwaaaay!

[@soulofastro]

We love this game, but we use a couple house rules with M&M: 1. You can only move twice when leaving a port. 2. Your turn ends when you enter a port. 3. Port Actions are done when it's not your turn.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

Explain the first rule? The trouble with #2 and #3 is that the player in port can change strategies depending on what happens while he/she is taking port actions. For example, another player may take his turn and start moving towards the port the first player is in. In that case, maybe the port player wants to buy weapons in anticipation, but otherwise wouldn't have. Or similarly, if the player in port is the last player in the round, and we roll for wind or draw an event card that changes the board state, and the port player is able to react to that new information. You know? i've been playing Xia, and even in that game, they made a rules change through the expansion that players couldn't read and decide on which mission card to keep until their turn was over, because that's the "port" action in that game (the action that holds everything up). And it can technically be affected by what other players do, because those missions are so dependent on which tiles have been discovered. But holding off works much better in Xia (which is looser) compared to such a strategically tight game as M&M.

[@soulofastro]

@@NightsAroundaTable We found that merchants kept winning far too often. The idea behind these house rules was to try to balance the game while trying to reduce the frustration of just sitting there waiting for the merchant to make up his darn mind on what to buy and do in port. We also made Flexible Turns from the Seas of Glory expansion mandatory and don't allow any off turn scouting. With that being said: 1. Port hopping is just waaaay too good. And it became downright broken when we implemented rule 2 an 3. Let's look at an example: Port of Havana (PH) to Port of Tortuga (PT) to Port of Santo Domingo (PSD). Non-house rules actions for a single player: Turn x - PH actions completed and ship stays in port. Turn x+1 - (starts in PH) moves SZH (sea zone havana), SZT (sea zone tortuga), enters PT (port of tortuga). Turn x+2 - exit PT to SZT, SZSD, enter PSD Turn x+3 - PSD actions, stays in port for safety. The player never ended his turn at sea the entire time. Same port to port movement but now with our house rules: Turn x - PH actions completed while another player goes. Turn x+1 - (starts in PH) moves SZH (sea zone havana), SZT (sea zone tortuga). Turn x+2 - The player has to make a choice now. If he enters PT he will still get stuck at sea (in SZSD) at the end of his next turn. Port Hopping doesn't work anymore. SZT to SZSD, enter PSD, turn ends and player does PSD actions while another player goes. Explanation for rule 2: Again, waiting for a player to do port actions just brings the game to a crawl and makes it boring. Just make him stay in port and do his actions while another player goes. For rule 3: The round doesn't end until all port actions are complete, and all port actions are free actions but they can't be done while you're the active player. You also can't do those free port actions until after your turn. To address your points specifically: "The trouble with #2 and #3 is that the player in port can change strategies depending on what happens while he/she is taking port actions. For example, another player may take his turn and start moving towards the port the first player is in. In that case, maybe the port player wants to buy weapons in anticipation, but otherwise wouldn't have." That's fine. Being first player is advantageous, hence why we use flexible turns from SoG. "Or similarly, if the player in port is the last player in the round, and we roll for wind or draw an event card that changes the board state, and the port player is able to react to that new information. " Since a player can't do port actions until his turn is over, if he reacts to that information he is taking port actions and thus he forfeited his turn and stayed in port.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@soulofastro If you have a big problem with port-hopping, why ignore the off-turn scouring rule from SoG? That would appear to solve your issue, no? Because a predatory pirate player (or the npc) can just camp in the sea zone outside the port the merchant is hiding in, and as soon as the merchant pops out, the pirate can scout for it. Anyway, the way the game is designed (and i can't see an elegant fix for it), there's just too much information that comes out during other players' turns to allow people to do port actions during those turns. Let's say P1 is in port and decides to take port actions, so per your rule, his turn is over. P2 is also in port, and ends his turn, and can now take port actions. P2 sells some goods, and changes the in-demand goods token to cloth. P1, who isn't finished his port actions yet, and is currently looking through a hand of 6 goods to buy, decides to take cloth, since it's now in-demand nearby. That's just one example of many. And my previous example holds true: a player is in port, and decides to take port actions, ending his tern (per your house rule). The next player is first player, so you draw an event. It doesn't matter that the previous player's turn is over. He can still take port actions in such a way that they respond/react to the new information brought about by the event card.

[@soulofastro]

@@NightsAroundaTable hmmm. I guess anything that changes the game state like that will have to wait until the end of the round. The times it did happen to us, we just went "huh, that's lucky for the other guy" and didn't think twice about it. I felt like have the 2 move limit out of a port was part of balancing the port action being a free action. A player could move 3 times and end in a port, then do that free port action. Being able to do 4 things in a row without something to balance it didn't feel right. Not being able to port hop is just a beneficial side effect. So if I put in that movement limit for balance, then off turn scouting felt too unfair to merchants. Anyways, the whole point of the house rules is to make the game more fun. Before I implemented it, my players kept losing focus on the game and would tune out and pick up their phones while someone else was doing port actions. It's like watching a nascar race with pit stops, except these pit stops go on for waaay too long and happen very frequently. It got so bad that they would rather play a different game. I'm fine with breaking the game a little as long as my players don't get bored. M&M is a fantastic game, but that port action time is a huge problem. It needs some sort of solution.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

@@soulofastro Oh, i'm totally with you. It's a problem. And it feels like the solution, to my mind, is to play Xia instead. :)

[@Coffeemaker1978]

Good idea for a video indeed. I love M&M. However it shows its age.

[@ImperialGit]

23:06 Hahaha XD

[@agentskazzers3482]

Just remember Merchants and Marauders owes alot to the video game Sid Meiers Pirates!! Merchant and Marauders is probably my all time favorite board game of all time. Even though Merchant and Marauders can be brutal.

[@NightsAroundaTable]

First.

[@mikemudrow]

Ryan, you dork. This is why we love you.