Armada Invincible Art of Tactic Naval Warfare Board Game

The Ships starter set will plunge players into the 16th and 17th Centuries—the golden age of the sailing fleet, the age of filibusters and the Invincible Armada. Each competitor be comes the captain of one or two sailing warships, English or Spanish.

At the beginning of each turn, the ship captains must simul taneously and secretly issue orders to their crews: Should they lower or hoist up the sails? Move forward or turn to a new heading? What ammunition should they use to charge the guns on board, and at what range should they allow the enemy to approach before they open fire? Of course, the wise captain must be mindful of the direction of the wind, the depth of the water, the state of his ship… and he must foresee the actions of his opponent!

Like all Art of Tactic series games, all the orders are marked on the specially-laminated cards. Once all of the orders have been written, they are revealed and resolved at the same time: ships maneuver, guns fire, and desperate crews may even try to board the enemy vessel.

The battle continues until one side is victorious—by the destruction of the enemy or the completion of a goal. The battle is presented on the modular game board, divided into hexes. The starter set includes 9 double sided boards, with open sea on one side and coasts and islands on the other. Like the sea itself, though, the board has no limits: if a ship should move beyond the edge of the board, an unused section from the other side of the map is used to continue the sea as far as is needed.

Players can assemble the map any way they choose, or they can select one of the many scenarios included in the starter set. Each scenario describes how to arrange the board and gives special mission objectives and starting positions for each side: will you be called upon to intercept a convoy or capture a prize ship? Will your ship be equipped with additional supplies of powder or a superior boarding crew?

The Ships can easily be expanded to include more players as well. Teams of players can compete, each player assuming command of his own fighting ship. But like the naval commanders of old, they can communicate only by using arbitrary signals, arranged before the battle begins!

In the grand tradition of the Art of Tactic system, The Ships is designed to allow beginning commanders to gradually learn the game. At first, the tutorial scenario does not allow any special orders, and uses only a single type of ammunition. As players become acquainted with the basics, they can add bar-shot, cannon balls, or grape shot. More advanced players can contend with forces of nature such as the momentum of a moving ship. Future expansions for The Ships will add even more exciting features, including coastal fortifications, landing actions, new scenarios and new vessels, including new ranks of ship from sloop, to battleship, to galleon, each with its own unique abilities.

The Ships offers all of the romance of sea battles: the rumble of guns, the flapping of sails, and the clanging of boarding blades, all on your table-top! This game opens a new page in history to the Art of Tactic—salted, chapped, and with indispensable fair winds and flowing seas.