Tiny Epic Pirates
Arrr, mates! Do you have what it takes to become the most famous cube traders?
Tint Epic Pirates is another installment in the tiny games series that tries to fit as many components as possible into a small box. This time, we’ll compete to see who can bury three pirate treasures first. Other players, weather conditions, and a massive navy ship will all get in our way. As we sail these turbulent waters, we’ll plunder villages, trade various goods, and hire new crew members.
Pirate rondel
Mechanically, the game uses an action wheel. Each turn, we move along this rondel to perform a different action. We can also skip certain actions by placing our mini-crew members on the wheel. However, this will reduce our effectiveness during sailing and combat. I have to say that playing with this wheel is a pretty pleasant surprise. It’s fun to strategize here, choosing which actions to perform and which to skip. Another interesting feature is that our sequence of actions will be completely different with every game, since the tiles are laid out in a random order. It’s a blast, in my opinion.
Action Crew
As the game progresses, we’ll also recruit new crew members. They’ll help us in battle and provide bonus actions. We’ll activate these after performing the main action from the pot. This lets us create cool combos with a chain of actions. Our turns will become more productive and bring us closer to achieving the Tiny Pirates main goal.
A cube business
To bury treasure, you need to collect a certain amount of doubloons. The fastest way to get rich is by trading goods. We’ll acquire them through rather illegal means by attacking other ships and plundering coastal cities.
We’ll be able to sell these goods at the appropriate ports, and we’ll mainly be able to cash in on one type of product. During looting, we acquire cubes at random, so if luck is on our side, we might come across the same goods. How much they’re worth depends on their market position. An interesting mechanic is that you have to wait for the right moment to sell them. Because after a sale, the value of a given good drops.
Sometimes, thanks to this random dice drawing, we could get two valuable goods and sell them quickly, making a ton of cash. Which significantly speeded up the end of the game.
Bad to the bone
As befits a pirate game, battles with other ships await us. These will provide us with loot that we can sell, and may even boost our reputation. To speed up the process of earning the title of the most fearless pirate, we can also attack other players. This can slightly delay their plans, and sometimes it’s worth giving it a try. Losing, however, isn’t so bad, because we’ll come out of it in one piece anyway.
The combat itself is based on dice rolls, and victory requires investing in the right crew. New crewmates increase the firepower of our cannons, which for me is the most interesting element of the game. If we roll a specific number, every pirate assigned to that result adds +1 to the shot’s power. What’s more, we can modify the dice results using cannons. Another cool feature.
How many pirates does it take to bury treasure?
Between 1 and 4. Of course, the more of us there are, the more action there’ll be on the map. Because the barrage of negative events we might face is worse than Johnny Sparrow’s trial.
Quality and Components
What I like most is that we can build our map differently in every game. It doesn’t change the gameplay itself too much, but placing a few storms next to each other can increase the game’s difficulty.
The biggest drawback of Tiny Epic Pirates is those little plastic ships. Every time, we have to assemble their sails, which often don’t want to cooperate and can fall off the deck. Placing new dice on the ship also often caused it to tip over like a pirate after drinking an entire crate of rum.
It’s worth praising the fact that the box closes easily, which wasn’t always the case in this series of small games.
Summary
Tiny Epic Pirates offers some interesting mechanics involving choosing actions and building your crew. Mechanically, it works well and lets you strategize your turns.
The gameplay itself is a pretty enjoyable race where you have to collect dice to later sell them on the markets. To me, it’s a variation on the pick-up-and-delivery mechanic with a slight touch of negative interaction. It’s like you’re a merchant who acquires dice thanks to your explosive cannon.
It’s fine by me, but I’m not as blown away by it as I was by The Dungeons. I’ll play it, do some trading, shoot a few things it’ll be cool, and that’s about it.
Final verdict: Tiny Epic dice traders who trade first and shoot later (if at all).
Pros
- Action wheel
- Bonus action crew
- Negative dice collection
- Build your own sea
- Small travel box
Cons
- Sometimes more merchant than pirate
- My fingers are too big for these sails
[Game provided by Galakta]
