A game by Jay J. Bommer      [ English translation by Rick Heli ]

The fascinating island world of Nyria: sunken treasures from olden times lie at the bottom of the Nyrian Sea. Adventurous pirates seek lost treasures to acquire fame and riches. To do it they must brave Nyria's forces of nature with their sailing boats and their magical powers. Unceasingly they are driven by wind and waves and must beware the ambitions of other pirates. Only by wise use of their mystical powers and concentrated sailing arts will the adventurers succeed in raising the treasures of Nyria and safely transporting them back to their own pirate cove.

2-4 players

Aged 8 and up

lasting 30-45 minutes

Goal of the Game

Each player captains a pirate ship which is carried across the sea by winds. The goal is to collect as many valuable ducats as possible.

Ship movement depends on wind direction and strength. The action cards help players with magical forces to resist contrary forces of nature and other treasure seekers.

The first player to raise ducats with sufficient value and bring them back to his home port is the winner.

Components

1 game board
4 sailing ships (in four colors)
28 gold ducats with values 1 (14x), 2 (7x) & 3 (7x)
60 action cards
1 wind direction indicator
1 wind direction die
1 wind strength die

Setting Up the Game

The game board is spread out so as to be easily visible for all.

The wind direction indicator is placed on the large island in the middle of the board so that the arrow points in the north (N) direction.

Sixteen ducats are mixed face down and are distributed on the 16 ducat spaces (indicated by crossed sabers) on the board (Abb. 1a). The remaining 12 ducats form the reserve supply. They are mixed and placed off the board nearby.

Each player chooses a sailing ship and places it in the home port of his home island having the same color (Abb. 1b).

The action cards are thoroughly shuffled. At the beginning of the game each player receives 3 action cards into hand. The rest of the action cards are placed as a face down deck near the board.

Each player may examine his action cards. They should be kept secret from other players however.

Course of Play

The youngest player begins. The player whose turn it is is the "active player".

Each round of play involves 5 action phases:
1) Dice Phase: The active player rolls the wind strength and direction.
2) Cards Phase I: All players may play one or more action cards.
3) Sailing Phase: The active player sails if he wishes.
4) Cards Phase II: All players may play one or more action cards.
5) End Phase: The active player can take an action card or a ducat if his ship finds itself on one of the corresponding spaces, or deposit ducats in his home cove.

Card swap: If the active player has not played any action cards in the entire round and his ship has not moved, he may take one action card out of his hand and draw one from the deck.

Each round the next player in clockwise order becomes the new active player.

The Five Phases:

1) Dice Phase: The active player rolls the wind strength and direction.

The active player begins the round. He rolls the wind strength and direction. The wind direction indicator is adjusted corresponding to the result of the die result (see table).

Wind direction Result	Wind Direction Indicator
N	Wind toward the North
O	Wind toward the East
S	Wind toward the South
W	Wind toward the West
?	Free choice of N, O, S or W
X	The wind direction is constant, i.e. does not change

The wind strength shown by the wind strength die is always 1, 2 or 3. (More about this later.)

2) Cards Phase I: All players may play one or more action cards.

At the start of the game each player holds 3 action cards. Further action cards can be gained when a player's ship ends the round on a card space ("?").

Each player (not just the active player) may play one or more action cards in this phase. It is not required to play any action cards. If an action card is played, it is read to the other players and the described action carried out. Actions which permit the player to move his ship to a card space, a ducat space or the home port are executed immediately. Loading or unloading ducats however does not occur until the End Phase.
(Exception: The action card "Gegenzauber" can only be played as a reaction to play of another action card. They can only be played in order to neutralize a just-played card, but only before the corresponding action has been carried out.)
The cards phase ends when no one wishes to play any more cards.

Important: It is allowed to pass and thus save cards to play later.
Before the active player begins the Sailing Phase, he must ask the fellow players (beginning with his left hand neighbor and continuing in clockwise order) whether they would still like to play cards. If the answers are all no, as "last player" he still has the right to play cards.

Example: Felix, Fynn, Lasse and Lena are playing. Felix is the active player and at first decides not to play any action cards. Fynn plays an action card which is resolved right away. Lasse decides not to play any action cards. Lena plays an action card which is also resolved right away. Felix decides to react and play an action card, which is resolved right away. The others can still play other action cards. When no one wants to play any more cards, the action phase is over.

All played cards are placed face up on a discard pile near the board. If the action cards deck is depleted, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new face down action card deck.

Tip: The card phases are extremely important strategically. Thus the players should take care not to play their cards too early and as a rule pay special care to re-supplying their action cards so as not to be altogether at the mercy of the winds or other pirates.

3) Sailing Phase: The active player sails if he wishes.

The active player may sail in this phase, i.e. move his ship. The number of spaces he may move is indicated by the wind strength die: wind strength 1, 1 space; wind strength 2, 2 spaces; and wind strength 3, 1 spaces.

In doing so he may only sail in the current wind direction (N, O, S, or W) or in the two directly neighboring wind directions (NW, NO, SO, or SW). Since a ship may sail up and down, across or diagonally, any combination of the three wind directions is available. Example: The wind direction indicator shows N, the wind strength indicator is at 3. The active player can move his ship up to 3 spaces in the directions N, NW, NO or a combination of these directions (Abb. 2a).

Abb. 2a: Shown are three of the several movement options for the yellow ship.

The wind direction indicator shows North.

Wind strength 3.

Islands and the edge of the board naturally inhibit ship movement. They may not be sailed over (Abb. 2b). If there is a land mass or island between two spaces, it may only be crossed if the ship is not required to pass over land. Special case: The small wind direction crosses on the board indicate the diagonal movement possibilities (Abb. 2c).

The ship may not follow the red paths. To reach these spaces the obstacles must be sailed around.

Abb. 2c: A wind direction cross on the game board.

The sailing maximum need not be fully used. The active player can sail fewer spaces and the wind strength indicates or not sail at all (remain in the same space).

More than one ship may end in the same space. (Exception: a player's home port is taboo for other players and can only be entered by the ship of the same color.) (see Abb. 3, page 6).

Abbildung 3: The yellow ship sails into its home cove. Several ways in are available.

The red ship may not enter Yellow's home port.

4) Cards Phase II: All players may play one or more action cards.

This phase follows the exact same rules as Cards Phase I.

5) End Phase: The active player can take an action card or a ducat if his ship finds itself on one of the corresponding spaces, or deposit ducats in his home cove.

a) Active Player

If the active player's ship is on a ducats space where ducats are available, he must load his ship. The value of the ducats must be revealed.
Each ship has a loading capacity of at most 4 ducats. If a ship is already fully-loaded and the corresponding player finds a fifth ducat, he must toss one of his previously loaded ducats overboard (discarded hidden in the discard pile).

If the active player's ship is on a card space ("?"), he draws (even if another player's ship is there) the top card from the action card deck and takes it in hand.

Each player may hold at most 5 action cards in hand. If a player holding 5 action cards lands on a card space, he draws a card from the deck and discards the card of his choice without carrying out its action.

However, if a player begin the sailing phase on a card space and remains there during the Sailing Phase, he does not receive a new action card.

If the active player's ship is in his home port, he can unload ducats there. They are safe there from other pirates.

If in this entire round the player did not use any action cards and did not sail, he may discard any of his hand cards (to the discard pile) without carrying out its action and draw a new one.

a) Inactive Players

Then, beginning with the player left of the active player and then in clockwise order, each of the inactive players who because of play of action cards either on ducats or card spaces or in their home ports carry out the corresponding actions.

End of the Round

The round ends after the fifth phase. The next player in clockwise order becomes the active player and begins the next round.

Note: Upon request, each player must reveal the value of ducats he has on his ship and in his home port.

End of the Game

The number of points a player needs to win depends on the number of players:

With 4 players, the first to bring 7 or more points,
With 3 players, the first to bring 8 or more points,
With 2 players, the first to bring 9 or more points,

in ducats unloaded in his home port.

(22x) HIMMEL UND WIND [Sky and Wind]

(12x) SÄBEL UND DUKATEN [Sabers and Ducats]

(16x) MAGIE DER PIRATEN [Pirate Magic]