Sunday, July 06, 2003
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Korsar Game Review
It seems that many games are themed around those rascally pirates. No wonder really, when you look at all the movies that have done the same. Such is my latest special card game purchase--Korsar. It's another brilliantly simple-to-learn-yet-hard-
to-master game from master Knizia.
Everyone starts with 6 cards. The cards consist of pirate ships (with 1-4 value, depicted in jolly rogers, and in one of four colors), treasure ships (with gold values 2-8), four pirate captains, and a super-trump Admiral card. The object of the game is to score more gold than your opponents.
Here's how it plays. On your turn, you can either play a card or pick up a card. Close to the end of the game, you may also choose to discard a card (except for the treasure ships). When playing a card, you either play a treasure ship in front of you or a pirate ship to attack another player's treasure ship. If the treasure ship that you played in front of you remains untouched when it is your turn again, you score the points (the number of gold pieces on the card) for that ship. More than likely, someone will have attacked it. You may choose to defend your treasure ship or attack someone else's, if there are other treasure ships out there. When it is your turn, you also look to see if you have the majority of jolly rogers on any other treasure ships. If so, score the booty!
Pirate captains are used to fortify existing pirate ship cards in existing scuffles over treasure ships. They cannot be used alone, and the last pirate captain played in a battle receives the victory. These are valuable trump cards, but it doesn't
skew the game. If there were a card that did upset the balance of the game, it would be the Admiral. With the Admiral card, a player can place it on one of his beleaguered treasure ships (in his playing area) to automatically score the gold
points for that ship. However, since there is only one of these cards in the game, it doesn't tip the scales too much. It actually forces its bearer to choose at which point to use it, especially if that player has no high value treasure ships in hand.
An interesting concept in this game is the battles for treasure ships. If someone decides to attack a ship with a red pirate ship card, then no other player can attack (or even defend) with red pirates. This makes your decision of which color pirate ship to attack with an important one.
I really like this game. It has different subtle elements that come out when playing with 3,4,5, or 6 players. Who will be the first to risk their treasure? What ships should you go after, and with what color pirates? Don't wait too long to play your treasures, or you'll be stuck with them in your hand at the end (which results in negative points). I do not recommend a two-player game, however. There's just not enough going on to really make it interesting.
I have to give a hearty 'Arrrrr' to this game. The artwork and quality of the cards are excellent. It's not too complex, but it's not meant to be. However, you'll get a certain satisfaction from making out with the most loot. It's not a simple game, either. If you don't watch out, the scalawags sitting near you will pull some tricks of their own. There may be honor amongst thieves, but not with the infamous devils of the deep!
If you're looking for a light strategy game to play in a short amount of time, Korsar should be on your list!
2-6 Players / Approx. 25 min. Playing time / $12 at gamesurplus.com
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