Fantasy Pirates

Aye Matey! Welcome to BelloLudi Pirates! A skirmish game by BelloLudi. Nice that you have taken an interest in wargaming. These rules have been developed for people who have no previous experience in wargaming, yet like to play games. From page 23 on, we included some extra, or advanced, rules. You will not be needing them at first, but we can imagine that you would like some variations as your experience grows. Start with that page when you have some battles under your belt.

The game is designed as a multiplayer game but will work just as fine with only two players or even solo. The same goes for the number of miniatures involved. It is possible to start with only 13-odd miniatures and a ship per side, but that can easily be expanded. Hopefully, playing the game will encourage you to create your own armies. Similarly, the distances are given in inches for use with 28mm scale soldiers. Feel free to adapt to centimetres should you not have the space or when you use a smaller scale of miniatures.

This ruleset simulates battles in the Golden Age of Piracy between 1650 to roughly 1730. Much valuable cargo was being shipped from all over the world to Europe over vast ocean areas. Pirates often received their training in the service of European navies, but were discarded just as easily as they were hired. Corrupt and ineffective government in European overseas colonies created enough space for pirate communities. Colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles as they tried to stem the Pirate scourge.

At sea, the enemy was whittled down by the concentrated fire of infantry and cannons. Once this was accomplished, the crew could deliver the coup de grâce and capture the enemy vessel and more important, their cargo! Tactics were therefore based on teamwork between the crews and their vessels, on fire and movement. Every unit would have its own specific task and if they executed their tasks in unison, success was often achieved. The aim in this game, is not to annihilate the enemy’s units to the last man, but to inflict enough damage that morale is reduced and that the unit will become shaken or will run away in panic and consequently will be removed from the tabletop. By a clever combination of movement, shooting and dashing boarding actions, this can be achieved. The tactics are based on teamwork. Not only within a group, but also between groups and as such, the whole army.

Your role will be that of a commandeur of a small pirate gang or soldiers representing a government. Should any disagreement arise concerning the rules, we suggest you to roll a dice. The one who rolls the highest number has it right, for now.

So onwards, to glory! And, of course: have fun! Team BelloLudi

This product contains the rule books (Pirates and Spellbound) and two Commander Dice