Sky Pirates and the Quest for Helium A take that pick up and deliver game for 2 6 players Helium a speculative lifting gas nearly as good as hydrogen but not subject to flame. No hydrogen dirigible would be able to stand up to a helium dirigible armed with flamers and the pirate lord who first acquired the secret to its manufacture could dominate all others and become the first pirate king in a generation. A means to make it has been developed. Six organizations each have one piece of the secret process. You have an agent in each organization who will trade that group's portion of the secret in exchange for a different rare and precious item. Six suppliers are rumored to have these items. You have agents infiltrated among each of these suppliers who can arrange a swap for ordinary items. When the existance of the secret became known, your agents fled from the central headquarters cities to the twelve outer cities and current locations are unknown except that each outer city will have one, and never more than one, of your agents in it. Locate your six seeker agents and your six suppliers. (Each player has their own agents, who are scattered differently among the outer cities.) Be the first to acquire and transport all six quest items to the correct seekers to gain the six parts of the Secret of Helium and win the game.
Along the way, battle with other ships to loot or destroy them. Perhaps you can hoard something to deny it to other players. Curse the wind when it drifts you the wrong way so your whole move ends up going nowhere or into combat that destroys you. Praise it when it takes you someplace faster. The Board Each player controls 3 port cities where they may resupply by collecting tribute. (restock with no trade required fill as desired from available items) At other ports a ship may only trade carried items for different items on a 1 card for 1 card basis. Trade for a quest item is always 1 card for 1 card. Ex: Orange can restock at any orange city but only trade at the other cities. The 6 player headquarters cities surrounding the central snowy peaks are the only places where shipbuilding is done and new ships are launched. To launch, a ship is placed at surface level on the player's headquarters city hex (already fully loaded and able to participate in movement and combat). A player may place 1 new ship at the beginning of their turn if they do not have all 3 ships currently on the board. Combat may occur at once because of new ship placement (a new ship's sudden emergence in a city from the covered shipworks to the bay may cause immediate combat if enemies are nearby). The Playtest version has dots on headquarters cities and others labelled as A or B. No city names yet.
The Wind The wind rosette at the center of the map (overlays the Snowy Peaks that form the 7 center hexes) shows the wind's 6 directions and the number assigned to each. On your turn you determine wind speed (number of hexes) and direction for low altitude drift if you have any ships at low altitude. You determine high altitude drift if you have a ship at high altitude. Your ships at each altitude will drift with the wind at that altitude unless blocked by terrain. Collision with another ship, a boarding action, or a drop in altitude will terminate a ship's drift. If both of your airships will be drifting you may choose which ship to drift first. Drift happens after new ship placement and before normal movement. In the playtest version the wind direction and speed are determined by shaking in a cup then dumping a d6 along with 4 coins. The d6 gives the wind direction. For wind speed count the number of coins that came up heads for 0-4. The production version will use 4 binary dice instead of 4 coins. When determining high altitude wind add 1 to the wind speed for a 1-5 result. High and Low altitude winds are not related to each other and each is determined independently of the other. Snowy Peaks block drift at all altitudes. Mountains block low altitude drift. The edges of the board also block drift. Ships on the surface do not drift.
Terrain & Ship Movement Water Surface travel for ships, balloons, and dirigibles as well as low and high altitude flight. Dunes Low or High Altitude Flight is required to enter these hexes. Airships may land in Dune hexes. If unable to fly, a grounded ship's drag movement is only 1 hex and can only be to the nearest water hex. Mountains High Altitude Flight is required to enter these hexes. Airships cannot land and will glide to a non-mountain hex if unable to fly high. Snowy Peaks these hexes cannot be entered City hexes are simply Water hexes that also have a town, wharves, and a tavern attached. Surface Ship Surface (water) only Move: 3 Does not drift with the wind. Ships at surface level may enter Water hexes & visit towns. City hexes are Water hexes. Ships at Low or High Altitude can enter Dune hexes but not Balloon Ship Water Move: 2 no drift Low Altitude Move: 4 plus drift Low Altitude Capable Dirigible Ship At High Altitude a ship can enter Water Move: 2 no drift Low Altitude Move: 4 plus drift High Altitude Move: 5 plus drift and remain in Mountain hexes. Low & High Altitude Capable Airships cannot land there. visit towns. Airships may land in Dune and Water hexes. The direction of each hex of normal horizontal movement is chosen by the player. Normal Horizontal Movement Types a ship can only perform one of these types per turn Sailing (propellor assisted): up to 3 hexes for a Surface Ship, up to 2 hexes for an Air Ship Low Flight: up to 4 hexes High Flight: up to 5 hexes Drag (on ground from dune to adjacent water hex) Visit Town (must be on surface in a city hex trade, restock, and meet with suppliers or seekers) Normal Vertical Movement Buoyancy (move up 1 level or down 1 level by adjusting amount of liftcloth you have inflated) a ship may adjust Buoyancy before the horizontal movement or after but not both in the same turn Combat Effect Movements a drop or glide also terminates normal movement for a ship Drop (1 level down if ship altitude exceeds lift capability. Another Drop follows if needed.) Glide (to adjacent dune or water hex from mountains plus down 1 level. A Drop follows if needed.)
Carrying Capacity & Items Ships may only carry so many items, including liftcloth and any quest items. Sometimes a ship may carry items it cannot use in hope of trading them. Since items are in limited supply this may happen somewhat often, especially if someone is hoarding. Looting another ship can also give you items you can only trade. There are enough ship equipment item cards in the game to exactly fill all ships in the game. Quest cards are in addition to this. Surface Ships have a capacity of 12 items. Balloons and Dirigibles have a capacity of 10 items including liftcloth. Dirigibles (hydrogen) cannot use rockets or flamers and when hit by a flamer take 1 damage to any inflated liftcloth immediately in addition to regular damage. Balloons (hot air) lack the structural reinforcement to use cannon or cloudbusters. Only crazy balloonists will use flamers. They also use rockets. Surface Ships do not use flamers but will use rockets in addition to cannon and cloudbusters. Ship (non-quest) item cards Cannon & Cloudbusters consume Ammunition in order to shoot. Flamers consume Fuel as they fire. Rockets & Bombs consume themselves. Rope, required for rappel boarding, is not consumed.
Buoyancy your cards on the table. Surface Level (no liftcloth inflated) A Buoyancy card is placed on the table as a All item cards are hidden under the ship card. placeholder to show that a liftcloth belongs there. Shows a ship is falling if no liftcloth after combat. Low Altitude Liftcloth card on top of Buoyancy card next to Shipcard 1 liftcloth inflated High Altitude 2 liftcloths inflated other item cards under Shipcard 2 Buoyancy cards with Liftcloth cards on top of them other item cards under Shipcard Dirigibles can inflate 0 or 1 or 2 liftcloths for surface or low altitude or high altitude. Balloons can only inflate 0 or 1 liftcloth for surface or low altitude. Surface Ships do not use liftcloth.
The Buoyancy cards remain in place on the table to act as placeholders during combat when Liftcloth cards are mixed with other cards for damage selection. They show current altitude and that the ship must lose altitude if they cannot be covered with Liftcloth after damage selection. This ship lost liftcloth in combat, had no spare, and is falling from high altitude to low altitude. When it Drops or Glides to low altitude the bare Buoyancy card can be removed from the table. Move Sequence Cards Placed in a cup and blindly drawn to determine whose turn it is. Refill cup after last one is drawn. Production version would draw colored meeples or plastic swords from a cup. Turn Sequence A) Each turn you do not have all 3 ships on the board you may launch 1 new ship. New ships begin at your headquarters hex on the surface level with as many ship item cards as they can carry. You select these cards while examining the deck to see what is available at that moment. B) Roll & Drift. Wind drift happens for your ships in flight (with possible combats). C) Normal Movement for your ships (with possible combats). Moving up or down a level as part of normal movement can be before a ship's horizontal movement or afterwards but not both. Unlike Drift, the direction of each hex of normal horizontal movement is chosen by the player. Normal Horizontal Movement Types a ship can only perform one of these types per turn Sailing (propellor assisted): up to 3 hexes for a Surface Ship, up to 2 hexes for an Air Ship Low Flight: up to 4 hexes High Flight: up to 5 hexes Drag (on ground from dune to adjacent water hex) Visit Town (must be on surface in a city hex trade, restock, and meet with suppliers or seekers) To Visit Town you must already be in the city hex and either deflate to reach surface level then visit or be on the surface already which lets you visit followed by inflate to reach low altitude if desired. Normal Vertical Movement Buoyancy (move up 1 level or down 1 level by adjusting amount of liftcloth you have inflated) a ship may adjust Buoyancy before the horizontal movement or after but not both in the same turn
Visiting Town Whenever a ship is in a city hex at surface level it may choose Visit Town as its horizontal move. When visiting town you can trade cards from your ship for an equal number of cards from the city (select from cards currently in ship items available deck). If it is one of your own cities you can simply restock your ship completely (collect tribute) but trades are always on a 1 card for 1 card basis. You may also trade cards with your supplier agent for the quest item they supply (limited by quest item cards available in that deck) or if you have a quest item for your seeker agent in the town you may exchange it for that seeker's portion of the secret. When you learn a piece of the secret, take your seeker card from that city and place it face up in front of you. Collect all 6 to win. Visiting Town is the only movement type (other than doing nothing) that does not change the ship location. Cards you trade away are discarded into the ship items or quest items availability decks. Quest Cards Each player has 12 quest cards (6 Seeker and 6 Supplier). Quest cards for each player are dealt out 1 card to each non-headquarters city (using the Location Mat) as part of game setup. You may only examine your own quest card in a city, and only when Visiting Town there. Quest cards are color coded on the back for which player color they belong to so you can select your own card at a city without looking at other players' cards.
Encounters & Combat When a ship moves, it moves through a series of adjacent spaces. Each hex on the board has a surface space, a low altitude space, and a high altitude space. Encounters occur whenever a ship enters the same space as an enemy ship or enters a space adjacent to it. Moving from one encounter space to another initiates a new encounter, and a ship may have repeated encounters with the same enemy ship in a single turn. The balloon is at low altitude on the city hex. The dirigible travelling at high altitude would encounter the balloon as it enters both mountain high altitude hex spaces and the dune high altitude hex space. Going down a level to enter the low altitude dune space would be a 4th encounter with the balloon.
New Encounters from Combat Movement As a result of combat a ship may be forced perform a combat movement if it suffers liftcloth damage and can no longer cover its buoyancy cards. This could happen to either or both ships. A Drop or Glide by a moving ship terminates its in progress drift movement or in progress normal movement. Combat Effect Movements Drop (1 level down if ship altitude exceeds lift capability. Another Drop follows if needed.) Glide (to adjacent dune or water hex from mountains plus down 1 level. A Drop follows if needed.) Combat movement may be forced upon both combatants. If so, both ships adjust positioning simultaneously as a result. Entering a new space from combat movement may cause new encounters so any ship that moves may now be in an encounter again with the same or with a new ship. A ship that needs to move from high altitude to the surface (drop plus drop or glide plus drop) holds the second drop movement as pending until after it drops to low altitude (simultaneous with any opponent drop or glide) and if it has any encounters that result from the first single level plunge in altitude will resolve one of them before it drops the rest of the way to the surface. Dirigibles and Gliding Gliding is the only type of movement that combines a horizontal move with a vertical move. The other movement types can change either the altitude level OR the hex occupied but not both at the same time. (Except visiting town, which causes no change in position at all.) Ships cannot land in the mountains. A loss of lift there would cause a crash and destruction of the entire ship except that dirigibles have fins that enable them to convert a mountainside drop into forward motion at the same time. The dirigible is able to move 1 hex sideways as it falls so it is no longer in the mountains and can fly at low altitude or even go down to the surface in a water or a dune hex. Multiple Encounters Encounters are always resolved between 2 ships. If a ship's new position places it in combat range of more than one other ship (or if two ships suddenly drop or glide into combat range of a ship that was previously minding its own business) the priority for resolving encounters is as follows: (1) Collision encounters are always resolved before adjacent encounters. (2) Sequential repeat encounter with current opponent before new encounters. (3) The ship that moved selects which ship it will close in on first for parlay or combat, with any other encounters pending for if still in range afterwards. (4) The ship with the 2 surprise guests chooses which to close in on first. A new or pending Drop or Glide is always applied before any second encounters that a ship has at the current level. If both ships fall from a combat and both have new encounters not with each other as a result, the ship whose movement caused the battle that made them fall resolves its new encounter(s) first. Collisions Ships collide if they enter the same space. When enemy ships collide there is an automatic Boarding action if either ship has crew (Parlay otherwise). A collision terminates drift if it happens during drift. A collision terminates normal movement if it happens during normal movement.
Adjacent Ships Ships in combat range but not colliding may Fight or may Parlay if both agree. Parlay simply means nobody is shooting or attacking anybody and the encounter is resolved peacefully. The moving ship (or moving player) announces Parlay or Fight. If Fight is announced proceed to combat. If Parlay is announced the other player gets to decide between Parlay and Fight. Parlay does not interrupt ship movement. Fighting only terminates movement if there is a boarding action (including a rappell board) or if the ship is forced to glide or drop. Fighting & Cards & Onward Each player selects which (if any) cards they will play for the combat from their ship hand (the cards under the ship card) and both reveal at the same time. After a combat any drift or normal movement may continue if not terminated by collision, boarding, drop, or glide. Cards & Combat Damage A ranged (adjacent space) combat destroys 2 random units on the target ship for each ammunition, fuel, rocket, or bomb played. Ammunition must be fired from a cannon or a cloudbuster so one of those cards must be played for each ammunition card played. Fuel is shot burning from a flamer so a flamer card must be played for each fuel card played. After cards are revealed any cannon, flamers, and cloudbusters are returned to the ship hands. Any extra damage done to dirigible liftcloth by flamers happens next. (An inflated liftcloth card is discarded for each fuel card played against the dirigible.) Inflated liftcloth cards are now returned to the ship hands. Buoyancy cards remain as placeholders. For every ammunition, fuel, bomb, or rocket card you played against your opponent, you now get to draw, expose, and discard 2 cards from their shiphand. For each explosive card (ammunition, fuel, rocket, bomb) you draw, discard and draw again until a non-explosive card turns up. Boarding Actions In addition to the automatic boarding action that occurs when a collision happens if either ship has crew, a rappel boarding action can be initiated by a ship that is directly above another ship as a special second combat action if the upper ship still has both rope and crew after any destruction from cloudbusters and bombs has been meted out. In a boarding action, crew sizes are compared and the player with the most crew cards wins. The loser discards all crew cards and the winner discards half that number rounded up. The winner can then loot the losing ship for all the cards it can carry. If both sides have the same number of crew cards, roll the d6 for high number to determine the winner. If a tie roll, each player discards 1 crew card and both roll again. Ship Destroyed by Combat (you can launch or relaunch one ship each turn) A ship is destroyed and has its token removed from the board if it has no ship item or quest item cards remaining in its hand after combat, whether because of combat damage, looting, or firing off that very last rocket when it was all you had.
Terminated Normal Movement When a ship's normal movement is terminated (by glide, drop, collision, or boarding action) any further changes to buoyancy not caused by combat damage are also prevented. Firing Angles & Combat Items Attack Directions: up, down, up angle, sideways, down angle Up: cloudbusters Angle Up: rockets, cannons Sideways: cannons, flamers, rockets Angle Down: cannons, flamers Down: bombs, rappel boarding
Dirigibles may not use flamers or rockets Nothing that scatters sparks or dribbles flame near the hydrogen, please.
Balloons may not use cannons or cloudbusters. Those wicker frames won't stand up to anything with recoil.
Surface ships do not use flamers or bombs.
COMBAT EXAMPLE Red player to move high altitude windspeed is 3 going in direction 6 The wind blows the red dirigible from the star in the water to the mountains as the first of 3 potential spaces of drift. The blue balloon is at low altitude on an adjacent hex so there will be combat unless both choose parlay. On the table the red player has his dirigible card on top of its items cards and since at high altitude has 2 buoyancy cards each with a liftcloth card on top. This dirigible is fully loaded so it has a total of 10 item cards (8 + 2 inflated liftcloth). The blue balloon is also fully loaded and flying at low altitude. 10 cards (9 + 1 inflated liftcloth). They fight. Red fires angled down at blue and blue fires angled up at red. Each player looks at their cards and selects firing options. While red could fire 2 cannon and blue could fire 3 rockets they both appear to be trying to save things to use later.
Red Blue Red fires 1 cannon which uses 1 ammunition so red plays a cannon and an ammo face down. Blue fires a rocket and so plays a rocket face down. Cards are revealed. Each side is going to take 2 damage. The cannon card is returned to the ship hand and the liftcloth cards also move into the ship hands. Each player needs to select and discard 2 cards from the opponents hand.
Red loses a cannon and a bomb. The bomb takes another item with it. Red can no longer inflate 2 lift and will be gliding out of the mountains down to low altitude. When the glide occurs red will remove the second buoyancy card from the table until then it will act as a reminder that the ship needs to lose altitude since there will be no liftcloth card to cover it. (under the dirigible card)
Blue loses a flamer and a fuel. The fuel takes another item with it. Blue can still keep its 1 liftcloth inflated. (under the balloon card) Buoyancy cards are covered as possible with remaining liftcloth cards. The dirigible must glide since it is in the mountains and is unable to cover its second buoyancy card. The played rocket and ammunition cards are now discarded.
If the dirigible was not losing altitude it would have continued its drift to the other mountain hex adjacent to the balloon and another combat would happen unless both chose parlay. Since it is gliding the drift has ended, but the glide to lower altitude could cause immediate combat before red begins any normal after drift movement. With only 1 liftcloth actually inflated, red must glide to low altitude in an adjacent hex that allows low altitude. Red has a choice of 3 water hexes and the city hex. The city hex would result in a collision and boarding action with the balloon. If boarding is a success the dirigible could then adjust buoyancy to surface level and enter the city. The water hex next to the city hex could have both dirigible and balloon firing at each other sideways. The other water hex options would not result in immediate combat. ------ Red will remove its uncovered buoyancy card from the table as it completes the glide ------ Rather than trade shots again or run away, red goes for a boarding action and glides to the city hex.
That was a mistake. The blue balloon has 2 crew and wins the boarding red loses its 1 crew and since ½ rounds up to 1 the blue balloon also loses 1 crew. The balloon can now loot the dirigible. Red (being looted) Blue currently has The blue balloon has room for everything from the red dirigible and empties it (which destroys it). When you loot a ship you can trade cards as well as take cards so if unable to take all their item cards what you leave them is the ones you want the least. Ship map token chits (1 Ship, 1 Balloon, 1 Dirigible per color) Quest Item Cards
Limited Items Each color has a combined carry capacity of 32 with all 3 ships. The total number of ship items in a game matches this number exactly so all ships may be fully loaded at the same time, although the current item selection may be limited. Quest items are in addition to these ship items. 6 player game (all the cards) 5 player game 4 player game 6 Dirigibles (1 each player) 6 Balloons (1 each player) 6 Ships (1 each player) 18 Buoyancy (3 each player) 6 Sequence cards (1 each player) 72 quest cards (12 per player) 5 Dirigibles (1 each player) 5 Balloons (1 each player) 5 Ships (1 each player) 15 Buoyancy (3 each player) 5 sequence cards (1 each player) 60 quest cards (12 per player) 4 Dirigibles (1 each player) 4 Balloons (1 each player) 4 Ships (1 each player) 12 Buoyancy (3 each player) 4 sequence cards (1 each player) 48 quest cards (12 per player) 24 quest items (4 of each type) 18 quest items (3 of each type) 18 quest items (3 of each type) (192 ship item cards) (160 ship item cards) (128 ship item cards) 14 cannon 12 cannon 10 cannon 8 cloudbusters 7 cloudbusters 5 cloudbusters 48 ammo 40 ammo 34 ammo 8 flamers 6 flamers 5 flamers 16 fuel 12 fuel 10 fuel 18 rockets 14 rockets 11 rockets 12 bombs 12 bombs 10 bombs 6 rope 5 rope 4 rope 40 crew 34 crew 25 crew 22 liftcloth 18 liftcloth 14 liftcloth For a 3 player game use the 6 player set but each player has 2 colors and a win is having either color complete the mission. For a 2 player game use either the 4 player set with 2 colors each or the 6 player set with 3 colors each. Game setup set Quest Item cards and Ship Item cards aside as 2 decks. Other players can tell when you acquire or trade away quest item cards but not what the items are except when you give one to its seeker and take the seeker card to indicate you now have that part of the Secret of Helium (Quest Item Cards are discarded to the Quest Items deck, Ship Item Cards to the Ship Items deck). (1) Remove excess cards if using the 5 or 4 player set. (2) For each player, shuffle that player's supplier & seeker cards together and deal one card face down to each city on the Cities / Quest Cards location mat. (3) Put the move sequence cards in a cup. Blindly draw a card for who moves. (When all have moved, refill the cup again.)