Since pirates are almost always in fashion, I reveled in the chance to play Leder Games’ new entry into asymmetric board gaming. Right off the bat it has a lot going for it.

1. It has pirates.

2. It has anthropomorphic pirates.

Those two things are always a fun combination. It of course helps that the game itself is fun, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

You might remember I recently played another game with a similar theme in Libertalia and I am happy to report that the “animal pirates” is where the comparison essentially ends.

For the uninitiated, an asymmetric game is one which the players begin on different terms, but still aim for the same goal. For the purposes of this game, Ahoy features three vastly different factions and play styles while offering space for four players.

The first faction we have is The Bluefin Squadron, a gang of sharks that have, according to lore, been roaming the seas for decades with an iron fist and fear. The second gang is The Mollusk Union, an upstart who uses their vast numbers to claim territory far and wide. Lastly, we have up to two players as smugglers who source their very fame from the cargo they deliver.

Now that we have laid out the factions themselves, how do these factions actually achieve this seafaring victory from these other pirate factions? You just need the most fame, obviously.

Achieving fame is done a variety of ways depending on the faction your player chose(or was chosen for you). The Bluefin Squadron and the Mollusk Union achieve fame by controlling territory and the smugglers gain fame by delivering cargo. You do these things differently depending on who exactly you’re controlling and the game ends when one faction reaches 30 fame. Each faction is represented by some all around pleasing art with cute pirate animals

Now on to the gameplay. AHOY is played over the course of as many rounds as it takes to to achieve the aforementioned fame. Each round the factions begin by rolling all of the four(five if you’re the bluefin squadron) dice available to them. Play then moves clockwise alternating between squadron, smuggler, union, and smugglers who will use one the dice to activate a power on the their board. Those powers can be a variety of things and in some cases will be drastically different based on faction. Basic actions will be some kind of movement, repair, or defensive/offensive action while others will be depending on who you represent. Play continues until no dice remain in the pools of players and a new round begins.

The game also features a couple of different style decks with which we are able to explore the world Leder Games has created, whether it be through recruitment of colorful characters featuring a wide range of cost and abilities, or tiles that literally comprise the world these pirates inhabit.

All in all, I really appreciate what Leder Games has done with this. They’ve created a fun world that take very little time to play. The box says 45-75 minutes, but I think that repeated play would drastically reduce that play time. I look forward to mastering each faction’s unique playstyle as I think I’ve barely scratched the surface for what this game is capable of. Highly recommended.

-Ryan Miller