Post from 10/25/2022

🏴‍☠️ Dead Reckoning was one of our unplanned “surprise purchases” during SPIEL. 😅 We have been excited about the game for some time now but thought the Kickstarter was a bit on the expensive side. When we saw that AEG had some copies for sale we couldn’t resist anymore and even splurged on the premium coins and resources, which are simply amazing! 🤩

In Dead Reckoning you play as pirates in a 4X-esque fashion, as you explore the surrounding archipelago, expand your influence on the islands and exploit them for resources, and try to exterminate your foes! - all in an effort to gather the most booty and win! 🏆

⚙️ The core of the game is deck-building - you don’t get new cards though, but transparent overlays that you can put on your crew cards so they get new abilities. This is the same system you could know from Mystic Vale. You can also level up your crew, flipping their cards so their abilities improve.

👆 The game is a race to achieve 4 out of the 9 objectives, like sinking a ship, having multiple upgrades or buildings built, etc. And of course it’s essential to also play optimally so you have the most money at the end, because the objective race is only the end-game trigger - it doesn’t mean you win!

⚙️ On your turn you can move around, buy advancements and use the effects of your cards. Managing your ship board is also interesting - carrying much cargo means your sails or cannons are blocked. So while you always need a bunch of stuff, it is also risky to have too much aboard. You will keep having to offload stuff at your dock and sail out again.

⚔️ Battling is a real blast! 💥 You and your opponent each add together your cannons and throw in that many cubes in a cube-tower. You can use combat abilities, then resolve the cubes depending on where they landed on the combat board. You need to have the most crown icons to win, but dealing damage or plundering cargo are also useful outcomes. I was a bit afraid of the randomness, but it works well and mimics the visceral nature of naval battles. 😄

We are really happy with Dead Reckoning and will jump right into our next game of it! 😁