In today’s review we’re taking a look at the game Libertalia Winds of Galecrest!
Put on your pirate hats and get ready to set sail for the skies. In Libertalia, you’ll have to sneakily manage your crew members to best your rivals and make off with all the doubloons if you hope to claim victory!
What is Libertalia Winds of Galecrest?
Libertalia Winds of Galecrest is an updated version of Libertalia. Originally released in 2012 and since out of print, Winds of Galecrest celebrates the foundations of the original game by bringing a heavily revised and expanded edition that both improves play and increases replayability.
Libertalia Gameplay Overview
In Libertalia, your goal is to play cards from your hand to earn the most gold doubloons over the course of three voyages.
Each player begins the game with the same 6 pirate cards. Each of the 40 unique numbered pirate cards in the deck has their own special abilities. During a round, all players will secretly choose a pirate from their hand to play. All pirate cards are revealed at the same time and are placed on the “island” on the board in ascending order from left to right. (Ties are broken by the players’ standings on the reputation track.)
Then the cards special abilities are activated through a series of phases. Day, Dusk, and Night.
The day abilities are resolved first, beginning with the left most character and moving to the right.
Then the Dusk abilities are resolved beginning with the right most character and moving to the left. After a player has resolved their Dusk ability, they will select a loot token from the current day (if any are available) and add the loot token and their character card in front of them on their “ship.”
Finally Night abilities are resolved. Simultaneously, all players activate the night abilities on characters in their ship, whether or not they were played the current or previous rounds.
During each round, if players earn doubloons, they’ll take those and add them to their ship. If any characters are to be discarded, they are removed from the board or the ship and placed under their player’s graveyard tile.
After resolving night abilities, players begin the next round and go through the same steps.
The first voyage has four rounds, the second has five, and the third and final voyage has six rounds.
After each voyage, players add the total of all doubloons they earned that voyage to their doubloon tracker. Then players add six new random pirate cards to their hands. All players will add the same cards to their hand. Loot tokens are replenished on the board for the number of rounds the voyage requires. Then play proceeds as above.
The player with the most doubloons earned from all three voyages is the winner.
What do We Think of Libertalia Winds of Galecrest?
Libertalia has been one of our favorite games for years and we are beyond impressed by the improvements made to it with Winds of Galecrest!
Libertalia is deceptively simple with layered strategies. On one level, you have to think through the cards you are wanting to play and how they’ll earn you the doubloons you need. While doing this, you must also attempt to plan for the cards you think the other players will select. Because the order of the cards can impact what loot tokens you’re able to take home, you must cleverly predict what is in their best interests so you can play a card that thwarts them while helping you succeed.
Of course, they’re trying to do the same to YOU! So you can never be fully sure that the card you’re playing is going to bring you the results you’re intending.
Two Changes that Greatly Improve Libertalia
Libertalia Winds of Galecrest has two new elements that we think make this the absolute best version to play. These two elements are how characters are drawn and the reputation track.
Drawing Characters
The game slowly ramps players up to a full hand of cards. Rather than beginning the game with a full hand of nine pirate cards, players begin with just 6. Then after the voyage they’ll be left with two cards in their hand they’ll carry over to the next round. Drawing six new cards to add to those, they now have a hand of 8 to use. Then during the final voyage, they’re holding a full hand of 9 cards. This helps players become comfortable and familiar with their cards and abilities without overwhelming them with so many to read all at once.
Beyond being less overwhelming, it also speeds up the game ever so slightly without ever once feeling like you’re rushed. It creates a more natural feeling of progression in the game. With each voyage you’ll spend more days on the island, playing more cards and acquiring more loot tokens. It’s great!
The Reputation Track
New to this version of Libertalia is the reputation track which is used not only to give players doubloons before each voyage, but to also break ties. It is such a simple addition that so greatly improves upon the original that I can’t imagine ever wanting to play without it!
I love the challenge this track represents! Some cards and loot tokens earn you points based on where you sit on the reputation track. Beyond that, this is also the way ties or broken, determining where players’ cards go on the island can be a round or even game winning decision.
There are a lot of fun ways you can play cards to manipulate your location on the reputation track to meet your goals. It is a superb addition to the game that simply and elegantly elevates the entire experience and strategy required to win.
Chaos on the Seas, or rather Winds!
If it sounds like the game can get a bit chaotic, it can! But that’s truly where the fun happens. At high player counts each card reveal is a true surprise that can force players to rethink how they are going to use their actions when activated.
If you prefer a game that has no player interaction, where you can choose your strategy and charge forward without deviation, this is not the game for you. Libertalia requires players to be shrewd pirates themselves, knowing how to adjust when plans go wrong and walk away the winner regardless.
Highly Replayable
Libertalia Winds of Galecrest includes new elements that make the game incredibly replayable. Far more so than the original.
First and foremost, the loot tokens have varied abilities that you can choose to alter before each game. The game includes different tiles that change the powers of each token. Simply place a tile over that space and you’ve changed that token’s powers!
The board is also double sided. One side is the “Calm” side which features easier, friendly abilities, and the other is the “Stormy” side which has more complex, devious abilities. Similarly, the loot tiles also have calm and stormy abilities so you can choose to add in stormy loot abilities to the calm side of the board and vice versa.
Love this completely!
This combined with the insane number (40!) of unique characters to play with makes this version of Libertalia incredibly versatile. No two games will be the same.
Theme and Components
Libertalia is filled with beautiful components that all enhance the game’s experience.
We love the loot tiles that really feel reminiscent to Azul’s beautiful mosaic squares. The bag players will use to draw them out of is incredibly sturdy and you can almost imagine it holding actual gold doubloons!
While the art may not be for everyone, we feel that it is a nice updated look from the original Libertalia. Before, the game really leaned into the grittier side of pirates. Dark colors and people wearing costumes befitting devilish characters of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Winds of Galecrest however lightens everything up with bright art and family friendly anthropomorphic animal hybrids. It also feels very Stonemaier-esk with the flying ships — a frequent feature in many of their games.
We feel that while the vibe has shifted to a lighter side, the tone of the game still remains very pirate-y. This is in large part due to a good working relationship between both the art and the mechanics of the game.
How Does Libertalia Play with Two?
The two player variant in Libertalia Winds of Galecrest is…fine. It’s not bad, but it’s also not great.
To modify the game to play at two, you’ll add a little tile on top of the second and third card locations on the board. The tile features the midshipman. If a player ever plays a card that is directly to the midshipman’s left, their opponent will choose a loot tile to discard.
This means that one of the two players will not be getting a loot token that turn. This made for occasionally interesting choices both in which cards we chose to play to either avoid or activate the midshipman’s abilities and too in which loot token was selected for removal.
However, because there were so few loot tokens for each round (only three) and often there were duplicates, the choices of which token to discard was often a non-choice. “Do you want to discard this barrel or this barrel?”
The feel of the game changed as well. Usually a game of Libertalia, when played with 5 or 6 players, is full of laughter, chaos, and rivalries. At two, there just wasn’t a lot to think over. You kind of knew which cards your opponent was going to play and the game itself felt quiet and subdued.
So while you can play at two, we don’t recommend Libertalia if you are planning on playing primarily at two. Or even three!
Libertalia Winds of Galecrest shines best at the full player count.
Can kids play?
Absolutely! This is a fun game for older kids to join in. I’d recommend they be at least 8 to 10 or so for best results. They should just have a fairly good grasp of reading to be able to interpret the cards and understand how to best play them to meet their goals.
Libertalia is a great game to get kids in on the fun because it will challenge them strategically and remains competitive without needing total secrecy. Since all pirate cards drawn are the same for every player, if your child (or any player of any age at the table) needs help interpreting how a card works, they are able to seek clarification without fear of revealing their plan.
Summary
Libertalia Winds of Galecrest expertly updates what was once an exciting pirate game to make it even better.
If you’ve never played Libertalia before, this is the version to get. Libertalia’s best quality is how it manages to create a game with a large amount of choice for players without ever becoming complex and overwhelming. Libertalia is easy to teach and quick to play thanks to simultaneous action selections. With 40 unique character cards, customizable loot tiles, and a double sided board you’ll never play the same game twice!
While the game can play well at low player counts, we think Libertalia shines best at player counts of 5-6.
Libertalia is available for preorders now from Stonemaier.
Find all our top game recommendations on our Amazon Storefront.
A special thanks to our friends at Stonemaier Games for sending a copy of Libertalia for review.
As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.
Game Info:
Title: Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest
1-6 Players Ages 14+
Designer: Paolo Mori
Artist: Lamaro Smith
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Published 2022
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