Ice Pirates

Goal:
Collect more then your share of the Treasure in the game.

** NOTE: Choose one of the opaque colors to count as the treasure pieces. The Large pieces of that color do not count as treasure. The Mediums are worth two treasures each and the Smalls of that color are worth one treasure each.

There will be 15 points worth of treasure in the game, therefore depending on the number of players, the amount of treasure you need to collect to win changes as such:

# of Players	win condition	calculation
2-players	8 treasures	(> 7.50 = 15/2)
3-players	6 treasures	(> 5.00 = 15/3)
4-players	4 treasures	(> 3.75 = 15/4)
5-players	4 treasures	(> 3.00 = 15/5)

Setup:
Using the two opaque stashes, create the 10 Treasure Islands by randomly assembling complete nests (small inside of a medium inside of a large) such that no player knows what is inside of any of them. (Perhaps using a lunch sack to conceal the construction of the nests from all players.)

Set the completed Islands upright in the middle area of the table. They should be distributed approximately evenly with no two nests closer then about 4 inches (the size of two larges) from each other.

Next, each player places their Home Island on the table such that they are no closer then about 4 inches from any other (Home or Treasure) Island.

Each player then sets aside one piece of each size from their stash of ships. These pieces will be used when moving the ships, and firing the cannons. The remaining four piece of each size make up that players fleet of ships.

The players then place these ships such that some portion of each ship is touching their Home Island.

Any remaining pieces may either be stored on your Home Island, or somewhere nearby but outside of the play area.

Play:
Players alternate taking turns until one player has collected enough treasure on their home Island to win the game.

Each players turn consists of that player performing up to three Actions.

The turn options are as follows:

Firing a cannon:
During a single turn a ship can only fire its cannons a number of times equal to its size, and each shot requires one turn action. So a Small ship may only fire once per turn, a Medium may fire up to twice, and a Large up to three times in a single turn.

All ships can fire cannons at objects up to a distance of one Large away, but only in specific directions.

To fire a cannon, Use a Large piece (regardless of ship size) such that the entire base side of the Large touches one of the two long sides of your ship. The Large piece indicates your possible target area. If the object you wish to shoot at lies in the area covered by the Large piece, and is not obstructed by anything, then you can hit that target.

Illus. 1 Firing a cannon - cannon range examples
(Blue pieces indicate the ship position.
Gray area indicates where the cannons can reach.)

When a ship is hit from cannon fire, it takes one point of damage.

A ship is Disabled (stood upright with its cargo stacked in a tree on top of it) when it has taken damage equal to its size.

A Small ship becomes disabled the first time that it is hit. But a Medium ship will not be disabled until the second time that it is hit, and a Large can survive until the third hit. You can use some form of chits or other markers to indicate ships that have already taken some damage. The damage stays with the ship the remainder of the game until it is repaired.

A disabled ship cannot take any further damage until it has been repaired. However, it also cannot perform any other actions besides repairs.

** Note: Make sure to move the damage counters along with the ship whenever you move it.

Making Repairs:
You can use your turn-actions to make repairs on a ship which has received damage. It is possible to perform repairs to remove some or even all of the damage on a ship.

You can use any number of your turn-actions to remove one point of damage each from a ship. (E.g. You can use all three of your turn-actions to fully repair a large ship which has been disabled.)

Any ship which receives repairs in a given turn, must not perform any other actions that turn. (Neither before nor after the repairs.)

A disabled ship which receives repairs should be laid back down on the table such that it generally covers the same area that it did while it was upright. It can be pointed in any direction you wish. Any cargo that is still with the ship is returned to its hold. (Nested back inside of the ship.)

Ship Movement:
As one Action, a ship can move up to a maximum number of steps based on its size.

(See Illus. 2 below where the blue piece indicates the original ship, and the gray area shows the possible positions for the ship after one step.)

Continue this process until you have either gone as far as you wish, or until you have traveled the maximum distance allowed based on the size of the ship. (See Illus. 3)

Illus. 2 Ship movement - single step examples
(Blue pieces indicate the initial ship position.
Gray area indicates the possible positions for the ship after one step.)

Illus. 3 Ship movement - distance and movement examples
(Blue pieces indicate the initial ship position.
Gray pieces indicate individual steps and possible stopping points.
Yellow pieces indicate the furthest step that the ship can make.)

You must travel in steps as listed above. A ship must move in increments of its size.
No partial-size moves are allowed, only moves that are a number of full steps less then or equal to the maximum.
(e.g. A small can move the length of one, two, three, or four small sizes, but no portions of a small unit.
-- No two and a half size moves.)

If a ship would come into contact with another object or the edge of the playing surface during a move, then the move is not allowed.

** Note: It will be impossible to orient the new ship in some directions, such as at a 90 degree angle or even straight back, as the new ship position would overlap upon the previous one. Also, it is possible to have a ship in a position such that there are no possible valid directions that it may move. (Its path could be blocked by another ship, or an obstacle such as the edge of the playing field.) In these cases that ship is currently stuck and cannot be moved any further this turn.

Docking & Transferring cargo:
As a side effect of moving, if a ship stops close enough to another object (Treasure Island, Home Island, or another ship - active or disabled) on the playing field, it is said to have docked with that other object.
The ship is "close enough" if there is some area between the ship and the other object which is narrow enough that you would be unable to fit an upright small between the two objects.

When you are docked with an object, you are then able to transfer cargo between your ship and the other object as one turn-action. (Regardless of how much cargo is transferred to and/or from your ship.)

If you are docked with a Treasure Island, you may "explore" the island for treasure by lifting the island and examining its contents. The island should then be returned to its original location. You are not required to show anyone else the contents of the island you have explored, but you can if you wish. This "exploring" does not count as a turn-action, but can only be performed when you are docked with the island.

You can use Docking & Transferring to take treasures from a Treasure Island, or even to steal treasure from an opponents ship, or even their Home Island.

Cargo Hold:
Each size of ship can only carry a certain amount and type of cargo. The amount is based on what can nest within the ships hold.

Although the ships can hold only a limited amount of cargo, any island can hold any amount of item. If the items deposited on an island will not all fit nested inside of it, then the extra items may be stacked on top of the island instead.

Some (don't be so) Fiddly bits: