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Z-Man Games

Merchants & Marauders

    • Based on 283 reviews
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Availability: In Stock.
Fulfilled by Amazon
Arrives Thursday, Jan 2
Order within 16 hours and 45 minutes
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Features

  • ADVENTURE ON THE HIGH SEAS: Seek your fortune on the high seas during the Golden Age of Piracy in this game of swashbuckling adventure! Take command of your ship and live the life of an influential merchant or become a dreaded pirate. The choice is yours.
  • STRATEGY BOARD GAME: Merchants & Marauders invites a wide range of play styles. The choice between merchant and marauder is a difficult one, as both avenues come with risks. Work to your captains strengths as you modify your ship, outfit it with deadly special munitions, and hire specialized crew members.
  • DEEPLY THEMATIC COMBAT GAME: When it comes to combat, Merchants & Marauders has a deeply thematic system that allows for critical decisions and intense excitement. Fire on your opponents ship or board them and fight man to man. The risks are great, but the rewards are greater!
  • HIGHLY VARIABLE: Each game presents a unique world for you and your friends to inhabit. Every turn brings new drama. A violent hurricane could rip through the Caribbean, or war could break out between two naval powers. Whatever events unfold, the most cunning captains will adapt and bend the situation into their favor.
  • NUMBER OF PLAYERS AND AVERAGE PLAYTIME: This nautical adventure game is made for 2 to 4 players and is suitable for ages 13 and older. Average playtime is approximately 180 minutes.

Description

Merchants and Marauders lets you live the life of an influential merchant or a dreaded pirate in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Seek your fortune through trade rumor hunting missions and of course plundering. The game features a unique trade system and a thematic combat system allowing for critical decisions and intense excitement. Modify your ship buy impressive vessels load deadly special ammunitions and hire specialist crew members. Will your captain gain eternal glory and immense wealth or find his wet grave under the stormy surface of the Caribbean Sea? From the Manufacturer Merchants and Marauders lets you live the life of an influential merchant or a dreaded pirate in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Seek your fortune through trade rumor hunting missions and of course plundering. The game features a unique trade system and a thematic combat system allowing for critical decisions and intense excitement. Modify your ship buy impressive vessels load deadly special ammunitions and hire specialist crew members. Will your captain gain eternal glory and immense wealth or find his wet grave under the stormy surface of the Caribbean Sea?


Product Dimensions: 12 x 12 x 4 inches


Item Weight: 5.26 pounds


Domestic Shipping: Item can be shipped within U.S.


Country of Origin: China


Item model number: ZM7062


Manufacturer recommended age: 12 - 16 years


Is Discontinued By Manufacturer: No


Release date: October 19, 2010


Manufacturer: Flat River Group


Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Thursday, Jan 2

Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.

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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Best pirate game ever!
I will start by saying that my friends and I absolutely love this game. It almost reminds me of a board game version of cid Myers pirates. The game places you in the shoes of a captain in the Caribbean. You want to be a merchant amassing wealth sailing from port to port buying low and selling high? Go for it! Want to find hidden treasures, forgotten ships, and take missions from naval admirals? This game has it. And of course be the curse of the Caribbean and be a pirate! Or any combination of them. See that other player with the completly battered ship from a fight that didn't go his way? the one that has been terrorizing the seas the entire game..why not take up pirate hunting as a temp gig, sail over blow them out of the water and collect a cool cash bounty. The game comes with beautiful components and the board is wonderful. It has 4 different types of ships for each player, player treasure chests, plus NPC ships, custom dice, tons of cards and tokens, a concise rulebook great player cheat sheets that have all major rules. The game will seem like it has ALOT of rules at first. However after an intro play through you will find that the rules are actually very simple, it's just that there is so much you can do it will seem like a lot to take in. Don't get me wrong though, the first play through is a blast. Merchants spend there times sailing from port to port buying goods that are in surplus and selling items that are in demand. The board has 12 ports that each have randomly assigned and changing goods that are in demand. These items sell for double price (6 gold). When buying goods you are given 6 cards, each having a random good on it. Every item costs 3 gold, but if there are any pairs of items (like 2 barrels of rum) they only cost 2 gold a piece. 3 or more of the same items will only cost you 1 gold a piece. Simulating the market of the town. Players can go into ports to buy and sell goods, repair and buy upgrades for their ships, and go to the tavern to recruit crew and try to find out about rumors. Pirates can spend their time raiding npc merchant ships and fighting npc naval captains, or turn on their friends and hunt them from port to port. But be careful! When you attack an innocent captain the nation places a bounty on you and you are no longer allowed in their ports. There are 4 nations so it's ok to anger a few, but you don't want the whole Caribbean angry with you, unless you are just that sorta person in which case go for it! Ship to ship combat consists of players choosing an action (shoot cannons, try to board, and try to flee), each player rolls his captains seamanship to see who maneuvers his ship most advantageously. Each player rolls the dice, they are 6 sided dice where the 5s & 6s have been replaced with skull and crossbones. Throughout the game on most rolls these are what you want to roll. So if you rolled more skulls than your opponent and you were shooting you would hit them with all your ships cannons. WOOP! You then roll a die for every cannon your ship has, each number corresponds to a hit location of your ship(masts, hull, cargo, cannons) and skulls are wild. There are different upgrade items that can be used to transfer damage (such as chain shot to target masts) and other permanent ship upgrades such as improved rigging for better maneuverability. Like I said there is just a lot of potential stuff to do in this game and I wanted to just touch on a few of the neat aspects of the game. I'd like to close with some general tips and some pointers on alleviating the longer aspects of the game. 1. Expect your first play though to be several hours. This just has to deal with everyone getting the general aspect of the game and sailing around mindlessly for a bit trying to get their bearings. Don't rush people on their first play but with second time players encourage them to think out their moves during other players turns. In the end there isn't a ton that will change your "next turn strategy" and already having a general plan will help avoid the 5 minutes of thinking while everyone waits. 2. I like to have 6 item cards set aside so that when players port the cards are already ready to go.this may seem silly and trivial, but almost every player port action has the captain at least looking what's for sell (why not window shop, you might find a great deal) this cuts down on having to count out six cards when requested. 3. You need to play with someone to do this first, but if anyone has played with you before, have them set up the board while you explain all the game mechanics. The game takes about 15 minutes to set up and that is GREAT time to ease new comers into the game. 4. For people who have played less than 3 games strongly encourage the use of the cheat sheets. I still use them. They have a list of all sea zone special abilities,what all items do, player turn layout, and basically everything that you need. These are the most under used and under appreciated parts of the game in my opinion. CHEAT SHEETS ARE YOUR FRIEND. Tell people to glace through them while they aren't doing anything, look at the sea zones they are going into, check for any conditions etc. 5. For npc battles (operate the same as player vs player except one person is rolling and deciding for npr) encourage people to cut loose. This is a ship that you can drive into the ground without consequence. This is the best way for new players to experience PvP combat without having to risk their ships. And a general tip: the biggest contribution to your play strategy should be the captain that you draw. All captains have several stats (leadership, charisma,seamanship etc. Use this as a cue to how you should , play. If your captain really sucks at scouting for ships perhaps being a pirate isn't for him. If he has great charisma why not try being an adventuring merchant running the game on quests and rumors.main point is don't play against your captains abilities. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2015 by Naomi K.
    • A game worth the time to learn
Merchants & Marauders (M&M) is a fun game. Even a very fun game! M&M allows up to 4 players to move miniature ships across a colorfully interpreted map of the Caribbean, as either a merchant or a pirate. You win the game by acquiring 10 glory points. These points are earned throughout the game by completing various tasks, thus providing different roads to victory. Whether fighting (or avoiding) pirates, verifying rumors, plundering merchants, dealing with "non-player” naval ships, or buying and selling trade goods, M&M offers variety, opportunity and chance. Dice provide the main mechanism for decisions and outcomes, making fate (or luck) another fact of life you have to deal with. Players start out in small ships, but can purchase bigger and more powerful ships when they have earned enough gold. One feature I like is that you can start out as a merchant and decide to switch to pirating, if you believe that will be a more lucrative and faster path to victory. But it is also possible to switch from pirate back to merchant, though not as easily. In that sense, it provides a reasonable facsimile of how easy it was to become a pirate and how difficult it was to turn back. The ships, counters and mounted map board are very well-made, and -designed. The board is approx. 22 x 25 1/4", but you'll also need room for the 4 player mats (9- 3/4 x 7") and the 6 stacks of game cards. So your regular card table might be a tight fit. The colorful rulebook is large-sized and handsomely supported with lots of images. You can download the actual rulebook by browsing over to the Z-Man web page [...]. M&M is not a game geared to younger kids. Teenagers should grasp it quickly enough, though the largest audience is probably adult gamers. The rules are not overly complex, but it will take a few games to become comfortable with them and the game flow; but the time invested will pay off if you enjoy pirate games. This isn’t as simple as “Monopoly”, of course, but it is certainly nowhere near as complex as GMT’s “Blackbeard”. Some people criticize the game because other players have nothing to do when it is another player’s turn. In truth, this is not a “cooperative” style game of players working together for a common cause. Pirates were in it for themselves and merchants were focused on getting the best deals while avoiding the pirates. Criticisms: I wish the game was designed to allow up to 5 players. I don't particularly care for the "secret" nature of some rules, such as a player not having to reveal how much gold is being stashed, but claiming a Glory Point by claiming it was at least 10 gold coins. I wish the designers had included a "convoy" opportunity so a merchant could travel as part of a convoy for protection. When I was thinking of buying this game, I read many reviews here and at several other sites. Most all of them were positive. I’m happy to say that I agree with them! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2014 by George Atkins
    • Long game that allows you to trade . . . or PIRATE!
This game may not say I'm a verified purchaser, because I received it as a gift. But I assure you, I've played this game a LOT!!! I think this game may just be the "perfect" pirate game. The game turns have 3 "actions" per player, which can take a little time when you first start. However, once you get used to the flow of this game, it doesn't take as much time. I'd say the first few games will take 3 or 4 hours, simply due to the time required to figure out the turns. However, once you are a "veteran", you'll breeze along - and more importantly, you'll learn to enjoy the drama of watching the other players make their decisions - and live or DIE with them! In fact, watching a NPC (non-player captain) take down a fellow player can be both exciting and horrifying. The game has a lot of "piratey" mechanics to it, and I especially LOVE that you can switch back and forth from being peaceful to violent when you feel like it, though past actions have a consequence. Lot's of dice rolling, but it also feels very "piratey", and you'll love it. In fact, I've now built my own wooden game case for holding all of the pieces, with lots of little treasure boxes to hold the pieces. Best of all? You CAN play this game solo - though you'll want to play four pieces at the same time. Try to win with each and see what kind of fates are dealt - AWESOME! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2020 by Blackbeard's Ghost

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