Rum and Bones Kickstarter game

I interrupt my reviews of werewolf figures to bring to your attention a new miniatures-based board-game produced by Cool Mini Or Not called Rum and Bones. This is being launched as a Kickstarter project this month and is proving to be VERY popular. It was fully funded on day one of its launch. You may well bemoan the fact that it is yet another Kickstarter project and that its launch is far too close to Christmas for you to be able to afford to back it. Plus, unlike most Kickstarter projects this only has one pledge level. $100 is the price to pay if you want it. Too dear, do I hear you say? Your arguments are valid and not unreasonable. But I have fallen hook, line and sinker for this game and so I'd like to show you why this is such a perfect game for me.

The above photo shows you everything you get in the basic boxed set... and its a lot! First up, are map boards for two pirate galleons - one crewed by humans and the other by assorted undead. Ah, undead - that had me hooked from the start! The figures consist of 70 plastic 32mm scale figures made up of 48 deck hands, 12 bosuns and 10 heroes. In addition, you get 8 six-sided dice, 10 hero stat cards, 2 sea creature cards (a Sea Dragon and a Kraken), 60 Tide cards, 113 tokens, 15 tiles and the rulebook.

To the right are the game boards featuring the two galleons. At the top of the picture is the ship crewed by the human Wellsport Brotherhood. Below them is the ship crewed by the undead Bone Devils. The objective of the game is to destroy three of the five targets that line the centre of each ship (deck gun, ship's wheel, main mast, rigging and armoury). Next to the central three targets are spawning points where you bring on new crew each turn. Crews board the opposing ship via any of the three gangplanks. Heroes can also swing from ropes but risk missing and falling in the sea. Embarrassing!

The five heroes of the Wellsport Brotherhood are from left to right, Captain Daniel Pale, Quartermaster Margaret "Miss Mags" Hale, Swashbuckler Mad Ivan, Gunner "Blackout" Bart and Brute "Stumper" Pete. All have three unique abilities they can use. Some cost nothing to use, whilst others (usually more powerful) cost a certain amount of gold coins to use. Gold coins are distributed at the start of each turn and can be collected by defeating enemy crew members.

The five heroes of the Bone Devils are from left to right, Captain Albrecht the Thrice Damned, Gunner Ghosteye Gunther, Brute Little Tom (Tom resides in the chest cavity of the pirate he has possessed), Quartermaster Patchwork Porter and Swashbuckler The Spectre. These also have three unique abilities each. Both sides have access to their own Tide deck of 30 cards which can either help them or hinder their opponent.

The Helrokker gang are a group of mercenaries and may be used by either side. From left to right are Gunner Alex of Pain, Quartermaster The Killmaster, Brute Thunder Lars, Captain Napoleon and Swashbuckler The Slasher. I'm not overly impressed with this group but they come free with the game, so who am I to complain?

At the time of writing there are four optional extras you can buy for the game. I want all of them! This set provides you with three more Wellsport Brotherhood Heroes. They are from left to right, Quartermaster Theo the Terror of Nova, Captain "Bloody" Anne Bonny and Gunner Grace O'Malley. The idea of having a pirate ship with an all-female crew certainly appeals to me. A lot of fans have asked for this and it may yet happen. Note that each side have five heroes consisting of a Brute, a Captain, a Gunner, a Quartermaster and a Swashbuckler. They all have their own special abilities, strengths and weaknesses and all are unique.

If there was ever any doubt that I'd be interested in this game then this optional set would have sealed my fate and sucked me in. This set offers up three more heroes to use with the Bone Devils. From left to right they are, Quartermaster Daedalus the Soul Herald, Captain Dracula and Swashbuckler Renfield the Blood Crazed. Oh, joy! Captain Dracula! Who better to lead a gang of undead pirates than the infamous Dracula? He is such a cool figure and a must have for me.

The third optional buy is a full expansion set and it costs $40. Two ships were never going to be enough. Mazu's Dreadful Curse offers 3 Chinese junks (much smaller than the two galleons but collectively, just as strong), 24 deckhand figures, 6 bosun figures, 5 hero figures, 30 Tide cards, 3 Objective tiles, 3 Deployment Point tiles, and 3 Windgate tokens (this blessing of Mazu allows the pirates to quickly move between the different ships! They're like a teleport spell.)

From left to right the Mazu's Dreadful Curse heroes are Captain Shen Wei and Shen Yong, Gunner Mister Koga the Many-Fingered, Quartermaster Lo Fang the Demon Serpent, Swashbuckler Xia the Red Mist and Brute Lang, Lord of Lang (er, Kung Fu Panda, anyone?). This is another must have expansion set. I'd buy it just to get the not-Kung Fu Panda figure. He is so cool!

It did not take long for the makers to bring out an optional set of Heroes to use with Mazu's Dreadful Curse. Once again, this set consists of three heroes and they are from left to right, Swashbuckler Lien Hua the Flower of Death, Brute Ai Fei the Favoured of Mazu and Captain Shu Ming the Merciless. These are very nice sculpts and I was very pleased to see that they are all female, although I wish they had not made a second female Swashbuckler because Xia the Red Mist from above is just as good. I'd have much preferred to see a female Gunner or Quartermaster instead.

For many years now I have wanted to play a pirate skirmish game. What held me back was I was just waiting for the right set of figures and rules to come along. For me, the timing of the release of Rum and Bones couldn't be better. Now that I am quite happy to embrace change in my gaming hobby I had no hesitation in backing this project. I have seen online demos of the game being played and it certainly does appeal to me. It is not a game that should be taken too seriously. Just look at the figures. Some have a very cartoon-like feel to them. In my opinion, this is a good thing. It makes the figures unique and gives them their own identity. This game is going to be a LOT OF FUN to play. It's due for release in July 2015 and I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on it.
You can read a lot more about this game  at the official website here - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rum-and-bones