Sea of Legends Is the Pirate Board Game I Didn’t Expect to Love

About Sea of Thieves: Voyage of Legends, from BoardGameGeek:

The official tabletop adaptation of the hit video game, Sea of Thieves: Voyage of Legends is a competitive 4X game for 2-4 players. From fulfilling bounties and following treasure maps, to raiding forts and boarding ships to steal their loot, players live the life of a nefarious pirate as they compete to earn the title of Pirate Legend before their rivals. But, players must be wary. Gaining reputation will not be easy, and they'll have to contend with more than just their rivals. Ancient ships prowl the oceans, and foreboding forts blot the horizon, both crewed by hostile skeletal foes. Behemoths like the kraken and megalodon, easily capable of capsizing a ship in moments, lurk in the deep just waiting for unsuspecting craft to pass overhead. Earning reputation enough to become a pirate legend can be achieved in a variety of ways, and there's no one way to victory. Searching out and completing contracts from one of the trading companies is a just as much a path to success as hunting enemies, and however you choose to earn your coin, spending it to upgrade your fleet with special crew and bigger ships is always a good choice. Gameplay is intuitive and easy to learn, with a fresh and streamlined approach to 4X games. Player turns follow a straightforward action economy and are designed to be quick to keep the action flowing and reduce downtime around the table. At the end of each round a fortune card system provides rubber-banding for players that are lagging behind, helping to keep the game competitive until the very last moment. The playing area, special crew, locations of treasure and enemies, and events that occur are randomised each game, meaning that every game will be different even before factoring in the actions and decisions made by the players at the table. Players will have to be engaged at all times, thanks to these cards, which can be played at any time, and because unlike other games in this genre, they won't have safe or fixed bases - all players ply the same seas around the outpost in the middle of the table, and must constantly be on guard for attacks. Can you win the race to become a pirate legend before your rivals? Or will you forever be a scurvy knave? Find out the answer on the Sea of Thieves!