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Port Royal is a new Skirmish Game Kickstarter out by Firelock Games who make Blood & Plunder and other games. I thought I should post here so that people have a chance to see it. It's never fun to discover a Kickstarter you would have backed after it has already ended.

Port Royal is a campaign based, tactical, small-scale warband-sized skirmish wargame that is easy and fast to learn and play. Loosely based on the historical events following the 1692 earthquake that devastated the island of Jamaica. In Port Royal, players take control of small companies of pirates, privateers, Native Americans, African Maroons, or local government forces as they battle against opponents for their share of the plunder that litters the ruins of the place. Players will gain loot and experience between games while building infamy and growing in their piratical expertise. But take heed! The ruins are fraught with dangers! Falling buildings, wild animals, desperate civilians, and opposing companies can bring a quick end to members of your company.

Like what I see of this so far. Very Mordheim feel to it which can only be a good thing!

I think you are dead on with that comparison. Thematically it very much seems like Mordheim with Pirates.

It certainly wants to be Mordheim

But nothing can be Mordheim, even a full blown reprint of Mordheim today can't be Mordheim, because we're not in 1999 waiting to see if the world will stop on new year's eve. You can't recreate that zeitgeist with some historical earthquake setting that has no relation to what's at stake today. The Mordheims of today are Fallout and Mad Max.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
It certainly wants to be Mordheim

You say that like it's a bad thing.

But nothing can be Mordheim, even a full blown reprint of Mordheim today can't be Mordheim, because we're not in 1999 waiting to see if the world will stop on new year's eve. You can't recreate that zeitgeist with some historical earthquake setting that has no relation to what's at stake today. The Mordheims of today are Fallout and Mad Max.

Or this, potentially. Mordheim's thematic element is certainly very of its moment in history, but as appealing as the theme is that's not why it's still played and beloved even now - the gameplay itself is inherently appealing and replayable, and there's mountains of fan content if you ever managed to play enough to get bored of the core offering. The fan content itself is evidence the special-sauce of the game is more than just Mordheim-the-setting, since much of it is about expanding where and what you can play with the core rules. "Mordheim but Pirates" is a pretty good idea no matter what year it is.

Of course the more campaign skirmish games, the better (we're currently running Dracula's America) I'm just saying the decision to make it "post-apocalyptic" as a shot at Mordheim is likely an impotent one. But we'll see... the last one was pretty DOA and it had a big name attached https://gavthorpe.co.uk/games/cutlass/

This looks super fun, but June is a Kickstarter murderers row if you're also into RPGs and boardgames. This is one I would normally go for, but the timing hurts.

Below is a video by 2+ Tough which gives a brief overview of Port Royal.

What a great game!

I'll be keeping my eye on this one, hopefully get a book when it comes to the market.

I personally wasn't very impressed with Port Royal's demo games on Youtube. Feels like Blood&Plunder with 3 times fewer models but 3 times more rolls to compensate. Can't say that I won't like it so I'm definitely going to try it out when it comes out, but Firelock has already put out a very mediocre game in my opinion (Blood&Crowns) so I'm not so keen on their new releases.