Ahoy Review

Intro to asymmetry.

Ahoy from Leder Games has 2-4 players sailing the high seas in order to gain the most reputation. There are 3 factions in the game with 2 guaranteed to be used at all times, the Bluefin Squadron and the Mollusk Union. The Smugglers are used in a 3 or 4 player game. Each round, players will roll their action dice and assign them to their boards. On your turn, you'll perform 2 actions. These include your basic move and combat actions but each faction also has their own specific ones. The Bluefin Squadron is more combat-focused. They have the option to load more into their cannons and their units are always ready. The Mollusk Union is more area controlled focused. They'll drop comrades at islands to increase their influence over an area. They also have a deck that will aid them in combat and unlock some special ships. I've only had a chance to play 2 player so I don't have much insight into the Smugglers at the time of writing this. They want to collect loot from the market and get it to their marked islands. At the end of each round, the overall influence over an area is calculated by whoever has the most units there. Then reputation is added to the score tracker based on the value of the die on the tile. The first player to 30 will win the game.

The Good: Leder Games continues to be the masters of asymmetry. Ahoy's main factions both play so differently from each other while essentially having the same core concepts. I love that so much. The Mollusk Union is great at spreading themselves around the map and managing to get small bits of reputation each round while the Bluefin Squadron needs to be more tactical about where they position themselves. Every round a die gets changed to increase the value of a tile so they want to be around those.

The Okay: You're going to be at the mercy of dice with Ahoy which is a bit of a change from what I'm used to with their games. You can spend coins to change the values and for the most part they may not matter much but if you need an ability and don't have the coins or luck you may have some issues.

The Not So Good: There were times I was playing where I felt like I was a bit lost of what I should be doing. This isn't uncommon necessarily in a game like this but I felt like this happened more than usual. If the other player was on the other side of the map it felt like a slog to get to them if I couldn't use the tailwind action to teleport near them.

Final Thoughts: It's hard to not compare Ahoy to Root. It's a very different game. This feels like the intro to Root. It has a lot of strong core concepts that will get you ready for it. I think overall, I prefer Root with all of its absurdity but Ahoy is a game that will stay in my collection. It's a faster-paced game and it's going to be easier to teach than Root and plays better at 2 players. It's a fantastic game overall and Leder Games has another hit on their hands.

Thanks to Leder Games for providing me with a review copy.