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Kaiser's Pirates (KPR) Links Email GM   Last updated May 24, 2018.
Class B: Beginning Players Welcome You may play if you have read the rules, played previously, or participated in a scheduled demo. Be on time for the scheduled demonstration. The GM will remain for only 15 minutes if no one is present.
Schedule  GM: Bill Beckman (1st Year)
Round Day Start Time Duration Location
Demo 1 We 18 1 Exhibit Annex Table 1
Heat 1/3 Fr 13 3 First Tracks Center
Heat 2/3 Fr 16 3 First Tracks Center
Heat 3/3 Sa 10 3 First Tracks Center
Semifinal Sa 13 3 First Tracks Center
Final Sa 16 3 First Tracks Center
2018 Tournament Format HMWG

Action on the High Seas . . .

Players simultaneously command German and British naval forces as the Kaiser’s merchant raiders work to disrupt vital allied shipping efforts in Jim Day’s World War I naval action card game. Play is straightforward, but a winning strategy requires careful hand management and clever combinations of the dual-use Action Cards to maximize your own points while limiting your opponents’ success.

The Kaiser’s Pirates is being run for the eleventh time this year. The game pits 20 of Imperial Germany’s best commerce raiders, both warships and converted civilian ships, in cat-and-mouse action against a multinational merchant fleet. However, British naval forces lurk at every turn. Will your ships follow in the footsteps of the storied Wolf or find themselves disabled, captured, or sunk before they can do much damage to allied shipping (like so many of the Kaiser’s other pirates)?

Tournament Structure: This tournament will feature three quick 4-player heats (with 3-player games as needed). At the end of each heat, players will be assigned round points based on their finish (as they are in the TKP full game) – 4 for first, 3 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth, and 0 for not scoring at all.

For the semi-finals, players will be seeded according to the following hierarchy:

  • first, most wins
  • second, most round points
  • third, highest cumulative total of victory awards in the preliminary heats
  • fourth, highest cumulative number of merchantmen (blue cards) sunk or captured through the preliminary heats
  • fifth, a dice-off resolved by rolling a set of TKP dice and comparing the results.

The top 16 seeded players will advance and be seated in reciprocating order (so that the first table will hold seeds 1, 8, 9, and 16, for example). As long as there are enough players to fill out four 3- or 4-player tables, the 4 winners in the semi-final will advance to the final. If there are fewer than four semi-final tables, the highest-scoring second-place players advance as necessary.

The heats and semifinals will be single-deck games. The Final will be a full three-round game using the round scoring and tie breakers described in the rulebook.

Optional Rules: All heats will use the Tournament Balance and Additional Damage optional rules. The Final will also use the Warship & Raider Retention and Prize Ship Re-Supply optional rules.

Time Limits: The GM will notify players 30 and 15 minutes before the end of allotted time. If games are still going on with 5 minutes to go, the players will finish out the current round of turns (that is, play will continue until the last player in starting player order has had a final turn) and standings will be determined by current points.

Tie Breakers: Ties for victory in the preliminary heats will be resolved by comparing the number of merchantmen (blue cards) sunk or captured in that particular game. Continued ties will result in shared victory. Ties in the semi-final will be resolved by number of merchantmen sunk or captured, and then by a TKP dice-off, if necessary. If a tie-breaker round is required in the final, it will be played only by the tied players.

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