Ahoy Board Game Review

It’s been a while since we tackled a Leder Games title, but today we are playing what I like to refer to as Root-Lite! Ahoy uses unique player objectives and powers as players sail across open seas visiting islands, sinking ships, smuggling treasure, and so much more. If you want an experience that is lighter than Root, but still heavier than your average board game experience, look no further than Ahoy!

Ahoy is a game for up to four players, each taking on a unique faction that has different ways of achieving victory. The two main factions, the Bluefin Squadron and the Mollusk Union, are a bit more involved in how they need to be played. The additional two factions are just smugglers that are trying to move goods from one place to another while navigating the ongoing war between the Bluefin and the Mollusk.

I’m not going to go into depth on all the available actions that each faction has, but certain actions require die rolls of a specific number, while others do not. As players explore the seas, new sea boards will be placed out and the ocean will expand, with more islands to visit and more. As the smugglers move from island to island dropping off cargo and earning fame, the main two factions will be fighting for control of the various islands. Each faction has different components they can play out onto the board that will provide them varying points of control; ultimately, whoever has the most control on an island, controls the island.

All factions can hire crew that provide various abilities as the game progresses. Having a good balance of crew is key to victory, and establishing that tableau is one of the best elements in the game for me. Each faction might have access to specific cards they can use, battles will happen if players have cannons loaded and ready to fire, and damage will happen that needs to be repaired.

Ultimately, as you play through a few games of Ahoy you quickly realize how well thought out this game is. I had some initial concerns that playing as the smugglers would be a sub-par experience to playing as the Bluefin Squadron or the Mollusk Union but that was not the case. Playing as any of the factions was equally as exciting and required a slightly different strategy to be successful.

It’s the “simplicity” of the design that makes me look at Ahoy and choose it over Root more often than not. I absolutely love Root, but there is definitely a lot more going on in that game than there is here. Still, you get those asymmetric factions to play as, cool wooden pieces to maneuver around the map, and clear-cut objectives that lead you to victory. And so I come back to the concept of Ahoy being a Root-Lite game, because that is exactly what it is.

I quite enjoy the control puzzle at play here. How do you get control, how do you keep control. If you push for control here, are you losing it somewhere else? There is a fantastic balance to this game that makes each decision feel much bigger than it probably is. The decision from 8 turns ago probably doesn’t matter in light of what is happening now, but still you feel that the decision was so important when you made it. That’s one of my big takeaways from this experience. Even if in the long-run it doesn’t matter, things ALWAYS feel like they matter. There are not a lot of “routine” turns in Ahoy. Decisions need to be made and strategies need to be developed. And those are constantly changing.

If you want something a bit less intense than Root, or if you are intrigued but overwhelmed by the idea of Root, Ahoy is a great game to table and try.