Shipyard Board Game

by Gary Sonnenberg

(Waukesha, WI)

Shipyard Board Game
Board game manufacturer:
Czech Games Edition
Number of players:
2-4
Ages:
12yrs+
Time:
120 mins

Quick verdict

Shipyard is a fun and challenging game of ship building that may be too involved for younger or less experienced gamers but offers a deep experience with plenty of replayability for more experienced gamers.

The game and gameplay

In Shipyard, you take the role of ship builders that are competing to build the most, biggest, and best ships and also to fulfill various contracts.

The game implements several rondels. A rondel is a mechanic that forces you to weigh the value the actions you are choosing.

Rondels generally come in the form of circles. When you choose an action, you look at the corresponding circle. You can have the first option (moving clockwise around the circle) for free or you can pay a cost to move farther around the circle.

Doing this has serious consequences on both your future actions and your opponents. If you pay to skip over the option they were hoping to choose, they will have to pay a hefty fee to work around the circle to that option.

Even the action selection features a variation of a rondel. The actions you can choose from are anything from gathering resources, buying ship parts, hiring crew members, and purchasing items to mount on your ships.

When you complete a ship, you take it out for a shakedown and score it. Generally, the more stuff (crew, canons, smokestacks, etc.) that you have on your ship, the more points you will get for it.

The other primary method of scoring is through contracts. At the beginning of the game, each player is given 4 contracts of 2 different types (for a total of 8). Partway through the game, each player must choose one of each type of contract that they will keep til the end of the game.

At the end of the game, you score points based on how well you fulfilled the contract.

Pros and cons

Pros: Rondels offer interesting choices on every turn, not confrontational, plenty of replayability.

Cons: Lots of small pieces are hard to organize/set up, may be a bit dry for some people.

The verdict

What strikes me about Shipyard board game is not so much what it does, but what it doesn’t do. Players interact in a very indirect way. There is no direct conflict and confrontation, making it great for families. Additionally, players get to build something that cannot be destroyed. Many games where you build things have ways for your creations to be destroyed. Shipyard does not. Shipyard utilizes rondels to create interesting choices on each and every turn and creates a game with lots of fun and little to no ill-will and spite between players, making it great for families.

If you’ve played Shipyard Board Game, please leave a rating and comments using the link below.