Pirates at Ocean's Edge Unpacking

Okay, so I'm sure some of you have heard of Pocketmodel or Constructable Strategy Games (CSG), right? So when I saw one of the Pirates at Ocean's Edge game packs at Target for only $0.99, I jumped to buy it. That was Saturday night of last week. Then, just a few nights ago, I saw another pack there. I quickly swiped up this one, too.

Okay, now that you know how I found these packs, let's explore the packaging and the contents a bit. The first thing you see when you look at the packs is easily the giant crab attacking the pirate ship. It's just unmistakeable! An odd thing about Pirates game packs is that the artwork on the front stays the same, unlike on a Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh pack which have several pack artworks per series. This was slightly disappointing, but it does give the giant crab an iconic feel for this series. Anyway, after looking over more of the packaging, I saw two things that interested me: one was the rarity colors on the side, (Red=Common, Silver=Uncommon, Gold=Rare and Black=Super Rare, to name a few) and the other was the fact that the packs were from 2007! Amazing that Target still had these! So, I'll wrap up the packaging part of the review by saying that these are easily recognizable in-store and out, so if you see the purple surrounding a crab and a boat, I encourage you to pick it up.

                  

Next, I'll explain the contents of the packs. Each pack contains a series checklist, a basic rule and unit instructions booklet and an advanced rule book. The packs each have two ships or one ship and one sea monster, along with a terrain card and a treasure/crew card. The packs also include mini dice to play the base game with. Personally, I don't love the mini dice, so it's easier to use regular dice. Finally, the packs contain special, mail-in cards that, if it were still 2007, would be redeemable for a rare ship.

Anyway, the pack on the left included the following (not including the rules, checklist and mini die): The cards to build a 076 La Bonne Chance (Common) and the cards to build a 001 Divine Dragon (Rare). The treasure/crew card included 35 points worth of treasure, plus a Whirlpool unique treasure. On the back of the island card was a terrain feature called the "Sargasso Sea".

                 

The pack on the right contained totally different cards: The cards to build a 087 USS Kentucky (Uncommon) and the cards to build a 074 Le Musarde (Uncommon). The treasure/crew card included 16 points worth of treasure (it was missing a treasure token) and a Shipwright crew member. On the back of the island card was a "Fog Bank" terrain feature.

                  

So, as I have not built these ships yet, you may see finished pictures or additions to this review in the future. Now, I ask a concluding question: "Is the 'Pirates' series a wargame?" My answer would have to be NO. Although there is plenty of fighting involved, the goal of the game is to collect the most treasure. However, this could easily be changed to "Destroy the enemy fleet". Thank you for reading my unpacking. I hope you liked it!