Boats Game Pieces

Here are pictures and a bit of explanation of each piece of a Boats game set. I’ll explain the rules of play in a later post.

Player Tokens



In the game set Master Beorhtlic brought to Cracked Anvil, the player tokens were shaped like Viking longships. Mine look more like duck boats. The important thing is that there should be a unique token for each player.

Three Dice



Movement die
- Marked with numbers or symbols 1-6
- Used to indicate the number of spaces a player token moves horizontally on the board during a turn

Weather Condition die
- 4 sides marked yellow, 1 side white, 1 side black
- Used to indicate the weather conditions during a turn
Yellow = fair
White = ideal
Black = stormy

Weather Movement die
- Marked with numbers or symbols 1-3
- Used to indicate the number of rows a player token moves vertically on the board when the weather is either ideal or stormy.

Game Board



The normal squares alternate blue and white. The first square if marked with a circle; squares on each end of a row are marked with arrows indicating the next square. Player tokens move in the direction of the arrows until reaching the fjord.

The green squares are islands. Because I used such a dark green (oops!), the islands are also marked with yellow dots indicating lemon trees (to prevent scurvy during long voyages) which make the islands more visible in low light.

The light yellow squares at the top of the board indicate the fjord, which is marked into six spaces. When a player reaches the fjord, weather conditions no longer have an effect, so the player only has to roll the movement die. Unfortunately, the player must roll the exact number of spaces remaining to exit the board. For example, if the player’s token is three spaces from the end of the board, he cannot move unless he rolls a 1, 2, or 3 during that turn. Rolling a 1 or 2 moves a player that number of spaces, rolling a 3 moves the player off the board.