I just picked up Pieces of Eight and am really impressed. What a fun, simple, elegant game!
I do have a question about the Treachery coin.
Here is the situation:
I have a Cannon in my fore position and two Treachery coins in my aft position (one in the aft postion and the second in the "second-to-aft" position - sorry, I don't really know how I should say that).
My opponent has a Captain's Monkey in his fore position and a Treachery in his aft position.
It is my turn so I use my Cannon to destroy his Captain's Monkey. My opponent uses his Monkey's ability to negate its own destruction. I react with my Treachery to negate the Monkey's ability. My opponent reacts to negate my Treachery by using his own.
My quesetion is: Can I now use my second Treachery (to negate his Treachery)? My initial guess is that I cannot. Only active coins can use their abilities. My "second-to-aft Treachery is not yet active so I cannot use its ability. Do I have this right?
It is the intention, and the way we interpreted the rule in playtest, that you may use the second Treachery. Coin abilities resolve instantly, so the first Treachery goes away to your hold as soon as you use it.
The reason that you can (for example) kill a Captain's Monkey in the second-to-fore position with a two-Cannon attack is that all of the coins that are destroyed by the Cannon attack are eliminated simultaneously, so the Monkey never has the opportunity to be in an active position.
In the case of the second Treachery from your example, though, the second Treachery moves to the aft position immediately when you play your first Treachery, which makes it available for use later in the sequence of reactions.
I too am now a fan of the game. A friend and I played over the weekend, and we both really enjoyed it. It's fun, fast, light, but with enough decision-making to make things interesting!
I too have a treachery question. Let's say my opponent is loading up on cannons. One in the crow's nest and two in the fore, stacked on top of each other. If, when he uses his first cannon to destroy an open coin of mine, and I react with a treachery (cancelling the effect of the cannon), can he use the additional cannons, even though the first got negated?
This is where the rule about coin combinations comes into play. (See the third page of the rulebook.) Whenever coins seem to be acting in combination, it's really a single coin doing something, with other coins "helping" for some additional effect. It always only takes one Treachery to stop the acting coin, which leaves the helping coin(s) with nothing to help, so the whole attack is stopped.
Thank you very much, Jeff! I thought this was the case, but my opponent did not. He is already made aware of the fact that the game designer himself gave me the official ruling! Now I have to run to the store and get MV so I can cannon HIS cannons!
YAR!!!! to Pieces of Eight! YAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
Now I have to run to the store and get MV so I can cannon HIS cannons! 