Port Royal

Today's review is of the 2014 release, Port Royal.  For 2-5 players, it takes 20-50 minutes.

Overview
You are a merchant at Port Royal, charged with maximizing your operation.  In the harbor are ships of up to five different nations and people with different skills.  Ships are used for income, and people are recruited for use in missions or have other abilities to aid you.  There are also mission and tax cards (described below).  As the game progresses, skillful accumulation of income and recruiting of people is key to success!  Missions and some people have victory points- first to twelve wins.

some cards; image from here

The back of the cards have one coin each, and are used for currency.

Simplified Gameplay
On your turn, you first discover, then trade & hire.

Discover
Draw cards one at a time from the draw deck and put (most of) them in the harbor.  You can stop drawing whenever you wish.  Ships and people are placed in the harbor.  When two ships of the same nationality are in the harbor, your turn immediately ends (skipping the next phase) unless you have enough sword icons (on people you've recruited) to repel the most recently-drawn ship.  So be careful!  Mission cards are placed above the harbor and will remain in play until someone completes them.  Tax cards are immediately applied (anyone with 12+ gold discards half) and discarded.

Trade & Hire
As first player, you choose 1-3 cards in the harbor (depends on how many different flags are present).  Ships give you the amount of gold indicated on the card; people are obtained (set in front of you) by paying their cost.  Then each other player gets to choose one card (obtaining gold or paying costs as appropriate), giving you one gold for the right to do so on your turn.

After these phases, anything left in the harbor is discarded, and the next player's turn begins.

At any point during your turn, you can complete a revealed mission card by discarding characters with matching icons.  Missions and some people give you victory points; first to twelve wins.

Review
This is a really good game.  The press-your-luck element (choosing when to stop drawing) adds suspense, and the available people each have abilities that introduce an interesting twist.  It's simple to learn, fast to play, and engaging for all involved.

Rating: A