Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux Board Game Review

Written by Dan York

What is Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux?

At the start of the rulebook for Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux there’s a message from the designer apologising for the flaws in the original version, a rare insight into the mind of a creative revisiting his past works. Shipwrights: Redux aims to be a tonic, smoothing out the issues and bringing it into line with the rest of the series. 

Rounds are split into two phases. First, a draft where you can choose exactly what cards you’ll be using this round. The early picks are a lunchbox of treats with many options, leading into the end of the phase where you’re just trying to make the best of the scraps left behind.

Secondly, the action phase, use your drafted cards to hire workers, create buildings and ultimately craft some fine sea vessels. Everyone plays simultaneously now, turning cards into resources or workers, or placing workers on cards to get more resources. Cards come in many forms and can either be discarded for a burst of economy or installed onto your board, unlocking permanent access to spaces and icons needed to build high-scoring boats.

Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux Review

There’s a great flow of energy to this game, rounds alternate between quiet contemplation, trying to evaluate the best pick with each hand passed to you and a flurry of activity as everyone puts their plans into action. This is first and foremost an engine-building game in the vein of Furnace where each round takes longer than the last as you give yourself more stuff to do with your workers and cards, more buildings to store craftspeople, more gold to trade with the market. 

The cards are very flexible, each giving you multiple options for how to use them, leading to a lot of important choices in the draft phase and a decent amount of taking away good cards from others, if you want to do that. Drafting is always fun and interactive, and it works well here. The real meat of the game is in running your engine to convert resources into cards that make points and further income which can be incredibly satisfying if things come together. It’s possible, however, for a player to stumble in early turns, either from poor drafting or some bad luck and find themselves a step behind the curve, a result of the snowballing nature of the engines. You can either see this as a good, skill-testing feature or a new-player unfriendly bug in the system. I don’t mind it too much, though it’s not for everyone, the difficulty of the game really scales with the people at the table.

There’s a fun mechanic in which certain actions gain you progress up a central track, unlocking bonuses and powerful effects that only one person can use per round. The central board conflicts with the idea that most players will spend their turn staring down at their own puzzle, and we found that some players forgot entirely that they could use it. Regardless, it adds an extra dimension of interaction, steering you to specialise and push ahead.

Shipwrights: Redux is a lot of fun. I enjoyed it immensely and always want to go back for another round. It feels more streamlined than other entries in the Garphill catalogue which I appreciate. The art is fun and characterful as always, making it a pleasure to get to the table. Finally, it’s great at all player counts and it’s easy to teach. If you like drafting or engine-building, it marries the two well and can be a gateway from one into the other, if you’re looking to dip your toes into a new genre. 

Should you play it? We think this is a must play game. 

The decision to remake this game was well worth it! A clever blend of card-drafting and engine-building set within colourful characters and appealing presentation.

Try this game if you enjoyed Hadrian’s Wall. If you love the flow of energy between phases of Hadrian’s Wall but want more toothy player interaction, then Shipwrights: Redux has got you covered.

Buy Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux on Amazon

Designer: Shem Phillips

Publisher: Garphill Games

Time: 60 minutes

Players: 1-5

Ages: 14+

Price: £45

What’s in the box?

• 50 Workers
• 160 Wooden resources
• 50 Cardboard silver coins
• 15 Player markers
• 5 Personal player boards
• Main board
• 192 Cards

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