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Welcome, Captain

Cannons & Coastlines is a tabletop game for 2–20 players. Rival fleets clash across an open table in a fantastical Age of Sail, racing to capture islands, hoard treasure, and sink each other. There's no board and no grid. Ships roll freely across your table on built-in wheels, and when it's time to fight, you fire real miniature cannons at each other's ships.

Players: 2–20 (Default mode: 2–6, Group mode: 6–20) Ages: 12+ Play time: 30–90 minutes depending on player count

How It Works

Ships roll on wheels built into their hulls. No grid, no hexes, no tape measure. Tiny pressure-based cannons launch cannonballs across the table, and you aim them by rotating your ship. HP is physical: each fitting is a removable peg, and when your ship takes a hit, you pull one off and toss it overboard. 3D-printed islands sit in the middle of the table as territory to fight over, and capturing them gives you treasure coins. Those coins are drawn blind from a shared bag, and each one can be spent for a different one-time ability.

Print List

Everything in this game is 3D printed (except the draw bag and paper flags). Here's what each player needs to print before playing.

Per Player

Piece	Quantity	Notes
Ships (your faction)	2–5	Depends on faction. See your faction reference card.
Fittings (pegs)	Varies	Masts, cargo, supplies, etc. Enough for all your ships at full HP. See faction card for counts and types.
Cannons	3–4	Flag color or neutral (black, grey, etc.). Shared across your ships and islands.
Cannonballs	15–20	Flag color or neutral.
Flag pieces	10–15	In your alliance/team color. Enough for ships + islands you might capture.

Shared Pieces (Split Across Players)

Each player prints the following. Pool everything together at game time. With more players, you'll naturally end up with extra islands and coins, which is fine — bigger groups need more of both.

Piece	Per Player	Notes
Islands	2–3	Mix of small, medium, and large.
Rocks / sea stacks	1	Optional terrain.
Reefs / shoals	1	Optional terrain.
Coins	20	2 Brace for Impact, 2 Signal Flags, 4 Full Sail, 2 Evasive Maneuvers, 4 Skilled Gunner, 4 Repair Crew, 2 Boarding Party.
Draw bag	—	One total. Cloth pouch, not printed — use any small bag. Somebody bring one.

Extra flags can be made from paper and tape if you run short.

Components

Ships (3D Printed)

Each player controls a fleet of 2–5 ships depending on faction. Each ship has:

• A wheel at the stern, in the rudder position. It has a flat spot so the ship sits still when you're not moving it. Wheel size varies by faction.
• Fitting sockets where removable pegs plug in. These pegs are called fittings and represent masts, cargo, supplies, and other gear. What they look like depends on the faction (masts for the Queen's Fleet, treasure chests for the Treasure Fleet, smokestacks for the Industry, etc.). Number of fittings = starting HP minus one. Supplies go overboard before masts — when taking hits, remove cargo and supplies first, masts last. When repairing, restore masts first, then supplies.
• A flag socket on the tallest mast or a dedicated flag post, for a flag piece.
• Cannon slots at various positions on the deck and hull. Cannons plug into and out of these. The number and placement of slots depends on the ship.
• A coin slot where a Brace for Impact coin can be inserted as a shield (see Coin Actions).

Hull length runs about 5–7 inches depending on faction.

Cannons (3D Printed)

Small pressure-based snap launchers. You press down on a flexible mechanism, release it, and the cannonball flies out. No springs, no rubber bands, no metal parts. Everything is printable.

Each player gets a handful of cannons in their flag color (or a neutral color like black or grey). You'll move them between ships and islands as needed during play. Every cannon fits every slot on every ship and island (the slot shape is the same everywhere).

Cannonballs

A rounded ball with a small tail fin so it doesn't roll away when it lands. About 10mm wide, 13mm long. 3D printed in PLA, or optionally in TPU if you want less bounce.

Each player gets 15–20 cannonballs in their flag color or a neutral color.

Islands (3D Printed)

These are the territories you're fighting over. Three sizes:

Size	Dimensions	Cannon Slots	Flag Holes
Small	~3 × 3"	1	1
Medium	~4 × 5"	2	1
Large	~6 × 6"	3	1

They've got sculpted palm trees, rocks, beaches, and small buildings. Use 4–12 per game depending on player count.

Other Terrain (Optional)

• Rocks / sea stacks (~2" across). Block both movement and cannon shots. Can't be captured.
• Reefs / shoals (low pieces). Block ship movement, but cannonballs pass right over them. Can't be captured.

Flag Pieces

Small flag-on-a-stick pieces in several colors. Each color should have enough flags to cover an alliance's worth of ships and islands (~15+ per color). Players or teams pick a flag color during setup. Ship flags plug into the flag socket on the ship.

Coins

Round tokens, about 1" across, with an action icon engraved on one side. The other side is blank. You draw them blind from a shared bag. See Coin Actions for the full list.

Draw Bag

A cloth pouch. All coins live in here when they're not in somebody's hoard.

Setup

1. Choose Factions

Each player picks a faction and takes that faction's ships, flags, cannons, and cannonballs. Put your faction reference card face-up in front of you.

2. Place Islands

Players take turns placing islands one at a time, going clockwise.

• Islands go in the center of the table, away from edges.
• No island within 6 inches of another island.
• No island within 12 inches of any table edge.
• Suggested island counts:

Players	Islands
2	4
3–4	6
5–6	8
Group mode (6–20)	10–12

3. Place Other Terrain (Optional)

Players may add 2–6 rocks or reefs anywhere in the play area, alternating one piece at a time.

4. Deploy Fleets

• Each player claims one edge of the table as their starting edge.
• Place all your ships along that edge, facing inward, within 6 inches of the edge.
• The Islanders apply Home Waters now: put one of your flags on the island closest to your starting edge and place one of your ships touching it. The island is yours before the game begins.

5. Fill the Coin Bag

Dump all the coin tokens into the draw bag. Shake it up.

6. Determine First Player and Turn Mode

Pick Default mode (2–6 players) or Group mode (6–20 players). For Default mode, the youngest player goes first. Play goes clockwise.

How to Play — Default Mode (2–6 Players)

Players take turns clockwise. On your turn:

1. Spend coins (optional). You must spend any coins you want to use now, before your ships act.
2. Each of your surviving ships takes one action (see Actions below).

Then it's the next player's turn.

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Actions

Each of your surviving ships does exactly one of the following on your turn.

Action A — Move

Turn your ship up to 90 degrees in either direction, then roll it forward. You get one rotation and then roll the wheel a number of times equal to your faction's Move Count. All rolls go in the same direction (wherever your ship is pointing after the turn).

Move Count	Sequence
1	Turn → Roll
2	Turn → Roll → Roll
3	Turn → Roll → Roll → Roll

Rules:

• You get one rotation at the start of the move: up to 90 degrees left or right.
• Then you roll forward up to your Move Count. Each roll is one wheel rotation in a straight line.
• Ships can't pass through other ships, islands, rocks, or reefs. If something's in the way mid-roll, the ship stops there and loses any remaining rolls.

Action B — Fire

1. Pick up one of your cannons.
2. Pick any cannon slot on the ship. Different ships have slots in different places.
3. Plug the cannon in.
4. Load a cannonball and press the mechanism to fire.
5. Pull the cannon back out.

The cannon fires straight out from the slot. You aim by picking which slot to use and by how you positioned the ship earlier.

A ship that fires doesn't move this turn.

You can fire with more than one ship on your turn. Just move the cannon between them.

Action C — Island Actions

A ship touching an island can do one of these. It can't also move or fire from itself this turn.

Raise Flag. If the island has no flag, or you've already cleared the enemy defenders (see Island Conflicts), and your ship was already touching the island at the end of your last turn, plant your flag. The island is now yours.

Collect. If the island flies your flag, draw 1 coin blind from the bag. Add it to your hoard.

Fire from Island. If the island flies your flag, plug a cannon into one of the island's cannon slots and fire from there.

One island action per ship per turn, even if the ship is touching more than one island.

Spending Coins

Coins aren't actions. You spend them at the start of your turn, before any of your ships act. Spend as many as you want, then move on to ship actions.

Each coin has an action icon on its face. When you spend it, do what it says, then toss it back in the draw bag.

No hand limit. Hoard as many as you can get.

See the Coin Actions table for what each coin does.

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Combat

Resolving Hits

If a cannonball hits an enemy ship (physically strikes the model), that's a hit.

• Hit = lose 1 fitting. Pull a fitting off the struck ship and toss it overboard (set it on the table near the ship).
• No fittings left = dead in the water. The ship can't move anymore, but it can still fire. It has 1 HP left (the hull).
• Hit a dead-in-the-water ship = scuttled. Remove it from the game for good.
• Hit terrain (an island, rock, or reef)? Shot's wasted.
• Hit a friendly ship? No damage. No friendly fire in this game.
• Cannonballs that miss go back to the player who fired them at end of turn. Anything that falls off the table comes back right away.

Boarding

If your ship is touching an enemy ship, you can spend a Boarding Party coin to deal 1 hit (pull 1 fitting, toss it overboard). This counts as that ship's action for the turn.

Boarding a ship that still has fittings only does damage. It doesn't capture the ship.

Capturing a Dead-in-the-Water Ship

To take over an enemy ship that's dead in the water and add it to your fleet, spend both of these coins in the same turn while your ship is touching it:

1. Boarding Party (overpower the crew)
2. Repair Crew (patch it up)

Then: pull the enemy flag, stick yours on, and restore 1 fitting. The ship is yours now and can act starting next turn.

Scuttling

If a dead-in-the-water ship (1 HP) takes one more hit from anything (cannonball or boarding), it's scuttled: gone from the game for good.

Why scuttle? A dead-in-the-water enemy ship is a prize waiting to be claimed. If another player spends a Boarding Party + Repair Crew, they get a free ship added to their fleet. That's bad for you. Putting one more hit into that dead ship removes it from the game entirely, denying the prize. You can also scuttle your own dead ships (fire at them yourself) if you'd rather sink them than let an opponent take them. It costs you a ship either way, but at least nobody else gets it.

Repairing Your Own Ships

If the ship still has fittings (not dead in the water), spend a Repair Crew coin on it. Restore 1 fitting from the overboard pieces nearby. No other ship needs to be nearby.

If the ship is dead in the water (0 fittings), one of your other ships must be touching it. Spend a Repair Crew coin to restore 1 fitting. You don't need a Boarding Party coin for your own ships, but you do need a ship there to carry out the repairs.

Island Conflicts

An island can only fly one flag at a time. Here's what happens when multiple players show up.

Uncaptured Island, Multiple Ships Arrive

If two or more players have ships touching an uncaptured island at the same time, nobody raises a flag until the fight's over. Shoot, board, or otherwise clear out the competition. Once only one player has ships at the island, that player can raise their flag next turn.

Taking an Enemy Island

You can sail to an island flying an enemy flag. The flag stays until you deal with the situation:

• If there are enemy ships at the island, you need to remove all of them first (sink them, scuttle them, board them away, or wait for them to leave).
• If the island is undefended (flag but no ships), you still need to wait. Touch the island at the end of your turn. If you're still touching it when your next turn starts, you can replace the flag.

Either way, you must be touching the island at the end of one turn and the start of the next, then spend your action to swap the flag.

Friendly Ships at Your Island

Multiple ships with your flag can share an island. No conflict.

Dead-in-the-Water Ships at Islands

A dead-in-the-water ship touching an island can't block capture. It can't defend anything. But if someone captures that dead ship (Boarding Party + Repair Crew) before the island changes hands, the newly captured ship does count as a defender.

Coin Actions

Coin	What It Does
Brace for Impact	Slot this coin into a ship's coin slot. It stays there as a shield. The next time that ship is hit, the coin absorbs the hit (no fitting pulled) and is discarded back to the bag.
Signal Flags	One of your ships or one allied ship gets a free Move action right now.
Full Sail	One of your ships gets two Move actions this turn instead of one. Each move is a separate turn-then-roll sequence.
Evasive Maneuvers	One of your ships slides exactly one ship-width sideways (port or starboard) without turning.
Skilled Gunner	One of your ships fires twice this turn. Swap the cannon between slots between shots.
Repair Crew	Restore 1 fitting to one of your ships. If the ship is dead in the water, one of your other ships must be touching it. Also required for capturing a dead enemy ship.
Boarding Party	If your ship is touching an enemy ship, deal 1 hit (pull 1 fitting, toss overboard). This uses that ship's action for the turn. Also required for capturing a dead enemy ship.

Coin Bag Contents

The draw bag should have roughly 20 coins per player. Each player prints 20 coins (see Print List) and dumps them all in the bag at game start. The ratio per 20 coins:

Coin	Per 20
Brace for Impact	2
Signal Flags	2
Full Sail	4
Evasive Maneuvers	2
Skilled Gunner	4
Repair Crew	4
Boarding Party	2

Winning the Game

Game End

The game ends when any of these happens:

• Last fleet standing. Only one player still has ships on the table.
• Victory declaration. At the start of your turn, you can declare "Victory" if you have at least 25 victory points. Count your score right then. If you have 25 or more, the game ends and you win.
• Stalemate. Every island has been captured and none of them changed hands during the last full round. Go straight to scoring.

Scoring

What You Have	Points
Each surviving ship with your flag	3
Each island with your flag	2
Each unspent coin in your hoard	1
Bonus: Player with most ships	+2
Bonus: Player with most islands	+2
Bonus: Player with most coins	+2

Ties on bonuses: everyone who tied gets the full +2.

Highest total wins. In team play, add teammates' scores together.

Scoring Example

• Player A (Queen's Fleet): 3 ships, 2 islands, 4 coins, most-ships bonus 3×3 + 2×2 + 4×1 + 2 = 19 points
• Player B (Treasure Fleet): 1 ship, 3 islands, 12 coins, most-coins and most-islands bonuses 1×3 + 3×2 + 12×1 + 2 + 2 = 25 points
• Player B wins on treasure despite losing most of their ships.

Group Mode (6–20 Players)

Everyone acts at the same time. Turns alternate between two phases:

Movement Phase

All players act at the same time. Spend any coins first, then each ship may take a Move action. Movement coins (Evasive Maneuvers, Full Sail, Signal Flags) go in this phase.

Set a timer for 60–90 seconds. When it goes off, any unfinished moves are lost.

Action Phase

All players act at the same time. Spend any coins first, then each ship may Fire or do an Island action (Raise Flag / Collect / Fire from Island). Action coins (Brace for Impact, Skilled Gunner, Repair Crew, Boarding Party) go in this phase.

Same timer (60–90 seconds). If two players shoot at the same target, both shots count.

Movement and Action phases keep alternating until the game ends.

Tips for Group Mode

• Put the timer where everyone can see it.
• Pick one player as moderator to call phases, run the timer, and settle arguments.
• It's chaotic. That's the point. Works great at parties.

Alliance & Team Play

Alliance Flags

Alliances are marked with flags. At the start of the game, each alliance (or team) picks a shared flag color from the game's flag stash. Allied players fly that color on all their ships and islands instead of individual colors.

The game should include enough flags of each color to cover a good-sized alliance. If you run out, make extras from paper and tape, or mix two colors for the same alliance.

Team Format (2v2, 3v3, etc.)

• Teammates sit on adjacent edges of the table.
• Each player still controls their own faction.
• All teammates fly the same flag color.
• Talk freely, plan together.
• Signal Flags coins can target your own ships or a teammate's ship.
• Coins are not shared. Each player keeps their own hoard.
• Winner: Team with the highest combined score.

Free-for-All Diplomacy (3+ Players)

• Alliances can form and break at any time. They're verbal agreements, not rules.
• When players ally up, they pick a shared flag color and swap their flags to match. If the alliance falls apart, swap back.
• Signal Flags can target your own ships or any allied ship's.
• Everyone scores individually.

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Factions

Seven factions. Queen's Fleet and Corsairs ship with the base game. The other five are expansion packs.

See the Faction Reference Cards for full stat blocks.

Faction	Ships	Fittings / HP	Slots	Move	Ability
Queen's Fleet	3 frigates	3 / 4	4	1	Disciplined Crew — 180° turns
Corsairs	4 sloops	2 / 3	3	2	Plunder — extra coin on board/capture
Treasure Fleet	2 junks	2 / 3	4	1	Bountiful Harvest — collect 2 coins
Sun Fleet	3 barges	4–5	4	1	Stone Hulls — ignore first hit each turn
Shadow Fleet	3 galleons	2 / 3	3	1	Return from the Deep — bring back sunk ships
The Industry	3 warships	3 / 4	1 (forward)	2	Fast, but can only shoot forward
The Islanders	5 canoes	1 / 2	1 (rear)	3	Home Waters — start with a free island + ship

Designer Notes

Cannon Calibration

The cannons work by flexing printed plastic, so they'll vary between prints and wear over time. Shoot a few practice rounds at the start of each game to get your eye in.

The Wheel

• Wrap a rubber band around the wheel rim for grip on slick tables.
• The flat spot keeps the ship from rolling when parked.

Table Size

4×4 ft or 5×5 ft for 2 players. 6×6 ft or bigger for Group mode.

Print Tips

• Print everything in PLA. Cannonballs can be TPU for less bounce.
• Orient the cannon's flex arm so layer lines run across the bend, not along it.
• Print some spare cannon parts. The snap mechanism wears down with use.