« 5.1 Boarding Outline
In order to conduct a boarding action, a ship must be stationary and within 10mm of a stationary enemy ship. The vessels may be locked together, but they do not have to be in order for a boarding attempt to be made. They may be in any attitude to each other, and may have any sail setting. Boarding actions do not take place automatically. They must be declared by a player who controls the ship initiating the boarding attempt, who is then referred to as the attacker for the duration of that boarding try. The player whose ship is being boarded is considered the defender. All boarding attempts are considered simultaneous, and are resolved during the Boarding phase of the game.

« 5.2 Conducting a Boarding Action
Players begin the boarding phase by declaring all qualified ships which will attempt a boarding action. If two opposing ships are declared against each other, only one may be an attacker. In such a case, each player rolls one six-sided die. The player who rolled the highest value (re-roll tied die rolls) becomes the attacker. Once all boarding attempts are declared and all attackers and defenders defined, players resolve each action separately.

Boarding Attempts – Once all boarding attempts are declared, players accumulate dice according to the Boarding Attempt table and roll once for each attempt. This establishes which attempts turn into boarding actions and which do not. It does not matter which player rolls the boarding attempt dice. The meaning of the Boarding Attempt lines are as follows:

Starting Dice – Every boarding action test begins with two default dice.
Ships Fouled – Add one die if any of the combatant vessels are fouled with each other.
Size Difference – Subtract one die if any of the combatant vessels are different sizes.

As players establish the boarding attempt dice for each attempted action, they are rolled. Any one die roll result of 6 means that a boarding action has begun. Once a boarding action begins, no further attempt rolls are required for that action. It will go on until one side wins, withdraws or surrenders, even if that takes several turns. If no 6 is rolled, no boarding action developed for that attempt and players must wait until the next turn's boarding phase to roll again. Note that boarding attempts will always use between one and three dice, and that one roll is done for each attempt. The result will be some boarding attempts turning immediately into boarding actions, and others sputtering along as the crews just don't manage to get across to the enemy ships.

Boarding Actions – For each new boarding action, players refer to the Boarding Dice table to establish how many dice they can use for the action. Once both sides have gathered the proper number of boarding dice, they simultaneously roll them, which is called one round of die rolling. A maximum of two rounds of dice may be rolled per boarding action per turn. For each round of die rolls, each side compares or "opposes" their three highest values against the three highest values rolled by the enemy ship, with the high value for each opposed pair being the winner. The losing dice are removed, and any dice involved in ties remain. A player facing someone with fewer dice than the three dice allowed may add the points from his unopposed die (or dice) to those dice which are still being compared against enemy dice.

Example: Player A has a size 2 ship that is attacking player B with a size 3 ship. Both sides have mobilized one gun dice for the pending action. Player A will start with three dice: two for the ship's size, and one for the mobilized gun dice. Player B will start with five dice: three for the ship's size, one for being defender and one for the mobilized gun dice. For the first round or fighting, Player A rolls 5, 5, 1 and Player B rolls 5,4,4,3,3. So the top value for each (5 vs 5) are ties. The second highest values for each (5 vs 4) cause Player B to lose one die. The third highest values (1 vs 4) cause Player A to lose one die. So each side lost one die in the first round.

Now Player A has two dice and Player B has four dice and they roll again. Player A rolls 5,2. Player B rolls 4,4,2,1. So the two highest are 5 vs 4, but because Player A now has only two dice to oppose three usable dice for Player B, Player B may use his third highest die value to apply to his highest value, turning his 4 roll into a 6. Since the second highest for each is a 2 vs 4, Player A loses both remaining dice and the boarding attempt has failed. Not only has Player A lost the boarding attempt, but the loss of all dice means that the previous temporary loss of five gun dice becomes permanent.

For boarding actions left over from the previous turn, players will use the same number of dice as before, the only modification allowed being the addition of one die which can be added through the mobilization of gun dice. This may only be done to replace losses from the previous turn's boarding action, and is limited to the addition of one die per turn using this method.

In order to win a boarding action, an attacker must fight until the defender runs out of boarding dice, and which time he is considered to have captured the enemy ship. A defender wins a boarding action if the attacker cancels his boarding attempt or runs out of boarding dice. A defender does not capture the attackers ship if the attacker runs out of dice, and must declare a new boarding attempt if he wants to board the former attacker's ship.

An attacking player may call off a boarding action at any time. Even a boarding attempt which has gone several rounds during which the attacker has made vital gains may be called off. To do so, the attacker declares that the attempt to board has stopped and no further die rolls are made.

Boarding Dice – Each player begins a boarding action without any dice. Dice are only added and subtracted according to the Boarding Dice list. If a boarding dice list entry does not apply to a particular action, it is ignored. All boarding dice entries are cumulative. For example: If a ship is both defender and has an A grade crew, it will receive one die for each. Dice are totalled until both sides have all the dice they are able to gather for the action. Below are the definitions of each boarding die qualifier and its application:

Each size point – Add one die for each size point of each ship involved. A size three ship (a three decker) will get three dice, and size two ship will get two dice, etc. If two size two ships are trying to board a single size three ship, the starting dice for each side would be four and three respectively.
Defender – Add one die for the boarding action defender.
Mobilized 5 GD – Add one boarding die if a ship has mobilized five gun dice for this purpose during this turn's command phase. Players may mobilize a maximum of one boarding die per turn in this manner: Once to start a new boarding action; and later to replace lost boarding dice. A player which has not lost any boarding dice may not mobilize extra gun dice if one has already been mobilized.
A Crew – Add one die if a ship's crew is A grade.
F Crew – Subtract one die if a ship's crew is F grade.
Over 50 S hits – Subtract one die if 50 or more sail hits have been suffered by that ship. If there are multiple attacking ships, use the sail hit values for the least damaged vessel.
Each 5 GD hits– Subtract one die for each five gun dice hits that have been suffered by the ship. If there are multiple attacking ships, use the hit values for the least damaged vessel.
Failed Attacker– Subtract one die if the ship was previously a boarding action attacker which failed with the loss of one or more boarding dice.

« 5.3 Advanced Boarding Rules
Advanced rules are not required for general game play, and they may slow game play. But experienced players already familiar with the rules may enjoy these ideas and the historical feel they help to create.

Weather Effects – In choppy seas, subtract an additional die from the boarding attempt and add two dice instead of one for the boarding action defender. In heavy seas, no boarding actions are allowed.