Zones are the regions marked by large circles on the On Deck area of a player's Ship Board where Crew members can be placed. The Zones contain Nodes which can enable or give bonuses to certain actions when they are manned, meaning that a Crew member is present in the Zone. There can never be more than three miniatures in the same Zone, counting both Crew members and enemies, and each Node can only be manned by one Crew member at a time.
If Crew members are moved into a Zone where there are enemies present, a Fray is triggered.
On Deck
The On Deck area is a part of each player's Ship Board, and is divided into ten Zones, marked by large circles with a small number. In the Zones are smaller circles referred to as Nodes, which can be manned by Crew members to unlock some actions/bonuses. The red Artillery Nodes unlock the ability to attack, the blue Navigation Nodes gives a bonus to the Navigation Order, and the Crow's Nest (eye icon) Node unlocks the ability to explore new Map Tiles when using an Navigation Order. There are also blank/black nodes, which give no bonus.
Each Zone can contain up to three minutures, counting both Crew members and enemies.
Nodes can be destroyed when a ship takes damage, in which case the Node no longer unlocks the action/bonus normally given by placing a Crew member there. Any Crew member that is present in the same Zone as a Node that takes damage suffers 1 Trauma.
Damaged Nodes can be repaired using the Repair Service action when players Visit a Port.