Author: OTSG Staff

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs

| OTSG Staff

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs is a solo play game, with an original campaign story written by Isaac Childres, that features a playstyle similar to Gloomhaven in a fraction of the size.

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs is set after the events of Gloomhaven and Forgotten Circles. The Aesther recluse Hail has earned a reputation for being highly instrumental in saving the city from recurring disasters, and she absolutely hates it. Wannabe heroes are constantly barging in on her studies at the Crooked Bone, looking for help in becoming famous themselves — not to mention all the demons that come by looking for vengeance. She briefly considered moving, but as that would require effort, she instead just placed an enchantment on her front door: Anyone who attempts to open it becomes miniaturized and therefore is no longer a problem.

Your character is one such wannabe hero. In an ill-advised attempt at fame, they try to visit Hail, and poof. Now they’re the size of a mouse and have entered an entirely different realm of lawlessness and self-preservation. They must find a new way into the Crooked Bone to convince Hail to return them to their previous size.

Each scenario is a single card, pitting one mercenary against a handful of enemies with simplified actions and AI. Each mercenary has a hand of just four double-sided cards, but they can be used twice — both the front and the back — before they are discarded. Attacks are resolved using a die in conjunction with a modifier table, and both the table and the mercenary ability cards can be improved as you level up throughout the campaign.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.32

Gloom

| OTSG Staff

The world of Gloom is a sad and benighted place. The sky is gray, the tea is cold, and a new tragedy lies around every corner. Debt, disease, heartache, and packs of rabid flesh-eating mice—just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, they do. But some say that one’s reward in the afterlife is based on the misery endured in life. If so, there may yet be hope—if not in this world, then in the peace that lies beyond.

In the Gloom card game, you assume control of the fate of an eccentric family of misfits and misanthropes. The goal of the game is sad, but simple: you want your characters to suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the well-deserved respite of death. You’ll play horrible mishaps like Pursued by Poodles or Mocked by Midgets on your own characters to lower their Self-Worth scores, while trying to cheer your opponents’ characters with marriages and other happy occasions that pile on positive points. The player with the lowest total Family Value wins.

Printed on transparent plastic cards, Gloom features an innovative design by noted RPG author Keith Baker. Multiple modifier cards can be played on top of the same character card; since the cards are transparent, elements from previously played modifier cards either show through or are obscured by those played above them. You’ll immediately and easily know the worth of every character, no matter how many modifiers they have. You’ve got to see (through) this game to believe it!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.63

Glen More II: Chronicles

| OTSG Staff

Glen More II: Chronicles is a sequel to Glen More, expanding the gameplay substantially compared to the original game.

In Glen More II: Chronicles, each player represents the leader of a Scottish clan from the early medieval ages until the 19th century, a leader looking to expand their territory and wealth. The success of your clan depends on your ability to make the right decision at the right time, be it by creating a new pasture for your livestock, growing barley for whisky production, selling your goods on the various markets, or gaining control of special landmarks such as lochs and castles.

The game lasts four rounds, represented by four stacks of tiles. After each round, a scoring phase takes place in which players compare their number of whisky casks, scotsmen in the home castle, landmark cards, and persons against the player with the fewest items in each category and receives victory points (VPs) based on the relative difference. After four rounds, additional VPs are awarded for gold coins and some landmarks while VP penalties are assessed based on territory size, comparing each player’s territory to the smallest one in play.

The core mechanism of Glen More II: Chronicles and Glen More functions the same way: The last player in line takes a tile from a time track, advancing as far as they wish on this track. After paying the cost, they place this tile in their territory, with this tile activating itself and all neighboring tiles, triggering the production of resources, movement points, VPs, etc. Then the player who is last in line takes their turn.

Improvements over the original Glen More include bigger tiles, better materials, new artwork, the ability for each player to control the end of the game, and balancing adjustments to the tiles for a better suspense curve. The game is designed to consist of one-third known systems, one-third new mechanisms, and one-third improvements to Glen More.

The “Chronicles” in the title — a set of eight expansions to the base game — are a major part of these new mechanisms. Each Chronicle adds a new gameplay element to the base game. The “Highland Boat Race” Chronicle, for example, tells the story of a boat race in which the winner needs to be the first to reach their home castle after navigating their boat along the river through all the other players’ territories. The “Hammer of the Scots” Chronicle adds a neutral “Englishman” playing piece to the time track that players struggle to control to get an additional turn — if they can afford him, that is, as he is paid using the market mechanism. All Chronicles can be freely combined, although designer Matthias Cramer suggests that players use only one or two unless they want a “monster game”.

Another major change to the game is the ability to invest in famous Scottish people of the time, who are represented through a new “person” tile type. Persons not only have their own scoring, they also trigger one-time or ongoing effects on the tactical clan board. This adds a new layer of decision making, especially since the ongoing effects allow players to focus on a personal strategy of winning through the use of the clan board.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.01

Glasgow

| OTSG Staff

In Glasgow, players travel the city (in an abstract manner) to collect resources, take special actions, and most important of all construct buildings. Build a factory, and you’ll receive more goods from it when other buildings are constructed in the right areas in relation to it; build a train station, and you may or may not score from it depending on what else you build; build a monument, and you’ll merely collect a lot of points — and in the end, points are what matters.

In slightly more detail, to set up the game, lay out a ring of town figures at random, with two of them being removed from play each game. Whoever is farther behind in the circle around town takes the next turn, advancing to whichever town figure they want to visit. Most of them give you resources — brick, steel, or money — and you have a limit on how many resources of each type you can hold. Some figures have two random building plans at them, and if you visit one with the right resources, you can pay them, then build something. If you pay extra, you can then build something else, too!

The first building is placed anywhere in the midst of play, then each subsequent building is placed adjacent to something already built, with the buildings eventually filling in a 4×5 (or 5×4, determined as the game progresses) grid of the players’ own creation. As soon as the twentieth building is erected, the game ends and players score points for what they built. Who has contributed more to the current state of Glasgow?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.02

Gladius

| OTSG Staff

In Gladius, play as cunning Roman spectators trying to make the most money by betting on gladiators competing in the gladiatorial games. Through the skillful use of underhanded tactics, players can help and hinder teams to alter the outcome of each battle. Can you outwit your opponents to turn a profit, or will you be left empty-handed?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.71

Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends

| OTSG Staff

In the standalone card game Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends, you build your realm, one card at a time, as you collect heroes, quests, monsters, and more! Each card is unique, and scores points based on the other cards in your hand. You start with seven cards, and each turn, you draw a new card from the deck or discard area, then discard one card from your hand, always trying to improve your realm. Whoever’s realm scores the most points wins.

Fantasy Realms: Greek Legends takes the classic Fantasy Realms formula and adds new twists to match its theme. In addition to combining the right suits and attribute tags, you will:

  • Send cards to the afterlife, costing precious points but unlocking powerful abilities
  • Complete quests with unique card combinations
  • Vanquish legendary monsters with the right heroes

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Ghosts Galore

| OTSG Staff

In Ghosts Galore you’re helping monsters to build a fun ghost train in an abandoned mineshaft. Every monster want’s the track tiles laid their way – so YOU have to keep them calm, coordinate and optimize their track. Over the course of 8 rounds, each player builds a unique track on their 3×3 playground for the ghost train.

This family friendly tile placement game comes with a unique drafting mechanism and is quick to play while offering various strategies​: Will you stick with your drafted tile or go for a bold move which brings you even more scares?

After only 8 rounds, all tracks are set and the project is done. Sounds easy? Well, only the master who lines up the best scares, wins!

Ghosts Galore is another addition to the Lookout GreenLine, manufactured 100% eco-friendly.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.38

Bomb Busters

| OTSG Staff

There is a bomb full of wires and the countdown has started… Who are you gonna call? YOU! To clear the bomb, you need to collaborate with your team of bomb disposal experts! Using the wires on the tile holder in front of you, try and figure out your teammates’ wires. Find and cut identical wires, but watch out, if you cut a red wire: BOOM! Use your equipment wisely to meet the varied challenges which get harder and harder. Tick tock tick tock… Will you figure it out before it’s too late?

In Bomb Busters, there is a set of 48 normal wire cards numbered 1-12 (4 of each value) with some yellow and red wire cards. These are dealt out. Each mission is different, but your goal is always the same: go through all 12 numbers without blowing up!

Players place the tiles on their stands and then take turns pointing at each others’ wires and guessing their values. If the guess is correct, the wires are cut. If not — the detonator advances! If you manage to cut all wires without blowing up — good job, the mission is completed! But if the bomb goes off – Try again!

With 66 missions, there will be:
=> 66 different ways to play depending on your moods (in order, by level of difficulty, favorite configuration)
=> 66 challenges to play over and over (even if you already blew your top!)
=> Plenty of tricky bombs which become more and more dangerous (but don’t get cut up about it!)

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Gift of Tulips

| OTSG Staff

In Gift of Tulips, tulip enthusiasts explore Amsterdam’s tulip festival to build colorful bouquets, give tulips to others (scoring points in the process), and manipulate the value of the market.

The deck includes tulips of four colors, with values 2-4. Lay out four festival cards based on the player count, with these cards showing the number of points scored for giving away tulips, keeping tulips, and having a majority of certain colors at the end of the game. Draw two cards of different colors, and place them under the festival cards in first and second place based on their value. Deal two cards to each player; keep one card face up in front of you and add the other face down to the “secret festival” pile.

On a turn, draw a card from the deck and KEEP/GIVE/ADD it, then draw a second card and take one of the actions you didn’t just take. The actions:

  • KEEP: Place the card face up in front of you, scoring points for it if that color is currently ranked third or fourth in the festival.
  • GIVE: Give the card to another player, who places it face up in front of themselves; you score “giving” points based on the current ranking of that color in the festival, plus points equal to the value of that tulip.
  • ADD: Place the card face down in the secret festival or add it face up to the festival, altering the ranking of colors if needed so that the color with the highest sum is first, etc.

When the deck runs out, shuffle the cards in the secret festival, then draw five at random and add them face up to the festival, adjusting the ranking as needed. (If fewer than five cards are in the secret festival, add all of these cards to the festival.) For the three highest ranked colors in the festival, whoever has the most and secondmost cards in these colors scores points as listed on the festival cards; in games with five and six players, the player with the thirdmost cards of a color also scores points. In case of a tie for card count, the tied player with the higher value of a color wins that tie. Whoever has the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.77