Author: OTSG Staff

Great Western Trail: New Zealand

| OTSG Staff

Kia ora, and welcome to Great Western Trail New Zealand!

Towards the end of the 19th century, you established yourself as a runholder (owner of a sheep station) on the South Island of New Zealand. Recent years have seen your family farm prosper by diversifying your breeds of sheep and increasing the value of your wool.

With the dawn of the new century, difficult challenges have arisen. You must acquire improved and valuable breeds of sheep to ensure the prosperity of your family business and the labourers who work for you. Decide whether to focus on your past strengths or to diversify into new ventures. Will the beginning of the 20th century be as rewarding as earlier years, or will the efforts of others surpass your strategy? Good luck, and kia kaha!

In Great Western Trail New Zealand, you move your runholder along a trail that winds and forks from the lower left corner of the game board to Wellington in the upper right. Along your path, you perform actions that provide you with various ways to earn victory points.

Each time your runholder reaches Wellington, you deliver sheep to a local or foreign trading post, which may also be worth victory points. Afterwards, your runholder continues its movement again.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 75 – 150 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.01

Great Western Trail: El Paso

| OTSG Staff

El Paso at the end of the 19th century: Five railroad companies have connected the Sun City to their network and made it a major hub for the cattle trade. Ranchers from the surrounding parts of Texas and Mexico drive their cattle into the city to send them on their long journey to the north, east, and west of the United States.

In Great Western Trail: El Paso, you take on the role of the ranchers of that time and bring your best cattle to El Paso to earn money and victory points. Hire more cowboys, builders, and engineers to get closer to your goals:

Buy cattle to increase the value of your herd!
Construct buildings to unlock more actions!
Participate in the expansion of the railroad and secure the most attractive contracts!
El Paso is mechanically based on its predecessors in the Great Western Trail trilogy. It can serve as an introduction to the series and is the perfect game for game nights when there is not enough time for its big brothers!

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.84

Great Wall, the

| OTSG Staff

The Great Wall is a new asymmetric worker/soldier placement game with engine building themes and a twist in form of a constantly attacking AI (Mongolian Horde) that requires players to sometimes cooperate in order to defeat it. This is a new major board game from Awaken Realms.

Players will control ancient clans in China trying to defend against invading Mongolian hordes and build a Great Wall. While every player will want to win (by earning VP = Honor) they also need to sometimes cooperate to defend against the hordes. Each clan will be asymmetric through its chosen Leader (resource production/starting resources/starting workers and units) and this asymmetry will increase as the game progresses (players will hire Advisors with unique skills, often creating unique engines).

In The Great Wall, the players take the role of Generals defending the Wall against the Mongol Horde. The game is played over a series of turns called Years, each divided into 4 parts called Seasons.

During Spring, new barbaric hordes invade the fields in front of the Great Wall and prepare to launch their assault. Summer is the time when generals prepare for the assault and mobilize their forces. During Fall, players take their turns, playing Command cards, resolving their effects and Activating Locations to gain various benefits. In Winter, the last layer of Defense is activated, then, the hordes try to assault the Walls.

During the course of the game, players will create their own unique engines based on their clan strength as well as interact with other players during all phases of the game, trying to get the most Honor points, which can be gained in a lot of different ways.

At the end of the game, the player with the most Honor wins.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 120 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.91

Great Split, the

| OTSG Staff

In The Great Split, you draft cards to collect riches such as gems, gold, artwork, and tomes, adding them to your collection to make it the most prestigious of all!

You start each round by splitting your cards into two groups, then you pass your wallet to the player on your left — but only one group of cards will be given back to you. You split, they choose! Don’t despair, though, because while your opponent is looking at your split, you also receive a similar offer from the player on your right, so choose wisely. When your hand is complete, play your cards to add all those riches to your collection.

Each type of riches awards you prestige points in different ways, so maintain a balanced collection of gems, keep an eye on the value of the art market as it evolves, and pile up priceless tomes. Depending on how each player builds their collection, different riches will take on a different value for each of them. Show off your best haggling skills in crafting your split, and create the perfect offer to push your opponent to take what you want them to take…leaving you with the tastiest loot!

Be prepared for when the mid-game scorings are triggered. Manage your gold reserves sensibly to get additional riches, and make your collection just right!

—description from publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 7 Players
  • 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.06

Great Dragon Race, the

| OTSG Staff

Players compete as dragon riders using special cards to advance to the finish, while dodging attacks like ballista bolts and flaming balls. The victor wins the treasure – and even more priceless – a place in dragon-racing history!

The goal is to race from start to finish using a handful of cards to make strategic choices. Special cards that block other players’ actions mean you must pay attention – even when it is not your turn.

With the ability to steal other players’ cards and cards that are character-specific, sudden and significant reversals of fortune are common. Winning is never a foregone conclusion.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 25 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33

Grand Central Skyport

| OTSG Staff

In Grand Central Skyport, you want to efficiently operate your airship station and attract the most prestigious tycoons to your city. During the game, you attract new airships to your skyport, and each airship has a color and an initial slotting movement. Try to maneuver your airships to group them by color so that they stack to score increasingly more points. Unfortunately, with each new ship entering your station, its movement will trigger the rearranging of previously placed airships, so ideally you can race other skyport owners around a central rondel to choose the incoming airships that are best for you.

Drafting tycoons to your skyport will bring unique advantages in manipulating your docked airships, as well as additional scoring opportunities at the end of the game.

Do you have the operational skills to handle the airships arriving at your station as efficiently as possible? If so, you may very well crown yours the grand central skyport.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Grand Carnival, The

| OTSG Staff

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up — the carnival is coming to town! In The Grand Carnival, players compete to create the most impressive carnival this town has ever seen. You’ll need to carefully plan your carnival’s layout, build attractions, hire staff, and manage the crowds, all while learning a few tricks of the trade.

Each turn, players cover a number on their player board, then select an action. The covered number determines the effectiveness of their action — and won’t become available again until the next round — so players need to think carefully about which number to use. Possible actions include:

• Place a Foundation Tile: Select a foundation tile to place on your fairground. The higher the number you cover, the more tile options you have. Each tile is a 2×2 grid and is made up of construction sites and walkways. Attractions can be placed only on construction sites, whereas guests can move only on walkways, so place your tiles carefully.

• Build an Attraction: Select a polyomino attraction and place it on the construction sites on your fairground. The size of the attraction you can select depends on the number you cover. Larger attractions can collect more tickets (and can be worth more points), but can be difficult for guests to move around.

• Move a Guest: Select a guest token and move it along the walkways on your fairground. The distance a guest can move depends on the number you cover. If a guest moves next to an attraction, place a ticket token on that attraction. If you move enough guests, you can hire a carnival barker; barkers help guests move quickly through your carnival, but take up precious space in your fairground.

After taking your action, see whether you qualify for any of the three “Tricks of the Trade” cards. Each trick has a requirement that must be met before you unlock its unique ability. Once a player unlocks a trick, each of their opponents has one turn to meet the same requirement or lose access to that trick for the rest of the game.

After seven rounds, the game ends. Players earn points from sets of the same size attractions, sets of each size of attraction, carnival barkers, guests that move all the way through your park, and their tickets. The player with the most points wins!

—description from the designer

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.21

Graft

| OTSG Staff

Graft is a card-drafting game in which 3-5 players race to collect sets of valuable goods and ship them back to Zenith.

Players simultaneously draft and play cards into their cargo manifest. Push your luck and chain combos of cards for high scores! But beware the cargo restrictions on some cards that limit what additional goods you can play – you’ll bust if your next hand has no valid option.

Ship your cargo to score points and claim bonus badges for specific sets of goods. Prepare additional groups of cards until the deck runs out. The player with the most points is recognized as the best pioneer by Zenith.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Good Cop Bad Cop (Third Edition)

| OTSG Staff

You’re a cop in a corrupted police district where you have to figure out who’s on your side and who’s not with the ultimate goal of eliminating the leader of the opposing team. You’ll use guns, equipment, deduction, and some social engineering to assist your allies and take down your enemies. But be quick ’cause there aren’t enough guns for everyone!

The 3rd Edition gives Good Cop Bad Cop, overall, makes the game a little easier to learn and play. It adds usability improvements in the graphic design of the cards, simplifies the wording of the equipment, reduces the rulebook to a single page, adds an equipment reference sheet, and removes player numbers on equipment entirely.

The set of equipment has been culled to provide a more consistent experience that keeps the game always moving towards a conclusion. One equipment was removed, one was added as new, and a few others were taken from expansions and promos.

The box art and design is new as well and it is the first game of the Pull the Pin Games line. The 3rd Edition is still compatible with all previous expansions and promos.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 8 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33

God Save The King MISSING

| OTSG Staff

God Save the King thrusts players into the center of the conflict between warring kingdoms. The crown is threatened; the duty to take up arms falls to every living subject, whether knight, marshal, captain, footman, squire or cup-bearer. Even the Queen, herself may be called upon to give her life, in order that the King may be spared.

“God Save the King” is an abstract strategy game that can be played using a standard deck of 52 playing cards. However, the talented Inna Kozak has illustrated a custom deck of cards featuring thematically-rich characters, where every card is a unique face card.

Simple to learn, but with layers of complexity, players must use induction, deduction, and deception, in an attempt to seize the rival King(s) while protecting their own.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 0 Players
  • 5 – 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50