Author: OTSG Staff

Heroes Wanted: The Stuff of Legend

| OTSG Staff
Heroes Wanted: The Stuff of Legend

Heroes Wanted: The Stuff of Legend

THIS JUST IN…

A dark cloud looms over Zeta City, one that speaks with a forked tongue and tells of ill omens and other generally bad stuff. In the wake of the retirement of Fastodon, the World’s Fastest Mammoth, all manner of foul evil has emerged to wreak havoc. From sinister deities once relegated to myth to arcane menaces who have hovered at the fringes of our mundane world, all have been waiting for just such an opportunity and now return with visions of conquest. After all, one less Champion means one less obstacle in the way of their nefarious machinations. But hope is not lost! As we have learned in recent news, ambitious heroes eager to prove their mettle are patrolling the rooftops and alleys. Among them are practitioners of the mystic arts and noble gods from great pantheons, each able to face the rising tide of villainy for the sake of all that is good and right. A day of decisive battle is descending upon Zeta City, and from it shall emerge…

The Stuff of Legend!

Heroes Wanted: The Stuff of Legend expands the Heroes Wanted universe as Supernatural and Mythic heroes join the fray, while mechanisms such as feats and curses introduce all-new tactics and the price for using them. All that along with even more heroes, villains, Quirks, and two new scenarios will add even more variety and complexity to your Heroes Wanted experience. So, are you ready to step up and be more than just a hero and become a legend?

RIGHT WRONGS. UPHOLD JUSTICE. BECOME A LEGEND.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Pick-Up and Deliver

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.00

Heroes Wanted

| OTSG Staff
Heroes Wanted

Heroes Wanted

As soon as you saw the ad in today’s Tribune, the certainty flooded over you. At last, this is your chance, the reason for all your training! All that work waterproofing your utility belt and practicing your one-liners will finally pay off. You call into work sick, feed the cat, and turn on your police scanner, waiting nervously for the first call–or at least, the call that’s close enough for you to get there first. You’ll stop at nothing to join your heroes, The Champions of Zeta City, and woe to any wannabe crime fighters who stand in your way!

Heroes Wanted is a tactical board game for 1-5 superhero hopefuls, attempting to fulfill their dreams of becoming a member of Zeta City’s exclusive crime fighting super team: The Champions of Zeta City. Each time you play, you will create a unique superhero comprised of two hero cards. You will then choose a scenario and face a different villain (or villains), but the objective remains the same: gain as much fame as possible by KO’ing minions, completing headlines, and thwarting the villain. At the end of each game, the superhero with the most fame is the winner and joins the prestigious ranks of The Champions of Zeta City.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Pick-Up and Deliver

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.61

Hellenica: Story of Greece

| OTSG Staff
Hellenica: Story of Greece

Hellenica: Story of Greece

An explosion of creativity and violence erupted in the Aegean Basin in 800 B.C. that defined ancient Greece. This combination of science, mythology, development, and war was led by powerful city-states like Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Troy, Byzantium, Corcyra, and Thebes. These states vied for control over their rivals and dominated the lesser states around them. In time, some of them became so well known that they are remembered even today.

Hellenica: Story of Greece is a 3.5X civilization game in which you harness the powers of one of seven beginning city-states to dominate the world around you. Your goal is to become the preeminent symbol of Greece for all posterity by completing a combination of secret and public goals. Will you be remembered as a warmonger or a peaceful philosopher? Great priest or apostate? Will you develop a devotion to the gods or focus on the advancement of your people?

Can you guide your civilization during these turbulent times? Will your vision of Hellenic civilization be remembered for all time, or will you merely be a stepping stone for another…?

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Area Movement
  • Bluffing
  • City Building
  • Dice Rolling
  • Tile Placement
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 7 Players
  • 120 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.26

Hellboy the Board Game

| OTSG Staff
Hellboy the Board Game

Hellboy the Board Game

Hellboy: The Board Game is a co-operative experience in which players face off against some of the comic’s most famous foes. Up to four people take control of iconic BPRD members, such as Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Roger the Homunculus, then explore gothic locations and uncover ancient artifacts.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.92

Hansa Teutonica: Big Box

| OTSG Staff
Hansa Teutonica: Big Box

Hansa Teutonica: Big Box

The multi-award-winning strategy game Hansa Teutonica is back in a Big Box edition including the base game and all expansions. In the game, players attempt to increase their standing as merchants in the Hanseatic League by gaining prestige points in various ways. For instance, they can try to establish a network of counting offices in new Hansa cities by occupying an entire trade route between two cities — but before that happens, player markers can also be displaced by other players. Players may also aim to develop their trading skills, improving their abilities throughout the course of play. With only two actions per turn and a variety of contested opportunities, every turn is equally quick and strategically demanding.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Network Building

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.11

Hand of Fate: Ordeals

| OTSG Staff
Hand of Fate: Ordeals

Hand of Fate: Ordeals

You, traveler, have been chosen to play The Game, an ancient artifact of terrible power that can twist reality and call forth horrors from the past to test its players. You now sit at the table before Kallas, the current master of The Game, to play for his entertainment and your life. You enter the fray with only a rusty ax and the most basic of skills. Trace the steps of your past and explore the vast lands of the kingdom. Hone your abilities, outwit your opponents, and slay the greatest of foes in order to claim the title of Hero.

Hand of Fate: Ordeals is an adventure deck-building game for 1–4 players that can be played in competitive or cooperative modes.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.00

Hallertau

| OTSG Staff
Hallertau

Hallertau

The Hallertau in Bavaria, Germany is the largest continuous hop-producing region in the world. It prides itself upon being the first in Middle Europe to cultivate hops. This game is set around 1850, when the Hallertau became what it is today.

As chief of a small Bavarian village in the Hallertau, your objective is to increase its wealth and prestige in the eyes of the world.

To achieve this, you will need to supply the local crafts folk with goods from agriculture and sheep breeding.

Place your workers, play your cards right, and let your village shine!

  • Progressive Worker Placement: Action spaces can be used multiple times, becoming more expensive in the process.
  • Two-Field Rotation System: Fields lose their potency over time so fallowing fields allows them to become increasingly effective.
  • Card Combos: You can play cards at any time; this timing—and the combination of cards—can be very powerful.
  • Sheep with an Expiration Date: Breeding sheep early comes with a lot of perks, but, eventually, sheep will die of natural causes.

Game Mechanics:

  • Economic
  • Hand Management
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 50 – 140 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.30

Hadrian’s Wall

| OTSG Staff
Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

When visiting the North of Britannia in 122 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian Augustus witnessed the aftermath of war between his armies and the savage Picts. In a show of Roman might, he ordered a wall to be built that would separate the Pict tribes from the rest of England. Grand in its design, the wall stretched 80 Roman miles, from coast to coast. Hadrian’s Wall stood in service to the Roman Empire for nearly 300 years before its eventual decline. Today, Hadrian’s Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the remains of the forts, towers, and turrets can still be explored.

In Hadrian’s Wall, players take on the role of a Roman General placed in charge of the construction of a milecastle and bordering wall. Over six years (rounds), players will construct their fort and wall, man the defenses, and attract civilians by building services and providing entertainment — all while defending the honor of the Roman Empire from the warring Picts. The player who can accumulate the most renown, piety, valor and discipline, whilst avoiding disdain, will prove to the Emperor they are the model Roman citizen and be crowned Legatus Legionis!

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Hand Management
  • Paper and Pencil

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.11

Gutenberg

| OTSG Staff
Gutenberg

Gutenberg

Gutenberg is a board game for 1-4 people in which players will play as the pioneers of printing in the 15th century. By carrying out orders, they will build their wealth and fame. By improving their printing workshops and gaining the support of patrons, they will develop their production capacity. The game will be won by a printer who boasts the greatest recognition and wealth.

By bidding for specific actions, players will develop their workshop, acquire new fonts, inks and decorations. The unique system of rotating gears allows you to combine bonuses and earn a large number of points.

The game is won by the player with the most points after six rounds.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Open Drafting
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.63

Guild Master

| OTSG Staff
Guild Master

Guild Master

Guild Master is a fantasy tabletop game for 2-4 players. Players manage an adventuring guild, competing with each other to become the most famous guild as an escalating series of events threaten the land. In each of the nine rounds, players simultaneously and secretly program orders to send teams of adventurers out to do the following:

  • Recruit more adventurers.
  • Attempt increasingly difficult contracts to gain money, fame and other rewards.
  • Hire builders to upgrade their guild to increase their capacity to do all of that more.

All players then sequentially resolve their planned orders, starting with each players’ 1st order, then 2nd order and so on, and in the order they appear on the board (builders, then adventurers A-F then contracts 1-6).

Players plan and program orders carefully around other players’ likely moves, various strategies, risks, and rewards. They manage their guilds’ growth and optimize combinations between their adventurer abilities and contract rewards to achieve their goals. As the game advances, guilds become more powerful and must rise to meet an increasing number of game state changing threats. Recruiting increasingly powerful adventurers and upgrading your guild capacity are both key to victory. There are various ways to exert control over the board, your dice rolls, and your chances to get what you want.

Most orders are resolved by paying coin or rolling dice based on your adventurers’ skills. Sometimes players resolve these orders alone, and sometimes cooperating with, or in conflict with, other guild’s adventuring teams attempting the same thing at the same time. When players’ orders overlap, coins and negotiated prisoners’ dilemma cooperate/conflict skill checks resolve the contest. Negotiation over shared goals, contract bonuses and reward splits is encouraged and rewarding, but not absolutely required to win.

Everything you do earns you fame (victory points) and other rewards. At the end of nine rounds, any remaining coins are converted to fame at a rate of 5 coins = 1 fame. Then any special prestige upgrade fame is added. The most famous guild is then declared the winner.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Deck Building
  • Deduction
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Negotiation
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.89