Category: Ω Board Games

Obscurio

| T3d-1978
Obscurio

Obscurio

The Sorcerer is out to get you! Find your way among the illusions, but beware of the traitor in your ranks!

The Grimoire guides their team towards the exit using images, upon which they point at certain details. Working together, the other players have to find the exit as quickly as possible while avoiding picking the wrong cards. However, a member of the team is a traitor looking to lead the other players astray. A wide variety of traps are on your way to the exit of the library, making player communication harder!

Obscurio is a family game, an original mix between an image-based communication game and a secret role game in which the players have to be careful when sharing ideas with their team. Supported by rich contents, Obscurio proposes a fresh new experience in its genre by putting the emphasis on the details of the images and the constant doubt created by the presence of the traitor.

Communicate efficiently and avoid the illusions on your way to escape the Sorcerer’s library!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Cooperative
  • Deduction
  • Limited Communication
  • Party Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • ~40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.90

North Sea Saga: Shipwrights of the North Sea

| T3d-1978
North Sea Saga: Shipwrights of the North Sea

North Sea Saga: Shipwrights of the North Sea

Shipwrights of the North Sea is set in the early years of the Viking Age, circa 900 AD. As Viking shipwrights, players compete to build the greatest fleet on the North Sea. Players must collect oak, wool and iron, as well as getting other craftsmen on board to help. Gold is a precious commodity and must be spent wisely. As you would expect, the township is filled with an array of characters, bad and worse. Better hope they’re on your side!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.31

North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea

| T3d-1978
North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea

North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea

Raiders of the North Sea is set in the central years of the Viking Age. As Viking warriors, players seek to impress the Chieftain by raiding unsuspecting settlements. To do so, players need to assemble a crew, collect provisions, and journey north to plunder gold, iron and livestock. Glory can be found in battle, even at the hands of the Valkyrie, so gather your warriors because it’s raiding season!

To impress the Chieftain, you need victory points (VPs), with those being acquired primarily by raiding settlements, taking plunder, and making offerings to the Chieftain. How you use your plunder is also vital to your success. Players take turns in clockwise order, and on a turn you place a worker and resolve its action, then pick up a different worker and resolve its action. Broadly speaking, those actions fall in one of two categories:

  • Work: Having a good crew and enough provisions are vital to successful raiding, so before making any raids, players need to do some work to prepare their crew and collect supplies. This is all done in the village at the bottom of the game board, with eight buildings offering various actions. You must first place your worker in an available building where no other worker is present, then pick up a different worker from a different building.
  • Raid: Once players have hired enough crew and collected provisions, you may choose to raid on your turn. To raid a settlement — whether a harbor, outpost, monastery or fortress — you need to meet three requirements: Having a large enough crew, having enough provisions (along with gold for monasteries and fortresses, and having a worker of the right color. Raiding offers various ways of scoring, such as military strength, plunder, and Valkyries, which is how grey and white workers enter the game.

The game ends when only one fortress raid remains, all Valkyrie have been removed, or all offerings have been made, then players tally their scores.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 80 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.55

North Sea Saga: Explorers of the North Sea

| T3d-1978
North Sea Saga: Explorers of the North Sea

North Sea Saga: Explorers of the North Sea

Explorers of the North Sea is set in the latter years of the Viking Age. As ambitious sea captains, players seek out new lands to settle and control. They will need to transport their crew among the newly discovered islands to capture livestock, construct outposts and fulfill various other goals. So ready the longships, there are new horizons to explore!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Grid Movement
  • Pick-Up and Deliver
  • Set Collection
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.13

Nightmare Productions

| T3d-1978
Nightmare Productions

Nightmare Productions

Reiner Knizia’s auction game about producing movies. In four rounds, players bid on chips representing genuine directors, actors, camera, effects, music, guest stars and agents (or in Nightmare Productions edition: creatures, locations, directors, musical conductors, cameos, and contractors). These all get placed on players’ film-strips to complete the movie production. So one movie might need 2 actors (in editions prior to Nightmare Productions), but no music or effects and so on. As films are completed, the points value is marked and another film-strip taken. There are two parties (in Nightmare Productions edition: horror cons) each round where players get to pick from offers without paying anything. There are bonus points for first films completed and best films, best directors (in Nightmare Productions edition: best creatures), even worst film.

The auction is a basic rising offer with passing until one winning bid remains. Players pay into the pot with contracts (in Nightmare Productions edition: money), and the rest of the players share the pot each turn. So it’s a closed economy with players trying to time to bid on what they really need to complete films.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.11

The Night Cage

| T3d-1978
The Night Cage

The Night Cage

You awaken in the dark, your skin cold, your mind blank. You have nothing but your fear, a flickering candle, and a question: How long will your light last?

Trapped and crawling your way through a pitch-black labyrinth, equipped with nothing but dim candles, you must work together to explore the maze and escape. Unfortunately, your weak candlelight illuminates only your immediate surroundings. Worse still, horrifying Wax Eaters — monsters who despise the light — lurk in the suffocating darkness for their opportunity to strike.

The Night Cage is a fully co-operative, horror-themed tile-placement game that traps 1-5 lost souls within an unnatural labyrinth of eternal darkness. To win, players must each collect a key, find a gate, and escape as a group.

Escape won’t be easy as each player’s visibility is limited by the weak light of their candle. They illuminate only tiles directly connected to their own, and when players move, tiles that fall into darkness are removed from the game. Doubling back the way you came only opens new paths, the old ones being lost forever with critical keys and gates vanishing if your light move away from them…

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Grid Movement
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.05

Nidavellir

| T3d-1978
Nidavellir

Nidavellir

Nidavellir, the Dwarf Kingdom, is threatened by the dragon Fafnir. As a venerable Elvaland, you have been appointed by the King. Search through every tavern in the kingdom, hire the most skillful dwarves, recruit the most prestigious heroes, and build the best battalion you can to defeat your mortal enemy!

Each turn in Nidavellir, bid a coin on each tavern. In descending order, choose a character and add this character to your army. Each dwarf class has its own scoring way: blacksmith, hunter, warrior, explorer, and miner. A meticulous recruitment will allow you to attract a powerful hero to your army.

You will also be able to increase the value of your gold coins thanks to the smart “coin-building” system, and get the best of the other Elvalands.

Game Mechanics:

  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.13

New York Zoo

| T3d-1978
New York Zoo

New York Zoo

Puzzling and animal breeding: Designer Uwe Rosenberg is at his best! In New York Zoo, you are constructing an animal park. Build animal enclosures, introduce new animals and raise their offspring. The game play is straight forward as you have only two turn options: Puzzle a new enclosure tile into your zoo area or gain new animals to populate your animal encounters. But be sure to time your actions well since you want your zoo to participate in as many animal breedings as possible.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Grid Coverage
  • Puzzle
  • Racing
  • Rondel
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.99

Neon Knights

| T3d-1978
Neon Knights

Neon Knights

Do you have what it takes to join the Neon Knights? Join the XRL (Extreme Racing League) Tournament today!

In the dystopian future of 2086, the city is split in two. The upper class lives in the upper half of the city while the lower class live in the slums. Cash is illegal in the lower part of the city, and the people there now use casino chips from the old world as currency. The upper class business men have created the Extreme Racing League as an automotive racing sport for entertainment. Anyone with a car who lives in the slums can enter. The prize? You guessed it: A pass to enter the city above, crowned as a Neon Knight (Drivers for V.I.P). What you do when you get there is up to you…and another story in itself.

You’ve spent all your chips on building the car and entering the league. Now it’s time to prove your worth in a racing tournament that can only be won by taking risks, and pushing it to the limit. Do you have what it takes to join the Neon Knights?

Neon Knights: 2086 is a career-driven racing game for 2 to 6 players. You can play single races or in campaign mode which allows you to level up your car and skills as you play. You will advance in your career by buying upgrades and installing weapons and shields on your car. You will also gain fans and sponsorships who will train you in getting the skills you need to become a better driver. During the race you will need to pass over certain street areas to Activate weapons and shield you have on your car, which you can then use on other drivers.

You can go as fast as you want to but some areas of the slums are harder to drive through and will damage your car if you’re going too fast. Will you take those risks?

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Grid Movement
  • Push Your Luck
  • Racing
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

NEOM

| T3d-1978
NEOM

NEOM

NEOM is a modern city-building game featuring simultaneous drafting and tile placement that takes inspiration from games such as 7 Wonders, Carcassonne, and Sim City. Players compete to build the most impressive city utilizing a tree of 17 different goods (from three different tiers) that can each be unlocked, allowing the placement of increasingly powerful tiles as the game progresses. Tiles also feature roads which must be connected without being rotated, meaning that players must always plan their city layout with an eye to the future.

At the start of each game, players draft cornerstones — powerful, unique tiles that heavily change what is most valuable from game to game.

NEOM has been in development for seven years and the rules and tile set have been iterated on over the course of more than 3,500 games logged in a custom online prototype, leading to an exceptionally well balanced game with a wide variety of viable strategies.

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Closed Drafting
  • Take That
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.60