Category: Ω Board Games

The Captain Is Dead

| T3d-1978
The Captain Is Dead

The Captain Is Dead

Imagine that you are one of the crew in your favorite science fiction TV show. Now imagine that in the last 10 minutes of the show things have gone so badly that the captain is dead and you and the surviving members of your crew have to pull together and save the day yourselves!

The Captain Is Dead is a co-op game for 2 to 7 players. All you have to do is get the ship’s engines (aka “Jump Core”) back online and you win, but because there is a hostile alien ship trying to destroy you, that is easier said than done.

You have an impressive star ship full of useful systems that will help you fend off the aliens, and get the Jump Core back online. Each system gives you an advantage while it remains online. The assault from the hostile alien ship tends to keep knocking those systems offline however. So you need to balance your time between keeping the ships system’s online, fending off the alien threat, and completing your objective.

Each member of your crew has special abilities and skills. You need to work as a group to maximize the potential of each role. If someone tries to be a hero, you’ll all die.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 7 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.39

Cape May

| T3d-1978

In Cape May, players traverse the city streets as entrepreneurs, developing property while building wealth over four seasons to earn prestige.

Build cottages, develop them into Victorian homes, and upgrade them into historic landmarks. Establish shops and grow them into profitable businesses. Carefully move around the city, and make strategic use of activity cards. Complete bonus goals, then take some time to relax and spot wildlife in the best place for birdwatching in the Northeastern United States.

Whoever best balances their income, development, movement, and personal goals will go down in history as the most successful developer of Cape May!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.40

Camel Up: Off Season

| T3d-1978

In Camel Up: Off Season, each of the 3-5 players has their own caravan of four camels that can carry goods, with the camels being able to carry 3, 4, 5, and 6 goods. Goods come in four types — carpets, vases, dates, and (non-date) fruit — and these goods will be available at markets, with one more market in play than the number of players. Each double-sided market indicates how many face-up and face-down cards are placed there, in addition to the special power of that market.

At the start of a round, players bid to see who selects goods first from a market, with the bidding rules being set by the back of the topmost goods card in the deck. Whoever wins the bid pays their money to the bank, while everyone else keeps their coins. (Coins are victory points, so you might not want to throw away too many of them!)

The winning bidder chooses a market, uses the power of that market (if they wish), then takes all of the goods from that market, flips them face up (if needed), then loads the goods on their camels. A camel can hold goods of only one type, and if a goods type is on a camel, then you must continue placing that good on the same camel. Each camel has a goods limit, however, and if you exceed that limit, then you must throw away all of that type of good.

Each other player in clockwise order then chooses an unchosen market, optionally uses its power, and collects and loads its goods. Each player then has the option of selling goods from at most one camel, with each type of goods paying out in different ways:

  • Dates: Cards show 1-4 dates, and the more you sell at once, the more money you receive.
  • Carpets: Cards come in six colors, and you can’t sell the same color twice in a batch. Again, the more you sell at once, the better.
  • Vases: Cards come in three types (with some overlap), and you can sell only one shape at a time
  • Fruit: Cards come in four types worth different amounts, and you can sell only the lowest-valued fruit.

Place a 1 coin on the unchosen market, flip all the other markets, refill those markets with cards, then start the next round. When the deck runs out, complete one more round — selling once from each of your camels — then whoever has the most money wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Call to Adventure: Epic Origins

| T3d-1978

In this hero-crafting card game, 1-4 players compete to earn the highest Destiny score while cooperating to defeat the Adversary. Like the original Call To Adventure, Epic Origins is a tableau-building game where players draft cards, cast runes, and overcome challenges to score victory points.

For players familiar with Call To Adventure game system, Epic Origins introduces a high fantasy theme inspired by classic dungeon-crawling RPGs. The new Heritage card type provides options like Elf, Halfling, and Dwarf. Class cards allow you to invest Experience to “level up” your character. High fantasy themes and challenges can be found throughout the game’s 150+ unique cards.

This game also features overhauled Solo and Co-Op play. Double-sided Adversaries provide an evolving challenge: face a lower-level Adversary at the end of Act II, then the Final Adversary at the end of Act III. In Campaign Mode, players can unlock new cards by defeating each new Adversary. The game incorporates more rewards for cooperative play while still incentivizing individual achievement.

While points decide the winner of the game, Call To Adventure encourages storytelling at the end of the game. Epic Origins also includes a guide for converting your final tableau into a 5th Edition D&D character.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Open Drafting
  • Role Playing
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.38

Call to Adventure

| T3d-1978

Make your fate! Inspired by character-driven fantasy storytelling, Call to Adventure challenges 1-4 players to create the hero with the greatest destiny by acquiring traits, facing challenges, and overcoming adversaries.

Call to Adventure features a unique “rune rolling” system for resolving challenges, a point-based system that encourages storytelling, and over 150 unique cards. Players begin each game with an origin card that provides their backstory as well as two “starter” abilities. Each round they may either acquire trait cards from the board or face a challenge. Challenges each have two possible paths a player can choose from. For example, players who encounter the Thieves’ Guild may choose to train as a spy, or train as a killer. Each challenge has a difficulty that must be overcome by rolling successes on carved runes. The more a player has of the abilities required to overcome the challenge, the more runes they will be able to cast.

Failed challenges lead players to acquire experience points that may be spent to “push” through tougher challenges. But beware, while some negative experiences will help your hero grow, too many tragedies set them on a dark path.

As players’ heroes grow in ability and experience, they move on to harder challenges, eventually facing deadly adversaries and acquiring more and more destiny points. The player whose hero has the highest destiny score wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.01

Calico

| T3d-1978

Calico is a puzzly tile-laying game of quilts and cats.

In Calico, players compete to sew the coziest quilt as they collect and place patches of different colors and patterns. Each quilt has a particular pattern that must be followed, and players are also trying to create color and pattern combinations that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also able to attract the cuddliest cats!

Turns are simple. Select a single patch tile from your hand and sew it into your quilt, then draw another patch into your hand from the three available. If you are able to create a color group, you may sew a button onto your quilt. If you are able to create a pattern combination that is attractive to any of the cats, it will come over and curl up on your quilt! At the end of the game, you score points for buttons, cats, and how well you were able to complete your unique quilt pattern.

Game Mechanics:

  • Grid Coverage
  • Open Drafting
  • Pattern Building
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.19

Bushido

| T3d-1978

Bushido is a game of dueling martial artists, testing their training against one another. One shall prevail and prove their techniques superior. The other will return to studying until they are strong enough to win.

Players begin with a card draft which represent the training of their fighters.

After training players play a series of round wherein they play technique cards from their hands, or change their guards, in order to create a pool of combat dice which they hope to use to strike their opponent or defend their attacks.

In this game damage escalates quickly so players must be able to block, evade, and strike simultaneously to try and keep the momentum of the encounter in their favor.

The game ends when one warrior has bested the other.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Bunny Kingdom

| T3d-1978

Peace has come at last to the great Bunny Kingdom! Lead your clan of rabbits to glory by gathering resources and building new cities across the land!

Draft cards and pick the right ones to position your warrens on the 100 squares of the board, provide resources to your colonies, build new cities to increase your influence, and plan your strategy to score big at the end of the game. Settle in lakesides or fields to collect water and grow carrots, gather mushrooms in the green forest, and climb the highest mountains to discover rare and precious resources… Secretly rally rabbit lords and recruit skillful masters to make your cities and resources even more valuable at the end of the game.

After each turn, your groups of contiguous warrens grant you points depending on the cities and different resources they include. The game ends after 4 rounds, and the player with the most points wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Closed Drafting
  • Grid Coverage
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 40 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.30

Brian Boru: High King of Ireland

| T3d-1978

In Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, you strive to unite Ireland under your domain, securing control through might, cunning, and matrimony. Join forces to fend off Viking invaders, build monasteries to extend your influence, and gather support in towns and villages throughout the land. To become High King of all Ireland, you need to navigate a web of shifting alliances, outmaneuver your enemies, and grab history by the reins.

The success of the historical Brian Boru rested on three pillars: his victories against the Vikings, the favor he managed to garner with the Church, and the alliances he forged through political marriages. This became the foundation of the game, with each pillar becoming a suit in the trick-taking that forms the core of the mechanisms. Win a trick and you gain influence in a town, which, in turn, gains you majorities in the regions; if you lose the trick, however (deliberately or otherwise), you instead take an action corresponding to the suit of the card.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Closed Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Trick-taking
  • Variable Phase Order

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.54