Tag: Action Points

Action Points are a mechanic typically used in turn-based games. Players receive a number of action points and use those points to perform different actions on their turns. This is a common mechanic in games.

Wise Guys

Wise Guys

Wise Guys

Wise Guys is a quick-to-learn, cutthroat, area-control board game in which you play as one of four rival gangs seeking to strike it rich as “Rum Runners” on the rough streets of Chicago at the height of the roaring 20s.

Each turn, players wheel, deal, talk, and fight to control locations where they buy and sell alcohol, help politicians get elected, and get help in return or double-cross rival gangs. Negotiate, threaten, and ally with rival gangs when it serves your needs, but be wary of the inevitable knife in the back…

Over six rounds, players take turns driving to locations in the city represented by the grid of cards at the center of the board. Different locations provide access to materials, cash, or clout that the player’s gang members can “acquire” through trade, earning profit from property within their territory or by exploiting parts of the city under the control of a rival gang. All players must maintain a certain discretion as selling too much in one round will draw unwanted attention or else saturate the city in liquor — and your fellow mafioso won’t be too happy about lost profits.

The gang with the most cash at the end of the game wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Dice Rolling
  • Negotiation
  • Trading
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • ~90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Vigilante

Vigilante

Vigilante

In Vigilante, you lead a team of heroes to fight back a swarm of villains running free in the city. Vigilante brings social deduction, action management, and tableau-building into a unique combination that leaves you with many different paths to take to accomplish your goals, new strategies and synergies between heroes, and a lot of tension!

There are a variety of scenarios (game modes) depending on player preferences. The game plays in rounds, where players have 4 actions to either fight (and imprison) villains, recruit new heroes, search for equipment and other helpful cards, or heal. Afterwards, players secretly roll their dice and contribute one of them, which sometimes will help the group but usually hinders them.

In Brought to Justice, each player gets a secret role. ‘Good’ players represent the majority and must imprison 7 villains per good player before the end of the game (i.e. if there are 2 Good players, they need a combined total of 14). ‘Evil’ players are trying to foil their plans, and Neutral players have independent missions which generally throw a little chaos into the mix.

Shifting Allegiances takes Brought to Justice and creates even more uncertainty by only guaranteeing one ‘Good’ player, while the rest of the mix could be any combination of ‘Good’, ‘Evil’, or ‘Neutral’ players. Even though there’s a possibility that all players are good, it will take time to gain each other’s trust, and you could end up sabotaging your own victory!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Deck Building
  • Deduction
  • Hidden Roles
  • Storytelling
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Via Nebula

Via Nebula

Via Nebula

Crafters, builders and carriers — your help is needed to dispel the mists of Nebula! The people of the valley will reward you handsomely if you harvest and exploit our many resources, open paths through the mists, and help our settlers build new structures. Cooperate temporarily with other builders in order to create paths and share goods, but do not forget your own objectives. Will you have a statue erected in your honor on the Nebula City plaza?

A game of Via Nebula starts with a board showing a hexagonal grid, some production sites with a few available resources on them (wood, stone, wheat, and pigs), building sites in various areas scattered over the whole board, and a lot of mist.

Turn after turn, players have two actions at their disposal from these options: They may clear the mist of a hex to create new paths of transportation, open new production sites, open a building site in a city, carry resources from any production site to their own building sites, and, of course, achieve a construction. Resources and paths through the mist may be used by all the players. This initially induces a kind of cooperation, but eventually other players will take advantage of your actions!

To achieve a construction, you fulfill a contract on one of your cards. You start the game with two contracts, and four more contracts are available for all players to see and use on a first come, first served basis — and that’s where the cooperation abruptly stops. Additionally, most contracts have special powers that are triggered on completion.

The game ends when a player finishes a fifth building. Opponents each take two final actions, then players score based on the number of cleared hexes and opened production sites and the point value of their contracts, with a bonus for the player who ended the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Network Building
  • Pick-Up and Deliver

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.22

Valor & Villainy

Valor & Villainy

Valor & Villainy

The beloved king Shapiro has perished in a freak catapult accident, but not before his most suspiciously named and irrefutably trusted adviser, Evil Wizard Mordak, claimed credit for his “murder” and legged it through a hastily conjured portal to the WORLD OF ETERNAL AND UNCARING DARKNESS. Mordak promised the kingdom he’d return in 8 days with semi-phenomenal cosmic powers to take his rightful seat upon Shapiro’s ruined throne! A lofty promise for an amateur Wizard…

Valor & Villainy: Minions of Mordak is a one vs many roleplaying board game for 2-6 players. One of you plays as the comically evil wizard, Mordak, and the rest form a band of Allies called the “Order without Borders”, who must halt his path of destruction! The game focuses on a strong and playful theme, capturing the best parts of a classic roleplaying game and boiling it into a one time play session. Every player will appreciate satisfying character progression. Spending Experience Points their team has earned and locating powerful Treasures to make their characters mightier with every passing turn!

Mordak has vanished into the WORLD OF ETERNAL AND UNCARING DARKNESS! This player will have a lot of fun, plotting secrets in the dark and throwing despair into the Allies’ plans in order to grow in power. They must hold nothing back, drawing upon all of their cunning and evil genius to win the game for themselves!

The Allies must locate three Ancient Shrines hidden among the land. For each of these Shrines diminishes Mordak’s power. Finding them all will reveal his location and commence a final battle for victory. They can explore the map at their own pace, however they will learn they must balance their ambitions with what they can handle! Exploring too quickly will fuel Mordak with threats the game-board has to offer, yet doddling will allow him the time to grow his cosmic powers! Ultimately the winner of the game is the victor of the final showdown between the Allies and their nemesis Mordak! Only the party which is better prepared and utilizes superior tactics will win the day!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Role Playing
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 90 – 150 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.26

Unmatched: Teen Spirit

Unmatched: Teen Spirit

Unmatched: Teen Spirit

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise, but just when you’ve mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups.

Unmatched: Teen Spirit features four characters from the Marvel comics universe: Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, and the team of Cloak and Dagger.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management
  • Take That
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 3 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Unmatched: Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot

Unmatched: Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot

Unmatched: Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot

In battle, there are no equals.

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. (Note that this set is solely for two players, but it can be combined with other sets, which all serve up to four players.) Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise, but just when you’ve mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups.

Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot features the titular heroes. Robin Hood and his outlaws excel at ranged attacks and robbing from their opponents. Bigfoot and his pal, the Jackalope, crash through the forest for quick attacks before disappearing like a figment of the mind.

Combat is resolved quickly by comparing attack and defense cards. However, each card’s unique effects and a simple but deep timing system lead to interesting decisions each time. The game also features an updated version of the line-of-sight system from Tannhauser for ranged attacks and area effects.

The game includes a double-sided board with two different battlefields, pre-washed miniatures for each hero, and custom life trackers that’s brought to life with the stunning artwork of Oliver Barrett and the combined design teams of Restoration Games and Mondo Games.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.92

Unmatched: Redemption Row

Unmatched: Redemption Row

Unmatched: Redemption Row

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise, but just when you’ve mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups.

Unmatched: Redemption Row features three characters from the Marvel comics universe: Luke Cage, Ghost Rider, and Moon Knight.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management
  • Take That
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Unmatched: Little Red Riding Hood vs. Beowulf

Unmatched: Little Red Riding Hood vs. Beowulf

Unmatched: Little Red Riding Hood vs. Beowulf

In battle, there are no equals.

ONCE UPON A TIME, Little Red Riding Hood took her basket of nasty tricks and faced off against the legendary Beowulf in this exciting Unmatched set.

“What big eyes you have, Wulfie!”

“That’s called ‘rage’, kid!”

Little Red features a clever card-combo mechanism. Matching icons on the cards she plays to the one in her “basket” (discard pile), triggers potent effects. Meanwhile, Beowulf uses rage to power up his cards for devastating attacks.

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise, but just when you’ve mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.93

Unmatched: Jurassic Park InGen vs Raptors

Unmatched: Jurassic Park InGen vs Raptors

Unmatched: Jurassic Park InGen vs Raptors

In battle, there are no equals.

“They show extreme intelligence, even problem-solving intelligence. Especially the big one.” He has hunted many a dangerous predator, but against a pack of raptors, is Robert Muldoon the hunter or the hunted? In Unmatched: Jurassic Park – InGen vs Raptors, these clever girls use their speed and agility to surround their prey, getting stronger when they attack together. InGen’s Game Warden and his Security Team lay traps to slow their opponent down and attack from range in a matchup 65 million years in the making.

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise, but just when you’ve mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.89

Unmatched: Jurassic Park Dr. Sattler vs. T.Rex

Unmatched: Jurassic Park Dr. Sattler vs. T.Rex

Unmatched: Jurassic Park Dr. Sattler vs. T.Rex

In battle, there are no equals.

“Dinosaurs eat man… Woman inherits the earth.” The greatest predator the world has ever known is closing in on the tenacious Dr. Sattler. Who has the slightest idea what to expect? In Unmatched: Jurassic Park – Dr. Sattler vs. T. Rex, the massive T rex unleashes fearsome attacks and seems unstoppable while Dr. Sattler makes full use of her surroundings and the aid of Dr. Ian Malcolm and his chaos theory. Who will become extinct first?

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise, but just when you’ve mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Hand Management
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00