Tag: Area Control

When playing games with an Area Control aspect, players are typically rewarded for controlling the majority of a particular space.

Of War and Men WWII

| T3d-1978
Of War and Men WWII

Of War and Men WWII

Of War and Men is a WWII based, squad-level card game that introduces the individual heart of a soldier into the framework and strategies of war. Build effective fireteams and create or discover the land as you cross the war torn map and try to outflank, outmaneuver, and out gun the enemy. As any good leader, you must consider the individual strengths and weaknesses of your soldiers to make sure your Mission is a success.
In one Mission, you must rescue or capture the Resistance soldier who has recovered secret plans and get them safely back to your camp. In another, you must parachute into the landing zone and capture the bridge in order to win the day. This 2-4 person game can be played within an hour, or track your soldiers across an entire campaign, awarding medals for courage and valor, while determining the ability of green troops coming in to replace lost heroes. Replay-ability is high since each encounter will vary based on Mission, fireteams, map builds, and general unpredictability of war.

But these aren’t just pieces on a board. You aren’t just sending in soldier #2, but rather, you are sending in Corporal “Pokey” Johnston. His bio informs you that he’s a down home roots kind of guy from Colorado. He hasn’t been able to hit the broadside of a barn on this mission. However, you’ve been saving that “Act of Valor” card and you decide to play it with Corporal Johnston and he turns the tide of battle. These aren’t just names on a roster. These aren’t just numbers on a map. These are your men. These are your brothers in arms.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Campaign
  • Hand Management
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.00

Northgard

| T3d-1978
Northgard: Uncharted Lands

Northgard: Uncharted Lands

Based on the universe of the Northgard video game, Northgard: Uncharted Lands is a game of conquest and exploration set in the age of vikings. Each player controls a Viking clan, looking to achieve victory by reaping glory in various ways or controlling the most prized territories of this new continent.

The game focus is on streamlined rules and mechanisms, allowing for a fast-paced and smooth rhythm of play. Each turn, players alternate their actions to adapt their strategies to their opponents’ moves and the expansion of the board. Fame (i.e., points) can be earned by exploring, fighting, and controlling and developing territories. The various corresponding actions are played through the cards that the players have in hand. At the end of each turn, they have to choose a new card to improve their personal deck as their clans develop new tactics and technologies.

The conquest of Northgard also requires clever management of resources to build new buildings, improve your warriors’ effectiveness, better your hand of cards, and upgrade your clan’s specificities. The winter phase makes this management more difficult as you have to feed your units to keep them healthy and happy.

The pace of the game is set by the players as the game ends after seven turns, but can also be cut short at any time if one of them is in control of three closed territories hosting certain types of buildings.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Campaign
  • Deck Building
  • Dice Rolling
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.73

Nemo’s War

| T3d-1978
Nemo’s War

Nemo’s War

Set in year 1870, you set sail in this amazing electric-powered submarine, assuming the role and motive of Captain Nemo as you travel across the seas on missions of science, exploration, anti-Imperialism, and War!

With this supercharged second edition of Nemo’s War, prepare yourself for the adventure of a lifetime!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Push Your Luck
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.20

Mosaic

| T3d-1978
Mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is an action selection game. On your turn, you will perform one of seven actions and acquire components.

Acquiring Components is important in creating the unique mosaic of your civilization. They are used as prerequisites for many new technologies, as well as for scoring. Also, by pursuing specialization in one or more Civilization Components, you may be able to claim a ‘Golden Age’ of that type.

As the game goes on and your Civilization grows, scoring cards are eventually revealed from the four decks. Each time a scoring card is revealed, your Civilization will score for each region that you dominate with your cities and military units. After the third scoring card is revealed, there is one final turn and the game ends. You will then score for your cities and towns, your wonders, projects, and golden ages, and for all of your cards that score for your unique Civilization Components.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Civilization
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.79

Mezo

| T3d-1978
Mezo

Mezo

It is a time of blood, of ritual, of war. Gods walk among the tribes, each hungering for the devotion that gives them form. Though the gods are many, only one will endure the ages above all others.

Mezo is an innovative game of area control for 2-4 players inspired by Mayan mythology. You will control a powerful god and it’s tribe of followers. These tribes will clash for dominance, build step pyramids, and make sacrifices all in the name of their god. Featuring massive god miniatures, each with vastly asymmetrical strategies, as well as numerous ways for you to achieve victory, Mezo is a unique take on the area control genre.

Key Points
– Innovative and intuitive area control with multiple ways to win.
– Massive Mayan god figures, each with their own unique strategies and actions.
– A rich Mayan theme, beautiful artwork, and engaging gameplay.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.27

Lacrimosa

| T3d-1978
Lacrimosa

Lacrimosa

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is dead. His last conscious action on his deathbed was composing the Lacrimosa movement of his Opus Requiem. You, as one of his sponsors, will meet with the widow in order to participate one last time in the funding of the works of the Austrian genius. Also, you will reminisce and retell all your memories alongside Mozart in order to make sure that she portrays you under the best light when writing her memoirs in order to enter history as Mozart’s most important patron.

In Lacrimosa, players take the roles of patrons of the late musician, contributing with their fundings to the composer’s works one last time. During the game, you play in two different timelines: the present and the past. In the present, you commission the missing parts of the Requiem from other composers in order to complete it. When developing past events, the game takes place in five epochs in which you contribute by buying new compositions from the composer to sell or exhibit, accompany him on the different journeys through the main courts and theaters in Europe, and gather the resources you need in order to support the musician during his career.

During the game, you play cards from a limited hand that you will improve as the game progresses. These cards can be played either as actions or as resource generators, and players need to optimize their resources and finances in order to support their best version of the story and their relationship with Mozart.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Deck Building
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • ~90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.10

Kemet

| T3d-1978
Kemet

Kemet

In Kemet, players each deploy the troops of an Egyptian tribe and use the mystical powers of the gods of ancient Egypt – along with their powerful armies – to score points in glorious battles or through invasion of rich territories. A game is typically played to 8 or 10 victory points, which may be accrued through winning attacks, controlling temples, controlling fully-developed pyramids, sacrificing to the gods, and wielding particular magical powers.

The conquest for the land of Kemet takes place over two phases: Day and Night. During the day, choose an action amongst the nine possible choices provided by your player mat and perform it immediately. Once every player has taken five actions, night falls, with players gathering Prayer Points from their temples, drawing Divine Intervention cards, and determining the turn order before the start of the new day.

As the game progresses, they can use Prayer Points to acquire power tiles. Some of these enroll magical creatures and have them join their troops. In addition to intimidating enemies, these creatures provide special powers!

Detailed miniature components represent the combat units and the supernatural creatures that are summoned to enhance them. Combat is resolved through cards chosen from a diminishing six-card hand and enhanced by bonuses.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Area Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.00

Kami-sama

| T3d-1978
Kami-sama

Kami-sama

A gentle breeze… The soothing sounds of a flowing river… The glow of the moon… A bountiful harvest… Fear… Rage… and even death. Each of these forces affect the world around us and are in fact personified by a spirit. These Kami work together to form the natural order of things, but each aspires for influence over those that worship them.

Kami-sama is a beautiful and intuitive strategy game set in rural Japan during the Edo period. You assume the role of one of the many Kami, the spirits of the land. Using a combination of asymmetrical powers, area control, set collection, pattern building, and light card drafting, you will work to balance your Favor with the people and your connection to Nature in order to be crowned Kami-sama, the chief deity of the land.

Key Points
– Beautiful and intense area control game with set collection and light card drafting.
– Asymmetric Kami abilities allow you to play with a different strategy and tactics every game!
– Unique rotating board and elegant gameplay.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Open Drafting
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.67

Inis

| T3d-1978
Inis

Inis

Inis is a game deeply rooted in Celtic history and lore in which players win by being elected King of the Island (Inis). Players can try to achieve one of three different victory conditions:

  • Leadership: Be the leader — i.e., have more clan figures than any other player — of territories containing at least six opponents’ clans.
  • Land: Have your clans present in at least six different territories.
  • Religion: Have your clans present in territories that collectively contain at least six sanctuaries.

Over the course of the game, players also earn deeds, typically chanted by bards or engraved by master crafters, that reduce by one the magic total of six for any condition. While one victory condition is enough to claim the title of King, a game of experienced players usually has a tight balance of power, emphasizing the leadership of the capital of the island.

At the start of each round, players draft a hand of four action cards (with 13 action cards for three players and 17 for four players) during the Assembly. Action cards not played at the end of one season are not held for the next. Players also have access to leader cards for the territories that allow it and where they were elected leader during the assembly. Each Assembly reallocates those cards. Finally, they collect “epic tales” cards that depict the deeds of the ancient Irish gods and heroes, like Cuchulainn, the Dagda, Lugh and many others. These will be kept and used to inspire the clans and achieve extraordinary feats…under the right circumstances. The cards provide a variety of actions: adding clans, moving clans, building/exploring, and special actions.

Careful drafting, hand management, bluffing (especially once players understand the importance of passing their turn), good timing, and a precise understanding of the balance of power are the keys to victory. After a discovery game you’ll be ready for a full and epic game, where an undisputed player will be king by the Assembly for his merit and wisdom.

While Inis has “dudes” that are “on a map”, it’s a beginner’s mistake to play this as a battle game because eliminating other clans reduces your chances of scoring a Leadership victory condition. Peace among different clans, with or without a clear territory leader, is the usual outcome of a clan’s movement. Battles will occur, of course, as the Celtic clans can be unruly and a good player will listen to his clan’s people (i.e., his hand of cards). That battle aspect is reflected in the clan’s miniatures representing warriors. Woodsmen, shepherds and traders complete the set of twelve minis for each player; these occupations have no impact on the game, but give it flavor.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Area Movement
  • Campaign
  • Closed Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.88

Imperium The Contention Deluxe Edition

| T3d-1978
Imperium The Contention Deluxe Edition

Imperium The Contention Deluxe Edition

Only one may wield the Void Scepter.

Seize the Void Scepter in Imperium: The Contention, the 4X card game. Choose one of six factions, each with a preconstructed deck, or build your own from a complete collection of over 300 cards! Expand your empire, deploy your fleet, move your ships into position, and battle your enemies. Seizing the Imperial Capital may lead you to victory… or ruin.

There are many paths to ruling the Imperium. Your favor represents your Imperial influence. Gain 8 favor, or claim 8 worlds, and the Void Scepter will be yours! Gain the Imperium’s favor by destroying enemy worlds or through political intrigue. Employ politicians, spies, megacorps, and mercs. Take the Imperial Capital by force, and use the seat of power to convince the Imperium only you are worthy.

Now is the time! Lead your civilization to new heights and claim the Void Scepter!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Civilization
  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.82