Tag: Deck Building

Deck Building is a mechanic where players build a deck of resources that is randomly drawn and used for future turns.

Lost Empires

Lost Empires

Lost Empires

Welcome to 581.

On this distant planet, four factions battle for control of alien artifacts left behind by an advanced and ancient civilization. The warring factions are Terra Corps, Scion Imperium, Neo Human Republic, and Feng. With Earth in near ruins, 581 provides the chance for a second Earth, but who will rule? Who will be the first to build a Wormgate and transport their armies through it to conquer the dust of 581?

During the invasions of 581, the factions built large, interstellar bases to house, control, and deploy troops. These bases are known as Hives. As a player, you take on the role of a commander of one of these Hives, from which you deploy your forces in the fight for control of the ancient alien artifacts and dominance over 581 itself.

Lost Empires is a head-to-head, card-driven area control game with a focus on tactical movement and deck design. Each player chooses a faction to play, and using the cards available to that faction, constructs an 18-card deck with which you do battle. You earn artifacts by controlling objectives and destroying elite enemy units augmented with alien technology. Once you have collected sufficient artifacts, you use them to construct a Wormgate. The first person to build a Wormgate, wins the war for the new sun.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

Embark on your own adventures in J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic world with The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth, a fully co-operative, app-supported board game for one to five players! You’ll battle villainous foes, make courageous choices, and strike a blow against the evil that threatens the land — all as part of a thrilling campaign that leads you across the storied hills and dales of Middle-Earth.

Each individual game of Journeys in Middle-Earth is a single adventure in a larger campaign. You’ll explore the vast and dynamic landscapes of Middle-earth, using your skills to survive the challenges that you encounter on these perilous quests. As you and your fellow heroes explore the wilderness and battle the dark forces arrayed against you, the game’s companion app guides you to reveal the looming forests, quiet clearings, and ancient halls of Middle-Earth, while also controlling the enemies you encounter. Whether you’re venturing into the wild on your own or with close companions by your side, you can write your own legend in the history of Middle-Earth.

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building
  • Role Playing

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.60

Living Forest

Living Forest

Living Forest

In Living Forest, you play as a nature spirit who will try to save the forest and its sacred tree from the flames of Onibi. But you are not alone in your mission as the animal guardians have come together to lend a hand around the Circle of Spirits where you progress. Each turn, they bring you valuable elements, so try to combine your team of animal guardians as best as possible to carry out your actions, but be careful: some of them are solitary and do not like to be mixed with others…

You have one of three ways to achieve your goal: by planting 12 different Protective Trees, by collecting 12 Sacred Flowers to awaken Sanki the great Guardian of the Forest, by extinguishing 12 Fires to permanently repel Onibi.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Push Your Luck
  • Racing
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • ~40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.25

Lions of Lydia

Lions of Lydia

Lions of Lydia

The ancient world is changing. The kingdom of Lydia has minted the world’s first gold coin. Bartering and trading will soon be supplanted by coins as the dominant medium of exchange throughout civilization…

Lions of Lydia is a bag-management and engine-building game about the dawn of currency. As an influential leader, you send merchants out to barter for resources and increase your landholdings. When the nobles arrive, they bring their Lydian Lion coins into play—which have unparalleled buying power.

To achieve victory, you must manage the merchants in your bag and complement their abilities with the cards in your tableau. Traditional merchants produce basic resources, which are necessary to build your engine—but if you fail to convert your resources into coins, you will not be able to buy the most valuable cards! Thus, noble Lydian merchants—and their golden Lion coins—are the key to success. When enough properties are developed, the game ends, and a winner is declared!

Will you draft the best merchants to achieve your goals? Will you be the first to gain the most valuable properties? Will you master the new, golden currency: the Lions of Lydia?

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Deck Building
  • Economic
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.92

Legendary: Marvel Deck Building Game

Legendary: Marvel Deck Building Game

Legendary: Marvel Deck Building Game

Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game is set in the Marvel Comics universe. To set up the game, players choose a mastermind villain (Magneto, Loki, Dr. Doom, Red Skull in the base game), stack that particular villain’s attack cards underneath it, then modify the villain deck as needed based on that villain’s particular scheme. Players then choose a number of hero decks – Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, etc. – and shuffle them together; since players use only a handful of hero decks out of the fifteen included, the hero deck can vary widely in terms of what’s available.

Over the course of the game, players will recruit powerful hero cards to add to their deck in order to build a stronger and more resourceful deck. Players need to build both their recruitment powers (to enlist more heroes) and their fighting ability (to combat the villains who keep popping up to cause trouble). Players recruit heroes from an array of five cards, with empty slots refilled as needed. At the start of a player’s turn, he reveals a villain and adds it to the row of villains. This row has a limited number of spaces, and if it fills up, the earliest villain to arrive escapes, possibly punishing the heroes in some way. Some villains also take an action when showing up for the first time, such as kidnapping an innocent bystander. The villain deck also contains “master strike” cards, and whenever one of these shows up, the mastermind villain (controlled by the game) takes a bonus action.

As players fight and defeat villains, they collect those cards, which will be worth points at game’s end. Players can also fight the mastermind; if a player has enough fighting power, he claims one of the attack cards beneath the mastermind, which has a particular effect on the game. If all of these cards are claimed, the game ends and players tally their points to see who wins. If the mastermind completes his scheme, however – having a certain number of villains escape, for example, or imposing a certain number of wounds on the heroes – then the players all lose.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.44

Legendary: James Bond Deck Building Game

Legendary: James Bond Deck Building Game

Legendary: James Bond Deck Building Game

Each player starts with their own deck of basic starting cards. At the start of your turn, play the top card of the Villain Deck which allows Villains and Missions to enter “On Assignment”, acquire Gadgets, and wreak havoc on the players in other nefarious ways. Then play Hero cards from your hand to generate Attack, Recruit Points, and special abilities. You use Attack to defeat your enemies. You use Recruit Points to recruit more powerful Heroes from “Q Branch” for your deck. Whenever your deck runs out of cards, shuffle your discard pile to make a new deck, including all the new Heroes you recruited. This way your deck gets stronger and stronger over time. Build up enough power, and you can defeat the Mastermind! But be careful: If the players fail too many Missions, the Mastermind wins the game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.29

Legendary Encounters: Firefly Deck Building Game

Legendary Encounters: Firefly Deck Building Game

Legendary Encounters: Firefly Deck Building Game

In Legendary Encounters: Firefly, players take on the roles of characters from the series and work together to complete objectives for episodes from the Firefly TV show. Players each select an Avatar out of the Main Characters of the game. Each game will have 5 Main Characters and 4 Supporting Characters, so all 9 crew members will be part of each game. The 14-card stack for each Supporting Character is shuffled together to form the Crew Deck, which will be used to build up each player’s deck.

Legendary Encounters: A Firefly Deck Building Game is a standalone game in the Legendary Encounters series that utilizes the Legendary Encounters system set in the Firefly universe. Playing with 500 cards and a roll-up playmat, you’ll build up your deck, coordinate with your crew, and upgrade your ship to gain advantages, but be careful that Serenity does not receive too many ship strikes. Get ready to explore the ‘Verse!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.59

King’s Forge

King's Forge

King's Forge

The Chamberlain is searching the realm for a new “Craftmaster to the King” and sets a contest for all of the smiths and crafters in the land. The first one to forge four items from a list of the King’s favorite weapons and trinkets will be honored as First Among Crafters and Smiths. But watch out, because the other crafters and smiths will try to outdo you at every opportunity. Are you ready to forge your destiny?

In King’s Forge, players are craftsmen and craftswomen seeking to become the favorite of the King. A variety of dice represent the raw materials (metal, wood, gems, and enchantment) and those same dice can be used to gather new dice and purchase roll-modifiers, or saved and rolled in an attempt to meet the requirements to craft the items on the King’s list. An early lead is not a sure path to victory and other players will out-maneuver and out-build you whenever possible. Careful dice management, advance planning, fierce competition, and nail-biting luck will carry you to winner’s circle.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Dice Rolling
  • Pattern Building

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.28

Kamigami Battles: River of Souls

Kamigami Battles: River of Souls

Kamigami Battles: River of Souls

Kamigami Battles: River of Souls is a standalone game and the first set for Kamigami Battles: Battle of the Nine Realms. The gameplay remains mostly the same as you play the role of a great God or a team of Gods, defending your reign from rival Gods by using the warriors and disciples loyal to you. However, in this version each player chooses to be a God of Egyptian or Babylonian Mythology and uses that God to take control of the cosmos.

When playing with 2 to 6 players, you win by reducing all of the other Gods to 0 energy or by reaching 25 energy. When in a Team Match, you play with 4 or 6 players teamed up in pairs of two. You will have one Main God and a Support God. A team wins together if they can eliminate the opposing team’s Main God.

River of Souls also includes six temple cards, your Gods place of worship. Temples provide the Gods, through a High Priest, Energy when they need it. They can be attacked instead of the opponent’s God and their Energy is reduced as in a normal attack. A Temple with 0 Energy is destroyed and turned face down.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

The Hunger

The Hunger

The Hunger

The Hunger is a race in which each vampiric player must optimize their card deck, hunt humans to gain victory points, fulfill secret missions, and eventually acquire a rose and return to the castle before sunrise. The more you hunt, the slower both you and your deck become, which will make it harder and harder to get back before daybreak. Can you become the most notorious vampire without burning to ashes at sunrise?

During the game, players spend “speed” to move their vampires around the map, hunt humans worth victory points, and add new cards to their deck.

The game ends at dawn, after which the surviving player with the most victory points on their cards wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Deck Building
  • Open Drafting
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.24