Tag: Dice Rolling

Dice Rolling is a common mechanic in games where players roll one or more die to decide an outcome.

The Voyages of Marco Polo

| T3d-1978
The Voyages of Marco Polo

The Voyages of Marco Polo

In 1271, 17-year-old Marco Polo started on a journey to China with his father and older brother. After a long and grueling journey that led through Jerusalem and Mesopotamia and over the “Silk Road”, they reached the court of Kublai Khan in 1275.

In The Voyages of Marco Polo, players recreate this journey, with each player having a different character from history with a special power in the game. The game is played over five rounds. Each round, the players roll their five personal dice and can perform one action each turn with them. Each action requires the use of one or more dice, and can be collecting resources or money, acquiring contracts or traveling on the board. When traveling, each player begins at Venice and can decide between several routes eastward, all the way to Beijing. When a player stops at a city, they place a trading post there, giving them access to extra actions or resources for the rest of the game. The higher the value of the dice used for an action, the better the options that may be chosen, but also the more money the player must pay if an opponent has already chosen the same action.

After five rounds, the game ends with players receiving extra victory points for having trading posts in Beijing, fulfilling the most orders, and having trading posts in the cities on secret city cards that each player gets at the start of the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Economic
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 40 – 100 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.19

Vindication

| T3d-1978
Vindication

Vindication

Vindication (formerly Epoch: The Awakening) is a highly strategic, fantasy-based tabletop journey for 2-5 players. Play time is 15-30 minutes per player.

Thrown overboard for a life of wretchedness, you wash ashore a hostile island ruins — completely alone with nothing except the breath in your lungs and an undaunted spirit.

Through your advanced resource management, area control tactics, and freeform action selection, you’ll add companions to your party, acquire bizarre relics, attain potent character traits, and defeat a host of unusual monsters in the ultimate goal of mastering heroic attributes — and regaining honor.

You may perform 3 actions on each turn in the order you feel is most advantageous that turn: activate a companion, travel to a new location, and interact with a map tile. Many actions require the the use of your influence to gain attributes in a one-of-a-kind heroic attribute alchemy system, which is leveraged to gain the game’s most powerful rewards. For example, you can meditate at a spire to gain inspiration. You can train at a fort to gain strength. But then you can combine your inspiration and strength to gain the courage (inspired strength) which allows you to perform a bounty hunt.

There are distinctive end-game triggers that can be affected through game play, over 72 unique card abilities that can be merged in unusual ways for potent combinations, and fresh tile placement each game for high replayability.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 150 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.06

Victoriana

| T3d-1978
Victoriana

Victoriana

Somewhere in the heart of 19th century London, shadowy forces are hatching a dire conspiracy. Queen Victoria has enlisted the aid of exceptional individuals to investigate the impending plot and save her realm from its calamitous consequences.

Victoriana is a cooperative game for 1-4 players. Players move throughout London marshaling and managing resources, investigating leads, and thwarting the agents of an unknown mastermind before time runs out.

Players take the role of investigators that have influence within different realms of British society (politics, science, occult, and the underworld). The conspiracy’s three elements (mastermind, plot, and locale) are represented by cards and tokens selected in secret before the game begins. Leads relating to the conspiracy are represented by facedown cards tied to notable London locations. Players move their figures throughout the city, revealing lead cards, expending their investigator’s influence tokens to acquire those leads, and deciding how to apply them toward the conspiracy’s hidden aspects.

Time is not on their side. Mismanaging the clock or their influence tokens causes leads to go cold, traumatizing investigators and bringing the conspiracy closer to its dreadful realization. Worse, as the investigators come closer to the truth, the mastermind dispatches agents to stymie their movements, disrupt their efforts (by forcing them to discard influence tokens), and assassinate them (by causing trauma).

Identifying the elements of the conspiracy leads the players to a climactic confrontation. If the precise combination of influence is accrued and the investigators assemble at the correct locale, the queen is saved and the British Empire preserved; however, if too many leads go cold, Big Ben strikes midnight, or the investigators are too traumatized, a dire fate awaits.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.67

Vagrantsong

| T3d-1978
Vagrantsong

Vagrantsong

You trainhop aboard the Silver Ferryman, chasin’ a dream or runnin’ from the past. What you find is a welcomin’ hand – white glove, stretched skin… and a fiddle player in the distance, playin’ a tune that’s awfully inviting. Makes you never wanna leave.

In Vagrantsong, a cooperative and story-driven boss battler, you will take on the role of a Vagrant trapped on a supernatural ghost train. Face off against ghosts lingering on the train (called Haints), adjust your playstyle with Skills and Junk acquired along the way, and uncover the secrets of the Silver Ferryman in this spooky and challenging adventure.

In each of the 20+ Scenarios in Vagrantsong’s campaign, players will take turns spending their 3 Coins to take actions, such as: moving around the train board, investigating the unknown, and rummaging for items that might help them get out of a tight spot. Additionally, players can spend their Coins on more exclusive actions to remind a Haint of their lost Humanity, all in the hopes of freeing the spirit from the ghost train’s bone-chilling grip, and winning the Scenario in the process. But be careful! Each Haint has their own bag of tricks and gameplay mechanics. They will stop at nothing to make sure that the players lose all of their Humanity and stay aboard forever.

After each Scenario, players will have a moment to rest, allowing them the opportunity to change out their Skill and Junk cards, heal their Vagrant, and prepare for their next encounter aboard the Silver Ferryman.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Narrative Choice
  • Role Playing
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.08

The Undercity: An Iron Kingdoms Adventure Board Game

| T3d-1978
The Undercity: An Iron Kingdoms Adventure Board Game

The Undercity: An Iron Kingdoms Adventure Board Game

The Undercity puts a spin on the classic dungeon crawl adventure, setting it within the vast underground labyrinth of one of the Iron Kingdoms’ most famous cities.

This board game for two to four players comes with a seven-adventure campaign. The players play one to four characters from the Iron Kingdoms universe as they try to weed out a nefarious evil that has been lurking in the Undercity of Corvis.

All players will be playing on the same team and the game requires no game master. The players work together defeating enemies, achieving objectives, and gaining experience that can be used to give new skills to their characters that can be used in subsequent adventures in the campaign.

The game will come with almost 40 different miniatures with 16 different sculpts. The four heroes are Milo Boggs (the alchemist), Canice Gormleigh (the gun mage), Gardek Stonebrow (a trollkin warrior), and Pog (a gobber mechanic) that controls a light warjack named Doorstop.

Each character has a starting stat sheet, but players can purchase character ability cards with XP gained from the adventure to enhance and customize their characters.

Combat is based on rolling dice against opposing attributes. Players will be able to use feats and abilities to give boosts to these dice rolls, similar in many ways to other games based in the Iron Kingdoms.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Role Playing

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.83

Twilight Struggle: Red Sea

| T3d-1978
Twilight Struggle: Red Sea

Twilight Struggle: Red Sea

Part of GMT’s Lunchtime Series, Twilight Struggle: Red Sea – Conflict in the Horn of Africa is a two-player card driven game that builds on the award winning Twilight Struggle.

The year is 1974, and the Soviet Union and the United States have been locked in a life-or-death struggle across the globe. As so often happened during the Cold War, a relatively obscure region of the globe suddenly took center stage. Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, a bedrock U.S. ally in Africa, had grown old and increasingly dictatorial. When he was overthrown in 1974, a Marxist coalition took the reins of power. This new revolutionary leadership initiated a chain of events that upset the regional balance of power and unleashed all the familiar elements of Cold War competition in the Horn of Africa.

With a more limited scope and much shorter playtime, Twilight Struggle: Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to the Twilight Struggle system, while maintaining all the tension, decision making, and theme of the original classic. The cards from Twilight Struggle can be used in TS: Red Sea and vice versa.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 2 Players
  • 35 – 75 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.95

Twilight Inscription

| T3d-1978
Twilight Inscription

Twilight Inscription

The Lazax Empire has burned to ash, rejected by its subjects. The aftermath was tragedy and petty conflict in equal measure, a time of loss and exhaustion. In the ensuing Dark Years, the factions of the galaxy retreated and recovered their strength. Now, they look upon the stars and see an opportunity—a chance to reclaim what was lost. A chance to redefine galactic civilization. A chance to leave their mark upon the stars.

Twilight Inscription, an epic roll-and-write game for one to eight players, offers an experience unlike anything Fantasy Flight Games has done before. With a limited pool of resources at your disposal, you’ll need to carefully manage Navigation, Expansion, Industry, and Warfare as you amass victory points and earn your right to the throne on Mecatol Rex. Will your faction become the new rulers of the galaxy? Or will your fledgling empire fade into obscurity? Anything can happen in this strategic, infinitely-replayable game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Paper and Pencil

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.16

Tungaru

| T3d-1978
Tungaru

Tungaru

In a time when early sea-faring Polynesians roamed the Pacific they came across the archipelago of Tungaru, today also known as Gilbert Islands. Rich in nutrients and resources they set about colonising these lands and spreading their culture.

Tungaru sets players as early Polynesians in this dice placement and resource conversion, medium-weight euro game. Players will jump from island to island in an effort to recruit Nomads as new tribe members, colonise land, spread their culture and exchange goods. Players use dice as workers, Leader cards which are blind revealed which are then given to your neighbour and custom shaped meeples specific to their tribe. All in an effort to be the most successful tribe!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Area Movement
  • Civilization
  • Dice Rolling
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.91

Tinner’s Trail

| T3d-1978
Tinner's Trail

Tinner's Trail

In Tinners’ Trail, set in 19th century Cornwall, you represent a mining conglomerate at the height of the tin and copper mining industry. You must buy plots of land across Cornwall in auctions and survey them for tin and copper, always managing your “work points” and money effectively.

Once you have a mine in place, it’s time to extract the ore and (ideally) make a profit, but the deeper your mine goes, the more expensive the process gets. To reduce the cost of mining, you can place developments, such as ports, train stations, and adits (drainage tunnels), but there’s only so many improvements to go around. Once you have made your money — trying to time the market to sell when prices are high — you can invest it in industries outside of Cornwall, which gains you victory points. The earlier you invest, the better the return. Can you outplay the competition and make the most money, or will you be left without two shillings to rub together?

This edition of Tinners’ Trail differs from the original 2008 version in several ways. The player count, for example, is now 1-5 instead of 3-4, and the resources on the board are now set up via tiles instead of die rolls to maintain variability while reducing the randomness. Dual-use cards are now an important part of the game, giving you information before an auction or an extra boost after an auction.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Auction/Bidding
  • Dice Rolling
  • Economic

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.83

Tidal Blades

| T3d-1978
Tidal Blades

Tidal Blades

Welcome Heroes! Many magnificent contestants have signed up for the tournament but only a handful will be chosen to join the Tidal Blades, the elite guards of our island realm. To succeed in the Tournament and be chosen as a Tidal Blade, you must compete in Challenges held in the 3 Arenas, rise to the top of the Champion’s Board, and protect the realm from the ever increasing threat of the Monsters from the mysterious Fold.

It has been fifteen years since the Great Battle; 15 years since the Arcanists from the Citadel of Time made their terrible choice and created the Fold; 15 years since the last assemblage of Tidal Blades. The Arcanists folded space and time to stop the onslaught of creatures from the depths, but now new Monsters have appeared, the hard-earned days of peace are coming to a close and the islands need protection. A tournament has been called, the Arenas are ready, the inhabitants of all the islands are gathering, and young heroes from across the realm are showing up to compete to be named a Tidal Blade: Hero of the Reef.

In Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef, each player takes the role of a young hero competing to be named a Tidal Blade. The tournament takes place over 5 Days and Nights. By gathering the needed resources, signing up to compete in Challenges and timing your arrival at different islands you can make the most of your Hero’s turns and rise in the ranks of the contestants.

Each day you will send your hero to take actions on the different Locations and to undertake Challenges. Each action will gain you the resource or effect listed on the action space as well as the Location bonus. At the Arenas you may then attempt a Challenge that matches your Location, and at the Fold you may battle a monster. Completing Challenges and fighting monsters will advance your character in the four traits of Focus, Spirit, Resilience and Synergy.

Each Tidal Blade will be judged at the end of the 5 rounds based on the Challenges they have completed, the level of each of their Traits, their standing on the Champions Board, and the monsters they have fought.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.87