Tag: Dice Rolling

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

Star Wars: X-Wing

Star Wars: X-Wing

Star Wars: X-Wing

X-Wing Second Edition puts you in command of your own squadron of advanced starfighters locked in thrilling, tactical space combat. Following in the footsteps of the first edition, the second edition refines the intuitive and exciting core formula of maneuvering your ships into position by placing a central focus on the visceral thrill of flying starships in the Star Wars galaxy.

During a battle, you’ll use your squadron’s unique capabilities to give yourself an advantage in the thick of combat. Each X-Wing ship flies differently, with its own set of maneuvers ranging from gentle banks to aggressive Koiogran turns. As in the game’s first edition, you’ll need to use every ship’s maneuvering capabilities to the fullest in order to strategically position your ships. A round begins with players secretly selecting a maneuver on each of their ships’ unique maneuver dials. Once you’ve decided how each of your ships is going to fly, you’ll begin revealing the dials and moving your ships, starting with the lowest skilled pilots.

As you move, you’ll enter a tense duel with your opponent as you both try to line up the perfect shot. Before you can open fire on an opponent’s ship, however, they must be in your firing arc and within range. By carefully selecting your maneuvers, you can get enemy ships in your sights, and once you’ve locked onto your target, you’re free to choose your plan of attack. You might pepper the enemy with blaster fire to whittle away their shields. Or, you could go for massive damage and launch a devastating volley of proton torpedoes. No matter how you approach the battle, you have complete control of your squadron. One player wins when all of their opponent’s ships are destroyed!

Slick flying is certainly important, but it isn’t the only consideration you’ll have to make in the midst of a dogfight. As in the first edition of X-Wing, once your ships have completed a maneuver, you can also perform an action to gain the upper hand. Whether you choose to acquire a target lock on a rival ship or barrel roll out of an enemy’s firing arc, the actions you take affect the course of the battle and determine the fate of your squadron.

Now, in the second edition of the game, your actions offer greater strategic depth than ever before. Some actions are red and induce stress when they are used. Other actions may be linked, allowing you to chain two actions together and push the limits of how your ship can handle in a dogfight!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Dice Rolling
  • Player Elimination
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.08

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Star Wars: Imperial Assault is a strategy board game of tactical combat and missions for two to five players, offering two distinct games of battle and adventure in the Star Wars universe!

Imperial Assault puts you in the midst of the Galactic Civil War between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire after the destruction of the Death Star over Yavin 4. In this game, you and your friends can participate in two separate games. The campaign game pits the limitless troops and resources of the Galactic Empire against a crack team of elite Rebel operatives as they strive to break the Empire’s hold on the galaxy, while the skirmish game invites you and a friend to muster strike teams and battle head-to-head over conflicting objectives.

In the campaign game, Imperial Assault invites you to play through a cinematic tale set in the Star Wars universe. One player commands the seemingly limitless armies of the Galactic Empire, threatening to extinguish the flame of the Rebellion forever. Up to four other players become heroes of the Rebel Alliance, engaging in covert operations to undermine the Empire’s schemes. Over the course of the campaign, both the Imperial player and the Rebel heroes gain new experience and skills, allowing characters to evolve as the story unfolds.

Imperial Assault offers a different game experience in the skirmish game. In skirmish missions, you and a friend compete in head-to-head, tactical combat. You’ll gather your own strike force of Imperials, Rebels, and Mercenaries and build a deck of command cards to gain an unexpected advantage in the heat of battle. Whether you recover lost holocrons or battle to defeat a raiding party, you’ll find danger and tactical choices in every skirmish.

As an additional benefit, the Luke Skywalker Ally Pack and the Darth Vader Villain Pack are included within the Imperial Assault Core Set. These figure packs offer sculpted plastic figures alongside additional campaign and skirmish missions that highlight both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader within Imperial Assault.

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Role Playing
  • Team Based
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.30

Speakeasy Blues

Speakeasy Blues

Speakeasy Blues

Speakeasy Blues brings players back to 1920s Prohibition Era New York City when hooch smuggling, mobsters, dirty cops and the rich and famous ruled the nights. In order to make your mark as well as your fortune, you’ll need to create the most prestigious speakeasy of the time before the 18th Ammendment is repealed.

Collect expensive items such as yachts or cars to prove your worth. Invite in well known historical figures of society of the time to class up the joint. Make deals with mobsters while being careful to hide them from view during classy soires lest they detract from your reputation. Do favors for dirty cops to add to your set collection as well as to allow you to bust any mobsters on the attack from competing hooch vending entrepreneurs.

Of course, there is Jazz to liven up the night and add bonuses to your action selections as well as Soires to provide additional cash flow and reputation to your gin joint. So roll the dice, draft a set for worker placement and enjoy a strategic and thematic delve into the high society, law breaking, liquor driven endeavors of the time. May the most hoppin’ and shakin’ speakeasy win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Set Collection
  • Take That
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.86

Sorcerer

Sorcerer

Sorcerer

Sorcerer: A Strategy Card Game is set in what the company describes as a grim, gaslamp lit world full of fantastic, mythical creatures and sorcery. Designed for two to four players, the game pits two ancient beings of great power against one another to determine which of their lineage are strongest. The players use sorcery to conjure minions, cast spells, and wield enchanted items to reach the game’s goal of conquering three battlefields.

The game uses a simple resource system of “energy” that is determined randomly by a dice-roll at the beginning of each round, to make sure no round is the same. However, the outcome being the same for both players, the game balance stays even. This energy is then used in the Action Phase for conjuring minions from your hand on any of three battlefields, casting possessions that can improve your minion’s traits and abilities; or sorcery cards with various direct effects. Also as an action you can add more energy to your Energy Pool, draw more cards, move minions to another battlefield etc. The choice is yours, it is just about your pure skill to handle the battle preparation!

In the Battle Phase players roll amount of custom dice equal to each minion’s attack trait with possible outcome of miss, hit, double hit or critical hit for each die, and place damage counters on the respective minions or directly to the Battlefield. A unique system of Omen tokens then allows to adjust this outcome by re-rolling the dice, before distributing the damage among opponent’s minions and battlefield.

The combination of usual mechanics like story driven deck building, push your luck or dice-rolling; and a unique system of influencing the outcome of the battle, provides a perfect balance between strategy and random elements (even you still have the possibility to influence the outcome). Dividing the round to the Action Phase and Battle Phase then creates a very pleasant and natural flow of the hardcore game play.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Deck Building
  • Dice Rolling
  • Open Drafting
  • Push Your Luck

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.90

Skyrim

Skyrim

Skyrim

ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF SKYRIM!

Before the Dragonborn came to Skyrim….

You are surviving members of the Blades, a legendary group who long protected the Empire of Tamriel! Abandoned by the empire, you must work together to thwart a plot that threatens the whole of Skyrim

Build a unique character in the world of the Elder Scrolls. Choose between a Nord, Dunmer, Imperial, Altmer, Khajiit or Orsimer. Equip your character with a wide range of weapons, spells and armour. Travel across the Holds of Skyrim to places like Riften, Solitude, Falkreath and Whiterun. Attempt a huge range of evolving quests that change the game with each decision, Explore the wilderness. Gain side quests from mysterious characters. Delve into ancient ruins and tombs. Battle Draugr, Frostbite Spiders, Dragons, Dwemer Constructs and Daedra. The deeper you delve, the deadlier your foes will become. Gain experience and amazing treasures. Upgrade and enchant your gear. Level up your character with a wide range of unique skills and abilities. Play through six chapters of two huge campaigns spanning 25 years in the history of Skyrim in this endlessly replayable boardgame.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game is a 1-4 player co-operative game of adventure and exploration across Skyrim. Players take the roles of heroes involved in epic quests, working together to defeat their enemies and exploring the vast expanse of Skyrim. You will be able to choose character miniatures like the Khajiit, Nord, or High Elf; plan your strategy with weapons or spells; and fight your way through forgotten mines, Draugr-infested tombs, or ancient Dwemer cities to find ancient treasures and increase your power.

The players must keep an eye out as the threat increases across Skyrim as Dragons, Daedra, Trolls, and more roam the lands and wreak havoc across the holds. Players need to work together to keep the lands free, whilst balancing the demands of their most important quests.

The base game is divided into two campaigns of three chapters each. The decisions the players make from their first turn have a distinct effect on the unfolding story and encounters, making the whole campaign experience different every time you play. You can even save your progress after each game and start the next chapter with the same character, equipment, and skills.

With the numerous choices of characters, gear, magic, and skills matched with the many decisions each player makes through their quests, there are literally hundreds of hours of gameplay, with some stories not even seen based on your early decisions. The face of Skyrim can change during the game, impacting the course of the players’ experience in subsequent chapters. At any time, the players can simply reset, choose another character and play style, make different choices, and experience things differently. Alternatively, pick a chapter that sounds fun and drop in to just play that adventure as a one-off.

Key mechanics:

A Living Board
The game board represents the province of Skyrim. Players move their characters — represented by 32mm scale plastic miniatures — across the region, visiting Strongholds, exploring dungeons and meeting interesting characters as the story unfolds. But they are not the only ones there; roaming monsters appear, blocking roads and threatening the peace in Skyrim. Several game effects could lead to the fall of a Stronghold so players need to keep an eye on the state of unrest and the active dangers across the board.

Customizable Characters
There are no classes in Skyrim. Each character has a different starting innate ability and additional abilities that are unlocked as they learn specific skills, but that doesn’t mean that they are tied to a gameplay style. For example, even though Nords shine when they are developed with a focus on warrior skills and equipment, a player could decide to make their Nord a spellcaster, or a summoner, and still retrain midway through the game after finding an amazing sword they really want to use. Players can change their progression path mid-game, and enjoy many different play styles.

Upgradeable Equipment
There are plenty of equippable items: weapons, pieces of armor, trinkets, etc. Most of these items can be customized; by either Enchanting or Upgrading them in a Stronghold. When Upgrading or Enchanting an item, the player draws an Enchantment/Upgrade card, and slots it underneath the item, altering its properties. A piece of armor can be Upgraded so it becomes better against Heavy Attacks, for example, and it can also be Enchanted so it helps the character regenerate Stamina faster. When learning the Smithing and the Enchanting skills, the players get to draw more cards and choose between them, making the experience of customizing equipment richer and letting them focus on the playstyle they prefer. Furthermore, when playing in a group, one player can specialize their character in Enchanting or Smithing and upgrade all their allies’ items by meeting in a Stronghold, adding another layer of cooperative gameplay.

Quests in Cards
The story in the game is told using Quest cards. Players draw Main Quests — those that push the narrative forward — and Personal Quests — side stories gained by exploring the vastness of the province of Skyrim. By completing or failing them, the story progresses. Many of these Quests give the players a choice at the end. This choice chains the Quest with a new one, creating a branching story that changes every time the game is played. Failing a quest doesn’t mean losing the game; instead, failure often becomes another way of choosing. The cards are organized in a way in which, if a card is removed as a result of Quest being failed or a game effect is triggered, the next card will take its place, dramatically changing the story.

Combat System
With an assortment of weapons, ranging from daggers to bows, players will be able to engage in combat with dangerous enemies, whether they be in a dungeon or part of a questline. Each weapon and spell will inform the player what attacks it can perform and how much Stamina or Magicka they’ll have to spend to use them. The player will roll the custom dice and attempt to overcome each weapon’s specific Skill Tests; hitting with heavier weapons is bound to be harder than hitting with lighter weapons. Combat is fast, exciting, and deadly, although strategy is a key factor to success. Some enemies, in fact, will employ unorthodox tactics, including the ability to heal themselves or wear nearly impenetrable armors.

Dungeon Crawling
Players can visit increasingly dangerous caves, mines, tombs, ruins, and Dwemer cities across Skyrim. Dungeons are built with cards each representing a major threat in that area of the dungeon. It might be a terrifying Draugr or a surprise trap that, if you’re lucky, one of the characters may be capable of disabling. As the characters level up, the lower-level adversaries are discarded, scaling the difficulty of the dungeons along with the player’s level. The more you visit a certain type of dungeon, the more likely you will see its more fearsome denizens, albeit with better rewards!

Cooperative
The whole game is fully cooperative. Players are encouraged to discuss their strategies and to collaborate to advance in their own storylines. Each player will be following their own storyline, joining together at the end of each chapter, when their plots are woven together into an epic finale for the whole party.
There are some situations where characters, even if they have the same overall goal, find themselves on opposite sides of a struggle, and may interfere with each other as they progress. This gives an interesting layer of light competitive gameplay, whilst still keeping the cooperative nature of the game in the forefront.
Expansions
The Dawnguard expansion will add a third campaign with three additional chapters to play through, new characters, dungeon adversaries, treasures, events, and more. One of our expansions will make the Ghosts of the Blades haunt you throughout Skyrim during the first Campaign of the game and another threatens devastation to Skyrim in the form of a great dragon! There is much more to be revealed through the Gamefound campaign. The team has planned for a massive upgrade kit converting all the wandering monsters over to 32mm scale plastic miniatures which are all compatible in scale with the miniatures game The Elder Scrolls Call to Arms. More information will be revealed in the run-up to the launch of the board game


All in all, the Elder Scrolls Skyrim Adventure Game will offer players dozens and dozens of hours of adventure exploring the game world. Expansions will ensure there’s even more Skyrim to be had.

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Narrative Choice
  • Role Playing

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.32

The Shared Dream

The Shared Dream

The Shared Dream

Of Dreams and Magic: The Shared Dream is a cooperative board game for 2-4 players. In The Shared Dream, players take on the role of Anima, special people who can make their dreams (and nightmares) real in the waking world. All of the players have awoken to find that they all had the same dream and parts of it (good and bad) are coming to life. The players must re-experience their shared dream in the waking world while avoiding or destroying the nightmarish creatures that have sprung from that same dream.

In game terms, the players must follow the instructions on the chosen “Shared Dream” card in an attempt to prevent the nightmares from that dream from spreading to the innocent sleepers of the city. This generally includes traveling through the city to find clues, destroying shadows and reavers, and taking on a nemesis born from the shared dream.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.25

Seasons

Seasons

Seasons

The greatest sorcerers of the kingdom have gathered at the heart of the Argos forest, where the legendary tournament of the 12 seasons is taking place. At the end of the three year competition, the new archmage of the kingdom of Xidit will be chosen from among the competitors. Take your place, wizard! Equip your ancestral magical items, summon your most faithful familiars to your side and be ready to face the challenge!

Seasons is a tactical game of cards and dice which takes place in two phases:

The first phase “Prelude” consists of a card draft: the goal during this phase will be to establish your own 9-card deck for the main part of the game and with it the strategy.

Once the Prelude is complete, each player must separate their 9 cards into 3 packs of 3 cards. They will begin the second phase of the game with their first pack of three cards, then gradually as the game progresses, they will receive the other two packets of three cards.

Next comes the Tournament: at the beginning of each round a player will roll the seasons dice (dice = number of players +1).

These cubes offer a variety of actions to the players:
– Increase your gauge (maximum number of cards you may have placed on the table and in play)
– Harvesting energy (water, earth, fire, air) to pay the cost of power cards
– Crystallizing the energy (during the current season) to collect crystals. Crystals serve both as a resource to pay for some cards, but also as victory points in the end.
– Draw new cards

Each player can choose only one die per turn. The die not chosen by anyone determines how many fields the “time track” would move forward.
In addition, all the dice are different depending on the season. For example, there are not the same energies to a particular season. Throughout the game, players will therefore have to adapt to these changes – also the “exchange rates” of energy to crystals vary during seasons – the energy not present on the dice in any given season is also the best paid during the season.

At the end of the game, the crystals are summed with victory points granted by the cards (minus some penalties, where applicable). The highest score wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Closed Drafting
  • Dice Drafting
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Tableau Building
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.78

Ruination

Ruination

Ruination

The world ended so long ago that none remember its name. From its ashes rose the Khanate, whose citadel guards the last aquifer. The immortal Khan commands that only the most worthy may drink from its waters. Thus the hordes ready themselves for battle. Win, and lead your people onward… Die, and be forgotten!

Ruination is a 2-4 player area control and civilization game set in post-apocalyptic Eurasia. Using an innovative action system, players will gather resources to acquire advantages from the wreckage of the world before, bolster their armies with powerful exiles, and march across The Wasteland to war. Only the strongest and most canny horde will rule beside the Khan in this new world.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Area Movement
  • Dice Rolling
  • Open Drafting
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.00

Roll for the Galaxy

Roll for the Galaxy

Roll for the Galaxy

Roll for the Galaxy is a dice game of building space empires for 2–5 players. Your dice represent your populace, whom you direct to develop new technologies, settle worlds, and ship goods. The player who best manages his workers and builds the most prosperous empire wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Civilization
  • Deck Building
  • Economic
  • Tableau Building
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.78

Rise to Nobility

Rise to Nobility

Rise to Nobility

Five years after the events of Cavern Tavern, where a fragile peace was brokered between The Five Realms, the High Queen Tabita Orestes has ordered a new city to be built. The city of Caveborn will be the capital of the Five Realms, a place where all the races will learn to live together in harmony, with the main purpose being to bring them closer and prevent another war.

The Queen needs to keep the alliance between the races and ensure that Caveborn is peaceful and prosperous. To that end, a Settlers Council has been formed with Berk the Town Clerk as its chairman — but Berk is getting old and needs a successor. Are you that person?

Rise to Nobility is a worker (dice) placement game set in the same fantasy world as Cavern Tavern. You each own a small piece of land in the newly built city, and your job is to rise from anonymity, make your way to the title of lord, and take over the head seat at the Stone Council.

You can achieve this by upgrading your land and increasing its value, satisfying the demands of the settlers’ council, attracting and housing as many settlers as you can, accommodating their needs, finding them jobs, and helping them develop from apprentices to guild masters, thus insuring you have people in high places all around the city of Caveborn.

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Dice Rolling
  • Economic
  • Set Collection
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 25 – 150 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.28