Tag: Hand Management

Hand Management is a game mechanic in which players are rewarded for playing cards in a specific order. This mechanic often encourages players to hold cards for later turns.

North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea

| T3d-1978
North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea

North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea

Raiders of the North Sea is set in the central years of the Viking Age. As Viking warriors, players seek to impress the Chieftain by raiding unsuspecting settlements. To do so, players need to assemble a crew, collect provisions, and journey north to plunder gold, iron and livestock. Glory can be found in battle, even at the hands of the Valkyrie, so gather your warriors because it’s raiding season!

To impress the Chieftain, you need victory points (VPs), with those being acquired primarily by raiding settlements, taking plunder, and making offerings to the Chieftain. How you use your plunder is also vital to your success. Players take turns in clockwise order, and on a turn you place a worker and resolve its action, then pick up a different worker and resolve its action. Broadly speaking, those actions fall in one of two categories:

  • Work: Having a good crew and enough provisions are vital to successful raiding, so before making any raids, players need to do some work to prepare their crew and collect supplies. This is all done in the village at the bottom of the game board, with eight buildings offering various actions. You must first place your worker in an available building where no other worker is present, then pick up a different worker from a different building.
  • Raid: Once players have hired enough crew and collected provisions, you may choose to raid on your turn. To raid a settlement — whether a harbor, outpost, monastery or fortress — you need to meet three requirements: Having a large enough crew, having enough provisions (along with gold for monasteries and fortresses, and having a worker of the right color. Raiding offers various ways of scoring, such as military strength, plunder, and Valkyries, which is how grey and white workers enter the game.

The game ends when only one fortress raid remains, all Valkyrie have been removed, or all offerings have been made, then players tally their scores.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 80 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.55

Nanty Narking

| T3d-1978
Nanty Narking

Nanty Narking

Immersed deeply in the world of Dickens’s and Doyle’s literature, Nanty Narking moves you into the realities of the myths and legends of the Victorian era. The events in the game are tied to real and fictional characters and places in Victorian London The same London which inspired so many stories…

The action takes place on the city map, with players placing their agents and buildings on the board through card play. Every card is unique. The cards bring the game to life as they include most of the famous characters who have appeared in the various books. The rules are relatively simple: Play a card and do what it says. Most cards have more than one action on them, and you can choose to do some or all of these actions. Some cards also allow you to play a second card, so you can chain actions.

At the beginning of the game, each player draws a secret personality with specific victory conditions, which means that you can never be sure what the other players need to do in order to win. You need to fulfill your goal while also trying to prevent others from winning!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Bluffing
  • City Building
  • Deduction
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Hidden Roles
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.27

Naga Raja

| T3d-1978
Naga Raja

Naga Raja

Twin temples of two forgotten divinities containing ancient relics have been discovered in India. You set off on a treasure hunt, racing to find them before your rival, but your progress is slowed by a constantly shifting maze of paths… And eternal damnation awaits anyone foolish enough to uncover the three cursed relics of Garuda!

MOVE QUICKLY… CHOOSE WISELY! A treasure race packed with tough choices, twists & turns!

In this 2-players game, each player moves around their own temple, which has spaces for room tiles and hiding places for 9 sacred and cursed relics around. These relics are placed randomly, face-down, around the temples and worth victory points once flipped face-up.

The first player to score 25 victory points wins the game. However, a player loses if they reveal all three cursed relics! Each round, the players compete to win a new room tile by using cards allowing them to throw fate sticks. The player with the most fate points showing on their sticks wins the room tile and places it in their temple. Each player attempts to create paths leading to their relics, enabling them to flip them face up and score victory points. Yet, Naga symbols on some sticks let you activate cards with powerful effects, so that you can never take anything for granted.

A GAMEPLAY WITH DUAL-USE CARDS AND STICKS

Players must decide how to use the cards in their hands: for throwing sticks or activating their effects? Card effects can be applied on you or opponent’s game and are relating to:

  • Sticks results
  • Relic positions
  • Room positions
  • Card drawing

Results on Fate sticks can be used to win the room at stake (using their Fate points) or to activate cards (using their Naga symbols). There are 3 types of sticks (number of Fate points or Naga faces are different for each type).

DILEMMAS, TWISTS, LOW BLOWS!

No temple room or Relic is locked in place, they can be moved/removed as you or your opponent activate cards… You could turn everything upside-down! For example:

  • Make the maze slide
  • Swap the positions of relics
  • Place a Trap room in your opponent’s Temple
  • Change the results of the sticks
  • Discard action cards from your opponent’s hand
  • Make him throw again his sticks…

IF YOU…

  • Have ever dreamed of being an Indiana Jones, chasing relics in an Indian modular temple…
  • Adore putting a spoke in the wheels of your opponent…
  • Love gameplays balanced between strategy (cruel choices, anticipation) and fun…

then Naga Raja is the perfect game for you!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Network Building
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.02

Mysterium

| T3d-1978
Mysterium

Mysterium

In the 1920s, Mr. MacDowell, a gifted astrologer, immediately detected a supernatural being upon entering his new house in Scotland. He gathered eminent mediums of his time for an extraordinary séance, and they have seven hours to make contact with the ghost and investigate any clues that it can provide to unlock an old mystery.

Unable to talk, the amnesiac ghost communicates with the mediums through visions, which are represented in the game by illustrated cards. The mediums must decipher the images to help the ghost remember how he was murdered: Who did the crime? Where did it take place? Which weapon caused the death? The more the mediums cooperate and guess well, the easier it is to catch the right culprit.

In Mysterium, a reworking of the game system present in Tajemnicze Domostwo, one player takes the role of ghost while everyone else represents a medium. To solve the crime, the ghost must first recall (with the aid of the mediums) all of the suspects present on the night of the murder. A number of suspect, location and murder weapon cards are placed on the table, and the ghost randomly assigns one of each of these in secret to a medium.

Each hour (i.e., game turn), the ghost hands one or more vision cards face up to each medium, refilling their hand to seven each time they share vision cards. These vision cards present dreamlike images to the mediums, with each medium first needing to deduce which suspect corresponds to the vision cards received. Once the ghost has handed cards to the final medium, they start a two-minute sandtimer. Once a medium has placed their token on a suspect, they may also place clairvoyancy tokens on the guesses made by other mediums to show whether they agree or disagree with those guesses.

After time runs out, the ghost reveals to each medium whether the guesses were correct or not. Mediums who guessed correctly move on to guess the location of the crime (and then the murder weapon), while those who didn’t keep their vision cards and receive new ones next hour corresponding to the same suspect. Once a medium has correctly guessed the suspect, location and weapon, they move their token to the epilogue board and receive one clairvoyancy point for each hour remaining on the clock. They can still use their remaining clairvoyancy tokens to score additional points.

If one or more mediums fail to identify their proper suspect, location and weapon before the end of the seventh hour, then the ghost has failed and dissipates, leaving the mystery unsolved. If, however, they have all succeeded, then the ghost has recovered enough of its memory to identify the culprit.

Mediums then group their suspect, location and weapon cards on the table and place a number by each group. The ghost then selects one group, places the matching culprit number face down on the epilogue board, picks three vision cards — one for the suspect, one for the location, and one for the weapon — then shuffles these cards. Players who have achieved few clairvoyancy points flip over one vision card at random, then secretly vote on which suspect they think is guilty; players with more points then flip over a second vision card and vote; then those with the most points see the final card and vote.

If a majority of the mediums have identified the proper suspect, with ties being broken by the vote of the most clairvoyant medium, then the killer has been identified and the ghost can now rest peacefully. If not, well, perhaps you can try again…

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deduction
  • Hand Management
  • Limited Communications
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 7 Players
  • ~42 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.90

Mutants

| T3d-1978
Mutants

Mutants

In Mutants, 1-4 players have to mix and match genetics to create the ultimate warriors and demonstrate their prowess in the arena. By dominating the arena and freezing the most valuable mutants, you gain Victory Points — and whoever gets most of them wins.

In each round, players take turns until all players have used every card in their hand. At the end of the round, the player whose token is closest to the top space of the arena track scores Victory Points based on the round track. The game proceeds in this way for five rounds, after which players reveal their archives and gain additional prestige based on the freeze value of the mutants they have placed there.

On your turn, you perform three steps.

  • First, you check to see whether you crushed the competition.
  • Second, you move your Active Mutant left or right, triggering the Leave ability of the card being replaced by such movement.
  • Third, you take one action from the following three:
    • Deploy mutant: Play a mutant from your hand to your active mutant slot.
    • Breed: Gain a new mutant card to use in battle this round.
    • Incubate: Prepare a new mutant card to use in battle next round.

The game is also provided with a solo mode called Uprising.
You win Uprising if you defeat the boss. Unlike normal Mutants, you do not win by gaining points. Instead, each time you would gain points you will reduce the life off the boss by the number of points gained. If the Boss ever has zero (or less) life, you win immediately!

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.55

Munchkin Shakespeare Deluxe

| T3d-1978
Munchkin Shakespeare Deluxe

Munchkin Shakespeare Deluxe

Prepare to fire the Shakespearean Canon!

Presenting Munchkin Shakespeare, a Shakespeare-themed version of the popular Munchkin card game! Players have requested a Shakespearean version for years, and some of you even helped us brainstorm these puns…

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Mountains of Madness

| T3d-1978
Mountains of Madness

Mountains of Madness

1931: Your scientific expedition discovers a new and intriguing mountain range in the middle of the Antarctic polar circle. Under these challenging conditions, the survival of your team will depend on your ability to communicate with each other and to coordinate your efforts to overcome each obstacle — but what you discover on the way to the highest peak will strongly test your mental health. Will you even be able to understand yourself despite the madness that gradually insinuates itself into your mind?

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Limited Communication
  • Role Playing

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.02

Mission: Red Planet

| T3d-1978
Mission: Red Planet

Mission: Red Planet

The year is 1888, and Steampunk technology has advanced at a prodigious rate! Probes have been sent to Mars, and soon astronauts will be manning rockets in order to mine the planet for newly discovered resources. The first is a brand new element, Celerium, that could prove to be a combustible energy source the likes man has never seen. The second is Sylvanite, an incredibly dense material unlike anything found on earth. In addition to these resources, glaciers have been discovered on the planet. Whoever controls these icy masses could work to create a livable atmosphere on Mars

In Mission: Red Planet, players work as mining companies compete to send astronauts to Mars in order to colonize and mine for recently discovered materials. Over the course of 10 rounds, players play one of their special agents every round to help fill the rockets heading to Mars with their own astronauts while simultaneously working to prevent their opponents from doing the same. Once landed, these astronauts must gather to control specific regions of the planet, each yielding one of the three resources: Celerium, Sylvanite, or Ice. After rounds 5 and 8, players gain score tokens for every region where they control the majority of the astronauts. At the end of the game, players score one final time, adding any bonuses received from Discovery Cards and Bonus Cards. The player with the most score tokens at the end controls Mars, and all the riches it can bring!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Area Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.20

Methodologie

| T3d-1978
Methodologie

Methodologie

Take on the roles of suspect and sleuth from Agatha Christie’s acclaimed detective novel The Murder on the Links. Use your “little grey cells” to gather evidence, eliminate suspects, and ultimately level an accusation.

The game of Méthodologie is played in two distinct phases:
the INVESTIGATION PHASE and the ACCUSATION PHASE.

In the INVESTIGATION PHASE, the players will reveal cards from their hands, then interrogate each other in order to eliminate leads. This sequence continues until each player has only one character, one location, and one object left in hand.

In the ACCUSATION PHASE, the players will place target tokens to make accusations about the remaining cards in each other’s hands. Any cards not correctly identified by majority accusation will be scored when the game ends.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deduction
  • Hand Management
  • Puzzle

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Memoir ’44

| T3d-1978
Memoir '44

Memoir '44

Memoir ’44 is a historical boardgame where players face-off in stylized battles of some of the most famous historic battles of World War II including Omaha Beach, Pegasus Bridge, Operation Cobra and the Ardennes.

Memoir ’44 includes over 15 different battle scenarios and features a double-sided hex game board for both beach landings and countryside combat. Each scenario mimics the historical terrain, troop placements and objectives of each army. Commanders deploy troops through Command and Tactic cards, applying the unique skills of his units — infantry, paratrooper, tank, artillery, and even resistance fighters — to their greatest strength.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Campaign
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Team Based
  • Wargame

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.27