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.

Challengers!

| T3d-1978

Challengers! is an interactive deck-management game for 1-8 players that plays in about 45 minutes independent of player count. With the tournament gameplay style, you meet another opponent every round.

In the Deck Phase, you choose new members and add them to your deck, which might consist of a wizard, alien, cat, gangster and kraken. 75 distinct characters with more than 40 exciting effects create a unique experience every game. Choose from six different sets and discover new strategies and synergies every game.

In the Match Phase, stay in flag possession to win the trophy of that round. Try to get the most fans and trophies over the course of seven rounds to be able to qualify for the final. If you can best your opponent in the final, you win Challengers!

(If you think that all sounds a lot like a board game adaption of a digital Autobattler, we are proud to tell you that this is the first of its kind!)

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.81

CATAN: 3D Edition

| T3d-1978

In CATAN, players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn, dice are rolled to determine what resources — sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore — the island produces. Players spend these resources to build settlements, roads, and cities and to purchase development cards that have different effects. Each settlement and city you have is worth points, and you can gain additional points by building the longest road, acquiring the largest army, or collecting certain development cards. The first player to collect 10 points wins.

In CATAN: 3D Edition, the island of Catan rises off the table for an immersive experience like no other. Your settlements grow from fertile grain fields, and your cities nestle into the sides of majestic mountains. The look of the land is based on terrain tiles hand-sculpted by game designer Klaus Teuber. All of the terrain is hand-painted for stunning color, and the intricately designed player pieces are antiqued for a look that’s full of history and character.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Income
  • Modular Board
  • Network and Route Building
  • Trading
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

CATAN

| T3d-1978

In CATAN (formerly The Settlers of Catan), players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players build by spending resources (sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore) that are depicted by these resource cards; each land type, with the exception of the unproductive desert, produces a specific resource: hills produce brick, forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, fields produce wheat, and pastures produce sheep.

Setup includes randomly placing large hexagonal tiles (each showing a resource or the desert) in a honeycomb shape and surrounding them with water tiles, some of which contain ports of exchange. Number disks, which will correspond to die rolls (two 6-sided dice are used), are placed on each resource tile. Each player is given two settlements (think: houses) and roads (sticks) which are, in turn, placed on intersections and borders of the resource tiles. Players collect a hand of resource cards based on which hex tiles their last-placed house is adjacent to. A robber pawn is placed on the desert tile.

A turn consists of possibly playing a development card, rolling the dice, everyone (perhaps) collecting resource cards based on the roll and position of houses (or upgraded cities—think: hotels) unless a 7 is rolled, turning in resource cards (if possible and desired) for improvements, trading cards at a port, and trading resource cards with other players. If a 7 is rolled, the active player moves the robber to a new hex tile and steals resource cards from other players who have built structures adjacent to that tile.

Points are accumulated by building settlements and cities, having the longest road and the largest army (from some of the development cards), and gathering certain development cards that simply award victory points. When a player has gathered 10 points (some of which may be held in secret), he announces his total and claims the win.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Income
  • Modular Board
  • Network and Route Building
  • Trading
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.29

Castle Panic: Big Box

| T3d-1978

Castle Panic is a cooperative, light strategy game for 1 to 6 players ages 10 and up. Players must work together to defend their castle, in the center of the board, from monsters that attack out of the forest at the edges of the board. Players trade cards, hit and slay monsters, and plan strategies together to keep their castle towers intact. The players either win or lose together, but only the player with the most victory points is declared the Master Slayer. Players must balance the survival of the group with their own desire to win.

To celebrate the ten-year anniversary, Fireside Games is releasing the Castle Panic Big Box. This extra-large box will contain the original Castle Panic game as well as all three expansions; The Wizard’s Tower, The Dark Titan, and Engines of War. For the first time ever, fans both new and old will be able to get the core game and all the expansions together in one box.

Castle Panic Big Box will also include seven promotional game cards and five promotional Tower tokens, one of which has never been available before 2019. Players will also find an updated, comprehensive rulebook that covers the rules for the base game and all three expansions. The insert for the box has a space for all the game pieces and provides a handy way to organize everything players need.

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Cooperative Game
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.13

The Captain Is Dead

| T3d-1978
The Captain Is Dead

The Captain Is Dead

Imagine that you are one of the crew in your favorite science fiction TV show. Now imagine that in the last 10 minutes of the show things have gone so badly that the captain is dead and you and the surviving members of your crew have to pull together and save the day yourselves!

The Captain Is Dead is a co-op game for 2 to 7 players. All you have to do is get the ship’s engines (aka “Jump Core”) back online and you win, but because there is a hostile alien ship trying to destroy you, that is easier said than done.

You have an impressive star ship full of useful systems that will help you fend off the aliens, and get the Jump Core back online. Each system gives you an advantage while it remains online. The assault from the hostile alien ship tends to keep knocking those systems offline however. So you need to balance your time between keeping the ships system’s online, fending off the alien threat, and completing your objective.

Each member of your crew has special abilities and skills. You need to work as a group to maximize the potential of each role. If someone tries to be a hero, you’ll all die.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 7 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.39

Cape May

| T3d-1978

In Cape May, players traverse the city streets as entrepreneurs, developing property while building wealth over four seasons to earn prestige.

Build cottages, develop them into Victorian homes, and upgrade them into historic landmarks. Establish shops and grow them into profitable businesses. Carefully move around the city, and make strategic use of activity cards. Complete bonus goals, then take some time to relax and spot wildlife in the best place for birdwatching in the Northeastern United States.

Whoever best balances their income, development, movement, and personal goals will go down in history as the most successful developer of Cape May!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.40

Bushido

| T3d-1978

Bushido is a game of dueling martial artists, testing their training against one another. One shall prevail and prove their techniques superior. The other will return to studying until they are strong enough to win.

Players begin with a card draft which represent the training of their fighters.

After training players play a series of round wherein they play technique cards from their hands, or change their guards, in order to create a pool of combat dice which they hope to use to strike their opponent or defend their attacks.

In this game damage escalates quickly so players must be able to block, evade, and strike simultaneously to try and keep the momentum of the encounter in their favor.

The game ends when one warrior has bested the other.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Bunny Kingdom

| T3d-1978

Peace has come at last to the great Bunny Kingdom! Lead your clan of rabbits to glory by gathering resources and building new cities across the land!

Draft cards and pick the right ones to position your warrens on the 100 squares of the board, provide resources to your colonies, build new cities to increase your influence, and plan your strategy to score big at the end of the game. Settle in lakesides or fields to collect water and grow carrots, gather mushrooms in the green forest, and climb the highest mountains to discover rare and precious resources… Secretly rally rabbit lords and recruit skillful masters to make your cities and resources even more valuable at the end of the game.

After each turn, your groups of contiguous warrens grant you points depending on the cities and different resources they include. The game ends after 4 rounds, and the player with the most points wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Closed Drafting
  • Grid Coverage
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 40 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.30

Brian Boru: High King of Ireland

| T3d-1978

In Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, you strive to unite Ireland under your domain, securing control through might, cunning, and matrimony. Join forces to fend off Viking invaders, build monasteries to extend your influence, and gather support in towns and villages throughout the land. To become High King of all Ireland, you need to navigate a web of shifting alliances, outmaneuver your enemies, and grab history by the reins.

The success of the historical Brian Boru rested on three pillars: his victories against the Vikings, the favor he managed to garner with the Church, and the alliances he forged through political marriages. This became the foundation of the game, with each pillar becoming a suit in the trick-taking that forms the core of the mechanisms. Win a trick and you gain influence in a town, which, in turn, gains you majorities in the regions; if you lose the trick, however (deliberately or otherwise), you instead take an action corresponding to the suit of the card.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Closed Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Trick-taking
  • Variable Phase Order

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.54

Blue Skies

| T3d-1978

The year is 1979, and the U.S. government has just deregulated the airline industry, opening it to competition in terms of fares, routes, and the airline companies themselves. You represent a new airline that’s trying to set up business in the U.S., but you have an entire country open to you, so where will you set up shop and how can you profit more than the other newcomers to ensure that you survive?

In Blue Skies, the game board presents players with thirty airports in thirty cities. Each airport has four gates, with you using 2-4 gates depending on the number of players. To set up, draw airport demand cards from the deck to seed airports with passengers. Whenever you place passengers on the board, draw from a bag that initially contains 100 red cubes and 25 green cubes; for each airport, continue drawing until you draw a red cube, then redistribute passengers at the open gates of that airport as evenly as possible.

(Note that at most the first five airports drawn will have an open gate, and even those will start with only one open gate run by a local airline. All of the other passengers are just bunched up at the gate waiting for you to serve them!)

Each player starts with three demand cards in hand, and they take turns choosing two gates with a purchase price of at most 6. Players adjust their income from 0, with their income being set to equal the number of passengers now waiting at their gates, then the game begins.

On a turn, each player in turn buys new gates at airports of their choice, spending at most 6 points and adding any unspent points to their score. You can buy out a local airline, set up gates in new cities, or purchase multiple gates in the same airport to try to dominate that area.

Each player in turn then plays a demand card from their hand, drawing passengers form the bag to place one or more passengers at that location. Then demand cards equal to the number of players are drawn, and more passengers are ahead to those airports. The game board lists the number of cards for each airport, so you somewhat know the odds of where passengers might arrive.

Players adjust their income to account for the opening of new gates, the redistribution of existing passengers, and the arrival of new passengers, then they add their income to their score. If a player now has at least 100 points or has placed their twentieth and final gate, the game ends immediately; otherwise, you add a local airline gate to each airport with passengers but no open gates, pass the first player marker, then start a new round.

At game’s end, score the seven regions of the United States based on the player’s dominance of those regions. Each airport has a scoring value, e.g., ORD is worth 4, and each gate you have in Chicago is worth 4 for determining dominance in both the Midwest region and the Central region. (ORD is one of four airports in two regions, with the others being JFK, LAX, and DFW.) If you have the most dominance in the Central region, you score 13 points, whereas second place is worth only 6 points. Whoever has the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Economic
  • Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.14