Tag: Modular Board

Epochs: Course of Cultures

| OTSG Staff

In Epochs: Course of Cultures, you will lead your civilization and plan a path through the crossroads of history across three epochs. Be a pioneer to expand territories, be an innovator to foster study and research, or be a warmonger to raid using superior armaments. The choice is yours, and it is your strategic acumen that will shape the course of cultures and lead your people toward victory.

Within the game, you will compete with other leaders to become the most prestigious civilization over three epochs: ancient, medieval, and modern. You will introduce a total of nine inventions to customize your civilization. On your turn, you can choose to expand your territories on the shared map, build a city, establish a trade route, do academic research, change the form of government, and build magnificent wonders to consolidate your authority. Unfortunately, being peaceful is not always the best way to benefit your people as leaders can choose to declare war on others within an epoch. A wise leader may have to prepare for war by improving military units…just in case.

Immerse yourself in a re-imagination of human history in which every decision carries weight and every action shapes the course of your civilization. Will you be remembered as a benevolent ruler, revered for your cultural achievements? Or will you carve out a legacy through conquest, leaving a trail of triumph in your wake? The fate of your people rests in your hands. Be a visionary leader, and create a civilization that will stand the test of epochs.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 120 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.60

Endeavor: Deep Sea

| OTSG Staff

Plunge into the modern era, where our planet’s vast interconnected ocean scape is one of the last frontiers to discover and explore. Experience a deep new ever-changing adventure in this followup to the smash hit Endeavor: Age of Sail!

In Endeavor: Deep Sea, you head an independent research institute with the goal of developing sustainable projects and preserving the fragile balance of marine life. Throughout the game, you’ll recruit field experts and use their abilities to explore new locations, research dive sites, publish critical ecological papers, and launch conservation efforts.

Expand your expertise, develop your team, and learn as much as possible about the sea. The action your institute takes now, could mean a healthy ocean and a sustainable future for the planet.

Endeavor: Deep Sea is designed by the same creative team behind Endeavor: Age of Sail and Endeavor. This edition is set in a new era of nautical discovery, but uses streamlined rules which will be familiar to fans of the original game.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.92

Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game

| OTSG Staff

The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner – and you are invited!
Evil lurks in the towers and dungeons of Castle Ravenloft, and only heroes of exceptional bravery can survive the horrors within. Designed for 1-5 players, this boardgame features multiple scenarios, challenging quests, and cooperative gameplay.

Each player selects a hero; a ranger, rogue, warrior, cleric, or wizard. On their turn, each player can explore further into the dungeon (turn over new tiles), move through the already explored parts of the dungeon, and fight monsters. When a new dungeon tile is revealed, there is typically an encounter of some sort, and new monsters to fight are added. Slain monsters reward the players with treasure, and experience points, allowing them to level up and increase their skills during play. Players must cooperate to stay alive, slay the monsters, and achieve the goal of their quest. Each scenario has a different goal – from retrieving a relic, to slaying a vampire lord.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Botanicus

| OTSG Staff

How about creating your own botanical garden? As an aristocrat in the late 19th century, you have bought land, hired a gardener and set out to find the best plants there are.

As you know, the visitors are very picky about the plants they want to see, so your job is not only to acquire the plants, but also to sort them according to the visitors’ preferences.

In Botanicus, you compete for the best action-spots in a unique selection mechanism, and then make the most of the options available to you. You have to collect new plants, take care of them, water them and keep an eye on the gardener. Last but not least, you have to collect some money along the way to pay for all this.
In the end, what counts is how many visitors you satisfy and how beautiful your garden is. Will you be able to outdo the gardens of your competitors?

Game Mechanics:

  • Modular Board
  • Set Collection
  • Tile Placement
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.40

Daitoshi

| OTSG Staff

We have finally perfected the power of steam, and we can now use it to our advantage! We live in an unprecedented era of progress, and new steam-powered inventions are developed faster than ever. Cities are growing, trade is flourishing, and we are developing our most ambitious machine ever: a giant contraption that will bring even more progress to the city. Yes, some trees are being cut down, and the river doesn’t flow as plentifully as before, but there’s still an abundance of trees and water, and we can use the extra space to expand our city — and it’s not like the old creatures on those forests can do anything about it.

On your turn in Daitoshi, you either produce or move your magnate to a new district in which you will be able to send your workers to work, command the exploit of forest or river hexes to fuel your endless need for steam, and perform an action to expand and show your greatness to the city.

These actions not only help you in your search for acknowledgement, but help all the inhabitants of the big city. You will expand the city and electrify its districts, discover and develop new steam-powered inventions, and trade with faraway cities. You may even help the city build its gargantuan project: the mega-machine. Some forests might be cut down, and some rivers may be dried up, but in your generosity, you will help the displaced workers from those areas by giving them new jobs at your service.

Old legends suggest the forests and rivers are guarded by Yōkai, but progress can’t be stopped because of some old fairy tales. Just in case, though, it could be wise to participate on some reforestation projects and hide your participation in the abuse of the natural resources…

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Follow
  • Modular Board
  • Rondel
  • Variable Set-up
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.94

Cosmoctopus

| OTSG Staff

In Cosmoctopus, you take on the role of a devotee guiding the great Cosmoctopus through the Inky Realm. Your goal is to gather resources, obtain powerful relics, scriptures, hallucinations, and constellations to create powerful combinations and gather the most sacred of item – the great tentacle. The first to eight tentacles will gain the Great Inky One’s favor and be declared the most dedicated follower. 

The turns in Cosmoctopus are simple, the fun and strategy lie in building your engine to best maximize your turns and take advantage of your hand of cards. Cosmoctopus is also an incredibly versatile game, allowing you to easily altar the difficulty along with optional cooperative and solo modes!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Modular Board
  • Open Drafting
  • Race
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.21

Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal – the Pacific 1942

| OTSG Staff

Step back in history, in the midst of the Pacific Campaign during World War II over the battle for Guadalcanal! The incredibly important Japanese-controlled strategic island blocked off Allied supply lines from Australia, and it is imperative for both sides to not lose their foothold on the island. Recreate the 4-month struggle over air, land, and sea with gorgeous maps, amphibious landing craft, the USMC, Japanese Banzai Charges, night combat, and much more.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Dice Rolling
  • Modular Board
  • War Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.06

Come Sail Away!

| OTSG Staff

In Come Sail Away!, you are in charge of facilitating the boarding process on your luxury liner. Ensure that your passengers are guided as smoothly and quickly as possible to their preferred cabins, and make sure you don’t run out of space! This game is simple to learn but has plenty of strategy that it’ll offer a new challenge every time you play!

Game Mechanics:

  • Closed Drafting
  • Mancala
  • Modular Board

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • ~25 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.12

Colonists, the

| OTSG Staff

In The Colonists, a.k.a. Die Kolonisten, each player is a mayor of a village and must develop their environment to gain room for new farmers, craftsmen, and citizens. The main goal of the game is full employment, so players must create new jobs, educate the people, and build new houses to increase their population. But resources are limited, and their storage leads to problems that players must deal with, while also not forgetting to upgrade their buildings. Players select actions by moving their mayor on a central board.

The Colonists is designed in different levels and scenarios, and even includes something akin to a tutorial, with the playing time varying between 30 minutes (for beginners) and 180 minutes (experts).

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Modular Board
  • Open Drafting
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Tile Placement
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 360 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.06

Clue Escape: The World’s Fair Board Game

| OTSG Staff

ESCAPE THE FAIR, SOLVE THE MYSTERY: Who murdered a brilliant scientist at the World’s Fair? Escape the Fair and catch a killer in the Clue Escape: The World’s Fair game! It offers the intrigue of classic Clue in an innovative escape room game
DECODE THRILLING PUZZLES: In this 6th Clue Escape game, the infamous cast returns in a fresh murder mystery! Players work together to solve it by cracking puzzles that offer new clues. Find hints in the World’s Fair brochure
EXPLORE THE EXHIBIT HALLS: Solve puzzles to unlock new areas of the Fair and uncover details. The dynamic board builds and changes throughout the game

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative Game
  • Modular Board

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00