Tag: Open Drafting

Games with Open Drafting mechanics allow players to choose new resources from a shared pool. The pool of resources is public, meaning all players will see available options.

Everdell Duo

| OTSG Staff

In Everdell Duo, you either compete against your single opponent or play co-operatively with another player to earn the most points. You accomplish this by placing workers to gather resources, then use those resources to play cards face up in front of you, creating your own woodland city.

Cards may be played from your hand or from the face-up area on the board called the meadow. However, only cards touching the sun or moon token may be played from the meadow, and players move these tokens each time they perform a turn. Therefore, planning for and timing which cards you play is critical.

Each game you try to achieve various events, the requirements of which differ from game to game, making certain cards and combinations more important to pursue.

The game lasts for four seasons, then players add their scores to determine the winner. If you’re playing co-operatively, check the requirements for the chapter you are playing to see whether you have won.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 2 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.74

Ethnos: 2nd Edition

| OTSG Staff

In the faraway land of Ethnos, a new Age is dawning. The ashes of the old Age have left the Six Regions empty, and the twelve Clans scattered to the winds. Now is the time for a clever leader to unite them into a powerful alliance, skillfully using the unique talents of each Clan to control the Regions.
Do you have the wit and the wisdom to become the next Emperor of Ethnos and usher in a Golden Age?

Unite the Clans to Control Ethnos

What was old has been made new again. The land of Ethnos has been rendered empty and a new Age is beginning. Someone must take up the mantle of Emperor. Will it be you?

In Ethnos 2nd Edition, players must take control of the various clans of Ethnos, gathering members and unleashing them into the six regions. Each clan has different special abilities, and depending on who you choose to lead your groups, different strategies can be employed. 2nd Edition includes updated rules and rules for Solo mode.

  • STRATEGIC AREA CONTROL GAME — In Ethnos 2nd Edition, players gather members of various clans and compete for control of six regions, utilizing each clan’s unique abilities to dominate the land.
  • UNIQUE CLAN ABILITIES — Each clan in Ethnos offers distinct powers, adding deep strategy and diverse playstyles as you choose which clan leaders will guide your groups to victory.
  • COMPETITIVE OR SOLO PLAY — Whether you’re challenging friends or conquering regions solo, Ethnos 2nd Edition provides endless strategic opportunities for players of all experience levels.
  • FOR 1-6 PLAYERS — Perfect for game nights or solo sessions, Ethnos 2nd Edition is designed for 1-6 players, offering dynamic and exciting gameplay for ages 14 and up.
  • UPDATED RULES & SOLO MODE — The 2nd Edition features updated rules for streamlined gameplay and introduces a new solo mode, allowing players to enjoy the game on their own.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.42

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

Enchanted Plumes

| OTSG Staff

In Enchanted Plumes, players strive to complete magical peacocks by assembling plumes in sparkling rows from top to bottom.

Skillfully placing feather cards of the same color from row to row is key, as the top row value will count against your score, while all lower rows count as positive values.

Once the peahen card is revealed, the player with the most valuable plumes wins the game and is bestowed with the luck of the peacock!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.38

Dune: Imperium – Uprising

| OTSG Staff

In Dune: Imperium Uprising, you want to continue to balance military might with political intrigue, wielding new tools in pursuit of victory. Spies will shore up your plans, vital contracts will expand your resources, or you can learn the ways of the Fremen and ride mighty sandworms into battle!

Dune: Imperium Uprising is a standalone spinoff to Dune: Imperium that expands on that game’s blend of deck-building and worker placement, while introducing a new six-player mode that pits two teams against one other in the biggest struggle yet.

The Dune: Imperium expansions Rise of Ix and Immortality work with Uprising, as do almost all of the cards from the base game, and elements of Uprising can be used with Dune: Imperium.

The choices are yours. The Imperium awaits!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.52

Dragon Farkle

| OTSG Staff

Gather your courage! The long-enjoyed peace of Yon has been disrupted by a ferocious and mean-spirited dragon — he’s terrorizing the locals and eating their livestock without their permission! Fortunately, a few wannabe heroes (that’s you!) have risen to the challenge of slaying the beast. Get yourself a brave companion, gather a powerful army, and enter the Dragon’s Keep for cheese and country in Dragon Farkle!

To play, you gather an army of loyal soldiers or steal them from your opponents, hire suspicious-looking companions and gain allegedly useful items (most of which aren’t even cursed), then fight that dragon you’ve heard so much about — or don’t, if you hate winning…

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.45

Dominion: Rising Sun

| OTSG Staff

We journey now to the islands to the east – or west, depending on where you are relative to them. Here your title is Emperor. They tell you you’re just a figurehead, though you can still order whatever breakfast you want. They may be right; you did get that breakfast. Your ceremonial sword and armor are made of paper. The samurai never let you into their tea parties, and the ninjas are always tying your shoelaces together. And the epic poem they wrote about you is only 17 syllables long. Rice has been adopted as currency, and no-one seems to even be trying to get your face onto the grains. But when you wake up each morning and look out over the land, life doesn’t seem so bad. Now, what’s for breakfast?

This is the 16th expansion to Dominion.

It has 300 cards, with 25 new Kingdom card piles. There are Shadow cards that leap out from your deck, and Prophecies that will someday happen and change everything. Debt and Events return.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Doctor Who: The Card Game

| OTSG Staff

Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans – The list of threats is endless and no place in the universe is ever truly safe from danger, but there is one man who has made it his mission to defend the defenseless, help the helpless, and save everyone he can: a mysterious stranger, a force of nature who has seen his own planet die, a madman with a box.

In Doctor Who: The Card Game, players act as the Doctor and his companions to defend specific locations while sending the Doctor’s enemies to conquer locations your opponents are trying to protect. Each player starts the game with one location, and cards in the deck consist of attackers, defenders, locations and support cards. To start a turn, you draw two cards, pick up any cards banked from a previous turn, and take the three cards passed to you earlier by the player on your left. You play or bank cards until you have only three in hand, then pass those to the player on your right and end your turn.

Attackers target specific locations and earn points for the player wielding them if they’re in play at the end of the game. Defenders try to remove attackers so that the location owner scores points for protecting the location. Support cards provide different abilities, such as enlarging your bank or providing time points (which can be used to draw additional cards). Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.97

Divinity Derby

| OTSG Staff

Zeus has invited a bunch of divine friends, including a couple of new ones, from all around the Multiverse for a little get-together on Mount Olympus…and you are one of them! After a few rounds of ambrosia, soon the racing and betting begins, with the Olympic “All-father” as the ultimate judge.

Divinity Derby is a fun and fast betting and racing game for 3 to 6 players, with a clever “shared hand” card mechanism. Players, as god-like beings betting on the race of six flying creatures, share a cardholder with each neighbor, and every turn they play one card from each shared card holder. Are you able to guess what your neighbor’s intentions and secret bets are and make the best use of the shared knowledge to win your bets?

With beautiful components, colorful art, and simple but engaging gameplay, Divinity Derby is suitable for players of all ages and skill levels.

Game Mechanics:

  • Betting and Bluffing
  • Open Drafting
  • Variable Player Powers

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 45 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.92

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

| OTSG Staff

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write is a roll-and-write version of the critically-acclaimed game Dinosaur Island.

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write is a unique game in which players draft dice and then use those drafted dice as workers in a worker placement phase. Then, a fun polyomino puzzle ensues as you try and fit all your attractions and Dinosaurs into your park while buildings roads and routes to the exits for bonus points. At the end of the game, have more victory points than your opponents to win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Network and Route Building
  • Open Drafting
  • Paper-and-Pencil
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.84