Tag: Variable Player Powers

Here to Slay

| OTSG Staff

Here to Slay is a competitive role-playing fantasy strategy card game that’s all about assembling a party of Heroes and slaying monsters (and sometimes sabotaging your friends too) from the creators of Unstable Unicorns.

In this game, you’ll assemble a full party of heroes to slay dangerous monsters while working to avoid the sabotage of your foes. The game also includes items you can equip to your heroes, 1V1 challenge cards, and roll modifiers to tip the odds in your favor.

The first person to successfully slay three monsters, or build a full party with six classes, wins the game!

Every player gets to choose a party leader character to represent them throughout the game. Each party leader card has a class and a skill that gives you an edge over your opponents. Whether you enjoy fighters, bards, wizards, or thieves, you’ll find a party leader that’s right for your play style – but choose wisely, because you only get one party leader for the whole game!

Your heroes are brave adventurers, ready to attack monsters and go head to head with your foes! The game includes over 40 unique heroes. Each hero card has a class and an effect, and each hero’s effect has a roll requirement. In order to use a hero’s effect, you must roll two dice and score equal to or higher than that effect’s roll requirement. Heroes take advantage of items, magic and modifiers to increase their chances of making their dice rolls.
In order to slay that monster, you must roll two dice and score equal to or higher than that monster’s roll requirement. Be warned: Each monster has a roll range in which they’ll fight back, and if you score within that range, your party might be in grave danger…

Don’t like what your opponent just played? Throw down a challenge! Challenge cards can be played instantly to try to stop another player from playing a hero, item, or magic card. Playing a challenge card initiates a 1V1 challenge in which you and another player both have to roll the dice. If they win the challenge, they still get to play their card, but if you win the challenge, you get to send their card directly to the discard pile!

— description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.68

Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory

| OTSG Staff

The Nation is in disarray and a war is waging between the classes. The working class faces a dismantled welfare system, the capitalists are losing their hard-earned profits, the middle class is gradually fading and the state is sinking into a deep deficit. Amidst all this chaos, the only person who can provide guidance is… you. Will you take the side of the working class and fight for social reforms? Or will you stand with the corporations and the free market? Will you help the government try to keep it all together, or will you try to enforce your agenda no matter the cost to the country?

Hegemony is an asymmetric politico-economic card-driven board game for 2-4 players that puts you in the role of one of the socio-economic groups in a fictional state: The Working Class, the Middle Class, the Capitalist Class and the State itself.

The Working class controls the workers. The Capitalist class controls the companies. The Middle class combines elements from both the Working class and the Capitalist. It has workers who can work in the Capitalist’s companies but it can also build companies of its own, yet smaller. Finally the State is trying to keep everyone happy, providing benefits and subsidies when needed but trying also to maintain a steady income through taxes to avoid going into debt.

While players have their own separate goals, they are all limited by a series of policies that affect most of their actions, like Taxation, Labor Market, Foreign Trade etc. Voting on those policies and using their influence to change them is also very important. Through careful planning, strategic actions and political maneuvering, you will do your best to increase the power of your class and carry out your agenda. Will you be the one to lead your class to victory?

Hegemony is heavily based on actual academic principles such as Social-Democracy, Neoliberalism, Nationalism and Globalism, and allows players to see their real world applications through engaging gameplay. There are many ways to achieve hegemony- which one will you take?

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 90 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.26

Heart of Crown

| OTSG Staff

They were tough times, the days when swords and magic still ruled the world. A long, destructive war had ended, and the entire continent had been unified. Before the empire’s subjects had even come to know peace, however, their great emperor fell victim to disease, having never declared a successor…

We must not return to that war-torn world! Thankfully you are an influential figure in the empire. Quickly lay claim to the throne and ensure the rock-solid unity and peace of the continent. Though the emperor had no son, there are seven candidates for succession, starting with the two lineal princesses. Now, let’s get your favorite princess on the emperor’s throne! Garner support from all over the country, clash with rival candidates and depend on your special skill!

Heart of Crown is a deck-building card game. Each player starts with the same deck, strengthens that deck with strategic cards, and finally one player will declare victory by throning the princess he controls. Each player’s deck starts with seven “Rural” territory cards and three “Apprentice Handmaid” succession cards (an unreliable subject). Using the currency (coins) generated by your “Rural” territory cards, you incorporate cards from the market into your deck according to your own strategy.

Each player’s main goal is to give the princess he’s fielded the throne. First, collect stronger territory cards such as “City” and “Metropolis” to increase your coins, and declare fielding a princess using these coins. There are five princesses and one set of twin princesses, totaling six princess cards. Each princess has special support abilities, but with only one of each, you need to be quick to field the right princess and get the support you need!

For your princess to take the throne, you must collect Succession Points, which represent the support of your loyal subjects and influential figures in the empire. Once you control 20 Succession Points, you may declare a coronation. Your opponents get one more turn to interrupt your coronation, but if your points remain at or above 20 by your next turn, the coronation succeeds and your princess takes the throne!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Harmonies

| OTSG Staff

In Harmonies, build landscapes by placing colored tokens and create habitats for your animals. To earn the most points and win the game, incorporate the habitats in your landscapes wisely and have as many animals as you can settle there.

Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player will choose a set of 3 terrain tokens from the central area to place on their personal board. They may optionally choose an Animal card from the 5 displayed and/or place an Animal cube from their Animal card(s) on any completed patterns on their board that match their personal Animal cards. There is a 4-card limit per player. After their turn, refill with a new set of 3 tokens and a new Animal card if needed.

Placement of the terrain tokens will depend on the personal Animal card goals, and scoring rules for the various terrain types (mountain, field, forest, etc). For example, mountain tiles score based on how high they are (1 tile scores 1, while 3 tiles stacked score 7), but the mountain scores zero if it is not adjacent to at least one other mountain. If all the cubes on a given Animal card have been placed, the card is set aside and a new card can be drawn. The cards are scored at game end based on the highest number that isn’t covered by a cube.

The games ends when there are no tokens left in the bag to refill the central area, or at least one players has 2 or fewer empty spaces on their player board. Play continues until all players have had an equal turn that round. The player with the highest points is the winner.

Optionally, you can use Nature’s Spirit cards for richer gameplay. During setup, each player chooses 1 of 2 spirit cards and places a Spirit cube on the card. They follow the same placement rules as Animal cards, but tend to have an ongoing effect once completed. The spirit card does count towards the 4-card hand limit.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.01

Grizzled, the

| OTSG Staff

The Grizzled is a cooperative game about survival in the trenches during the first World War where players win or lose together.

Each round, the current team leader will choose how many cards every player draws. Then, going around the table, players must either play a card in their hand or back out of the mission. Each card represents either threats to the team (such as mortar shells and weather conditions) or negative personality traits (such as frightened or obsessive). At the end of the round, more cards are added to the draw deck. The game ends only if the players can deplete the draw deck as well as their hands without letting time run out.

If one threat shows up too many times, the team fails the mission. The team must play their threats correctly in order to gain any progress. However, most of the information in a players hand remains secret throughout the game.

Planning, teamwork, and a little luck are the tools you’ll need to win this cooperative game for two to five players.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.97

Castle Nightingale

| OTSG Staff

Castle Nightingale looms out of the night, both intimidating and full of promise. Three ninjas have slipped inside, searching for the fabled treasure hidden within…yet a vigilant samurai patrols the halls, watching and listening for intruders.

Two players face off in Castle Nightingale, with the ninja player trying to steal five relics before the samurai player can capture the three ninja thieves. The castle is comprised of an inaccessible garden surrounded by four double-sided floor boards, each showing two secret passage spaces and areas in five colors.

Each turn, the ninja and samurai each choose one of three action cards in hand, with the samurai also choosing a nightingale tile not used on the previous turn. The ninja player resolves their action, then moves across the floor, marking each space of their movement with a footstep token. If they step on a colored space matching the samurai’s hidden nightingale tile, the ninja stands revealed; otherwise, next turn the ninja can treat any of their footsteps as their starting space.

If the ninja picks up a vase, the samurai can still recover it on their turn by either closing the final secret passage or landing on the ninja’s space…as long as the ninja has been revealed that turn. While the ninja moves space to space, the samurai treats each colored area as a single space, allowing them to move quickly within the castle.

Each player has specialized one-shot equipment they can use at any time, starting with one item and gaining more as they play certain cards. Each player has ten cards that they’ll cycle through until either the samurai has captured all three ninja or the ninja have stolen five of the six relics hidden in the eight vases.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.25

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs

| OTSG Staff

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs is a solo play game, with an original campaign story written by Isaac Childres, that features a playstyle similar to Gloomhaven in a fraction of the size.

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs is set after the events of Gloomhaven and Forgotten Circles. The Aesther recluse Hail has earned a reputation for being highly instrumental in saving the city from recurring disasters, and she absolutely hates it. Wannabe heroes are constantly barging in on her studies at the Crooked Bone, looking for help in becoming famous themselves — not to mention all the demons that come by looking for vengeance. She briefly considered moving, but as that would require effort, she instead just placed an enchantment on her front door: Anyone who attempts to open it becomes miniaturized and therefore is no longer a problem.

Your character is one such wannabe hero. In an ill-advised attempt at fame, they try to visit Hail, and poof. Now they’re the size of a mouse and have entered an entirely different realm of lawlessness and self-preservation. They must find a new way into the Crooked Bone to convince Hail to return them to their previous size.

Each scenario is a single card, pitting one mercenary against a handful of enemies with simplified actions and AI. Each mercenary has a hand of just four double-sided cards, but they can be used twice — both the front and the back — before they are discarded. Attacks are resolved using a die in conjunction with a modifier table, and both the table and the mercenary ability cards can be improved as you level up throughout the campaign.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.32

Gladius

| OTSG Staff

In Gladius, play as cunning Roman spectators trying to make the most money by betting on gladiators competing in the gladiatorial games. Through the skillful use of underhanded tactics, players can help and hinder teams to alter the outcome of each battle. Can you outwit your opponents to turn a profit, or will you be left empty-handed?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.71

Ghosts Love Candy Too

| OTSG Staff

It’s a little-known fact that ghosts love to eat candy. But they can only eat it one night a year…Halloween! On that night, the ghosts travel through the neighborhood looking for delicious candy. Using their best scare tactics, ghosts will haunt the costumed kiddos to steal their sweet sweet candy. But they have to be careful not to scare them away. Ghosts just want a candy delight, not to cause them a fright.

This new edition expands upon the original version with more kids (100 total!), a new “junk” set of treats that you do not want to collect (like toothbrushes, rocks, ketchup packets, pennies, etc.) and new ghosts.

Playing the game is easy. Select one of your ghost cards to bid for turn order. Then resolve by choosing a kid to haunt, taking their candy then using their unique ability. Treats score at the end of the game based on your ghosts specific preferences.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Galaxy Hunters

| OTSG Staff

In Galaxy Hunters, 2 to 4 players take on the role of mercenaries hired by the Megacorps to hunt and harvest the rampant mutations. Featuring an inventive pilot and mech combination system, pairing different pilots with different mechs unlocks new powers and special abilities. Using money earned for harvesting DNA from the creatures, players upgrade their mechs with new weapons and items. Galaxy Hunters seamlessly blends the excitement of crafting a unique character with the deep strategy of Eurogame-style worker placement.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.21