Tag: Worker Placement

Games with a Worker Placement mechanic require players to coordinate various workers as those workers gather resources.

Pan Am

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Pan Am

Pan Am

In Pan Am, players compete with Pan American Airways and others to build an air-travel empire. Outbid rivals for lucrative landing rights, buy planes with longer range to reach the far corners of the world, and use insider connections to advance your interests. As you bump up against the ever-growing Pan Am, you can sell your routes to the company to earn a tidy profit, with you then using that money to invest in other growth or to purchase Pan Am stock for what’s sure to be a big payout down the road.

Pan Am is a game of global strategy that spans four decades of industry-changing historic events.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • Economic
  • Stock Holding
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.46

Order of the Gilded Compass

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Order of the Gilded Compass

Order of the Gilded Compass

Order of the Gilded Compass is a dice assignment game for 2-5 players. In this game, each player takes on the role of a treasure hunter seeking invitation to join the most prestigious of archaeological secret societies. Players scour the globe to unearth fantastic and valuable artifacts. By assigning their archaeologist dice to the right locations at the right time, players acquire treasure maps and specialists to follow them, dive for sunken treasure, acquire rare finds at the auction house, and even enlist the help of the Illuminati. The player who has the most treasure at the end of the game earns an invitation to The Order of the Gilded Compass and wins.

Order of the Gilded Compass uses a variable set-up in order to create fresh and interesting game play experiences. Each game has five locations in play to which players may assign their dice for various kinds of treasures and bonuses, and the game includes nine different buildings to allow for many unique combinations.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Dice Rolling
  • Set Collection
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.23

North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea

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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

Montana: Heritage Edition

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Montana: Heritage Edition

Montana: Heritage Edition

Halfway through the 19th century, the first permanent settlements appeared in Montana. After this, many fortune seekers traveled to this region with their caravans in search of work in order to build a better future for themselves — and there is an abundance of work as in the mountains precious metals are to be found and on the fields a lot of manpower is required. Meanwhile, the number of settlements is growing and the demand for goods is rising. Recruit the right workers, deliver goods on time, and choose your settlements tactically. Only then you will have the biggest chance of winning Montana.

In more detail, on each turn players choose one of these three actions:

  • Recruit: Use the spinner to get new workers.
  • Work: Send your workers to one of the different locations to get resources or money.
  • Build: Spend your resources to build new settlements.

The first player to build all of their settlements wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction/Bidding
  • City Building
  • Racing
  • Set Collection
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.28

Mercado de Lisboa

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Mercado de Lisboa

Mercado de Lisboa

Modern day markets offers to their visitors various kind of stands, restaurants, and services.

In Mercado de Lisboa, players buy stands in the market, open new businesses that influence those stands, and bring customers to them.

Mercado de Lisboa is a thinky filler title, a tile-placement game based upon the Lisboa city-building system in which players pay money to own stands in the market, open restaurants next to them to improve their profit and bring in customers that earn money for players with matching stands. Mercado de Lisboa is a fast-paced game, very straightforward and easy to learn rules with deep tactical choices.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Area Control
  • Economic
  • Open Drafting
  • Tile Placement
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.07

Meeples & Monsters

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Meeples & Monsters

Meeples & Monsters

The peaceful city of Rowan is surrounded by dangerous monsters. It’s up to the citizens to fortify the city, train up warriors, clerics, knights, and mages, and defend Rowan in Meeples & Monsters!

Meeples & Monsters is a big, beautiful bag-building engine builder by designer Ole Steiness (Champions of Midgard and more). Depth, replayability, beautiful components, and a splash of meeple humor will have you coming back for “just one more play” game night after game night!

During a players turn, they draw meeples out their bag and use those meeples to perform various actions on the board. Those actions include upgrading your meeples, adding new meeples to your bag, fighting monsters, investigating towers, or even upgrading the town giving players even more options on future turns. At the end of a player’s turn, all the meeples they drew are put onto the “lodging” part of the player’s board.

During the game, players will score victory points by defeating monsters, completing quests, and investigating towers. At the end of the game, players will score additional victory points by fighting boss monsters and through end of game quests. The player with the most victory points wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Meduris: Der Ruf der Götter

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Meduris: Der Ruf der Götter

Meduris: Der Ruf der Götter

Description from the publisher:

Following the call of the gods, the players settle at the base of mountain Meduris. Building huts, bringing offerings to the druid, gathering precious runestones, and building monumental temples is the only way to earn the favor of the gods in Meduris.

1. Skillful use of the workers lets you obtain valuable materials. These are needed to build huts and temples.

2. The larger the settlement,the more expensive it is to build a hut there. But if you can get in the good graces of the druid by presenting an offering, then your effort pays off.

3. Keep an eye on the other players: Who will secure the best building sites at the right time, and collect the most valuable rune stones?

4. Only a player who skillfully places their huts and temples, and keeps enough materials ready for the big final round of offerings, will win the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Economic
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~75 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.25

Meadow

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Meadow

Meadow

Meadow is an engaging set collection game with over two hundred unique cards containing hand-painted watercolor illustrations. In the game, players take the role of explorers competing for the title of the most skilled nature observer. To win, they collect cards with the most valuable species, landscapes, and discoveries. Their journey is led by passion, a curiosity of the world, an inquiring mind, and a desire to discover the mysteries of nature. The competition continues at the bonfire where the players race to fulfill the goals of their adventures.

In this medium-weight board game for 1-4 players, you take turns placing path tokens on one of the two boards. Placing a token on the main board allows the player to get cards, but playing them requires meeting certain requirements. Playing a token on the bonfire board activates special actions (which helps to implement a chosen strategy) and gives the opportunity to achieve goals that provide additional points. Throughout the game, players collect cards in their meadow and surroundings area. At the end, the player with the most points on cards and on the bonfire board wins.

Meadow also includes envelopes with additional cards to open at specific moments…

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection
  • Tableau Building
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.24

Lords of Waterdeep

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Lords of Waterdeep

Lords of Waterdeep

Waterdeep, the City of Splendors – the most resplendent jewel in the Forgotten Realms, and a den of political intrigue and shady back-alley dealings. In this game, the players are powerful lords vying for control of this great city. Its treasures and resources are ripe for the taking, and that which cannot be gained through trickery and negotiation must be taken by force!

In Lords of Waterdeep, a strategy board game for 2-5 players, you take on the role of one of the masked Lords of Waterdeep, secret rulers of the city. Through your agents, you recruit adventurers to go on quests on your behalf, earning rewards and increasing your influence over the city. Expand the city by purchasing new buildings that open up new actions on the board, and hinder – or help – the other lords by playing Intrigue cards to enact your carefully laid plans.

During the course of play, you may gain points or resources through completing quests, constructing buildings, playing intrigue cards or having other players utilize the buildings you have constructed. At the end of 8 rounds of play, the player who has accrued the most points wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Hidden Roles
  • Set Collection
  • Take That
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.46

Lions of Lydia

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Lions of Lydia

Lions of Lydia

The ancient world is changing. The kingdom of Lydia has minted the world’s first gold coin. Bartering and trading will soon be supplanted by coins as the dominant medium of exchange throughout civilization…

Lions of Lydia is a bag-management and engine-building game about the dawn of currency. As an influential leader, you send merchants out to barter for resources and increase your landholdings. When the nobles arrive, they bring their Lydian Lion coins into play—which have unparalleled buying power.

To achieve victory, you must manage the merchants in your bag and complement their abilities with the cards in your tableau. Traditional merchants produce basic resources, which are necessary to build your engine—but if you fail to convert your resources into coins, you will not be able to buy the most valuable cards! Thus, noble Lydian merchants—and their golden Lion coins—are the key to success. When enough properties are developed, the game ends, and a winner is declared!

Will you draft the best merchants to achieve your goals? Will you be the first to gain the most valuable properties? Will you master the new, golden currency: the Lions of Lydia?

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Deck Building
  • Economic
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.92