Tag: Worker Placement

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

Armageddon

| T3d-1978

In a post-apocalyptic world, players try to rebuild society. Using the debris, they build new towns for the remaining survivors to live in — but these friendly folks aren’t the only ones still out there. Marauders want to pillage your town and see it burn. Scavenge what you can and build new structures to help you defend against the marauder threat. While you can get more things done in town when you house more survivors there, they all have to have a space to sleep or they might turn against you and join the marauders.

Armageddon is a strategy game that offers many tactical choices and different strategies to claim victory.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction / Bidding
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • ~90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.96

Cargo Noir

| T3d-1978

In Serge Laget’s Cargo Noir – his fourth standalone box game from Days of Wonder – players represent “families” that traffic in smuggled goods in a 1950s noir setting. Each turn, you’ll set sail to various ports where cargo is known to get “lost” for the right price – Hong Kong, Bombay, Rotterdam, New York and more – and you’ll make an offer for the goods on display. If another family then offers more in that port, you’ll need to up your bid or take your money and slink away to look for goods elsewhere. Stand alone in a port, though, and you’ll be able to discretely move the goods from the dock to your personal warehouse. Says Laget in a press release accompanying the game announcement, “Everything in Cargo Noir grew from a core auction mechanism that is simple and trivial to explain – you can only bid up, and the last bidder standing gets the goods.”

Once you collect goods, you can trade them in to add more ships to your fleet – allowing you to scout for wares in more locations – purchase Victory Spoils, or take other actions. The more goods you collect, the more valuable they can be. The player with the most Spoils at game end wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Auction / Bidding
  • Set Collection
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2- 5 Players
  • 30 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.09

Anachrony 🟠

| T3d-1978

It is the late 26th century. Earth is recovering from a catastrophic explosion that exterminated the majority of the population centuries ago and made most of the surface uninhabitable due to unearthly weather conditions. The surviving humans organized along four radically different ideologies, called Paths, to rebuild the world as they see fit: Harmony, Dominance, Progress, and Salvation. Followers of the four Paths live in a fragile peace, but in almost complete isolation next to each other. Their only meeting point is the last major city on Earth, now just known as the Capital.

By powering up the mysterious Time Rifts that opened in the wake of the cataclysm, each Path is able to reach back to specific moments in their past. Doing so can greatly speed up their progress, but too much meddling may endanger the time-space continuum. But progress is more important than ever before: if the mysterious message arriving through the Time Rift is to be believed, an even more terrible cataclysm is looming on the horizon: an asteroid bearing the mysterious substance called Neutronium is heading towards Earth. Even stranger, the scientists show that the energy signature of the asteroid matches the explosion centuries ago…

Anachrony features a unique two-tiered worker placement system. To travel to the Capital or venture out to the devastated areas for resources, players need not only various specialists (Engineers, Scientists, Administrators, and Geniuses) but also Exosuits to protect and enhance them — and both are in short supply.

The game is played in 4-7 turns, depending on the time when the looming cataclysm occurs — unless, of course, it is averted! The elapsed turns are measured on a dynamic timeline. By powering up the Time Rifts, players can reach back to earlier turns to supply their past “self” with resources. Each Path has a vastly different objective that rewards it with a massive amount of victory points when achieved. The Paths’ settlements will survive the impact, but the Capital will not. Whichever Path manages to collect most points will be the new seat for the Capital, thus the most important force left on the planet…

Game Mechanics:

  • Economic
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Variable Player Powers
  • Variable Set-up
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.01

Burning Banners: Rage of the Witch Queen

| T3d-1978

In the five centuries since the Wound was closed, the kingdoms of Kalar have struggled to rebuild their shattered societies. A resurgent Empire spread across the great sea, bringing civilization to the untamed eastern continent of Kheros. But Lilith, one of the immortal sorcerers responsible for the Worldwound, arrived first, preparing the way for the return of her dark mistress. For nearly six hundred years she has plotted and schemed. In 588 (2023 Gregorian), the wait is over.

Burning Banners: Rage of the Witch Queen is a fantasy wargame for two to six players. Fast playing and intuitive, a whopping 29 scenarios range from short campaigns with 2 Kingdoms and one map, to the entire 12-year war, in which 6 kingdoms battle over four maps. The rules include a quick-playing Basic Game as well as an Advanced Game which introduces Magic, Heroes, and Monsters guarding powerful treasures.

March 1” Armies and Heroes through huge, lovingly detailed hexes. Explore a vast, detailed fantasy world encompassing four mounted game maps with six unique kingdoms and dozens of troop types. Designed and illustrated by acclaimed fantasy artist, Christopher Moeller!

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Campaign
  • Team-Based Game
  • Variable Player Powers
  • Variable Set-up
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.22

Bruxelles 1893

| T3d-1978

Bruxelles 1893 is a worker placement game with elements of bidding and majority control. Each player is an architect of the late 19th century and is trying to achieve, through various actions, an architectural work in the Art Nouveau style. The most successful building yields the most points. Each player can also create works of art to increase his score.

The action board is modular, with not every player having access to each action each turn. Some actions cost money – acquiring high-quality materials, building a level of your personal house, finding a patron, creating a work of art, selling that art for money and prestige – while other actions are free but can potentially cause you to lose one of your workers; these latter actions include acquiring low-quality materials, activating your patrons, visiting the stock exchange, and taking one of the actions with a cost. Once everyone has passed on taking more actions, the round ends and players have an art exhibition during which they can sell works. After this, players receive prestige points or bonus cards based on the symbols they’ve placed their workers next to on the action board.

After five rounds, the game ends and players score bonus points based on their architect level, their bonus cards, how well they’ve completed their work, and their money on hand. The player with the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Auction / Bidding
  • Modular Board
  • Open Drafting
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 50 – 125 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.59

Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes

| T3d-1978

Recreate World War Two in 20 minutes! The perfect wargame for non-wargamers, Blitzkrieg! allows two players to battle across the War’s most iconic theatres, winning key campaigns and building military might.

Players draw army tokens from a bag to determine their starting forces and to replenish their losses. Rather than ‘fighting’ battles with dice or cards, players allocate their military resources to each theatre’s campaigns, winning victory points, further resources, special weapons, and strategic advantages as they play. Refight World War Two several times in one evening!

Includes Solo mode by Dávid Turczi.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Deck Building
  • Hand Management
  • Race
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Take That
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 2 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.92

Black Forest

| T3d-1978

In Black Forest, you start out with a small domain in need of new buildings and livestock. You’ll travel from village to village, to enlist the aid of the best specialists. Exploiting the abilities of these specialists lets you collect resources, lay out new landscape tiles (e.g. ponds and fields), and build a variety of buildings, which come in four types. Choose the right buildings, place landscapes, fire up your glass production, and expand your domain.

Uwe Rosenberg’s resource wheels, made famous in Glass Road (2013), return in Black Forest. Two resource wheels on your tableau help you keep track of your resources and production. Black Forest continues the story – as the name suggests — in the Black Forest. Among others, the main difference between the two games is the use of worker placement in Black Forest instead of simultaneous action selection.

A wide selection of buildings and their different effects offer many different paths to victory.

Game Mechanics:

  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Tile Placement
  • Variable Set-up
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.23

Biohack

| T3d-1978

Dr. Johann Maischberger caused a stir in the scientific academia for playing god with his experiments. The young researchers involved in his experiments were all expelled from the academia due to this unethical work.
This incident was known as the “Biohack Incident.”

And then, twenty years later.

Dr. Maischberger’s daughter is trying to bring back the experiment back to life once again. However, the blueprints left behind by her father were incomprehensible to ordinary people. Thus, they called upon the “mad scientists,” namely those who were expelled from the academia.

Biohack is a medium-complexity game for 1-4 players. Each players will use workers called “Noman” to procure funds and DNAs, then create new creatures. The scientists, who are the players’ avatars, have various abilities. In addition, the creatures created by the experiments will also bring various beneficial effects. The game ends after the designated number of rounds or if a player able to creates 7 creatures. The players will tally all of their Evaluation Points and the player who has the most Evaluation Points wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.73

Beyond the Horizon

| T3d-1978

Beyond the Horizon is a civilization game in which players compete to become the most influential society in history through exploration and expansion, development and production, research and technological advancement.

The game is played over a variable number of rounds until enough goals have been achieved to signal the end of the game. Along the way, players will earn points for exploring new lands, settling and building new cities, advancing technologically, and increasing their cultural and economic development. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Tile Placement
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.42

Artifacts, Inc.

| T3d-1978

New York, 1929: A frenzy of interest in antiquity is sweeping the nation! With museums hungry for mysterious and exotic artifacts — and you hungry for adventure — you start up your own archeology company. Untold wonders await within dangerous jungles, harsh deserts, and wind-swept mountains. Will you gain a reputation as the most intrepid and famous adventurer of all time?

In Artifacts, Inc., 2-4 players compete to grow the most famous archaeology company. Players roll dice, which represent their troop of adventurers, and place them on cards in order to find artifacts, sell them to museums, and purchase new cards representing their company assets. Players can choose to focus on making lots of money by selling artifacts, having museum majorities, creating the best combination of expeditions and buildings, or searching below the waves for lost cities and hidden treasures. The first player to reach 20 reputation triggers the end of the game, and the player with the most total reputation wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Majority / Influence
  • Open Drafting
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.16