Cooperative Game

Factions: Battlegrounds

In Factions: Battlegrounds, you take on the role of a general who's leading an army of troops, spellcasters, beasts, and mythological monsters into battle. You and the opposing generals determine the battleground, gather resources, and score points by eliminating enemy units. Whoever first captures 25 points of units wins.

In more detail, to set up choose one of the six factions in the game; each faction has twelve unique units and five "home terrain" cards that work well with your units. Players then take turns building the battleground by placing one terrain card at a time into the 3x3 grid, each terrain card is divided into a 2x2 grid, so the entire grid of play is 6x6. Whoever places terrain first has an advantage since they have more home terrain than other players, while players who go later during set up determine the location of resource centers on the battleground or recruit their starting units last so that they can respond to the choices of opponents. Units cost 1-5 gold, and each player can spend up to 10 gold on starting units, keeping anything unspent.

During a round, all units have the chance to move, with the highest-ranked units moving first and with ties being broken in favor of whoever has the most captains, followed by whoever has the most units. Each unit has a movement, attack, and health value, along with an indication of whether it generates gold or mana and (possibly) a spell that it can cast. After moving a unit, you can attack with it, whether melee or ranged as indicated on the card. If you defeat an enemy unit, you can points equal to its cost in gold, so while expensive units tend to be the most powerful, they also provide an opponent with their biggest target for points.

Prior to activating a unit on your turn, you can pay gold to recruit new units, and those units will slip into rank order for the turn, possibly allowing you to put a high-ranking unit into play directly and giving an opponent someone on the battleground that they didn't expect.

Once all the units have moved, players collect resources for units that gain them automatically and for units located on resource centers. Rounds continue until someone has collected 25 points of captured units, at which point they win immediately.

Factions: Battlegrounds is centered on inclusion and diversity, incorporating mythology from all over the world and representing traditionally European-based fantasy elements with underrepresented cultural elements.

Bureau of Investigation: Investigations in Arkham & Elsewhere

Take a trip to the US in the 1920s and tear the veil concealing the unspeakable threats from Elsewhere.

As agents working for the Bureau of Investigation, you’re tasked with investigating paranormal cases inspired by H.P Lovecraft’s writings.

Explore Boston, Arkham and exotic lands! Follow leads, question witnesses, find clues and take action to solve these five brand new and strange cases.

This is a cooperative and standalone game based on the Sherlock Holmes Consulting detective system, with some twists and new mechanics.

Inspector Mouse: The Great Escape

The convicts are planning a jailbreak! Inspector Mouse is on their trail, but he needs the detective skills of the players to figure out who was the last crook in the cell with the escape tunnel. If the players are able to correctly identify the criminal that triggered the alarm, they’ll have foiled the escape attempt. The player who stops the most escapes wins.

—description from the publisher

Flourish

Flourish is a beautiful, card-drafting, garden-building game in which players plan and build the garden of their dreams over the course of the growing season. With delightful imagery, players plan their gardens throughout the game to collect the most points.

This easy-to-learn game offers both competitive strategy and co-operative game modes, and a 1-7 player count provides a high level of accessibility and replayability.

—description from the publisher

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Skelit's Revenge....the most feared ship on the high seas....and you've finally taken it. Captain Fromm and his skeleton crew have amassed a massive treasure, and now is your chance to take it all. Players take on the role of Pirates who are boarding Skelit's Revenge for one purpose....to take the loot. They must battle the flames, the skeleton crew, and their own fatigue if they hope to make it out alive.

Dead Men Tell No Tales is a co-operative game for 2-5 players. The game uses the common Action Point system to determine what a player does on their turn...with a twist. As players work together, they can pass their Actions on to their teammates in order to best utilize the assets that they have. Players will build the board as they play, ensuring that no two games will ever be alike. As they search the ship for the Treasure, they will encounter Enemies and Guards that they must battle, along with various items that will help them in their quest. all the while, battling the inferno that resulted when they took over the ship. Unique systems for tracking fire, enemy movement, and a player’s fatigue all combine into an interesting and unique cooperative gaming experience.

Do you and your crew have what it takes to make off with all of the treasure and live to tell the story? Or are you going down with the ship in Dead Men Tell No Tales?