Board Game Posts

Variant Module: Achievements

If you are looking for a more competitive game, you may include Achievement cards, which allow you to race against other players for extra points. Note: the Achievements are not supported in solo mode.

Setting Up Achievements

During the General Setup shuffle Achievement cards, and draw 4 at random. Place them next to the main game board face up. Place any unused Achievements back in the box, they will not be used during the game.

Unlocking Achievements

On your turn (not during Reactions) you may unlock an Achievement as a free action. In order to unlock an Achievement, you must be able to show that you currently possess all the required components on your Laboratory board. …

Ship Power A-sides

Space Cowboy: Famous ship welcome at every port. You may make a direct delivery from a city adjacent to the junk's destination. You may do this multiple times to different cities in a single turn, if able. Transfer points are considered adjacent to 4 cities.

Interplanet Express: Speedy rocket ship sponsored by Earth. If you launch SOURCE: EARTH junk, you may adjust the distance by +1 or -1. Your junk and ship must still travel an equal distance. If you launch a "1" junk tile, you may reduce that to "0" and stay in place for that turn, picking up junk from your current city. …

Hyper-pad Tips

Hyper-pads do not count as part of your 'move.' If you land on one, the next jump is free!

When you land on a hyper-pad, you must 'beam-out' to any other un-occupied hyper-pad. Pawns are not restricted by direction.

If you land on a hyper-pad when all other hyper-pads are blocked with markers ('fully-corked') then you stay on that hyper-pad with no 'beam-out.'

After you arrive at your destination hyper-pad, you will need to leave that hyper-pad and re-enter (or land on another hyper-pad) to 'beam-out' again. …

• Raise the Bid - Most players tend not to be aggressive enough during bidding in their first few games of Stockpile. Stockpiles that contain more cards in them can often be worth surprisingly more than other stockpiles with fewer cards.

  While it is possible to pay too much or be caught by trading fees, the typical new player settles on a 'safe' stockpile too early.

• Aim for Majority Bonuses - Don't underestimate the $10K bonus given at the end of the game for the majority shareholder of each company's stock. If you gain an early lead in one stock, don't relinquish it so lightly. …

We suggest playing Stockpile at least once with more than two players before trying the 2-Player Variant. The 2-player variant plays similar to a 4-player game. However, there a few changes to the round's phases.

Setup

Each player will start with $30,000 in money, instead of $20,000, and still receive only one starting stock. Each player also receives 2 Bidding Meeples (red or blue).

Information Phase

Each player is randomly dealt two pairs of Company Cards and Forecast Cards.

Note: Keep them in separate piles. These cards may not be swapped or substituted with each other. …

Sunk In Silence

Allows players to decline to announce that a ship has been sunk

This requires the opponent to take further shots in order to confirm that an area is clear.

Moveable Ships

Allows a player to move one of their ships to a new, uncalled location every 4th or 5th move.

Salvo Shooting

Instead of shooting one time in each turn, the players can shoot 3 times, the opponent will only tell how many of the three shots were hits (and if so on what kind of vessel). …

Alchemist

Collect 2 bonus Victory coins at the end of each turn. This stops when your race go into Decline.

This is a very straight forward power and decent for all races.

Berserk

You may use the Reinforcement die before each of your conquests.

Roll the die first, select the region you wish to conquer, then place the required number of Race tokens (minus the die results) there.

If you do not have enough tokens left, this is your final conquest attempt for the turn. …

Victory Points

Victory points represent influence over the developing society. Points are kept hidden by flipping them face down and keeping them behind the player's screen, and they cannot be traded.

Recources

Resources are wooden counters that represent various trade goods. Resources are distinguishable by their color, size, and shape. One point () is worth roughly one octagon () or two large cubes () or three small cubes ().

Ships are used to bid on colonies and research teams. Ships can be traded and are worth roughly one small cube. Each species' ships look different, but the rules treat them as interchangeable. …

In this epic variant, players gather in groups of 2 (or 3 with the Order & Chaos Expansion) in a war of alliances! Their powerful Factions have banded together in a campaign against their mortal enemies.

Components and Setup

Setup as you would for a normal game. Even as teams, players have their own Faction.

Player Seat Positions

The Team Play Variant must be played as a 2 vs. 2 game (with two teams of 2), or with the Order & Chaos Expansion as a 2 vs. 2 vs. 2 game (with three teams of 2) or as a 3 vs. 3 game (with two teams of 3). …

The addictive word game enjoyed by millions just got WILDER! Included are 6 WILDTILES, putting a spin on the original BANANAGRAMS game. Ready to go BANANAS?

Components

• 150 Tiles
• 6 Wild Tiles
• Portable Case
• Instructions

Setup

1. Place all 150 tiles face down (including the WILDTILES) in the center of the table. These tiles are the bunch.

2. Each player takes the correct number of tiles from the bunch.

   • 2-4 players takes 21 tiles
   • 5-6 players takes 15 tiles
   • 7-8 players takes 11 tiles

Object of the Game

Be the first to use all of your letters in a word grid. …