Alderac Entertainment Group, Cascadia, Board Game, Multicoloured, Ages 10+, 1-4 Players, 45+ Minutes Playing Time

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As long as the turns keep coming fast enough there’s a certain pleasure in wondering what you’ll get to select from during your turn. Maybe it’ll be that last salmon you need for a big score, maybe it won’t. While the tactical focus means you can’t plan ahead, it does keep everyone constantly on their toes. You’ll often be rewarded for keeping your map flexible enough to pivot to different scoring chances if the ones you’re chasing don’t come off. It results in a surprising amount of excitement for such a low interaction game.

The setup of the forest grid and twilight and moonlight goals along with concoction cards and special player abilities in each game provide great variability so that no two games of Nocturne will play out the same. Different spatial goals and situations will necessitate different strategies and tactics to outwit your opponents in this highly interactive and unique spatial bidding game! Each round you begin with a set of numbered tokens that represent your spell strengths. These tokens are used to cast spells and bid on a grid of items (and special actions) on the forest floor. Once you cast a spell, your rival mystics will have an opportunity to cast a more powerful spell onto an adjacent item, hoping to compel it towards them and prevent you from collecting what you need! As the forest is explored, different conditions of magical control will restrict pathways, leading to strategic situations where players can ‘corner cast’ and secure multiple items with less powerful spells. If your spell casting comes up short on the forest floor, you can always make an offering to the forest sprites - magical mice that have their own cache of treasures they may share with you, giving you further options to expand your collection.

Truffle Shuffle

I sit and look at the row of pairs, sometimes for a really long time. And a series of trade-offs and options run through my head. A Chinook Salmon swims around my brain suggesting this tile and pondering that objective. Everything about Cascadia feels calm. Methodical. Meditative. I almost feel like I am breathing in the fresh mountain air when playing.

Cascadia is a beautiful strategy board game in which players compete to create the most harmonious ecosystem. Match rivers, prairies, wetlands, forests, and mountains and populate them with different wildlife species. Each species has its own unique traits to consider, such as its ecosystem, its spatial requirements, and its connections to other animals.The goals are spatial and seem in keeping with each of the animals represented. So, for example, salmon score higher the more you have in an adjacent run, and Elks like to be with their buddies so score better in groups. They’re fussy though, and have to be in the precise positions shown on the card. Bears are less particular, but they do like a bit of social distancing between their sleuths! Each player chooses one of their Habitat Cards and places it face down in front of them, discarding the other.

Nocturne is a puzzly spatial bidding and set collection game set in a whimsical moonlit forest illustrated by Beth Sobel! From the team that brought you the smash hit Point Salad, Point City is a fast and fun card-drafting engine-building game for the whole family! There are over 150 unique building cards, so you can create a completely different city each and every time you play! If you counted 65 points you’re right on the nose. Only time will tell if that’s enough to win you the game! Final Thoughts on Cascadia And although I can sometimes be left feeling like a poor relation when solo modes are a simple BYOS, the added scenarios in Cascadia offer more. They bring a wonderful selection of challenges that don’t need an opponent to bring them to life.Through two rounds (twilight and moonlight) players compete to collect the strongest sets of magical items like firebird feathers, creature skulls, glowing mushrooms, mysterious eggs, and rare herbs. These items have value when collected in specific sets, but can also be combined to fulfill recipes needed for concoctions, scoring you even more prestige! Whether solo or multiplayer, your starter tile is a 3 Habitat Tile hex combo showing a random selection of 3 out of 5 terrain types (Mountains, Forests, Prairies, Wetlands, and Rivers). There’s also one or more animals on each (Bears, Elk, Salmon, Hawk, and Fox). The number of Habitat Tiles in the pool depends on the number of competing conversationists around the table, but the set-up and gameplay is the same for single or multiplayer. Take A Turn Manage Scoring Tokens: Keep an eye on your Scoring Tokens. They can be a valuable tiebreaker if players have the same score at the end. Try to collect as many as possible without compromising your main scoring strategy.

Then select your Wildlife Scoring Cards. There are 4 sets marked A, B, C, and D. Each one includes the 5 animals in the game: Bears, Elk, Salmon, Hawk, and Fox. They are spatially based, placement optimisation goals and you can play with a single set or mix and match (so long as you have one of each species). A is the simplest set which is good for your first few games. There’s also a Family variant Wildlife Scoring Card which replaces all 5 individual animal goals with a single objective which is great for younger or less experienced gamers. Cascadia’s core gameplay loop is super simple. You start with three terrain hexes, each of which has icons indicating which of the five kinds of animals can live there. On your turn you choose one of four randomly drawn pairs of hex and animal counter to add to your map. You can place them where you like: the only caveat is that the animal has to go on a hex that supports it. That’s it. Cascadia is a tile-laying board game where players create their own beautiful wilderness landscapes by matching different terrain types and habitats to score points. Here’s a detailed guide on how to play: Setup Now, that all sounds rather straightforward. So, here’s where the puzzle ramps up. Each game, there are 5 Wildlife Goals. One for each type of animal, and there are multiple sets (A, B, C, D which can be mixed and matched), such that no single game plays according to the same scoring conditions as another. The geographic region of North America known as Cascadia encompasses some (or all) of 8 US states (Northern California and Nevada, Northwestern Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Alaska) as well as the Canadian province British Columbia and Yukon territory. Stretching for more than 2,500 miles and encompassing nearly 1.4 million square miles, it contains over 75 distinct ecoregions with an astonishing number of plants, animals, and habitats. It’s also stunningly beautiful.

Game End: The game continues until all tiles have been placed on players’ wilderness grids. The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins. Ties are broken by the player with the most remaining Scoring Tokens. Additional Rules Point City late pledges are open here HERE: https://gamefound.com/projects/flatout-games/2023-releases Benjamin Abbott (2022-07-18). "Cascadia is board game of the year after Spiel des Jahres 2022 win". gamesradar . Retrieved 2022-07-22. Cascadia is an accessible game that offers challenges suitable for all gamers, with approachable gameplay and strategic depth. It’s a great choice whether you’re searching for gateway games or in-depth strategy. You will find a great mix of long-term strategy and short-term tactics available as you work to solve each new puzzle. The team behind Cascadia knows that gamers love sharing their hobby and have worked hard to make Cascadia the perfect game to do just that.