Galactic Strike Force from Greater Than Games

 CCG, Greater Than Games  Comments Off on Galactic Strike Force from Greater Than Games
May 032014
 

Galactic Strike Force

$39.95

Galactic Strike Force is a cooperative, tactical, deck-building game in which two to six players each take control of a ship and a crew in defense of the galaxy! Dangerous opposition forces threaten to overrun the entire galaxy, and the players must not only build up their ships, but also work together tactically to stop them!

However, this Strike Force is not made up of stalwart defenders, space cops or Volnethian Guardians. In Galactic Strike Force, you play as scoundrels,  members of the galactic underworld! Smugglers, space pirates, gun runners, bounty hunters, and information brokers make up the ranks of the Strike Force which has come together to defend the galaxy!

Each player begins the game with a Strike Force ship panel and a unique, eight-card deck which represents their ship and its crew. Arrayed against the Strike Force is one of five Opposition fleets, spread across a number of different sectors. Rather than players having individual turns, the game rounds proceed through five phases, in which the players act simultaneously.

 

Players use Travel Cards from sector to sector, Requisition Cards from various stations, and install their Tech Cards in hand to upgrade their ships. Then, the Strike Force may engage the Opposition in battle across every sector; however, while the Strike Force has been preparing their assault, the Opposition has grown ever more powerful. Finally, in the Aftermath, the Opposition forces gain resources when unopposed and add strength and numbers to their fleet. Ultimately, the Strike Force must work together to drive the Opposition from their systems and to final defeat.

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Leviathans Ship Quirks and Crew Abilities Deck

 Board Games, Catalyst Game Labs  Comments Off on Leviathans Ship Quirks and Crew Abilities Deck
Jul 212013
 

Ship Quirks and Crew Abilities Deck

There won’t be new ships or the Captain’s Box at Gen Con. Still trying to work out a new process in production that will finally allow the line to move forward in a way that will be both profitable for Catalyst and a regular release schedule for players.

In the mean time, we’re trying to see if we can’t get something to Gen Con for Leviathans players. I’ve talked about this concept before. That we’ve been working on and off on these things forever, but we’re pushing to see if we can’t have a deck of Ship Quirks and Crew Abilities for sell; they won’t be for sell in stores anytime in the near future, but we’ll look at putting them on sell online after Gen Con.

So…what would these cards entail? Why would we want these in the game? Well…as any good miniatures game progresses…well, you add to it. Simply the nature of the beast. And for me, right from the get go as I was designing the game and then polishing it up through endless playtests, a slew of fun rules would come into my head and I’d jot them down. Ultimately, however, any of these rules do not work as “standard” rules…in fact, they won’t even work within the Captain’s Manual “enchanced rules”. Instead, they’re perfect for players to add some unique flavor to a ship in a given scenario to mix up game play.

Taking directly from the rules text that introduces both the Ship Quirks and the Crew Abilities:

Not every ship is the same, even among ships of the same class and Type. Anyone that has served on board a vessel knows the complexity of their construction creates unique design quirks that bring a flavor all their own to each ship. This is all the more true for leviathans that are still relatively nascent technologies.

The following is a series of positive and negative quirks, each with a numerical value that determines the relative strength or weakness of a given quirk. It is strongly recommended that if a player chooses a positive quirk for his ship, he or she should give it a negative quirk of equal as well. However, each playing group can decide if negative quirks must balanced positive quirks.

CREW ABILITIES
A ship is far more than the nuts and bolts and electroid that holds it together in the sky. The men and women that bring their skills, passions and blood are what elevate each ship to be far more than the sum of its parts, turning a ship into a legend. The following rules allow players to bring the crew of a ship to life.

“Just show me some of the rules!” I can hear you saying…so here here we go.

First up, the current look of the Ship Quirks and two of many, many cards that’ll be apart of deck.

Right out of the gate, note that these were test layouts done…well…a good while ago, so the rules have progressed in playtesting since then. For example, the current final rules for “Superior Armor” are:

A particularly superlative batch of materials results in superior armor.

All Armor Slots on the ship provide an additional +1 modifier to any Slot Numbers in its Location.

The value for this quirk is based upon the total +1 Breach modifiers provided by all Armor Slots on the ship. For example, the HML Raven has five +1 Armor Slots and so the value of this quirk assigned to that ship would be 5. However, the HML Beagle has five +1 Armor Slots and a +2 Armor Slot, so the value of this quirk assigned to that ship would be 7.

As for “Accurate Weapon”, the final text will have a point value of “+2, +2, +3, +4, +4? to reflect the fact that this helps smaller dice more than larger dice, while it also won’t be able to be used with Bracketing Fire (just too sick).

Next up, the Crew Abilities. You’ll notice no point values on either of these cards…that’s because when these were given a test layout, the points were not yet assigned.

All-Weather is pretty much as is, still, just getting a 1 point cost added.

As for Lady Luck…it’s one of the most powerful of the Crew Abilities, and so will be priced at 5 points. Even then, we’ll be folding in a change to curb it down..a “own ship only” text will keep it from being too sick…but it’s still a great ability.

Anyways…there ya have it! Please note, we are ‘trying’ to have this at Gen Con, but no promises. Regardless, after Gen Con, we’ll move to get these released in PDF format for purchase. They’ll add a wonderful variety of play to any style of game.

For those attending Gen Con, see ya then!

Randall

 

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Ghost Pirates From Brooklyn Indie Games

 Board Games  Comments Off on Ghost Pirates From Brooklyn Indie Games
Jul 062012
 

Ghost Pirates

$ 25.00 SRP

 

A game of ship to ship tactical action for 2 scurvy players. Knave! Ye be tasting my wrath fer trespassin’ on me seas. BOARD ’ER YA SCALLYWAGS, AN’ KEELHAUL HER CAPTAIN! Ethereal pirates swarm back and forth over each other’s ships as the seas toss in a midnight storm. The decks of each vessel shift in and out of reality as the fighting begins. One captain and crew will emerge triumphant, and the loser will be damned to stalk the bowels of Davy Jones’ locker. How will it end for you? Ghost Pirates is a unique tactical game that takes about 30 minutes to play, and is suitable for ages 13 and up. Its learning curve from tactics to strategic play is not too steep and will not scare off new players. You can learn and play your first game in about 30-45 minutes, and have a second go within the hour.

 

Game Contents: •72 cards •34 crew tokens •set of custom six-sided dice

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