Uwe and I had the Chance to sit down and chat about the approach Academy Games has with games in Education. If you’ve never heard Uwe speak on anything this is your chance to be welcomed into a delightful conversation.
Check out their products at Academy Games.
In the resource management game Compounded players use elements one would find in an ordinary high school chemistry lab to create compounds to earn points. It sounds simple, but there are more mechanics involved that can change the game every time you play. One of these allows the players to barter among themselves. To further the degree of strategy involved there is a random factor to the game providing twists and turns in the critical thinking process of the players planning.
Dead of Winter
$59.95
Dead of Winter is an experience that can only be accomplished through the medium of tabletop games. It is a story-centric game about surviving through a harsh winter in an apocalyptic world. The survivors are all dealing with their own psychological imperatives but must still find a way to work together to fight off outside threats, resolve crises, find food and supplies, and keep the colony’s morale up.
Dead of Winter has players making frequent, difficult, heavily-thematic, wildly-varying decisions, that often have them deciding between what is best for the colony and what is best for themselves.
2-5 players
Ages 13+
60-90 minute play time
The Dark Valley: The East Front Campaign, 1941-45
$59.00 SRP
Although the game is a semi-monster, and covers the entirety of the conflict from the launch of Barbarossa to the end of the war, the game system emphasizes playability rather than rules overhead, allowing the players to concentrate on strategy choices rather than rules minutiae.
The core of the game system is a “chit-pull” activation system. Each turn a variety of action chits are drawn, in a random order, from the Action Chit Pool, and it is this that determines the exact flow of operations on that turn. If a German “Move/Combat” chit is drawn, the German player decides to move or fight (but not both), with all Axis units. If a German PZ HQ chit is drawn, units in command range of that HQ can move and conduct combat (with greater flexibility for armored units). If the Soviet Stavka chit is drawn, units may be deployed from Stavka Reserve to attempt to stem the Axis onslaught. If the Soviet Counterattack chit is drawn, Stalin insists that the attacks are made upon the fascist invaders, possibly to the detriment of the overall defense. When the Logistics chit is drawn, supply status is checked for all units.
Contains:
Rule Booklet
Scenario Booklet
3.5 Counter Sheet
Two Full Color Maps
Four Player Aid Cards
Two Six-sided Dice
In this episode of Figure Forge Matt busts out some enforcers from Mantic Games and converts them to samurais using Kromlech bits.
Thanks for watching. Check back soon, we will be making weapons racks as soon as I figure out all the components.
You can learn more about Kromlech on their homepage.
Ascension: Apprentice Edition
$9.99 SRP
Recruit Heroes to your cause and wield powerful Constructs as you battle to become the champion of Vigil! This 2 player version of the Ascension: Deck building Game has new art, new frames, and has been rebuilt to be the best introduction to the game possible. At a fraction of the price of every other deck building game on the market, this is the perfect product for new players to Ascension and the deck building genre!
Contains:
110 cards
30 Honor Tokens
Game Mat/Rules Sheet
Keyflower: Key Celeste Expansion
$5.00 SRP
Discovered drifting out to sea, unmanned and apparently abandoned, the Key Celeste ship was towed to shore. Her cargo was untouched and the personal belongings of passengers and crew were still in place. What had caused the crew to abandon ship? The terrible truth was soon apparent. The Key Celeste had become a ghost ship!
Key Celeste, a mini-expansion for Keyflower, is comprised of one large Key Celeste hexagonal tile, one oversize grey ghost keyple, and a rules sheet. Players bid for the Key Celeste tile and obtain the ghost in the same way that they bid for the turn order tiles. The owner of the ghost can use it to frighten away and replace another player’s winning bid. The player who played the ghost takes the replaced worker(s) and places them behind his screen. These workers are now available to play by that player in the usual way. Points are available at the end of the game for the owner of the Key Celeste tile and additionally for the ghost if they own both.
Key Celeste adds more interest and considerations to Keyflower and changes this popular game in more ways than gamers are likely to initially anticipate!
2-6 players
Ages 12+
90 minute play time
Lost Legends
$49.99 SRP
In Lost Legends, players take on the role of heroes trying to assemble an arsenal of equipment in order to battle increasingly ferocious monsters as they quest deeper into danger. The game begins with all players choosing one of five heroes each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each player fights their own monster; this is not a cooperative game. The monster each hero will likely face is revealed to them before players draft cards for their equipment. An interesting aspect in this game is you may, if the conditions are right, evade a monster in front of you, and pass it to the hero next to you but at the cost of having to fight the monster you draw next!
Players then select an equipment card drafted from a hand of cards, and pass the remainder of the hand to your left to prepare for battle with the monster in front of them. The equipment draft continues in this manner until only one card is left in each hand, which is discarded. Players then compare their drafted equipment to their monster to determine the result of the battle! The game consists of 3 levels filled with monsters to slay and new equipment to pick up.
Players need Legend Points to win the game! These come in the form of trophies awarded for most monsters as well as sets of monsters slain. Can you defeat the monsters thrown in your path to glory and become the most Legendary?
3-5 players
Ages 10+
Duel of Ages II Base Set
$49.99 SRP
Duel of Ages II is a time-scramble board game played between two opposing sides each having 1 to 4 players, with uneven size allowable. Each side controls a selected team of 8 – 12 characters from different ages of time: Ancient, Colonial, Modern and Future. The goal is to win greater glory in overcoming adventures and in tactical combat than the opposing team.
Game play is an unusual mix of tactical wargame-style combat, treasure gathering, and non-combat character teamwork and adventuring, and has no close comparison to other games. Differences between characters are significant, with many having poor fighting skills. Game play and winning is therefore an act of balancing fighting, treasure-gathering and adventuring.
2-8 players
Ages 12+
Adventure Maximus!
$25.00 SRP
A card-based RPG for new gamers aged 8 and up. Kids can easily create characters, plan and run adventures, find treasures and be heroes! Adventure Maximus! inspires creativity, problem solving and fosters cooperation and teamwork with fellow players. Fun for any player, no matter your age, Adventure Maximus! takes you as far as your imagination can lead!
(Cover art not available)
