The campaign ended successfully on March 2, 2018 Kickstarter for the new edition of Endeavor: Age of Sail. In the past few weeks, backers around the world have received their copy. Anyone who missed the opportunity to finance the project and grab this classic in a completely new guise, however, do not despair: Skull Creations localized the game will be available from 19 October. I had the pleasure of playing a test game at Endeavor on the occasion of the Skull evening organized by Ludic Incoming - (during which we were also able to try Barrage, their first Kickstarter, now in progress - we talked about it here). Here is a small preview of what you will find in the new edition of this title.
What is it?
Endeavor - Age of Sail is a board game set during the era of naval exploration, in which from 2 to 5 players they will have to manage an empire, making it prosper and thus accumulating more victory points than the opponents. The mechanics are based on a mix of area control, resource management and construction, which has remained almost unchanged from the previous version. The rules and the amount of components may initially lead you to think that it is a complex game but in reality, once you have learned the symbols, it is very simple and also flows quickly. Each player has a personal board and there is a common board depicting various maps from different areas of the world: initially, the only area in which it is possible to place is Europe but, during the game, all the other areas are also will be able to unlock.
The dynamics
The aim of the game, as mentioned above, is to accumulate more victory points than the opponents. The game takes place over 7 rounds and in each round the players must:
- Build a new building (usable for carrying out actions) based on their construction level;
- Get new workers to be placed on your board, available for use, based on the level of culture;
- Pay the workers employed in the previous shift, an operation that simply consists in taking back the workers already used, making them available again for the current shift and freeing the actions / buildings they occupy; the number of workers that can be paid is determined by the level of money achieved;
- Carry out actions, in turn, as long as possible; there are various types: a worker can be employed to occupy a city on the map; a new route can be explored; it is possible to obtain a card related to a part of the map in which you are present, which will grant various bonuses; again, you can fight with an opponent to take his place in a point on the map;
- Discard any excess cards compared to the limit given by one's level of prestige.
The levels of construction, culture, money and prestige, essential for carrying out the aforementioned steps more effectively (but also for accumulating victory points!), are indicated by tracks on the player board. The game ends at the end of the seventh round, in which the points determined by the levels reached on the tracks, the routes where you are positioned and the cities occupied on the map, from any bonuses on cards and buildings will be counted.
The news of the new edition
Those who already know the game will not find anything new in what has been said so far but there are some news. First a special map for the two-player game, which previously was not contemplated except by special home rules: the latter have now become official. The most important novelty, however, is constituted by exploits, of the tiles that, like the areas of the map, must be unlocked during the game; once active, these introduce new rules to be applied during the rest of the game and allow points to be scored in alternative ways. This is a very welcome novelty that certainly adds variability and longevity to the game.
The materials and graphics
The materials and graphics are nothing short of excellent. I was very impressed by the size of the box first and then by the size of the player boards, made of thick cardboard. The building tiles, as well as the workers and player cubes, are divided by functional plastic containers which, in addition to making it easy to arrange everything in the box, greatly speed up setup. The iconography is clear and immediate, the graphics very pleasant.
Considerations
Endeavor - Age of Sail it's a simple, deep and, for its genre, quite fast game. The rules are immediate and the game mechanism is learned very quickly, although it is not trivial to play it well. The new edition, in addition to the valuable materials, introduces the exploits, useful addition for the longevity of the title.
In short, those who love the genre and have missed the Kickstarter don't miss the issue Skull Creations!
