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Time Barons (Second Edition)
30m
2 - 4 Players
Ages 10+
Hand management games are games with cards in them that reward players for playing the cards in certain sequences or groups. The optimal sequence/grouping may vary, depending on board position, cards held and cards played by opponents. Managing your hand means gaining the most value out of available cards under given circumstances. Cards often have multiple uses in the game, further obfuscating an "optimal" sequence.
Hand Management
This mechanism requires players to select individual actions from a set of actions available to all players. Players generally select actions one-at-a-time and in turn order. There is usually(*) a limit on the number of times a single action may be taken. Actions are commonly selected by the placement of game pieces or tokens on the selected actions. Each player usually has a limited number of pieces with which to participate in the process.
Worker Placement
25.00
€
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Kickstarter – Gamefound
Board Games
Strategy
Family and Children
Party
Adult
Thematic
Ελληνικα Παιχνιδια
LCG
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Marvel Champions: The Card Game
The Lord of The Rings: The Card Game
RPGs
D & D
Pathfinder
Gamebooks
Others
Accessories
Game Mats
Bags
Dice
Sleeves
Sapphire Sleeves
Paladin Sleeves
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Plunder boxes
Marvel: Crisis Protocol
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Dormammu
I love hand management and tableau building games, but this is too luck-dependent to be a strong entry in the genre. The card valuation is straightforward and drawing the more impactful cards should determine the winner.
doctoryes0
There are some really good things about Time Barons. Foremost, the designer figured out that cutthroat does not work in direct conflict games. It has to be 2v1 or 2v2, otherwise you have kingmaker problems. Why this isn’t standard practice in game design I have no idea. TB borrows almost all of its mechanisms from Innovation but simplifies them massively. I would suggest prospective buyers think hard about buying Innovation instead, which is the far, far better game, but anyone who has taught Innovation knows you can really only play it with experienced players: The first few plays are generally a nightmare slog. Maybe there’s no point in comparing the two games at all despite the obvious debt TB owes to Inn. TB can be taught and played casually, Inn is a lifestyle choice.
darthboywonder
I'm sort of surprised I haven't played anything like this before, since my experience playing it has been that it's both intuitive and something that feels like it's been around for a long time. It's a fun, welterweight tableau-building and battling game that does not overstay its welcome and, despite a relatively small variety of cards, can play out in an impressive number of ways. However, it is possible that one player can functionally lose within the first couple turns and, after a player has a few plays under their belt, the low card variety can sometimes encourage too much deck-digging, which I don't really find fun.