Apocalypse Colony

3-6 players

The Cold War ended in nuclear disaster. What's left of civilization has been reduced to small colonies in remote areas of the world. Your colony has just been established, hoping to survive the brunt of the oncoming nuclear winter. Unfortunately, a more pressing matter has just emerged...

Start of the Game

One player plays as The Blob, a post-nuclear nightmarish goo-monster. The rest

of the players work cooperatively in the colony to defeat The Blob while keeping the colony alive.

The colony begins with 5 food per player and each non-blob player begins with 4

workers and 5 gold. Each science starts at the left track and The Blob starts with full life and 4 tentacles.

Turn Structure

Each turn, play goes as follows: -Consumption -Production -Combat -Status Report

The Consumption Phase

Each worker consumes one of the colony's food, or dies of starvation. Then, each player may pay one gold to place a worker on an unoccupied tile on the board. After players are done, The Blob then places each of its tentacles on the board on an unoccupied tile.

The Production Phase

First, each player declares any workers they have that will be assigned as soldiers as opposed to workers. For workers: The upper-left quadrant is the "farm"; each worker there produces the number of food indicated in that tile, plus any bonuses, for the colony. The upper-right quadrant is the "mine", producing gold; each worker there produces the number of gold indicated in that tile, plus any bonuses, for their respective owners. The lower-right quadrant is the "laboratory"; each worker there produces one science point toward any technology. The lower-left quadrant is the "infirmary". Each worker assigned here makes one ill worker well again. For each worker that is assigned to a building, the player draws a corresponding card. The Blob draws a corresponding card for each tentacle.

Note that The Blob can damage tiles. If a non-ill worker is on a damaged tile, that worker repairs the tile instead of getting cards and producing anything.

The Combat Phase

First, The Blob attacks the colony by rolling a 1d6 for itself and each spawn on the board, damaging 1-3 tiles of The Blob's choice. Soldiers attack The Blob via its tentacles in the same building. The player and The Blob each roll a 1d6, with the player adding bonuses. If the soldier's number is higher, subtract the blob's number from the soldier's number and the blob loses that much life (move the blob's life token down the track). If The Blob wins, subtract the soldier's total from the blob's total. If that number is 3 or greater, that soldier dies, otherwise that soldier takes ill. Soldiers may also attack Blob Spawn in the same fashion as they attack a tentacle. If the soldier wins, remove the spawn and replace each spawn space with a damaged tile.

The Status Report Phase

Players may use gold they have to play cards in hand. The cost, in gold, to use each card is shown in the card's gold circle. Players may discuss card usage and pool gold as they wish. Afterwords, The Blob plays cards. The Blob can play any cards in which it has enough tentacles that card's building, as shown in the pink circle.

Unused cards are discarded to the bottom of the piles from which they came. Cards in play are then discarded (unless stated otherwise). Play then resumes to the next Consumption phase.

Other rules

The Sciences

Science tracks go from the left to the right; move the token one tile for each science point. That science grants a bonus of [n], depending on the number that the token is on. Repair Bots: Repair [n] damaged tiles each turn. Attack Bots: Attack bots deal [n] damage to The Blob each turn. Hydroponics: Each food tile produces an additional [n] food. Medicine: At the start of the consumption phase, [n] ill workers are made well. Weaponry: Each soldier gets a +[n] bonus to their die rolls.

Ill Workers

When a worker becomes ill, that worker must go to the infirmary until made well or killed. That worker still consumes food and a tile at the infirmary, but does not require gold to work. If a tile occupied by an ill worker becomes damaged, that worker dies.

Blob Spawn

Blob Spawn occupy a 2x1 area of tiles; workers cannot be assigned to a tile occupied by blob spawn.

The End of the Game

The Game ends when either The Blob dies or all workers have died.

Images:

Race for the Moon

Blast back to an alternate version of the 1950's and 60's. National pride is on the line as several countries (USA, USSR, West Germany, and China) are in a race to put a man on the moon. Two to four players compete using their wits and resources to claim the prize.

Components and Setup

Each player receives a player board, four workers, and a country-identification shield that doubles as a building site for their rockets. This shield has four slots that indicate which rocket parts can be built in each slot. Other components include:
- one 6-sided die
- 32 rocket-parts cards (4 each of 8 different types)
- 50 technology cubes
- 80 materials cubes
- 12 political influence cubes
- 12 multiplier disks (4 each of 2x, 3x, and 4x)

Game Summary

The game is played over a series of rounds until one player successfully launches a rocket to the moon. All players do the following steps during each round:
- Step #1: Spend technology cubes to develop part(s) of their rocket
- Step #2: Secretly place workers on their player boards behind shields
- Step #3: Reveal and resolve worker placements

Develop Parts of the Rocket

There are four general types of rocket-parts cards (Main Engines, Booster, Lunar Module, and Capsule) and two safety ratings of each type. They represent the development of a certain type of rocket part and are purchased by spending technology cubes. A player may always upgrade an existing part to a safer version by paying four extra technology cubes.

Main Engines

(launch requires 6 materials)
- Normal cost – 3 technology
- Safe cost – 6 technology

Capsule

(launch requires 2 materials) - Normal cost – 6 technology - Safe cost – 9 technology

Booster

(launch requires 5 materials)
- Normal cost – 1 technology
- Safe cost – 4 technology

Lunar Module

(launch requires 3 materials)
- Normal cost – 7 technology
- Safe cost – 10 technology

Placing and Resolving Workers on the Player Board

The player board is divided into four areas: Politics, Technology, Materials, and Launch. During Step #2, players secretly place their workers and appropriate modifiers into the four areas:

Politics

Players may place 1 to 4 workers in this area to bid for political influence. Players may also place any of their political influence cubes in this area if they have placed at least one worker. When the workers are revealed, the player with the most political influence (workers + influence cubes) wins their next highest multiplier disk (either 2x, 3x or 4x). A player may only have one disk. This disk can be used as a multiplier in the Technology or Materials areas. If there is a tie, no player wins a multiplier disk. After resolving this area, all political influence cubes used by all players are returned to a general supply.

Technology

Players receive 0/1/2/3 technology cubes for placing 1/2/3/4 workers in this area. With a multiplier disk, players receive a multiplied amount of cubes as indicated on the disk. A player must put at least two workers in this area to receive cubes, and the maximum number of technology cubes that a player can earn in one round is 12. These cubes can be spent in Step #1 to develop new rocket parts.

Materials

Players receive 1/2/3/4 materials-cubes for placing 1/2/3/4 workers in this area. Like the technology area, players receive a multiplied amount of cubes by using their multiplier disk in this area. The maximum number of materials-cubes a player can earn in one round is 16. Cubes earned can immediately be spent this round to initiate a launch.

Launch

In order to launch a rocket, a player must place a worker for every length of the rocket. The player must also have the required materials-cubes for all parts. These cubes are returned to the general supply, and the player follows a procedure to conduct the launch. The player rolls the die for each part of the rocket, starting with the first stage. A stage succeeds if 2 through 6 is rolled. The mission fails and a political influence cube is lost if a 1 is rolled; however, some of the rocket parts have a higher safety rating that allow a player to re-roll one time for that particular part. This procedure continues for each stage of the rocket. As a reward for a successful launch, a player receives political influence cubes for each worker in their launch area. These cubes are useful when bidding later for political influence.

Winning the Game

The first player to successfully launch a rocket to the moon (using Main Engines, Booster, Lunar Module, and Capsule) wins the game. Ties are broken by having the most total cubes after launch.