A new roll-and-write board game began crowdfunding on Kickstarter on June 3, and its main inspiration is the PC classic Civilization. Rise of the Oak Dell is the third game in a series of PC-gaming-inspired tabletop titles published by Two Acorn Games. It's also ultra-affordable, with a full pledge costing $13.70 (€12 / £11).
"Drawing inspiration from Civilization, this strategic game casts the player as a leader guiding a growing civilization", explains the Kickstarter page. "Over the course of 13 rounds, gather resources, develop technologies, explore new territories, and construct wonders of the world - monumental achievements that reflect the power of your people." "But progress comes at a cost: unexpected enemy attacks can disrupt plans, and an unhappy population may hinder development."
Each round starts with the roll of a die. After that, a turn is resolved in four steps. First, you mark a segment to represent the current era. The segment decides what threat you must overcome in that era (usually citizen dissatisfaction or enemy attacks).
It also determines the size and shape of the road you must draw on your map. Depending on the types of terrain your road travels through, you'll collect a number of resources after drawing that road.
Lastly, you can choose to spend your resources on various upgrades. Developing technologies grants immediate benefits and helps you unlock useful buildings. You can also construct a wonder to gain bonus road segments, or you can erect cities that allow you to create branching roads.
At the end of the game, your wonders, cities, technology, hired workers, and discovered lands all score you points. Citizen satisfaction can gain or lose you points, depending on how happy your subjects are. Similarly, any fires you marked during play deduct points from your final score.
All you need to play is two printed sheets, a single die, and three markers. This makes this a particularly affordable board game. Along with the $13.70 pledge, you can also spend $4.57 (€4 / £4) to get a single map and leader to play with. Alternatively, $31.97 (€28 / £24) gives you access to Rise of the Oak Dell and the two previous games in Acorn Games' trilogy.
This is a fast-moving campaign, with crowdfunding ending on June 11 and fulfilment expected by July 2025.
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