Asmodee – Abyss – Game of Strategy.

Product Information

Any lords used to control a location are placed under it so that their powers are hidden and no longer used, so timing when to gain a location is important. No Limits You can allow yourself to become corrupted to gain access to new powers and new locations, but you will pay the price for it at the end of the game. Even if you decide to remain pure, remember that your opponents will not hesitate to spend their Nebulis during their dealings… The game ends as soon as someone finishes their pyramid, then all players score their points. For each colour, you score points equal to the largest valued card in your pyramid. Additionally, for each colour, you look at the largest grouping of cards in your pyramid and you score 3 points for each of those cards. Whoever held the pearl majority card at game's end scores 5 points for it. Whoever has the highest score wins.

Andean Abyss Second Printing | Board Games | Zatu Games UK Andean Abyss Second Printing | Board Games | Zatu Games UK

Abyss has always been a favourite of mine. So, of course, I was interested in anything in the Abyss universe. Conspiracy streamlines the parent game that it is based on, which to be fair is no easy feat considering that Abyss was pretty streamlined anyway. Yet, it still retains the tense drafting and tough choices. A Place For Both It's been many years since I read the Hyperion/Endymion books, so time for a re-read this winter. Simmons was doing a science-fiction Canterbury Tales, but brought lots of bold ideas to the table. I... Players gain influence points (victory points) in several ways, but the core path involves exploring the depths to defeat monsters (worth random influence points) and gain allies; allies are used to then recruit lords (worth varying amounts of influence), and lords are used to control locations (which have their own criteria for gaining influence). Then the active player reveals 3 more cards that their opponents turn down or can no longer afford and which does not interest the active player either. But the 7th revealed card is placed on the last space of the board.

Components

Note: A player who controls a Lord decides at which point during their turn the Lord's semi-permanent Power is applied. Refill The Court:

Andean Abyss | Board Game | BoardGameGeek Andean Abyss | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

A Lord beneath a Location is no longer "free", and cannot be the target of any Power of another Lord. These Lords are still worth the Influence Points indicated on their cards at the end of the game.

As soon as you gather three Keys (Keys are gained when you recruit a Lord with a Key symbol or by fighting a Monster while Exploration) you must immediately take control of a Location. The currency of the game is represented by opaque white pearls, which do a great job of carrying on the undersea theme. Players store their pearls in oyster shaped dishes, another great touch in line with the theme.

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The Abyss power is once again vacant, so the time has come to ascend to the throne and claim its privileges. Use all your cunning to win or buy votes in the Council, recruit the most influential Lords, and abuse their powers to take control of the most strategic territories and finally, impose yourself as the only one able to rule the Abyssal people! The Lords you can recruit may give you special powers/abilities and may also provide a key. Collect three keys and a player can take control of a territory. Losing the powers of the Lords. Once a player controls their seventh lord the end game is triggered. A Leviathan is Coming If you wish to keep more than 12 Allies in hand at the end of your turn, you must pay one Pearl for each extra Ally. Otherwise, you must discard each extra ally for which you decide not to pay a Pearl. The Location cards have some fun and interesting powers as well as additional end game scoring opportunities. They are nothing groundbreaking but they offer another means of scoring and a focus. Abyss: Leviathan is a two to four-player card drafting, set collection, hand management game. It comes from the talented Bruno Cathala and published by Bombyx. It features, in my opinion, some of the most gorgeous artwork in modern-day board gaming. All topped off with some fantastic gameplay elements. The ruleset is relatively simple, however, the gameplay is compelling and offers a lot of choices and decision making without the major rules overhead. Underwater Politics

Setup

The player is thus forced to add it to their hand and takes a bonus Pearl from the Treasury. Their turn ends. End Of Exploration: The final thing you do on your turn is see if you have three keys in your possession. If you do then it is time to get a location tile. These offer sweet scoring opportunities but they will disable some of your sweetest lord abilities. You may select the face up tile, or you can draw blind 1/2/3 or 4 tiles and select one from those. Any you do not choose will be left face up in the market for your opponents to choose from should they wish later. Having said that, these locations are your points on the line so I ALWAYS draw four if I am drawing blind, I want as many choices as possible to find what works best for me. Once you “use” a key for a location, then you have to cover over the lord with the key you used, deactivating its ability. So you may want to try and hold off on getting that lord with a great ability if you would get a location immediately. Abyss End Game Scoring In my opinion, the rulebook would have been stronger if the “clarifying” section hit on each Lord and Location instead of just a handful. I can understand how different players might interpret some of these cards differently and we should never have to go to an auxiliary source to get accurate information. This aside, the rest of the rules are laid out perfectly and there are plenty of detailed pictures to help walk the user through the varying actions one might take. Plot the Court (optional): You may spend a pearl to add a Lord to the court (if there are open spots).