Game Night – Steampunk theme

As you may know, vvB32 Reads has been hosting a SteamPink week. Since board games so often have themes very similar to books, genre-wise, I though I’d go on a search for steampunk games. Now, remember, I haven’t played any of these yet, but they look cool.

Edison & Co.

• Designer: Gunter Burkhardt
• Manufacturers: Rio Grande Games, Goldsieber
• Artist: Franz Vohwinkel
• Year: 1998
• Players: 2 – 4
• Time: 30 – 60 minutes
• Ages: 12 and up

The players are inventors at the Edison Company where they work in teams of two to influence the outcome of driving tests for new vehicles. Players try to get their favorite vehicles to the high scoring spaces on the track at scoring time–so it’s not a race, but more a question of timing since players must evaluate where they should be at a specific point in the game. With a unique movement system, each player controls only a portion of the movement on each turn–one player decides the length of the move, and another the direction. The team that works best together will score the highest and win the game!

Khronos

• Designers: Ludovic Vialla, Arnaud Urbon
• Manufacturers: Editions du Matagot, Rio Grande Games
• Year: 2007
• Players: 2 – 5
• Time: 90 minutes
• Ages: 12 and up

The Master Clocksmith came to speak to me this morning revealing a fabulous secret. We can travel in time. Not just dreaming about it like my astrologist does, but actually going there. There seem to be periods in our future where the strength of our walls will be nothing compared to the strength of our collective faith or an even stranger future epoch where the people will rule themselves. The Master Clocksmith has convinced me that our power is now limitless. Our lands and domains are ours forever. My opponents will not wait and my Lords have already started preparing for their journeys. My dear friend, come with me, for from this day forward, I will be remembered as the king who forged our own destiny. Players control time travelers who move forward and backward in time to create the future and the past as they want it to be or have been. Changes ripple forward in time as players try to control the important aspects of each age – which, of course, change as time passes. The player who best manages his time-traveling resources will find he has created the flow of time as he wished and will win the game, as well.

Wolsung

• Designers: Michal Stachyra, Maciej Zasowski
• Manufacturer: Kuznia Gier
• Year: 2008
• Players: 2 – 4

Wolsung: The Boardgame is a large family game for 2 to 4 players. They act as inventors and industrialists developing extraordinary constructions – steam cars, golems and zeppelins – in the race for the title of the best designer at the World’s Fair. The object of the game is to build the best and the most unique machines – players compete against each other for plans of the devices as well as for the resources necessary to build them.

Mission Red Planet

• Designers: Bruno Cathala, Bruno Faidutti
• Manufacturer: Asmodee Editions
• Artists: Christophe Madura
• Year: 2006
• Players: 3 – 5
• Time: 60 minutes
• Ages: 10 and up

From Bruno Faidutti’s website:

This one, designed with Bruno Cathala, started with the theme. We wanted to make a game about colonizing Mars, with shuttles leaving the blue planet towards the red one. The theme is strong, and well caught in the steampunk graphic style decided by Asmodée. In Mission: Red Planet, each player plays a colonial power which sends astronauts, in space shuttles, to occupy the most promising zones on the planet.

So have you played any of these? Know any good steampunk themed games?

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