North Star Games Oceans Board Game

Product Information

A species may have multiple copies of the same trait (trait effects are cumulative), but the maximum number of traits on any species is 3 unless a card explicitly allows for more. If the revised feeding rules add flexibility, the additions of ageing and overpopulation provide bite.

FORAGE: Add up the green icons on the traits of the feeding species to get its forage value. Take that number of population from the Reef and move them to the forager’s species board. A species that does not have any green icons on any of its trait cards automatically gets a forage value of 1. A species may never forage if it has regardless of whether it has other forage icons. PHASE 3: AGING Oceans is a game based on natural selection with fantastical leanings. As a former biologist with an interest in board games with depth and being part-seal myself, you’d think I’d be disappointed. Additionally, there are 2 randomly chosen scenario cards that activate and deactivate at various points during the game. The scenario cards impact the basic tenets of gameplay, encouraging people to vary their play style and strategy each game.

Behind Every Smile…

Illustrations for the reef and surface cards were created by Catherine Hamilton, [2] and the box art was designed by Hamilton and Guillaume Ducos. Cards in "The Deep" were illustrated by various artists. [2] Reception [ edit ] The Cambrian Explosion is a period in Earth’s history when a proliferation of new species came into existence. It took place over 500 million years ago and lasted for about 25 million years. Scientists don’t know what caused the Cambrian Explosion but it was likely due to an increase in oceanic oxygen levels. Feeding may trigger a gains icon on another species, including a species belonging to another player. When a species gains population, it takes the number of population in the blue gains icon from the 1st Ocean zone. If the 1st Ocean zone is empty (or becomes empty), continue taking population from the 2nd Ocean zone, and from the 3rd Ocean zone if the 2nd becomes empty. If the 3rd Ocean zone becomes empty, place the 60 “reserve” population into the 3rd Ocean zone so that every triggered trait is able to take the proper amount of population. Instead of using a card to evolve, you will sometimes use a card to migrate population. The number of population tokens you migrate is equal to the migrate number on the bottom left of the card you play, next to the migrate icon.

Oceans is, for me, the pinnacle of all branches of the Evolution board game tree. Setting the Ocean Colour Scene

It’s fun to explore new combinations and options, to slot traits together and see how they interact. The designers understand that “games are about feeling”: it feels pretty great when you figure out how to swim past the gaping mouths waiting for you on your next turn. The world is a wondrous place and Oceans, with its gorgeous Surface traits and beguiling Deep traits, lets you feel that wonder, evoking a sense of danger and exploration, risk and astonishment. It was with some trepidation then that I approached Oceans by NorthStar Games, the latest in their Evolution series. Having not played any of the previous games and with no interest in the theme was this going to sink without a trace? (sorry, won’t happen again) Diving Right In I went scuba diving in the Maldives years ago. And the world under the waves was like nothing I had ever seen before. The colours, the textures, the tastes….. (okay so I shouldn’t have had my mouth open, but sharks were about, and bubbles were coming in and out!). Not a massive fan of getting wet all over all at once, however, Oceans looked like it might deliver the same visual wonder. And do you know what? It does a mighty fin job! Underwater Evolution Oceans offers us a game of great depth. It is not the simplest game to teach and, appropriate for a game of this theme the direct aggression between players gives the game a lot of bite which many players might find too confrontational. Oceans is a strategy game played by 2-4 people. Players create a vibrant web of marine life through millions of years of evolution.

Journey Into the Deep: Featuring nearly 100 unique trait cards, The Deep represents the unknown: the undiscovered wonders of the deep ocean you'll be exploring over countless games. Oceans is a 2-4 player board game in the highly acclaimed Evolution series. Oceans is an interactive engine builder, where players evolve their species in a continually changing ecosystem where everything is connected. Oceans is a turn based card based game. In it, you are basically trying to encourage your species to eat for England! Eat so they can grow stronger and older! Eat so they can fend off predators! Eat so they can use their newly found vim to withstand disruptions caused by other players! Under the waves, everything that is not you is basically trying to kill you! But if you can stop staring at the gorgeous illustrations for a second, you’ll notice that species can adapt in special, survival supporting ways. Play.Feed.Age.Discard.RepeatFor the most part I really like Oceans. It’s blistering fast and easy to teach, has loads of replayability, and every game feels genuinely exciting, every species bizarre and unique. It's a game that invites you to create, to dive into its waters, and tell us what you have discovered. I thoroughly recommend it with the caveat that you will want to sleeve the cards and that I really feel the game is let down by some poor production decisions. Adapt to a Connected World: Using an easy-to-learn but deep system, players use trait cards to create and adapt their own aquatic species. In summing up though I would, again, compare this game to Wingspan. Wingspan has, for me at least, a much more appealing theme and artwork but I’d much rather spend some time swimming with Oceans. It’s a game with great adherence to its theme, good strategies and tactics at 2 or more players and plenty to think about on every turn. In the four years since Warcry released, Games Workshop has teased us with about two new Chaos Dwarf models and (unsurprisingly) has yet to produce full rules for Dawi-Zharr warbands. I have finally...