Endeavor

Endeavor

A game of world exploration and empire building. You represent a European empire colonizing the Mediterranean and shipping to all parts of the world to increase the empire's glory and status in Industry, Culture, Finance and Politics. When a region opens up (i.e. the shipping lanes are full) a player can colonize, attack or retrieve resources from that region. The game plays easily as each turn a player builds a building giving him a special action or increasing one of his main statistics, and gets a number of people with which to activate buildings for special actions (Ship, Occupy, Attack, Draw or Pay). Increased skill in Politics allow the player to hold cards that help increase his statistics and glory.

BoardGameGeek Info

Publisher
Z-Man Games
Published in
2009
My Rating
9.0
BGG Rating
7.03
BGG Rank
432
Players
3-5
Ages
12+
Duration
1:30
Complexity
2.909 / 5
Acquired
December 2009
Eager to Play
No
Plays
6
Last Played
August 11, 2010
Time Spent
7:30

In Endeavor you are trying to win glory for your empire through occupying cities, opening trade routes, becoming governor of a new region, and expanding the wealth, culture, and political prowess of your empire. The game lasts 7 rounds, in which players, in turn, each build one building, then gain new workers, then pay the salary of last turn's workers, then take actions (governed by the buildings they have built). Players must balance their ability to build, their ability to recruit new workers, their ability to pay for the workers they have, with their ability to open shipping routes and occupy cities.

At the end of the game cities are worth points, advances in building, culture, money, political influence, some cards, and any recruited but idle workers are worth points. Players can also gain an extra point for each pair of adjacent cities. The tension in the game is bound up in managing limited resources within only 7 turns. Players are also capturing cities or opening trade routes vying for the better position on the board. Players can interact by using an attack action, which is costly but can gain that coveted city.

The game has a good depth and breadth of strategy. The board layout is randomized each game play, so the replay value is high; no two games will employ the same tactics, and may require different strategies.

Six plays

  • August 11, 2010
  • February 27, 2010
  • January 28, 2010 x2
  • January 16, 2010
  • January 09, 2010