Creature Caravan Review

"I am not a patient person. I also frequently play games with analysis paralysis-prone players. These facts combined frequently result in my declaration that certain games just shouldn't be played at the highest player counts. Thus, simultaneous board games, with their promise of crunchy decisions but little to no downtime, seem to be the perfect solution. Flip/roll-and-writes aside, it's hard to think of many successful examples of such games that will satisfy gamers seeking a more medium-to-heavy weight experience."

"On each of 12 rounds, players will roll their own five dice and then engage in dice-action selection. Points are acquired from four main sources: Creatures in your caravan tableau Total distance travelled across the land Trades Defeated zombies Most point-earning actions, including moving, trading, and fighting, can be accomplished using dice-action spots on your playerboard. Players will have opportunities to add creature-cards to their tableau that offer more efficient versions of these and other dice-action placement spots."

"Trading involves first collecting either knapsacks or coins and then trading one type of these goods for points, which increase based on the size of your trade. Importantly, there is a time constraint such that if one player does a 3-coin trade, anyone else who also wants to do a 3-coin trade must accomplish it in the same round or the following round; afterwards, that trade is locked for the game."

Creature Caravan is a medium-weight simultaneous-action board game for 1-4 players lasting 60-90 minutes and played over 12 rounds. Each round, players roll five dice and perform dice-action selection to move, trade, or fight. Scoring comes from caravan creatures, total distance traveled, trades, and defeated zombies. Creature cards expand a player’s tableau and provide improved dice-action spots; playing creatures is a free action after paying costs. Trades require collecting knapsacks or coins and scale points by trade size, with a time window that can lock specific trade options. A shared trade board tracks availability.

Read at Board Game Quest