Veteran gamers of the world, unite!
There are eurogames and eurogames: if Architects of the Western Kingdom, or Agricola, can be considered fantastic introductions to the noble art of management, as soon as the bar is raised new boardgame monsters come into play such as Puerto Rico or, continuing in the Western Kingdom saga, Paladins, or even Iki.
And then, like any self-respecting Soulslike, you get to the end of the game. And if there’s an author who could be hired by FromSoftware to design the final bosses, that’s Simone Luciani.
Titles like Barrage or Darwin’s Journey are the neighborhood “German” boardgame style’s delight and torment: complex, merciless and yet with divine mechanics, which translate into a challenging title as few others.
These games can be considered similar to Soulslike video games such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne or Elden Ring: starting from a totally disorienting beginning, and after infinite deaths (or defeats, if we are talking about a board game), the experience leads the player to understand that something complex, difficult and, at first sight, incomprehensible, is actually a masterpiece and can create truly heavy addictions.
After all, the greatest satisfactions come after long and painful efforts, and we surely know it. Welcome to the world of Nucleum!
In this game, will we have to keep an eye not only on the resources that will arrive very gradually, but we will also have to manage an electrical grid to carry the precious energy that we will produce with difficulty to industries, houses and laboratories. All this will be managed by a sublime and, naturally, arduous, choice on the action tiles: use them without too much difficulty and without expanding the network or place them on the map and unlock (or fail miserably) powerful combos?
Whatever the path to victory, however, one thing is very clear: Nucleum is a tough and unscrupulous title, even during the game setup: tiles everywhere to be divided in different ways depending on the number of players, resources of all kinds and types and a set of respectable player meeples, for at least 40-45 minutes of table-setting delirium. If we also want to add the two expansions Australia and Court of Progress, we could seriously lose any hope of playing, anytime soon.
When the going gets tough, however, we at The Dicetroyers start playing: we started with our setupper for Nucleum, to bring the table setting times to the bone, but it wasn’t enough for us: so, here is the version for real pros, namely the organizer for Nucleum with Australia and Court of Progress expansions! Technology and action tiles divided into A, B, C, D, E, F, basic and advanced; resources in separate trays and divided by shape; player sets with dedicated slots, all of which can be stored in the basic game box. Divide into slots and conquer, for a table setting fit for true captains of industry.
So, are you ready to play like a real pro? The discovery of the nucleum waits for you, be ready!
Discover also the other games in our catalog and contact us for any request or question!
