Category: On The Table

So there I was, on an airship with some of my best friends. We were travelling over the forbidden desert and things went bad. The engine fell off, propeller went for a spin, our energy crystal dislodged, and we lost our compass. At least our airship is still in one piece.  We have a limited amount of water and the sands are piling up around us.

We must clear the sand, put our airship together, and escape before we are buried alive or we succumb to the elements.

Roles to be played:

The Archeologist: The Archeologist can remove 2 Sand markers form any single tile for 1 action.

Climber: The Climber can move to blocked tiles (tiles with 2 or more Sand markers on them). He may also take one other player with him whenever he moves. Pawns on the Climber’s tile are never buried and can leave the tile containing the Climber even if there are 2 or more Sand markers on it.

Explorer: The Explorer can move, remove sand, and may use Dune Blasters diagonally.

Meteorologist: The Meteorologist may spend actions to draw few Storm cards (1 card per action) at the end of her turn. She may also choose to spend 1 action to look at the top Storm cards, equal to the Storm level, and may place one at the bottom of the deck.

Navigator: The Navigator may move another player up to 3 unblocked tiles per action, including tunnels. She can move the Explorer diagonally and can move the Climber through blocked tiles. When moved in this way, the Climber can also use his power to take along 1 other player – including the Navigator!

Water Carrier: The Water Carrier can take 2 water from already excavated wells for 1 action. She may also give water to players on adjacent tiles for free at any time. The Water Carrier also starts with 5 (instead of 4) water.

Creating the Forbidden Desert (Game Setup)

Before shuffling your tiles, you may want to examine them to understand what they look like, especially for new players. After familiarization,  shuffle the tiles desert side up. No peaking from here on out.

Randomly place the tiles in a 5 X 5 grid with a tile missing in the center. The tiles should all be oriented in the same way, with the compass in the top left corner. Leave a small gap between tiles. The hole in the middle of the board represents the Sandstorm which will move around the board at the end of each turn.

Place 8 Sand markers on the tiles as shown. Place them with the lighter coloured side facing up. The rest of the tiles can be piled up to the side of the board.

Place your parts to the flying machine nearby. Your team will find the parts buried in the desert.

Set the Sand Storm meter according to the number of players and the level of difficulty you wish to place.

Divide the Cards according to their type. The Storm Deck, Equipment Deck, and the Adventurer Cards should be separated and placed near the play area.

Shuffle the 6 Adventurers cards and deal 1 to each player. Take a moment to read your role to your companions. In order to escape, you will need to utilize everyone’s abilities. Each Adventurer has a coloured pawn that corresponds with your card. Your adventurer pawns will be placed on the “helicopter crash” tile.

It’s time to play!

The thirstiest player goes first and gameplay continues to the left. On every turn, do the following things in order.

1. Take up to 4 actions. (You may choose to take fewer actions.) Your companions are encouraged to help give advice on the best actions for your turn and future turns of gameplay. Each turn you can do the following.
   1. Move (You may move your pawn to an adjacent, unblocked tile for 1 action per move, adjacent meaning up, down, left, or right. You may also move between two unblocked tunnels(a tile is blocked if there are 2 or more Sand markers). You can never move through the Sand Storm. Keep in mind that a player’s role may change how the Adventurer moves.)
   2. Remove Sand (You may clear a sand tile in any direction that your character is capable of moving.)
   3. Excavate (You are able to flip a nearby tile in order to reveal what is hidden beneath the sand. If you reveal a tile with the equipment marker, then pick up an equipment card.)
   4. Pick Up a Part (You need to put your airship back together so picking up the part is probably a good idea.)
   5. Share Water and Pass Equipment (If you are on the same tile as another player, you are able to share water or equipment for free)
2. Draw Sand Storm Cards (According to your current Storm marker)
   1. Normal Sand Storm Cards will move the storm in a certain direction. Whatever tiles are moved get covered with one sand tile each.
   2. Sun Beats Down cards will cause all players that are exposed to the sun to lose 1 point of hydration.
   3. Storm Picks Up cards cause the storm to become more deadly. You must move the storm marker up another tick.

Winning the Game:

You win the game if our adventurers have gathered all the parts and successfully made it back to the LaunchPad. The pad must be cleared of sand before the airship can take off.

Losing the Game:

You can lose in 3 possible ways:

1. Thirst: If any player reaches the skull symbol on their canteen.
2. Buried: If you need to add a Sand marker to a tile but there aren’t any left in the supply.
3. Swept Away: The Sand Storm meter reaches the skull symbol.

Our Experience:

I really enjoy cooperative board games. Getting together with friends and working together to solve the problem is very bonding.

The first of this game series is called Forbidden Island. We were able to conquer the game with relative ease. Moving to the Forbidden Desert, however, proved to be significantly more difficult. We lost more than we won but we still enjoyed playing the game. We may have handicapped ourselves a bit in the beginning because we were taking one less action than allowed for each turn.

One of our first playthroughs of Forbidden Desert resulted in three of us hiding in tunnels because we were very thirsty and didn’t want to risk a sun beats down card. While our last companion ventured into the desert alone to become our savior… except we drew two sun beats down cards back to back and he died alone and thirsty.

Forbidden Desert is fun and challenging, but I would highly recommend giving it a shot. It is easy to learn and because it is cooperative, the more experienced players are able to assist the newer players.

Hydrate or die, and I hope you are able to escape the Forbidden Desert.