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Game Info
Year
2018
Players
1-5
Age
14+
Playtime
150 min
Collection
Mechanic profile
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Description
AuZtralia is an adventure/exploration game for 1-4 players set in an alternate reality 1930s. The theme is inspired by Martin Wallace's A Study in Emerald. Following the Restorationist war, the northern hemisphere lands lay poisoned and starvation was the norm. Intrepid adventurers set out to explore and settle new lands. Little did they know, after the war, the surviving Old Ones and their remaining loyal human armies made their way to the outback of Australia to lick their wounds. Build a port, construct railways, mine and farm for food. You’ll need to prepare for the awakening. You’ll need to fight.
Everything you do in the game costs time, which is one of AuZtralia's most valued resources. At a point in time, the Old Ones will wake up and become an active player. They begin to reveal themselves and move, with potentially devastating outcomes. You’ll need to prepare wisely for the awakening and may have to co-operate with others to defeat the most dangerous Old Ones.
Military units will help you to locate, fight and defend against the nightmarish beings that may be lurking on your doorstep. As well as hardware, you’ll need to recruit some Personalities who have the skills and resources to help you.
Riches from the land, mixed with darkness and insanity await you in the outback. Will humanity prevail or will the Old Ones wreak their revenge?
By default, the game is semi-cooperative, where one wins or everyone loses. The rulebook includes a fully cooperative variant.
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment:
pos 1 ·
mix 1 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video WiUDCyG4l44
Playthrough at 0:16 sentiment: positive
video_pk 66477 · mention_pk 162003
Click to watch at 0:16 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- The combat is enjoyable and not bad.
- The game has interesting mechanics like targeting specific enemy parts (pincers).
- The gear and items players acquire feel impactful.
Cons
- Stamina can be a significant drain.
- Dice rolls can be frustratingly inconsistent.
Thematic elements
- Exploring and surviving in a dangerous world.
- A world with towns like Rivertown Market and Boskton, and natural features like uplands and water.
Comparison games
- D&D
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Character progression — Mention of gaining XP and leveling up indicates character improvement over time.
- Combat — Detailed discussions about attacking enemies, using specific abilities like 'shredding licks' and 'battle riff', and targeting weak spots like pincers.
- Dice rolling — Players frequently roll dice for attacks, checks, and movement, with commentary on the perceived fairness or unfairness of the rolls.
- Environmental interaction — Players attempt to repair a broken bridge using materials found, indicating interaction with the game's environment.
- Item Usage — Players utilize items like potions, weapons ('foe splitter', 'worn axe'), and equipment ('fancy bracelet', 'metal bracer') to aid in combat and survival.
- Movement — Players discuss moving between locations, the cost of movement (stamina), and the use of boats to traverse water.
- Resource management — Stamina is frequently mentioned as a resource that players need to manage for movement.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Pretty much. Uh it's just searching for the map, but I mean we got important stuff. We actually got the cipher.
- I hate the water.
- Oh my god, I'm good at those.
- It's fun, actually. I like the combat in this game.
- Me, too. It's not bad.
- I really think more board games need to do stuff like that.
- These guys escaped us once. Let's kill them.
- I want save.
- You have You have increasingly smaller and smaller pieces of wood. I'm just like, 'What are you doing?'
- The ants are doing this much damage, dog. There's something else going on.
- I mean, obviously giant spider would be or cockroach, but I don't know. Ants I think would be underrated especially because they can what is it lift a thousand times their body weight.
- So, I block that damage. Cockroaches aren't going to come over and try to eat me like an ant would.
- And I'm a parry god all these people. I have a buckler shield.
- I hate these dice.
- Dude, they're Yeah, they're they're not great.
- Make Hey, Cody Miller, make better dice for this game. Get better ones.
- Yeah, Cody, you suck at making dice.
- I was enraged. So, we are going to get a total of four XP which puts us at five.
- Shamont defeated. The Shamont stumbles knocked down by your attacks. Her antenna begin twitching and rubbing together making a sort of high-pitched scraping noise. Too late, you realize it's a sort of signal. Just to the north, a door breaks open and ants burst out with an old man held tightly in their grasp. "Help me!" the man cries as the ants clamber over the city wall. The Shamont slips away in the chaos of the moment bringing what's left of her colony with her.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ycHkkol3wH0
3 Minute Board Games Review at 0:21 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 3814 · mention_pk 11225
Click to watch at 0:21 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Tense, engaging combat card system that creates meaningful risk management
- Allies provide emergent powers and varied scoring opportunities
- Action selection and pacing are well implemented, with meaningful decision points
- Appeals to both thematic and Eurogame players seeking narrative flavor with strategic depth
- Solid solo mode and expansions that add depth without drastically altering core feel
Cons
- Thematic cues lean more British-English in flavor than authentically Australian in tone
- Ending can feel anticlimactic if monsters are cleared too early or too easily
- Expansions add complexity; core game is already a substantial commitment for new players
Thematic elements
- Cosmic horror and frontier expansion within a train-driven economy
- Australia with a Cthulhu mythos; continents featuring ports, farms, and a railway network
- emergent, evolving threats and player-driven tension through combat and mythos events
Comparison games
- Arkham Horror
- Brass: Birmingham
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Each turn you select an action from your board; some actions can be repeated by spending gold, adding strategic depth to planning and tempo.
- combat using battle cards — Encounters with monsters use a battle card system that interacts with sanity tokens and card outcomes to drive risk and reward.
- Combat: Deck/Hand — Encounters with monsters use a battle card system that interacts with sanity tokens and card outcomes to drive risk and reward.
- enemy movement and fortification — Monsters advance toward farms and ports, with blight and reinforcement dynamics affecting defensive planning.
- network/tile placement — Your train network constrains where you can place farms and where you can attack, creating a spatial puzzle and planning challenge.
- Resource management — Gather resources from hexes, recruit allies and units, and manage markers to optimize timing and effects.
- tile placement — Your train network constrains where you can place farms and where you can attack, creating a spatial puzzle and planning challenge.
- Time track — Actions advance a shared time track, increasing urgency as monsters become more active and the game progresses.
- timing track — Actions advance a shared time track, increasing urgency as monsters become more active and the game progresses.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- A train game with a Cthulhu theme seems like a drug-induced idea or a fever dream but weirdly it works better as a combination than it has any right to.
- The pacing of the game is interesting as you start off with the baddies inert and have a period to build up.
- The action selection system is well executed with all the actions making sense and the option to pay gold to repeat actions a great decision point.
- The best thing about this game is the combat card system; it can get really tense especially in long battles where injuries and sanity loss are mounting.
- All up a game that would appeal to thematic and eurogamers who want a taste of how the other half lives.
- For a traditional Cthulhu game, try Arkham Horror, and for more fun with trains, try Brass Birmingham.
- Auztralia designed by a brit published by kiwi.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–2 of 2