After 500 years, two factions emerge from their underground cities into a new world, an Earth reborn from nuclear disaster.
12 highly detailed miniatures represent the two factions:
NORAD: military in thinking and origins. Scientists and engineers add to their strength.
SALEMITES: occultists working with cadavers, bringing the dead to life.
Soon after emerging, these two factions meet - and it is determined that they cannot live together in peace.
Earth Reborn offers nine scenarios that take you through missions of rescue, retrieval, and escort through areas of labs, mansions, towns, and more. Each scenario builds upon the rules of a new chapter: the game system is built like a tutorial. There are core rules to start the game, and each chapter offers 1-3 new rules along with a scenario that uses these new rules.
The game also contains the innovative S.A.G.S. (Scenario Auto Generating System), where 2-4 players can make their own maps and mission objectives for near infinite replayability!
Other features include:
A Tetris-like board construction using polyomino floor tiles.
An order tiles system to give commands to your miniatures.
Interrupt Duels with Bluff, betting command points to interrupt an enemy character and act during another player's turn.
The I.P.S. (Iconographic Phrasing System) that allows almost any effect to occur with icons, totally language independent.
Colored base arcs on miniatures to simplify Line of Sight, shooting, and close combat. It also multiplies characters’ variations and possibilities.
The Search rule, giving a visceral feeling to searching in rooms to find equipment.
A Mission Points track that also serves as a Morale Points track.
Radio Scrambling to mess with your opponents' orders.
- Deep tactical depth
- Luxurious components (aesthetics)
- High complexity
- Steep learning curve and accessibility barriers
- Survival and faction combat
- Post-apocalyptic sci‑fi
- Tile-based tactical combat with campaign flavor
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- asymmetric factions — Different faction ramps and abilities create asymmetry
- Campaign progression — Long-term scenario progression across sessions
- Tile-based tactical combat — Hex/tiles govern movement and combat interactions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the real reason for the kickstarter is to produce the media and I want to try to focus as much on the media as possible
- we are going to PX unplugged
- it's halfway in between 3.5 and four
- Earth reborn question I have not checked out Earth reborn yet but I hope to
- the startup money … is the stretch goals we want to do with the money
References (from this video)
- great map-building fun and thematic ambition
- finicky rules, possibly clunky in practice, not aging well
- miniatures-driven, objective-based play
- post-apocalyptic/cooperative/competitive dungeon-ish
- campaign-like scenarios with high variability
- Summoner Wars
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Objective-based play — scenarios impose different goals and win conditions
- overlay map/building — map tiles and modular layouts create varying scenarios
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's just such a unique mechanic right throwing dice at a Target going through a dungeon together
- that g that game has one of the best table presence of uh of games you have you know it's one people just look at and like wow that looks really fun
- I love Feast for Odin and it's one that I think about a lot for its tight worker-placement, yet sandboxy feel
- Earth Reborn... it’s ahead of its time in that it was this big over the with like Miniatures
- eight hours per game time commitment
- the mechanics of it are solid; the wall mechanic and the way factions feel different is really fun
- the military side of it was brutal, especially in two-player
- the switch to cooperative really vaulted Mage Knight into our top games
- the best blend of mechanisms tied in with the theme
- card drafting vaulted into the mainstream after Seven Wonders
- there's so much content for campaigns; you can play forever with a great group
- it's so satisfying to get those cards and build this engine
- rolling dice and it feels so overwhelming and hard, but in a good way
- Dominion—you can randomize the set of the cards; it's the purity of deck-building
References (from this video)
- Represents a core part of Christophe's design portfolio and influences
- Offers a different, more combat-focused tactical experience compared to Archipelago
- Less central to the main discussion in this interview
- Some players may find it dated relative to newer designs
- tactical conflict, exploration, and adaptation
- Distant world with themes of exploration and conflict
- designer-driven historical note and design introspection
- Archipelago
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area control / tactical skirmish — players compete for territory and control within a shared map.
- tactical combat resolution — combat and encounters drive outcomes and player positioning.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Archipelago is one of the few games I play that actually attempts to comment on the ethics and outcomes of colonialism through some of the mechanics.
- I would change the color of the meeples.
- the planet fights back through Cataclysm.
- the CGS is the best thing in the game for me.
- it's a race between the shaman me and the publisher; this is a designer ego moment about speed and quality.