/pic7813992.png)
In 1845, Sir John Franklin led an expedition on behalf of the British Royal Navy to find and explore the last portion of the Northwest Passage, regardless of the cost. The Royal Navy gave Franklin two heavy Ships (HMS Terror and HMS Erebus) filled with scientific equipment, 1000 books, a crew of 128 men, and enough food to last for three years. They left England in May and encountered whalers along the west coast of Greenland in August. There, they waited for more favorable weather conditions for the crossing of the Lancaster Sound. Once the weather improved, they sailed into unknown waters, and no one ever heard from them again...
Their disappearance provoked a great deal of turmoil in public opinion, and numerous British and American expeditions attempted to find their trail. As leaders of these expeditions in Expedition: Northwest Passage, players must venture into these hazardous Arctic waters in order to discover Franklin's fate and succeed where he failed – by finding the Northwest Passage. Players allocate their crewmen in their ship or in their sled to perform various actions such as exploring, moving, or gathering clues on the whereabouts of the Franklin expedition.
As the game progresses, the seasons will pass and parts of the sea will be frozen, blocking the way for the ships. Players acquire victory points by gathering clues, mapping the area, and – of course – discovering the Northwest Passage. However, in order to claim victory, one has to come back home to the Greenland on time!
- Exploration and travel, collecting tokens
- Arctic Northwest Passage, Greenland
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- discover — Discover: spend two crew to get Inuit person token or Karen token; place on your board and score Prestige by zone.
- draw a tile — Draw a tile from the four large or six small available and place it near your player board.
- explore — Explore: spend three crew to explore a Franklin site or a straight and score Prestige based on board section.
- Movement — Move your ship or sled to an adjacent tile; ships require water to move and water may not be frozen; sleds move over land and may cross water when frozen.
- pass — Pass when you have no or choose not to take more actions; moves turn order to the first available space on adjacent track.
- place a tile — Take a tile from your personal Supply and place it on the main board; must be one tile away from the tile you place; Land and Sea must match on all sides including diagonals; symbols on tiles may require tokens.
- refresh tiles — Replace the four large tiles with four new ones from the back; costs two crew members.
- rounds_and_end_scoring — The game runs for 10 rounds; end scoring occurs after rounds or when expeditions return to Greenland.
- tile placement — Take a tile from your personal Supply and place it on the main board; must be one tile away from the tile you place; Land and Sea must match on all sides including diagonals; symbols on tiles may require tokens.
- transfer crew — Transfer crew between ship and sled; first time transferring you can move crew; status does not change upon movement.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Expedition Northwest Passage is played over 10 Rounds where each round players will utilize their crew members to take actions which will often revolve around exploring traveling and collecting various tokens
- The Arctic will freeze and thaw meaning you'll often have to adapt to travel by both sled and ship depending on the circumstances
- thank you so much for watching our how to playay video of Northwest Passage
- it's coming to crowdfunding so learn a little bit more dive into the world of the Northwest Passage and start exploring
- mhm until next time though we'll see you later