It’s the age of discovery! The British Empire needs to find new naval trade routes to Asia, and thus launches many expeditions to the Arctic in order to find The Northwest Passage. In Through Ice and Snow you and your friends journey through the Arctic and vie to become the most prestigious explorer by documenting species, mapping treacherous lands and discovering the elusive Northwest passage.
As the expedition progresses new map pieces and routes will be revealed and added to the modular board. Each player is in charge of their own ship, and the crews include three officers with individual abilities:
The Carpenter, a craftsman that provides improvements and structures
The Scientist, a scholar that provides invention and research
The Captain, an officer that provides leadership and organization
You can also recruit Inuit - exceptional guides who are experts in finding fuel, improving sleds and leading vital hunting parties.
Each voyage brings unique challenges and events for your crews to face: Those Arctic journeys faced many tragedies, since finding food was extremely hard, the overworked crews were prone to mutiny, and the weather was merciless. Succeed and become immortalised. Fail and be lost to the ice….forever.
—description from the publisher
Images
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I love Klask.
- it's all about luck in Flip Seven.
- It's a two-player game.
- Goa and it's my number three.
- We got to play Goa. It's not on my list, but no, it is because it's really fun.
- Fields of Arle is a game we played many years ago.
- You're trying to get the peat away.
- My number one is Keyflower.
- Probably it is one of my favorite cooperative games.
References (from this video)
- Painfully thematic
- Felt hopeful initially
- Enjoyed it more when the end was in sight
- No way to get resources
- Painfully thematic can be negative
- Playtime is too long
- Not too much fun overall
- Leading an expedition through ice and snow.
- Painfully thematic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Shared Movement — you're are like together moving this fleet of boats and then like the person who are choosing to be the start player or has like the most dynamite will be the one choosing where to go and how fast to go and that will influence all players decision making later
- Variable Worker Types — you have different kinds of workers that can interact with different kinds of actions.
- Worker Placement — Mechanically it is a worker placement game
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a double keep. This one was really fun.
- Very quick game. Highly recommend this one. A small filler game that is really really good.
- It was meh.
- ultimately, I I found it just like I have I have better games that I'm more excited to play. That's the bottom line.
- It's a fine game. It's another one of those where I played and I like that was a fun. Never need to do that again.
- But it ended up feeling very like meaningful for in tactical when you started playing and just like oh, but I saw this opportunity.
- This was not up to those No. I mean, I know some people really liked it, but for us it just fell flat.
- It is long.
- But for me, it ends up not being a keeper. Oh yeah, for me, too.
- This is a game about leading an expedition. Through Ice and Snow. Yes. And you I would say this is a painfully thematic game.
References (from this video)
- Thematic brutality felt authentic and immersive
- Semi-cooperative with shared fate, encouraging cooperation
- Strong action economy due to limited crew and role restrictions
- Modular board provides replayability
- Clear sense of progression through navigation, action, and boarding phases
- Can be brutal and punishing; learning curve can be steep
- Requires planning and group coordination; may feel long for some players
- Potentially heavy component/rule overhead for new players
- survival, exploration, expedition leadership
- 19th century Arctic exploration, Northwest Passage
- documentary-like with player-driven story
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative/competitive dynamic — Mutual dependency with potential consequences for all if conditions fail.
- Modular Board — Board is assembled from modules, increasing replayability.
- Modular board / variable setup — Board is assembled from modules, increasing replayability.
- Narrative objectives and scoring via prestige — End-game scoring based on personal objectives and overall prestige.
- Point to Point Movement — Travel along a map with directional choices during navigation.
- point-to-point movement — Travel along a map with directional choices during navigation.
- Resource Management — Track food, fuel, health, and morale to survive phases.
- Seasonal/officer constraints — Limitations on actions due to officer roles create tension and planning.
- Worker Placement — Assign officers and sailors to actions to gather resources and perform tasks.
- Worker placement with officers — Assign officers and sailors to actions to gather resources and perform tasks.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the biggest thing that struck me when i first played through ice and snow is how thematic everything felt
- it's almost like a documentary but you get to make the story this time
- i think through eisenstowe does a great job with action economy because of the limited amount of crew members and the limitations to what each officer can do
- the board is modularly put together and it makes it feel like every game has a little bit more variation
- through ice and snow