Description

the Atlantean Wars boardgame depicts the ancient and mythical war between three all powerful civilizations :
Atlantis, set in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean;
the empire of Mu, set in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and
the Matriarchy of Lemuria, set around the island of Madagascar.

After a long time of peace, and with the oncoming apocalypse, war pits once again those 3 mighty titans, war for the domination of the world, war for the control of the rich zones of Orichalc, this fabulous alloy allowing them to build wondrous machines of war, war for the gaining the alliance of the numerous small nations around the world...
The Empires will be able, to win this war once and for all, to expand their territory with their troops, to build new colonies which will grow in power, to build strange and beautiful wonders allowing for teleport movements, to further their knoledge of technology, all the while battling their neighours and exchanging with them deadly "fire of God" (read nuclear). attacks.

Systemwise, the board depicts the entire world, divided in land and maritime zones.

A turn proceeds as follow:
Initiative phase, where the players determine the order of play for the turn. Do I want to play first, and seize the initiative, launching preemptive strikes and attacks, at the price of acting first during the reinforcement phase, or do I temporize and play second or last.

Tech Phase: each player may advance their tech level by one point, knowing that they have 4 levels of tech possible divided in 4 Elements, Earth (strenghtening their land army), Fire (to make Atomic attack), Water (to strenghten their navy and protection against fire attacks) and Air (for aerial supremacy and range of fire attacks). Each Level of tech give access to new capacities and units. for example, a level 2 of the Fire element give the player the opportunity to launch each turn a fire attack succeding on a 5+ with a 6 sided die. Do I try to proceed in a balance way, or do I specialize in an Element ?

Build Phase : counting their colonies, the alliances with minor powers, the orichalc zones they control, the wonders they have built, the players may then spend their build points to make new alliances, build their cities and upgrading their already existing ones, build wonders, and of course, build their combat units, according to the tech levels they have.

Activation phase: the heart of the game. Each player must, in turn, do one of two things: launch a nuclear attack from one of his colony. If it is successful, and the targeted player do not defend himself with a Water Shield Protection, the area is destroyed once and for all! even if it fails, a unit in the area can potentially be destroyed!
The other possibility is to activate one or two areas and the units they hold. Units begin the turn face down, giving a nice fog of war, and are placed face up once they are activated. Choices must be made once again, do I activate my units early but limiting my potential actions for the rest of the turn, or do I buy time? A fragile balance between those two actions must be achieved. Combat is resolved with a die roll on a differential of strength chart, adding a number of "artefact events" according to the tech level of the engaged units.
During the end phase, the players check to see if a sudden death victory is taking place, that can occur if a player dominates a majority of the orichalc zones, or of the wonders.

The Atlantean Wars is a dynamic game designed for two or three players, with a rich and simple system of play, which can be taught in 20 minutes to a player.