Following Wyrmspan and Apiary, designer Connie Vogelmann is back with Tideward, a new title scheduled for release in 2027 by Avalon Hill. Suitable for ages 10 and up, the game delivers a more family-friendly, smooth experience for 2 to 4 players, with 45-minute playthroughs and a light complexity rating of 2.00/5. In Tideward, your mission is to hatch green sea turtle eggs and guide the hatchlings from the sandy shore to the open ocean, securing them safely within a floating algal mat.
On the gameplay side, players manage food tokens to hatch eggs and boost their turtles’ movement speed. Navigating safely means dodging predatory ghost crabs along the shoreline, all while leveraging a clever core mechanic: a circular tide board that rotates 90 degrees at the end of each round! This tidal shift carries any turtles resting on it, allowing you to plan ahead and ride the currents deeper into the ocean.
The game end triggers as soon as one player successfully leads all their hatchlings into the water. Final scores are determined by your turtles’ layout on the algal mat and your secret Tide Quest objective cards. With four different algal mats included in the box—each with its own scoring rules and quest deck—the game offers solid replayability. A refreshing, tactical game to keep on your radar!
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9848500/tideward
