Also, while the game isn’t illustration heavy, the cover and other scattered illustrations by Mac Hillier do a good job of setting a tone that’s both evocative of high fantasy while also maintaining a certain amount of whimsy. It’s these little, seemingly inconsequential touches that help draw you in to the world of ‘Treasure Mountain’ which, for worker placement game trying to get noticed in a market stuffed with good worker placement titles, is a valuable place the start. Great barrels and serviceable coins (Picture by Logan Giannini) The beer barrels, more than just wooden cylinders, are actually shaped like beer barrels, and the gems are little plastic gems instead of plain old wooden cubes. It’s a box full of colorful, playful “stuff,” and I can only imagine that the already nice components will get even nicer between now and the final product.

That said, even the test copy of this game is robust, coming in a deceptively svelte package that has a surprising amount of heft when you pick it up. Note that all descriptions of the physical components of this game are based on a prototype copy and are subject to change. Things are going to get deep… see what I did there? (Picture by Logan Giannini) What Do You Get for $55 In the game, players will be taking on the role of enterprising dwarves seeking to find fame and fortune inside this extraordinary mountain, though the paths they take toward that goal will often be completely different.

The listed playtime is 60-120 minutes, but I would say it definitely averages closer to the 120 minutes side, even with a low player count. Treasure Mountain, which is currently on Kickstarter from designer Daniel George and publisher August Games, is a worker-placement game, for 2-4 players (ages 8+) set inside the titular mountain. And then there’s one mountain, just one special mountain, that has all of that and more… What Is Treasure Mountain? Some may be ruled over by an imperious and mercurial dwarf king. Still others may offer a maze of passages guarded by murderous dragons. Other mountains, though, are a little more interesting, containing gems or gold.

Some mountains are boring, ice-covered affairs that offer little more than bitter-winds and immeasurable tons of rock (I’m looking at you, Kilimanjaro). This mountain is far from lonely… (Picture by Daniel George)

Dragon treasure board games