Action Point Allowance System Games
Browse all Action Point Allowance System board games in the Meeple Pulse database.
Styles
Themes
AbstractAdventureAncientAnimalsArtBusinessCard GameCo-operativeComic BookCooperativeCrimeEconomicEnvironmentalismExplorationFantasyHistoricalHorrorHumorIntrigueLiteraryMagicMarvelMedievalModernMuseumMysteryMythologyNatureNauticalPoliticalPress Your LuckSatireSci-FiSocial CommentarySocial InteractionSpaceSuperheroesThematicTravelWarWesternWord-Guessing
Mechanics
3D PlacementActingAction / DexterityAction DraftingAction Point AllowanceAction Point Allowance SystemAction Point SystemAction PointsAction ProgrammingAction QueueAction RetrievalAction SelectionAction/EventAlliancesAlternate ActivationApp-AssistedApp-DrivenArea ControlArea InfluenceArea MajorityArea Majority / InfluenceArea MovementArgumentationAsymmetricAsymmetric FactionsAsymmetric GameAsymmetric PowersAsymmetrical PowersAuction & BiddingAuction/BiddingAuctioningBag BuildingBettingBetting and BluffingBetting and WageringBetting and WagersBiddingBingoBlind BiddingBluffingCampaign / Battle Card DrivenCampaign / LegacyCampaign / Legacy GameCampaign / Mission-basedCampaign / ScenariosCampaign GameCampaign PlayCard DraftingCard DrawingCard DrivenCard Driven ActionCard Driven CombatCard Driven Dice AllocationCard Driven MovementCard ManagementCard PlayCard Play / Hand ManagementCard Play Conflict ResolutionCard SheddingCard-Driven MovementCharacter CreationCharacter ProgressionChit-Pull SystemCo-op PlayCo-operative GameCo-operative PlayCode-breakingCombat ResolutionCombo ChainCommand CardsCommodity SpeculationCommunication LimitsContract FulfillmentContractsCooperative GameCooperative GameplayCooperative PlayCooperative Trick-takingDebateDeck BuildingDeck ConstructionDeck, Bag, and Pool BuildingDeck-BuildingDeductionDexterityDice DraftingDice PlacementDice RollingDiplomatic InfluenceDraftingDynamic Battle SystemEnclosureEnd Game BonusesEngine BuildingEngine-BuildingEscape RoomEvent DrivenExplorationFarmingFlip and WriteFollowFollow ActionGrid CoverageGrid MovementHand ManagementHex-and-CounterHexagon GridHidden MovementHidden RolesI Cut You ChooseIncomeInfluence / Area MajorityLadder ClimbingLegacyLegacy ElementsLegacy GameLegacy SystemLimited CommunicationLine DrawingLine of SightMancalaMap MovementMarketMarket DraftingMarket ManipulationMarket MechanicMarket SpeculationMatchingMeasurement MovementMemoryMission ObjectivesModular BoardModular Board ConstructionMovement TemplatesMulti-Use CardsMulti-use CardsMultiple ScenariosMust FollowNarrative ChoiceNarrative Choice / ParagraphNegotiationNegotiation MechanicsNetwork & Route BuildingNetwork BuildingNetwork and Route BuildingOne vs ManyOne vs. ManyOpen DraftingPaper-and-PencilPartnershipsPattern BuildingPattern RecognitionPick-up and DeliverPlayer EliminationPlayer InteractionPlayer JudgePoint SaladPoint to Point MovementPolyominoesPush Your LuckPush-Your-LuckPuzzlePuzzle-LikePuzzle-SolvingRaceReal-TimeRecipe FulfillmentResource ManagementRole PlayingRole SelectionRoll / Spin and MoveRondelRoute BuildingRoute-BuildingRoute/Network BuildingSanity SystemScenario / Campaign PlayScenario / Mission / Campaign GameScenario / Mission FunctionSecret Unit DeploymentSemi-Cooperative GameSet CollectionSheddingSimulationSimultaneous ActionSimultaneous Action SelectionSimultaneous Hidden AllocationSocial DeductionSocial InteractionSolo / Solitaire GameSpace ExplorationStat Check / Skill CheckStock HoldingStorytellingStrategic PlanningTableau BuildingTactical Decision-MakingTake ThatTargeted CluesTeam PlayTeam-Based GameTeam-Based GuessingTeamworkTech TreesTech Trees / Tech TracksTechnology & Armament TracksTechnology TreeTension & Aggression TracksTile DraftingTile LayingTile PlacementTime TrackTime TravelTower DefenseTrack MovementTradingTrick-takingTug of WarTurn Order: PassTurn Order: Stat-BasedUnit PlacementVariable Phase OrderVariable Player PowersVariable Set-upVariable SetupVictory Point TracksVotingWord AssociationWord GameWord GuessingWord-GuessingWord-guessingWordplayWorker Placement

RANK #3
Embark on an unparalleled cooperative board game journey with Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, released in 2015, where your every decision permanently reshapes the world. As members of an elite disease-fighting team, you'll face an evolving global pandemic over a thrilling, persistent campaign, experiencing dramatic twists and turns that make each playthrough utterly unique. This groundbreaking legacy game challenges players with difficult ethical choices, dynamic rule changes, and an unfolding narrative, ensuring an unforgettable strategic experience unlike any other tabletop adventure.
m⚖️ N/A

RANK #10
Immerse yourselves in the iconic Galactic Civil War with Star Wars: Rebellion, the epic 2016 strategy board game that casts two players into an asymmetric struggle for ultimate power. One player commands the overwhelming might of the Galactic Empire, relentlessly hunting the hidden Rebel base across the galaxy, while the other masterminds the desperate and heroic Rebel Alliance, seeking to ignite sparks of hope and rally systems to their cause before being crushed. Featuring hidden movement, expansive planetary control, and a rich narrative driven by iconic characters and strategic card play, every decision shapes the fate of the galaxy in this definitive Star Wars experience.
m⚖️ N/A

RANK #15
Embark on a captivating strategic journey to cultivate your own flourishing principality in medieval Burgundy with this acclaimed 2011 board game. Players skillfully roll dice to acquire and place hex tiles, meticulously developing their estates by building settlements, raising livestock, mining silver, or engaging in trade. Every decision shapes your domain, demanding clever resource management and tactical foresight to accumulate victory points. "The Castles of Burgundy" offers a deeply engaging and satisfying tile-placement experience, rewarding careful planning and adaptability, making it a timeless classic for strategy board game enthusiasts seeking depth and replayability.
m⚖️ N/A

RANK #16
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization (2015) is a monumental strategy board game where players rewrite history, guiding their burgeoning civilization from antiquity through the modern era. Your ultimate goal is to accumulate the most culture points by developing a superior civilization, marked by technological advancements, powerful leaders, magnificent wonders, and a thriving population. This epic journey tests your foresight and adaptability, demanding careful long-term planning to emerge as the preeminent power in a constantly evolving world.
The game unfolds through a unique card drafting system, where new technologies, leaders, and wonders become available, requiring players to strategically acquire and utilize them using an innovative action point allowance system. Managing essential resources like food, minerals, and population is crucial for expansion and development, while balancing economic growth with military strength is paramount. Building a robust military deters aggression and secures your borders, adding a tense layer of player interaction and strategic bluffing to the otherwise deep economic engine.
Beloved for its unparalleled strategic depth and immersive thematic experience, Through the Ages offers a truly brain-burning challenge with virtually limitless replayability. Its elegant design minimizes luck, rewarding careful planning, efficient resource management, and cunning tactical decisions. Players adore the sensation of guiding a civilization through millennia, making profound choices that ripple across ages, creating a highly satisfying and richly rewarding gaming experience that stands as a benchmark for heavy strategy games.
m⚖️ N/A

RANK #20
Frosthaven
2022Frosthaven plunges players into a perilous cooperative legacy adventure set in the frozen north, far beyond the familiar lands of Gloomhaven. As intrepid mercenaries, your ultimate goal is to establish and defend a fledgling outpost, exploring a vast, untamed wilderness teeming with new challenges, enemies, and mysteries. This epic campaign game seamlessly blends tactical combat with a sprawling narrative, inviting players to shape the destiny of their characters and the titular settlement itself through a series of branching choices and evolving scenarios.
Gameplay revolves around intricate, card-driven combat where players strategically manage a hand of ability cards to move, attack, and execute special actions. Each turn, two cards are played, with players choosing one action from the top of one card and one from the bottom of the other, creating a dynamic action-point system. Beyond the battlefield, Frosthaven introduces a robust town-building and resource management phase, where players gather supplies, construct new buildings, and make critical decisions that impact the outpost's prosperity and unlock new content. The legacy aspect means the game permanently evolves with stickers, sealed envelopes, and irreversible choices.
Frosthaven captivates players with its unparalleled depth, offering hundreds of hours of immersive storytelling and strategic challenge. Its unique appeal lies in the satisfying loop of tactical combat, deep character progression, and the constant revelation of new content through its legacy mechanics. Fans adore its challenging scenarios, the rich, evolving world, and the profound sense of accomplishment derived from overcoming overwhelming odds and building a thriving community in a harsh, unforgiving land. It's a monumental cooperative experience for those seeking an expansive, narrative-driven fantasy saga.
1-4 120m⚖️ 4.4
BoxNo Cover Art
RANK #102
Concordia Venus
2018Concordia Venus invites players to a strategic journey across the ancient Roman world, where they will build an economic empire and expand their influence. The ultimate goal is to achieve prosperity and earn the most victory points by carefully establishing colonies, producing valuable goods, trading efficiently, and satisfying the favor of various Roman deities. This standalone expansion or module elevates the critically acclaimed Concordia experience with new challenges and opportunities for both competitive and cooperative play.
At its heart, Concordia Venus is an elegantly designed economic strategy game driven by clever hand management and an action point allowance system. Players use a limited hand of persona cards, each granting a specific action such as moving colonists across the point-to-point map, producing resources in their cities, or constructing new outposts. Mastering the timing of card play and the strategic use of the Tribune card to retrieve all spent actions is crucial for efficiency. The game beautifully blends set collection for resources and a subtle form of contract fulfillment through its diverse scoring criteria, rewarding thoughtful long-term planning over immediate gains.
Fans adore Concordia Venus for its profound strategic depth encased in remarkably straightforward rules, making it easy to learn yet challenging to master. Its unique appeal lies in the low-aggression yet highly interactive gameplay, where indirect competition for optimal city locations and resources keeps players engaged. With high replayability across different maps and a dynamic scoring system that rewards balanced development, Concordia Venus offers an intellectually stimulating and deeply satisfying experience for strategists seeking an economic engine-building game without excessive luck or complexity, now with added flexibility for team play.
2-6 120m⚖️ 2.8

RANK #252
Ankh: Gods of Egypt transports players to a mythical past where the old ways are fading and the people of Egypt are beginning to favor a single, monotheistic religion. In this fiercely competitive game, 2 to 5 players take on the roles of legendary Egyptian deities like Ra, Anubis, and Isis, each struggling for dominance and survival. The ultimate goal is to become the last god standing, the sole object of worship for all of Egypt. This is achieved by accumulating Devotion, the game's victory points, which are earned through strategic control of monuments, demonstrations of power in battle, and the loyalty of your followers. As the game progresses, the stakes get higher, and gods who fall too far behind in Devotion face the ultimate threat: being forgotten by history forever.
The gameplay is driven by an elegant and highly tactical action selection system. On their turn, a player performs one or two of four possible actions—moving their figures, summoning units, gaining followers, or unlocking unique Ankh powers—and advances a corresponding marker on a shared event track. When a marker reaches the end of its path, a game-altering event is triggered for all players. These events include claiming control of powerful monuments, strategically dividing the board into new regions with camel caravans, and, most importantly, initiating Conflict. Combat is a deterministic affair, completely free of dice rolls. Players commit battle cards from their hand and sum the strength of their god and warriors in a region to determine the victor. A truly unique and dramatic feature for games with three or more players is the Merge event, where the two players with the lowest Devotion scores are forced to combine their powers, becoming a single, more powerful entity for the remainder of the game.
What makes Ankh: Gods of Egypt so compelling is its blend of pure strategy and intense player interaction. The absence of randomness in combat means every victory and defeat rests squarely on the players' shoulders, rewarding careful planning and clever card play. The shared action track creates a fascinating puzzle, as every action you take brings the game closer to an event that might benefit your opponents more than you. The game is a constant battle of wits, where you must anticipate your rivals' moves while advancing your own position. The god-merging mechanic is a brilliant twist, ensuring that no player feels completely out of the running and introducing a surprising cooperative dynamic into a cutthroat competitive game. It is a stunning conclusion to a celebrated trilogy of mythology-themed games, offering a deep, rewarding, and unforgettable strategic experience.
2-5 90m⚖️ 3.1

RANK #2,015
Marvel: Crisis Protocol is a dynamic tabletop miniatures game where two players assemble, paint, and battle with teams of iconic characters from the Marvel Universe. More than just a fight to the finish, the game is an objective-based contest where strategy and positioning are paramount. Players take on the role of leaders, guiding their hand-picked squad of heroes and villains through a unique crisis scenario. The ultimate goal is to be the first to accumulate 16 Victory Points by controlling key locations on the battlefield and securing valuable assets, all while unleashing spectacular superpowers. Each game presents a new tactical puzzle, demanding players to adapt their strategy to the ever-changing state of the conflict and the unique combination of objectives in play.
Gameplay is defined by its innovative roster-building and scenario-generation systems. Before the game, each player creates a roster of ten characters, from which they will select their squad for the specific mission. The mission itself is determined by combining a "Secure" Crisis card, which dictates objective zones to control, with an "Extraction" Crisis card, which involves characters grabbing and holding objective tokens. This combination sets a "Threat Level" that limits which characters a player can field, ensuring balanced and varied matchups. During a round, players alternate activating one character, who can perform two actions like moving, attacking, or using a special ability. A core mechanic is the "Power" resource. Characters gain Power when they take damage, creating a thrilling ebb and flow where a hero on the ropes can power up for a devastating counter-attack, spending that energy to unleash their most famous and powerful abilities.
The game's immense appeal lies in its fusion of accessible rules with deep tactical gameplay, making it an excellent gateway into the miniatures hobby. While the core mechanics are straightforward, mastering character synergies, managing the Power economy, and utilizing the highly interactive terrain provides a rich strategic experience. The environment itself is a weapon; characters with superhuman strength can hurl cars, dumpsters, and newsstands at their opponents, creating cinematic moments straight from the comics. The high-quality miniatures are a hobbyist's delight, offering fantastic canvases for painting. Above all, Crisis Protocol excels at capturing the feel of a superhero battle, delivering a thematic, action-packed experience that is visually stunning and endlessly replayable thanks to its modular scenario system and ever-expanding roster of characters.
2 90m⚖️ 2.9

"Concordia Venus: Balearica / Italia" is an expansion map pack for the acclaimed Eurogame, "Concordia Venus" (which itself is a standalone game compatible with the original "Concordia"). Players take on the roles of Roman patricians, establishing vast trade networks and colonizing provinces across the Mediterranean. The ultimate goal is to accumulate the most victory points by strategically expanding their empire, collecting sets of goods, and demonstrating mastery over various Roman deities. This highly strategic game challenges players to balance immediate gains with long-term prosperity, all within the historical backdrop of the burgeoning Roman Empire.
At its core, Concordia utilizes an elegant hand management and action selection system. Players start with an identical hand of seven personality cards, each granting a specific action like moving colonists, producing goods, selling goods, or recruiting new specialists. Crucially, playing a \"Tribune\" card allows players to retrieve all previously played cards, dictating the tempo and rhythm of their turns. This simple yet profound mechanic ensures players are constantly evaluating their card play, planning several turns ahead, and adapting to their opponents' moves. The Balearica and Italia maps introduce fresh layouts and strategic challenges, forcing veteran players to re-evaluate their established build orders and trade routes.
Concordia is celebrated for its deep strategic gameplay wrapped in accessible rules. It's a game of efficiency, timing, and resource management without the often overwhelming complexity found in other heavy Euros. Its unique appeal lies in its \"point salad\" scoring system, where nearly every action contributes to victory points, making every decision feel meaningful. The lack of luck, direct conflict, and clear path to victory encourages diverse strategies and high replayability. \"Balearica / Italia\" enhances this by providing new geographical puzzles, ensuring that each game offers a fresh, engaging challenge for those who appreciate elegant design and cerebral gameplay.
2-5 90m⚖️ 2.9
BoxNo Cover Art
Concordia: Special Edition (2027) invites players to relive the glory of the Roman Empire, strategically expanding their influence across the Mediterranean. As powerful Roman families, your ultimate goal is to establish robust trade networks, build prosperous colonies, and master the art of economic prowess to accumulate the most victory points. This acclaimed Eurogame is celebrated for its elegant design, focusing on indirect player interaction and a satisfying blend of strategic depth with accessible rules, making it a cornerstone for serious board game enthusiasts and new strategists alike.
At its core, Concordia utilizes a brilliant action selection mechanism driven by a hand of persona cards. Each turn, players play one card to perform a specific action – such as colonizing new provinces, producing goods, trading resources, or acquiring new persona cards to expand their strategic options. The game's unique card-driven engine building allows for flexible play, where optimizing your hand and understanding the timing of your actions is paramount. Unlike many Eurogames, there's no dice rolling or random events; success hinges purely on your tactical decisions and foresight, rewarding careful planning over luck.
What truly sets Concordia apart is its remarkable replayability and 'low aggression, high interaction' dynamic. While players don't directly attack each other, competition for prime building locations, valuable resources, and crucial persona cards creates constant tension and strategic races. The scoring system, tied to various Roman gods, encourages diverse strategies and ensures that no single path to victory dominates, inviting players to explore different approaches in every game. This Special Edition promises an enhanced experience of a timeless classic, offering a premium presentation of a game renowned for its smooth gameplay, intellectual challenge, and enduring appeal.
2-5 120m⚖️ 3.2

Concordia: Salsa
2015Concordia: Salsa (2015) is a highly anticipated expansion for the critically acclaimed strategy game Concordia, enriching the Roman Empire-era economic experience. This expansion introduces two new maps – Byzantium and Egypt – alongside two innovative modules: 'Salt' and the 'Forum'. Players continue their quest to establish the most prosperous trading empire by strategically expanding across the Mediterranean, managing their hand of personality cards, and collecting valuable resources. The ultimate goal remains to score the most victory points, primarily determined by the diverse types of colonists, goods, and provinces they've established and collected throughout the game.
Gameplay in Concordia: Salsa expands upon the elegant card-driven core of Concordia. Players use their hand of identical personality cards to perform various actions like moving colonists, producing goods, trading, or buying new cards. The 'Salt' module introduces a new, highly flexible resource that can substitute for any other good, adding a layer of strategic depth to resource management and trade. The 'Forum' module introduces a market of unique bonus tiles, granting players powerful one-time or ongoing abilities when claimed, further diversifying strategic choices and offering exciting new ways to specialize or adapt. These additions seamlessly integrate with the base game, providing more paths to victory and dynamic player interactions.
Fans adore Concordia: Salsa for its brilliant integration of new elements without sacrificing the base game's renowned elegance and strategic depth. The 'Salt' resource offers greater tactical flexibility, while the 'Forum' tiles introduce exciting variable player powers and a unique race component, enhancing replayability and creating fresh challenges in every play. It maintains Concordia's signature low-luck, high-strategy appeal, rewarding careful planning and efficient execution, making it a must-have for those seeking to deepen their mastery of this modern classic and explore new strategic horizons.
2-5 120m⚖️ 3.0