Arachnid has received a major overhaul in this latest version, #16. It is now a cooperative game and the shifting action track is back, better and stronger than it ever was. The first public play-test went fairly well and all the pieces seem to have come together. It’s been a long road so far, and there is definitely a lot of testing and refining to be done, but it looks like the game is now on the right track. The following is a brief description of the game in it’s current state.

Arachnid v16 Cooperative

Theme

You are part of a colony of spiders, struggling to survive in a harsh “Bug eat Bug” world. Build your web, grow your colony and enhance your skills as you fight the elements and fend off attackers. The battles with invaders culminate with you eating your attackers after they are vanquished. Can you and your fellow spiders survive long enough to claim victory over several waves of invading insects?

Game Description

Arachnid is a cooperative game for 2-4 players. Each player is a spider, and starts out with a hand of action cards. This hand of cards will evolve over time as the player’s unique roll in the colony becomes more clear.

The play area is a hex grid, where  players place tiles to show the web as it is spun. This shared web is the spider’s home, which they expand and reinforce to catch their prey. Bugs occasionally fly by, becoming trapped, and eventually, food. These Bugs are also used to acquire new skills, and breed more spiders to enhance the colony.

Players plan their strategy by laying out cards, face up, on an action track. This represents the possible actions the players might take. Players then choose which actions to take on a given turn by placing a token on the card of their choice, activating it. The chosen actions are resolved and the activated cards are removed from the track. The remaining cards are shifted downward and new cards are added to the beginning of the track. This action track is constantly shifting and the cards can gain more power or become less costly to use as they advance down the track. Players must anticipate events like bug attacks and storms, while deciding between leaving cards on the track to gain strength or using them to perform actions.

Each turn, a new event token is drawn from a bag. Events can range from bugs flying into the web, a storm, or an attack from a dangerous invader. Storms wipe out webs that aren’t properly reinforced, and clear off consumed bugs, so more can be captured. Storms also trigger replenishing of the event bag, which adds more powerful invaders to threaten the web.

How to win.

The life of a spider’s web is limited. The source of food is constantly diminishing, until it is no longer possible for the colony to thrive. The spider colony must build the web quickly and efficiently, to better cope with the ever increasing threat of weather and invading bugs. If the colony survives with no injured members as the last bugs are caught, then they are victorious. The spiders are now ready to start all over, with a new web in a new location.