Gearworld: The Borderlands

Gearworld: The Borderlands is a game of negotiation, conquest, and construction in which two to four players compete to gain the favor of the Sky People for their tribe of scavengers in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Based on the classic board game Borderlands designed by Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge, and Peter Olotka, Gearworld: The Borderlands has streamlined the original rules and re-imagined the game’s setting while retaining its predecessor’s spirit and core mechanics.

Scavenging the wastes is not an easy task, and luck plays a large role in which resources each tribe has to work with at the outset of its struggles. Controlling a production site gains your tribe one of those resources during the production phase. Tribes must jealously guard their mines, scrapyards, and ranches if they have any hope of being able to build or barter.

During setup, players take turns placing Resource Tokens facedown on the map. Once all the Resource Tokens are on the board, they are flipped over to reveal what each site produces. Players then place their tribe’s figures on spaces of the board. Each player must try to secure as many resources as he can for his tribe while constructing a defensible front to fend off greedy neighbors. Then the struggle for the favor of the Sky People begins.

While building the skyworks is the end goal, each tribe must use its resources wisely in order to reinforce its strength and enhance its ability to transport goods. Combining resources into weapons, bridges, ships, and riverboats while conserving enough to build skyworks is the delicate balancing act that each tribe must undertake.

Acquire resources by conquering your fellow scavengers, carefully defending your own lands, or using trade and diplomacy to gain an edge. The favor of the Sky People is yours for the taking provided you are able to outwit the other tribes of Gearworld: The Borderlands!