THE GLADES EMPEROR
Introducing
The Glades Emperor is a worker placement game in which you play an outlaw in 1910. You are trying to establish a secret economic empire in the Florida swamps.
After surviving the wilderness, a hurricane and unpleasant locals, the player with the most powerful economy after a series of rounds wins.
2-4 PLAYERS
60-120 MIN
10+
​OVERVIEW
In the year 1910 the swamps of southern Florida were a refuge for outlaws. In this game you play an outlaw and utilize a group of Hired Hands to establish your secret economy.
There are many challenges along the way including sharing this space with other outlaws. Your goal is to build your specific business to be the regions economic power while not losing too much favor with the locals.
DEVELOPMENT PHASE
IDEA
PROTOTYPE
PLAYTESTING
FUNDING
FOR SALE
Currently The Glades Emperor is in the process of developing a prototype to play test. This prototype should be ready at upcoming conventions. You can check out our calendar to see where we will be!
YOUR OUTLAW
Each player chooses a morally low outlaw to establish their empire. Your board represents the financial and moral workings to show your progress which includes your bank, your boat, hired hand locators and your reputation with the locals.
The board also dictates where you will place your Master Plan, your Land Titles and Hired Hands.
The Glades Emperor allows up to 4 players and each player is given an individual outlaw and custom color.
Each player also plays with matching color Hired Hand tokens, coin money, boats, crop tokens, dice and a myriad of themed cards.
GAMEPLAY
LAND TITLES
The swampy coastal region is divided up into Land Lots that are up for grabs. When you acquire a Land Lot, you receive a Land Title card that shows you have claimed that spot.
There are 3 types of land in this area: coastal mangrove, fertile soil and swamp. Growing crops is one of the best ways to earn money and bargaining power, but only certain land types allow this so choose carefully and defend fiercely.
EMPIRE HELPERS
Your Hired Hands are the ambitious workers that build your business. They are ones that travel by land or boat to seek out new territory, tend to crops and fulfill various errands. Each Hired Hand in The Glades Emperor is represented with a colored token that matches your outlaws specific color.
These Hired Hand tokens can move around the map and even travel in boats. They easily slot into the matching color boat to show they are traveling by water. Each player also uses one pawn that represents the outlaw’s homestead. This pawn is placed at a permanant spot on the map for the duration of the game.
HIRED HANDS
Not only are Hired Hands represented with a colored token, but they each have a specific card that is in your possession when they work for you. Each card has the name and image of the Hired Hand. The card also contains a Qualities Wheel. This mechanic helps each player determine if the worker is of good quality or bad.
The space in the middle of the Qualities Wheel is a spot for Hired Hand locators. That way, if one of your tokens is either on a boat or at Smallwood’s, you can keep track.
1910 HURRICANE
After several rounds of play where each player establishes their empire on the board, the game becomes a reference to an actual historic event in this area. That event is the hurricane of 1910. Through a specialized series of mechanics, the large hurricane token moves through the map and causes devastation which will require some players to restructure their business after heavy losses.
There is no way to guess how the hurricane will move across the board. Each game is different!
THE SWAMP
The board is a map of what is called the Ten Thousand Islands in Southwest Florida. Here you can see the land divided into numbered land lots. The region also includes rivers, ponds and the bay, a commercial boat channel, docks and Smallwood’s Store.
The board also includes spaces to hold claimable land titles, round markers and the Hired Hand lineup where players can choose their workers.
