Back

The Battle at Kemble's Cascade

A shoot 'em up on the table, with space scrolling past as card rows disappear.

This is a board game take on the classic shoot 'em up, played on a scrolling space backdrop made of rows of cards. Each turn the bottom row drops away and a new one appears at the top, so the map moves under your pilots whether they are ready or not. You fly nimble fighters through asteroid clusters, collecting power-ups and money, fighting aliens and hunting lost treasure and ancient tech, all for glory. Everyone picks actions at the same time and resolves effects as the field scrolls, and you can team up or shoot each other. For one to five pilots, around 75 minutes, ages 13 and up.

Space scrolls by card rowsEveryone picks actions at onceTeams, solo or free-for-all

Who it's for

You grew up with arcade shooters and want that feeling on a table, with friends or alone.

Not for you if…

You prefer quiet, planned games. The scrolling board punishes slow deliberation.

Vibe's take

Fast, chaotic and a little cheeky, like an arcade cabinet in slow motion. The board keeps scrolling, so you are always deciding between grabbing a power-up and not getting left behind.

#3,641 on BGG

of over 30,000 ranked board games

Published 2014 · 12 years ago

older than 67% of games

In 2,866 collections

collected more than 40% of games

1–5 players · ages 10+

Best with 3 or 4 · publisher: 13+

about 75 min

longer than 71% of games · typical 30–90 min

Complexity: medium

One warm-up round · 2.6 out of 5 · heavier than 71%

Opinions: usual spread

A normal range of ratings

Language: little text

A few terms, easy to look up

Play style: in teams · solo too