Meltwater
2018Erin Escobedo
- Videos
- 5
- Creators
- 5
Mostly reviews and playthroughs. Meltwater is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 2 reviews, 1 how-to-play guides, and 2 recorded sessions.
2 players
60 min
Medium weight: Teach it in one sitting
From BoardGameGeek
“Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win.” ~Gen. Thomas Power, U.S. Strategic Air Command 1957-1964 19XX: The unthinkable happens. The world is scoured clean in nuclear fire. The oceans are poisoned for generations to come. One last patch of habitable land remains: Antarctica. The remnants of humanity huddle together in a fragile patchwork of research stations and refugee ships. But even here, the Cold War survives. And our civilization may not. In Meltwater, two players take command of the shattered remains of the superpowers, struggling for control of the ice. Simple diceless mechanics let players displace, corner, and isolate their opponent's survivors. Here, hunger is a crueler weapon than gunfire, and the barren tundra can only support so many souls. And every turn, radioactive contamination pushes in from the coastline, shrinking the available space and forcing the belligerents closer and closer together. In the end, there is only either submission or annihilation, and whatever world is left. -description from the publisher
Watch first
Which Meltwater video should I watch?
Meltwater has 5 videos from 5 creators: 2 reviews, 1 how-to-play guide and 2 playthroughs. They date from 2025 to February 2026.
To learn the rules, start with "Meltwater - How to Play" by Capstone Games, which runs 11 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "Meltwater: My Favorite Mechanism" by Stonemaier Games. To see it played, watch "Meltwater. The game of tactical starvation in Antarctica" by Walk up to games, one of 2 playthroughs.
If you like it, try Ragnarocks, Yucatan, Fall of the Mountain King or Tide of Iron: Next Wave, which share several of its mechanics.
All videos
Creators who cover this
Board Gaymes James
1 video of this game
Capstone Games
1 video of this game
Frank N Dice
1 video of this game
Stonemaier Games
1 video of this game
Walk up to games
1 video of this game
Games like this
2023Guillaume Montiage
- Videos
- 24
- Creators
- 17
Mainly reviews and unboxings
2 - 4 players90 minHeavy weight
2022Adam E. Daulton
- Videos
- 34
- Creators
- 25
Mainly reviews
1 - 5 players60 - 90 minHeavy weight
2014John Goodenough, Corey Konieczka, Christian T. Petersen
- Videos
- 59
- Creators
- 2
Playthroughs
2 - 4 players60 - 240 minHeavy weight
About Meltwater
From BoardGameGeek:
“Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win.” ~Gen. Thomas Power, U.S. Strategic Air Command 1957-1964 19XX: The unthinkable happens. The world is scoured clean in nuclear fire. The oceans are poisoned for generations to come. One last patch of habitable land remains: Antarctica. The remnants of humanity huddle together in a fragile patchwork of research stations and refugee ships. But even here, the Cold War survives. And our civilization may not. In Meltwater, two players take command of the shattered remains of the superpowers, struggling for control of the ice. Simple diceless mechanics let players displace, corner, and isolate their opponent's survivors. Here, hunger is a crueler weapon than gunfire, and the barren tundra can only support so many souls. And every turn, radioactive contamination pushes in from the coastline, shrinking the available space and forcing the belligerents closer and closer together. In the end, there is only either submission or annihilation, and whatever world is left. -description from the publisher
Designer
Erin Escobedo
Artists
José Ramón Faura, Amelia Sales
Publisher
Capstone Games
Categories
Modern WarfareWargame
Mechanics