Barrage

At the start of the game, each player selects a company and an officer pair, each providing unique abilities. Players also choose a starting contract from a selection of available options. Initial engineers are placed on the player board, and starting resources are allocated. The game board, including rivers, dams, conduits, and powerhouses, is set up with neutral structures and initial water droplets in the headstreams.

The primary objective of Barrage is to accumulate the most victory points by the end of five rounds of play. Victory points are primarily earned through generating power, constructing various types of buildings (dams, conduits, powerhouses), and fulfilling contracts. Strategic management of water flow and resource acquisition is crucial to achieving this goal.

Each round, players receive 12 engineers to place on action spaces. Actions include generating power from water trapped behind dams and flowing through conduits to powerhouses, managing water by placing additional droplets into headstreams (either immediately or for the next round), building structures (dams, conduits, powerhouses, and elevations) by spending excavators and concrete mixers, and visiting the workshop to rotate their construction wheel or gain resources. Players can also visit the contract office to acquire new contracts or the patent office to buy advanced technology tiles.

Scoring occurs at the end of each round. Players track their generated power on a dedicated track; the player with the most power in a round earns victory points, and the second-place player earns fewer. Additional scoring tiles placed on the board provide unique ways to earn points each round, often based on specific achievements like unique technologies. Income is also gained based on how far along the power generation track a player has advanced.

The game concludes after five rounds. At the end of the fifth round, a final scoring phase takes place. Players receive bonus victory points for any leftover resources, converted at a rate of five resources to one point. Additionally, an end-game scoring card is revealed, providing points based on specific conditions related to built structures and their locations, with first, second, and third place players scoring points accordingly.