Barrage
Barrage explained: place engineers, build dams and conduits, control shared water flow, produce hydroelectric energy and fulfill contracts over five rounds.
Compete for control of rivers in an alternate 1930s economy where water is the critical shared resource behind every hydroelectric project.
Dams, elevations, conduits and powerhouses work together as one network, but water can be redirected before it reaches the structures you planned to use.
Why We Love It
Barrage makes infrastructure genuinely interactive. Building a strong system is only half the puzzle; you also need to understand how every upstream decision changes the water available downstream.
About Barrage
Players place engineers on action spaces, construct hydroelectric infrastructure and rotate a construction wheel that temporarily locks spent machinery.
Producing energy advances the round track and can complete contracts, while company abilities and executive officers create asymmetric development paths.
Game at a Glance
Control Water
Track shared water as it moves from sources through the river system.
Build Infrastructure
Combine dams, elevations, conduits and powerhouses.
Recover Machinery
Construction tools return as your wheel rotates through later builds.
Produce Energy
Generate power to score, meet contracts and win round bonuses.
Who Barrage suits
Experienced strategy players who want aggressive economic interaction, route planning and a shared resource system where opponents can directly affect your plans.
Rules overview
Across five rounds, players place engineers to take actions and construct infrastructure. Dams store water, elevations increase capacity, conduits determine production value and powerhouses convert flowing water into energy. Construction uses machinery that becomes temporarily unavailable on the construction wheel. Energy can fulfill contracts and determines income and scoring bonuses at the end of each round.
Key decisions
Editorial analysis: Build around water access, not just empty map space. Upstream control can be more valuable than raw production efficiency because it determines which systems receive water at all.
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Learn Barrage in depth
Sources and edition notes
Facts checked September 17, 2026. This guide covers the base game without expansion maps or modules.