In 1846, 3-5 tycoons compete to earn money and build the best stock portfolio by investing in and operating railroads within the midwestern United States. Five competing railroads, in search of Midwestern grain and markets, crossed the Appalachian mountains in the early 1850s: the New York Central, Erie, Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio, and, via Canada, the Grand Trunk, backed by Boston merchants. In front of them were literally hundreds of failed local railroads, most existing only on paper, but a few had laid bits of track and acquired locomotives, before running out of capital and being sold to Eastern interests in 1846. Can you knit together these private companies and Eastern railroads to form the most profitable rail network in the Midwest, stretching to Chicago and St. Louis and connecting East and West. 17 x 22" mounted game board 1 available corporation/stock mat 7 corporate mats 63 corporate stock certificates 56 station/stock tokens 27 train cards 10 private company certificates 5 blank player cards 2 independent railroad train cards 1 Priority Deal card 117 track tiles Play money 12 page rules folder

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-768-1848-australia.aspx

1848 Australia, is a semi-historical railroad game from the 18xx set, and to which the designers credit some of this games' systems to the originator of the series - Francis Tresham.

The game consists of two separate series of actions repeated until the game ends, these are stock rounds and operating rounds. During stock rounds, shares in the various railroading companies are bought & sold by players and are tracked on the stock market mat. During operating rounds, the player/directors of those railroading companies are allowed to build track & place station markers on the map, and then may buy trains from which to earn capital from running those trains along routes on the map. The capital earned may be paid out as dividends to shareholders or retained by the company for future expansion.

The game ends at a pre-determined point, whereupon the player with the most worth,(cash on hand & share certificate value) wins.

As with many games in this series, there are similarities within the rules, but many feature slight differences, and it is these that give each individual 18xx game its character.

1848 features an interesting array of differences described above. These include how private companies are purchased, the inclusion of The Bank Of England as a public company that extends loans and administers railroads that are in receivership, dealing with different track gauges between states and 'The Ghan' special train.

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-692-1862-railway-mania-in-the-eastern-counties.aspx

1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties is an 18xx game set in East Anglia, England. It features a company-packed board, where 16 of 20 companies are randomly selected for use on a board containing only 37 hexes. Major features of the game are:

Petitioning parliament as a means of floating your preferred company
a mixture of full and partial capitalisation for companies
three train types with differing objectives and building requirements
company mergers and re-floatation
1860-style semi-linear stock-market featuring multiple stock jumps.

In 1880 China, players become railway magnates in faraway Asia. Based on 1829 by Francis Tresham, they experience China's railway history in a game that was designed to represent related historical events as correct as possible within its own game mechanics. Being a classic 18XX game, the players are competing in becoming the richest. In order to gain money, they buy and sell shares of China's historical railway companies, build and expand their railway network and let trains travel on the networks. Shares of successful companies are worth more and owning them will increase the chance to win the game.

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-543-1989-2nd-printing.aspx

"History punishes those who come too late." - Mikhail Gorbachev

1989: Dawn of Freedom is an exciting, fast paced game simulating the end of the Cold War in 1989. During this amazing year, a series of democratic revolutions ended the 40 year Soviet empire in Eastern Europe. 1989 simulates the political, social and economic aspects of these revolutions using a card-driven system similar to Twilight Struggle.

"No man is so old he cannot live one more year." - Leszek Kolakowski

One player plays the Communist. At the start of the game he holds unquestioned power across the six nations of the Warsaw Pact. But there are ominous clouds on the horizon. The new leader in Moscow has declared no more will Soviet tanks prop up tottering Communist governments. The economies, after decades of central planning and stagnation, have reached various stages of crisis. Inside the churches and among the students and their professors there are dissident movements that have been emboldened. From crushing dissent to offering concessions, the Communist player will have to use a variety of strategies in a struggle to hold on to his empire.

"A bad regime is never in so great danger as when it tries to improve." - Alexis de Tocqueville

The other player plays the Democrat. At the dawn of 1989, behind the iron curtain, no one considers revolution possible. The goal of dissidents is to create a civil society outside the control of the Communist regimes. On their side are students who are fascinated with the style and pop culture of the west, and the Church. Against them is the vast apparatus of the Communist state. Their challenge is to persuade the workers, who are the bulk of society, to join their cause.

"Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan

https://www.rprod.com/en/games/7-wonders-duel

In many ways 7 Wonders Duel resembles its parent game 7 Wonders as over three ages players acquire cards that provide resources or advance their military or scientific development in order to develop a civilization and complete wonders.

What's different about 7 Wonders Duel is that, as the title suggests, the game is solely for two players, with the players not drafting cards simultaneously from hands of cards, but from a display of face-down and face-up cards arranged at the start of a round. A player can take a card only if it's not covered by any others, so timing comes into play as well as bonus moves that allow you to take a second card immediately. As in the original game, each card that you acquire can be built, discarded for coins, or used to construct a wonder.

Each player starts with four wonder cards, and the construction of a wonder provides its owner with a special ability. Only seven wonders can be built, though, so one player will end up short.

Players can purchase resources at any time from the bank, or they can gain cards during the game that provide them with resources for future building; as you acquire resources, the cost for those particular resources increases for your opponent, representing your dominance in this area.

A player can win 7 Wonders Duel in one of three ways: each time you acquire a military card, you advance the military marker toward your opponent's capital, giving you a bonus at certain positions; if you reach the opponent's capital, you win the game immediately; similarly, if you acquire any six of seven different scientific symbols, you achieve scientific dominance and win immediately; if none of these situations occurs, then the player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

https://www.rprod.com/en/games/7-wonders-architects

In 7 Wonders: Architects, 2-7 players race to become a leader of the ancient world by completing an architectural wonder that will last through the ages.

Players receive an unconstructed wonder at the beginning of the game and must collect resources to build their society, develop military might to navigate conflicts, oversee resource management, research science improvements, and collect civil victory points as they race to leave their mark on world history.

7 Wonders: Edifice gives players the opportunity to work together to construct communal buildings. If you do your part and the building comes to be, you'll be rewarded. You don't have to participate, but if you don't — and the building never comes to be — you'll suffer a penalty.

In more detail, this expansion contains fifteen edifice cards: five each in ages I, II, and III. To set up, choose one card from each age at random, then place it project side face up on the table and place 2-5 participation markers on each card, depending on the number of players. The project side lists both the potential reward and potential penalty.

Once during an age, when you construct a level of your wonder, you can pay the cost of the edifice card for the current age (in addition to the cost of that level) and gain a participation marker from that card.

As soon as the last participation marker is removed from a card, flip the card over to reveal its constructed side and immediately give each player the listed reward. If at the end of the age at least one participation marker remains on the card, each player without one of these markers suffers the penalty. (If a player cannot suffer the full penalty, e.g., paying 5 coins, they instead take a debt token worth -2, -3, or -5 points depending on the age.)

7 Wonders: Edifice contains two new double-sided wonders; one of them, Ur, can only be used with this expansion, while Carthage can be used in any game of 7 Wonders.

878 Vikings is an area control game for 2 - 4 players. Gain fame, riches and a new home as the Vikings voyaging to England, or defend your Kingdom and Christendom from the pagan hordes!. Viking players control the Norsemen Viking freemen and the fearless Viking shock troops known as Berserkers.

Players for each side work together in order to coordinate their strategies. The English start the game controlling all of England, but then the Viking players invade from the sea to strike deep into English territory! Players decide when to end the game by calling for the Treaty of Wedmore. The team controlling the most cities by the end of that round wins the game.

Using the central board in A Feast for Odin, players have to hunt, gather basic materials, refine those materials, develop their production-buildings, build/buy ships, and raid settlements.

The resulting earnings are placed on the players' board in the best possible pattern to produce income and (later) victory points.

The first large expansion for A Feast for Odin, The Norwegians includes four new islands (Isle of Man, Isle of Skye, Islay, Outer Hebrides) with Irish coastal viking-settlements on the backside (Waterford, Wexford, Cork, Limerick), where people from Norway came to stay through the winter (longphort), to trade at, and to settle nearby. This offers new strategies and new puzzle-tiles like horse (6VP, 2x5 spaces)/pregnant horse/leather(green)/vadmal(blue) and pigs (1 VP, breed every round; 2x3 - 1 = 5 spaces)/herbal (orange)/ antler (green)/tools (blue). The game has a third box for the tiles and offers the four old islands too (renewed little different VPs and new graphic-aspects of mini-expansion islands Lofoten/Orkneys/Tierra del Fuego).

The expansion includes another mountain-strip (last round), more two-silver coins, meat/beans and runes/oil and a "little emigration" piece that covers one food instead of two. You get it on a new action-space for giving away a whaling boat. The renewed action board has three pieces that can be turned around for different numbers of players (version for 1-2, 3, and 4 players), which increases the chances of players getting in each others way. It contains new opportunities like butchering, elk-hunting, fishing, and thievery, along with changes for some old actions. It's now easier, for example, to play an animal strategy, also because you can now get two of the same animals in one action. There is also a new fifth column to make a (better) action with your last viking! You can smith, for example, now a grey piece with maximum of eight swords by using an ore and only one action. Also for this, there are five new grey puzzle-pieces like pan, hauberk or anvil and a little board for smithable pieces with fewer than nine swords.

Totally new is also the idea of a random start-building. Everybody gets one of the six artisan shed boards and can build the front or backside with one wood and one action. These buildings offer, covered like stonehouse and longhouse, some stuff (pieces, weapons, commodities), VPs and one silver (horse stable 2 silver). So everybody has another different start-opportunity - like the profession card. In this expansion, you choose the best of two cards to start with. Another new option is, that instead of puting a profession card into the game, you can throw it away for a VP-chip. A nice little competitive element, because there are only two 4-VP-chips, six 3-VP-chips and eight (endless) 2-VP-chips.

The expansion includes no almanac about game-elements and their viking-history. But again it was written by Gernot Köpke as a "historical-science"-journalist and learnd lokal newspaper editor and main elements will be published on BGG at https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2023534/almanac-almanach
The expansion includes also an extra board for ships and small emigration tiles.

King Robert Baratheon is dead, and the lands of Westeros brace for battle.

In the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game, three to six players take on the roles of the great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, as they vie for control of the Iron Throne through the use of diplomacy and warfare. Based on the best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones is an epic board game in which it will take more than military might to win. Will you take power through force, use honeyed words to coerce your way onto the throne, or rally the townsfolk to your side? Through strategic planning, masterful diplomacy, and clever card play, spread your influence over Westeros!

A War of Whispers is a competitive board game for 2 to 4 players. Five mighty empires are at war for the world, but you are no mighty ruler. Instead, you play a secret society that is betting on the results of this war while pulling strings to rig the results and ensure their bets pay off. A War of Whispers is a game of deep strategy, hidden agendas, and shifting loyalties.

You start the game with five loyalty tokens, each corresponding to one of the five different empires, bet randomly on a loyalty value. Your primary goal is to ensure that when the game ends, the empires you are most loyal to control the most cities across the globe. Gameplay consists of turns broken down into four phases:

    Deploy agents phase: In player order (starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise), each player removes, then deploys agents to empire councils, the positions on the board marked Sheriff, Steward, Marshall, and Chancellor.
    Empire turns phase: Each council position on each empire council will take an action. If a player has acquired cards, they may play them during this phase.
    Cleanup phase: Add the turn marker to the next space on the turn tracker, then each player discards down to the hand limit of five cards.
    Swap phase: In player order, each player may swap two of their unrevealed loyalty tokens. If you choose to do so, you must reveal both of the swapped loyalty tokens. They remain revealed for the rest of the game.

Gameplay repeats itself in this order four times. When the last space on the turn track is filled, the game ends immediately and scoring commences. The player with the most points based off their empire loyalties and the cities they control wins.

It's been twenty years since Victor Frankenstein died on a ship in the arctic, but his vengeful creature lives on, as does Robert Walton, the sea captain who vowed to kill the fiend before mercy stayed his hand. It's now 1819, and a sinister darkness descends upon the city of Paris. A mysterious benefactor of gigantic stature has emerged in the scientific community, never showing his face, claiming to possess the late Frankenstein's research. He sponsors a grand competition, offering an even grander prize: unlocking the mystery of mortality!

Renowned scientists from around the world come to take part: some drawn to solve this eternal riddle, others coerced against their will. But a certain captain comes as well, one deeply suspicious of the secretive patron, hoping to finally fulfill his vow.

Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein is a competitive game of strategic monster building for 2-4 players, inspired by Mary Shelley's classic novel of gothic horror. In the game, the creature demands your help to accomplish what his own creator would not: to bring to life an abomination like itself, a companion to end its miserable solitude. Through worker placement and careful management of decomposing resources, you'll gather materials from the cemeteries and morgues around the city, conduct valuable research at the Academy of Science, hire less-than-reputable associates, and toil away in your lab — all in an effort to assemble a new form of life and infuse it with a "spark of being". Do well, and the creature may reward you during one of its surprise visits; do poorly, and you may come to regret not putting forth more effort. Narrative elements come into play throughout the game, guided by your decisions, leading to potentially unsavory outcomes.

The game ends when you succeed in bringing your creation to life or when the Captain kills the creature, whichever happens first. Then the player with the most points fulfills Frankenstein's dark legacy, becoming his heir, for good or ill...

News from the outpost is worrying. The Leviathans, these terrifying sea monsters, are converging towards the border and threatening the Kingdom. Will the Allies and the conscripts, mandated by each of the Guilds, contain them? Exploring is now dangerous: fighting is not easy, and fleeing can be even more dangerous — but the opportunity is unique to prove your worth and use this influence to gain access to the throne.

In Abyss: Leviathan, the threat track is replaced by the border board on which Leviathan cards will be placed. When you explore the depths, if the revealed card is a monster, you can fight a Leviathan on the border. Some new lords and some allies will help you fight, using their power. The player who has killed the greatest number of sea monsters takes the statue and wins 5 extra points at the end of the game — and if you do not fight, you may get injured...

Age of Innovation is a standalone game set in the world of Terra Mystica.

Twelve factions, each with unique characteristics, populate this world of varying terrains. Here you will compete to erect buildings and merge them into cities. Each game allows you to create new combinations of factions, homelands, and abilities so that each game isn't the same as another.

You control one of these factions and will terraform the game map's terrain into your homelands where you can erect your buildings. Proximity to other factions may limit your expansion, but it also gains you significant advantages in the game. This tension adds to the appeal of the Terra Mystica series.

Upgrade your buildings to gain valuable resources such as tools, scholars, money, and power. Build schools to advance in different sciences and collect books, which you can use to make innovations. Build your palace to gain a powerful new ability or build workshops, guilds, and universities to complete your culture.

Includes: a 2 sided game board with maps of Hungary and Finland in the new Age of Steam: Deluxe graphic style.

Includes: a 2 sided game board with maps of France and Poland in the new Age of Steam: Deluxe graphic style.

Includes: a 2 sided game board with maps of Hungary and Finland in the new Age of Steam: Deluxe graphic style.

Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps! is a co‑operative survival board game in which you and your team of specialist Colonial Marines will gear up with serious firepower and head into Hadley's Hope to find survivors and answers. But you're not alone. To survive, you'll need to work together, keep your cool, and stay frosty to fight off relentless Xenomorph ambushes and get out of there alive.

Players can play up to six different missions, taking them into different areas from the Hadley’s Hope terraforming facility to the deep, dark recesses of an xenomorph nest. Aliens also offers an exciting campaign mode to play four of the missions linked together, so players will need to fight relentless xenomorph attacks and keep each other alive all the way to the end of the campaign. The remaining two missions are purely about survival, it’s kill or be killed. The players are dropped into the game with nothing more than a pistol. They will need to scavenge weapons and gear while hordes of Xenomorph aliens are trying to get at them. How long can you survive against the odds?

Alma Mater has players serving as a headmaster of one of the independent universities in the 15th century. Players seek to strengthen their school's reputation and standing. To achieve these goals, players need to recruit the best staff and students, exchange knowledge with other schools, and become experts in the school's four disciplines!

Altiplano, a bag-building game along the lines of Orléans set in the South American highlands of the Andes — the Altiplano — is not a simple game, presenting players with new challenges time and again. There are various ways to reach the goal, so the game remains appealing to try out new options and strategies, but success or failure also depends on whether your opponents let you do as you like or thwart the strategy you are pursuing. The competition for the individual types of goods is considerable — as is the fun in snatching a coveted extension card from under another player's nose!

Each player starts with a unique role tile, giving them access to different goods and methods of production. Their access to goods is limited at the start, but players can acquire additional production sites throughout the game that give new options. The numerous goods — such as fish, alpaca, cacao, silver or corn — all have their own characteristics and places where they can be used. Whereas a player with silver can sell it for a high price at the market, a player with fish can exchange them for other goods at the harbor, and a player with alpaca can produce wool that can then be made into cloth at the farm.

Aside from building up an effective production, players must deliver the right goods at the right time, develop the road in good time, and store their goods cleverly enough to fill their warehouses in the most valuable way. Often, a good warehouseperson is more relevant in the end than the best producer.

A traveler wanders through the South American highlands and brings the inhabitants new ideas from his travels. Anyone who meets him can take advantage of these assets. A public trading point makes it possible to obtain rare goods in exchange for opals. And a variety of fortunes adds even more diversity to life among the mountain ranges in Bolivia and Peru.

With Altiplano: The Traveler, the planning of moves in Altiplano becomes more important and accessibility to resources becomes more interactive. Above all, the assets that may be purchased from the traveller open up completely new ways to increase one's own wealth. But unforeseen fortunes sometimes demand spontaneous decisions which influence planning.

Thus, the drive for success in this inhospitable region turns into a completely new challenge! Who's prepared for this?

Everyone knows of the pyramids on the Nile — eternal monuments of a powerful and beautiful culture that can still take our breath away. The players (leaders of a royal Egyptian family) choose their sites, build their pyramids, and thank Amun-Re and the other gods for their bounty.

In Amun-Re, each pharaoh wants to build the most pyramids. To accomplish this, they must first acquire a province where they can trade and farm. With their profits, they can buy new provinces and building stones to erect pyramids. For all their actions, players must make clever use of their power cards and always offer appropriate sacrifices to Amun-Re.

Amun-Re: 20th Anniversary Edition features new modules that can be added to the game:

Officials Variant: The Officials variant can only be played with two or three players. It gives players an additional Scribe for bidding. Each round players will bid for two provinces, keeping control of just one and gaining the Officials card from the other. The Officials cards offer exciting instant bonuses.

Afterlife Expansion: The Afterlife expansion adds a fourth item you can buy in the market phase - Tomb tiles. Players place the tiles into their own personal pyramid shape, starting with a base of up to five tiles. Each placed tile gives the player a bonus, and this bonus is multiplied if the tile is placed on top of matching tiles within the pyramid. At the end of the game, each completed row of tiles is worth points.

Statues Expansion: In each of the first three rounds, grand statues are added to certain provinces. These statues each grant unique powers to the player who controls the province in which they are built. This expansion adds extra interest to the auction phase and gives players their own player powers that may vary each time. The statues will be miniatures representing Egyptian gods.

Pharaoh Mini Expansion: This mini expansion adds tension to the auction phase by rewarding players for overbidding other players. The Pharaoh moves to each province that is overbid, and at the conclusion of the auctions the player who wins the province with the Pharaoh receives a token that grants extra rewards in the subsequent offerings phase.

Includes the Doomsday, the Pioneers of New Earth and the Guardians of the Council modules, along with the 6 Guardian Exosuit miniatures.

It is the late 26th century. Earth is recovering from a catastrophic explosion that exterminated the majority of the population centuries ago and made most of the surface uninhabitable due to unearthly weather conditions. The surviving humans organized along four radically different ideologies, called Paths, to rebuild the world as they see fit: Harmony, Dominance, Progress, and Salvation. Followers of the four Paths live in a fragile peace, but in almost complete isolation next to each other. Their only meeting point is the last major city on Earth, now just known as the Capital.

By powering up the mysterious Time Rifts that opened in the wake of the cataclysm, each Path is able to reach back to specific moments in their past. Doing so can greatly speed up their progress, but too much meddling may endanger the time-space continuum. But progress is more important than ever before: if the mysterious message arriving through the Time Rift is to be believed, an even more terrible cataclysm is looming on the horizon: an asteroid bearing the mysterious substance called Neutronium is heading towards Earth. Even stranger, the scientists show that the energy signature of the asteroid matches the explosion centuries ago...

Anachrony features a unique two-tiered worker placement system. To travel to the Capital or venture out to the devastated areas for resources, players need not only various Specialists (Engineers, Scientists, Administrators, and Geniuses) but also Exosuits to protect and enhance them — and both are in short supply.

The game is played in 4-7 turns, depending on the time when the looming cataclysm occurs (unless, of course, it is averted!). The elapsed turns are measured on a dynamic Timeline. By powering up the Time Rifts, players can reach back to earlier turns to supply their past "self" with resources. Each Path has a vastly different objective that rewards it with a massive amount of Victory Points when achieved. The Paths' settlements will survive the impact, but the Capital will not. Whichever Path manages to collect most points will be the new seat for the Capital, thus the most important force left on the planet...

The Exosuit Miniatures Set adds 24 super-sized (55 mm tall) Exosuit miniatures to Anachrony, replacing the cardboard Exosuit hex tiles.

This product does not include any gameplay related content, only the miniatures.

https://mindclashgames.com/anachrony-universe/fractures-of-time/

Since the Paths' Time Rifts powered up for the first time on the Day of Reminiscence, masses of people across New Earth have been seeing visions of a fifth Time Rift hovering over the eerie Ground Zero of the impact, waiting to be discovered. These visions also invoked an increasing sense of empathy and fellowship between these people — a bond much stronger than their Path affiliation. A mass exodus from the Path capitals took place over the course of the first Era, and the first pioneers discovered that the Time Rift in their visions not only exists, but it holds the foundations of a new civilization, one that may eventually set all people of New Earth down a new path - the Path of Unity.

Explorers from the Path of Unity soon discovered a secluded mountain valley where the enigmatic flora not only survived the impact, but it mutated and evolved by the asteroid’s toxic Neutronium dust. The resulting flower-like crystal formations synthesize a substance called Flux, which is collected and studied by the Harvesters, the valley’s mysterious inhabitants. The Harvesters are willing to share the secrets of the Flux technology with the Paths, but remain silent about its side effects, which only they are immune to...

In the alternate storyline of Fractures of Time, Anachrony’s first major expansion, the four original Paths and the newly formed, sanguine Path of Unity have gained access to a powerful new technology called Flux. Flux Cores can be acquired in the Amethynia Valley, the expansion’s new main zone. By using the Flux Cores to power up their Fracture device, players may move (“Blink”) one of their already placed Exosuits to a new action space instead of placing a new one, or immediately retrieve some of their Workers or Free Action markers. This can result in never-before-seen action efficiency, but just like the Time Rifts, the Flux technology is a double-edged sword. Without a sufficiently advanced Fracture device, overusing it can cause Temporal Glitches; hectic negative effects such as shutting down the Exosuit bay slots, temporarily disabling buildings, or making players more prone to Anomalies.

The Valley holds other secrets as well. The Operators’ advanced technology allows players to remove the Temporal Glitches, upgrade their classic Path tech with new quirks, and even enlist the Harvesters themselves as a powerful new class of Workers, who are immune to the Flux’s side effects.

Future Imperfect is a modular expansion for Anachrony, with four new modules expanding the possibilities beyond new horizons. These modules are playable on their own, but they are also compatible with each other and most past and future Anachrony modules and expansions.

Neutronide Buildings offers a set of 4 new buildings that become increasingly effective the more Power Plants you have.

The Hypersync module allows you to perform a Capital action without actually placing an Exosuit, then in the future use the new Hypersync Action to make your placement affect the past. This puts serious strain on the space-time continuum, increasing the risk of Paradoxes, but often the risk is worth the reward and the flexibility. This module is supported for 1-4 players (Fractures of Time expansion required for solo play.)

With the Quantum Loops module, you are no longer limited to warping from your own timeline: the module opens up parallel universes where resources are more plentiful, the locals are eager to join your cause, or their technology allows you to shortcut your own travels through time... The possibilities multiply through a new Warp tile that grants access to the powerful Quantum Effect cards, but beware - to close a loop to a parallel universe, you will need a real Breakthrough... This module is supported for 1-4 players (Fractures of Time expansion required for solo play.)

The Intrigues of the Council module simulates the World Council's political machinations, bringing two new aspects to the game: another layer of player interaction and customizable endgame scoring objectives, influenced by the players. By sending Exosuits to the right place at the right time, players can receive bonus resources and compete to build a tableau of Agenda tiles, which replaces the base game's Endgame Condition scoring. This module is recommended for 3 or 4 players.

Welcome to the world of the unseen!

Armies of angels and demons clash in an epic battle over a human soul. While the forces of heaven try to influence for good, the demonic fallen angels strive to draw the soul into darkness and despair. In the realm of the spirital world, mighty angel warriors try to hold their positions against onstorming demons and tormentors, by seeking to break their defenses, or by taking control of valuable crystals and living water fountains to slowly turn the tide of war to their advantage. The mighty and mysterious 6-winged seraphs summon new angels to gain a foothold on the enemy´s flank. Meanwhile the archangels, God´s chosen messengers, move like lightning over the battlefield, commanding their forces, and bringing fear to the hosts of evil. The archdemons, false gods of the ancient world, no less cunning, rise up to meet them in battle. They all know the victory belongs to the wisest leader. Are you that leader?

In Anno 1800, a board game based on the popular PC game from Ubisoft, you continuously build up your own industry to develop your home island.

Ship fleets allow for lively trade and the development of new islands in the Old and New World. You have to fulfill the wishes of your own population. While the inhabitants are initially satisfied with bread and clothing, they soon demand valuable luxury goods. You must plan production chains sensibly and keep an eye on the specialization of your population. The goal: A wise distribution of farmers, workers, craftsmen, engineers, and investors — but the competition never sleeps and can snatch the new achievements from under your nose at any time! Who can create the most prosperous island?

Aquatica is a deep, but easy to learn family engine builder about underwater kingdoms.

In the game you will become one of the mighty ocean kings, struggling to bring glory to his realm. To win the game, you need to capture and buy locations, recruit new characters, and complete goals; each of these actions gives you victory points at the end of the game. To do so, you need to play cards from your hand (each with a unique set of actions) and combine them. Don't think it's simple! With a good strategy during your turn, you can take up to ten actions in a row.

You will encounter plenty of mysterious ocean creatures and take them to your hand. With their help you will explore the unknown locations and raise found resources from the ocean depths to your kingdom. Mechanically this is represented with the help of three-layered player board and the unique mechanism of card-rising.

The waters of Aquatica has been prospering for centuries. With wise and noble Sea-Kings all sea creatures lived in peace and serenity.
But one day everything changed...Cold waters of the North Ocean rushed into warm waters of Aquatica because of underwater volcanoes’ eruptions. Immediate and strong climate changes brought unexpected consequences.
Citizens of Aquatica were surprised to find out that polar seas were full of life - unusual and unfamiliar. They still had no idea that several northern nations also discovered wealth and prosperity of Aquatica. And they are ready to fight for resources.
The Royal City is down in ashes after volcanic eruption, panic is everywhere. Even 4 brave Sea-Kings, who started a fight for the Crown of Aquatica, didn’t even pay attention to reports about weird creatures in the outskirts of the Empire... And so The Polar Invasion begins!
The expansion Aquatica: Cold Waters consists of several modules. It includes all necessary components for the fifth player, which can be used with the basic game, but also brings new type of locations, new cards of Ocean’s creatures, and alternative mechanic, replacing the goal-track in the basic game.

Architects of the West Kingdom is set at the end of the Carolingian Empire, circa 850 AD. As royal architects, players compete to impress their King and maintain their noble status by constructing various landmarks throughout his newly appointed domain. Players need to collect raw materials, hire apprentices, and keep a watchful eye on their workforce. These are treacherous times, and rival architects will stop at nothing to slow your progress. Will you remain virtuous, or be found in the company of thieves and black marketeers?

The aim of Architects of the West Kingdom is to be the player with the most victory points (VP) at game's end. Points are gained by constructing various buildings and advancing work on the Archbishop's cathedral. Throughout the game, players need to make a lot of moral decisions. However, only at game's end will their virtue be judged. A few underhanded deals here and there might not seem like much, but fall too far and you will be punished. The game ends once a set number of constructions have been completed.

In Architects of the West Kingdom: Age of Artisans, journeymen have returned to the city as master craftsmen, equipped with knowledge of new crafts and tools. The Guildhall has never been so busy! While some apprentices spend time learning new skills, others adorn the city’s buildings with everything from golden tapestries, to stained glass windows. But don’t let the shimmer of lights and fancy wares deceive you. For not all that glitters is gold.

In addition to including components for an extra player, Age of Artisans adds the new Craft Cards, a dual-layered Guildhall Board, two new Player Boards and a variety of new Apprentices and Buildings.

In Architects of the West Kingdom: Works of Wonder, builders from far and wide have travelled to partake in the King’s latest endeavour - five glorious monuments to beautify the city. However, not just any architect can be entrusted with such a task. Only those of influence and charitable reputation shall receive this great honour. Will you accompany the Princess as she surveys the projects, or rally support from the elusive Profiteer?

Works of Wonder introduces an extension to the main board to hold the new Contribution/Consequence Cards, and keep track of players' Influence. Players compete to construct the 5 Wonders, while gaining support from the new Princess and Profiteer tokens moving about the main board. Also included is an entirely new solo system with 6 unique opponents to compete against.

Architects of the West Kingdom needed to play

In Ark Nova, you will plan and design a modern, scientifically managed zoo. With the ultimate goal of owning the most successful zoological establishment, you will build enclosures, accommodate animals, and support conservation projects all over the world. Specialists and unique buildings will help you in achieving this goal.

Each player has a set of five action cards to manage their gameplay, and the power of an action is determined by the slot the card currently occupies. The cards in question are:

CARDS: Allows you to gain new zoo cards (animals, sponsors, and conservation project cards).
BUILD: Allows you to build standard or special enclosures, kiosks, and pavilions.
ANIMALS: Allows you to accommodate animals in your zoo.
ASSOCIATION: Allows your association workers to carry out different tasks.
SPONSORS: Allows you to play a sponsor card in your zoo or to raise money.
255 cards featuring animals, specialists, special enclosures, and conservation projects, each with a special ability, are at the heart of Ark Nova. Use them to increase the appeal and scientific reputation of your zoo and collect conservation points.

Ark Nova: Zoo Map Pack 1 contains the two new zoo maps #9 (Geographical Zoo) and #10 (Rescue Station).

The Atiwa Range is a region of southeastern Ghana in Africa consisting of steep-sided hills with rather flat summits. A large portion of the range comprises an evergreen forest reserve, which is home to many endangered species. However, logging and hunting for bushmeat, as well as mining for gold and bauxite, are putting the reserve under a lot of pressure.

Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Kibi, the mayor is causing a stir by giving shelter to a large number of fruit bats in his own garden. This man has recognized the great value the animals have in deforested regions of our planet: Fruit bats sleep during the day and take off at sunset in search of food, looking for suitable fruit trees up to sixty miles away. They excrete the seeds of the consumed fruit, disseminating them across large areas as they fly home. A single colony of 150,000 fruit bats can reforest an area of up to two thousand acres a year.

Just like that mayor, in Atiwa, you know that fruit bats — once scorned and hunted as mere fruit thieves — are in fact incredibly useful animals, spreading seeds over large areas of the country. By doing so, they help to reforest fallow land and, in the medium term, improve harvests. This realization has led to a symbiotic co-operation between fruit bats and fruit farmers. The animals are kept as "pets" to increase the size of fruit farms more quickly. Tall trees are left as roosts, providing shelter for them rather than hunting them for their scant meat. However, if you have a lot of fruit bats, you need a lot of space...

In the game, you will develop a small community near the Atiwa Range, creating housing for new families and sharing your newly gained knowledge on the negative effects of mining and the importance that the fruit bats have for the environment. You must acquire new land, manage your animals and resources, and make your community prosper. The player who best balances the needs of their community and the environment wins.

Axis & Allies celebrates 25 years of strategy war gaming with a deluxe edition of its original theater-level game. Axis & Allies Pacific 1940, designed and developed by Larry Harris, utilizes the updated rules established in A&A Anniversary Edition. Two new combat units debut in this game, Tactical Bombers and Mechanized Infantry. Australia and New Zealand, joined together as the ANZAC forces, represent a new playable ally. China fields more forces than ever before, but will need help from their allies -- the United States and England -- to withstand the might of expansionist Imperial Japan.

Axis & Allies Pacific 1940 features an oversized board that measures 35 inches wide by 32 inches high (89 x 81 cm). With over 450 pieces, deluxe game components and local storage boxes, this game raises the standard established by A&A Anniversary Edition. All new rules for neutral nations, naval & air bases, kamikaze attacks and convoy disruption add even more depth and historical accuracy to this giant game.

Finally, this deluxe theater-level game is designed to join together with Axis & Allies Europe 1940 to create the greatest Axis & Allies experience to date! When joined, these boards will measure 5 feet wide by 32 inches high (178 x 81 cm). Both games have been designed to play alone or together to offer a 2-6 player global 1940 scenario, complete with separate set up and national objectives.

Integrates with:

    Axis & Allies Europe 1940

Azul was designed by the world famous, award winning game author Michael Kiesling.  Azul captures the beautiful aesthetics of Moorish art in a contemporary board game. Players compete as artisans decorating the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. By carefully drafting the correct quantity and style of tiles, the most clever of artisans plan ahead to maximize the beauty of their work (not to mention their scores!) while ensuring they wasted no supplies in the process.

Introduced by the Moors, “azulejos” (originally white and blue ceramic tiles) were fully embraced by the Portuguese, when their King Manuel I, on a visit to the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain, was mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the Moorish decorative tiles. The king, awestruck by the interior beauty of the Alhambra, immediately ordered that his own palace in Portugal be decorated with similar wall tiles.

https://planbgames.com/azul-glazed-pavilion-next-move-games-michael-kiesling-expasnion-strategy-abstract-board-game-portuguese-tiles-royal-palace-of-evora-new-player-boards-ovelays

A brand new floor!

Azul: Glazed Pavilion offers players 2 newly designed player boards and matching scoring boards to compete over and a set of 4 overlays to keep Azul Glazed Pavilion tiles neatly organized. Offering the best of both worlds — beauty and new game elements — Glazed Pavilion is a must-have expansion for Azul fans!

Welcome back to the palace of Sintra! King Manuel I has commissioned the best garden designers of Portugal to construct the most extraordinary garden for his wife, Queen Maria of Aragon.

In Azul: Queen's Garden, players are tasked with arranging a magnificent garden for the King's lovely wife by arranging beautiful plants, trees, and ornamental features.

Using an innovative drafting mechanism, the signature of the Azul series, players must carefully select colorful tiles to decorate their garden. Only the most incredible garden designers will flourish and win the Queen's blessing.

Welcome back to the palace of Sintra! King Manuel I has commissioned the best garden designers of Portugal to construct the most extraordinary garden for his wife, Queen Maria of Aragon.

In Azul: Queen's Garden, players are tasked with arranging a magnificent garden for the King's lovely wife by arranging beautiful plants, trees, and ornamental features.

Using an innovative drafting mechanism, the signature of the Azul series, players must carefully select colorful tiles to decorate their garden. Only the most incredible garden designers will flourish and win the Queen's blessing.

For generations, harvesting bamboo has brought prosperity to your home. Work, perseverance, balance and prayer have made a small town flourish that has grown at the expense of the cane fields. Today, various clans live in harmony with nature.

In Bamboo, players take on the role of clans that grow bamboo and use the fruits of their labor to take care of their family and thus add happiness points. This is an action management and tile optimization game that is both accessible and deep. With a very careful setting, Bamboo is part of the Kemushi saga, to which Bitoku and Silk also belong.

Bamboo games are made up of 4 years or rounds, which in turn are divided into 4 phases or seasons. On their turns, players will burn incense in temples to seek favor from the spirits, and use bamboo shoots to perform actions such as seeking balance, cooking, home improvement, or managing finances.

Following the doctrines of the home balance discipline allows for better optimization of home tiles, making it a fundamental pillar for progressing through the game. To score balance tiles you must use the balance action and follow the pattern indicated on the tile, which always has something to do with the type of home tiles you get during the game. There are four classes of home tiles: decoration, garden, faith, or useful. Depending on how they place them on their board, players will earn happiness points.

In addition to managing the household, players will need to prepare for when tough times come. To get through the winter, it will be necessary to feed the family members with the tea, rice or ramen that has been prepared and stored in the previous season. And all this without forgetting to honor spirits and ancestors in the temples. The player who has made the largest offering of incense in each sacred space will receive the favor of one of the seven spirits of the forest, as a token of thanks. Spirit tiles, in addition to helping players throughout the game, offer bonus points in the final phase based on the number of different spirits in each player's play area.

With accessible and easy-to-learn rules, Bamboo is a very versatile title that will fit into any shelves. However, behind its apparent simplicity lies great strategic depth, with plenty of options available to players. In addition, Bamboo has an advanced game mode on the back of the personal boards, which will give the games an extra level of demand. Harvest bamboo and find balance in your home to win the game. May the spirits be with you!

It's the mid-19th century. The city of Barcelona is the most densely populated city in all of Europe. Shortly after the old city walls were finally destroyed, Ildefons Cerdà, who is now considered the inventor of urbanism, presented the plan for the creation of the "Eixample", the expansion that Barcelona so desperately needed. Its construction began in 1860.

In Barcelona, you will take on the role of builders in 19th-century Barcelona who are working on the new expansion to the city. Your main goal is to construct buildings to accommodate the citizens who want to leave the old city, and in the process, you will also build streets, create tram lines, and build public services. You may even decide to explore "Modernisme", a new architectural and arts style that has been gaining popularity among the rich.

Barcelona is played over a variable number of rounds interrupted by three scoring phases before a final scoring phase. Every round, each player takes a single turn consisting of two or more actions, a building phase, and then preparation for their next turn. At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.

Up to two thousand pounds in weight and over ten feet tall, the bear is considered the biggest and heaviest terrestrial carnivore in the world. Of course, there is not just "one bear;" on the contrary, there are plenty of subspecies that differ from each other in various aspects. For instance, only the Kodiak bear (ursus arctos middendorffi) weighs about 2,000 lbs. The polar bear (ursus maritimus) weighs "only" 1,100 lbs., but gets much bigger than the Kodiak bear, being as much as 11 ft. tall!

Bärenpark takes you into the world of bears, challenging you to build your own bear park. Would you like another polar bear enclosure or rather a koala* house? The park visitors are sure to get hungry on their tour through the park, so build them places to eat! Whatever your choices are, make sure you get the next building permit and use your land wisely! (* No, koalas aren't bears but they're so cute, we couldn't leave them out of this game!)

In more detail, each player in Bärenpark builds their own bear park, attempting to make it as beautiful as they can, while also using every square meter possible. The park is created by combining polyomino tiles onto a grid, with players scoring for animal houses, outdoor areas, completed construction, and more. The sooner you build it, the better! Cover icons to get new tiles and park sections. The game ends as soon as one player has finished expanding their park, then players tally their points to see who has won.

In the dystopic 1930s, the industrial revolution pushed to the limit the exploitation of fossil-based resources, and now only powerful and unlimited hydroelectric energy is available to fulfill the thirst for power of the massive machines and unstoppable engineering progress.

Barrage is a resource management and strategic placement game in which players compete to build their majestic dams, raise them to increase their storing capacity of precious water, and deliver all the potential power through pressure tunnels connected to powerhouse energy turbines. Each player represents one of the international companies who are gathering machineries, innovative patents, and brilliant engineers to claim the best locations to capture and exploit the water power of a contested Alpine region crossed by rivers.

Barrage includes two innovative and challenging mechanisms. First, the construction wheel has to be managed by players to carefully plan their actions and handle their machineries since both your action tokens and resources are stored on the wheel and come back only after a full wheel round is completed. The more you construct and perform maintenance on your wheel, the earlier that resources and actions return to you.

Second, the water flow on the rivers depicted on the board is a shared and contested resource. Players have to intercept and store as much of the water as they can, build dams (upstream dams are expensive but can block part of the water before it reaches dams downstream), raise their dams to increase capacity, and build long tunnels to divert water to their powerhouses. Water is never consumed — its flow is just used to produce energy — and released in the rivers, so you have to strategically place your dams to recover water diverted by you and other players.

Over five rounds, players must fulfill power requirements represented by a common competitive power track and meet specific requests of personal contracts. At the same time, by placing a limited number of engineers, they attempt to increase their machineries to acquire new and more efficient construction actions and to build and activate special unique effect buildings to customize their own developing strategy.

Barrage: The Leeghwater Project Expansion The Leeghwater Project Expansion adds: A new faction, the Netherlands, that uses Jan Leeghwater’s expertise in water management, adding even more water to your dams. The External Works mechanic, a set of powerful tiles that can be obtained from a new action space. With them you'll be able to perform many actions, but be careful. To unlock the External Works power you'll need to burn the required amount of Concrete Mixers and Excavators rather than just assign them to the Construction Wheel. The Personal Building mechanics. You’ll be able to use a combination of five Building tiles, each one with a different, powerful effect that can be activated by your engineers. Two new Executive Officers designed to enhance the External Works and the Personal Buildings. Three new Advanced Technology tiles dedicated to the construction of Personal Buildings.

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-939-battle-line-11th-printing.aspx

Two opponents face off across a 'battle line' and attempt to win the battle by taking 5 of 9 flags or 3 adjacent flags. Flags are decided by placing cards into 3 card poker-type hands on either side of the flag (similar to straight flush, 3 of a kind, straight, flush, etc). The side with the highest 'formation' of cards wins the flag.

This is a rethemed version of Schotten Totten with different graphics and wooden flag bits in place of the boundary stone cards. Game play is identical, except the cards run from 1 to 10 (not 9), you hold seven cards in your hand (not 6), and the rule that stones may only be claimed at the start of your turn is presented as an "advanced variant". Also the tactics cards were introduced by Battle Line; these cards were only added to later editions of Schotten-Totten.

Some have reported that the production quality of the cards is inferior to the Schotten Totten cards, however, for most readers Battle Line will be much easier to find in stores. In the second edition of GMT's Battle Line the card quality is higher.

This new re-themed version of Battle Line is a two-player strategy card game built around the theme of Medieval warfare. This re-themed version of Battle Line features 60 beautiful new cards by illustrator Roland MacDonald, as well as 10 full-color tactics "wildcards" that give players extra flexibility and choices and help make each new battle wildly different from the last.

Battle Line takes about 30 minutes to play. To win, you must create powerful formations along your side of the line of battle that are superior to those of your enemy. Victory goes to the player who wins 5 of the 9 battle flags (an envelopment) or three adjacent flags (a breakthrough). Based on Reiner Knizia's original design published in Germany as Shotten-Totten, Battle Line enhances and expands that game system to give players even more tactical options and gut-wrenching decisions.

Battle Line places you in command of your army's strategies. How will you muster your formations? Will you use your powerful KingsGuard to vanquish your enemy, or perhaps send the King of England or France to the front to win a critical flag? Or perhaps you"ll rely on your spies to determine the enemy"s strengths and weaknesses before committing your best forces. You'll always have plenty of choices. With every card play, you'll determine the strength and direction of your attack while plotting to fend off your enemy's advances.

In Battle Line, you and your opponent lead the combined arms of the greatest units of the era. Will you, like the great Kings of yore, reign supreme? Play Battle Line, and find out.

Beer & Bread is a multi-use card game for two players. Its clever structure of alternating rounds puts a fascinating twist on player interaction, card drafting, and resource management.

Founded on the fruitful lands of an erstwhile monastery, two villages have held up the dual tradition of brewing beer and baking bread. While sharing fields and resources, they still find pride in their friendly rivalry of besting each other’s produce.

Each of you represents one of these villages. Over the course of six years - which alternate between fruitful and dry - you must harmonize your duties of harvesting and storing resources, producing beer and bread, selling them for coins and upgrading your facilities.

However, in order to win, you must maintain the balance between your baked and liquid goods. Because, after the sixth year, you only score the coins collected from the type of good - beer or bread - for which you earned less. The village with the higher score wins.

Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is published by Stonemaier Games as part of a collaboration with Bezier Games.

The king demands a castle! You are a world-renowned master builder who has been asked by the Mad King Ludwig to help design his castles. Projects of such significance require the expertise of more than one person, so for each assignment you are paired with another master builder to execute your grandiose plans. Will your planning and collaborative skills be enough to design the most impressive castles in the world?

Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a competitive tile-drafting game in which each tile is a room in a castle. You work together with the player on your left to design one castle, and with the player on your right on another castle. On each turn you select two tiles from your hand, reveal them, then work with your partners to place them. To win, you have to share your attention and your devotion between two castles.

This game includes 147 regular room tiles with unique art, 83 other tiles, 20 bonus cards, 7 custom wooden castle tokens, 1 full-color, double-sided scorepad, and a 4-piece Game Trayz custom insert that reduces setup time to less than 60 seconds.

https://stonemaiergames.com/games/between-two-castles/secrets-soirees-expansion/

The king is throwing a party and inviting all the neighbors! This expansion to Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig expands the game up to 8 players with two new room types (activity and secret rooms), a new specialty room type (ballrooms), more bonus cards, and a new throne room.

Would you rather party alone? This box also includes an Automa solo mode for the base game and the expansion, as well as optional rules for a new mode of play for 2-8 players in which you build your own castle instead of sharing one with your neighbors.

Beyond the Sun is a space civilization game in which players collectively decide the technological progress of humankind at the dawn of the Spacefaring Era, while competing against each other to be the leading faction in economic development, science, and galactic influence.

The game is played over a variable number of rounds until a number of game-end achievements are collectively claimed by the players. The winner is the faction with the most victory points, which are obtained by researching technologies, improving their economy, controlling and colonizing systems, and completing various achievements and events throughout the game.

On a turn, a player moves their action pawn to an empty action space, then takes that action. They then conduct their production phase, either producing ore, growing their population, or trading one of those resources for another. Finally, they can claim up to one achievement, if possible.

As players take actions, they research new technologies that come in four levels. Each technology is one of four types (scientific, economic, military, commercial), and higher-level technologies must match one of the types of tech that lead into it. Thus, players create their own technology tree in each game, using these actions to increase their military strength, to jump to different habitable exoplanetary systems, to colonize those systems, to boost their resource production, to develop android tech that allows growth without population, and more.

Following the discovery of hyperspace travel in the year 2246, a renewed sense of unity and purpose ripples across the whole solar system. The factions in power need to position themselves quickly to seize this golden opportunity, and strong leadership is necessary to get ahead in the race to colonize the galaxy.

Thanks to the Omniweb Engine, a data-mining network that covers the entire population of the solar system, each faction can search with pinpoint precision for candidates with the exact skills and traits they need, both domestically and militarily. Can your faction find and groom leaders with the perfect combination of internal ingenuity and external prowess to rise above the others?

—description from the publisher

Beyond the Sun: Leaders of the New Dawn expands core game with a new solo mode, asymmetric factions and leaders, and new viable strategies around the planetary area control board.

https://devirgames.com/product/bitoku/

In Bitoku, the players take on the roles of Bitoku spirits of the forest in their path towards transcendence, with the goal of elevating themselves and becoming the next great spirit of the forest. To do so, they will have the help of the yōkai, the kodamas and the different pilgrims that accompany them on their path. This is a hand-management, engine-building game with multiple paths to victory.

Players will have yōkai represented by the cards that make up their hand, which must be placed in the right places at the right times in order to obtain the maximum benefit from the abilities they offer. Furthermore, during the game players can earn more yōkai cards for their deck, thereby increasing their playing options and achieving a higher score. Each player also has three yōkai guardians (in the form of dice) that they can send to the large regions of the forest on the main board in order to obtain all kinds of new options that they can play during the game. These options can be structures they build in certain areas of the forest, soul crystals that generate resources when certain actions are carried out, and many others as well. The players also have the chance to help the mitamas, lost souls in search of redemption by using the chinkon fireflies.

There is truly a wide range of actions to carry out, and this is without taking into account the personal domain where the players can lay out another layer of additional strategy while managing the pilgrims. Pilgrims are followers of the player who embark upon journeys of contemplation and reflection who then share the experiences and learning they can along the spirit path with the Bitoku.

Recreate World War Two in 20 minutes! The perfect wargame for non-wargamers, Blitzkrieg! allows two players to battle across the War’s most iconic theatres, winning key campaigns and building military might.

Players draw army tokens from a bag to determine their starting forces and to replenish their losses. Rather than ‘fighting’ battles with dice or cards, players allocate their military resources to each theatre’s campaigns, winning victory points, further resources, special weapons, and strategic advantages as they play. Refight World War Two several times in one evening!

Includes Solo mode by Dávid Turczi

In Blood Rage, each player controls their own Viking clan’s warriors, leader, and ship. Ragnarök has come, and it’s the end of the world! It’s the Vikings’ last chance to go down in a blaze of glory and secure their place in Valhalla at Odin’s side! For a Viking there are many pathways to glory. You can invade and pillage the land for its rewards, crush your opponents in epic battles, fulfill quests, increase your clan's stats, or even die gloriously either in battle or from Ragnarök, the ultimate inescapable doom.

Most player strategies are guided by the cards drafted at the beginning of each of the three game rounds (or Ages). These “Gods’ Gifts” grant you numerous boons for your clan including: increased Viking strength and devious battle strategies, upgrades to your clan, or even the aid of legendary creatures from Norse mythology. They may also include various quests, from dominating specific provinces, to having lots of your Vikings sent to Valhalla. Most of these cards are aligned with one of the Norse gods, hinting at the kind of strategy they support. For example, Thor gives more glory for victory in battle, Heimdall grants you foresight and surprises, Tyr strengthens you in battle, while the trickster Loki actually rewards you for losing battles, or punishes the winner.

Players must choose their strategies carefully during the draft phase, but also be ready to adapt and react to their opponents’ strategies as the action phase unfolds. Battles are decided not only by the strength of the figures involved, but also by cards played in secret. By observing your opponent’s actions and allegiances to specific gods, you may predict what card they are likely to play, and plan accordingly. Winning battles is not always the best course of action, as the right card can get you even more rewards by being crushed. The only losing strategy in Blood Rage is to shy away from battle and a glorious death!

The Blood Rage: 5th Player Expansion introduces the mighty Ram clan into Blood Rage! This clan comes complete with 8 Warrior figures (in two different sculpts), 1 Leader Figure, 1 Ship figure, 1 Clan Sheet, 1 Plastic Glory Marker, 4 cardboard Clan tokens, 11 small colored bases, and 2 large colored bases.

This expansion introduces the option of playing Blood Rage with 5 players. The game board supports this by simply not having any province destroyed by Ragnarök before the beginning of the game. However, more players need more cards, so this expansion box comes with 24 "Gods' Gifts" cards (8 for each Age deck). All of these cards have the "5+" players pre-requisite listed on them. While most of them are extra copies of cards from the base game, there are a few new ones, like the "Widespread!" Quest, where you need to dominate any 2 provinces.

The Gods of Ásgard expansion:

Only two gods will be part of each game session. Randomly draw two god cards and place them next to the board so all players can see their powers. At the end of the initial setup, shuffle the Ragnarök tokens that are not on the board or on the Age Track and draw two of them. Look at the names of the two provinces listed on the tokens and place one god figure in each of them (these Ragnarök tokens are then put aside).

Each god's ability is always in effect, changing the rules of the province they're in. The rest of the provinces are not affected. After a player attempts to pillage a province containing a god figure, whether he succeeds in the pillaging or not, he must then move the god to a different unpillaged province that does not contain a god figure. So the two gods can never occupy the same province, and they never go to a pillaged or destroyed province.

At the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd Ages, the two gods are again placed in random provinces, determined by drawing 2 unused Ragnarök tokens.

The combination of the two gods used in each game creates a unique texture to that session. They affect draft choices and influence the flow of the battles. Will you try to benefit from a god's power again and again by moving him where you want and always pillaging his province? Or will you do your best to neutralize him by pillaging around his province? Perhaps you'll want to attempt a hopeless pillage on his province just to move him onto another province where he will hinder another player's plans. They add a whole new layer to the game, without adding hardly any complexity to the rules.

The miniatures each come with a tarot-sized God card.

Known by many names (Seiðmenn, Völva, Vísendakona, etc.) and possessed of different powers granted by their connection to the gods, these warrior-shamans will be a boon to any clan able to recruit them!

Mystics are special units (neither Warrior nor Monster) that players can only employ once they've given their clan one of the Mystic Clan Upgrades. Each of these Clan upgrades adds 1 Mystic figure to your clan's reserves, which you can then use to Invade and battle normally. All Mystics have STR 2 and the special ability that allows them to Invade at no Rage cost. Clans are only able to recruit a maximum of 2 Mystics.

Besides adding Mystics to your reserves, each of these Clan Upgrades grants your Mystics a special ability. If you collect several different upgrades, each of your Mystics will posses all the abilities you accumulated, making them incredibly resourceful and strategic additions to your clan!

Theme:

The bonfires are sources of light, energy and warmth created by the guardians of light in order to brighten the cities on the otherwise dark planet. The residents of the cities however, took the bonfires for granted and exploited them for their personal gain. Disappointed the guardians of light retreated and let the bonfires extinguish. The citizens could no longer live in the now dark cities and were forced to leave.

You are a group of gnomes living close to the cities and you also need and the light of the bonfires. Missing it now, you try yourself to visit the cities and learn how to ignite the bonfires once again: You must visit the guardians of light on their holy islands and ask for tasks to prove your good will. For each completed task, they will re-ignite one extinguished bonfire. Whoever manages to earn the greatest trust from the guardians and manages to brighten their city the most will win the game.

Game-play:
The engine for the game are the three-coloured tiles you will be puzzling onto your player board. When you manage to place the same colours adjacent to one another, you will receive more action tiles of that specific kind. This will allow you to specialize in certain types of actions and pursue different strategies.
You can use the tiles to perform the following actions:
- Move your ship to an island
- Receive a task from an island by spending two resources
- Invite a guardian of light into your city
- Trigger a procession of guardians through your city and gain resources.
- Add a landscape tile to your city (this is where the processions take place)
- Recruit a gnome gaining a special ability or victory points
- Find support by the last bonfire, gaining portals, resources or action tiles

You will play in turn order until a fixed number of tasks has been solved, after which each player has 5 more turns. During final scoring, you will receive points for your completed tasks (the bonfires) and any improvements made there (portals, landscapes or guardians).

https://pegasusshop.de/en/product-line/games/gamer-s-games/11114/bonfire

On Asperia, every day is unique and brings surprising events that constantly change the life and work of the gnomefolk. Now ancient trees have been reinvigorated by the guardians, while the gnomes seek the help of mysterious and mighty creatures.

In Bonfire: Trees & Creatures, the story continues, with players being able to expand the base game with three modules that can be combined with one another, in addition to being able to add a fifth player. Players can expand their city by acquiring and placing tree tiles above their path tiles, unlocking useful bonuses and new ways to score at the end of the game. At the beginning of the game, each player drafts a creature card with a unique ability. Every time the player who began the game places a new fate tile, a new event card that changes a certain rule is drawn and affects all players.

The history of humankind has been written down for thousands of years. Our technological achievements, geographical discoveries, and the will to prosper are woven into intricate threads spread throughout books that tell the story of our time on Earth. Now you have the chance to shape this story.

Books of Time puts a unique and exciting twist on tableau building, allowing you to construct three great books, each with their own sets of special abilities that you can write, thereby creating incredible combinations. The story of a civilization is now truly at your fingertips.

Three types of pages go into player books: trade, science, and industry. During the game, you add pages to these books to create powerful combinations of actions that you can activate. You need to efficiently manage your resources to create the books that will meet your personal objectives and score you the most points.

With a group of pioneers, you have left civilization behind to settle along the shores of Boonlake, a long-forgotten region inhabited by humans long ago. This unexplored area beckons you! Become part of a new community and commit yourself to the common good. Explore the landscapes, build houses and settlements, raise cattle, produce raw materials, and develop an infrastructure. Do your best to automate these processes. Seize the opportunity to make the best of your new life in Boonlake.

Boonlake is an expert game in which you are finding yourself improving your life — and your group's life — in this new territory...but how you accomplish this is completely up to you! Due to a novel action mechanism, each game progresses differently. Each action needs to be considered carefully since the other players also benefit from the action you choose. Besides this, the action determines how far you may move your ship — the further and faster, the better!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eaglegryphon/bot-factory-by-joao-quintela-martins-and-vital-lacerda

You thought it was going to be just another day at work in the toy factory, but no: The corporate executives learned about the kanban methodology at a seminar. Convinced of its efficiency, they have reworked the entire production floor to take advantage of the benefits of kanban. They even brought in the manager from the local EV car plant, Sandra, as a consultant!

Now you must try to impress them all by becoming even more productive in the toy bot factory where you work. Maybe if you can exceed even their lofty expectations, you can get a supervisory position and get off the assembly line! It's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work in the Bot Factory!

Bot Factory is a worker-placement game where 1-4 players compete to plan, manufacture, assemble, and market toy bots, all while under the watchful gaze of the new factory manager Sandra. It was designed by João Quintela Martins and Vital Lacerda, and inspired by the worker placement mechanics in Kanban EV.

Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game sequel to Martin Wallace' 2007 masterpiece, Brass. Birmingham tells the story of competing entrepreneurs in Birmingham during the industrial revolution, between the years of 1770-1870.

As in its predecessor, you must develop, build, and establish your industries and network, in an effort to exploit low or high market demands.

Each round, players take turns according to the turn order track, receiving two actions to perform any of the following actions (found in the original game):

1) Build - Pay required resources and place an industry tile.
2) Network - Add a rail / canal link, expanding your network.
3) Develop - Increase the VP value of an industry.
4) Sell - Sell your cotton, manufactured goods and pottery.
5) Loan - Take a £30 loan and reduce your income.

Brass: Birmingham also features a new sixth action:

6) Scout - Discard three cards and take a wild location and wild industry card. (This action replaces Double Action Build in original Brass.)

The game is played over two halves: the canal era (years 1770-1830) and the rail era (years 1830-1870). To win the game, score the most VPs. VPs are counted at the end of each half for the canals, rails and established (flipped) industry tiles.

Birmingham features dynamic scoring canals/rails. Instead of each flipped industry tile giving a static 1 VP to all connected canals and rails, many industries give 0 or even 2 VPs. This provides players with the opportunity to score much higher value canals in the first era, and creates interesting strategy with industry placement.

Iron, coal, and cotton are three industries which appear in both the original Brass as well as in Brass: Birmingham.

New "Sell" system

Brewing has become a fundamental part of the culture in Birmingham. You must now sell your product through traders located around the edges of the board. Each of these traders is looking for a specific type of good each game. To sell cotton, pottery, or manufactured goods to these traders, you must also "grease the wheels of industry" by consuming beer. For example, a level 1 cotton mill requires one beer to flip. As an incentive to sell early, the first player to sell to a trader receives free beer.

Birmingham features three all-new industry types:

Brewery - Produces precious beer barrels required to sell goods.

Manufactured goods - Function like cotton, but features eight levels. Each level of manufactured goods provides unique rewards, rather than just escalating in VPs, making it a more versatile (yet potentially more difficult) path vs cotton.

Pottery - These behemoths of Birmingham offer huge VPs, but at a huge cost and need to plan.

Increased Coal and Iron Market size - The price of coal and iron can now go up to £8 per cube, and it's not uncommon.

Brass: Lancashire — first published as Brass — is an economic strategy game that tells the story of competing cotton entrepreneurs in Lancashire during the industrial revolution. You must develop, build, and establish your industries and network so that you can capitalize demand for iron, coal and cotton. The game is played over two halves: the canal phase and the rail phase. To win the game, score the most victory points (VPs), which are counted at the end of each half. VPs are gained from your canals, rails, and established (flipped) industry tiles. Each round, players take turns according to the turn order track, receiving two actions to perform any of the following:

    Build an industry tile
    Build a rail or canal
    Develop an industry
    Sell cotton
    Take a loan

At the end of a player's turn, they replace the two cards they played with two more from the deck. Turn order is determined by how much money a player spent on the previous turn, from lowest spent first to highest spent. This turn order mechanism opens some strategic options for players going later in the turn order, allowing for the possibility of back-to-back turns.

After all the cards have been played the first time (with the deck size being adjusted for the number of players), the canal phase ends and a scoring round commences. After scoring, all canals and all of the lowest level industries are removed for the game, after which new cards are dealt and the rail phase begins. During this phase, players may now occupy more than one location in a city and a double-connection build (though expensive) is possible. At the end of the rail phase, another scoring round takes place, then a winner is crowned.

The cards limit where you can build your industries, but any card can be used for the develop, sell cotton or build connections actions. This leads to a strategic timing/storing of cards. Resources are common so that if one player builds a rail line (which requires coal) they have to use the coal from the nearest source, which may be an opponent's coal mine, which in turn gets that coal mine closer to scoring (i.e., being utilized).

Brass: Lancashire, the 2018 edition from Roxley Games, reboots the original Warfrog Games edition of Brass with new artwork and components, as well as a few rules changes:

    The virtual link rules between Birkenhead have been made optional.
    The three-player experience has been brought closer to the ideal experience of four players by shortening each half of the game by one round and tuning the deck and distant market tiles slightly to ensure a consistent experience.
    Two-player rules have been created and are playable without the need for an alternate board.
    The level 1 cotton mill is now worth 5 VP to make it slightly less terrible.

In Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, you strive to unite Ireland under your domain, securing control through might, cunning, and matrimony. Join forces to fend off Viking invaders, build monasteries to extend your influence, and gather support in towns and villages throughout the land. To become High King of all Ireland, you need to navigate a web of shifting alliances, outmaneuver your enemies, and grab history by the reins.

The success of the historical Brian Boru rested on three pillars: his victories against the Vikings, the favor he managed to garner with the Church, and the alliances he forged through political marriages. This became the foundation of the game, with each pillar becoming a suit in the trick-taking that forms the core of the mechanisms. Win a trick and you gain influence in a town, which, in turn, gains you majorities in the regions; if you lose the trick, however (deliberately or otherwise), you instead take an action corresponding to the suit of the card.

The Roman Republic is coming to an end, but not before a power struggle between Caesar and Pompey. Players will command their legions, strategically deploying them to key battlegrounds to try and seize control of the provinces and become ruler of the republic.

Players draw tokens from a bag to determine their starting forces and to replenish their losses. Players allocate their resources to each province, gaining tactical advantages and vying for control of the republic.

Three modules to expand the game are included, poison your opponent, deploy powerful Centurions and use underhanded tactics to gain advantages in the Expansions of Rome.

Calico is a puzzly tile-laying game of quilts and cats.

In Calico, players compete to sew the coziest quilt as they collect and place patches of different colors and patterns. Each quilt has a particular pattern that must be followed, and players are also trying to create color and pattern combinations that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also able to attract the cuddliest cats!

Turns are simple. Select a single patch tile from your hand and sew it into your quilt, then draw another patch into your hand from the three available. If you are able to create a color group, you may sew a button onto your quilt. If you are able to create a pattern combination that is attractive to any of the cats, it will come over and curl up on your quilt! At the end of the game, you score points for buttons, cats, and how well you were able to complete your unique quilt pattern.

https://www.thunderworksgames.com/capemay.html

In Cape May, players traverse the city streets as entrepreneurs, developing property while building wealth over four seasons to earn prestige.

Build cottages, develop them into Victorian homes, and upgrade them into historic landmarks. Establish shops and grow them into profitable businesses. Carefully move around the city, and make strategic use of activity cards. Complete bonus goals, then take some time to relax and spot wildlife in the best place for birdwatching in the Northeastern United States.

Whoever best balances their income, development, movement, and personal goals will go down in history as the most successful developer of Cape May!