Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game sequel to Martin Wallace's 2007 masterpiece, Brass. Brass: Birmingham tells the story of competing entrepreneurs in Birmingham during the industrial revolution between the years of 1770 and 1870. It offers a very different story arc and experience from its predecessor. As in its predecessor, you must develop, build and establish your industries and network in an effort to exploit low or high market demands. 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. 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.)

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. --description from the publisher

Pandemic Legacy is a co-operative campaign game, with an overarching story arc played through 12-24 sessions, depending on how well your group does at the game. At the beginning, the game starts in a very similar fashion as basic Pandemic, in which your team of disease-fighting specialists races against the clock to travel around the world, treating disease hot spots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand. During a player's turn, they have four actions available, with which they may travel around in the world in various ways (sometimes needing to discard a card), build structures like research stations, treat diseases (removing one cube from the board; if all cubes of a color have been removed, the disease has been eradicated), trade cards with other players, or find a cure for a disease (requiring five cards of the same color to be discarded while at a research station). Each player has a unique role with special abilities to help them at these actions. After a player has taken their actions, they draw two cards. These cards can include epidemic cards, which will place new disease cubes on the board, and can lead to an outbreak, spreading disease cubes even further. Outbreaks additionally increase the panic level of a city, making that city more expensive to travel to. Each month in the game, you have two chances to achieve that month's objectives. If you succeed, you win and immediately move on to the next month. If you fail, you have a second chance, with more funding for beneficial event cards. During the campaign, new rules and components will be introduced. These will sometimes require you to permanently alter the components of the game; this includes writing on cards, ripping up cards, and placing permanent stickers on components. Your characters can gain new skills, or detrimental effects. A character can even be lost entirely, at which point it's no longer available for play. Part of the Pandemic series

Gloomhaven is a game of Euro-inspired tactical combat in a persistent world of shifting motives. Players will take on the roles of wandering adventurers with their own special sets of skills and their own reasons for traveling to this dark corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process, they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make. This is a game with a persistent and changing world that is ideally played over many game sessions. After a scenario, players will make decisions about what to do next, which will determine how the story continues, kind of like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. Playing through a scenario is a co-operative affair where players will fight against automated monsters using an innovative card system to determine the order of play and what a player does on their turn. Each turn, a player chooses two cards to play out of their hand. The number on the top card determines their initiative for the round. Each card also has a top and bottom power, and when it is a player’s turn in the initiative order, they determine whether to use the top power of one card and the bottom power of the other, or vice-versa. Players must be careful, though, because over time they will permanently lose cards from their hands. If they take too long to clear a dungeon, they may end u exhausted and be forced to retreat.

In Dune: Imperium Uprising, you want to continue to balance military might with political intrigue, wielding new tools in pursuit of victory. Spies will shore up your plans, vital contracts will expand your resources, or you can learn the ways of the Fremen and ride mighty sandworms into battle! Dune: Imperium Uprising is a standalone spinoff to Dune: Imperium that expands on that game's blend of deck-building and worker placement, while introducing a new six-player mode that pits two teams against one other in the biggest struggle yet. The Dune: Imperium expansions Rise of Ix and Immortality work with Uprising, as do almost all of the cards from the base game, and elements of Uprising can be used with Dune: Imperium. The choices are yours. The Imperium awaits!

Dune: Imperium is a game that uses deck building to add a hidden information angle to traditional worker placement. It finds inspiration in elements and characters from the Dune legacy, both the new film from Legendary Pictures and the seminal literary series from Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson. As a leader of one of the Great Houses of the Landsraad, raise your banner and marshal your forces and spies. War is coming, and at the center of the conflict is Arrakis - Dune, the desert planet. You start with a unique leader card, as well as a deck identical to those of your opponents. As you acquire cards and build your deck, your choices will define your strengths and weaknesses. Cards allow you to send your Agents to certain spaces on the game board, so how your deck evolves affects your strategy. You might become more powerful militarily, able to deploy more troops than your opponents. Or you might acquire cards that give you an edge with the four political factions represented in the game: the Emperor, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and the Fremen. Unlike many deck building games, you don’t play your entire hand in one turn. Instead, you draw a hand of cards at the start of every round and alternate with other players, taking one Agent turn at a time (playing one card to send one of your Agents to the game board). When it’s your turn and you have no more Agents to place, you’ll take a Reveal turn, revealing the rest of your cards, which will provide Persuasion and Swords. Persuasion is used to acquire more cards, and Swords help your troops fight for the current round’s rewards as shown on the revealed Conflict card. Defeat your rivals in combat, shrewdly navigate the political factions, and acquire precious cards. The Spice must flow to lead your House to victory! Some important links: The Official FAQ, the Unofficial FAQ, and an Automa (solo and 2p) Overview

Twilight Imperium (Fourth Edition) is a game of galactic conquest in which three to six players each take on the role of one of seventeen factions vying for galactic domination through military might, political maneuvering, and economic bargaining. Every faction offers a completely different play experience, from the wormhole-hopping Ghosts of Creuss to the Emirates of Hacan, masters of trade and economics. These seventeen races are offered many paths to victory, but only one may sit upon the throne of Mecatol Rex as the new masters of the galaxy. No two games of Twilight Imperium are ever identical. At the start of each galactic age, the game board is uniquely and strategically constructed from among 51 galaxy tiles that feature everything from lush new planets and supernovas to asteroid fields and gravity rifts. Players are dealt a hand of these tiles and take turns creating the galaxy around Mecatol Rex, the capital planet seated in the center of the board. An ion storm may block your race from progressing through the galaxy while a fortuitously placed gravity rift may protect you from your closest foes. The galaxy is yours to both craft and dominate. A round of Twilight Imperium begins with players selecting one of eight strategy cards that both determine player order and give their owner a unique strategic action for that round. These may do anything from providing additional command tokens to allowing a player to control trade throughout the galaxy. After these strategies are selected, players take turns moving their fleets from system to system, claiming new planets for their empires, and engaging in warfare and trade with other factions. At the end of a turn, players gather in a grand council to pass new laws and agendas, shaking up the game in unpredictable ways. After every player has passed their turn, players move up the victory track by checking to see whether they have completed any objectives throughout the turn and scoring them. Objectives are determined by setting up ten public objective cards at the start of each game, then gradually revealing them over the course of the game. Each player also chooses between two random secret objectives at the start of the game, achievement of which provides victory points--only for the holder of that objective. These objectives can be anything from researching new technologies to taking your neighbor's home system. At the end of every turn, a player can claim one public objective and one secret objective. As play continues, more of these objectives are revealed and more secret objectives are dealt out, giving players dynamically changing goals throughout the game. Play continues until a player reaches ten victory points. --description from the publisher

In War of the Ring, one player takes control of the Free Peoples (FP) while the other player controls Shadow Armies (SA). Initially, the Free People Nations are reluctant to take arms against Sauron, so they must be attacked by Sauron or persuaded by Gandalf or other Companions before they start to fight in earnest: this is represented by the Political Track which shows if a Nation is ready to fight in the War of the Ring or not. The game can be won by a military victory if Sauron conquers a certain number of Free People cities and strongholds, or vice versa. But the true hope of the Free Peoples lies with the quest of the Ring bearer: while the armies clash across Middle-earth, the Fellowship of the Ring is trying to get secretly to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. Sauron is not aware of the real intention of his enemies but is looking across Middle-earth for the precious Ring, so that the Fellowship is going to face numerous dangers, represented by the rules of The Hunt for the Ring. But the Companions can spur the Free Peoples to the fight against Sauron, so the Free People player must balance the need to protect the Ring bearer from harm with an attempt to raise a proper defense against the armies of the Shadow so that they do not overrun Middle-earth before the Ringbearer completes his quest. Each game turn revolves around the roll of Action Dice: each die corresponds to an action that a player can perform during a turn. Depending on the face rolled on each die, different actions are possible (moving armies or characters, recruiting troops, advancing a Political Track). Action Dice can also be used to draw or play Event Cards. Event Cards are played to represent specific events from the story (or events that could possibly have happened) that cannot be portrayed through normal game-play. Each Event Card can also create an unexpected turn in the game, allowing special actions or altering the course of a battle.

In the 2400s, mankind begins to terraform the planet Mars. Giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, initiate huge projects to raise the temperature, the oxygen level, and the ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete for getting victory points that are awarded not only for your contribution to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and doing other commendable things. As a player, you acquire unique project cards (from over two hundred different ones) by buying them to your hand. The cards can give you immediate bonuses, as well as increasing your production of different resources. Many cards also have requirements and they become playable when the temperature, oxygen, or ocean coverage increases enough. Buying cards is costly, so there is a balance between buying cards and actually playing them. Standard Projects are always available to complement your hand of cards. Your basic income, as well as your basic score, are based on your Terraform Rating. However, your income is boosted by your production, and VPs are also gained from many other sources. You keep track of your production and resources on your player board. The game uses six types of resources: MegaCredits, Steel, Titanium, Plants, Energy, and Heat. On the game board, you compete for the best places for your city tiles, ocean tiles, and greenery tiles. You also compete for different Milestones and Awards worth many VPs. Each round is called a generation and consists of the following phases: 1) Player order shifts clockwise. 2) Research phase: All players buy cards from four privately drawn. 3) Action phase: Players take turns doing 1-2 actions from these options: Playing a card, claiming a Milestone, funding an Award, using a Standard project, converting plant into greenery tiles (and raising oxygen), converting heat into a temperature raise, and using the action of a card in play. The turn continues around the table (sometimes several laps) until all players have passed. 4) Production phase: Players get resources according to their terraform rating and production parameters. When the three global parameters (temperature, oxygen, ocean) have all reached their required levels, the terraforming is complete, and the game ends after that generation. Combine your Terraform Rating and other VPs to determine the winning corporation!

Star Wars: Rebellion is a board game of epic conflict between the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance for two to four players. Experience the Galactic Civil War like never before. In Rebellion, you control the entire Galactic Empire or the fledgling Rebel Alliance. You must command starships, account for troop movements, and rally systems to your cause. Given the differences between the Empire and Rebel Alliance, each side has different win conditions, and you'll need to adjust your play style depending on who you represent: As the Imperial player, you can command legions of Stormtroopers, swarms of TIEs, Star Destroyers, and even the Death Star. You rule the galaxy by fear, relying on the power of your massive military to enforce your will. To win the game, you need to snuff out the budding Rebel Alliance by finding its base and obliterating it. Along the way, you can subjugate worlds or even destroy them. As the Rebel player, you can command dozens of troopers, T-47 airspeeders, Corellian corvettes, and fighter squadrons. However, these forces are no match for the Imperial military. In terms of raw strength, you'll find yourself clearly overmatched from the very outset, so you'll need to rally the planets to join your cause and execute targeted military strikes to sabotage Imperial build yards and steal valuable intelligence. To win the Galactic Civil War, you'll need to sway the galaxy's citizens to your cause. If you survive long enough and strengthen your reputation, you inspire the galaxy to a full-scale revolt, and you win. Featuring more than 150 plastic miniatures and two game boards that account for thirty-two of the Star Wars galaxy's most notable systems, Rebellion features a scope that is as large and sweeping as any Star Wars game before it. Yet for all its grandiosity, Rebellion remains intensely personal, cinematic, and heroic. As much as your success depends upon the strength of your starships, vehicles, and troops, it depends upon the individual efforts of such notable characters as Leia Organa, Mon Mothma, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Emperor Palpatine. As civil war spreads throughout the galaxy, these leaders are invaluable to your efforts, and the secret missions they attempt will evoke many of the most inspiring moments from the classic trilogy. You might send Luke Skywalker to receive Jedi training on Dagobah or have Darth Vader spring a trap that freezes Han Solo in carbonite!

In the most distant reaches of the world, magic still exists, embodied by spirits of the land, of the sky, and of every natural thing. As the great powers of Europe stretch their colonial empires further and further, they will inevitably lay claim to a place where spirits still hold power - and when they do, the land itself will fight back alongside the islanders who live there. Spirit Island is a complex and thematic co-operative game about defending your island home from colonizing Invaders. Players are different spirits of the land, each with its own unique elemental powers. Every turn, players simultaneously choose which of their power cards to play, paying energy to do so. Using combinations of power cards that match a spirit's elemental affinities can grant free bonus effects. Faster powers take effect immediately, before the Invaders spread and ravage, but other magics are slower, requiring forethought and planning to use effectively. In the Spirit phase, spirits gain energy, and choose how / whether to Grow: to reclaim used power cards, to seek new power, or to spread their presence into new areas of the island. The Invaders expand across the island map in a semi-predictable fashion. Each turn they explore into some lands (portions of the island); the next turn, they build in those lands, forming towns and cities. The turn after that, they ravage there, bringing blight to the land and attacking any native islanders present. The islanders fight back against the Invaders when attacked, and lend the spirits some other aid, but may not always do so exactly as you'd hoped. Some Powers work through the islanders, helping them, for example, to drive out the Invaders or clean the land of blight. The game escalates as it progresses: spirits spread their presence to new parts of the island and seek out new and more potent powers, while the Invaders step up their colonization efforts. Each turn represents 1-3 years of alternate history. At game start, winning requires destroying every last explorer, town and city on the board - but as you frighten the Invaders more and more, victory becomes easier: they'll run away even if explorers or even towns and cities remain. Defeat comes if any spirit is destroyed, if the island is overrun by blight, or if the Invader deck is depleted before achieving victory. The game includes different adversaries to fight against (eg., a Swedish Mining Colony, or a Remote British Colony). Each changes play in different ways, and offers a different path of difficulty boosts to keep the game challenging as you gain skill.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a standalone game that takes place before the events of Gloomhaven. The game includes four new characters -- Valrath Red Guard (tank, crowd control), Inox Hatchet (ranged damage), Human Voidwarden (support, mind control), and Quatryl Demolitionist (melee damage, obstacle manipulation) -- that can also be used in the original Gloomhaven game. The game also includes 16 monster types (including seven new standard monsters and three new bosses) and a new campaign with 25 scenarios that invites the heroes to investigate a case of mysterious disappearances within the city. Is it the work of Vermlings, or is something far more sinister going on? Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is aimed at a more casual audience to get people into the gameplay more quickly. All of the hard-to-organize cardboard map tiles have been removed, and instead players will play on the scenario book itself, which features new artwork unique to each scenario. The last barrier to entry -- i.e., learning the game -- has also been lowered through a simplified rule set and a five-scenario tutorial that will ease new players into the experience.

Gaia Project is a new game in the line of Terra Mystica. As in the original Terra Mystica, fourteen different factions live on seven different kinds of planets, and factions are bound to their own home planets, so to develop and grow, they must terraform neighboring planets into their home environments in competition with the other groups. In addition, Gaia planets can be used by all factions for colonization, and Transdimensional planets can be changed into Gaia planets. All factions can improve their skills in six different areas of development: Terraforming, Navigation, Artificial Intelligence, Gaiaforming, Economy, Research; leading to advanced technology and special bonuses. To do all of that, each group has special skills and abilities. The playing area is made of ten sectors, allowing a variable set-up and thus an even bigger replay value than its predecessor Terra Mystica. A two-player game is hosted on seven sectors. --description from the publisher

Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle. - John F. Kennedy In 1945, unlikely allies toppled Hitler's war machine, while humanity's most devastating weapons forced the Japanese Empire to its knees in a storm of fire. Where once there stood many great powers, there then stood only two. The world had scant months to sigh its collective relief before a new conflict threatened. Unlike the titanic struggles of the preceding decades, this conflict would be waged not primarily by soldiers and tanks, but by spies and politicians, scientists and intellectuals, artists and traitors. Twilight Struggle is a two-player game simulating the forty-five year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional flares of warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States. The entire world is the stage on which these two titans fight to make the world safe for their own ideologies and ways of life. The game begins amidst the ruins of Europe as the two new "superpowers" scramble over the wreckage of the Second World War, and ends in 1989, when only the United States remained standing. Twilight Struggle inherits its fundamental systems from the card-driven classics We the People and Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage. It is a quick-playing, low-complexity game in that tradition. The game map is a world map of the period, whereon players move units and exert influence in attempts to gain allies and control for their superpower. As with GMT's other card-driven games, decision-making is a challenge; how to best use one's cards and units given consistently limited resources? Event cards add detail and flavor to the game. They cover a vast array of historical happenings, from the Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1948 and 1967, to Vietnam and the U.S. peace movement, to the Cuban Missile Crisis and other such incidents that brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. Subsystems capture the prestige-laden Space Race as well as nuclear tensions, with the possibility of game-ending nuclear war. TIME SCALE: approx. 3-5 years per turn MAP SCALE: Point-to-point system UNIT SCALE: Influence markers

The game is set in the Burgundy region of High Medieval France. Each player takes on the role of an aristocrat, originally controlling a small princedom. While playing they aim to build settlements and powerful castles, practice trade along the river, exploit silver mines, and use the knowledge of travelers. The game is about players taking settlement tiles from the game board and placing them into their princedom which is represented by the player board. Every tile has a function that starts when the tile is placed in the princedom. The princedom itself consists of several regions, each of which demands its own type of settlement tile. The game is played in five phases, each consisting of five rounds. Each phase begins with the game board stocked with settlement tiles and goods tiles. At the beginning of each round all players roll their two dice, and the player who is currently first in turn order rolls a goods placement die. A goods tile is made available on the game board according to the roll of the goods die. During each round, a player may perform any two of the four possible types of actions: take a settlement tile and place it in the staging area on their player board take a settlement tile from the staging area and place in the corresponding region for the type of tile and adjacent to a previously placed settlement tile, deliver goods with a number matching one of their dice take worker tokens which allow the player to adjust the roll of their dice. In addition to these actions a player may buy a settlement tile and place it in the staging area on their player board. The game ends after the fifth phase is played to completion. Victory points are awarded for unused money and workers, and undelivered goods. Bonus victory points from certain settlement tiles are awarded at the end of the game. The player with the most victory points wins. The rules include basic and advanced versions.

In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration. Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surfaces to collect valuable samples or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home. Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources--all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms. Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time--utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy. You will also make use of over 200 cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has unique effects and illustrations and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries (like the ISS, Large Hadron Collider, Perseverance rover, Voyager probe, and many more). The game is played in five rounds. The player with the starting player marker takes the first turn of the round. Players take turns in clockwise order, skipping any players who have already passed for the round. At the end of round 5, the final score is calculated and the player with the most points wins. SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence pays homage to space and planetary exploration, astronomy, the ongoing search for signs of life in the vastness of space, and efforts to understand the nature of life in the universe. --description from the publisher

Slay the Spire: The Board Game is a co-operative deck-building, dungeon-crawling adventure. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and finally become strong enough to slay the Spire! Each player starts with a character with unique abilities and a simple deck of cards that they can improve by adding and removing cards during the game. Slay the Spire is also a rogue-like. That means that when you die (and you will die!), start over from the beginning. Take the lessons you learned and try again! The game is divided into Acts. At the end of an Act you can continue, stop and end the adventure there, or save and continue another time! If players defeat the final Boss, they win the game! Which Boss you consider to be final depends on how many Acts you want to play. You can stop playing at the end of any Act! When a player’s HP is reduced to 0, they are dead and the party loses the game.

Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization is the new edition of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization, with many changes small and large to the game's cards over its three ages and extensive changes to how military works. Through the Ages (TTA) is a civilization building game. Each player attempts to build the best civilization through careful resource management, and by: discovering new technologies, electing competent leaders, building wonders and maintaining a strong military. Weakness in any area can be exploited by your opponents. The game takes place throughout the ages, beginning in the age of antiquity and ending in the modern age. One of the primary mechanisms in TTA is card drafting. Technologies, wonders, and leaders come into play and become easier to draft the longer they are in play. In order to use a technology you will need enough science to discover it, enough food to create a population to man it and enough resources (ore) to build the building to use it. While balancing the resources needed to advance your technology you also need to build a military. Military is 'built' in the same manner as civilian buildings. Players that have a weak military will be preyed upon by other players. There is no map in the game so you cannot lose territory, but players with a stronger military will steal resources, science, kill leaders, take population or culture. It is very difficult to win with a strong military, but it is very easy to lose because of a weak one. Victory is achieved by the player whose nation has the most culture at the end of the modern age.

A dark rumour rises from Mordor. The Eye turns to Middle-earth. The hour has come. The Fellowship is reunited. The Heroes prepare for battle. Will you play as the Fellowship of the Ring to defend the free races and destroy the One Ring? Or will you play as Sauron and pursue Frodo and Sam while deploying your hordes to the gates of the enemy cities? The destiny of Middle-earth is in your hands! A game plays over 3 successive chapters that unfold similarly. On your turn, strengthen your Skills, hoard your treasure, stretch your presence across Middle-earth, rally Races to your cause, or advance the Quest of the Ring. Turn OverviewIn each chapter players take cards 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 available, that is not partially covered by any other cards. Players can either play the card, paying its cost and placing it in their play area, obtaining its benefit, or discard the card and take as many coins from the reserve as the current chapter. Players can also take a Landmark tile from one of the faceup tiles, paying its cost placing it in their play area. They will be able to immediately place a Fortress pawn on the corresponding region of the central board and benefit from its other effects. Victory ConditionsImmediately win the game by fulfilling one of the 3 victory conditions: Quest of the Ring For the Fellowship: If Frodo and Sam reach Mount Doom, they destroy the One Ring and you immediately win the game. For Sauron: If the Nazgûl catch Frodo and Sam, they seize the One Ring and you immediately win the game. Support of the RacesIf any player gathers 6 different Race symbols on their Green cards, they rally the support of the Races of Middle-earth and immediately win the game Conquering Middle-earthIf a player is present in all 7 regions (with a Fortress and/or at least 1 Unit), they dominate Middle-earth and immediately win the game. If none of these three victory conditions are achieved by the end of chapter 3, the player who is present in the most regions of Middle-earth (with a Fortress and/or at least 1 Unit) wins the game. In case of tie, share the victory.

Frosthaven is the story of a small outpost far to the north of the capital city of White Oak. It's an outpost barely surviving the harsh weather let alone invasions from forces both known and unknown. However, a group of mercenaries, at the end of their rope, will help bring this settlement back from the edge of destruction. Not only will they have to deal with the harsh elements, but with other, far more dangerous threats out in the unforgiving cold, as well. There are: Algox, the bigger, more yeti-like cousins of the Inox, attacking from the mountains; Lurkers flooding in from the northern sea; and rumors have it that there are machines that wander the frozen wastes of their own free will. The party of mercenaries must face all of these perils, and perhaps in doing so, make peace with these new races so they can work together against even more sinister forces. Frosthaven is a standalone adventure from the designer and publisher of Gloomhaven that features sixteen new characters, three new races, more than twenty new enemies, more than one hundred new items, and a new, 100-scenario campaign. Characters and items from Gloomhaven will be usable in Frosthaven, and vice versa. In addition to using the well-known combat mechanisms of Gloomhaven, Frosthaven features other elements, such as mysteries to solve, a seasonal event system to live through, and player control over how the ramshackle village expands, with each new building offering new ways to progress. Frosthaven has a whole new set of items but there is a mechanism for bringing items over from 'Gloomhaven'. However, as Frosthaven's outpost is a remote location, these products may be imported but are not present as standard items. Resources are much more valuable and you have to build items through a crafting system rather than just buying them. --description from the publisher

America in the 19th century: You are a rancher and repeatedly herd your cattle from Texas to Kansas City, where you send them off by train. This earns you money and victory points. Needless to say, each time you arrive in Kansas City, you want to have your most valuable cattle in tow. However, the "Great Western Trail" not only requires that you keep your herd in good shape, but also that you wisely use the various buildings along the trail. Also, it might be a good idea to hire capable staff: cowboys to improve your herd, craftsmen to build your very own buildings, or engineers for the important railroad line. If you cleverly manage your herd and navigate the opportunities and pitfalls of Great Western Trail, you surely will gain the most victory points and win the game. --description from the publisher

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 on 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 phase. 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 your turn, you replace the two cards you played with two more from the deck. Turn order is determined by how much money a player spent on the previous turn, the lowest spender going first. 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 from 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 double-connection builds (though expensive) are 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, sell cotton or build connections (though any card can be used to 'develop'). This leads to a strategic timing/storing of cards. Resources are common so that if you build a rail line (which requires coal) you 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 of an alternate board. The level 1 cotton mill is now worth 5 VP to make it slightly less terrible.

A game of Eclipse places you in control of a vast interstellar civilization, competing for success with its rivals. You explore new star systems, research technologies, and build spaceships with which to wage war. There are many potential paths to victory, so you need to plan your strategy according to the strengths and weaknesses of your species, while paying attention to the other civilizations' endeavors. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy is a revised and upgraded version of the Eclipse base game that debuted in 2011 that features: New graphic design, while maintaining the acclaimed symbology of the first edition A full line of Ship Pack 1 miniatures New miniatures for ancients, GCDS, orbitals, and more Custom plastic inlays Custom combat dice Fine-tuned gameplay

In many ways 7 Wonders Duel resembles its parent game 7 Wonders. 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. Players do not draft cards simultaneously from decks 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 it can with bonus moves that allow the player to take a second card immediately. As in the original game, each acquired card can be built, discarded for coins, or used to construct a wonder. Each player also 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 they are acquired, the cost for those resources increases for the opponent, representing the owner's dominance in this area. You 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 (also giving you a bonus at certain positions). If you reach the opponent's capital, you win the game immediately. Or if you acquire 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.

Playing Nemesis will take you into the heart of sci-fi survival horror in all its terror. A soldier fires blindly down a corridor, trying to stop the alien advance. A scientist races to find a solution in his makeshift lab. A traitor steals the last escape pod in the very last moment. Intruders you meet on the ship are not only reacting to the noise you make but also evolve as the time goes by. The longer the game takes, the stronger they become. During the game, you control one of the crew members with a unique set of skills, personal deck of cards, and individual starting equipment. These heroes cover all your basic SF horror needs. For example, the scientist is great with computers and research, but will have a hard time in combat. The soldier, on the other hand... Nemesis is a semi-cooperative game in which you and your crewmates must survive on a ship infested with hostile organisms. To win the game, you have to complete one of the two objectives dealt to you at the start of the game and get back to Earth in one piece. You will find many obstacles on your way: swarms of Intruders (the name given to the alien organisms by the ship AI), the poor physical condition of the ship, agendas held by your fellow players, and sometimes just cruel fate. The gameplay of Nemesis is designed to be full of climactic moments which, hopefully, you will find rewarding even when your best plans are ruined and your character meets a terrible fate.

It is a time of unrest in 1920s Europa. The ashes from the first great war still darken the snow. The capitalistic city-state known simply as “The Factory”, which fueled the war with heavily armored mechs, has closed its doors, drawing the attention of several nearby countries. Scythe is an engine-building game set in a 1920s era, alternate-history. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player controls one of five factions of Eastern Europe, all of which are attempting to earn their fortunes and claim their stakes in the land around the mysterious Factory. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, reap resources, gain villagers, build structures, and activate monstrous mechs. Each player begins the game with different resources (power, coins, combat acumen, and popularity), a different starting location, and a hidden goal. Starting positions are specially calibrated to contribute to each faction’s uniqueness and the asymmetrical nature of the game (each faction always starts in the same place). Scythe uses a streamlined action-selection mechanism (no rounds or phases) to keep gameplay moving at a brisk pace and reduce downtime between turns. While there is plenty of direct conflict for players who seek it, there is no player elimination. Scythe gives players almost complete control over their fate. Other than each player’s individual hidden objective card, the only elements of luck or variability are “encounter” cards that players will draw as they interact with the citizens of newly explored lands. Each encounter card provides the player with several options, allowing them to mitigate the luck of the draw through their selection. Combat is also driven by choices, not luck or randomness. Every part of Scythe has an aspect of engine-building to it. Players can upgrade actions to become more efficient, build structures that improve their position on the map, enlist new recruits to enhance character abilities, activate mechs to deter opponents from invading, and expand their borders to reap greater types and quantities of resources. These engine-building aspects create a sense of momentum and progress throughout the game. The order in which players improve their engines adds to the unique feel of each game, even if having played one faction multiple times.

A Feast for Odin is a saga in the form of a board game. You are reliving the cultural achievements, mercantile expeditions, and pillages of those tribes we know as Viking today -- a term that was used quite differently towards the end of the first millennium. When the northerners went out for a raid, they used to say they headed out for a viking. Their Scandinavian ancestors, however, were much more than just pirates. They were explorers and founders of states. Leif Eriksson is said to be the first European in America, long before Columbus. In what is known today as Normandy, the intruders were not called Vikings but Normans. One of them is the famous William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066. He managed to do what the king of Norway failed to do only a few years prior: conquer the Throne of England. The reason the people of these times became such strong seafarers was their unfortunate agricultural situation: crop shortfalls caused great distress. In this game, you will raid and explore new territories. You will also engage in the day-to-day activity of collecting goods with which to achieve a financially secure position in society. In the end, the player whose possessions bear the greatest value will be declared the winner. --gameplay description from @StoryBoardGamer's review: A Feast for Odin is a points-driven game, with a plethora of pathways to victory, with a range of risks balanced against rewards. A significant portion of this is your central hall, which has a whopping -86 points of squares and a major part of your game is attempting to cover these up with various tiles. Likewise, long halls and island colonies can also offer large rewards, but they will have penalties of their own. Each year follows a familiar pattern of preparation, worker placement, and then meeting the requirements of your feast. The main phase of each year is a worker placement affair. You start with a selection of Vikings, and a large action board with a whopping 61 different options to choose from. Each of these will be arranged from left to right in one of four columns. Each column requires an additional Viking to activate, but they are proportionally more powerful. At the end of each round, you will need to fill a feast table with food, alternating between plants and vegetable matter. You will also have a chance to lay the valuable green and blue tiles into your main hall. The configuration of these tiles must follow certain requirements, but your main goal is to both cover up a line of coin icons to increase your income, while otherwise encircling certain printed icons to generate those. You will build your engine over time, following an alternating pattern of outward expansion and hunting against development and cultivation. It all comes down to how much you’re willing to take on at any one time, and what risks you’re willing to set yourself up with for their rewards. UPC 681706716909

Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated extends the deck-building fun of Clank! with legacy-style gameplay! Found your own franchise of the legendary adventuring company, Acquisitions Incorporated, and shepherd your fledgling treasure-hunters to immortal corporate glory over the course of multiple games. Your game board, your deck, and your world change as you play to create a unique campaign tailored to your adventuring party. Be cunning, be bold, and most importantly, be ready... --description from the publisher

Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire ruled the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. With peace at the borders, harmony inside the provinces, uniform law, and a common currency, the economy thrived and gave rise to mighty Roman dynasties as they expanded throughout the numerous cities. Guide one of these dynasties and send colonists to the remote realms of the Empire; develop your trade network; and appease the ancient gods for their favor -- all to gain the chance to emerge victorious! Concordia is a peaceful, strategy game of economic development in Roman times for 2-5 players aged 13 and up. Instead of looking to the luck of dice or cards, players must rely on their strategic abilities. Be sure to watch your rivals to determine which goals they are pursuing and where you can outpace them! In the game, colonists are sent out from Rome to settle down in cities that produce bricks, food, tools, wine, and cloth. Each player starts with an identical set of playing cards and acquires more cards during the game. These cards serve two purposes: They allow a player to choose actions during the game. They are worth victory points (VPs) at the end of the game. Concordia is a strategy game that requires advanced planning and consideration of your opponent's moves. Every game is different, not only because of the sequence of new cards on sale but also due to the modular layout of cities. (One side of the game board shows the entire Roman Empire with 30 cities for 3-5 players, while the other shows Roman Italy with 25 cities for 2-4 players.) When all cards have been sold or after the first player builds their 15th house, the game ends. The player with the most VPs from the gods (Jupiter, Saturnus, Mercurius, Minerva, Vesta, etc.) wins the game.

On an uninhabited island in uncharted seas, explorers have found traces of a great civilization. Now you will lead an expedition to explore the island, find lost artifacts, and face fearsome guardians, all in a quest to learn the island's secrets. Lost Ruins of Arnak combines deck-building and worker placement in a game of exploration, resource management, and discovery. In addition to traditional deck-builder effects, cards can also be used to place workers, and new worker actions become available as players explore the island. Some of these actions require resources instead of workers, so building a solid resource base will be essential. You are limited to only one action per turn, so make your choice carefully... what action will benefit you most now? And what can you afford to do later... assuming someone else doesn't take the action first!? Decks are small, and randomness in the game is heavily mitigated by the wealth of tactical decisions offered on the game board. With a variety of worker actions, artifacts, and equipment cards, the set-up for each game will be unique, encouraging players to explore new strategies to meet the challenge. Discover the Lost Ruins of Arnak! --description from the publisher

America in the 19th century: You are a rancher and repeatedly herd your cattle from Texas to Kansas City, where you send them off by train. This earns you money and victory points. Needless to say, each time you arrive in Kansas City, you want to have your most valuable cattle in tow. However, the "Great Western Trail" not only requires that you keep your herd in good shape, but also that you wisely use the various buildings along the trail. Also, it might be a good idea to hire capable staff: cowboys to improve your herd, craftsmen to build your very own buildings, or engineers for the important railroad line. If you cleverly manage your herd and navigate the opportunities and pitfalls of Great Western Trail, you surely will gain the most victory points and win the game. The second edition of Great Western Trail includes solitaire rules, making for a player count of 1-4. Second Edition: Remember the old days in the West? Well, the times they are a-changing’! From new solo opponent to incredible landscapes, you won't know where to start. And there is a new herd of cows for you to sell! Great Western Trail is the critically acclaimed game of cattle ranching by Alexander Pfister. Players attempt to wrangle their herd across the Midwest prairie and deliver it to Kansas City. But beware! Other cowboys are sharing the trail with you. We invite you to saddle up! The changes in the Second edition: Brand New Artwork by Chris Quilliams Solo Mode: A New Challenger in the West Dual-Layered Player Boards Addition of a new breed of cows: The Simmental breed Two new reversible buildings (#11 & 12) Twelve Exchange Tokens, First introduced in the Rails of North Expansion, for more interaction with other players Four new Master Tiles added for more strategy, replayability, and challenges --description from the publisher

Something evil stirs in Arkham, and only you can stop it. Blurring the traditional lines between role-playing and card game experiences, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a Living Card Game of Lovecraftian mystery, monsters, and madness! In the game, you, alone or with a friend (or up to three friends with two Core Sets), become investigators within the quiet New England town of Arkham. You have your talents, sure, but you also have your flaws. Perhaps you've dabbled a little too much in the writings of the Necronomicon, and its words continue to haunt you. Perhaps you feel compelled to cover up any signs of otherworldly evils, hampering your own investigations in order to protect the quiet confidence of the greater population. Perhaps you'll be scarred by your encounters with a ghoulish cult. No matter what compels you, no matter what haunts you, you'll find both your strengths and weaknesses reflected in your custom deck of cards, and these cards will be your resources as you work with your friends to unravel the world's most terrifying mysteries. Each of your adventures in Arkham Horror LCG carries you deeper into mystery. You'll find cultists and foul rituals. You'll find haunted houses and strange creatures. And you may find signs of the Ancient Ones straining against the barriers to our world. The basic mode of play in Arkham LCG is the campaign. All your choices and actions have consequences that reach far beyond the immediate resolution of the scenario at hand -- and your actions may earn you valuable experience with which you can better prepare yourself for the adventures that still lie before you.

Sky Team is a co-operative game, exclusively for two players, in which you play a pilot and co-pilot at the controls of an airliner. Your goal is to work together as a team to land your airplane in different airports around the world. To land your plane, you need to silently assign your dice to the correct spaces in your cockpit to balance the axis of your plane, control its speed, deploy the flaps, extend the landing gear, contact the control tower to clear your path, and even have a little coffee to improve your concentration enough to change the value of your dice. If the aircraft tilts too much and stalls, overshoots the airport, or collides with another aircraft, you lose the game...and your pilot's license...and probably your life. From Montreal to Tokyo, each airport offers its own set of challenges. Watch out for the turbulence as this could end up being a bumpy ride! --description from the publisher

Root is a game of adventure and war in which 2 to 4 (1 to 6 with the 'Riverfolk' expansion, 2-6 with the 'Underworld', or 'Marauder' expansions) players battle for control of a vast wilderness. Like Vast: The Crystal Caverns, each player in Root has unique capabilities and a different victory condition. Now, with the aid of gorgeous, multi-use cards, a truly asymmetric design has never been more accessible. The nefarious Marquise de Cat has seized the great woodland, intent on harvesting its riches. Under her rule, the many creatures of the forest have banded together. This Alliance will seek to strengthen its resources and subvert the rule of Cats. In this effort, the Alliance may enlist the help of the wandering Vagabonds who are able to move through the more dangerous woodland paths. Though some may sympathize with the Alliance’s hopes and dreams, these wanderers are old enough to remember the great birds of prey who once controlled the woods. Meanwhile, at the edge of the region, the proud, squabbling Eyrie have found a new commander who they hope will lead their faction to resume their ancient birthright. The stage is set for a contest that will decide the fate of the great woodland. It is up to the players to decide which group will ultimately take root. In Root, players drive the narrative, and the differences between each role create an unparalleled level of interaction and replayability. Leder Games invites you and your family to explore the fantastic world of Root! --description from the publisher

In the land of Terra Mystica dwell 14 different peoples in seven landscapes, and each group is bound to its own home environment, so to develop and grow, they must terraform neighboring landscapes into their home environments in competition with the other groups. Terra Mystica is a full information game, without any luck, that rewards strategic planning. Each player governs one of the 14 groups. With subtlety and craft, the player must attempt to rule as great an area as possible and to develop that group's skills. There are also four religious cults in which you can progress. To do all that, each group has special skills and abilities. Taking turns, the players execute their actions on the resources they have at their disposal. Different buildings allow players to develop different resources. Dwellings allow for more workers. Trading houses allow players to make money. Strongholds unlock a group's special ability, and temples allow you to develop religion and your terraforming and seafaring skills. Buildings can be upgraded: Dwellings can be developed into trading houses; trading houses can be developed into strongholds or temples; one temple can be upgraded to become a sanctuary. Each group must also develop its terraforming skill and its skill with boats to use the rivers. The groups in question, along with their home landscape, are: Desert (Fakirs, Nomads) Plains (Halflings, Cultists) Swamp (Alchemists, Darklings) Lake (Mermaids, Swarmlings) Forest (Witches, Auren) Mountain (Dwarves, Engineers) Wasteland (Giants, Chaos Magicians) Proximity to other groups is a double-edged sword in Terra Mystica. Being close to other groups gives you extra power, but it also means that expanding is more difficult... Terra Mystica FAQ

During the medieval goings-on around Orléans, you must assemble a following of farmers, merchants, knights, monks, etc. to gain supremacy through trade, construction and science in medieval France. In Orléans, you will recruit followers and put them to work to make use of their abilities. Farmers and Boatmen supply you with money and goods; Knights expand your scope of action and secure your mercantile expeditions; Craftsmen build trading stations and tools to facilitate work; Scholars make progress in science; Traders open up new locations for you to use your followers; and last but not least, it cannot hurt to get active in monasteries since with Monks on your side you are much less likely to fall prey to fate. You will always want to take more actions than possible, and there are many paths to victory. The challenge is to combine all elements as best as possible with regard to your strategy.