Medium-Heavy 6 - Shut Up & Sit Down

Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal – The Pacific 1942

In 1942, the Japanese empire exploded across the Pacific, conquering everything before them. The only large land mass still held by the Allies was Australia, which they desperately needed as a staging area for a planned U.S. led counter-attack. The Japanese knew of the importance of Australia, but lacked the resources to conquer it, so they decided on the next best thing: Isolate Australia from the United States by building an airfield on the island of Guadalcanal, from which planes could disrupt the Allied supply lines.

The United States, ill-prepared as it was for any offensive actions, immediately attacked with the 1st Marine Division under the command of Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, caught the Japanese by surprise and easily took control of the airfield. The Japanese 17th Army, under the command of Lt. Gen. Harukichi Hyakutake, counterattacked with an ever-increasing number of troops. For the next four months a titanic struggle took place in the air, on land and on sea as the isolated Marines and U.S. Army fought for their lives to hold their tiny perimeter around the airfield against the might of the Japanese Empire.

Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal – Pacific Ocean 1942 recreates this struggle on your tabletop and includes gorgeous beach and jungles maps of the South Pacific, amphibious landing craft, the USMC, Japanese Banzai Charges, night combat, and much more.

In Yamatai, 2-4 players compete to build palaces, torii, and their own buildings in the land of Yamatai. The game includes ten numbered action tiles, each showing one or more colored ships and with most showing a special action. You shuffle these tiles, place them in a row, then reveal one more than the number of players.

On a turn, each player chooses a tile, collects the depicted ships from the reserve, optionally buys or sells one ship, then places the ships on the board. The land has five entryways, and you must start from these points or place adjacent to ships already on the board. You can’t branch the ships being placed, and if you place your first ship adjacent to another, then that first ship must be the same color as the adjacent one; otherwise you can place ships without regard to color.

After placing ships, you can either claim colored resources from land that you’ve touched with new ships this turn or build on one vacant space. To build, the space must have colored ships around it that match the ships depicted on one of the available building tiles. If you build a personal building that’s connected to others you own, you receive money equal to the number of buildings.

You can bank one ship before the end of your turn, then you can use any three resources or a pair of matching resources to purchase a specialist, each of whom has a unique power.

After all players go, you shuffle the action tiles, place them face down in the row, then reveal enough tiles at the front of the line to set up for the next turn, with the turn order being determined by the numbers on the tiles that players chose the previous turn. Once you trigger one of the game-ending conditions — e.g., no ships of one color or no more specialists — you finish the round, then count points for buildings built, specialists hired, and money on hand.

Cry Havoc is a card-driven, asymmetric, area control war game set in a brutal, science fiction setting. Each player commands one of four unique factions with varying abilities and units. The game includes 54 custom miniatures, a large format board, and over one hundred unique cards, all with stunning new artwork.

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 a Worker Placement/Economic Engine board game set in an alternate-history 1920s period. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player represents a character from one of five factions of Eastern Europa who are attempting to earn their fortune and claim their faction’s stake 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 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.

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.

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 engine adds to the unique feel of each game, even when playing one faction multiple times.

Pit the mighty Blood Angels Terminators against a lethal swarm of agile Genestealers in this two-player board game. Inside the cramped confines of a derelict Space Hulk known as the Sin of Damnation, the Blood Angels must fight to save Mankind from the alien menace that lies within.

Games of Space Hulk are played on a gaming area made up of high-quality card tiles which fit together to create the cramped confines of the Space Hulk. Each of the 16 missions included in the boxed game uses a different set-up, or alternatively you can assemble the pieces in any way you like and create your own bespoke games.

The rules to play the game and 16 missions are all contained within two full colour booklets: the Rulebook and Mission Book. There are also 35 plastic Citadel miniatures, including: 11 Blood Angels Space Marine Terminators, 1 Blood Angels Space Marine Librarian in Terminator armour, 22 Genestealers, and 1 Broodlord. Also included are three plastic mission objectives models: a dead Space Marine on throne, a Blood Angels artefact and a Cyber-Altered Task Unit.

In addition to the booklets and miniatures, you will receive a set of high-quality card tiles that make up the gaming board. Included are: 110 gaming counters, 77 corridor and room sections, 2 new boarding torpedoes , a turbo-lift, 20 doors with plastic stands, 1 mission status display, a sand timer and 5 dice.

During the late middle ages, the French city of Troyes was a center of Western European conflict. It witnessed the marriage of a French queen to an English king, Joan of Arc’s crusade to liberate France, the Black Death, the arrival of the Gypsies, the birth of Arthurian romance, and more — all before a tremendous fire destroyed the city and its ornate Cathedral, consigning the greatness of Troyes to history.

You can experience the greatness of this medieval French city in the board game Troyes. Combining the unpredictability of dice with a tight economy and plentiful player interaction, Troyes challenges you to lead a group of citizens through a tumultuous time and compels you to make tough strategic decisions in every round. Will your citizens become Archers or Artisans? Will you help build the Cathedral, or battle Heresy? Above all, how will you survive the constant attacks, skirmishes, and battles of the Hundred Years War, and earn your family some fame in these tumutluous times?

The classic game of fantasy football is back!

A combination of strategy, tactics, and absolute mindless violence, Blood Bowl is the classic game of fantasy football. 2 players act as coaches, selecting their teams from rosters of Human and Orcs and taking to the playing field to earn fame, fortune and the adulation of fans along the way!

Something evil stirs in Arkham, and only you can stop it. Blurring the traditional lines between roleplaying and card game experiences, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a Living Card Game of Lovecraftian mystery, monsters, and madness!

In the game, you and your friend (or up to three friends with two Core Sets) become characters 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 not the adventure, but the campaign. You might be scarred by your adventures, your sanity may be strained, and you may alter Arkham’s landscape, burning buildings to the ground. 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.

The survivors of a long-ago invasion have taken refuge in the forgotten underground city of Gravehold. There, the desperate remnants of society have learned that the energy of the very breaches the beings use to attack them can be repurposed through various gems, transforming the malign energies within into beneficial spells and weapons to aid their last line of defense: the breach mages.

Aeon’s End is a cooperative game that explores the deckbuilding genre with a number of innovative mechanisms, including a variable turn order system that simulates the chaos of an attack, and deck management rules that require careful planning with every discarded card. Players will struggle to defend Gravehold from The Nameless and their hordes using unique abilities, powerful spells, and, most importantly of all, their collective wits.

“Life is Battle; Battle is Glory; Glory is ALL”

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!

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