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Discworld: Ankh-Morpork

Martin Wallace and Treefrog Games present Ankh-Morpork, set in the largest city-state in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. Lord Vetinari has disappeared and different factions are trying to take control of the city. Each player has a secret personality with specific victory conditions, which means that you’re not sure exactly what the other players need to do in order to win.

The action takes place on a map of Ankh-Morpork, with players trying to place minions and buildings through card play. Each of the 132 cards is unique, and “the cards bring the game to life as they include most of the famous characters that have appeared in the various books. The rules are relatively simple: Play a card and do what it says. Most cards have more than one action on them, and you can choose to do some or all of these actions. Some cards also allow you to play a second card, so you can chain actions” (Wallace).

A team of artists have recreated the city and its residents for the cards, game board and box, with Bernard Pearson coordinating that team. Ankh-Morpork has been sublicensed to Mayfair Games for the North American market and Kosmos for the German market.

Spain, 16th century. You are a powerful ship owner in search of wealth from the recently discovered Mundus Novus (New World). Your goal: Charter fleets of caravels to collect valuable goods (including the legendary Inca relics) and trade to form the best sets to expand your business empire and make your fortune.

The game is played using two decks of cards: a deck of resource cards, which contains cards representing ten different resources, and a deck of development cards, which give special benefits to their owners. The game is played in rounds, with each round consisting of four phases:

Each round starts with the Event phase, in which a random event may occur that affects all players.

The next phase is the Supply phase. Each player receives five random resource cards, plus one resource card for each caravel (a type of development card) that he owns, chosen from a common pool.

Then, during the Trade phase, the players trade some of their cards. One of the players, the Trade Master, determines how many resource cards (2, 3 or 4) each player must offer for trade. The player that offers the resources with the highest value becomes the new Trade Master. He chooses one of the resources offered by one of the other players, and adds it to his hand, or exchanges it with a card from the market (three face-up cards that are available for such exchanges). Then, the player that he has taken a card from gets to take a card, and so on, until all the cards have been taken.

Finally, during the Progression phase, the players exchange their resources for doubloons and developments. A player may exchange one set of three or more of the same resource for a development. Bigger combinations and rarer resources will allow more choice of which development can be selected from the five that are on offer. In addition, players can exchange sets of three or more different goods for doubloons, with bigger combinations earning more doubloons.

If a player can make a combination of ten different cards (i.e., one of each type of resource), he wins the game. Alternatively, if a player has accumulated 75 doubloons, he wins the game. If no player has achieved victory by the time the development deck runs out, the player who has accumulated the most doubloons wins.

The Walking Dead: The Board Game from Z-Man Games transforms the Robert Kirkman comic book series into a board game, giving “fans the opportunity to play Rick, Shane, Andrea, and other favorite The Walking Dead characters as they deal with zombies, collect supplies and pick up the pieces of their lives”, according to a press release announcing the game. Encounter and location cards recreate scenes and events from the comic book series.

World War II has left the world in upheaval, and many nations’ futures are filled with uncertainty. The USA and the USSR are the only Superpowers who can lead the world toward a better future.

Cold War: CIA vs. KGB puts you in charge of a spy network during the post-war era. Your purpose: to “persuade” foreign governments to embrace the “proper” ideology, by any means necessary. Manipulate local factions of influence to get your coup d’etat up and running. Double-cross and eliminate your opponent’s leaders. Gain prestige for your side by winning the Space Race, dominating the Olympic Games, or ensuring that one of your countrymen wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

In this decades-long conflict, victory will go to the side with the resources, conviction, and commitment necessary to ensure that their world view shapes the future.

In Quarriors, each player plays as a Quarrior competing for Glory in the eyes of Quiana, the Empress of Quaridia. Each player starts with an identical set of 12 dice in their dice bag. At the start of the game, Creature and Spell dice (Quarry) are dealt at random to form “the Wilds” in the center of the table. As play progresses, players roll their dice to attempt to summon Creatures, cast Spells, and harness the magical power of Quiddity (the in-game resource) to capture Quarry from the Wilds to add to their repertoire and into their dice bag. Players draw and roll 6 dice a turn from their bag, making that controlling bag composition is key to victory.Quarriors is a fast-paced game where players must strategically balance their choices each turn. Do I use my Quiddity to summon Creatures in the hopes of scoring Glory or should I spend it all to capture more powerful Quarry from the Wilds? Players must outmaneuver their opponent’s through strategic Spell use, the acquisition of powerful Quarry, and ultimately, by striking down opponent’s Creature in combat. If your Creatures survive until your next turn, you will score Glory points and move closer to victory!

In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can “buy“ as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end.

Dominion is not a collectible card game (CCG), but the play of the game issimilar to the construction and play of a CCG deck. The game comes with 500 cards. You select 10 of the 26 Kingdom card types to include in any given play—leading to immense variety.

DungeonQuest is a fast-paced game of dungeon exploration and looting for one to four players. You take on the role of a hero who sets out to explore Dragonfire Dungeon and claim more treasure than your rivals. Along the way, you’ll need to evade traps, battle monsters, and find your way through the labyrinthian dungeon, all while trying to avoid waking the dragon who sleeps atop the treasure heap at the dungeon’s heart. The player who gathers the most loot – and makes it out of the dungeon alive — is victorious!

Discworld: Ankh-Morpork

Mundus Novus

The Walking Dead: The Board Game

Cold War: CIA vs KGB

Quarriors!

Dominion

DungeonQuest

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