Heavy Games 17 - Shut Up & Sit Down

The Guns of Gettysburg

In the aftermath of his stunning triumph at Chancellorsville, Robert E. Lee decided to carry the war to the North in the hopes that a victory on Northern soil would win the war for the Confederacy. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was as close in numbers to its antagonist, the Army of the Potomac, as it had ever been, and that army was in a leadership crisis that would result in a new commander, George Meade, being appointed in the middle of the campaign.

Only two days after Meade’s taking command, a Union cavalry division outside of the town of Gettysburg came under attack by Confederate infantry. The engaged commanders of both sides called for reinforcements, and without orders from either Lee or Meade, more and more units from both armies rushed to the scene. Without anyone having planned or intended it, the decisive battle of the campaign, and perhaps the war, was underway.

The Guns of Gettysburg recreates that historic battle. Derived from the system used in the acclaimed Bonaparte at Marengo and Napoleon’s Triumph, the game, still in development, will retain the striking appearance, simple rules, and fast play of its predecessors. The system will, however, have numerous changes to reflect differences between the Napoleonic and American Civil War periods and also the special characteristics of the battle of Gettysburg.

Gearworld: The Borderlands is a game of negotiation, conquest, and construction in which two to four players compete to gain the favor of the Sky People for their tribe of scavengers in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Based on the classic board game Borderlands designed by Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge and Peter Olotka, players must negotiate trades and alliances, conquer their rivals’ territory, and gather resources in a race to build the skyworks to win the favor of those who live in the World Above!

Gearworld: The Borderlands includes a game board with beautiful, detailed artwork, 220 tokens, and 100 plastic figures in four different colors.

Terra Mystica is a strategy game with a simple game principle and very little luck involved: You govern one of 14 factions trying to transform the landscape on the game board in your favor in order to build your structures. On the one hand, proximity to other players limits your options for further expansion, on the other hand though, it provides some benefits during the game This conflict is the source of Terra Mystica’s appeal.

Structures may be upgraded to provide even more resources, like workers, priests, money, and power . Build temples to gain more influence in the four cults of fire, earth, water, and air . Build your stronghold to activate your group’s special ability. Expand and build new dwellings to have a lot of workers at hand. Or make sure to have a constant flow of money by building trading houses.

The 14 artfully designed factions, each having unique special abilities, as well as the exchangeable bonus cards allow for a large number of possible game plays that constantly keep this game entertaining!

With the kind support of Uwe Rosenberg during the development of the game mechanisms.

Including an English rulebook and no language dependent game components.

Tzolkin: The Mayan Calendar presents a new game mechanism: dynamic worker placement. Players representing different Mayan tribes place their workers on giant connected gears, and as the gears rotate they take the workers to different action spots.

During a turn, players can either (a) place one or more workers on the lowest visible spot of the gears or (b) pick up one or more workers. When placing workers, they must pay corn, which is used as a currency in the game. When they pick up a worker, they perform certain actions depending on the position of the worker. Actions located “later” on the gears are more valuable, so it’s wise to let the time work for you – but players cannot skip their turn; if they have all their workers on the gears, they have to pick some up.

The game ends after one full revolution of the central Tzolkin gear. There are many paths to victory. Pleasing the gods by placing crystal skulls in deep caves or building many temples are just two of those many paths…

Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery is an exciting game of twisted schemes and bloody combats inspired by the hit STARZ Original series. Players assume the role of the Dominus of a great house competing for influence in the era of ancient Rome. Players vie for dominance through careful diplomacy, cunning intrigues and the glory of the Arena. Undermine the machinations of rivals, leverage your wealth for advantage at market and pit your gladiators in bloody contest all with the goal of seeing your house rise to supremacy.

“This station is now the ultimate power in the universe.” –Admiral Motti, Star Wars: A New Hope.

The Imperial fleet sifts through the galaxy for signs of the Rebel Alliance’s hidden base, hoping to obliterate it with one powerful blast from their newly constructed Death Star. As the Empire’s imposing Star Destroyers draw near, the Rebels realize there is no time to spare, so they mobilize for a desperate attack. Squadrons of starfighters launch into space. Their pilots know that many of them may soon make the ultimate sacrifice for galactic freedom…

The characters, starships, and situations of the original Star Wars trilogy come to life in Star Wars: The Card Game™. A game by award-winning designer Eric M. Lang, Star Wars: The Card Game is a head-to-head Living Card Game® of tactical combat, and strategic planning that allows two players to wage cinematic battles between the light and dark sides of the Force.

The galaxy is bursting with opportunities for savvy space traders to exploit, and the race to profit blasts off in Merchant of Venus. Discover new alien cultures and learn where you can get rich selling their goods in this board game of interstellar trade and exploration for 1-4 players. From your First Contact with alien cultures to the establishment of trade routes and spaceports, your quest for cash demands you keep on the move. Successful traders will quickly locate fast and reliable trade routes, timing their purchases and sales with the interest in the market.

Featuring a double-sided board, Merchant of Venus offers rules for both Richard Hamblen’s classic game and Rob Kouba’s reimagined version.

Space traders, get your ships ready for launch because it’s time to engage in some wild entrepreneurship!

Wage open war on the streets of Gatorum.

Develop your territory with various criminal establishments.

Buy illegal weapons and tech on the black market.

Hire the finest killers, thieves, and scammers money can buy.

Avoid gaining the attention of Yugai security forces.

In City of Remnants, two to four players vie for power in a dystopian world. Many paths to victory lay before you. Bid for gang members who provide a variety of shady skills. Get an edge with weapons and other sundrys from the black market. Build districts that can provide you with advantages, production and income, but beware, because a greedy opponent might sweep in and take over the work of your own hands.

City of Remnants combines strong resource management, auction, and conversion mechanics with spatial tactics, assymetric player powers, area control and direct conflict. A variety of tools, different every game, are at your disposal to build up your gang and claim the city for yourself. But watch out for the Yugai police force, who will meddle with everyone’s plans! Create your own path to victory with this outstanding debut game from designer Isaac Vega.

The Cylons were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies. And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters. After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared and the Cylons left for another world to call their own.

Forty years later, they returned, and brought humanity to the brink of extinction. The remaining humans, led by the crew of the Battlestar Galactica, fled in hope of finding a new home, one known by legend as Earth.

Humanity’s only hope lies in finding Earth’s location while fighting off the unrelenting Cylons. But as resources run low, it is discovered that the enemy can now appear human and has infiltrated the fleet from the inside.

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game provides a unique gaming experience. Unlike most games where players win individually, Battlestar Galactica is a cooperative game, with the added complication that one or more of the players is a secret Cylon traitor – your entire side will win or lose, and you might not even be certain who is on your side until the game ends!

Each player is secretly assigned his or her loyalty at the start of the game. Players will either be loyal to the humans, or to the Cylons. Humans and Cylons have specific and conflicting winning objectives. The human players win by reaching Kobol, but the Galactica will be be threatened by a host of challenges along the way. Only through the cooperation of the humans will the ship (and fleet) survive. The Cylon player(s) wins by either destroying the Galactica with attacks from the Cylon fleet, or, through sabotage, by reducing one of the necessary resources (Food, Fuel, Population, or Morale) to zero.

Either all of the humans win together, or all of the Cylons win together…but both sides must figure out who they can trust in order to achieve victory.

Players’ identities are secret and no one will know for certain at the beginning of the game who they can trust. Keep your eyes open and watch how the other players play. Can you trust them to watch out for Humanity’s interests? Or are they Cylons bent on destroying Humanity?

If your gaming group enjoys highly-thematic political intrigue, and can handle some good-natured infighting and backstabbing, you’ll enjoy Battlestar Galactica.

If you like playing a game where there is a continuous challenge, and victory is always a very close call, Battlestar Galactica is for you.

If you’re a fan of the hit Sci Fi Channel show, and want to simulate the twists and turns on your game table, then Battlestar Galactica is the game you have been waiting for!

You hold in your hands the first semi-cooperative game involving exploration, development, optimization, negotiations, diplomacy … and treachery, for 2 to 5 players, featuring adjustable game length, and where no two games will ever feel alike.

You will compete with other great explorers who each have their own priorities and objectives. But you must work together to preserve the balance of the archipelago and avoid a war of independence… or do you?

The Guns of Gettysburg

Gearworld: The Borderlands

Terra Mystica

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar

Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery

Star Wars: The Card Game

Merchant of Venus

City of Remnants

Battlestar Galactica

Archipelago

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