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Troika

Not far into the future, a stone was found in a star — then more stones were found, and it turns out that if you combine three of these stones in the right way, you create a very valuable jewel. What’s more, you can combine them in a different way to create fuel.

In Troika, you are an adventurer who has dreamed of making a fortune, so you’ve traveled to this star along with other wanderers. Unfortunately, your spacecraft has no more fuel, so while you’d like to create jewels, if you don’t also create fuel, you’ll die as the richest person at the end of the universe!

In the game, you place all the heptagonal tiles face down on the table, and on a turn you either draw a face-down tile or take a face-up tile that someone returned to the table. You have a hand limit of seven tiles, and within that limit you’re trying to collect both three tiles of the same number (to serve as fuel) and three tiles in numerical order (to transform into a gem). If you have no fuel, you can’t win the game; of those who do have fuel, the player with the most valuable jewel wins.

In Nine Tiles Panic (ナインタイルパニック), each player has a set of nine double-sided town tiles.

At the start of a round, three scoring cards are revealed, such as most aliens on a single road, most dogs visible, or longest road. All player then race to assemble their town in whatever pattern seems best, trying to score points for one, two, or three of the scoring cards as they wish. As soon as the first player decides that they’re done, they flip the sand timer and everyone else has 90 seconds to complete their town, then players determine who scores for which cards, with ties being broken in favor of whoever finished first. Players score points based on the number of players in the game, and players track their score on a chart over multiple rounds.

n 64 A.D., a great fire originating from the slums of Rome quickly spreads to destroy much of the city, including the imperial palace. Upon hearing news of the fire, Emperor Nero Caesar races back to Rome from his private estate in Antium and sets up shelters for the displaced population. Reporting directly to Nero, you are responsible for rebuilding the structures lost in the fire and restoring Glory to Rome.

Glory to Rome is a card-based city building and resource management game with a novel mechanism. Each card may act as a building, a client, a raw material, or a valuable resource, frequently forcing players into difficult decisions regarding how each card should be used. In addition, much of the game is played from the discard pool, giving players some control over what cards are accessible to opponents. Actions are triggered by a form of card-driven role selection — the active player leads a role, and other players may follow if they discard a matching card from hand (to the pool). Players who don’t follow may ‘think’ to draw more cards. There are thus strong interactions between the different uses of cards. Scoring is a combination of completing buildings and storing resources, with end-of-game bonuses for storing a diverse assortment. Game length is player-controlled, and is triggered in a few different ways.

The lighthearted artwork of the original editions was replaced by minimalist art in the ‘black box’ edition, and both have been the source of great controversy. Many of the non-English editions use more conventional artwork.

“Mottainai” (pronounced mot/tai/nai or like the English words mote-tie-nigh) means “Don’t waste”, or “Every little thing has a soul”. In the game Mottainai, a successor in the Glory to Rome line, you use your cards for many purposes. Each player is an acolyte in a temple who performs tasks, collects materials, and sells or completes works for visitors. Every card can be each of these three things.

You choose tasks to allow you to perform actions, keeping in mind that other players will get to follow up on your task on their next turn. Clever planning and combining of your works’ special abilities is key, as is managing which materials you sell.

Mottainai is a quick, but deep, game experience.

The manor has sat in the shady part of the valley abandoned for generations. The spider having escaped her abyssal prison is now seeking to return to her terrible glory, while the skeletal guards of this estate continue to stir in the darkness.

The paladin has come to the manor, seeking atonement from the gods he must destroy the spider. Return to the world of Vast in a whole new adventure Vast: The Mysterious Manor. Vast takes you and your friends on an adventure in a haunted house, built on total asymmetry. There is no merry band of travelers here fighting evil. In Vast you take control of any part of the story.

Play as the pious Paladin, the murderous Skeletons, the awesome Spider, or the Manor itself. In addition there is the Enchanter, come to this world to rule the minds of the others. Each role has its own powers, pieces, and paths to victory…and there can be only one winner.

As the ultimate asymmetric board game, Vast: The Mysterious Manor provides a limitless adventure, playable again and again as you and your friends explore the five different roles in different combinations. Leder Games will present the entire game with solo modes, many combinations of characters, and full games. For the first time Vast will come with a board, to hold the tiles that form the Manor. In addition Vast: The Mysterious Manor will be compatible with Vast: The Crystal Caverns and Vast: The Fearsome Foes.’

In the game Yum Yum Island, players take the role of pelicans trying to feed the animals on the island. Each animal is represented by a cardboard cutout that has a raised, second level to identify the animal’s mouth. Inside the mouth is a pair of numbers — one green, one red — that shows how much vegetarian and meat-based food the animal needs in order to be satisfied.

On a player’s turn, they first roll the die to determine the difficulty level for that round, then they don the blindfold so that they can’t see the playing area. The player scoops up some amount of food from the supply (which has a mix of red and green tokens), reaches out their hand, and tries to place the food in an animal’s mouth. Any food that falls out or doesn’t match the animal’s needs is placed in the giant’s intestinal tract. The die roll might let other players give advice (“Move left! Pull your hand back!”) or allow the player to recover one bit of food or otherwise receive aid during the round.

Bunny Kingdom in the Sky adds a new game board to the world of Bunny Kingdom that allows you to link fiefs in the sky with those on land. Aside from the game board, this expansion includes new cards, new types of resources, a set of playing pieces that allow five bunnies to play in the same game, and a larger type of building that increases your influence in that area by a factor of five.

In Kemet, players each represent an Egyptian tribe and will use the mystical powers of the gods of ancient Egypt – along with their powerful armies – to score points in glorious battles or through invasion of rich territories.

The conquest for the land of Kemet takes place over two phases: Day and Night. During the day, choose an action amongst the nine possible choices provided by your player mat and perform it immediately. Once every player has taken five actions, night falls, with players gathering Prayer Points from their temples, drawing Divine Intervention cards, and determining the turn order before the start of the new day.

As the game progresses, they can use Prayer Points to enroll magical creatures and have them join their troops. In addition to intimidating enemies, these creatures provide special powers!

Expect to see lots of detailed components, as in Matagot’s Cyclades, to represent the armies and immortals.

Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid gives each player the chance to take the role of a Power Ranger, the heroes of Angel Grove who defend the earth against the evil Rita Repulsa and her nefarious minions. Each Ranger comes with a unique combat deck representing their special skills and fighting style. From the Red Ranger’s leadership karate skills, to the Yellow Ranger’s Sabertooth ferocity, to the Blue Ranger’s tactical mind, each ranger brings a unique set of skills to the table. You need to use your powers well if you intend to save Angel Grove!

In each game, you need to protect four combat zones that are being targeted by the evil Rita Repulsa. Each round, enemy forces deploy onto these zones and cause chaos among the populace. Who knows what sort of strange monsters Rita has cooked up for the Rangers this time?

During play, Rangers must manage their actions and coordinate their defenses, moving to the locations under the most threat and doing battle with enemies. Finding time to rest and recover between engagements as they prepare to defeat the mastermind behind this plot.

During battle, each Ranger and each enemy in the location participate in the combat sequence. Enemy cards represent enemy actions and health. Rangers can attack these cards to disrupt their attacks. Each minion card the rangers defeat removes one minion figure from that location. Monsters are much deadlier foes with a variety of special attacks that you’ll need to deal with and defeat before you send them packing! A Ranger’s combat deck represents their health, with each card played and blow sustained slowly whittling away at their options. They’ll need to find time to rest or power-up at the Command Center if they want to stay fresh for the next fight!

As the Rangers defeat enemies and progress through the game, they’ll unlock Zord cards which provide them unique abilities and special actions they can perform. Eventually they’ll be able to unleash the full power of the mighty Megazord!

Each game reaches its climax with a confrontation with the enemy Master, a devastatingly powerful foe who must be thwarted if the Rangers wish to save the city! Do you have what it takes?

The players act as traders trying to get victory points for building a network of offices, controlling cities, collecting bonus markers or for other traders using the cities they control. After controlling a line between two cities with your pawns you can decide to build an office (and maybe also establish control and/or get a bonus marker) or to get a skill improvement from some of the cities.

Players have to improve their traders’ “skills” for the following effects: getting more VP from offices in their network, getting more available action points, increasing the number of available pawns, and getting the right to place pawns and get more special pawns.

Troika

Nine Tiles Panic

Glory to Rome

Mottainai

Vast: The Mysterious Manor

Yum Yum Island

Bunny Kingdom: In the Sky

Kemet

Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid

Hansa Teutonica

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